Painter Adventures: The Real Adventure Begins... (Labor & Delivery)

On Tuesday April 15, I had the day off of work and my big concern was paperwork. It was tax day and we still didn't have all my paperwork done for photography. Way to go procrastination. After getting everything done for that, I wanted to get papers filed before little man arrived. I worked on that a good chunk of the afternoon.

My parents and I went to eat at Attie's, a local bar restaurant, in Stone Creek Golf Club. We laughed and said how a week later we could be bringing a newborn to eat. Later, I went to small group and we sat around talking about all the big changes to come. When I got home around 11 pm, I was surprised that Chris was able to get off work early so we set out to get things done "just in case". I put liner in the diaper genie, organized our pack and play (downstairs changing station), and did dishes. Chris loaded both cars with car seat bases and helped clean a bit.

Wednesday April 16th (due date)-

I went to bed around 1 am. I slept great until 3 am. I woke up with some discomfort but this is usual at this point (40 weeks) so I went back to bed until 5. I woke up with a strange feeling but chalked it up to being 40 weeks pregnant and tried to go back to sleep. 10 minutes later I wasn't feeling well again, another 10 later...the same! When I realized they were contractions, I woke Chris up. I told him I didn't want to go to the hospital just yet and instead got in our jacuzzi tub at home. While in the tub, I felt my water break and was bummed because now I had to go yet I was still feeling so great. I made some phone calls announcing that we would have a baby today (hopefully), made sure we had everything, and we made our way to the hospital. I remember feeling like the whole thing was surreal because Chris and I were both so calm and I felt great in between contractions. Chris drove very slowly and I remember telling him that I now understood why people have never been able to describe what labor pain feels like- since I've never felt anything like it before.

We arrived at Presence Medical Center just a bit before 7 am. Chris dropped me off at the door and parked the car; I stood outside calmly while he did. When we got inside, we waited. We waited to be let in the labor & delivery doors, we waited to get a room, and we waited to be seen. I asked someone if I could use their jacuzzi and they said yes so I gladly got in. Finally, we were seen by nurse Peggy and she wanted me out of that water so she could get my vitals. So much for laboring in a tub. She checked me and I was 5 cm dilated and having good contractions. I was doing great until 7 cm (around 9 am) and the pain was becoming unbearable. I felt like soon I would begin throwing up. (No more was the smile on my face.) So, we decided to get an epidural. I had two major contractions during the epidural procedure; this was the worst, most painful point of labor so far. I was fighting the contractions and not properly positioning my back and the guy had to stick me three times. At that point, Chris nearly fainted and nurse Peggy had to take over. (He later told me he couldn't stand seeing me in so much pain.) Once that epidural kicked in, I was one happy laborer. I was fully dilated nearly two hours later and ready to push but that is when we really had trouble with Caleb's hearttones. They had previously dropped a couple of times before while I was being checked but always came back up. At one point they dropped really low and, seconds later, it seemed the entire staff was in my room within seconds. They calmly told me that Chris would be staying in the room and I was going to OR. This of course truly upset me because I knew they wanted to do a cesarean and that was exactly not what I wanted. In addition, Chris was to stay behind which terrified me so, I started crying. We got to the room and they asked why I was crying. This was not the story I had ever expected after such a great pregnancy. Because Caleb's hearttones had gone back up, they allowed Chris back in the room. They then let me try to push. I gave 3 good pushes but Caleb's heart dropped dramatically so they told me to stop. Originally, the midwife had concerns that perhaps Caleb had a cord around his neck. It turned out that he was "sunnyside up" and my contractions were simply too much for him- causing major distress. Chris got to watch Caleb delivered by cesarean. He came out crying and perfect at 11:51 am and weighed in at 7lbs 8 oz. They then told me I had a red head. Unbelievable! I always pictured "white blonde" or dark hair.

Regardless of how it happened, I was so thrilled to meet him and hear his cry. It was 30 plus minutes before I really got to meet him (as they were sewing me up) but he was truly perfect in every way.