Wednesday, June 17, I awoke around 4:30 to some cramping. I didn’t think much of it, but around 5:30, I woke Paul up and told him that I was having contractions. We started timing them and they were 2-6 minutes apart. After having them get stronger, we headed to the hospital at 8:00 am. We checked in to OB triage and they hooked me up to the heartbeat and contraction monitors. The nurse checked my cervix and I was pretty thinned out and two centimeters dilated. They had me walk around the hospital for an hour to see if there was any change. When we came back, I was still two centimeters so they sent us home. The nurse told us to come back if the contractions became stronger or more intense.
Paul and I headed home around noon, made some lunch consisting of chicken soup. I tried to nap for a bit and my contractions actually slowed down up to 12 minutes apart at times. Then around 3, they were getting stronger, but still irregular. We decided to go back to the hospital around 5 pm and I was till only 2 cm dilated. Again, we walked around for an hour. This time, Paul had a tennis ball with him to massage my back. I was getting most of the contraction pains in my back. When we came back from our walk, the nurse checked me again and I still wasn’t changing. She called the doctor on call to see what she wanted to do, and since I was planning on getting induced the next day, at around 8:00 they decided to admit me.
By 9:00 pm, I was in my labor and delivery room. My contractions were still getting more intense, but I wasn’t dilating and they were still pretty irregular. The nurse gave me two options for pain – an epidural or Stadol. I was considering getting the Stadol until they told me it would only last for an hour and wouldn’t fully get rid of the pain…besides, it would make Evan drowsy. I chose to get the epidural instead and it turned out to be the best choice I made!
My epidural was in by 12:45 am on Thursday, June 18. After receiving the epidural, the nurse said the doctor on call wanted to start me on Pitocin to regulate my contractions, at this point I was 3 cm dilated. It’s a good thing I was already out of pain! Around 1:30 am, Paul and I were starting to get settled to sleep for a bit when I felt a pop. I told Paul that I thought my water broke and he came to check since I couldn’t move. The nurse came in to make certain and she said it had broken. At 5:30, the nurse came in to check my progress and I was 9 cm dilated and almost 100% effaced!
I started pushing at 7:00 am. After an hour of pushing and not making much progress, Dr. Chavira came in. He noticed that Evan was face up, instead of face down, so he decided to turn him around. I continued to push for another hour and a half without much success. Again, Dr. Chavira came in, and saw that I was very swollen and that Evan had turned himself face up again. Once more, he tried to reverse his position. This time he gave us the option to continue pushing or to have a C-section.
But before long, the option became a necessity. I was so swollen and I had torn – the doctor was trying to stich me up, but I was hemorrhaging. I remember looking at a tray covered in blood soaked gauze and just praying that this was not the day I was going to die. I was rushed to the OR after my doctor became upset at the nurses for not moving fast enough. As we left the room, I remember looking at the labor/delivery bed and it was soaked in blood.
Once in the OR, everything became kind of blurry. I remember getting put on the table, shaking from being cold, getting my hair clipped, wanting to itch my stomach and getting told not to because they were rubbing the orange antibacterial stuff on me, and wondering when Paul was coming in. I also remember hearing music in the background, listening to the nurses count off required items, my doctor saying that my bleeding had stopped, asking the anesthesiologist if my epidural was enough for the surgery. The surgery itself seemed so fast. I remember wanting to fall asleep and thinking “I can’t fall asleep; I don’t want to miss Evan’s birth!” Once Paul came in and sat next to me, I told him that I didn’t want to fall asleep and that he needed to talk to me. Soon after, Paul said “He’s out!” They pulled Paul away to see Evan and I still didn’t hear him cry. Once I did, I heard him cry and then scream. All I did was cry. Paul came over and told me how cute he was and I said that I just wanted to see him. They gave Evan to Paul and he came to show me. I started crying even more and gave him some kisses. He was absolutely adorable.
After they took Evan and Paul out of the room, my doctor told me that they had given me Demerol to get rid of my shakes and that’s why I felt sleepy. For the next several hours, I don’t remember much. I remember seeing my family and close friend, Valerie, holding Evan. I barely remember the nurse asking if I wanted to breastfeed and I said yes. Apparently, he fed for an hour! (Later on I realized this was a bad idea, my nipple was damaged since I didn’t know what I was doing at the time because of the drugs.) This was the one part of Evan’s birth that I’m sorry about. I don’t have those wonderful bonding moments to remember just after his birth.
We had to stay in the hospital until Sunday, June 21…Father’s Day. Evan developed Jaundice on Friday and had to stay under UV lamps from Friday night until Sunday morning. It was awful having to place him under those lamps and not be able to hold him. He had to wear these little goggles to protect his eyes and he didn’t like it under there very much. We also had to supplement with formula to let him sleep longer and the help flush his system. Paul was really excited to film us leaving the hospital and getting into the car to come home. I was just exited to get out of the hospital and bring Evan home!
