They Don't Call it Labor for Nothing

Announcing the birth of our son, William Ross Cooper! Will was born on Tuesday, August 3rd. He came in at 9 lbs. 3 ozs. Measuring 22-inches long. Like the rest of our pregnancy adventure, he did not make things easy. But, he's here and perfect and that's all that matters.

But, to have something to write about, I'll share anyway.

Saturday (July 31st, our due date), I awoke at 5:45AM to realize that my water had broke. So, I got up and called the hospital where I was instructed to come in to be checked out. Upon arrival, they monitored me for contractions and baby movement. Baby was fine, but I wasn't having any contractions yet. So, I was sent home until the three-in-ten rule (3 strong contractions in 10-minutes). However, if I had not started any by Monday morning, I was to call at 8:00AM and they would tell me what time to come in for an induction. This particular hospital's policy was 48-hours to allow for natural labor to set in.

The next two days were the longest ever. I kept imagining that labor was setting in, but of course, it never did. My mother and I picked blackberries and made a cobbler for the Tilt Road Neighborhood Party, but really hoping that we might would have to miss it. But, by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, still no labor, so we went. It was a nice time, and met some of our neighbors. It's so strange to be able to tell people that ask when the baby is due, "Yesterday, but he'll be here tomorrow." Oh, and our blackberry cobbler was a hit.

We made it to Monday morning and called the hospital. They told us to come in now. I guess it was a slow morning and they had arranged a spot for me. When we arrived, they put us in a labor room and after about an hour and a half, they gave me a tablet of Pitocin to get my contractions started. Then we were told we could wander around and do whatever we wanted. So, we did, eventually ending up in the restaurant for lunch. At that point I could tell that contractions were beginning and by that evening, I was at about 1-2 minutes apart. I was given an exam, thinking that I would be at maybe a 7 or 8cm, but to my disappointment, I was at a big fat zero. Turns out that the Pitocin can cause severe cramping that mimics contractions. So, they discussed giving me an injection of Pethedine. Up until this point, I was just using my TENS machine. A quick note on the TENS. I found it to be helpful. Maybe relief isn't the word, but it definitely gave your mind and body something else to feel to distract it from the other pain. Not completely effective, but great for early contractions.

Okay, back to the Pethedine. In our NCT course, we learned about it. I had said I did not want to use Pethadine in my birth plan. Why? Pethedine is morphine-based, and morphine makes me sick, sick, sick. Also, it crosses the placenta and most times leads to a sleepy baby at birth. Today, you want a responsive baby if you plan to do the skin-to-skin interaction to encourage nursing right away. But, for me, honestly... it was the idea of how nauseated I get on morphine. The midwives explained that this early in labor, the drug would already be out of the baby's system allowing him to be alert. They also mixed in something to keep me from getting sick. So, I agreed. Pain will make you do a lot of things, I would totally cave at an interrogation.

Pethedine... oh yeah, another side effect??? It can start REAL contractions after you've had Pitocin. So, yeah.. I got no pain relief from Pethedine. BUT, with real contractions and a few hours later, another exam and this time... I was at 4cm!! So, after about 12-hours of all of this, I was ready for an epidural. Around 1:00AM I got one. BEST DRUG EVER! I can't believe that I even considered giving it a go without it. This allowed me to somewhat sleep through the rest of the night and continue on the next day. By the next morning, I had progressed to 7cm. About three hours later, what should have been a 10 (or at least some movement forward), it was still at 7cm. That's when the doctor suggested I think about a c-section. We weighed the pros and cons, and after about thirty-minutes of discussing it, went with it. The baby's head was already swelling, and I didn't want to put any stress on him.

I was awake during the entire procedure. Normally, my epidural should have been topped off a little heavier and then they would proceed, but I was still having some sensations in my legs, so they did another spinal. It took them about 45-minutes to prep me, and then they went and got Scott.

I made him sit there and talk to me the entire time because I didn't want to hear any conversation or focus on the tugging that was going on. But, about five-minutes later, I heard a screaming of a baby and Scott stood up to look. Told me he was a big baby... which I didn't think he would be. And then I heard, "nine-pounds, three-ounces." Holy cow!

After a few hours in recovery, I was able to score a private room (at a cost, but totally worth it). There Will and I spent the next three days patiently waiting out our stay, both ready to go home. Though everyone was extremely friendly, it was time to go. I did get a little choked up saying good-bye to our midwife, Kim. She was there through the birth of Will. Through a lot of my labor, c-section and then again on Friday when she came up to do our check-up. I'm very impressed with midwife care and would definitely consider it at home. Though my birth plan didn't go as planned, I still think it was an excellent experience and one that I don't think I'll ever forget. I can now hold this over William's head for the rest of my life when he's naughty, "I was in labor with you for twenty-nine hours..."