Mason’s Birth Story
On Friday, October 27, 2012 around 10:15pm I started
having slight contractions that felt different than anything I had felt before.
I waited until I could tell if they were getting stronger or if they were
happening consistently. Around 11:00pm I was so tired and told Josh that I
thought I was having contractions and I was ready for bed. I noticed the
contractions getting stronger and stronger but tried to rest in spite of
growing more and more uncomfortable.
Around 12:30am on October 28, 2012 I began timing the contractions. They
were anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes apart and were getting stronger still. Josh
asked every thirty minutes if we should go to the hospital yet, but I kept
trying to hold off as long as I could.
At 2:00am Josh woke up and asked me once again if I was
ready. I told him at that time that I thought we should probably head to the
hospital. We grabbed the car seat and hospital bag, packed the last minute
things we would need and drove the 10 minutes to Banner Ironwood. We got there
with only having two contractions on the way.
Since it was so late, we entered through the Emergency
Room. We walked in and I told the front
desk, “I’m pretty sure I’m having my baby!”
I was put in a wheelchair and taken to a triage room. My
contractions were still less than 5 minutes apart. The nurse checked me and I
was dilated to 2cm and still only 50% effaced.
Baby and I were both monitored and I was given graham crackers and apple
juice to keep Mason moving so he would move down during contractions and continue
to dilate me.
At 4:45 the nurse came in to check me again and told us
there had been no change. I was being sent home with instructions to “eat
something and try to get some sleep.” Sure, right. I was in so much pain, that neither one of
those things were going to happen.
I told Josh to try to get some sleep as I laid on the bed
on my right side and writhed in pain every two or three minutes. By 6:45am I was in so much pain that I was
about ready to tell Josh that we had to go back to the hospital and tell them
they had to do something. I was trying
to tough out the pain, but I could tell it was getting even stronger
still. At 7:00am I was lying on our bed
and all of a sudden felt a surge of pressure.
I immediately knew my water was going to break. I shot up and ran to the bathroom and
instantly thought, “We can go back to the hospital and they can’t send me home
again!”
We made it back to the hospital where the contractions
continued to get stronger still. I knew
the pain was worse than when I had been there a few hours earlier, but I had no
idea how far along I would be.
They took me again to a triage room and checked me. I was
100% effaced and dilated to 6cm. They
couldn’t believe how fast I progressed and tried to start the IV. Josh told them I wanted an epidural as
well. The first nurse blew the vein on
my left hand so it took twice as long to get the IV in as I was having
contractions thirty seconds or so. The nurses said I had to have a whole bag of
liquid before I could have the epidural, but they called the anesthesiologist
before even wheeling me across the hall to a delivery room.
The anesthesiologist was walking in at the same time I
was being wheeled through the door.
The nurses checked me again and told me I
was dilated to 10cm. They pushed the IV liquid through as fast as they could
while the anesthesiologist got ready to do the epidural. I sat on the edge of the bed and about four
minutes later the anesthesiologist said he was done placing the epidural. Just as he was done and I was still sitting
on the edge of the bed, I felt a whole new feeling of pressure and had to lift
my body off the bed as I felt a head pushing down.
The nurses continued to push the liquid through my IV as
the anesthesiologist administered an emergency dose of epidural
medication. After another five minutes
of contractions, my legs finally began to get numb. Up until this time I had
felt everything.
As the epidural took effect, I was told we were going to
do some pushes to get Mason’s head under my pubic bone. After about an hour of pushes with the labor
and delivery nurse the doctor came in and I began to push again. Thirty minutes later, at 10:31am, Mason was
born! 7lbs 6oz. 21in. long
