asher's birth story

It's taken me a while to get this posted, mostly because I don't want to leave anything out and my hands are {literally} full for most of the day. We're going to give it a try now - let's hope someone naps long enough for me to finish!

On Saturday, December 12th Drew and I did a ton of stuff. We were planning on having the induction on Wednesday, 12/16 and wanted to get some things done ahead of time. So on Saturday we cleaned the whole house, went to the mall to walk around {hoping to encourage baby along without the induction!}, and had a delicious lunch of Chick-Fil-A.

That evening we had plans to have dinner with our friends Carl and Karen, but around 5:00 I stood up from the couch and felt a little whoosh of fluid.

I wasn't completely convinced that my water had broken {denial, anyone?}, so I went upstairs to monitor things. I figured if it was my water it would just keep coming - which is exactly what happened. The fluid just keep coming out in little bursts and I decided to fill Drew in on what was going on.

He immediately jumped into action loading the car and making me something to eat. I wasn't having any contractions at this point, so I didn't feel too rushed. I decided to get a shower and change into some comfy clothes for the duration.

At this point I'm feeling nervous, but excited and honestly, still in disbelief.  Everything I did, I was thinking "this is the last time I'll get a shower/brush my teeth/eat an English muffin/etc" as a non-mom.  It was hard for me to accept that Asher was actually going to arrive soon.  I couldn't wait to meet him, but the planner in me couldn't work past the fact that he was suppose to come on Wednesday!

About 2 hours after my water first broke we arrived at the hospital and got checked into triage. I still wasn't having any painful contractions and when the resident checked me I was only 2cm and 70% effaced.

She wanted to start me on Pitocin since the clock was ticking. The chance for infection goes way up 24hrs after your water breaks, so they wanted Asher to be delivered by then. I was hoping to avoid the Pitocin, so Drew and I opted to walk the halls for a few hours to {hopefully} help things along.

Around midnight they checked me again and I was still only 2cm. Boo. I agreed to have some Pitocin and they started me on a very slow drip. That little bit was all the encouragement my body needed - the contractions started to get really strong and frequent. As far as the pain goes it wasn't fun. Drew was a great coach and tried to lead me through the breathing techniques that we learned in class.  I say he tried to lead me through them because I hushed him more often then not.  When I'm under stress I need quiet.  Really quiet.  I tend to go within and draw my strength from there.

That said, Drew really was great!  He supported everything I needed and was a great advocate for me.  At one point the nurse offered me some pain meds {not an epidural, but narcotics} and I quickly said no thanks.  I knew from the get-go that I didn't want narcotics and didn't change my mind while laboring.  After I said 'no' the nurse kind of rolled her eyes, but Drew gave me a big smile and thanked me for being strong for our baby.  That really meant a lot.

Since I was on a Pitocin drip I had to be in bed on the monitors and wasn't able to try any comfort techniques besides the breathing. Because of this I wasn't ashamed to ask for the epidural right away. In the lab if we tie a mouse down and apply painful stimuli without anesthesia it's considered cruel. I think I should be held to the same standards as a rodent.

The insertion of the epidural was the least painful thing I experienced the whole night. If you're not sure if you want one because you're worried about it hurting, please don't. It's a breeze.

The epidural was awesome for awhile, except that it made my blood pressure plummet. Because of this the doctors were hanging around monitoring me for forever so I didn't get a chance to sleep at all. By the time they left I realized that my pain was coming back big time. As it turns out they didn't hook up my pump, so I couldn't dose myself with more medicine when the pain increased.

Are you kidding me???

By this point Drew was snoozing in the recliner and the lights were off so I could "get some rest." Yeah, right. I tried to tough it out for awhile, but back labor set in pretty intensely and before long I couldn't keep quiet.  In retrospect I realize that I was going through transition during this time.  When everyone was gone/asleep and the room was dark I started to feel really scared and alone.  That's common during transition, but I didn't put the two together.  All I knew was that I didn't want to bug Drew and I didn't want to be whining to the nurses.

However, after crying quietly into my pillow for 15 minutes I remembered that I'm the most important player in this game and, darn it!, if I want the lights on then they are coming on!  If I want to sit up, get on my hands and knees, or do cartwheels down hall then that's what I'm doing!  I woke Drew up and called the nurse, demanding that they help me sit up or do something to relieve the pain.

Before the nurse was willing to help me move she wanted the attending OB to check me again since it had been a few hours. The OB came in, checked me and said "well, no wonder you're uncomfortable, you're complete." I had gone from 2cm to 10cm in just 6 hours.

They called my OB who was able to come in for the delivery. I started pushing at 6:45am and kept pushing and pushing...

Everyone assured me that we were making progress, but I was starting to doubt them.

3 hours later {and 17 hrs after my water broke} little Asher made his arrival!

It turns out that he was twisted the wrong way coming out and got himself hung up on my pubic bone for awhile. In the end he had a big bruise on the back of his head. Besides that he was perfect!

I feel so blessed to have had a relatively easy labor and delivery. To be honest I was sort of dreading the induction - I'm so happy that Asher decided to come a little early on his own.