October 2, 2010

I've always wanted to write down what I remember about Brody's birth so I wouldn't forget. I guess now is a good of a time as any! Warning: This is going to be long!

Photo taken May 5, 2010

We were at our friends', Michael and Michelle, house on Friday, October 1, 2010. We were introducing them to the TV series LOST and were in about the 4th season and 2 days past my due date of September 29. It was late and we were about to go home and started trying to predict when Brody would decide to greet us. (Michael had already said he would come the previous Saturday, but Brody showed him!) I think it was Michael who said Brody would come the next day because he would come during an Alabama football game. I felt completely normal and did not think that would be happening.

Photo taken September 30, 2010

For about a week prior to this night we were trying everything to hurry Brody along. We took our dog, Bo, for a walk around the neighborhood almost every night. We walked up to 3 loops around our neighborhood which added up to about an hour walk. I tried walking slow, walking fast, letting Bo drag me around... nothing! I read somewhere that pineapple was supposed to bring on labor. We bought one, and I ate the whole thing... nothing! We bought another one and I ate some on Thursday night, but it was so late when we got home that Friday night that we decided to forget about the walk and the pineapple and go to bed.

It was about midnight when we went to bed. I woke up around 2 feeling... different. I didn't know at the time that I was in labor. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a little over a week and just thought that was what I was experiencing. I thought maybe I was just too big to get comfortable on our bed anymore so I went into the living room and tried to sleep on the couch. I had my iTouch with me and was timing my contractions. They were coming so often and were getting slightly uncomfortable so I could never fall asleep. I didn't want to wake Kyle up and freak him out if I wasn't in labor, so Bo Dog and I paced around the living room, pausing for contractions. By 4 o'clock I was hurting and decided to wake up Kyle. I woke him up, but still didn't know what to do. So, of course, I called my mom! She told me to call the hospital. I did and they told me to come on in.

I had it in my mind that I would try a natural birth. Everybody told me that I should get an epidural as soon as I was able to, but I was determined to try it. At 4'oclock when I woke up Kyle, I told him "When we get to the hospital, I'm getting an epidural!" He just laughed and said okay. My contractions were getting stronger as we made our way to the hospital in Chattanooga. I was already at the point where I couldn't talk through them anymore. I don't know what time we got to the hospital, but after being monitored for a short time and getting checked-in, I got to my room at about 7am. It had been 3 hours since I woke up Kyle, but it had felt like 10 minutes were all that had passed. They put the monitor on my belly to monitor Brody's heart rate and put in my IV. They kept asking me questions, but I had to wait on the contractions to stop to answer them. They had me bouncing on a ball, which helped a little. The monitors kept slipping on my belly and weren't properly tracking Brody's heart rate. The nurse kept coming in and telling me I had to keep still and keep the monitors in place... better said than done!

After they were done asking me questions, they asked if I was interested in getting an epidural. Yes! Finally! :) I had been 3cm for a while before going into labor. I think I was at 4cm at this point, enough for an epidural! I don't remember much about getting the epidural. I remember that I got to hold on to Kyle while they were giving it to me, that he said it would feel like a bee sting (which it did, it wasn't bad at all), and that I had a contraction while getting it and remembered thinking that I couldn't move even though I was having a contraction. After getting the epidural they checked me and my water broke! I didn't feel it since I had the epidural. They said there was a lot of meconium in the amniotic fluid, which means Brody had already gone potty in me (gross, I know!) which is common when babies are past due. They warned me that when he was born they didn't want him to cry like most babies born because he could inhale it and it could cause problems. They said Kyle wouldn't be able to cut the umbilical cord and that they would do it and take him and suction his mouth out really good as soon as he was born.

Since my water had broken, they decided to try an internal monitor to keep track of Brody's heart rate. When they had it all set up they couldn't find his heartbeat. This was a very scary part of the day! They had me flipping from one side to another, and were frantically looking and calling for the doctor. The doctor wasn't there and they had to call him and he had to come from his house. (Since it was a Saturday I had to see the on-call doctor.) While they waited they decided to try a different cord to the monitor. They changed it out and tried again and found the heartbeat! Yay! I was in shock and was just listening and doing whatever they told me to do. After it was all over they were complimenting me on how well I responded and didn't freak out. Poor Kyle was just sitting on the couch not knowing what to do! I didn't know what to do either so I just put my trust into the nurses and did what they told me to do. They said most women would have flipped out on them.

Apparently, there was a problem with the cord and also with Brody. His heart rate did drop very low, but the cord wasn't working properly either. Finally, the doctor arrived and told us that somebody must have been looking down on us because if he were at the hospital while all that happened that I would have had an emergency c-section and would have already been holding Brody. I was so glad that I didn't have to have a c-section. He then told us that he was going out of town to watch hot air balloons with his family and that the on-call, on-call doctor would be delivering Brody! Good thing it didn't really matter to me at that time! :)

Waiting for Brody, October 2, 2010

After that excitement ended, I was able to just lay there and relax... and wait. My parents arrived at some point (from Alabama) and so did Kyle's parents (from Virginia), my niece and sister-in-law (from Alabama), and Kyle's grandparents (from Gulf Shores, AL). Sometime after they arrived my epidural was starting to wear off. My mom kept telling me that this was a good thing because I needed to feel the contractions to push, but they were really starting to hurt! They got to the point again where I couldn't talk anymore. My sister-in-law took my niece out of the room and Kyle's mom felt bad and did all that she knew to do and pressed the call button for the nurse. I was having a contraction so when the nurse said "Yes?" I couldn't talk! She just kept saying "Yes? Hello?". My mother finally said "We're in pain in here!" They came in and checked me and said I was at 9cm and if I were at 10 I wouldn't be able to get medicine and it would have been time to push. They gave me a sitting epidural (I don't know what the difference is) and it starting working and I felt good again.

On and off throughout the day Brody's heart rate kept dropping. I would jiggle my belly and push on it to "wake him up". They would come in and roll me onto different sides to try and get his heart rate to come back up. It was making me nervous, but I was trusting the nurses. I kept telling them I didn't want a c-section so they were trying everything to make it to where I wouldn't need to have one. They had given me a very small dose of pitocin (which I didn't want) and that could have been making Brody unhappy. They kept turning it down and telling me that they were barely giving me any.

Not long after that it was time to push! They kept saying the head was right there, but it took me an hour to push him out! I asked a friend of mine to tell me the truth about pushing with an epidural and if I would feel any pain. She told me I wouldn't feel pain, just pressure, and it would feel like my head was going to explode from the pushing. She was right! I didn't really feel any pressure, I guess because I had just gotten an extra dose on the epidural, but I did experience the sensation that my head was about to explode! Finally, Brody was born at 5:12pm. They took him and suctioned him and he was fine. He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long. He was perfect!

I told Kyle that with the epidural labor wasn't bad at all! I had the best pregnancy and, other than the heart rate scare, I thought I had a pretty easy labor and delivery too! I told Kyle I could have a baby everyday! Haha! He didn't seem to like that idea very much. :)

So, after feeling great, going to bed, waking up to uncomfortable, painful contractions, heading to the hospital, getting an epidural, scary times, and some pushing, we now have our perfect, fun, smiley, best-ever little boy! We couldn't love him more!

Our Little Family :)