The Story of Us

Hopefully I'll have time to get this typed out while the little mister is napping. =)

So my labor actually started with me waking up @ 3:15AM with painful cramping that was stronger then any of the ones I had had previously. I didn't really think a lot of it at the time, got up, used the restroom & went back to sleep. About 20 mins later, I was awakened by another cramping sensation. Again, I just tried to go back to sleep, but 13 mins later I was awake again with cramping. At that point I decided to start timing my contractions while trying to continue to sleep. By 7AM my contractions were about 9-10 mins. apart & lasting about a minute in length. I decided to wake up Mr. K & let him know that I may actually be in labor.

I got up & ate a light breakfast of applesauce & an english muffin with jam. We went about our morning waiting out the time until our 11AM appt. at the hospital for my NST/US. By the time we left for the hospital at 10:30AM we knew that we may not be coming back home so we made sure that we had everything in the car ready to go. We arrived at the L&D dept. where they checked me in & a nurse performed my fluid check. It took forever as she was having a really hard time getting any pictures with large amounts of fluid. It turns out that poor little Carter's fluid level was at 5.2. =( They then hooked me up to the monitor for the stress test & the nurse went to speak with the doctor. Thankfully, it was MY OB who was on 24 hour call that day. Mr. K & I sat in the room with me hooked up for nearly an hour watching my contractions get more & more frequent & still lasting about 1 minute a piece.

Finally, my OB came in to talk to me & let us know that we were not going to be leaving the hospital & that I was going to be admitted right then. After a little more waiting I met my L&D nurses Trisha & Casey. Since I was in such early labor they let me go walk around the hospital & even eat a little bit more food. I kept it pretty light being that I didn't want to get sick to my stomach later. At around 2pm, we went back to the room & they hooked me back up to the monitors. I changed into a gown & they drew my blood & inserted my hep lock. Unfortunately, this took quite a few tries to get it placed. Around 3pm they FINALLY checked my cervix & I was a good 3 almost 4cm dilated.

I spent the next 3 hours laboring in a rocking chair, walking around my room & on a birthing ball. My contractions were getting increasingly strong & painful. Later, I learned that I was experiencing what was called "coupling" meaning that my contractions were one on top of the other in pairs with maybe 15-30 sec rest periods. At 6pm, the nurse checked me again & my cervix was dilated to a good 4 almost 5cm. I decided that I wanted to get into the tub at this point & sat in there for about 20 mins before I couldn't take it anymore. My contractions were literally lasting 1.5 mins with only 30 sec breaks in between. It was so bad that I would literally shake from the pain. I said I wanted to go med free & I wasn't kidding, but I broke down & asked for an epidural. Am I sorry I got it? No, I am still proud of myself for laboring for as long as I did without it.

The anesthesiologist came in almost immediately & was able to place my epidural in one try! They kept trying to get me to sign the consent form in the middle of contracting & I have NO IDEA what that signature looks like. =) He numbed me up during a contraction & that was not fun to say the least, but definitely was less painful then the contraction I was currently experiencing. After about 3 more horrible contractions I started to feel only pressure. Carter gave them quite a scare when his HR really dropped shortly there after. They turned me on my side, slapped oxygen on me & I guess it had been consistently low for two minutes. Suddenly there were 5 nurses in my room. One checked me & I went from 8.5 to 9cm right before her eyes & then my water broke. It all happened so fast with Carter dropping that they wanted me to rest a little bit while baby boy stabilized. I labored down for about 45 mins. & then was ready to start pushing around 9:25PM. With my contractions still coupled & the help of a mirror (if you can I definitely suggest doing this! It was the MOST incredible experience watching my baby being born) Carter was born at 10:25PM after only one hour of pushing. And despite having the epidural I could still "feel" the urge to push as well as my legs & lower half of my body. My legs basically felt "tingly", kind of like they had fallen asleep.

His head & his body were delivered in a single push. I guess when he was ready to come out, he was really READY to come out. The NICU team was present due to the decreased HR from before just in case anything went wrong. When he came out my OB discovered that that his cord was wrapped around his neck twice & that is what had caused the HR decrease. I guess when he dropped into the birth canal his cord tightened around his neck. Despite that little scare his Apgar scores were great & after getting both of us cleaned & me getting stitched up (I had a very tiny internal tear) I got to hold & breastfeed my baby.

His daddy got to change his first diaper & give him his first bath. We could not be more thrilled & in love with our little guy. =)