TM’s Birth Story – Part 1

Thursday March 10, 2011:

This is my last pregnant picture. 39 weeks and 5 days!

Let me start by saying I had an amazing birth experience with very few complications. Being induced worked amazingly well for us but that’s not always the case. We were beyond blessed to have such an awesome experience with everything going better than planned – for the most part.

 

I woke up Thursday morning around 3:30. I couldn’t sleep. This is the day I will finally meet my baby! The day I will no longer be pregnant – thank God! We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 and there was so much I felt I needed to do. I showered and dried my hair and put on makeup – a luxury of being induced! I had plenty of time to make myself feel pretty. (I wish you could see me now! I do good to bathe every day!) We got everything ready, got the car packed and in true Denton fashion we pulled out of the driveway at 6:30. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be our birth story if we weren’t late.

Berty made it to the hospital in record time and we were checked in and ready to go by 6:45. Once in the room I got to pee in a cup because when you’re pregnant people are obsessed with your pee. You can’t go anywhere without giving someone a specimen! The cups at the hospital are larger than the shot glasses you pee in at the doc so I’m pretty sure I didn’t pee on myself. The nurse started my iv – which hurt like hell, strapped on the fetal and contraction monitors, and we waited for the doc to come break my water.

Dr. Smith came in at 7:30 to break my water and get the party started! I was 3cm at this point. Now, it took 40 forevers for him to break my water. Apparently I had a “tough” bag. This part wasn’t that bad just a lot of pressure and lots of things shoved all up in my business. The instrument used to break your water is a standard crochet hook – seriously. It took about 5 minutes for my bag to finally break and once it did the doc left and homegirl’s heart rate dropped from the 130’s to the 70’s and then – nothing. While JP and my nurse made nurse faces at each other and tried to pretend like everything was hunky dory, I freaked. They finally located her heart rate and I had to lay super still to make sure she was going to be okay.

Moving on from the dramatics….

This is after he broke my water and right when the Pitocin was started – obviously before the contractions became intense.

Last photo as a family of 2 – minus the fur children of course!

The early morning was pretty uneventful. Contractions started getting stronger soon after the Pitocin was started but they really weren’t that bad – at first. I knew I wanted an epidural and because I was 3cm when I got there, they told me I could have my epidural as soon as I wanted it. I was a little scared sh*tless of the epidural so I wanted to hold off as long as I could.

The doc came in and checked me again around 11 and I was 4 cm. They offered my some iv pain meds and I was afraid it would effect the baby so I declined – until I had an awesome contraction and I decided that TM probably wouldn’t mind being doped up to help her momma out!

 

Before Stadol:

After Stadol:

The pain meds took the edge off and I enjoyed socializing with all my visitors and trying to rest for the last time – ever. No really.

Aunt Courter, my mom, and Aunt Nini – my SIL

We had lots of friends and family come by throughout the day and I felt pretty good for the hour or so following the pain meds! I could feel the contractions getting stronger and I grew some balls finally asked for my epidural. The last 2 contractions that I felt were ridiculous. The worst pain I have ever felt. We need to take a moment to recognize those who labor without any meds, like none. You rock! There’s no way in hell I would have survived. I was in tears by the time the doc came in with the goods!

I was at 5cm when I got my epidural at around 1. Half-way there! And the epidural was not bad at all. The shot you get before they put the epidural in is really not that bad. The worst part is trying to be still through the contractions. It took maybe 5 minutes total for him to put it in. 15 minutes later I was feeling nothing and it was amazing!

This amazing feeling lasted about an hour and we partied it up in our room with lots of our favorite peeps!

Me and my daddy!

Check back for part 2 of the story – I need to try and sleep while TM is actually sleeping!