On Monday, September 14, I woke up at about 5:00 am with some contractions. I wasn't completely sure if they were labor contractions or more Braxton-Hicks contractions (which I had been having for several weeks), but I knew something felt different. I started timing them (recommended website for any pregnant woman: www.contractionmaster.com.) I realized that they were about 3-4 minutes apart. But since they weren't very strong, and were only lasting about 30 seconds, I knew I wasn't in a rush to run to the hospital. Since I had a non-stress test already scheduled for 8:30 am (standard procedure for everyone past their due date), I figured they could just check my progress and go from there.
I dropped Alex off with my friend Carolyn to play with her kids while I went to the appointment. They confirmed that I was in early labor and was about 3 cm dilated. They told me to go home and rest up, and call when I was ready to come in. I asked how I could tell when that was -- normally, they want you to come in when your contractions are 5 minutes apart, and mine were already closer than that. They told me to call when the contractions were lasting for a minute long each, or if I was beginning to get very uncomfortable.
So around 5:00, I am continuing to have contractions 3-4 minutes apart, 30-45 seconds long. Not really any change from the morning, although they were getting slightly more intense. So I figured we'd keep waiting. I was fine at home, at least while in between contractions. When they started coming closer, though, (some about 2 minutes apart), I decided to call the doctor. I STILL wasn't sure if I should be in or not, because the contractions weren't really strong and weren't lasting a minute. But they told me to get in there ASAP. So we left Alex with another friend down the street, Megan, with the arrangement that Erik's parents would pick him up there in about an hour and bring him back to our house.
When we got to the hospital, we were all surprised that I was already 7-8 cm dilated. The hospital staff told me I must have a high pain tolerance (very surprising to me and Erik), because from the way I was looking/acting, they thought I wasn't very far along. The doctor told me that although I could get an epidural at any time, they doubted I would need it because I seemed to be handling the contractions very well. The plan was to break my water and then baby would be here soon.
It took a little longer than expected for the midwife to come break my water because the labor and delivery unit was full -- apparently we picked a big baby boom day! The midwife broke my water at about 8:30 pm. Contractions then became stronger, but still manageable without pain medication. (My goal was not necessarily to have a natural childbirth, but just not to get meds unless I really needed them). At a few minutes before 10, I started feeling pretty uncomfortable, and asked for some Nubain, which is a pain reliever delivered through an IV. It's less serious than an epidural and is just supposed to "take the edge off" the pain.
I remember having two very bad contractions while the nurse was putting the Nubain in my IV. Then I had a sudden need to push and could barely wait for the midwife to be ready. And 5 minutes later, Thomas was out! I couldn't believe how fast it all happened.
Thomas Erik Schlosser
Born September 14, 2009 at 10:05 pm
8 lbs. 10 oz.
21.5 inches long
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your birth story! I always love to hear other Mom's stories. Sounds like you had a very "good" labor and delivery which is awesome! :) I had Nubain and Fennel, 2 different IV drugs, when I was in labor with Sophia. Was Thomas birth similar or different from Alex's birth?
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