Monday, 30 April 2012

• Baby Leroy's Birth Story

  

  Leroy was born around 11 pm on Sunday July 10, 2012, after 27 hours of labor!

  Saturday morning I began my day with an unusual urge to read birth stories. I hadn't really cared to read them earlier in my pregnancy, but now I felt like I needed to know what the worst case scenario would be. When my boyfriend saw that I was getting a little crazy with the Google searches, he suggested that we go to a  movie. During the movie I drank an entire large soda and ate a bag of popcorn, which is also very strange for me since I only drink soda 1-2 times a year.

  When we got home around 7, the craziness kicked back in and I stood in the driveway fussing with the car seat base. I was never fully satisfied with the way it sat, but I got hungry and decided to pour myself a bowl of shredded wheat. I got the cereal in the bowl, poured the milk, and when I bent over to put the box away I let out a little gasp because I was sure I had peed my pants.

  I ran to the bathroom only to realize that it wasn't urine. I was in a fully body shake, so I hobbled to the window and called for Jake to come inside. We called my midwife and she suggested that we go to the hospital, so we ran around in a panic for the next hour - taking showers and making sure the dog was going to be okay outside for a few days.

  I never ate the cereal, but I didn't want to throw it in the trash and have it stink, so I put it in the fridge. My mom, found it a few days later and said she couldn't figure out what it was!

  At the hospital, the nurse confirmed that my water had broke and told me to go to sleep, since it was almost midnight. Yeah right! I wasn't having contractions, but there was no way I was going to get any sleep either.

  The next morning, contractions were minimal, but growing. By 11 am, I was moving too slow and they started pitocin. I hung our in my room until supper time, apparently stoic about all of my contractions. The baby was head-down, but faced the wrong way, so the midwife kept asking me if my back hurt. It did, but I kept thinking, "it's going to get worse right?" We tried a few positions to turn him, but he refused to turn!

  When I was about 6 cm, I tried the birth tub. I think the walk down the hall to the tub set things in motion because by the time I got in the tub I had an emotional break and the contractions began to get painful. I remember wanting to pull the pitocin bag down because every time it dripped I knew what was coming.

  I got out of the tub, because I was freezing, but I was sweating by the time I got back to my room. I remember kneeling until my legs were numb and yelling through the contractions. At one point, the midwife suggested I have stadol. I hadn't planned on using drugs, but I was exhausted and I knew it would help me rest between contractions.

  The stadol did not help with the pain, but I did end up passing out between contractions. In one of my half-awake moments I heard the midwife say to her student "lets get dressed, I think she is ready." And I immediately said, "I want to push!" because I was so excited to get things over with.

  No one remembers how long I pushed for - maybe an hour or two. They kept me on stadol, so I would push, then pass out for a minute or two. Then spontaneously wake up and say, "okay!"

  Then our hairy little Leroy came!

   

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