Labor and Delivery

It all started on Saturday evening January 9, 2010 at about 9:00pm. I started having regular contractions that were about 7 minutes apart. I had been having contractions all week in the evening, however, when I would do something else than what I was doing when they started (usually sitting on the couch… checking fb! Ha Ha) they would stop. This time was different though… I was doing different things, and they kept coming… and they were stronger than the ones I had been having as well. At about 11pm I told Jeff I thought this was it and he said, “OK… I’m going to bed” My thoughts… (WHAT? Are you serious???) I decided I would try to go to sleep and see if they kept coming. I think I was able to doze off a bit in between here and there, but some of them kept waking me up. Finally, I had one at about 2:00am that about kicked me out of bed it was so strong. This IS it, I thought! They were about 5 mins apart so I thought I would get up and see if they continued. They kept coming… and they started to get more regular. At about 3:45 I woke Jeff up and told him this was it, and that he had to start getting ready. He packed the car, got dressed, ate some cereal and then… lay back in bed and provided meaningless entertainment! The nerve! : ) I am glad he was able to rest as I paced the bedroom in pain! Finally at about 5:00am, I told him we had to go now. They were getting to the point that I couldn’t talk through them and had started to come at about 3 minutes apart.

We got to the hospital - literally a mile away - and waited for the resident on duty to come and check me. As he got there, I was in the middle of a contraction and the Dr said, “Before I even check you, I am going to say you are in labor”. Ya think? So he checked me and I was 5-6 cm dilated. Woo Hoo! I was admitted at 5:45am! They hooked me up to the IV and did blood work, and naturally as soon as I got in bed, they started to slow down again. Then one of the nurses came back and said that my platelet count was low and that they might not be able to do an epidural, they would have to do more blood work to see. (Ha – me… with no epidural… yea right!) So, they drew more blood and we waited. Meanwhile (at about 6:45) my Dr. who was on call until 8 came in and checked me. She was like; maybe if you are at 9, we’ll just break your water and do it, without the epidural… (Ha! Ok!) Thankfully, she checked me and said I was still a 6; Whew – time to wait for the epidural! Luckily, the testing came back with positive news and I was able to get the epidural. I got the epidural at 8:20 and then at about 8:50 my Dr. that was now on call came in and broke my water. At 9:50 I was checked again and was only 7 cm… ugh!!! Just kept waiting… At 11:05 my nurse asked if I felt any pressure to push or anything, frustrated, I said no and wasn’t expecting that I had progressed much and that they would have to give me pitocin. She checked me, and as she is checking me she asks, “You don’t feel pressure to push”? Nope! Well, come to find out, I was at 10 cm. Since I didn’t have the urge to push we waited some. At 11:50 I started pushing… and pushing… and pushing, to no avail. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything and the baby wasn’t moving down much. At 12:15, I started pushing with the tug-of-war style with the Dr. I had heard about this technique, but hadn’t ever used it. Again, not much success, and it was much more draining on me than regular pushing. I was able to move the baby down some, and it was then that the Dr. was able to tell that the baby was posterior (face up… not the “natural” position to be in for birth). I went back to regular pushing, but the baby was not budging. The Dr. asked if I wanted some help, as he could tell I was fading (who wouldn’t be… I had been up since 2 am) so, I said sure. The Dr. said he would do a forceps delivery. I signed a waiver for a forceps delivery and possible c-section. I knew once he added the possible c-section to the waiver that he was not confident that he was going to be able to get the baby out. Let’s just say, from that moment on, it was not pretty. It was very painful, there was a lot of screaming and yelling (both me and the Dr.), and a lot of tearing. The Dr. got the head out, and then the shoulders were squared, and there was a lot more screaming, yelling and tearing, to get the shoulders adjusted to get out. Jeff was sitting in a chair behind the army of nurses and every now and then would shout, “You’re doing great”. Later, he described it as the most disturbing thing he has ever seen in his life.

At 1:07pm Cole Beckham was born!!! 8 lbs 2 ozs and 21 inches

Cole was grunting when he was born, so he was immediately taken to the nursery to be checked out. He had fluid in his lungs and also pneumothorax, air that had leaked into his chest cavity from burst alveoli. They had to put him on increased oxygen and they put him on an IV. He also had to receive antibiotics.

He had to remain in the nursery until about 5:00pm the following day. I had to go down and nurse him, and every time he nursed, they decreased his IV some, until he was completely off of it.

I was finally all stitched up shortly after 2:00pm. I asked the Dr. how many stitches, and he said, “lots”! Nice! He said that with all the tearing and stitching that I basically had a vaginal c-section. The nurses also said that Cole’s XL chest and shoulders hadn’t helped in that matter much and that there was no way he would have come out without the forceps.

At about 5:00 the nurse wanted me to get up and get in the shower. I got up and went in the shower and as soon as I got in there, I knew I was going down. I pulled the cord, the nurse came in, and I said, “I’m going”… then I passed out! They had to use the smelling salt to wake me, and then they got me back into bed for a couple more hours!

We had to stay in the hospital for at least 48 hours so Cole could receive his antibiotics. We were discharged and came home on Tuesday January 12th at about 4:00pm.