A Birth Story

I awoke at 11:50 Thursday night to contractions, this was not a new thing in fact it had happened several times.  I decided to take a shower to see if I could relax and get them to go away if they were false labor.  Well, after the shower I was still contracting so I went downstairs to sit on my birth ball.  At this point, I decided I had better start timing the contractions to see where we were, because I really didn't want to birth a baby on the side of the road.  When the contractions were about 5 minutes apart I went upstairs and told Bri, "I think I am in labor."  I told him I was going to lay down to see if I could sleep through them for a bit.  Well, that didn't last long because I could not relax enough to sleep.  Brian, got up and started to finish packing my bag with my tooth brush and things you can't pack until last minute.

I got up to go to the bathroom.  While I was on the toilet I had a MAJOR contraction and told Brian he better call Garry.  (Garry was coming to stay with our 2 big kids.)  At this point it was 2 in the morning, and I was wondering if I would be able to get off the toilet.  I did indeed make it off the toilet and I got some clothes on and got ready to go to the hospital in between the contractions.  Garry arrived and we head for the hospital about 2:30 in the morning.  I was admitted to Labor and Delivery.  The nurse put the monitoring system on, but it was not reading my contractions.  I begged her not to send me home.  She assured me that I was in fact having contractions, but the machine was not picking them up.  At this point she checked me I was 4 cm and 70% effaced.  By now the contractions were very strong and I was having a hard time finding my happy place (remember I wanted to go unmedicated).  After, having a hard time breathing through some contractions, the nurse was concerned I was going to hyperventilate, I begged for an epidural.  I decided it was better to enjoy the birth experience then prove a point.  

The anesthesiologist came in and was slow getting my epidural.  It was hard to hold the position and go through the contractions.  I yelled at one point "just give me the drugs, it hurts."  The anesthesiologist then told me that the contractions were coming hard and fast.  By the time this was over it was getting close to 4 AM.  Dr. Brown, my OB, was on-call.  She came in to say hi and break my water.  But as she was getting ready to do so, she said "there is nothing to break, I feel hair."  So we are not sure exactly when my water broke, but it did naturally at some point.  She also told me I was about 7 cm and 100% effaced.  I asked Dr. Brown how long she was at the hospital and she said until 7 AM.  But she then assured me that we would have a baby before then.  

As I labored, I did so much more comfortably.  As we got close to 5 AM I kept telling the nurse that there was a spot that really hurt.  It was up by my ribs.  She told me to hit my medication button for another dose to help.  I hit it and waited, but the discomfort didn't change.  The nurse said "I know we just checked you but some times pain in other areas means it's baby time."  She checked and sure enough I was 10 cm.  She went and got Dr. Brown and at 5 AM, it was show time.  I pushed about 3 times, and out came the baby.  

Brian announced for all in the room "It's a girl!"  Elyse Marie Hansen was born September 20, 2013 at 5:07 AM.  She weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.  She had a head of hair so all my heartburn paid off!