That Sunday night, as usual, I couldn’t sleep. I watched a little TV, and played on the computer for a bit. It was about 4AM when I decided to try to go to sleep. Josh was up and out of the door by 5AM and I was up again at 6:30AM- a bit uncomfortable. About 7:30, I started timing contractions. As you can see below, they were coming very regularly, but I didn’t want to be sent home again from the hospital without our son.
How long they lasted Time in between
55 seconds 6:12
57 seconds 2:10
58 seconds 3:38
53 seconds 2:35
41 seconds 3:09
48 seconds 4:46
1 minute 13 seconds 4:16
1 minute 18 seconds 3:42 29.08 minutes total so far in this sample
Contractions on average lasting 58 seconds
I was keeping in touch with Josh and my mom who both wanted me to call the doctor. When I did finally call MaryAnne, they wanted me to go in. But again, I was afraid of being sent home, so I told the nurse that I would stay home as long as I can. It was probably about Noon or so when mom and I finally go to the hospital, they checked me and I was about 2cm dilated. They hooked me up to the monitors and Mason’s heartbeat looked great and my contractions were definitely staying consistent, but weren’t really gaining in strength for the most part although there were a few doozies in there.
The triage nurses recommended I take a walk as walking can help get things moving a bit more, so about 2PM, Josh, Mom, and myself, hit the floors. We visited the 6th floor, then went down to the main floor and visited the gift shop very briefly, and then by 2:45PM, we were back in our triage room on the 2nd floor. (Quick side story—the whole walk, I was having contractions that were increasingly more painful. When we stopped in the gift shop, Josh and I were kidding to mom to buy this big 4’ tall stuffed giraffe. She was going too, but I kept saying no, no, buy him a little one if you want, but not a huge one like that.)
(the only picture we have of walking... Nice look eh?)
At about 3PM, the nurse came in to check to see how I was progressing and said I was still at about 3cm. She no sooner let me sit up and I felt that icky, drippy feeling. Having been to the hospital with this icky feeling before, I wasn’t getting my hopes up at all. I only assumed it was her gel that she used for the exam so she swabbed me (and it turned blue yay!), but then had another nurse come in and swab a bit deeper. I went to use the restroom and by the time I got back, Josh and Mom both had tears in their eyes and big smiles on their faces, I was being admitted!!!! (When the water breaks, typically, they are not going to send a mama home as I believe there is a 24 hour window to deliver a baby to reduce the risk of infection.) I cried, and cried, and was in total shock—FINALLY, I was in labor and not leaving that hospital without Mason! Ed & Sue surprised us at the hospital (we weren't expecting them for a while) and in no time we were all moved to the delivery room down the hall.
Shortly thereafter, we were visited by the anesthesiologist lady, Mary. We spoke of the epidural, pros/cons, etc., and she told me that I could have it whenever I felt I needed it. Then came the IV tries…. The first try, in my left wrist area, was horrible. Not only was I having a contraction very literally off the charts, but the lady missed my vein and kept digging around in there. My mom was very upset at the lady and Josh was trying to console me as much as possible. Oh my goodness, I don’t know which hurt worse, the huge contraction, or the first IV attempt. The lady wanted to try again, but I needed time. A while later, she came back in and had IV attempt number two in the top of my right hand. She missed again, and I was done. Mom actually walked out of the room. I was crying and crying. I really hate needles anyway and this lady was hurting me so bad. Eeek, hurts me just thinking about it. When mom came back in, here’s what she brought—she said she wanted to make me smile- and it did (and cry too).
FINALLY, Mary, the anesthesiologist lady, came back in, numbed the top of my left hand (which hurt too) and was able to get the IV in. They started me on saline to keep me hydrated. At 6PM, I received the epidural. Eeeek, I was so tired of hurting, and was so tired (still hadn’t slept), that at 6:16, I was reported as feeling “way better!!”. At 6:50PM, they checked me—I was guessing I was dilated to 7cm, but I was off—only dilated to 6cm, but Mason’s head was definitely down where it needed to be. They were guessing Mason was about 7 pounds something…
At 8:26, they checked me and I was dilated to 9cm and they decided to empty my bladder. Next thing you know, we’re ready to go! Our nurse, Michelle, had me take a breath and push (to see what was going on down there) and she only counted to 4 and told me to stop—she needed to go get the doctor right away!
Mason was temporarily ‘hanging out’ while pushing from about his ears up. Once the next contraction came along, next thing you know, 9:04PM, Mason was born! It was really scary though because he was not breathing when he first came out—there was so much goo around him. They laid him on my chest and were trying to suction him, and next thing you know, I remember them telling Josh to hurry and cut the cord. As soon as they did that, they took Mason to the warming station and used the electric sucker and he started screaming!! I was so scared and confused (as I couldn’t see too much of what was going on), but I was so happy to hear him scream. They soon put him back on my chest under a warm blanket. This is the first picture taken of Mason and I from Josh’s cell phone.
After a bit, they took him to be weighed and such. We were all very surprised when he weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 4 ounces, 19.5” long with a 35.5cm head! They also took his footprints. Blake and Sydney were the first to see him which meant a lot to me, and finally Josh was able to hold Mason at about 9:40PM. Then Syd and Blake held him, followed by Grandpa Ed, Mema, Tricia, and Sue. I was able to nurse after everyone went home at about 10:30PM and he got his first bath at about 11:06PM. (Gotta love the data saved by pictures to help me with a timeling…)
We were moved to our other room (#5423) at about midnight. A long, tiring, painful, and beautiful day!!
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