Jonathan's birth story

I went in for my 38-week appt on December 26, 2006 and I was still progressing naturally and at about 1.5cm. My dr. asked if I wanted to be induced when she returned from vacation on January 4th, and I said yes! So, she made a phone call to the hospital and said that I could come in on January 5th (39 weeks and 5 days) for induction.

I got checked in to the hospital at 6am, got my IV and pitocin started, got hooked up to the monitors and had an internal. I was still 1.5 cm and contracting regularly on the monitors. Then, I just laid there watching the news and other various programs. The nurse would come in about every 15-30 minutes to adjust the monitors; they would not stay in place, so we kept losing Jonathan’s heartbeat. Around 8:30 am I was at 4 cm and ready for my epidural! The anesthesiologist was with someone else and they told me it would be about 10 minutes. I’m not sure if it took longer than that or if that was the longest 10 minutes of my life! The whole process of getting the epidural only took about 10 or 15 minutes. When I went to lay back down, I told them that my back hurt, but I guess nobody thought this was strange.

Around 9:15 am I felt a popping sensation and a tiny bit of what I thought was liquid dripping (hard to tell as my epidural had already kicked in). The nurse checked and sure enough, my water had broken on it's own. After my epidural was administered my step-mother-in-law and Jeremy kept watching the monitors and commenting on the size of my contractions and marveling at the fact that I couldn’t feel them!

Around 1:00 p.m. I called the nurse in and told her I thought my epidural was wearing off. It was a very strange feeling, not at all like what I felt with Kaylin, which was the urge to push. When the nurse checked me I was at a 10 and ready to push. She had me push with the help of Jeremy and my mom while she went to call Dr. A. My Dr. got there in less than 10 minutes, as her office is on the floor below and just across the hallway from L&D. The Dr. A asked me how long I had pushed with Kaylin, only 45 minutes, and she said the second time is normally quicker. After several sets of pushing and not much progression for a second timer, the nurse commented that she thought Jonathan was Occiput Posterior (OP) meaning his back was against my back instead of him facing inwards, as he should be. We continued on and I pushed for about an hour before the Dr. asked me if I’d like try the vacuum, I told her I wanted to try myself a bit longer. My nurse suggested trying the squat bar to see if that would help and went to get it. After being gone about 5 minutes she returned saying she couldn’t find it. Sometime after this I commented that I thought my epidural was wearing off, things had become so painful. So, the anesthesiologist came back in to give me another dose. So, I tried a bit more myself and finally they broke down the bed and the nurses placed my legs in the stirrups to prepare for delivery. That did the trick! Something about that position got Jonathan moving and finally out! He was born at 2:44 p.m. As soon as Jonathan was out Jeremy started crying, which of course made me start tearing up. Dr. Auers placed him on my tummy before he was whisked off to be cleaned up, weighed, etc. Jeremy went with Jonathan to be weighed, measured, etc. I had received an episiotomy and a small tear and I watched Dr. Auers stitch me up while Jeremy and my mom were off with Jonathan. Jeremy returned to let me know Jonathan weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 ¼ inches long with a 14-inch head circumference.

The whole moment was a blur and I had so many different feelings going through me. I just remember how painful the last few moments were, since he was OP. Within about 15 minutes, the room was emptied and cleaned and was fairly quiet. It was just me, Jeremy, my mom and the baby. A couple minutes later a nurse knocked on the door asking if it was OK if big sister Kaylin, my dad, my step-mother-in-law, and father-in-law came in. Back to being the loud, bustling room I remember!