Labor

I went into labor on Wed night Sept 1st 2010. After walking a total of about three hours that day I finally laid down for sleep around 11:30 pm. At 11:40 pm I had a contraction that felt different then the ones I had been having the last two days. I felt like something tore inside and then with the next wave of contraction, water came gushing out of me. I couldn't believe how much came out that first time. I shook Tucker awake and asked him to go wake Chelle up who was asleep on the couch cause I was pretty sure my water broke. Tucker tried to wake Chelle up, but she thought he was joking, so she just told him to stop kidding around. Then from the bedroom she heard me yell, "Chelle, we are not joking, and I am getting scared!" She snapped right out of it and came running in. We called mom who told me to get to the hospital cause my contractions were going to start hurting really bad really soon, so better to get there before they do. Tucker laid towels in the back seat and I laid down while Chelle let the hospital know I was coming in.

We got there around midnight on Sept 2nd 2010. After getting through triage where they confirmed that I was in labor, and said only one person could come in, but Chelle and mom talked their way in anyways, they moved me to a labor room. My nurse was Cherri for those first 7 hours between midnight and 7. My contractions were bad, I threw up the meal I had eating the night before, and was left with nothing in my gut. By 6 when they checked my dialation I was sure that I had to be close. Sadly the doctor said I was only at a 4 and a half, but I felt like at least I have progressed a bit.

They suggested that I use the jacuzzi to speed up the process, which I did for the next two hours. When I got threw I was sure I had to be close, cause the contractions had gotten a lot more intense. A new doctor was on shift, Dr. Straus, who checked me and determined that not only was I not at a 4 1/2, I was only at a 3 still, which is what I had come into the hospital at. The other Dr. was apparently a little tired when he checked me that morning, he not only over estimated my dilation, but others as well.

At that point I had been having really hard contractions for about 13 hours, and with nothing making me dialate. The Dr. sugessted that they use patosen, I was not really sure about that idea as I had really wanted to not have to use drugs. We had a chat, Tucker, mom, dad, chelle and I and decided that patosen might be a good idea as the water had broken so long ago, it was important to help my body do what it needed to to have the baby.

So we tried the patosen. It deffinitly made my contractions stronger. I threw up the little liquid I had taken in me and labored hard for another couple of hours. After that, the Dr. checked me and announced that I was still at a 3. This was super deflating to hear as I was barely maintaining sanity through each contraction. He said the only thing that we could do was to up the patosen levels, which meant that the contractions would get even more intense. I knew that my body could not take much more of that, but I new that I couldn't just sit around and hope that my body decided to dialate before my baby got sick from my water breaking.

I asked for an epidural at that point, cause I knew that I wouldn't be able to push him out if I had to try to make it through even harder contractions going on no food or sleep for over 24 hours at that point.

Once I got the epidural and the patosen was upped I was able to sleep for about three hours. When the checked me after that I had dialated to an 8. Finally! Progress! I was so stoked and for the first time realized that I would be able to have this baby, and I would get to meet him soon.

The Dr. had been trained by midwives before becoming an OB. So his skills were awesome! He explained exactly what I needed to do and how to push the baby out. His directions were just what I needed to be confident that I could push him out.

Turnes out, pushing the baby out was the most fun I had had all year! I loved knowing that what I was able to do was bringing my baby to me. Every push was super exciting and I had great cheerleaders helping me get through it. Chelle, Hai, Caitlyn, Mom, Dad, Tucker, Cherri (who was back on shift for round two) and Dr. Straus all encouraged me and got more excited with each push as the baby came down.

I was able to push him out in 40 minutes, and I felt quite accomplished for it.

Tucker annouced that it was a boy, and I couldn't have been more happy!

Tucker Weston had come to meet us!

Tucker was super excited to give him bath, but before he did, I let Weston try the nursing thing out, which he rocked at right away.