Timothy's Birth

I would like to get this recorded before I forget everything.  Timmy came eight days before his due date.  I knew he would be here sometime at the end of May.  I had a doctor's appointment on a Tuesday and there was really no progression at all so I thought maybe it would be another week or so.  I was wrong.  That night at about 8:00 pm the contractions started and they definitely were not Braxton Hicks.  By 10:00 pm they were what I thought were pretty strong (ask me after what I experienced later and I would say they were nothing) and coming sometimes even every three minutes.  We were pretty sure we'd be heading to the hospital in the middle of the night so we asked Jake and Vivian to listen to Brian all night thinking for sure we'd be leaving in a few hours.

Well, a few hours later the contractions slowed down a little.  No, not enough to get ANY sleep, but they were definitely slower. By 5:00 am they were coming every three minutes again and hurting quite badly so we went to the hospital.  To my dismay there was absolutely NO progression from my doctor's appointment the day before.  All I could think was "so I just experienced a sleepless painful night for NOTHING?"  They sent us home.  We picked up some breakfast for Jake and Vivian on the way home and got home before Brian even woke up.  Mark took Brian to work with him for a few hours so I could enjoy my painful contractions alone.  When 4:00 pm rolled around I couldn't take it anymore.  We left Brian with Jake and Vivian again and went back to the hospital to see if this was going anywhere.

My plan was to have Mark get me to the hospital, and if they were going to keep me there, get an epidural and then send Mark home to put Brian to bed in order to save Vivian the trouble of doing so.  Things did not go as planned and I am so glad Mark stuck around a little longer than we had thought he would.

I had progressed to a 4 and my doctor (Dr. Larsen) said I could stay.  He then gave me a choice, he said he could break my water before I got the epidural or he could do it after.  He said if he broke it before the epidural I would experience a few more intense contractions, get the epidural and then the baby would come just a little faster than if I got the epidural before he broke the water.  I thought well, I wouldn't mind having the baby a little sooner so why not break my water first and then get the epidural?  I now know the answer to that question.

The labor had already been so long and the progression so SLOW that what happened next was totally and completely surprising to everyone; me, Mark, nurses and doctor included.  The Dr. broke my water just before 5:00 pm.  He then said he had to go up to the U and he would be back at 7:00 pm.  The nurse took my blood and got the IV ready and left the room to take the blood to the lab in preparation for the epidural.  I guess breaking my water sent everything into turbo mode because starting just after 5:00 pm the contractions were right on top of each other and there is no way for me to describe how intense they were.  All I could do was scream and wonder if I could survive until that epidural came.  It never came.

Before the nurse came back into the room I got that very weird sensation of needing to push. Luckily while I was writhing in pain I accidentally hit the call a nurse button and she came back in.  It was only after she checked me and started to panic that I realized I was not ever going to get my beloved epidural.  She frantically started calling for backup and for someone to set up for delivery and to find her a doctor.

The on call doctor (a Dr. Smith I believe) made it in to see that Timmy's heart rate had plummeted.  He immediately said "We need to get this baby out, I need to cut but she doesn't have any anesthesia."  Luckily he was able to give me a little local anesthesia before performing a 2nd degree epesiotomy.  About 4 or 5 extremely painful pushes later and Timothy arrived at 5:31 pm with the cord around his neck just like Brian.  They never set up the room for delivery.

Those thirty or so minutes since my water was broken were the most intense and painful minutes I have ever experienced and I hope I don't have to do anything like that again.  Next time I will definitely choose to get the epidural BEFORE the doctor breaks my water.  Maybe Timmy just needed to come when he did, and I survived even without the epidural, but at the time I honestly thought I was going to die. Thank you Mark for being there and for letting me squeeze your hand as hard as I could.  In the end I am just so grateful Timmy is here safely and that I am lucky enough to be his mom.

I just love love love my two little boys.