Little Dude's Birth Story

During my last trimester of my pregnancy with Little Dude, my hips and back gave me a lot of problems.  By the time I hit 40 weeks, I was a lot of pain, barely able to walk, and ready to have the baby NOW.  However, since my other three pregnancies went to 42, 41, and 42 weeks respectively, I figured I still had some time to go, especially since both of the 42 week pregnancies had to be induced.

One day before my due date, I felt an urgency to finish up all the last minute things I had on my to-do list such as packing the suitcases for the kids, packing the hospital bag, getting the baby stuff out, etc.  I spent Monday and Tuesday working on things from my to-do list in between resting because of the pain in my hips and back.  On Wednesday, March 5th (one day after my due date), I woke up not feeling well.  My lower back ached, and I was having a lot of cramping and contractions.  I spent most of the day on the couch with a heating pad on my back.  Things got progressively worse as the day wore on and I couldn't help wondering if it was the beginning of something, but I didn't let myself get my hopes up.  Around 4 in the afternoon, I went to the bathroom and realized that I'd lost my mucous plug so I knew that things were going somewhere, but since that had happened 2 days before going into labor with Little Man, I didn't read into it too much other than to be happy that it probably meant I wouldn't have to be induced again.

Home from the hospital at 1 day old

Hubby took the kids to church that evening while I stayed home because I was in no shape to go out.  Right after they left, the contractions started becoming stronger and more frequent.  By the time they arrived home an hour and a half later, the contractions were becoming pretty regular.  However, I was still in denial since I didn't believe that I could go into labor that "early."  I started timing the contractions and by 10:00, they were about 6 minutes apart and strong enough that I finally felt certain that this was it.  I called the birthcenter and let them know we were on our way and then called Hubby's mom to come stay with the kids.  By 10:30 pm, we were on the road.  In the 40 minutes it took to get there, the contractions became much worse and were less than 4 minutes apart when we arrived at the birthcenter.    

The nurse checked me at midnight and I was dilated to 4 centimeters.  I was a little disappointed because the contractions were pretty strong and painful by that point so I had been hoping to be a little bit further along.  The doctor wanted to be sure that I was progressing before formally admitting me so we settled in to wait until 2 am when I would be checked again.  By 2 am, I was in a lot of pain with terrible back labor and ready to get an epidural.  The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 6 centimeters so I was admitted and the anesthesiologist was called.  He arrived a little before 2:30 to start the epidural and it didn't take him long to get it in.

Sleeping in the pack n' play

The relief I was expecting from the epidural never came though.  It did absolutely nothing for the pain even though the anesthesiologist kept increasing the dose to try to make me more comfortable.  The contractions were incredibly intense and getting closer together.     

I should have seen the signs that I was in the transition stage of labor-I was shaking, throwing up, having hot flashes, feeling a lot of pressure, etc.  I didn't think I could go from 6 cm to 10 cm in an hour though!  A few minutes after 3 am, I started to throw up again and as I did, I felt an incredible pain and pressure in my pelvis that didn't let up.  I yelled for the nurse and when I told her what was happening, she ran to hit the call button for the doctor and the next thing I knew, the room was full of nurses and the doctor was throwing her gown on as fast as she could.  Two quick pushes and the baby was out.

Random fun fact: The doctor who delivered Little Dude was the same one who delivered Little Man.

Little Man shared his special John Deere blanket with his little brother

The doctor laid him on my chest as soon as he was born and the first thing I noticed was that he was completely green, like a little alien.  It turns out that he had had a bowel movement before birth, but because my water didn't break until after he was delivered, nobody realized it.  He was born still in his amniotic sac which broke on its own after delivery.  This is pretty rare and only happens in about 1 in 800,000 births  Thankfully, he was born so quickly that he didn't get a chance to inhale any of the meconium so he was fine.  He was observed for a while that night and periodically throughout the next day just to be safe though.

We could have stayed in the hospital until Saturday, but opted to leave on Friday instead.  I wanted to rest at home instead of in an uncomfortable hospital bed and Little Dude was doing great so we didn't see the point in staying an extra day.

Little Man shared his special John Deere blanket with his little brother

My recoveries after having Little Man and Star were fairly easy (aside from the cellulitis I got after having Star), so I was expecting this one to go smoothly too.  Unfortunately, this pregnancy messed up my back and hips pretty badly so it's been rough, plus I'm just not springing back from giving birth the way I had hoped.  Thankfully, Hubby's mom kept the three older kids for a full week giving me time to rest at home, and Hubby has been absolutely wonderful helping out around the house and with the kids.  My parents and my younger sister have also set aside their own plans to come over and help me out.