October 29th at 10pm Jordan and I checked into the hospital, I was scheduled to be induced the morning of October 30th at 6am. Before this we had two false alarms in one weekend, one being intense braxton hicks and the other I basically peed myself. Embarrassing right? After that we pretty much refused to take any sort of “contractions” seriously. At 41 weeks our little man was refusing to vacate, hence the induction. The night we checked in we had a final dinner with my family at the most amazing Mexican restaurant in Gresham called Mojave. It’s kind of my favorite. The bags were packed and loaded, dogs were boarded, and we were enjoying our final evening before becoming parents. My heart raced through the entire meal and time seemed to be flying all of a sudden, seeing as it seemed to be crawling before that. Before I knew it, it was time to head to the hospital. I was unbelievably nervous and excited at the same time. I was ready to meet my little man and just plain ready to be done being pregnant! I wish I could say I was too excited and nervous to sleep, but I was exhausted from being pregnant. Next thing I knew they were waking me up to let me know that they will be inducing me later than originally planned. The two hours seemed to crawl by until they finally hooked me up to pitocin and broke my water. Now I don’t know how easily most women’s bag of waters breaks, but mine was not even remotely easy. It was unbelievably uncomfortable and took a few tries before it finally broke. After a short period of time I was finally going into labor.
With labor beginning I had to remember that our plan was to hold off on the epidural until I was at least 6cm’s dilated. Before actually being in labor it sounded like an easy plan. During labor however, was a different story entirely. I could handle the contractions without too much issue, but what was unexpectedly awful was the rectal pressure I was experiencing. I know TMI sorry, but I didn’t realize how big our baby was and his head was causing a ridiculous amount of pressure inside of me. I became nauseous and yelled for Jordan to get me something to vomit in. When the nurse came in to check on me I had to ask for some sort of pain medication to help me until I could get my epidural. The medication helped the first dose, but as things progressed it became less and less effective. I was dealing with labor in the ways that I felt most comfortable, none of which involved being in the bed. I was bouncing on the ball, rotating my hips, and squatting. The pressure was increasing more and more, I was not at 6cm when the anesthesiologist came to inform me that she was going into a surgery and wouldn’t be able to give my epidural until she was done. At the time I told her and myself that I could push through until I hit 6cm and she returned from surgery. Boy was I wrong… I was miserable from the pressure and nausea. The nurses suggested I get in the tub thinking it would ease my labor, it didn’t even remotely. Once I was in the tub I felt the urge to vomit again, I literally felt like my butt was going to explode from all of the pressure. Again sorry for the TMI. I sat in the tub until we got word that the anesthesiologist was done with her surgery and ready to give my epidural, two hours after she had asked if I could manage until she was finished. I started to tear up because I didn’t feel like I had the energy or the strength to get out of the stupid tub. Jordan being the amazing husband he is, gave me a pep talk and helped pull my pregnant butt out of that stupid tub. “Do it for the epidural!”, “This is for the epidural!”, “You can do it!”, were all things he kept saying to me even as I threw up on my way out of the tub. I have always been told I had a crazy tolerance for pain, I still think I do, but labor gave me a run for my money. I was ready for my epidural! As soon as it was delivered I immediately felt relief from the pressure, Jordan noticed a smile on my face and laughingly told the nurses I was all good now! After that I was allowed to sleep, good lord did I need it too! They woke me every 40 mins to flip sides so that my epidural would spread evenly, but I got SO much rest! Jordan was able to sleep during this time as well.
After a couple of hours of on and off sleep for me, they checked my cervix again and I was fully dilated at 10cm! They were going to get my midwife and let me know it was about time to start pushing. I kept asking the nurse to wake Jordan up for me, but for some reason she kept insisting I let him sleep until I was ready to start pushing. Shift change came and our new nurse Carly came in, I asked her to wake Jordan up for me and she did so without question telling him I was at 10cm and ready to push. He sprang up and couldn’t believe I progressed so quickly and asked why no one woke him up sooner. June arrived and instructed Carly to help me start pushing, after 20 mins I had made so much progress it surprised June and Carly, they could already see his blonde hair. They made the assumption that I would be able to push this guy out in a short amount of time. Obviously this excited me, but they were very very wrong… He was stuck and couldn’t progress further, as instructed I continued to push and try to get him past the point that he was stuck for 2 hours. In my head I began to wonder what would happen if I couldn’t get him through, would they to a C-Section? Finally June suggested a small cut that she thought would allow him to pass through where he was stuck, I agreed and she made the cut. After making the cut she instructed the nurses to stand on either side of me “in case of shoulders”, I didn’t quite understand but put it aside in my mind. 30 mins later his not so little head finally came out and then things got scary and intense… June shouted shoulders to the nurses and both jumped on my belly, pushing back and forth with every ounce of strength they had. Up until then I maintained my composure and was not a “screamer” as some women are, but at that moment I could not control the sound that came out of my mouth. The pain was unbelievable and I was unprepared for such an aggressive tactic to get his stuck shoulders through. I closed my eyes as Jordan jumped in front of my face and thought I might pass out, the next thing I knew I felt a heaviness on my belly and heard a soft cry. My eyes were still closed when Jordan began exclaiming, “He’s here! Oh my God, he’s here! You did it baby!”. I opened my eyes and immediately began to cry, there on my belly was our little miracle. I looked at Jordan, who was also crying and said “I did it baby, I did it!”. He leaned down planting a kiss on me and responded with, “You did so good baby! He’s perfect.”. After delayed clamping Jordan cut his umbilical cord, which was tougher than expected, and they moved Grayson up onto my chest. In pure Grayson fashion, he broke the emotional moment when we discovered that he had pooped ALL OVER me! It was freaking hilarious! Jordan and I looked at each other and said, “That’s our boy!”.
Once Grayson entered the world things got a little scary again, June was working tirelessly to stop the bleeding and get my placenta to deliver. Usually it takes about 20 mins for it to deliver, it had been about an hour at this point. Finally she was able to deliver it, she and the nurses were caught by surprise when they saw my placenta. Apparently it was “beefy”, several other nurses came in and out to look at it… Weird. June talked to me once things were all good and told me that nothing about my labor and delivery was easy. That I had a “tough bag of waters, a perineum of steel (from all of my exercising apparently), a big baby boy, and a beefy placenta”, but that I did so good and that Grayson was beautiful. Our families were able to come in a couple of hours after I delivered and the nurses weighed him while we were all together. My short 5’6 self delivered a 9lb 5oz baby boy, he was HUGE!! Our families were able to hang out and spend time with all of us, so many tears of joy and happiness were shared. This was the best day of our lives!
Fit Mom Happy Life 