Highway to the Baby Zone: The Birth Story

Ronan's Birth Day....the day I thought would never come! Almost everything I thought wouldn't happen did happen, parts of it were wonderful and parts very scary but in the end, it brought us our beautiful boy and therefore I would go through it all again in a heartbeat just to have him in my arms. Here is my birth story.....it was a long but short, wild and crazy ride, and began on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 as we prepared for our 6 p.m. hospital check in.

We woke Saturday morning with a lot of anticipation, as you can imagine! It was hard to believe it would be the last day in our home, just the two of us. Even though I was huge and obviously knew the baby was coming, it still didn't feel real. And now that he is actually here, it holds true that I just wasn't able to believe it until I saw him with my own eyes! We spent the afternoon cleaning the house one last time, washing all our clothes and sheets and we finally packed up our hospital bag. The hospital is only a couple minutes from our house and we planned to leave at 5:45....but leave it to me to be running late to have a baby! We didn't leave the house until about 5:55. Our car was parked out front and Rob loaded everything up in the rainy and somewhat cold weather while I put on makeup and posed for my last pregnancy photo by the Christmas tree.

We arrived at the hospital and walked up to the labor and delivery desk and observed the very empty maternity ward. I have often read that the weekends are the least busy for hospitals because so many births these days are 'scheduled', i.e. scheduled inductions and c-sections. Most are done during the week....mine was done Saturday evening because my doctor was on call on Sunday. The waiting room had only one (very large) family in it and when we walked in I heard "here comes another one!" and then they all started clapping and asked if we were excited. Haha! It was very strange yet funny.

The check in process was very surreal and formal. At one point the man asked our "reason for hospital admission". Ummmm, to have a baby?? We signed some papers and I got my hospital bracelets and he sent us upstairs to our assigned room. This would be the first of 4 (!!) different rooms we would be in over the next 4 days. We walked up, I was told to change into nothing but the hospital gown and I got my last pregnancy weigh in. Shortly afterwards, a nurse came in to insert my IV (OUCH!), and then our nurse for the evening came in and inserted the Cytotec - a cervical ripening agent - into the cervix. She told me that I could expect contractions to start as soon as 30 minutes from that time. And she was right! They were steady at 3-4 minutes apart all night long. They gave me Ambien to sleep, but I was so anxious that it didn't do a thing (except give me some slight hallucinations!)! I was checked in the middle of the night and my cervix was still very high and I was only 1 cm dilated. Sunday morning I was moved down to the Labor and Delivery floor around 7 a.m. where they began Pitocin at around 9 a.m. That is when things got crazy! Contractions came on VERY fast and furious (which I had of course heard in regards to Pitocin, and I was scared of this!). I went from tolerable, mild contractions with the Cytotec to rip roaring, painful, couldn't talk through them contractions with the Pitocin. But, I remained at 1cm dilated the entire first hour and a half. Poor Rob was so supportive, and tried to give me back and shoulder rubs to help me get through the pain.

A few minutes later, I had a terrible urge to go to the bathroom and was getting ready to get out of the bed when I heard (and felt) a loud 'POP'. I couldn't believe it could possibly be my water breaking so quickly. I let the nurse know what happened and got up and went to the restroom and sure enough felt liquid rolling down my legs. They tested it and yep - it was my bag of waters. That sealed the deal; we were definitely having a baby that day since my water broke! At that point, contractions became completely unmanageable they hurt so badly. They checked me to see my progress in case I wanted to call for the epidural and from the time my water broke to about an hour later, I had gone from 1 cm to 4 cm! So, you bet I called for that epidural. I was nervous for this, but it turned out to be just what everyone said...I was in so much pain from the contractions that the epidural was nothing. After it was in, life was good. I finally felt as though I had some time to rest up. Little did I know there would be no time for rest! I was checked an hour and a half later and was 7 cm! 2 hours later and I was 10 cm, complete and ready to push!

Rob and I looked at each other in shock. Here we go! Rob snapped a photo of the clock in the room; it was 2:28 p.m. It happened so fast that we almost didn't feel prepared....inductions were supposed to take longer than this! Nevertheless, before we knew it, I was pushing....and pushing, and pushing, and pushing. I couldn't believe it when I looked up and 2 hours had already passed. I weakly asked if anything was happening yet, could they finally see the baby's head? My heart sank when they told me he still had not descended far into the birth canal. At that point, the dreaded 'C' word came in to the conversation. My nurse seemed to think I had about a 60% chance of needing a c-section based off the progress (or lack thereof) that I had made. I wasn't willing to have any of it at that point....I wanted to get that baby out without the operating room! They agreed I could keep going since baby and I still looked good and healthy. After another hour and a half of pushing, my doctor returned to the room and stated she just didn't feel as though the baby was going anywhere. I had been complete for nearly 4 hours....most women have already birthed their babies at that point (she said most first timers push for 1-3 hours) I knew it was coming to the inevitable point that I had so badly wanted to avoid. I cried, and cried....and cried some more. I was an absolute wreck. I convinced her to give me just 30 more minutes. I was going to dig deeper than I ever had and find somewhere in me to get the energy to get him out....no matter how tired and awful I felt. (TMI - at this point I could feel, even with the epidural, how large and swollen I was down there, my OB had even commented saying "you poor thing" and vocalized that I was extremely swollen.

After that last 30 minutes passed and after I had given it absolutely everything I had in me, they checked me again although I already knew what the answer would be. The baby was still at +1 station, and had been the entire 4 hours of pushing. Deep down I knew it was time, I knew I wasn't going to be able do it. I had zero energy or drive left, and the baby's heart rate began to spike those last 30 minutes of pushing. Again, I cried and cried as I signed the papers for the c-section and we waited around for about an hour, as my doctor was called to an emergency C that got bumped before mine. I couldn't believe it had come to this, but I wanted my baby here safely. At that point I felt numb, and I'm so disappointed to say that the excitement of knowing my baby was about to be born was overshadowed by the fact I was about to have a major surgery that I did NOT want to have. I was absolutely heartbroken.

Everything was sort of a blur at that point. Anesthesia came in the room and did something to my epidural to get me prepared for the surgery. They had ice packs and would test me by putting the ice pack on my chest...yep, cold. Then they would put in on my belly....yep, I could feel the pack, but not the cold. Success. Before I knew it, they were rolling me to the operating room. Rob wasn't able to join me for the first 15 minutes or so, but I can't recall why. I was so out of it and tired at that point, I literally feel asleep when they took me in there. It was so bright in the room, I kept my eyes shut which led me to sleep. Finally! Rob came in the room, all cute in his scrubs...I told him afterwards that he would make a VERY cute doctor. :)

The surgery was a blur (thanks to all the drugs - I have a sneaking suspicion they gave me something for anxiety, as I vocalized my fear that I would panic or faint...I have never had surgery before!). When they got started it was the strangest sensation to feel the scalpel moving across my lower abdomen but not being able to actually feel the pain any of it. I was actually happy to have whatever they may have given me to remain calm because whatever was in me allowed me to handle the surgery a lot better than I expected to handle it! The OR was very relaxed, for which I am also grateful. They had music playing through the speakers and the doctors were relaxed and having conversations with us. My lovely doctor sure knew how to make me feel good by proclaiming I had "about four fat cells" in my belly. At that moment, I was proud of my discipline for working out during these last nine months! Not but maybe a minute later, they told me I would feel a lot of pressure in my upper abdomen as they push on the baby and then I heard the beautiful sound of my baby boy cry for the first time. Immediately everyone exclaimed how big the baby was and my doctor said that I "sure knew how to grow babies". At 7:33 p.m. on December 4th, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy, Ronan Reid. They brought him around the curtain almost immediately so I could get a quick peak. I just couldn't believe it as I saw him through my blurry, teary eyes. He quickly disappeared and they called for dad to go over and put on his first diaper and hold him. This is the part where I felt helpless...they kept tugging and pulling at me while my baby was around the corner and I couldn't even see him. But, they moved quickly and before I knew it, I was able to see, touch and kiss him as they were putting me back together for the next 30 minutes and I held him on my own the moment we were done and they had moved me from the operating bed to my recovery bed.

From there we were wheeled back into our Labor room where I was able to recover and have my skin to skin time with Ronan (one thing that I was hell bent on getting, no matter how the baby got here!). This time is still foggy for me, since I was so physically and emotionally drained. My doctor came to talk to us and indicated that Ronan was in fact, stuck in my pelvis. I have finally somewhat come to terms with the fact that this was inevitable and induction or not - I would not have been able to give birth to the baby vaginally. I am happy I was able to try, and that I did have the experience of true labor. Had the c-section been determined necessary previously, I wouldn't have been able to experience the true labor and delivery aspect. It would have been scheduled, very by the book, etc. So, I am happy I got the full experience! And, my doctor said that as long as I "work on having a girl next time - you know, a smaller 7 or 8 pounder" that I might even be a good candidate for a vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC) the next time around. I will keep my fingers crossed. In the meantime, I am recovering nicely - slowly, but surely - and enjoying our new life with our precious baby. My mom told me I would not believe how much I would love him, and she's right, as usual! The love I feel for him makes me physically hurt, and he is by far my best accomplishment in life. I am so grateful and humbled by this truly amazing and miraculous experience. Rob and I feel incredibly lucky!

Please enjoy a few shots of the birth below, and all the pictures from our 24 hour birth story are available at the below link, should you wish you see the day played out in pictures. Thanks for reading our birth story!

Ronan's Website

Ready to get this show on the road! Saturday, December 3rd, 2011