I'm going to do my best to recite, accurately if i can, our labor and delivery experience:
It was the morning of January 23rd and i was very ready to be done with pregnancy. I was just so uncomfortable and it was so hard getting around with my SPD. I had also become so impatient since being checked at 37 weeks and learning that i was 1 cm dilated. I had told myself from the beginning that this baby would be early.....i wasnt going to be one of those girls who went way past her due date right? LOL. so as my due date approached i kept going to bed thinking that tomorrow was going to be the day! i had been having some cramping for days at this point but when i woke up with pain at 2:30am on 1/23/12, it felt just intense enough for me to think that maybe this really was it. i didnt want to jump the gun so i tried to fall back asleep.....the pains continued at around 5 minute intervals for another hour until i finally decided to wake Ryan up and tell him that i was going to head downstairs and bounce on my birthing ball for a bit. i didnt want to get my hopes up but they were creeping up there on their own.
So there i was in our family room, with nothing but stupid infomercials on the tv, just bouncing away on my ball, praying that the contractions would keep up their consistent 5 minute pace.....and they did.... I labored at home for the entire day. I kept calling my mom and great friend Natalie asking them how their labors felt and how i would "know" when it was the right time to call my midwife. i ended up calling her mid morning and she told me to stay at home for as long as i could and to watch for the contractions to become more intense and closer together. so i watched and watched and watched for hours and hours. they were becoming more intense but never really getting any closer together than 4 minutes apart every once in a while. The pain was manageable but i was uncomfortable enough that i couldnt sleep. finally at 7pm i called the midwife back and asked her what to do about how tired i was becoming. she suggested taking a benadryl to see if it would help me get a nap in before the really hard labor began. i took the pills and tried to lay down for a nap. well i couldn't sleep and little did i know, i wouldnt get to sleep for a long time. my dad brought us over a pizza and i felt re-fueled. as the contractions got more intense, my adrenaline kept me going. i was so pumped at the thought of meeting my baby.
at midnight Ryan convinced me to go the St. Ann's and get checked to see if i had made any progress and if i could be admitted. off to the hospital we went! as we pulled out of the driveway i said how strange it was that the next time we came home, that we would be parents :) we arrived at triage and i was hooked up to the monitor and they checked my cervix. i was 3 cm dilated!!! great news that i had made some progress but not so great since they usually dont admit a woman in labor unless she is at least 4cm along. but since my blood pressure was really high they decided to admit me. i was whisked down to my room and the next chapter of our journey began.
i was told upon being admitted that i could labor for the next 3 hours and that they would check for more progress..... at this point, i couldnt really stand through my contractions and Ryan was having to squeeze my hips together while simultaneously rubbing my lower back. we walked around my huge L&D room for the next 3 hours and the nurse came in to check me. i was still at 3cm :( and very disappointed that my body wasnt responding to this labor. the pain was incredible and i was so tired that i was crying through the contractions. i spoke again with Becky, my midwife and we agreed that i would labor at the hospital for another 3 hours (until 6am) and then get checked again and if i hadnt made progress by then, they would consider sending me home since technically i wasnt in "active" labor. with the amount of pain i was in at this point, there was NO way that this wasnt active labor.
the next 3 hours (from 3-6am) were the most trying of my life. i was delusional with exhaustion and miserable from the contractions. they were much more in my back than i expected them to be. the nurse had said the the baby was probably posterior (head facing up) and thats the reason for the location of my pain. we made it through and the nurse was there to check me again. i had never wanted anything more in my life than for her to say that i had made some progress...because that meant that i could stay and that i could request an epidural (if i didnt get some sleep there was no way i could push this baby out). we braced ourselves for her assessment....and the verdict was 5 cm!!!!! ryan and i worked through something so difficult and we did it! i requested my epidural and continued to labor. unfortunately i wasn't able to receive it for another 2 1/2 hours but at 8:30 am on 1/24/12 after so many hours of contractions, i was on my way to some pain relief :)
it was glorious to be able to breath and lay down without feeling like i was going to die. i was able to rest and regain some of my strength. at 10:30am Becky broke my water and checked me. i was 8cm dilated and feeling great. our families had started to arrive and i was able to visit a bit with our loved ones which was really great. at 1:00pm i got checked again and i was fully dilated!!!! it was going to be time to push soon and i was really nervous. would i be able to do this? would i feel enough to be an effective pusher? was i ready to be a mom? a million thoughts zoomed through my head but the time had arrived and there was no denying that it was time to meet our baby. at 1:12pm, on his due date, with the encouragement of my wonderful husband, his mom, and my mom, i began pushing.....and with 7 contractions and a mere 20minutes later, our son Rhys Kable Cox entered the world weighing in at 7lbs 3oz and 19.5 inches long. a true miracle. i never knew that this kind of love was possible. Im so thankful to God for this blessing.
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