It all started on a Sunday night of March 3rd. I was awoken up by contractions.... or what I thought were more like contractions. All through the end of my pregnancy I was constantly having Braxton hicks and always wondered what the real thing felt like. I kept asking other mamas and my doctor.... "How will I know when it's the real contractions? Will I be able to tell the difference?" That night they definitely felt different than the Braxton Hicks, I was getting earlier. These would tighten my stomach, but also felt like cramps. I was so excited and kept timing them throughout the night. They kept me, and my husband, Ed, up ALL night. They were 30-40 minutes apart when they started and by the morning they were 5 minutes! So I thought... "This is it! It's time!" I called into my doctor's office around 7:30am because I couldn't wait any longer and my doctor wasn't in yet. I described what I was feeling to the on call nurse and she said to head into the hospital. My husband and I got things ready and hopped in the car as excited and anxious as ever. I remember Ed saying something and me laughing. And Ed thought... "I feel like if you were really in labor you wouldn't be laughing right now." So this made me start to second guess myself and so I called into my doctor around 8:30am from the car. She told me to just come into her office and she would check me out there instead of checking into the hospital, incase it's too early. We get to her office and she tells me I'm only 1 cm and 75% effaced. I was relived, but also like what the heck! My doctor recommended me go back to the comfort of our own home and wait it out awhile longer. She advised it could still be over 24 hours before I go into active labor and to not be surprised if the contractions stopped and started back again. So, we headed back to the house to wait it out.
Throughout the day my contractions were off and on and didn't feel quite as painful. They even stopped completely in the afternoon, just like my doctor had mentioned. Around 6pm Ed's parent's stopped by and brought us Chic fil a!! Was having contractions somewhat through eating, but was distracted so I was able to get through eating. I got up to go to the restroom and BAM all of a sudden contractions started getting stronger and more painful. I tried laying down, taking a warm bath, standing, kneeling...EVERY different position possible, but nothing was helping. My contractions went to every 2-3 minutes...so finally around 8pm I told Ed we NEEDED to go to the hospital NOW! Contractions were and are the worse pain I've ever felt, there's no words to describe the feeling. I barely got to the car... stopping every 2 minutes when the contactions would hit. I finally got to the car and all I remember about the car ride was that it was the worst and longest drive ever!
It took about 10 minutes to get to the hospital. We pulled up to valet and I hobbled my way in, Ed had to check in for me. We made our way back to the labor section.. me yelling different noises the whole way down the halls. The labor unit was very busy that night and I got checked into a labor room after about 10 minutes. The labor nurses got my all situated and got hooked up to different machines. My doctor came in and checked me and I was 4cm! So she said that I probably had still 8 more hours... I thought "oh man! I don't think I can do this for 8 more hours!" The nurses asked me if I wanted any drugs or an epidural. Originally I wanted to try to wait it out as long as I could, but my contractions were so painful and so close together (every 2 minutes), that I just gave in and said NOW! Since the hospital was so busy that night... 2 other planned C-sections and 2 other natural births... all by my doctor mind you. The anesthesiologist was also booked up that night, there was already a line of people he had scheduled so the nurses advised I would probably be waiting for a least another hour before I could get my epidural. The nurses and Ed were trying to help get my breathing under control, I was breathing so fast and was not thinking about what all the classes we took taught us. Finally one of the nurses said, "You really need to control your breathing, you are effecting how the baby is breathing." Instantly, that got me to really concentrate on my breathing and was able to get it under control.
Luckily, I only had to wait 30 minutes until the anesthesiologist arrived in my room and said he was able to squeeze me inbetween all of his other patients. I was SO relieved. They asked Ed to leave the room while the anesthesiologist gave me my epidural. I was really nervous about getting it, everything I heard about them was they were pretty painful. All I could think about was the big long thing they were about to stick in my back. BUT to my surprise it didn't hurt at all! It only took about 20 minutes until it was finished and they called Ed back into the room. OMG what a difference the epidural made. I couldn't feel a thing! Well, I could still feel my legs, but all of the pain went away and I couldn't even tell when I was having a contraction. It was amazing! My doctor, Dr. Teng, came back into the room to check on me and I was at 5cm, so she said I still had awhile - especially because most of the time epidurals slow down the labor. She said to try and sleep. So Ed and I took about a 2hour "nap", I say that because I never really fell asleep, I was too excited and anxious!
The nurses came back in because they were monitoring the baby's heart beat and they said it was going faster every time I had a contraction. They were a little worried, so they kept a close eye on it. The other nurse checked me once again and I was already at 9cm! They were amazed that my body did all that work so quickly and all on it's own. They said usually they have to give penicillin to help the process along. The nurse then asked if I wanted to do a trial run of pushing to see if I was ready because they were starting to worry about the baby's breathing. I said sure - let's go! The nurse coached me through how to breathe and push. Each push session was actually 3 different sets of pushing and holding my breath. I completed 2 sessions and my nurse was like, "Yup! You're definetly ready - you can see the head!" She paged Dr. Teng and said that I was ready for labor! It was all becoming so real and I was nervous and so excited that soon we would be meeting our little boy!
Dr. Teng arrived in our room and she called on the NICU team to be in the room with us as well. She explained that this was precautionary because she saw some Meconium come from me. This is the baby's first poop, and so she was worried that he may have swallowed some already. With Ed by my side holding my hand and leg up, the nurse helped me go through the pushes again, this time with the goal of getting the baby out. The doctor asked if Ed wanted to see the head breaching and Ed was like... uhhh... and the doctor got him to and he said it was the most crazy thing he's ever seen. I went through 2 sets of pushes again and all of sudden I saw baby Speight pop out!
There he was...
Edwin Speight Darden V, born on
Tuesday, March 5th at 2:18am, 21 inches long and weighed 7 lbs
It's an indescribable experience to see the baby that once was inside of me right there in front of me. I instantly had tears in my eyes.
The doctor asked if Ed wanted to cut the cord and he went ahead and did so. Good thing the NICU team was there because he had swallowed a bunch of meconium and they had to pump his lungs. They did this right in the room by sucking the meconium from his lungs and throat. This went on for about 5 minutes and then they put him right on my chest for skin to skin. This was magical and I will remember the feeling of him on me forever.
The doctor then asked if I was ready to push out the placenta and I said sure why not. I pushed it out in 1 push and the doctor held it up and all I could say was... "Interesting." haha! The doctor stitched me up and the nurses helped me with latching baby Speight onto my breast to feed. It was a wonderful feeling once again to be able to feed the little guy.
They took Speight over to the table in the room to get all of his measurements and make sure he was all okay. Ed also cut the cord again closer to him. Everything checked out okay and the doctor informed us that he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his head, which is why his breathing went up with my contractions. This was for sure scary to hear, but so happy they got him out safe and sound. The nurses kept congratulating us and said this was one of the best labors they've been apart of. They were so impressed that my body did this naturally and the whole labor only took around 6 hours! We stayed in the labor room for a couple of hours before they transported us to our recovery room, where we would stay for the next couple of nights with our new babe.
I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to my doctor, Dr. Teng, and ALL of the amazing labor nurses. They were truly amazing and helped me get through this. I also want to thank my amazing husband, Ed IV, you are my rock and such a huge support. I wouldn't have been able to get through birthing Speight without all of the tremendous love and support.
We ended up staying 1 more additional night in the recovery room at the hospital. I'm not going to lie, the whole time was really tough because I was in a lot of pain still, but all worth it to get to meet and bond with our son. We had both of parents come and visit while still in the hospital recovering. We were both so anxious to get Speight home that we asked if we could go home a day early. The doctors said of course as long as you get this list of steps done you can go if you are feeling up to it. We completed everything on the list including the release class, the hearing test, Speight had to poop a few more times just incase, and lactation consultant meeting were some of the major things. Going home was wonderful and that's when the real adventure begins.
So that was it... my birth story! Being pregnant and going through labor was and is the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever experienced. It made me stronger and it made me a mother.
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