Life with the Halls: July 2013

Well, I've been thinking about blogging for a while now but it just seems like there are always things to do. Feeding every couple hours, cleaning (cause I just can't help it), resting, trying to figure out health insurance, and mostly just spending time with family and friends. But right now I'm going to take a few minutes to type out Grayson's birth story.

It already seems fuzzy, even after just one week. Brandon was showing me a few pictures yesterday that he took while I was in labor and it definitely feels like someone else went through all that and not me. When you're in labor, you just have to detach yourself from the world and focus on one thing: getting through each contraction. But back to the beginning.

I went in on Wednesday, July 17th for my regular appointment and my blood pressure was high. I think it was high because I knew that I was going to let Carrington (my midwife) sweep my membranes, which I was hoping would trigger labor. I knew it would be uncomfortable and I was also excited about having my baby soon. But she checked my blood pressure again and it was even higher and that made Carrington a little nervous. She told me that she would go ahead and sweep my membranes and if I wasn't in the hospital in labor that night, that I needed to come back with Brandon with our bags packed and have my blood pressure checked again. If it was still up, she would be sending me to lunch and then to the hospital.

Wednesday night I had some mild contractions. I walked and tried to get things going but other than feeling crampy and not sleeping well, nothing serious was happening. So we packed our bags and the carseat and got ready to go. I remember telling Brandon that after all this, if my blood pressure was down and we were told to wait, I would probably be disappointed. I was just so ready to meet my son.

So we headed to Harmony and my blood pressure was still high. Carrington had talked to Dr. Womack and they had agreed that it would be best for me to go ahead and get induced. I had talked to a couple friends and although having pitocin really worried me, I still felt confident that I could go through with the non-epidural birth that I wanted. I wanted to do it because I knew I could and because I really felt that the recovery would be easier if I could get up and move around, and because I REALLY didn't like the thought of a needle going in my back or not being able to feel my legs.

We called the family and friends that were planning on being at the hospital and told them we would call again for them to come when we were settled. Brandon and I were told to meet Carrington at the hospital at 12:30 which gave us time to go grab lunch. I picked chik-fil-a and we headed there. It felt so surreal knowing we were headed to the hospital to have our baby. We actually ended up getting to the hospital at around 12:00 because we just couldn't wait. It took a while to get checked in and up to our room. Per my birth plan - I got a room with a tub!! Exciting right? NOT. I couldn't get in due to pitocin. They did, however, put portable monitors on my belly so I could walk around and get in the shower. I got hooked up to the monitors, was asked a billion questions and then she finally started my IV (which was just fluids) and then FINALLY at 2:00 they started the pitocin. I was just ready to get going.

This is where I only know times and the process because Brandon and I wrote it down as best we could remember the next day. I didn't really feel any contractions for a long time and they upped the dosage every half hour. My family came around 4:00 and I started feeling them a little bit. Then Brandon's family arrived at about 4:30 and I was having to walk around and breathe through contractions. At 5:00, Carrington came back to check on me and she said that I was now dilated to 5 cm! I was pretty excited and she told me I had two options: we could either stop the pitocin, let me rest and start again in the morning, or she could go ahead and break my water and it would be go time. I didn't see the point in starting over, so I told her to go ahead and break it. Breaking the water didn't hurt at all but it DEFINITELY got things going. After that I had to work through every contraction and I was starting to feel a little miserable. Sometime during this time, Joy (one of my great friends and my "support" person during labor) suggested I get in the shower just for a change of pace. I'm not sure how long I was in there but it seemed like a long time. At this point, it was just Brandon, Heidi (my best friend) and Joy in the room which was good because I had lost all dignity and was just walking around without clothes on. The worst part was getting out of the shower because my IV fell out. Heidi assured me it was ok (she's a nurse and knows these things) but I was mad cause I knew they'd have to put me back in bed and stick me again (IV's in the side of your wrist are not comfortable)

At 7:00, Carrington came back and checked me and I was at 7 cm. I was glad to know that I was actually progressing but even as everyone cheered my progress, I was wishing that I was at 9 cm. Not long after Carrington kicked everyone out of the room and had me "focus" which meant that I had to sit on the toilet and rock through contractions or squat on the bed. Both of these hurt tremendously but she assured me that they made things progress more quickly and it really was a good thing so I just pushed through each one. Brandon was absolutely amazing through all of it. He encouraged me to drink water, put the fan in my face when I wanted it and took it away when in the next 10 seconds I said I didn't want it. He asked questions for me and just encouraged me the whole time that I was doing a great job and that I could do it. I do remember thinking at about 8:00 that Grayson would definitely be born on the 18th. I was wrong of course but I remember thinking "There is no way I will make it through 4 hours of this."

Around 10:00 I was almost to 10 cm. Carrington ended up having me "push" to try to get from 9 cm to 10 cm while she tried to move the last part of my cervix out of the way - OUCH. Once I got to 10 cm I was apparently swollen from pushing and she had me breathe through some contractions before we started the real pushing. "Breathing through contractions" and not pushing was hard and way more painful. Finally around 10:45 or so, she told me I could start pushing. I wanted my mom and Brandon's mom and Joy and Heidi to be there and Carrington said normally that was too many but they would make it work so they started clearing the room for everyone to fit. But she wanted me to push a bit and get going before we brought everyone in. At this point, I pushed for two hours. We tried every position possible and it was hard work. I really felt like I was doing good pushing but he just wouldn't budge. At around 12:45 Carrington left the room for a "bathroom break" where I think she really may have been consulting with Dr. Womack. She came back in and checked me one last time and told me she thinks the last thing we could try was doing an epidural and seeing if this relaxed me enough to bring him down. She said she knew I didn't want to do pain meds, but at least the epidural would be there in case I did end up having to have the c-section.

After 2 hours of pushing, pain, and exhausting every muscle in my body, an epidural sounded great. What was not so great was how long it took Dr. Fisher to arrive. Those 15 minutes of continuous contractions (they had upped my pitocin to help strengthen my pushing) was the worst pain I had ever felt. I remember up until this point I had done a good job of maintaining control and relaxing through the contractions and trying all the things I had read about, but at this point I thought I was going to die. I started whimpering but my nurse was amazing and helped keep me focused on getting through each one. Finally at around 1:00 am, Dr. Fisher arrived and I got the epidural. It actually didn't hurt AT ALL and the contraction pain started to subside. A few minutes later Dr. Womack came in and checked me to see what she thought. She said that I could push if I wanted but that she really thought that it wasn't going to help and that it would be better to go ahead and do the c-section while Grayson's stats were still good and mine were too. I said "ok" because I trusted them and I was just ready to be done. So Dr. Fisher came back and pushed new "faster" meds into my epidural and they getting me ready for surgery. Brandon left to tell everyone what was happening and to get in his "HazMat" suit.

At this point, I wasn't even scared. I had always had a fear of having a c-section and major surgery and yes, it wasn't ideal, but I think it helped that it wasn't an emergency and I knew I was finally about to have my baby. They prepped me and Brandon and I waited patiently behind the curtain listening to every sound around us but also trying to stay distracted. It felt so weird being able to feel everything they were doing but also not feeling any pain. Finally they said that I would feel some pressure and then they started talking about his big head and then we heard him cry. It was amazing. They talked about how they thought he had to be 8 or 9 lbs and then held him up for us to see. Brandon got to go over and watch him get cleaned up and I could see him from where I was laying. He ended up only being 7 lbs 13 oz even though Dr. Womack and Carrington couldn't believe it. Then they brought him over to me and let me touch and kiss his little cheeks. He was so precious and perfect and I still didn't feel like that could possibly be my baby, the one who had kicked and hiccuped and lived inside of me for 9 months. I told Brandon to go with Grayson and he headed out to show him off through the nursery glass while they finished up my surgery. The c-section went so fast compared to everything else. They wheeled me back to the room and finally brought me my baby. He started nursing immediately and our family and friends got to come back a few at a time to see him. It wasn't until about 4:00 in the morning that we actually laid down for some rest but it was the perfect ending to a long night.

Grayson Sheppard Hall was born at 1:36 am on 7-19-13 weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long. He is perfect and even though it ended differently than I expected, it was still an amazing experience.

And here are a few pics....