Finally! He has arrived!
Here is my super long birth story:
I went into my 39 week appointment last Monday (Jan 10th) and had progressed enough that the doctor asked me if I wanted to have my water broken to get things going. I was already having some contractions and decided to have her sweep my membranes and go ahead with scheduling a day/time to break my water.
She came back into the room and asked me how I'd like to have my water broken that next day! (Jan 11th) I didn't know what to say, I honestly thought she wouldn't schedule it until the end of the week! She said that after stripping my membranes she would be surprised if I didn't already go into labor that night. So we called the hospital, they already had 2 C-sections planned and would have to call me later in the day to let me know for sure if we were still on for 7am the next morning. I was so excited but didn't want to get my hopes up in case the hospital decided there wasn't room for me.
I went home in a lot of pain from my membranes being stripped and felt small contractions on my ride home. I had my mom over for dinner and cooked some Eggplant Parmesan to try and get my water to break on it's own! I was really nervous about being induced because with my last son I had a horrible experience. I was induced due to low fluid and when my induction was started I wasn't dilated or effaced at all! That pitocin was horrible.
While making dinner I got a call from my doctors office letting me know we were definitely on for 7am the next morning. I was in shock. No turning back now. So I ran around the house trying to get all of our last minute stuff together (we STILL didn't have our bags packed). Once I calmed down I noticed I was having a few contractions and started bouncing on my ball for a bit before heading to bed around 1am. I of course couldn't sleep and kept having random spaced out contractions that weren't really time-able but definitely had me up and outta bed a couple times.
We got to the hospital around 6:30a, they had my room ready for me and the doctor got there around 8a to break my water. They checked me before hand and I had progressed a 1/2cm during the night and was now a favorable 4 and 80%.
After she broke my water I began walking the halls and doing a couple squats. I was getting worried because my contractions hadn't started and I REALLY did not want that dreaded pitocin. She put me back on the monitors every hour and each time I was on them it showed contractions that I wasn't feeling that were about 10 mins apart! I decided to try the ball at 10am and it seems like almost instantly my contractions started getting longer, stronger, and closer together, Ouch. I've never been happier to be in so much pain, the ball really felt good though and when the nurse came back in I explained to her what I was feeling and we got me back onto the monitors.
My contractions/dilation never stalled and I got my epidural an hour later (11am). Before my epidural I was still a favorable 4 but now 100%. Only 10 mins after it was put in I was 6cm! I guess relaxation really is key when it comes to birthing. The epidural went great minus the fact that my husband fainted!! I think that was the scariest part, he claims he was trying to help me take my mind off of what was going on LOL, right.
She came back to check me at Noon and I had progressed to 8cm. Not even an hour later I was 9cm, she checked me 15 mins after that and I was a full 10cm! She left to get my husband who was eating lunch in the lobby and came back in saying "Ok, as soon as he's done with his sandwich we're gonna start pushing."
This is what took the longest! I couldn't feel anything because they didn't turn the epidural off until the last 1/2 hour. I pushed until 2:35 pm when my gorgeous son finally graced us with his presence! I am sore and had to be cut twice but overall compared to my last labor this one was nothing!
Welcome Kingston Alexander, 7 lbs 7 oz and 21" long.
He is amazing and we love him SO much!
