I wanted to have a copy of the story of the birth of Noah, so this is mostly for my records and for my memories. Read if you want to!
I was originally due on August 9th. I had a doctor’s appointment on August 3rd to see how far along I was. When I got there I had slightly elevated blood pressure, which was unusual since I had had really great blood pressure every other time they had taken it up to that point. After taking about 5 times I was told to go home, get my hospital bag, eat dinner, and report back to the hospital to be induced! So, Ben and I went home all excited and get ready to have this baby! After we got home, got my bag, ate at Chick-Fil-A, and then started back for the hospital we started calling family to let everyone know that I was being admitted that night.
We got to the hospital at about 8:00 PM that night. After getting checked in and everything, we got started on the pills to ripen my cervix that night. I started having fairly serious contractions at about 9:15 and I had contractions regularly every 3 minutes all night long. I had three doses of the pill, and for about an hour after each dose I would feel really sick and have stomach cramping on top of the contractions. After the first hour after each dose I did okay, the sickness faded and the cramping calmed down and I just had the regular contractions. It was a long night, Ben was able to sleep a little bit but I was in enough pain that I couldn’t sleep at all. I spent the night crying and watching TV!
At about 7:00 AM the morning of the 4th the nurse came in and told me that she didn’t know when I would be able to get an epidural since the anesthesiologist was booked in several other labors. I was SO ready for the epidural at that point, I had been having those contractions so regularly all night long, and they weren’t getting any better. I was still only dilated to about a two, but my cervix was nice and ripe and soft. My doctor came in about 8:30 AM and broke my water, and then the anesthesiologist was able to swing in to my room at about 11:00 AM to give me the epidural! That was a weird experience but it felt great to stop feeling! The epidural went in really well and I started feeling relief quickly. It was a blessing to just be able to relax and get relief from the pain that I had been in. I got started on the Pitocin shortly after that. My mom and Ben both stayed in the room with me and talked, joked, played cards, read books, and rested. I was REALLY slow getting dilated though! It was a long day.
I got checked regularly, and we participated in a new study monitor to track the EKG of the baby through a sensor in his head. It was an internal monitor which was actually much much better since I could lay more comfortably and it was so much more accurate. This new monitor had some problems at first, but it was great. I am glad that we participated in this study.
As the night went on, we started making a little more progress. My mother-in-law came down and she actually stayed through the labor which was fun. As the night wore on, I got closer and closer. I was dilated to a 4 by about 6:00 pm and then when they checked me again in an hour I was dilated to an 8! It was SO great to be that far along. I was so excited to be that close to meeting my little baby! As I finally hit a 9, my epidural started acting funny. I started to be able to feel really well in my hips and pelvis, especially on the left side. We had another anesthesiologist come in and he decided to give me another dose. Well, I don’t know if it was a different kind, or just too much, or what, but my body started to react to the medicine. I started having dim vision, and I almost blacked out a few times! I got really dizzy and light headed, my nose completely plugged up, and my hands went numb! All of this happened in a few minutes and I was now dilated to almost a 10! Well, they moved me all around to try to get the epidural to go back down to my legs instead of my arms and hands. It didn’t work! They were able to get my hands to have some feeling again, but the pain in my pelvis and hips never went away and now it was time to push! This was the scariest part, I couldn’t breathe very well, still had numbness in my hands, and I was feeling very weak and wiped out already, and I hadn’t even started pushing!
Ben held my left leg, and my mom held my right leg. I was good at pushing luckily, even though the pain was intense and I was so tired already. After about 45 minutes of pushing, I had my baby! I remember feeling the head, especially since it took forever to get it all the way out, but I think that his shoulders hurt more than his head did! He had his dad’s shoulders for sure. Ben was able to cut the umbilical cord and then they put the baby on my stomach. After getting him toweled off and breathing, he cried for a few minutes, and then they put him inside my hospital gown right on my skin. That skin to skin contact was so bonding and special! About 30 seconds after Noah was laid on my chest he stopped crying, stuck his fingers in his mouth, opened his eyes, and lifted his head! He lifted his head several times and just looked all around at everyone! It was so sweet, and it was such a relief to have him there and healthy and I fell so in love with him!
The afterbirth and placenta were delivered, but there were still membranes attached so she had to actually put her fist inside me and scrape them out with her fingers! That was almost as painful as the labor part! I just tried to focus on my new baby, but that after birth stuff with the stitches and everything else-with the epidural worn off-was incredibly painful! It was nice to have that part over.
I didn’t start contracting back to my normal size very well, so they gave me more Pitocin, an antibiotic, and something for pain. I felt so drugged up after all that! I went through about 8 cups of apple juice and ate some crackers, and then I was able to nurse the baby for a few minutes. He ate really well and still had yet to really cry! Such a good baby! Noah was born at 9:48 pm and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz. He was 21 inches long and the nurses were impressed at how strong he was with holding his head up as much as he was!
We got to the maternity ward at about midnight and I was falling asleep anytime someone wasn’t poking, prodding, or talking to me! After the initial check in process, talking to the nurses, and getting Noah checked out, he was hungry again so I fed him and then I was finally free to sleep at about 3 AM! We stayed in the hospital until Saturday afternoon and then we took our little guy home!
