Kayden's birth story

So... 2 weeks later I'm finally getting around to writing his birth story! Things have been a little crazy around here with visitors, and a baby that will not sleep at night unless you are holding him so it's been hard to post! But, right now he is asleep in the cradle so hopefully that's a good sign!

Thursday Sept. 9 I had my 38 week doctor appointment where I was 4-5 cm dilated and 100% effaced. When we got home from the appointment I started having back pain but didn't think anything of it. I had been having this back pain for quite a while and didn't think it could be contractions. However, Nick and I had already decided that we were going to go to the hospital after we ate with friends just to see if they would send us home or not since my doctor was there and pretty much said at my appointment that if I came in that night, she probably wouldn't send me home. So we went ahead and put the bags in the car and went out to eat with some friends. While we were eating my back started hurting a lot more and I decided yes we for sure would be going to the hospital after we ate.

Once we got to the hospital, I could tell that I was definitely experiencing contractions even though it was mostly in my back. They hooked me up to the monitors and watched what was going on for about an hour and the nurse came back in and said yep you're staying! We had gotten to the hospital at 9 p.m. and when they checked me I was 5 centimeters. They were pretty sure that was about what I was at at the doctor's office so they told me that they were going to wait until I had progressed more to give me the epidural... which didn't bother me at all because I really wasn't in that much pain at all. My contractions were not consistent and so I was able to go to sleep at about 12. I woke up at 3 and had to go to the bathroom and once I got back into bed, I started feeling a lot of pain. I called the nurse and she came in and checked me and I was at a 7. I then begged for the epidural and I was able to get that. After the whole epidural process the nurse checked me again and I was already at an 8.... thankful I was progressing fast.

However, during all of this my water still hadn't broken. The head was really low and they kept saying that once my water broke it would be no time at all. The delivery room was really busy that night (we actually bumped out an induction as I took the last delivery room they had.... i felt bad for that poor woman!) and they wanted to wait to see if my water would break on my own. They really thought it would be no time and that my water would break... however at 6 a.m. my water still hadn't broken and I was at 9.5 cm. The water had pushed the head back up a little bit which was a little frustrating but they said they still didn't think it would take me very long. They said once the water breaks I would be pushing right away.... yet they still wanted to see if it would break on its own. FRUSTRATING!

Finally at 8 a.m. my doctor came in and broke my water, which she even commented on how surprised she was that it hadn't broken on it's own. I started pushing right away. They didn't think that all of this would take me very long... so even though I commented about an hour earlier on how I was starting to feel my legs, they pretty much said it's too late for more epidural, leaving pushing to be a little painful. I continued to push but it took me a little while to really get the hang of it. They kept telling me to let them know when I was having a contraction but I really didn't know when I was having one. All I ever really felt was pain in my back and that was pretty constant so I didn't know when I was having a contraction. Finally, at around 9:10 my doctor came in and started helping. The nurse that was helping me throughout had only been in labor and delivery for like a week so once the doctor came in I was relieved... and I knew that since she was there, we must be getting pretty close. I continued to push and at that point I was done. It was getting so painful and I was exhausted.... I didn't know how people who had to push for 2+ hours did it... but I was so done. I kept repeating that I couldn't do it anymore and that I was done. It was hurting really badly and I just physically couldn't do it anymore. That's not exactly the way I wanted to be during delivery but I was physically exhausted and in pain. The doctor (mid pushing) said if i do an episiotomy she would be able to deliver the baby quicker and I screamed OK. She did the episiotomy and within 2 more pushes Kayden was here. All I remember was saying "thank god" whenever he came out... Nick said I didn't cry or anything. They cleaned him up real quick and then put him directly on my chest. It was a pretty amazing experience... but also pretty painful. However I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. He was born at 9:19 a.m. so I really only pushed for an hour and nineteen minutes... but it was a long hour!! I couldn't imagine having to push any longer or having a bigger baby. He was only 6 lbs... and I can't imagine if he was any bigger! Thank goodness I went 2 weeks early!

My mom pretty much has all of the pictures that were taken right after his birth so once I get those I will post them :)