The Birth Story.....

This is a post for those of you who are curious about the details of the birth. I always love hearing the details of how a birth experience went so I thought I should blog about my own. But I must warn you that this is going to be a LONG post - cause I can't leave stuff out!
If you've been following our blog at all, you are aware that we tried to go in to be induced on Thursday morning but were turned away because the hospital was so full. So Thursday afternoon I started with some more regular contractions and spent a lot of time walking. My mom and I walked several miles around the neighborhood and then Jessa walked a lap with me when she got home from school. The contractions were good and strong, but not painful. And as soon as I stopped the walking/exercise, the contractions went from 4 mins apart to 15 mins apart. So I went to bed Thursday night and slept off and on.
We got to the hospital at 5:30am, checked in through the ER dept and headed through the security doors to the elevator. It didn't work! We wandered through the back halls until we came out to the front lobby (front doors are locked until 6am) and found that all the elevators in the hospital were down. I told Don that that apparently Hermann Memorial didn't want me to deliver there that day! But we took the three flights of stairs up to L&D -- and that helped to kick up my contractions a bit!
The nurses were awesome and did a great job! I had been warned that the doctors didn't really approve of women in labor doing much "natural" pain management (i.e., walking, baths, changing positions) and expected them to lay quietly in the bed. This was not in my birth plan and I was nice, but forceful, in telling the staff of my plans. Everyone was really receptive to my requests but but I was surprised at how much they seemed to push the epidural/drugs.
I was still at 3.5cm (had been for 3 weeks) and they started my pitocin drip at about 6:30am. The nurse was telling Don and I that she was sure I would go really fast and that we'd have a new baby by noon. Don seemed shocked at this possibility and I was being realistic. I told him "Don't hold your breath -- this could take all day." My doctor checked in around 8:00am and broke my water. My nurse kept coming in to crank up the pitocin every 20 mins or so. I was starting to wonder when the pain would hit because things were seeming to stay pretty mild. I was having strong contractions about every four minutes but they were not more than slightly uncomfortable.
Around 9am I decided to change positions and I arranged a pillow nest on the floor next to the bed. (No Mom, I didn't ask the nurse if it was ok) This made it semi comfortable for me to kneel down and lean against the side of the bed. I hoped that gravity would do it's thing..........
After about 10 minutes like this, the nurse came in and said that the fetal monitor wasn't reading because I was in this position so she told us that I could have an internal fetal monitor and then resume my bedside-pillow-nesting. I was at a six when she checked me and she made a big fuss about how fast I was going to go.
Now, I need to back track here and state that Don gets REALLY NERVOUS about the whole giving birth process. My mom and I had been praying that things would go faster (the hard labor part) for his sake, because he gets so stressed out! So when he saw the nurse start to prep the room for delivery and was hearing her say how fast things could happen..........he got a bit panicky. He wanted to make sure that my mom would make it to the hospital in time. I reassured him that the nurse was wrong, that I was still in early labor and that, yes, my mom would have time to get to the hospital before anything major happened. Then I caught the nurse's eye and told her under my breath to nix the "fast" talk! LOL ;)
By the time I got back into my pillow nest position, I was having painful contractions. Not terrible but things had picked up the pace a bit. My mom got there shortly and she was a terrific help. She put hot compresses on my lower back and did all the comforting things that moms know how to do. At about 10am I requested the nurse check me because I was changing position again and I figured it was easier to combine the two into one effort. There was enough pain by then I remember thinking I should tell the nurse to turn off the pitocin..........
She said I was at 9cm, that I could start pushing through to 10cm and said she'd run to page the doctor. I recall Don looking shocked and saying "Wow! That was fast!!" But mentally I wasn't allowing myself to dare hope that it was even possible that I could be close to the end. I was trying to pace myself after all.
The doctor came very quickly, the room filled up with nurses and I was pushing (or trying to) and praying that the baby wasn't going to be over 9lbs! I do have to mention that I was a bit irritated at my doctor during the pushing phase - she kept saying "Gosh, this is your 3rd baby, I think you've forgotten how to push!"
I suppose she can't be expected to remember the in-office conversation I had with her about the fact that my body doesn't seem to know how to push. With both Jessa and Josh I never had the "urge" to push that everyone talks about or like you see on tv. So I had told my doctor that I was going to need specific coaching in this area.......my midwife with Joshy was awesome in that respect. My mom was so sweet, I remember her standing up for me and saying "She must get that from me; I've had five babies and I never felt an urge to push either." But I was still peeved that the doc didn't do a very good job of coaching me. Any idiot can stand at the end of the table and say "Push into your bottom." Duh. I was looking for a bit more of the "how-to" type of coaching........
Well - after about 15 minutes of this misery - I'd had enough. Zach was born with the cord wrapped around his neck a few times (doc handled this quickly before it was a problem) and he had me freaked out because he didn't cry right away. Someone said "You've got a big, healthy boy" and I had two thoughts at once: that Joshy would have a brother close in age to grow up with and then that poor Jessa didn't get her sister!
So there is my third and final experience of giving birth. It was such an amazing moment in time and I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with three beautiful and healthy babies!