Sterling's Birth Story

Warning: this is a birth story. I will be talking about anything and everything that happens during a birth. It will be embarassing  (for me) at times and probably gross (to you) so don't read it if you don't want to know. (Also, I wrote this in 2 parts while very tired. I hope it makes sense.)

Sterling Elizabeth Helen was born on Sunday April 10th at 3:08 am. She weighed 8lbs 13oz and was 20 inches long. She currently has blue eyes and brown hair.

Saturday was a normal day. I hadn't been having any contractions at all the whole day. I'd had some through out the week though. At my 39 week appointment with Dr. Webb my cervix was still closed, high and thick. We scheduled an induction starting Monday night and she'd probably be born on Tuesday the 12th sometime.
I wasn't really doing much to induce labor at that point. Brighton was 8 days late so I figured she would too.
We did do some yard work and I raked and helped bag 8 huge bags of leaves. Then I was wiped out for the rest of the day and pretty much laid around doing nothing.
At 9pm I was tired of watching tv so I headed to bed, mess around on the computer trying to find a free download for some relaxation type music. I didn't find one so I rolled over and just tried to relax myself by listening to the wind outside.
Then, I felt this pop/rip/crack in my lower pelvis. I was a little worried, but the baby was still moving around A LOT, so I got up and closed the windows in the living room (i was going to turn the a/c on), then went to the bathroom. I wiped and there was some mucus so I figured I'd lost my mucus plug. I stood up then felt a small gush and sat back down, there was a small amount of liquid in my liner. I was sure my water had broken. So I went back tot he bedroom and called the hospital. I had put a huge pad in, just in case. I told the nurse that I think my water had broken, she told me to come in to see. As I was wrapping up the phone call, a huge gush of water came out. Yeah, my water had broken.
I walked to the top of the stairs and called to Mitchel. When I told him my water had broken he wasn't sure what to do at first. He'd been sleeping and wasn't completely awake. Brighton said "my sister broke your water? She need to fix it". Haha, we both laughed. Mitchel called his mom and she was going to meet us at the hospital. I grabbed my hospital bag, my purse, and a towel to lay on the seat of the car. 
Along the way I had 3 more huge gushes of water. And one more while waiting for Mitchel to park the car.
I wasn't really having contractions. Not painful ones anyway. 

I was wheeled (yeah, my pants were soaked, there was no way, I was walking) into L&D into the triage room. I told the nurse that I could have walked but that my pants were soaked. She's was like, "oh, yeah, lets just get you to a labor room".
Kendall came and got Brighton and I was all strapped with monitors. They'd checked my cervix and I was already at 4cm. Iw as starting to have more contractions now, but they still weren't very painful. I was hoping they'd stay that way, but I knew better.

My water had broken at about 9:45 and by midnight they were getting more intense and more frequent. I was feeling them in my hips more than anything and I couldn't lay on my side like they wanted me to.  I guess the baby was in minor distress (there was meconium in the fluid) and they needed me to be in a postion that was good for her. Well, those positions weren't good for me! I eventually tried the birthing ball, which gave little relief. I was still having intense pains in my hips along with the contrations.
I think at that point I asked for the epidural. I was trying not to get one, but they pain was way more intense than I imagined (no comments on that please!). It seemed like it too the anesthesiologist forever to get there. I kept saying that I couldn't make it through one more contration. I was seriously in agony. I was half way yelling, but I didn't want to. I was trying to breathe through them, but it was so hard, I could barely concentrate. I was having three contrations in a row, then I'd have about a minute break, then three more contractions in a row. I was crying my eyes out in pain. Mitchel didn't even know what to do. I felt bad for him (then another set of contractions would come and I'd forget about him).
Finally Josh came (the anesthesiologist) and we started the epidural. I seriously just wanted him to get it in instead of reading to me all of the side effects and whatnot that he probably HAS to read me. I had a break in contractions while he was prepping my back, but as soon as he started to instert the catheter I had another one. I was so hard to keep still, but I did. I momentarily thought that maybe I could get through the rest of labor with out the epidural, but it was too late, it was in. I think at that point I was like at 5.5cm. I was kind of disappointed that I wasn't farther along.
I had about 45 minutes of no pain, then I started feeling them again. I had a panic button that would give me another dose of the epidural, but for some reason it wasn't working. I got checked again and I was at 7 cm.
I have no clue what time this all was happening. After the epidural started wearing off I lost track of everything. It must have been close to 3am (she was born at 3:08) and I was back to feeling all of the contractions. The panic button wasn't working even though I was repeatedly pushing it. I turned to the nurse and told her that I needed to push and that I was feeling pressure. She said don't because I was only 7 cm and if I pushed too soon my cervix would swell and I'd need a c-section. So I tried not to push. But then I felt like I needed to poop (and I did, I pooped with out even trying right there on the table). I screamed at one point that I needed to push and that I was. I couldn't help it.

3 am was when the nurse's shift changed, a new nurse was there, but the first nurse (jennifer) stayed. I was glad. They went and got the doctor, put my feet (not my legs) on the stirrups and told me to wait for a contraction and push. I was in such terrible pain, that I could barely think to recognize a contration. I was crying because I'd pooped on the table, I was crying because the new nurse (kayla) was in the way and Mitchel couldn't reach my hand, I was crying because I could feel the baby's head crowning. The doctor (not my ob Dr. Webb) was telling me to grab my thighs and pull back and I physically couldn't do that. I was pressing my feet into the stirrups and pushing that way. I could not grab my thighs. I think I pushed about 3-4 times while her head was crowning (worst pain ever). Then, when her head came out, I pushed 2 more times and she was out. It was instant relief. They weren't able to put her on my belly because of the meconium in the amniotic fluid, but she was right next to me in the crib. They had gotten her all cleaned up and seemed to be standing around. I really wanted to hold her and was reaching my hand out and touching her. I guess I had a 2nd degree tear and the doctor was stitching that up. I said "can I have my baby please?", and no one seemed to hear me. Finally the doctor was like, "umm, can we get her the baby?" I guess they were waiting on orders to be put in the computer for the hep b shot. The doctor was like, no, just give her the baby. So i finally got to hold her. She was beautiful and I cried and I couldn't wait to sit up and see her better.

Everything after that was kind of a blur. The doctor got done with me and the nurses were talking to each other and to me (no clue what they were saying). I got the huge maxi pad and the ice pack (that was nice).
Sterling was amazing. She latched on right away and nursed for a few minutes. But we were both exhausted.

I don't think I slept at all the rest of the morning. The nurse had to come in every so often and she checked my stomache and pushed on it really hard (ouch!). I guess she was trying to get all the fluid (not going into too much detail) out. I think Mitchel fell asleep at some point which was good, he didn't need to see all that.

So that was the story of Sterling's birth. I didn't want an epidural, but I'm glad I got one even though it didn't work because it allowed me to rest for a bit and make it through to the end. I'm halfway glad I was able to feel the last part of labor and delivery. Even though it was excruciatingly painful, it was all worth it in the end.

I didn't have any of the side effects from the epidural that I had last time. I was able to walk to the bathroom and pee about 5 hours later (i probably could have done it sooner, but they wouldn't let me).

That's the end. We had a good stay at the hospital. Sterling was born at 3:08am on Sunday and we left about 2pm on Monday afternoon. Breastfeeding has been a bit of a challenge. She needed to have the underside of her tongue clipped at 2 days old because she couldn't extend her tongue out enough to get a good latch. I haven't been able to use the cloth diapers yet. They were catching on her belly button. Hopefully next week we can get going with those.

More to come later maybe if I ever remember to keep up with this blog.