Well it is official... I am now 2 for 2 as far as not-so-fun birthing experiences go. If you want to refresh yourself, you can read about Drew's birth here.
So let me tell you the story of my darling little Luke, born June 11, 2009, at 11:15 p.m.
This is a long one!
Compared to my pregnancy with Drew, this pregnancy was a breeze! I swear with Andrew I was calling my Dr. every week with some new worry, where as this time around I maybe went in once unscheduled, and called twice with a question. It was a completely different experience and thankfully none of the problems that I had last time came up this pregnancy. I was so thankful for that!
About halfway through this pregnancy I decided that I for sure wanted to try a
VBAC. An automatic repeat C-section just didn't sound good to me. My first experience with a C-section was terrible and so it really scared me to think of going through all of that again. I would think about it and just cry because it terrified me so! I just wanted to have a normal vaginal birth, especially for an easier recovery as well! So I found a great Dr. here in Vegas who has a lot of success with VBACs. I felt very comfortable with him and was so excited about the prospect of a vaginal delivery! Plus, I had two friends who had just had successful VBACs with the same Dr. in the last few months. I felt so good about it!
Anyway the labor part was seriously not all that bad. I had a foley balloon catheter inserted the day before and so when I went into the hospital I was already dialated 4 cm. with very little pain! (except for when the freakin nurse with the tiny hands had to check me and couldn't find my cervix and basically shoved her entire fist up my hoo-haa. Oh I wanted to knock her out!) So they got me started with a tiny bit of pitocin (very low dose to keep things safe and controlled) to get things moving. I started having some pretty good contractions but nothing I couldn't handle. I felt pretty good! When the nurse checked me again the baby had dropped a bit more and I was at 5 cm. The contractions were coming stronger and stronger and more painful at this point so I decided it was epidural time. Unlike my experience in Oregon, the epidural worked this time! HOORAY! I was so happy and relaxed! The only annoying thing is feeling like my legs weighed 1000 lbs each. I hate that tingling weird sensation!
After the epidural, they broke my water and I started progressing very quickly. The baby was doing great this whole time! I was so happy about that. He seemed to be taking the contractions very well. I was finally at 10 cm at around 8:30 p.m. The nurse told me we were going to do some "practice" pushing so she shut my epidural off and my Mom and Raleigh held a leg and there I went pushing my little heart out. No one ever told me what hard work that is! Holy crap I was exhausted!!
After a half hour of pushing with the nurse the Dr. came in to check on how things were going. They pulled in a table and a big light and a few more nurses came in, and I was thinking this is it! I am going to do it! So the Dr. sat there and tried to help the baby out. I was pushing so hard I was sure I was going to rupture a blood vessel in my face or something. It was hard!
After another hour of pushing like this and trying new positions the baby's head would just not come down past my pelvic bone. This really surprised me, because it is not like I am a tiny person! For some reason I just could not push him into position. By this time I was starting to get discouraged. Then Luke's heart rate dropped a few times. Not too badly, but enough to bother the Dr. a bit. The scarier thing though was that I had started bleeding quite a lot. I of course had no idea what was going on down there, but my Mom could tell the Dr. was getting worried. The most worrysome part for me was that I started having some serious pain in my previous incision site. It was progressively getting worse with each contraction/pushing session. Taking all of these things into consideration (I had been pushing for nearly 2 hours by this time)along with another heart decel by the baby, and the Dr. decided enough was enough.
Time for another freakin C-section.
I bawled and bawled because I was so disappointed, but at the same time I knew it was the right decision. I just thought for sure after getting that far that I would be successful! I guess it just wasn't meant to be though. They wheeled me into the O.R., Raleigh put on his scrubs and sat by my side (and watched me turn my head and puke over and over on the operating table - good man, that Raleigh) the anasthesiologist made sure I was numb and that was it. They started cutting. After only a few minutes I heard the best noise in the world -
Little Luke's first cry! He sounded so good. The dr. showed him to us before he handed him off to the nurses and Raleigh and I just both looked at each other and it was instant love for each of us for this little baby. He is so precious!
It isn't quite the recovery that I had hoped for or anticipated, but that's ok. I know I will survive.
So I may be 2 for 2 on crappy deliveries, but I am also 2 for 2 as far as adorable little boys go. :)
Luke Michael is here, safe and sound. He is beautiful and healthy. and THAT is what matters most.
