gilpinology: {She Said} Nathan's Birth Story

January 29th
Signs of impending labor presented themselves. You always play the mind game though... "some women do this for WEEKS before they actually go into labor." It was enough that I talked to the school nurse and though she verified to me that it could mean labor was imminent, she played it cool with me. In her mind though, she knew... when I saw her a week or so later she said, "I realized I better get my baby present to school the next day."

January 30th, 2:30 AM
Contractions start. They are approximately 30 minutes apart and very manageable. I think, "here we go."

5:00 AM
Matt wakes up during one of my frequent contraction bathroom breaks. Contractions are now approximately 20 minutes apart (but they vary). I tell him the goings on. We decide to call dad and give him a heads up in case labor speeds up quickly. Matt then gets up and gets some last-minute hospital packing done.

6:00 AM
I take a shower, get ready, take a picture, and tell Facebook that today COULD be the day. Contractions range from 10-20 minutes apart.

8:00 AM
Contractions stop.

9:00 AM
I think it was false labor.

10:42 AM
I lay down for a nap and contractions resume. I get no extra sleep.

11:03 A.M.
Contractions are 15-20 minutes apart. They are manageable but certainly not pleasant. I eat Mexican food for lunch. Eat your heart out ladies that labor at the hospital and are only allowed jello and ice chips.

3:01 P.M.
Contractions are ranging from 8-30 minutes apart. I go for a walk around the pond behind our house. I walk about a third of a mile and then stay outside for a while with my friends, the kids, and dad.

5:00 P.M.
Go in and roll on an exercise ball. This does the trick. Contractions are still about 10 minutes apart but they are A LOT more intense. The family eats dinner and I retreat into my bedroom and my own world of pain management.

6:00 P.M.
I tell Matt that we need to go. I am tired, I can't deal with it anymore. We are going to go to the hospital and get an epidural so that I can rest for when I have to push. My friend, who has been with me through the majority of my labor, tells Matt and she thinks it won't be much more than an hour before the baby comes.

6:48 P.M.
We get in the car and immediately the contractions start coming every 3 minutes. Matt doesn't know if we will make it to the hospital. Water still hasn't broken- I'm not worried, just in pain.

At the hospital:
I walk in on my own (with out the aid of a wheel chair). When I get there, the nurses clearly don't believe I am as far along as I am saying I am. They tell me to go into the bathroom and change into my gown. I spent a LONG time doing this. Between constant debilitating contractions and knowing that when I came out of the bathroom, they would make me lay in the bed and wouldn't let me get up again, I took my time where I was in control of whether I was sitting, standing, going to the bathroom, etc.

When I came out of the bathroom, the nurse wanted to slowly and painstakingly ask me a million questions. I refused to get into the bed until she was done with this process because contraction pain was more manageable when I was standing. I also couldn't answer her questions when I was having a contraction so this process took a ridiculous amount of time. At one point she says, "well, if we admit you, then you will need to..." I cut her off and told her I wasn't leaving and in fact, I thought I would be having this baby really soon if we could get on with it. She told me that I couldn't have this baby standing up. I gracefully ignored her.

Finally I laid down and she checked me only to find that I was dilated at a 9+ and my bag of waters was so engorged that she thought she was going to accidentally break it while checking me. Then things got busy. The doctor was called in immediately and rushed so much that he didn't even change into scrubs before he came in. They were trying to get an IV in me and the nurse was SO BAD at this that it was the only time I expressed how much pain I was in because the IV in my hand hurt so much. The doctor checked me (and broke my water while doing so) and said we could go ahead and push immediately and told the nurses (after they ruined a vein in one of my hands and bust a vein in the other hand) to forget the IV. This meant no epidural. I remember thinking, "I THINK I am fine with that but I really don't know." My plan had originally been to forgo an epidural but when labor had gone on for SO LONG and I was SO TIRED I didn't know if I could physically make this happen without some rest first.

So, I started to push. Mind you, this is a little after 8:00 P.M. and I had been awake and in labor since 2:30 A.M. I was exhausted. After two pushes I told the team that I couldn't do it. My favorite nurse turns to me and says, "maam, I'm sorry but we can't have this baby for you." I gracefully ignore her.

The doctor says, "I know it hurts and burns but let me tell you what happens every time you stop pushing- the baby pulls back some- so you are undoing the hard work you have done with the push." I tell him that it's not about the pain- I literally don't know if I can physically do it. I am just too tired. He ignores me and tells me to push again.

I realize at this point that no one is going to listen to me. They are going to make me do this, even though I am informing them that I can not.

When the next contraction wracked my body, I held perfectly still so that no none would know I was having a contraction and make me push. I just needed a break. No one believed me but I NEEDED to rest. In deciding to be deceitful at this moment, I knew that I couldn't do this again. This was my one break and I was going to take it and then I was going to have to get this show on the road.

The doctor came over and felt my stomach. He asked if I was having a contraction. I looked him in the eye and said, "I don't know." He gave me a half grin and said, "we'll push on the next one."

It was with the next contraction that I became super human. Matt says, I "Hulked-out." No one had to hold my legs anymore. No one had to tell me to push. I went within and just got the job done. Two pushes later, the head was out. The next push, the shoulders came out. Then we were done.

8:23 P.M.
Nathan was here. All 9 lbs 2 oz of him.