I woke up to this text message and an immediately horrendous contraction. They started fast and strong, only 3 minutes between each 30 second contraction. After half an hour, I decided these were the real deal and I wanted to go to the hospital now. Considering we live an hour away from my chosen hospital, I felt that was a wise decision. I also had my labor and delivery nurse already setting up a room for me.
The drive started behind the oldest man in the neighborhood, driving two miles per hour on our street. He nearly stopped turning a corner! Travis passed him while yelling we were having a baby. We saw a beautiful red, gold, and blue hot air balloon on the drive down. I felt it was a good luck sign. Travis only sped a little on the highway, and it was a bit of a blur because I was so much pain. He maybe ran a red light when we were down the street from the hospital, but I can neither confirm nor deny such an accusation. Don't worry, the intersections were empty if any infraction occurred. At this point, I felt like Phillip's head was going to come out at any moment. The pressure was immense, the contractions were quick and excruciating. Visions of epidural danced in my head.
Upon checking in the receptionist seemed shocked I had a room reserved, since standard procedure for a pregnant lady in "labor" is mark as outpatient then the doc decides if you are actually in labor. Since Braxton Hicks can be painful this policy makes sense. However, I just traveled 45mins to an hour so I don't want to drive back. That, and something told me I was too far dilated to not give birth even if contractions ceased. I told the receptionist, "I know people upstairs." Technically, I only know my cousin Renee, (one of the senior labor and delivery nurses here).
Renee came to wheel me upstairs, a little too cheerful despite my obvious pain. At this point I'm already 5cm almost 6, too fast! She got my iv in, popped the vein in my left hand, but magically the iv was good and she didn't have to poke twice. I needed to get the whole bag of fluids, and in before I could get my begged for epidural. The anesthesiologist could not come soon enough, but he had 30 minutes to respond to the call(10:43pm). He showed up as Renee offered to take the edge off with fentanyl. I turned to Travis and immediately mouthed the words, "I'm stoned."(10:45am) I felt high, and voiced as much. It did indeed helped the contractions. I began to profusely thank Renee, my new favorite person. At this point I've already dilated to 8. I also said, next time lower the dose just a little. Renee laughed and said she couldn't give me a lower dose. While still happy-go-lucky drugged, my new best friend came in, Mr. Jason the anesthesiologist. He was already ten times better than the lady who gave me the epidural for Bri, the mean lady who kicked Travis out and nagged at me for "asking too many questions". He was friendly and let Travis stay in the room.
He administered the epidural like a champ, I didn't feel anything! Fortunately, the fentanyl only lasted 20 minutes. I had my senses back, and the epidural began to work. I wanted strawberry feels massage bar rubbed on my iv-free hand just to smell something nice. I still knew my contractions were happening, but on a pain scale went from a 9 to a 3. Thank heavens for modern medicine. I could breath and close my eyes for a bit(11-11:30am) while the contractions prepared my body for child birth. I started shaking, which is normal when transitioning from 7 to 8cm. Then the doctor checked me. Not quite a nine and a half, they wanted my cervix to disappear. I ask a lot a questions like "what happens if I'm not at 10 and push? Can I push, I feel the urge to push?", so I got a fun explanation of how we don't want my cervix to tear(scar tissue can cause pain during future menstruation cycles, and complications for future births) and it pretty much disappears somewhere unknown.
I felt like I could give birth at any moment. At noon we all made our weight and birth time predictions, and it was obvious he'd be out within the hour. Dr. Little-12:13pm Travis-12:22pm Mom-12:16pm Renee-12:25pm Me-12:23pm (when I was born). I pushed for 30 minutes, relying heavily on the mirror to help focus my pushes. I felt little pain, lots of pressure, and when my contractions happened. The magic of modern medicine. His heart rate dropped for a few minutes so the doctor used the vacuum to help him out. I pushed for about half an hour.
Phillip Matthew Meredith was born at 12:26pm on November 14th. He is 7lbs 10Oz and 19.5" long. He cried the sweetest cries for a a few minutes before staring at me. He is beautiful! I was so glad he was just as cute as Bri was. It was fear I wouldn't think he was cute, or he wouldn't actually be cute. And so far his demeanor is as happy as a clam.
Total labor time almost exactly 5 hours.
Pushed for roughly half an hour.
