Ok, so this is a bit late. But I realized that I never wrote down Isaac's birth story. So I thought I'd write it down here as sort of a Journal entry. If it bores you, you don't have to read it. (it is long) But now I can have it here for my records. :)
Isaac’s Birth Story
Today is Isaac’s 7 month birthday, so I’ve waited a lot longer then I should have to write this down. I guess better late then never! The story really starts at the beginning of pregnancy when I was puking my guts out every day. There were some days when I wondered if I should go to the hospital for dehydration. Being pregnant is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
But lets start at about 8 months pregnant. I wish I would have written things down then so that I could have better accuracy, but we’ll just have to go with what the ol’ memory tells me. Probably around the beginning of April I went for my usual doctor’s appointment. At this appointment, Dr. Chappa decided to check if there was any dilation going on. So, as he was checking he got a surprised look on his face, and said, whoa, you’re not going to make it to your due date! (May 15) I guess I was already 1 or 2 cm dilated, I don’t remember what the exact numbers were for sure. But it was a lot for being over a month from the due date. As the days went on I was having Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy. Sometimes I’d even time them to be consistently just a few minutes apart. But they’d always get irregular, and never get stronger like real labor. As the date got closer, I felt like he was going to just fall right out of me. With each doctor’s appointment I was more effaced and dilated. Pretty soon we were 2-3 weeks from my due date, I thought for sure I wouldn’t still be pregnant by this point! I was having contractions so crazily, I didn’t know what real labor was. I had them so bad, they were keeping me awake, and they seemed quite regular, but still not painful at all. So I decided maybe I better go to labor and delivery just to make sure. Of coarse it was just a false alarm. So the waiting game continued… about a week later I thought for sure it must be the right time, but nope. Another false call. I was sick of going to the hospital before I got to go for the real time.
At my next doctor’s appointment I was like 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. The doctor said, “I don’t know why you’re not in labor yet, would you like to induce?” By this point I was so worried of going into labor, and since I was so progressed already, having the baby in the car. So Brad and I jumped at the chance to induce. We chose the next day, May 12th.
On May 12th 2009, we got to the hospital at around 7:30 am. They had me checked in and started on the pitocen by 8:30. Very soon the contractions got very long and regular, but still not painful at all. After a couple hours of this, the nurse decided to break my water. The first time they tried, they just couldn’t quite get it, so finally on the second time a gush of water came out. We joked that the baby didn’t want to come yet. The contractions got very painful amazingly fast after they broke my water. After about 2 of these horrible contractions, I thought, “Why suffer? I want an epi!” Especially because I knew it took a half an hour to start working.
So the drug guy came and drugged me, ( he was really weird), but I started feeling better soon after that. I loved my epidural, but it was a strange sensation to not really be able to feel my legs. It was like they were in a uncomfortable position, but I couldn’t adjust to be comfortable. It was still worth it not to feel those contractions though! It was glorious to look at the paper recording my contractions moving up and down, and for me to not feel a thing. After about an hour, I started feeling them faintly, but it wasn’t anything too bad.
Probably around 12:00, I was actually all the way dilated! The baby was still too high though, it wasn’t baby time yet.
At around 1:00 or 2:00 PM the nurse had me start to push. I kinda felt like it was just for practice though, the doctor wasn’t around, and I didn’t feel like I was having a baby soon. We did this for a bit with no progression, so they let me rest for another half hour or so. Then they started to have me push again. The nurse would grab one of my dead legs, and Brad grabbed the other one. This time they wheeled a big mirror over so I could see what was going on. We could see the baby's head! The doctor was still nowhere in sight. With every contraction I’d push, and the baby would get closer. But then he’d just slide right back to where he was in between contractions. We played this back and forth game for a couple of hours, but he just wasn’t budging. Dr. Chappa had finally came to get this little boy out of me. He decided that it was time to use the forceps! I’m so thankful that he was so skilled in using the forceps, and that he didn’t resort to a c-section like most doctors probably would have. I’m also thankful that we decided to induce when we did. If he’s grown any bigger, I don’t know if I could have gotten him out!
So he stuck the first side of the forcep in and just kind of let it dangle out of me. It was a really weird feeling. Then the other side went in, and when the contraction came, he started pulling, and I started pushing. I seriously thought he was going to pull me right of the table!! With each contraction I’d push, then he’d tell me to stop, in a worried manner. I guess he was trying to minimize the tearing, but I knew I must be tearing like crazy by the way he was telling me to stop pushing. Every instinct told me to keep pushing anyways, and get that baby out! But I controlled the instinct inside of me.
Pretty soon, I heard a screaming baby! And boy was he mad. I don’t think he liked being stuck in the birth canal for so long. Hearing him cry was the most amazing experience of my life. Still to this day it is such a miracle to me that he grew in my tummy. Being pregnant for 9 months, you’d think that it would seem real that you are bringing a child into the world. But for me, it didn’t seem real until I heard that scream. As they brought him over, I saw Brad shed a tear for the first time. At 4:51 PM we were parents! He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long.
The aftermath? I did end up with a 3 degree tear, that took a few months to really heal, and Isaac had a little scab on the side of his head from hitting my pelvic bone over and over. I think he still has a little scar there,but it's not noticeable at all. I’m just so thankful that I had that epidural. It sounds like a horrible experience of a birth, but really thanks to the epi, you could almost say it was pleasant. I barely felt a thing! Also, we chose the right week to have a baby at Salt Lake Regional Hospital. It was hospital week, and they had some type of free lunch going on every day. So between that and the cafeteria vouchers Brad got, he got to eat for free the whole time!
Angry newborn Isaac:
