Jacob's Birth Story Part 2

So after having a bite to eat, the doctor came in to see me, check my cervix, and put in the order for pitocin. That was started at 8am. I was SO READY. It's funny how you can go from total dread (the week leading up to) to being so beyond ready to get things going. I knew it was baby time and so I just wanted to do it already! The doctor said that I could get out of bed as long as the monitor stayed on me, but that once he broke my water, he wouldn't let me get out of bed because of risk of cord prolapse. However, just like with Clare's birth, the amazing nurse, Pam, told me as soon as he walked out, "you can get out of bed! If the monitor comes off, I will come back in and find the baby. That's my job!". She was SO supportive. She also told me she thought I'd have a baby by 11am. I was excited to hear that (because surely they do this all the time and know what they're talking about???) but I was also nervous that we would go way past that and it would dampen my spirits.

Being that I had experienced both a natural birth and an induced birth, I was really afraid of the pitocin. Felicity's labor wasn't a horror story or anything, but MUCH harder than Clare's labor which I consider pretty easy! So I was very nervous going into another induced labor. My doctor had told me to decide ahead of time about an epidural because I tend to labor quickly. I went back and forth for a bit but ultimately decided that, if labor was fast, I wouldn't need one. And if labor was long, there would be time to ask for one later. But I really did not want anything to slow or halt labor, did not want a catheter, did not want to be stuck in bed after, and did not want the risks of the spinal headache or back pain. Those things encouraged me to go without the epidural, though I was open to changing my mind if labor was long.

So anyways, after I started the pitocin, Pam would periodically come in and check on me. I didn't feel much. At 9:10 she raised it to 6. And at 9:33 she raised it to 8. I was having some bleeding, but was just swaying through what felt like very easy contractions. That was the point that I started to get nervous. I asked Steven to google what the top dose of pitocin was and he said it was 10. Well here I was at an 8 and felt good! I was afraid it meant my body wasn't responding to it this time because last time contractions were wracking through my body nonstop! I started to wonder if this was going to end in a csection. I went from worrying about pain level to worrying about even being able to deliver this baby!

But just like that, the contractions picked up. At 9:45 by Steven's watch, I had my first tougher contraction. I remember glancing down at his phone at 9:50 and marking that as the time that it felt tough. And with Felicity, it got hard at 10am, then pretty unbearable at some point until I had her at 1pm. So I told myself "here we go; I can do this for 3 more hours!" because it was still so much easier than Felicity's. In fact, it felt a lot like Clare's labor. At 10:13 Steven noted that I began holding my stomach during contractions. I was still doing my swaying back and forth, but I remember it feeling better to support the weight of my stomach. The doctor called at 10:20 and said he would break my water in 15 minutes. The nurse saw my labor progressing and checked my bleeding again and said she was going to go ahead and check me. At that point she said I was 7 cm and she was visibly excited which gave me the push I needed! She had me stay in bed for the doctor to break my water which was hard, but not as awful as I expected it would be. Dr. G came in and sat on the edge of the bed while I finished a contraction, then broke my water. That was the first time I've had my water broken (I refused with Felicity, and it broke at home with Clare) and was not nearly as weird of an experience as I imagined it might be. So my water was broken at 10:36. He said he would hang out at the hospital for a bit and left the room. Pam was finishing up something and said she would check on my frequently but to let her know when I started feeling a lot of pressure.

About a minute later I said "I don't know if this is the kind of pressure you want to know about, but I'm definitely having some". And within a few minutes from that I said "It feels like I'm breaking in half" which I apparently say every time I am about to birth a baby! Pam said "You know, I'm just going to stay in here", and then stuck her head out and called for the doctor. She checked me and he came in and she told him I was almost fully dilated with just a bit of a lip that could be pushed. I was, at that point, in excruciating pain from the pressure and yelled "get him out!", to which another nurse said "ok, then push!". I pushed twice and Jacob Oliver was born at 10:47am... 11 minutes after being 7 cm and having my water broken. When my babies want out, they want out!

The doctor exclaimed "he's a good size!", clamped the cord, had Steven cut it, and passed him right up to me. That was the experience I didn't get with the girls and I wanted SO BADLY for my (probably) last baby. I was over the moon to have this little guy on my chest! I just kept talking to him and loving on him. After a bit they took him to wipe up a bit more and I let Steven hold him while some of my stitching was getting done, then took him back for some more snuggles. Once the doctor was done, I latched him on and he started nursing right away. I was so in love with this little boy! About 15 minutes later they checked his blood sugar, which is standard when the mother has had gestational diabetes, and that's when our hospital stay took a turn. Spoiler alert: he's fine and perfect! But it took us a couple days of special care nursery to get there. To be continued!