Our family has a tradition. On each of our birthday’s my mom will call us and tell us about our birth. In fact she will call several times and explain where she was in the labor stages. My sister have passed this on to their kids, and I am going to stick with the tradition for Gavin. It probably won’t be that interesting cause I don’t have that much time to write it out in detail. But here is the gist of it.
One year ago today I had an appointment to see my OB. When I got in there I wasn’t expecting it to be the day I was going to be induced. They took my blood pressure and it was about 160/100. The nurse did the protein urine test and it came back that I had protein in my Urine. I remember the nurse telling me, “They’ll most likely induce you today”. I was so excited i told John that today will probably be the day we have our baby. We went into to meet with the doctor and he told me that I wasn’t going to be induced, instead they were going to send me to do a 24 hour urine catch after I
went to the hospital for a non-stress test. I was so bummed to say the least. That nurse totally got my hopes up.
The hospital was right next door to my doctors office. So it was a short drive and then we rode the elevator up to the 2 floor labor and delivery. When we got up there I told them my name and said I was supposed to come for a stress test. Well all the nurses were talking amongst themselves and one asked another which Labor room I should be set up in. After about 10 minutes a nurse told me that my doctor had called back because they had dipped my urine again and it was a +4 (I have no idea what that means) and that I would be having the baby today. I was a bit in shock that it was finally the day.
As we got settled in our room I called my sister Kara to tell her that they were inducing me. I also tried to call my Mom in AZ but she didn’t answer. John was getting me admitted because we failed to pre-admit like we were told to in our birthing class. In my defense I thought we still had 3 weeks. My mom ended up calling me and telling me that my sister had gotten a hold of her and she was going to fly out on the 10pm flight that night. John called his mom and Dad, who both came over and ended up staying all through the night and through the next day. I called my best friend and she came right over. So we had a room full, but I wouldn’t have liked it any other way.
Before anyone arrived the doctor came in and we talked about a C-section. He told me that he didn’t think that I needed one and I should just go with the plan of being induced. I didn’t want a C-section so I agreed that it would be better to be induced. After that I was setup on the monitors and the pitocin was started. My labor nurse turned out to be the mom of a bunch of kids I went to high school with. One that I actually was friends with. She was really awesome throughout the entire thing.
I labored really well in the beginning. I didn’t have very strong contractions for about 5 hours or so. During that time a cervical balloon was put in. They slowly blow it up and it helps you dilate. It was so uncomfortable. I could feel things stretching and that’s just wrong. It also made it so hard to go to the bathroom. Which I only ended up going twice during the night. The doctor that I started with earlier had said I should wait to get an epidural until I am at a four. So that is what I did.
It wasn’t until my mom arrived that the contractions started getting so bad that I was in tears. My nurse came in and gave me a shot of Fentanyl and she came back every hour to give me another until I got my epidural at 10am the next day….
I think the worst part up until it turned to the 22 was the penicillin that I was given for Strep B. They weren’t able to get a test to tell if I was or not, so I had to get the drugs. It burned so bad going into my arm that I nearly passed out. It was 20 minutes of such severe pain that I swear i had an out of body experience. I wasn’t feeling any contraction pain and in between the Penicillin I had every 4 hours, I was able to get some sleep. They checked dilation during the night and early morning. When morning hit I was finally at a 4 and they took the balloon out. I had a new doctor now, and he informed me that I can get an epidural whenever I wanted. I didn’t even have to wait until a 4 (yeah thanks for telling me now).
So the epidural was ordered and at 10am I was greeted by the anesthesiologist. John went down to get breakfast, but my mom stayed with me. I don’t remember there being any kind of pain when they put it in. But I felt this sudden rush to my head. I guess they send through a test of some kind of drug to make sure it is going the right way, well mine wasn’t. So he had to redo it, this time it worked and i was feeling great. I chatted with people for awhile and slept a bit.
After a few hours the epidural just stopped working on one side and the pain was so bad. My mom and my mother in law helped me stay focused and relaxed. The anesthesiologist was called back to see if he could do something. He told me if he re-did the epidural that I would be at risk of a spinal headache. I decided against it because st that point I was about a 7 1/2. For the next 3 or 4 hours I just worked through the pain. It was horrible. But I knew an end was in sight because I was so close. Well the nurse came in about 3ish and she said I was still at a 7ish. At that point I developed a very wet cough like I had bronchitis. Gavin’s heart rate kept dipping, so they put me on oxygen. My blood oxygen level was dropping under 90, so they had the oxygen on a level 10. I felt like I couldn’t breath and I started to panic.
My doctor came in and I saw him talking to the nurse. He walked over and said that we better go ahead with the C-Section right away. I started panicking telling him i couldn’t breath and I was afraid that I would feel the pain. He asked if I had the cough before i came in, I told him it just started. I remember crying uncontrollably, i think I had just had it. The anesthesiologist came back in and he talked to me. He was so sweet and he said he would make sure I was fine. He gave me a shot of some kind of medicine to relax me. I was wheeled down the hall and I saw my Dad and Step mom in the waiting room. I remember my step mom was teary eyed and I waved to them.
In the delivery room I don’t remember much. The drugs worked a little too well. I remember them moving me from my bed to another. I also remember them asking me if I can “fell this” as they poked to make sure I was numb. I don’t remember John coming in. The next thing I do remember is Gavin crying and I kept trying to pull the curtain over so I could see him. A nurse kept telling me to stop it. But I just wanted to see him. I kept asking John how much he weighed and what he looked like. John said he had dark hair and a lot of it. Then he told me he was 6lbs 3.5oz. Finally they brought him over and I got to see my guy for the first time. He was just so cute and i just wanted to kiss him all over. The nurse lifted him up so I could kiss him.
Afterwords I fell asleep. I was out for a good hour. I don’t even remember them wheeling me back to my L&D room. I was still on oxygen when I woke up and I kept asking when I could take it off because the mask made my face itchy. That is when John and my mom told me about all the troubles I was having. That my oxygen level was way down. That I was in renal failure and that when they cut me open water just poured out of me. I was still pretty out of it and I just wanted to see Gavi again. They finally brought him back about an hour later. He was gurgling a bit when he was breathing. But he was fine when they brought him back.
My family was ecstatic and everyone held him and we all agreed that he was a mini me of John. It was such a great day and I wish I could go back and relive it.
So there it is Gavin’s birth story. This is actually the first time I have typed it in it’s entirety,
