The birth

Luke's birth was way different then our other 2 children.  I was scheduled to check in at the Parker Hospital at 9pm on Dec. 27th.  It was so wierd knowing that I would be having a baby soon, yet not being in labor yet.  The whole day was long b/c I knew I needed to accomplish as much as possible before leaving for the hospital.  I cleaned, did laundry, played with the kids and cleaned some more.  My sister Michelle came over in the afternoon and cleaned my whole fridge (inside and out) and vacuumed the whole house for me!

We left at 6:30 to bring the kids to my parents house.  We put them to bed around 7:30ish and then hung out with my mom and dad, Michelle and Todd.  We ate lots of Christmas leftovers and goodies.  At 8pm I called the hospital to see if we were still being induced and they said yes, come at 9.  We hung out and then I was given a blessing before we left the house.

We drove to the hospital and talked and laughed as we drove.  We walked into the hospital with smiles on our faces....signed papers with ease and then were shown to our luxurious room.  It was huge!!! I was told to change into the gown and then I was monitored and baby was monitored for an hour.  After that I was hooked up to an IV and started getting antibiotics (I had tested positive for strep B).  This was the plan for the WHOLE night, so she said she wasn't even going to check me....just for us to relax and sleep if I could and pitocin would be started at 5am.  I was given an ambien to sleep and then actually slept for about 4 hours (i've never slept before birth b/c I've been up all night with contractions.)

Rob actually had a full pull out bed, we each had our own pillows and slept semi comfortably til 4 or so...that's when nurses started coming in and out of the room.  I wasn't started on pitocin until 5:45am.  Then I was checked and I was.....drumroll.....dialated 2 cm.  What? Are you kidding me?  I had been contracting all week and so I was for sure it would have been a 3.  Disappointment set in.  Baby's head was also stationed at a -3, so that's as high as they measure I believe, so that also was not great news.

The nurse slowly increased the pitocin every 1/2 hour.  The contractions were where she wanted them to be, strong and 2 minutes apart, an hour and a 1/2 later.  She told me that if I wanted an epidural I could do it at any time.  She also warned me my Dr. would come in around 7ish and break my water.  So, I opted to have her call the anesthesiologist and get the epidural before my water was broken.  The epidural went ok but only numbed 1/2 of my body the right 1/2 could feel pretty much everything.  So....when the Dr. came in he thankfully said he would come back soon to break my water after the epidural was properly working.  The anesthesiologist readjusted the epidural, but hours later I was still completely numb on one side and the other side just semi numb.  It was quite an odd experience.

My Dr. ended up not coming back for 4 hours.  He had a c-section that ended up transferring to the OR, which I think means it was not good.  He also was happy at 7am and grim at 11am.  From 7am to 11am the nurse checked me a couple times.  I dozed in and out of sleep (so obviously I was only semi feeling anything) and Rob went and had breakfast in the cafeteria.

At 10ish I was a 3, maybe a 4 but the nurse felt something funny and wasn't sure it was the baby's head so she freaked us out and had another nurse check and she said everything was fine, and I was a 4 during contractions.  Head still at a -3.

Dr. came and broke my water at 11:30am.  I was then told that I was a 6.  He would be back to check in awhile.  The nurse had me sit up so gravity could help move baby's head down.  I told Rob to go get lunch so that he would be ready.  Called my mom (who was watching the kiddos) and told her it might be a good time to get down to the hospital.  She got there 40 min. later.

While Rob was gone I started feeling a lot of pain and by the time he got back I was freaking out telling him get the nurse my epidural is broken.  Nurse had just changed something on the epidural so I thought she didn't do it right.  She came 10 min. later.  Just as she came my Mom had just arrived.  I was crying and holding the bed in extreme pain wondering what was going on.  Nurse said well let me check your epidural, make sure it's not pinched....they had to turn me a tiny sideways and WHAM I felt a huge pain/pressure down there.

Okay, let me check you the nurse said as I was hyperventilating.....okay, it's not your epidural, you're having this baby.  Let's get you set up to push.  She also called anesthesia...they put something in my epidural to help out which would take 10 min. to kick in.  I started pushing (which felt way better then just sitting there). After 10 min. I felt so much better, still pushing but had relief from pain.  Then the nurse said let's try a different pushing position b/c baby was having a hard time getting around the pelvic bone.

2 pushes later she said, "STOP Brooke, STOP".  Luckily my Dr. walked in the room put on gown and gloves and then they let me finish pushing the baby out.  He almost missed the birth and I would not have been able to wait any more then I had to.

I was incredibly lucky and did not tear or have an episiotomy.  I went from a 6 to a 10 in an hour or so and from -3 to +2 in that same time.  It was insanely quick once the water was broken.  The whole process took from 5:45 till 1:04pm.  Realistically the contractions weren't close til 7AM, so 7 til 1pm.  Shortest and easiest (even though labor and birth is not easy) process yet!