So, here is my labor story. I have always found them interesting and it is amazes me how everyone has different experiences with different challenges and how they dealt with them. Here it goes.
During my pregnancy, I had no morning sickness and I felt great most of the time. The most challenging part was the last month when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, woke up any time I wanted to change positions sleeping, and was so big it was hard to breathe or bend over. My whole pregnancy I always feared something would go wrong, that baby would have some kind of defect, or what have you. The last month of my pregnancy I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and was put on bed rest. It basically means I had high blood pressure and that I needed to take it very easy. I hated bed rest and I admit I broke the rules many times. I had to go in for extra ultrasounds and non-stress tests to check on me and baby. He was fine every time we checked on him and my blood pressure went down a bit. When I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 34 weeks, the doctor said that if my body was ready or dilated at 38 weeks then I should be induced and if not I should have the baby by 39 weeks. WOW, that rocked my world. I thought I would have more time to get ready for baby. When I went in for my weekly checkup on September 30th, my blood pressure was very high. The midwife said, it is only going to get worse, we can schedule your induction tomorrow. WHAT!!! I was freaking out. I went in to get my routine check up and they wouldn't even let me go home to get my stuff. I hadn't even packed. I got nervous, scared, excited, everything at once. No turning back.
What was so cool to me and such a blessing was that my Dad was driving from Oklahoma to come out for general conference that weekend and to bring me the cradle for the baby. I told him I was going to have the baby the next day and was in the hospital. He drove straight to the hospital and it was so nice to see him. I knew I would have extra help. I called my mom and she was on the next flight to come see me. She couldn't make it until 11am the next day, and she was worried that she would miss the delivery, and I tried to convince the midwife to put off the induction for a few more hours, but the midwife said my mom wouldn't be missing anything if she came by 11 the next day and she was right. So, my body was readied the night of the 30th. I did not sleep hardly at all. I had blood pressure and my vitals checked like every hour of the night and who could sleep knowing they are going to give birth the next day :).
Anyway, to make a long story short. I was induced the morning of October 1st around 7:30 am. I didn't really feel anything happen for like an hour. I had contractions for a few hours. They were pretty painful, but I was managing. My mom came in around 11am to be with me. It was so nice to have her there as a coach. Around 11:30 or 1:30pm ( I can't remember), the midwife came to see how dilated I was. I was only like a 2 after like 4 hours of labor, so she suggested breaking my water. The idea of breaking my water I didn't like. First of all, I wanted this whole thing to happen naturally, no drugs, no anesthetic, naturally. I realized that my plan of a natural birth went out the window when I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. The idea of inducing, or forcing the baby out was the last thing I wanted. Because of the pre-eclampsia and the strep- b I had a couple of IVs in me and my movement was restricted. Back to breaking the water, I was worried that once my water broke the contractions would be even stronger and I feared the pain. I asked for an epidural before breaking my water. I told the anesthesiologist that I wanted to feel the contractions still because I wanted to be an active participant in the labor. I just wanted the edge taken off. Right after I sat up from getting the epidural, my water broke on its own. I started crying, I was so happy that something happened on its own and I knew that my baby would be here soon.
Labor progressed very slowly, and my contractions never got into a rhythm. The midwife actually took me off petocin and put me back on to see if they could jump start me so to speak. A few hours later around 9 or so, the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a 9. I was in shock. I was excited to push, and get baby here. I started pushing. I did 3 pushes of 10 seconds each during each contraction. Unlike many women during the last stage of labor, my contractions were like 2 or 3 minutes apart instead of like 2 or three a minute. I pushed for nearly 2 hours. My mom, dad, and James were there as my coaches. It was so cool to have them all there cheering for me. They could see better what was happening and were encouraged when they could see Jet's head coming. As baby was coming and I kept pushing, I became very exhausted. The magnesium sulfate I was intravenously given to prevent seizures due to the pre-eclampsia drained my energy. That stuff sucks the life out of you, add to that no sleep the night before and I didn't know if I had enough energy to get baby out. I got worried and I kept telling everyone, "I am so tired. I don't know if I can do this". After another 20 minutes of pushing and telling the midwife this, she said " I can give you an episiotomy and he will be out in a couple more minutes". I agreed and with that he came out about 20 more minutes later at 10:46 pm. A total of 16 hours and then some.
I cannot describe how I felt when he finally came out. It was the best moment of my life. I was relieved for one that he came out, I honestly thought they would have to cut me open to get him out I was so so tired. They put him on my tummy and my first words to him were, " You are so big". I was so surprised at how big he was considering he was 10 days early. He weighed in at 8lbs 9oz. I wonder how big he would have been had he stayed in there the entire 40 weeks. I heard him cry and that was all I needed. I was in love. They whisked him away to check his vitals and clean him up. He had some fluid in his lungs and it took them a while to get him well enough so I could be with him. I was getting annoyed because I was sitting there in the bed for what seemed like forever until I could hold him again. Luckily after some time on the c pap machine the fluid cleared from his lungs and he didn't have any more problems except for some high bilirubin levels.
Being a mom is so amazing, I have loved every moment. I can hardly believe that he is my son. The feelings that come to you when you have a child are incredible. I consider myself an easy going person, not really opinionated or uptight about much. I admit some of that changed when I had Jet, sometimes the mama bear comes out. I just want to protect him and for him to have the best life has to offer. You see this child and you never want them to feel pain, never want them to have hardship, your heart doubles in size and you love them to no end. I am so grateful for my baby Jet.
