L & D

Amidst laboring--I was trying really hard here to look happy.

As promised, I wanted to take a moment to record the events surrounding our sweet baby J's entrance into the world. Tuesday morning was truly Gasperini-Ville history in the making!!

While sitting with the boys during bedtime Monday night, I had my first of a series of three painful contractions-in-a-row. After experiencing the earlier "fake labor" Braxton Hicks contractions that morning (as I reported on the blog), labor had officially begun! The rest of the evening GG and I monitored and recorded their duration and frequency. They were uncomfortable and were definitely more painful than anything I felt earlier that day, progressing from 25 minutes to 15min apart at bedtime. Before falling asleep, we decided that I should try to labor through as much of the night as possible before we would head to the hospital. With the birth of T-baby, we agreed that we went in a little too early, so we were bound and determined not to do the same again (sage parental wisdom!)

Contractions continued through the night. I would sit up to deal with the discomfort (lying down while contracting is never easy!) Thankfully my brain would never fully wake up, so I would lie back down and head back to sleep before the next round began! (Praise God for comatose sleeping patterns--I am a zombie!) By 5am both GG and I were awake and beginning to ride a little adrenaline in anticipation of baby J's arrival! Things were still pretty calm and the contractions were still 15min. apart, but I was in more and more pain. "I don't care how dilated I am," I said to GG, "I need to get in and get some drugs." This comment was pretty funny in retrospect, seeing as we never made it in time for the epidural! :)

After a shower and some last-minute packing, GG and I headed downstairs and enjoyed breakfast with the boys. It was 7am by this point and I went ahead and made the call to my OB practice to let them know I was in labor. The nurse called a few minutes later and requested that I head into the OB office (at the hospital, incidentally) for assessment before going to the labor and delivery unit. I thought this a little odd as my doc had assured that even if I thought I was in labor, I should head in because I was now overdue and with our third child. We would later learn it was because the hospital was so full.

GG and I got ready to go in and contractions began to get more intense. I had to stop a few times in the kitchen and lean over while gripping the countertop. On one last trip upstairs, I had a really intense contraction that elicited groans--GG and my mom knew it was time to go!! We hopped in the car and were off... Funny enough, I didn't feel one contraction as we drove. GG commented, "I think we may have been a little premature going in." (famous last words--had we listened to this wisdom, I would have had the baby at home!) Once we parked and started walking, though, contractions reared their ugly heads again. A few people stopped to see if I was okay as we walked to the office--I would have to stop occasionally and deal with the pain! One particularly funny moment happened right outside the elevator when a painter (working nearby) ask if he could help in any way. Too funny.

When we finally got to see the doc, she immediately knew I was in labor by looking at my face. "You look like you've begun to battle," she commented. Awesome--the doc "had my back"! There's nothing like feeling like you're in labor and then having someone confirm it! Success!! At that point, I was 5cm dilated and 70% effaced. She went ahead to alert the hospital of my arrival only to learn that there were no beds available in labor and delivery (with no timetable for openings!) She wisely advised that with this being baby #3, we should head to another (very good) hospital 5 mins. (thankfully) down the road. We agreed and left the office, this time with me in a wheelchair at GG's request. Smart man. :)

We arrived at the other hospital and didn't quite know where we were going. GG thankfully requested another wheelchair and so we progressed to the ER, where we presumed we needed to be for check-in. Of course we arrived and the people there knew nothing of my transfer (even though the doc had called over to L and D). We were then sent to sit in front of a busy receptionist who gave us neither the time of day nor even a morning "hello". My contractions were progressing quite a bit at this point--while sitting waiting for our (pathetic) receptionist to acknowledge our existence I had a contraction that brought me to tears. Thankfully, the labor nurse showed up just at that moment and whisked us away. (Remind me to write a letter of compaint to the hospital regarding their registration workers!!)

We went through the usual check-in procedure in the hospital room, dressed me in a gown, and hooked me up to all the monitors. At this point it was 9:30am. Baby J showed a strong heartbeat and my contractions showed greater regularity (4-5min apart) and intensity. I would have to stop answering questions to breathe and deal with the pain. I had hope that my epidural was on its way, but was initially reluctant to order it because I secretly wanted to have a natural labor! The pain was getting intense. GG left to head back down to hospital registration and the nurse hooked me to an IV line and took blood. Contractions were getting even more intense.

GG returned and the nurse left, which was a recipe for emotional breakdown. At the onset of the next contraction, I was a basketcase and begged GG to take away the pain and get me drugs. lol. What a trooper he was to endure my sadness while not being able to do anything about it... The nurse returned and we requested the epidural, but learned that I would have to wait to get lab results back from my bloodwork. They could not administer the epidural without knowing my platelet levels--I had been taking a daily baby aspirin at the advice of my midwife in IN (to help control for blood pressure issues). Thank goodness for this little delay. Had I gotten the epidural it would have most likely kicked in ~10min. before delivery! What a disappointment that would have been...

So at this point I wanted drugs and wasn't allowed to have any, but was also ill-equipped to do a natural labor = sad B-mama!! Thankfully, the nurse stepped in and was awesome! She took control and advised breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth--just focusing on this breathing did a lot for my ability to handle the contractions. She checked me to see how far I had progressed and we learned that I was still only 5cm. dilated. Maybe there was still hope for that epidural!! Funny enough, at this point I started to feel like I needed to "use the bathroom" (I was fully dilated! Yes, that was 5cm in about 5min.!!) The nurse (I think disbelieving that I was fully dilated so soon after checking me) kept reassuring me, "Honey, your baby is really low and is causing pressure. You don't need to use the bathroom." After a particularly long series of intense contraction upon intense contraction with very little break, I asked to sit up to try a different position. One contraction later, my water broke. I think the nurse started to take me seriously. :)

The urge to push was beyond me and at that point, the nurse began to yell for a doctor (anybody) while saying that someone should call my OB at the other hospital and get her quickly. There were a lot of people streaming into the room beginning to prepare for delivery (I still was in disbelief that I was not getting an epidural--eternal optimist!) The nurse had me start blowing like I was "blowing out a candle" (I later found out this was to stall my urge to push until the doc was ready! Crash course Lamaze!) Thankfully a doc from my OB practice was soon there and became a wonderfully calming presence within the room. I got ready to push and away we went. One push = hello baby J's head. Two pushes = hello Baby J! The pushing was absolutely the best part. By 10:38am, we had a baby.

GG and I couldn't believe our morning productivity, nor how quickly everything had gone. Never did we anticipate arriving to our room by 9:30am and having our precious J an hour later! Oh boy! And what a recovery--natural labor is absolutely the best. J was so aware and alert; I was able to walk to my wheelchair and use the bathroom right away(!) It was really fantastic and I'm so glad things worked out the way they did--I definitely wouldn't have done it on my own volition!

So there you have it--a play-by-play of Baby J's precious arrival!

Thanks for reading the novel and being a part of our family drama!

And thanks be to God for our health and safety.