Well the remaining weeks at work went well. It's still overwhelming but I'm really excited about the opportunity. The week of my due date (May 27th) I was done being pregnant and told my boss May 28th would be my last day. The doctors appointments were telling me that baby was fine but we were no where near labor and/or dilation. It was depressing.
After my last day of work I spent some time trying to relax and get ready for baby. Saturday Mom and Mike worked on getting flowers planted around the house. I watched from a chair and crossed my fingers something may happen while they were there. Of course nothing did and after the flowers were all planted Mom went home and Mike and I got ready to meet up with Cam and Paul.
Cam and Paul came up from South Bend to spend some time with us since the little one was running late. We had a super nice dinner and then went to see Robin Hood at the theaters. Mike and I didn't get to bed until midnight. At 2:30 a.m. I woke up having a contraction. I didn't get too excited because I've had a lot of false alarms. I got up and tracked the contractions and they were consistently 3 minutes apart. I woke up Mike at 3 to let him know things started. I labored until with consistent 3-5 minutes apart contractions for a few hours.
Around 5 a.m. I started having back labor and it was excruciating. We did all we were taught to in our classes to help turn the baby but by 8 a.m. I was in what is considered the transition stage of labor. I was pretty rough. We decided to go to L&D to get checked. After hanging in a little room laboring for another hour, they determined I was BARELY at 1 cm. They had us walk around the hospital to see if labor progressed.
Two really, really long hours later they checked me again and I was just at 2 cm. It was depressing. At this point in time we were still hoping to have a natural birth. Although I admit I was wavering. The doctors offered to admit me and start on pitocin but I was against any drugs to make the contractions worse considering I thought they were all I could take as they were. In the end we decided to go back home to labor some more and come back later when I would hopefully be further along.
Six long hours later and many sobbing sessions, frequent position changes and consistent 3-5 minute back-labor contractions, Mike took me back to the hospital. About this time I had been in "labor" for 17 hours. When I was checked in the room I had made it to a grand total of 3 cm, only 1 cm better than when we left. I was pretty broke down at that point. I told I Mike could not do it anymore and I needed something, anything to take the edge off.
After being admitted they gave me two doses of IV drugs to take the edge off. I have to say they were crap and did NOTHING for my pain. I felt in pain AND buzzed at the same time which didn't really help anyone. In the end I was demanding an epidural and Mike finally gave in. He was supposed to keep me away from them (for birth plan) but in the end he agreed the pain was too much for me to handle when I still had 6 cm to go.
After the sainted anesthesiologist gave me the epidural I was in heaven. I could still feel the contractions but they were nothing compared to what I had gone through so long. Doctor broke my water and stripped my membranes hoping to progress labor now that I was calm. Three hours later they came back and I had dilated to 4 cm. It's about 9 p.m. now and they decided I wasn't going far on my own. At 9:30 they started pitocin. By midnight they checked me again and I had made it to 5 cm. I was highly discouraged and the doctors were warning me it wasn't looking good for a vaginal delivery.
In a last ditch effort, they increased my pitocin again and gave me another 3 hours to dilate. In the end they actually waited 4 and when they checked me at 4 a.m., I hadn't changed a bit since my last check at midnight. I never made it past 5 cm.
At this point they said it's obvious the baby is either too large to fit or he's in such a position that he just can't come down anymore. I was immediately taken for an unscheduled c-section and 40 minutes later the whole thing was FINALLY over.
After my last day of work I spent some time trying to relax and get ready for baby. Saturday Mom and Mike worked on getting flowers planted around the house. I watched from a chair and crossed my fingers something may happen while they were there. Of course nothing did and after the flowers were all planted Mom went home and Mike and I got ready to meet up with Cam and Paul.
Cam and Paul came up from South Bend to spend some time with us since the little one was running late. We had a super nice dinner and then went to see Robin Hood at the theaters. Mike and I didn't get to bed until midnight. At 2:30 a.m. I woke up having a contraction. I didn't get too excited because I've had a lot of false alarms. I got up and tracked the contractions and they were consistently 3 minutes apart. I woke up Mike at 3 to let him know things started. I labored until with consistent 3-5 minutes apart contractions for a few hours.
Around 5 a.m. I started having back labor and it was excruciating. We did all we were taught to in our classes to help turn the baby but by 8 a.m. I was in what is considered the transition stage of labor. I was pretty rough. We decided to go to L&D to get checked. After hanging in a little room laboring for another hour, they determined I was BARELY at 1 cm. They had us walk around the hospital to see if labor progressed.
Two really, really long hours later they checked me again and I was just at 2 cm. It was depressing. At this point in time we were still hoping to have a natural birth. Although I admit I was wavering. The doctors offered to admit me and start on pitocin but I was against any drugs to make the contractions worse considering I thought they were all I could take as they were. In the end we decided to go back home to labor some more and come back later when I would hopefully be further along.
Six long hours later and many sobbing sessions, frequent position changes and consistent 3-5 minute back-labor contractions, Mike took me back to the hospital. About this time I had been in "labor" for 17 hours. When I was checked in the room I had made it to a grand total of 3 cm, only 1 cm better than when we left. I was pretty broke down at that point. I told I Mike could not do it anymore and I needed something, anything to take the edge off.
After being admitted they gave me two doses of IV drugs to take the edge off. I have to say they were crap and did NOTHING for my pain. I felt in pain AND buzzed at the same time which didn't really help anyone. In the end I was demanding an epidural and Mike finally gave in. He was supposed to keep me away from them (for birth plan) but in the end he agreed the pain was too much for me to handle when I still had 6 cm to go.
After the sainted anesthesiologist gave me the epidural I was in heaven. I could still feel the contractions but they were nothing compared to what I had gone through so long. Doctor broke my water and stripped my membranes hoping to progress labor now that I was calm. Three hours later they came back and I had dilated to 4 cm. It's about 9 p.m. now and they decided I wasn't going far on my own. At 9:30 they started pitocin. By midnight they checked me again and I had made it to 5 cm. I was highly discouraged and the doctors were warning me it wasn't looking good for a vaginal delivery.
In a last ditch effort, they increased my pitocin again and gave me another 3 hours to dilate. In the end they actually waited 4 and when they checked me at 4 a.m., I hadn't changed a bit since my last check at midnight. I never made it past 5 cm.
At this point they said it's obvious the baby is either too large to fit or he's in such a position that he just can't come down anymore. I was immediately taken for an unscheduled c-section and 40 minutes later the whole thing was FINALLY over.
Henry Michael DozemanBorn May 31, 2010, 4:53 a.m.
8 lbs 1 oz
21 inches long
I'm thrilled our little man is here, healthy and doing well. I'm struggling with the breastfeeding but so far so good. Henry is a great latcher and sucker but kind of lazy so we have a lot of latch and relatch stuff going on now. I hear it's supposed to get better and after all, the little guy is only a few days old. He has a lot to learn and so do I =)
Tomorrow (Thursday) I will have my staples removed and they will send me home if all is still going well. I'm looking forward to my home environment but it is really nice having 24 hour help AND room service =) I will miss the extra help...
I have to give a shout out to Mike. He's been great about all things baby. He supported me throughout the labor and through the hospital process. He asked a lot of questions and always kept baby and my health first. After Henry was born he's been constantly taking care of him (especially when I was out of commission and barely able to sit up). I wouldn't say he's a pro at diapers yet but he's definitely getting the system down. Mike has spent every night at the hospital. Sometimes he's gotten less sleep than me just so he could watch the baby and give me a few hours reprieve. I'm going to really miss him when he has to be go back to work and I'll be on my own during the day =(
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