Bentley’s Birth Story-
(This is an honest account, so let this be your warning)
So my
little man’s estimated date of arrival was August 22nd 2013. I was
trying not to get my hopes up to deliver on time as my first was 2 weeks late.
I kept telling everyone “I’m due the end of August”, but when the 22nd
came and went I was pretty disappointed. I had done everything short of castor
oil to try and get labour going. One Sunday I came home from church, ran stairs
and did squats and had a 4 minute dance party to “ice, ice baby”….yah I know!
All it did was make me incredibly tired and my legs hurt the next day.
Since about
38 weeks I had been having mild contractions, hence why I was so miffed to go
past my due date. I felt like I was in
early labour…for—ever! Most nights I
would go to bed thinking “while this be the night?!” and then I would wake up
in the morning with a big ol’ “no”.
Anyway onto
the birth story, I had an induction scheduled for the 31st of
August. The kicker is the hospital will just call you at some point during the
day to come in, there is no scheduled time. Since I was progressed enough I was
just going to get my water broken and go from there. So August 31st
came, we had dropped Adelade off and Matthew’s parents the night before just in
case we got the call to come in bright and early. Well that was not the case,
we waited….and waited and waited.
Finally at 8:45pm we got the call to come in.
I was so excited and not at the same time, I knew if we went in we’d be pulling
an all-nighter for sure, but if we waited we could potentially be in the same
situation just a day later. So we decided to go in!!! We arrived at the
hospital at 9:45pm and they put us in a room (we were in the anti-partum
unit). The doctor came in a discussed
our options. I opted to have my water broken and see what happens before we
start the oxytocin. So they broke my
water at 10:30pm and Matthew and I walked the halls and the stairs for 2 hours.
We did 3 flights of 138 stairs!!! When we were climbing the stairs I could feel
the contractions getting stronger but when we would go back to the room for the
nurse to check the baby they mostly stopped (bummer!). So at 12:30am they
started the drip and the ball started rolling!!!
I started
getting consistent contractions shortly after they started the oxytocin drip.
We were able to walk the halls a bit because of a special monitor they had. I
couldn’t go to far and after a while the monitors kept slipping off my belly
and it was all quite annoying so we just stayed in our room. By 2am my contractions were 2-4min apart and
I was getting more uncomfortable with each one. At 3am they checked my cervix
and I was 4cm!! wooh hoo!! (I was at a 2-3cm when they broke my water). Side
note: this was a big moment for me because with Adelade I was in (induced) labour
for 21 hours and only ever progressed to 2.5cm dilated before I thought I was
going to die and got the epidural!!! So getting to a 4 and still feeling okay,
I was a happy camper!!
At 3am we
texted our Doula, Karen and asked her to come in as we would be moving to
labour and delivery soon. (A doula is
someone who helps with your labour and delivery; she doesn’t do anything
medical she is just a highly qualified support person). Karen arrived shortly
after 4am, they were moving us to labour and delivery. At this point I was having
to stop-breath-and stare intently at Matthew during each contraction. They
checked me just before moving to labour and delivery and I was at a –wait for
it---6cm!!! YEAH!! Besides having intense contractions I was so happy with
myself! Haa!
The next couple
of hours are a blur, once we got to labour and delivery my contractions kept
getting stronger and I was having a hard time getting through them. I was in
the shower for part of it, the warm water really REALLY helped. Matthew was a
champ; he did everything I needed even without me telling him because to be
honest I didn’t even know what I needed. It was getting close to 6am and I was
starting to feel extremely exhausted and wondered if I could keep going without
help with the pain. I told myself if I was dilated past an 8cm then I would
keep going as I hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer. So when the nurse checked
me and told me “good news is that you are completely effaced…bad news is you
are still at a 6, maybe even a 5!”…..WHAT!? I was so disappointed, but knew at
that moment I NEEDED the epidural. She also mentioned they would have to up the
oxytocin to make my contractions stronger (like they aren’t strong enough) and
to keep me progressing.
By 7am the anesthesiologist
arrived and spewed off all the potential risks…blah…blah…blah (JUST GIVE ME THE
DANG NEEDLE ALREADY!) I know he was just doing his job, I really appreciated
how quickly he talked, even if it meant I didn’t understand a word he said. So
I signed my life away and in went the needle. I was so excited that in 15
minutes the pain would be nothing but a dull pressure….I couldn’t have been
more wrong. As I was laying flat on my back waiting for the epidural to kick
in, I noticed that that each contractions was not getting shorter or less intense
in fact they were getting more intense! Ummm….what?! I couldn’t press that
little button enough. (Side note: there is a little button you can press to
increase the amount of epidural drug, though you can only increase it every 10
minutes, no matter how many times you press) Eventually I was practically
sitting up during each contraction and holding onto Karen’s shoulders for dear
life (hope I didn’t hurt her!). I could hear the nurses saying something along
the lines of “I really don’t think this is working, we should call him back
in”. I agreed COMPLETELY! By 8am he was back and ‘bless his heart’ tried to
make small talk while I was most likely crying. He then “topped me up”, not sure what it meant, but all I know
is within 15 minutes my legs felt like tree trucks and my body was completely
numb from my chest down. I felt WAY more numb than I ever did when I had an
epidural with Adelade. Even though it felt really weird and uncomfortable to be
that numb I was finally able to rest.
At this
point the doctor came in to check my cervix, I didn’t feel a thing! Yeah!! Anyway, she
said I was at a 9cm!!! Say what?! So when my epidural wasn’t working it was
most likely because I had dilated from a 5-9 in an hour and the baby had turned
face up (which means I was in back labour….not fun). I was only 1 cm away from
being fully dilated!! For the next 2
hours Matthew slept on the recliner while I rested in bed and Karen fed me
ice chips. She was a gem!! I had to lay
on my side to try and get the baby to turn, it was the most bizarre feeling
trying to move my body when I couldn’t feel it. I could see the nurses moving
my legs, but could NOT feel it!!! So weird. Anyway the baby was moving SO much they
had a hard time monitoring him. Karen spent half the time holding the monitor
to my belly.
During the
next 2 hours I could feel pressure in my bum; this is a good thing for those who
haven’t had a baby. It is the one time
in my life I was happy to tell someone I felt like I wanted to poo. Oh jee! Basically when you feel this pressure it
means the baby is getting lower and is ready to come out! Even though( pardon
my bluntness) my butt was totally numb I could feel this pressure, so it must
have been a lot. So when the nurses checked me at 10:20am they knew before
sticking anything anywhere that I was at a 10 and ready to push. Want to know
why?! I’m a little embarrassed to say this but I totally pooped on the table,
and had NO IDEA!!! The nurses weren’t going to tell me, Karen did. We laughed!
So they got
everything ready for me to start pushing. It was such a weird feeling because
my butt was still totally numb, how was I going to push a baby out if I
couldn’t even feel what I was doing. I was starting to feel the contractions as
really intense pressure so I knew when I needed to start pushing. They gave me
the run down that when I started to feel a contraction I was to hold my breath
and PUSH as hard as I could for 10 seconds, take a deep breath and do it 2 more
times. This is what I was supposed to do with each contraction. Then we waited
for a contraction, at 10:30am I started to push. Matthew got to 4 and the
nurses told me to “stop”. I was so confused; I thought “aww, dang! It’s because
I’m not doing it right, because I can’t feel what I’m doing, right?”….WRONG! It
was because I was going to have my baby and they had to call the doctor. I
remember Karen saying to me “Angela I know you told me you wanted some sort of
warning that this was it, that this is the moment your baby will be born, well
this is it, you are about to have your baby!” I’m sure I was crying. Within
seconds the doctor was in the room and 2 contractions later my beautiful baby
boy was born!
Bentley Ducati Leavitt
Born September 1, 2013 @ 10:32 am
Weighing 7lbs 13 oz and measuring 20.25 inches
long
We are in love.
Even through all the pain, tears and waiting I am so grateful how Bentley came into this world. I was so happy to hold him and love him from the first moment I saw him.
Bentley, every birth story is different and this is yours, I love you-MOM.
