i finally got around to writing micah's birth story. i love reading others birth story and want to share our story with you.
monday
march 25 i had, had contractions on and off for several weeks at this point and
didn't really think much of it when contractions started at 4:30pm. i made supper, spicy thai noodles. i was
trying to eat as much spicy food, pineapple and raspberry tea as possible to
get things going. clint got home an hour later i told him i had a few
contractions and we decided to start timing them since they had been happening
for over an hour. we had plans to go out for wings night with our small group
from church, i wasn’t sure if it was the real deal and i was feeling pretty
good so we headed out.
that
evening i was pulling out my phone pretty consistently, i hate when people are
texting when they are out with friends but my contraction timer was on my
phone. while out the girls were asking me what i would do if i went into labour
and if i would tell them if i was having contractions. i told them i would, but
i never did. we dropped our friends off and got home around 11pm and i tried to
go to bed but after an hour of tossing and turning and realizing that sleep
wasn’t going to happen i moved to the couch and watched tv and let clint sleep
a bit.
tuesday
march 26 all night my contractions were consistently 8-9 mins apart. as my
contractions started getting a bit more intense i paced the hallway and kitchen
and by 4:30am the contractions jumped to 2-3 mins apart. i timed them til 5am
and woke clint up telling him we would probably need to leave in the next half
hour. i went and made coffee, did the dishes and put my make up on, called my mom to tell her it was go time.
i told her that i didn’t feel like my contractions were very intense but wanted
to go in to the hospital since they were close together and we had an hours
drive ahead of us.
both
clint and i were so calm. we both expected that we would be frantically trying
to get out of the house but it was the complete opposite. we were both so
relaxed, although i've never seen clint wake up so quickly. we double checked to make sure we had our
bags, camera, car seat and off we went to the hospital at 6am. clint drove the
speed limit the whole time we were so calm but so excited that soon we would be
holding our sweet baby!
we
got to the hospital around 7 am walked in the emergency entrance since the main
entrance was still closed, my sweet best friend also met us there. the security
guard asked if today was the day and pointed us in the right direction, we knew
where we were going if we went in the front entrance but didn't know the way
from emergency. we headed down the long hallway to the elevators and up to the
third floor. i was so excited at this point. i felt like i'd be holding my baby
in a few hours. we filled out the paper work and i hopped up on the bed to be
checked out. i was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. there was still progress to be
made but i was very excited that i was far enough dilated that i got to stay at
the hospital. next came the dreaded IV. i didn't handle that so well, closest
i've ever come to fainting. the nurse called out we need cranberry juice and a
cold face cloth and two seconds later there was a cloth around my neck and a
straw shoved in my mouth.
the
dr. came in and said i was looking good and but his shift was over so the new
doctor would be coming around right away, i asked who it was and it just so
happened that it was my doctor who was on shift next! i was very excited
because my doctor is fabulous and i was really hoping she would be the one
delivering my sweet babe.
we
got moved into our room, I didn’t want to sit because on the drive in my
contractions had slowed down to 6 mins apart so we started walking the halls.
my mom showed up around 9:30 am with my sister and we started crying because we
were so excited that this was actually happening! we continued to walk the hall
to keep things going. at 11 am the
resident came in and checked me and said that i wasn’t progressing very much
and so they wanted to put me in synto drip to get things moving along. i really
did not want to do this but they hooked me up so that we could get things
moving a bit quicker. i was confined to the bed at this point so i asked for an
exercise ball and started doing squats on the bed. within 30 mins the synto was
working it magic. my contractions increased in intensity and and length. each contraction
lasted two hours with about 30 seconds in between to breath. as time went on
the contractions got more intense and the resident came back and said to up my
synto drip because i wasn’t progressing enough, talk about discouraged! the
nurses looked at her in shock and i said please no! i was curled up in a ball
and moaning, my body was unable to get a break since my contractions were
lasting two hours. i started crying out of frustration, why weren’t things
moving quicker?! after the resident left the nurse checked me and said i was
progressing and i was at 6-7 cm and completely effaced and that she wasn’t
going to increase my synto drip unless my doctor ordered it. i was so thankful
because i wasn’t sure i could handle much more.
clint
and my mom were so encouraging through all of it! my mom kept telling me i was
beautiful and clint kept telling me i was doing a great job and helped with my
breathing. i had mom on back rubbing
duty and clint held my hand and i had to be able to see him at all times.
at
around 4 pm they were having a hard time keeping the monitor on micah because
the contractions had him moving all over and i was curled up. so the resident
came back at 5 pm and hooked up a head monitor to him. i hardly felt human at
this point because i had so many wires and tubes connected to so many different
places on my body. while the resident was there she asked if i wanted an
epidural, i quickly replied no. i heard a quiet gasp sweep the room. after the
resident left clint, mom and the nurse all asked why i didn’t want an epidural
and they all said that i should get one so that my body could have a break and
save some energy for pushing time. the sweet nurse then told me that since this
was my first baby that i would probably be pushing for 2-3 hours. i agreed to
get an epidural since it looked like it would be several hours of crazy two
hour contractions ahead of me.
at
around 6 pm my doctor finally came to check me. i asked if i could go off of
the synto drip and she said yes. Praise the Lord! i got my epidural and was
able to breath for the first time in hours it felt like. however the epidural
only took on the right side of my body. the left side was completely unaffected
by the epidural so the nurses started rolling me from side to side. this caused
micah to get stressed and his heart rate shot up and nurses came rushing in. i
became very worried and was hoping this didn’t mean i would have to have a
section. once they stopped rolling me around micah’s heart rate went back to
normal. a nurse came in to check me i was still at 7cm, ugh! i was hoping i was
closer to the end than that! when she checked me micah’s heart rate went
shooting up again, the nurses flooded in again, they started rolling me around
again. this happened several times and we realized that if my right leg moved
at all then micah’s heart rate shot up. i had to lay still, even if my foot
moved his heart rate shot up. my doctor came back to check me at around 9 pm
and my contractions had slowed down to much so they put me back on synto, i was
not pleased but i knew there needed to be an end to this seemingly endless
labour.
i
felt all the contractions but couldn’t move otherwise micah’s heart rate would
shoot up, so i was squeezing clint’s hand a lot. a nurse came in to check me
around 11:30 pm and said i was 8cm and that if i felt i needed to push that i
shouldn’t because it can cause inflammation and that would make things take
longer yet. we were nearing the end and i was getting excited.
wednesday
march 27, 1 am i NEEDED to push! clint was so encouraging and helped me with my
breathing so that i wouldn’t push. i was so frustrated. i wanted this all to be
over and to be holding my baby in my arms. the nurse checked me and said i was
9cm. i so badly wanted her to say i was 10cm but i remembered what she said
about pushing early so i tried my hardest not to push. the nurse went and
called my doctor and the whole pediatrics crew since little mans heart rate was
going crazy. at 1:30 am i got the go ahead to push, and push i did. i had the nurses voice in the back of
my mind telling me that i would push for 2-3 hours since this was my first
time. that gave me the drive to get this baby out of my. i pushed with all i
had in me, i thought i was going to blow ever blood vessel in my head. the
doctor said i was doing great and only a few more pushes. i thought to myself,
she’s just saying that. the next push she says, “oh babies hand is by it’s
head” i replied, “do i keep pushing?” she never said anything so i kept
pushing. next contraction i was given an episiotomy, clint had to hold my leg
back from kicking the doctor in the face, OUCH! my mom had to lay down because
she got a little light headed. next contraction i gave it everything i had and
told the doctor to pull this baby out of me. i pushed one last time at 2:21am
and then had the most beautiful baby i had ever seen laying on my chest. i asked
clint what it was. he was in shock, his adrenaline had worn off and he turned
white and all he said was “whats, what?” the nurses told him to sit. someone
told me it was a boy. i cried and couldn’t take my eyes off him.
labour
didn’t go anything like i had wanted it to but the end result was getting to
hold my sweet baby boy in my arms so it doesn’t really matter.
micah william alexander enns
march 27th, 2:21 am
8 lbs 8oz
21 1/4 inches
