On Monday around 6 a.m I woke up and was having contractions every 15 minutes apart. I just laid in bed timing them until Erik woke up at 7 a.m. I let him know I was having contractions and we decided it would be ok for him to go into work, but he needed to have his phone near. After he left I started walking up and down the street trying to induce something, anything! Brittany and Bryce even joined me for a few laps. My contractions got as close as 6 mins apart and Erik decided to go ahead and come home. As soon as he walked in the door I had about 5 more sets of contractions and then they just stopped. Needless to say we were pretty devastated.
At 3:30 a.m the next day I awoke with contractions again, but these were much more intense and 4-5 mins apart lasting 45 seconds. My back was in so much pain during the contractions and I tried everything to relieve the throbbing. Finally at 7 a.m I could take no more and I woke Erik up. We decided to call the doctor's emergency line and ask if she thought it was time to head to the hospital. About 30 mins went by and no call back (she apologized later, she was delivering a baby by c-section) so we called the hospital and they said, sounds like you should come in and we will check you.
We made it to the hospital and they put us in Triage. As soon as I got changed they hooked me up to the monitor and we could hear Easton's heartrate as well as see my contractions. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to 1 1/2cm. She let us know that it didn't look good because will all the contractions I was having and how close they were I should be farther along. She said I will give you the opportunity to walk for 30 mins and we will check again. I was so determined to walk this baby out I was like racing around the hospital as fast as I could. At one point Erik asked if we could slow down! Really! We got back to the room and guess what, no change. She said it looks like we will be sending you back home, but let me call your doctor. Of course we were upset and I was trying to process how I would manage this back pain at home. She returned about 10 mins later and said, well your doctor said your cervix is favorable and wants to go ahead and induce you. Erik and I were shocked, we were sure we were going home. Reality set in and the tears started to flow. Could I really do this?
A nurse came in and put in my IV. I've never had an IV and was very nervous about this part. Well, of course she would get it in a then my vein would blow. So, she had to put it in again in another vein. As soon as she left I started sweating and told Erik I really thought I was going to throw up or pass out. He was fanning me like crazy and finally after 10 mins I felt normal. When it was all said and done this was the worst part of labor, for sure! After they inserted the IV we had to wait 3 hours for a room to open up. Really! They never fill up, but of course on the day we're having a baby they would!
When we got to our room around 12 and they stared the pitocin drip. She said she was going to start me off slow and then increase the drip every 15-30mins. Right away I could fill my contractions getting more intense and I was using my deep breathing techniques to deal with the pain. Around 2pm the doctor came in a broke my water. I asked if it would hurt and she said no, but it was slightly painful. When she broke my water she said that it was a good thing she decided to take the baby because he had, had a BM. I immediately started to panic thinking back to what I had read and this happening and how Easton could inhale his BM and become very sick. She let me know that she wasn't worried, it happens a lot. Of course that wasn't much comfort to me.
As soon as my water was broke she told me I could ask for the epidural and of course I said, "Uh, yes please!" About 30 mins later the anesthesiologist came in and was so sweet. He talked me through everything and when it was all said and done the epidural was not bad...it just took a lot longer than I had originally thought it would. Almost immediately afterward I was absolutely pain free. I had a slight headache and thought about going to bed, but I was too excited about meeting my son to sleep.
About an hour later Dr. Westerholm came in to check my progress and I was only at a 3 or 4. She told the nurse to up my pitocin and she would be back to check later.
She came back around 5pm and I was only measuring around a 7. Dr. Westerholm said she had to go and deliver her 3rd baby of the day and then she would be back. She was sure I would be ready to push.
Around 6 she came back and said that I was almost full. Erik immediately got my parents and best friend Tara on SKYPE in the hopes that the doctor would allow us to let them watch since they couldn't be there. We were hoping to video tape the birth, but because Easton had, had a BM they told us that we couldn't videotape because they didn't know what they would have to do when he came out. They said he may have to be rushed to the NICU.
I was talking to my parents and Tara via SKYPE when the doctor came in around 7:30 checked me and said, lets have a baby! She thought having my parents on SKYPE was a great idea and even talked to them as well. Everyone got into position and around 7:40 I started pushing. And now I know why it is called labor, holy cow! Around 8:00 I remember pushing and watching Dr. Westerholm's face...she went from calm to concerned very quickly. She told me she needed me to push as hard as I could and 3 pushes later at 8:03 she had to cut me to help Easton out. Easton had his umbilical cord wrapped loosely around his neck twice and once around his body. As soon as she unwrapped him, Erik quickly cut the cord and instead of putting him on me they had to put him in the cart and they stuck a tube deep down in his throat. He had yet to cry so of course the room was silent and I started to well up with tears when I heard the most wonderful noise I have every heard, my son's first cry! He was perfect. He even scored a 9 out of a possible 10 on the Apgar and they let me know, no one ever scores a perfect 10. After their assessment and the doctor was done sewing me up they brought him over to me to breastfeed. After some help from the nurse Easton was able to latch on and I was in awe of my precious little son. As soon as he was done breastfeed we let family in to meet him for the first time. He was wide awake and so alert looking at everyone.
About 20 minutes later he was given his first bath and had his footprints taken. As soon as he was finished we got moved to our postpartum room. Easton breastfeed well and then would sleep every two hours only to wake to eat. We were thankful for some sleep and a content baby!
Here are some pictures of our amazing day!
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