A little over 2 weeks ago, I headed to my 37 week appointment feeling like garbage. I knew I'd get in there and my blood pressure would be a little high, and I'd probably end up in labor & delivery for monitoring. Little did I know I'd end up laboring for 48hrs and meeting my sweet bun2.
My entire pregnancy, I've had near perfect blood pressures. So when my 36 and 37 week blood pressures came up slightly elevated, I knew it wouldn't be long before Dr. Liz decided to induce me. Did I think it would be at 37w2d?! HELL NO. But as soon as she walked into the room, I knew I was heading across the street to labor & delivery to start the process.
So, off I went. Making phone calls to the Sarge and my mom to let them know we were getting this party started 3 weeks early. The Sarge left work to head to the house to get all of our gear, and I got set up in LD8 around 11:30am. As the two nurses started my IVs, hooked me up to monitors, and asked me the million and one questions they do upon admittance, they casually mentioned that this being my 2nd baby and that I've been contracting for around a month, I should be meeting my baby by days end. Exciting right!? HELL YA!
Because I was dilated 1cm, we decided to start me on pitocin, get my contractions rolling, and hopefully dilate my cervix enough to break my water. My first son came pretty quickly after my water broke, so that was the goal; break my water, have a baby. So we started the pitocin, and I started preparing myself for intense contractions. My goal was to go natural if I could, but I wasn't against asking for meds if it meant being able to relax. My epidural with Jordy was not helpful from the get go and ended up dislodged before they even broke my water, so I essentially birthed him naturally. And I figured since I did it once, and it wasn't that helpful in the beginning anyways, I'd do it again. My contractions pretty quickly regulated at 2-3 min apart and were uncomfortable, but not too bad.
Around 6:30pm, Dr. Liz comes by to check my cervix and progress. NADA. Not a centimeter, not a percent, not a softening, NOTHING. Not to mention, this was probably the 4th time I had been checked in 6 hours, with no pain meds and a baby & cervix so high, they're lucky they could reach it at all. So to say I was discouraged at this point, not to mention sore, was an understatement. But, we decided a round of cervidil(a cervix softening medicine) would help soften and thin me out enough to start dilating better.
Cervidil is a 12hour med. There is nothing that can be done while its in there. You just hang out. Not to mention being strapped with two monitors across your belly that require constant adjusting because the baby moves so much. We both attempted to get some sleep, but it was near impossible being that uncomfortable.
10am the next morning, I get up to pee and out comes the cervidil, one hour early. No biggy, we were about done with it anyways. The nurse checks me, same. Maybe 2cm, but probably not. Still thick. Still high. WTF. Back on the pitocin we go.
Enter Mandy. L&D nurse & now one of my favorite people. This chick was bound and determined to get me dilated come hell or high water. She let me take a walk, a shower, bounce on the exercise ball, dance around the room, & put me in a bunch of different positions to help my cervix do what it needed to do. But, despite all of her efforts, bun2 just wasn't having it. Still no progress after over 24 hours and 3 docs attempting to break my water. Cue the tears and temper tantrum.
I was uncomfortable, I was pissed, I was anxious, I was stressed, I wanted to meet my damn baby or go the hell home. But, since that wasn't possible, Dr. Liz suggested we get an epidural to help me relax, and hope my body took over once I wasn't focused on managing the pain. Little did she know I already asked for it and was just waiting for anesthesia to show up. After 2 emergency c-sections, I finally got my epidural and let me tell you something....BEST DECISION I'VE EVER MADE! I was never against an epidural, but I just assumed it wouldn't help that much. But OH MY LORD! My first epidural must have been wonky from the get-go because this time around, it was absolute heaven. And for the next few hours, my other favorite L&D nurse Jess kept us company, made us laugh, upped my pitocin, as well as flipped my numb ass back and forth over and over to get my dilated. After saying goodbye to Mandy & Jess, Nick and I were so bummed they wouldn't be here for the birth of bun2 after how amazing they were during the time we had with them. A good L&D nurse is EVERYTHING and we had the best.
The next morning, my overnight nurse felt I was close to 6cm, wahoo! But the on call doc was busy with other deliveries and such, so we just hung out until he could come in and try, for the 4th time, to break my water. But before he could make it in, Jess walks in! She ended up working that morning and was assigned to us! Nick and I were over the moon. Even more so when Mandy also walked in to check on us throughout the morning. Both of our favorites were there and thats when we really started to get excited. Nick was jumping around ready to go, so when the doc came in and needed help pulling my legs back to break my water(I was literally almost dead weight, it was amazing, haha), Nick didn't hesitate. Once my water was broke, it was party time.
Jess had me changing my positions, sat me up, and put me on the peanut ball. At 12:30ish she checked me and said I was 9cm and was going to call Dr. Liz so she could head our way for delivery. In the meantime, I was in no pain whatsoever, I was happy and excited and ready to meet my baby. Nick and I were joking around while waiting, and for those of you that know us, know exactly what this picture means, HAHA! (When in labor with Jordy, I look up in between awful, painful contractions to my husband using my oxygen. Claiming he was trying "not to die").
Dr. Liz arrives, suits up, and its go time. Jess is down assisting Dr. Liz, and Mandy is on picture duty because we wanted a reaction photo when we finally got to see who our baby was going to be. It was a small group, five people(there was another nurse in there in case things got crazy). 3.5 pushes and Nick and I finally got to lay our eyes on our sweet baby. Specifically, our baby's crotch and the shock of all shocks. A BOY! I would have bet everything I owned that this was a baby girl, but I couldn't have been more thrilled to have another little man.
20 seconds after he was born and we saw his full head of dark hair, and sweet darling face, I knew his name was Roscoe. Even though Roscoe wasn't even on our list of names for a boy, Nick and I both knew that when we met our baby, we'd know their name. And we both immediately agreed he was definitely a Roscoe.
48 hours of labor, two rounds of pitocin, a round of cervidil, numerous attempts at breaking my water, and a lot of conflicting measurements of my cervix later, our baby boy arrived and we became a family of four <3
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