Polka Dots and Baby Thoughts: Zeke's Birth Story

For those of you that wanted to hear Zeke’s birth story here it is…but let me warn you I will give you all the gory details so beware that it isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. And if you are scared of labor this might not be the post for you because trust me it was the labor from hell. It definitely could have been worse and I am so thankful that I have a healthy baby boy but let’s just say I won’t be forgetting this day and the pain anytime soon. Sooo here it goes…

I woke up at 3:30 in the morning (actually on my due date which was kinda cool because I really thought I would have him on that day) feeling some pains and thought maybe this could be it but I wasn’t really sure since it was my first. So I waited in bed trying to fall back to sleep but failed so at 4:30 I woke up my husband and told him that this was it. We timed the contractions until they were consistent, when they were I got ready to go to the hospital and Miguel all of the sudden turned into Mr. Clean and started nervous cleaning everything, I mean like dusting, scrubbing the bathroom it was kind of hilarious, but I was really grateful that he was being productive because we were going to have company and I had been too miserable to deep clean for the last few days.

Finally we made it to the hospital (which was about 30 minutes. away from our home) and when they checked on me I was only dilated to a 2, which to me felt like an 8 but what did I know I just wanted to be admitted so I could get my epidural! But they only admit you when you are 4 cm dilated or more so they gave me a shot of morphine and sent me home to try and sleep, like that was going to happen. So I figured I might as well eat something since I had some time to kill. The minute I smelled the food I made Miguel pull over on the freeway and threw up what little I had in my stomach.

Fast forward to about 1pm when my mom (who flew in from California) had landed and she and my grandma came to help out. When they got to our place they saw how much pain I was in and that my contractions were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. So we got back in the car and made the second trip to the hospital. They checked me again and I was only at a 3 and they would not admit me until I was a 4. I was in so much pain and I was not progressing very well so the nurse let me stay in the room I was in for a few hours, thank goodness I really didn’t want to go home again. My mom bought a lacrosse ball and rubbed that and a Miracle ball on my back when I was having my contractions and that seriously helped so much. Who would have thought of that? But really if you are having a baby soon invest in one it was one of the only things that helped with the pain before my epidural. The other thing that was wonderful was an exercise ball to sit on. Don’t ask me why it helped but it was much more comfortable to sit on that than to lay on the bed.

So now let’s fast forward to the part where they finally called my doctor and she let them admit me at 3 cm since I was in so much pain and still wasn’t progressing. So I finally got into my room where this wonderful man came in and gave me the epidural at 8pm and I was on cloud 9! I finally had some relief from the pain and I was feeling so great!

Then the doctor (of course my doctor, who I really liked, had surgery and was totally out of commission so I had a doctor who I did not know and knew nothing about me) came in and broke my water which helped me progress from 5cm to 8cm pretty quickly and I was ecstatic I was so ready for our sweet baby boy to be here. But it was not going to be that simple of course. I started to feel really sick and the nurse figured out that I had a fever of 103. Turns out that when they broke my water I got an infection which was making me super sick. So they put me on antibiotics and I was supposed to try and sleep. Of course that did not happen. Then they came in and told us that the baby was not getting enough oxygen so I was going to have to put an oxygen mask thing on until I delivered. So basically I am lying in bed with my huge belly, oxygen mask on, 103 fever, and I just keep thinking well this is probably about as bad as it can get for right now. Boy was I wrong.

Fast forward a few hours we had sent my grandpa home to sleep (they were in town from California and he didn’t want to leave the hospital so he slept in his car. Bless his heart) my grandma was on her iPad playing games (she is a champ she stayed up with me the entire time we were in the hospital waiting to deliver) and my mom and husband were sleeping on the couch. SLEEPING. I could have killed my husband I had been in labor for over 24 hours and I was miserable and he was sleeping. I guess now I don’t really blame him I mean he was up for a really long time and someone had to sleep. The nurse came in to check on my and noticed that my catheter bag was nearly empty and they had not changed it for hours which meant that my kidneys were not functioning properly. They checked my hands and feet and realized how swollen I was so they started to worry. At this point the doctors came in worried about the baby because he wasn’t getting enough oxygen and were afraid my kidneys were shutting down so they wanted to do an emergency C-section and brought in all the forms for me to sign. I was not someone who had a birth plan or anything like that. I wanted 3 simple things; I wanted to have a vaginal birth, and I wanted to do skin to skin with my baby after they had wiped off all the bodily fluids that he came out with (I know I know it’s better to do skin to skin right after they are born but I just didn’t think I could do that), and I wanted to wait a few minutes before cutting the cord so he could get some of the nutrients from the cord after birth. So basically I had 3 things I wanted and knowing this the doctors came in the room wanting me to have a C-section and I of course wanted my baby to be ok but at the same time I had worked for this, I had been in labor for a full day now and I was not about to give up and get a C-section. So I told the doctors to give me a few minutes to decide what to do and in that time we found a nurse to help my husband give me a priesthood blessing. A few minutes after the blessing the baby was getting enough oxygen and the doctors decided we could wait on the C-section.

So now let’s fast forward again about an hour to when the doctors decided I could start pushing. I started pushing the old fashion way in the bed and that was not working so after about 45 minutes of that they decided to wait a little bit longer again. They switched doctor and nursing staff for the 3^rd time and I was so motivated to get that baby out that I told the nurse I would do whatever I could to make that happen. So she decided that I should try to do a squat push. The problem with that however was that I could not feel my legs because of my epidural that, by the way, had almost worn off everywhere except my legs. So they pulled out this bar that went over my head and they took a sheet and my husband held one leg up and a nurse held up the other leg, then I had to pull myself up on this bar squat down and push as hard as I could. This was the most bizarre, embarrassing, horrible thing I could have imagined. It didn’t last just a few times either, oh no it went on for 2 HOURS. Yes you heard me I pushed like this for 2 hours. (This picture is really really embarrassing, but I feel like it is necessary to post so you can all see what I mean when I say how horrible this was.)

After this hellish 2 hours was finally over there was a team of doctors, seriously like 15 doctors, all just staring at me laying there wide open on the bed while I pushed out my sweet boy. Thankfully my Grandma documented the whole thing because she couldn't believe how many doctors there were.

But oh no it’s not over yet. He was stuck in the birth canal so they gave me the option of either forceps or suction, I was completely unprepared to make this decision, I was exhausted and scared and I left it up to the doctors to decide. They chose forceps and so while they were prepping their big scary tools the anesthesiologist came in to give me another dose of the epidural, which of course didn’t kick in until right after I gave birth and then I couldn’t feel my legs for hours. So anyways they pulled out little Zeke with forceps and it was the most pain I have ever felt in my life. The entire 30 hours of labor and I never cried until that moment when I was in so much pain and I heard my baby cry for the first time. Because of the infection I had when they broke my water they had to put Zeke on antibiotics right away so they took him right away cut the cord really fast and took him over to this table so they could clean him off and swaddle him. Let’s go back now to those three things I wanted, I was able to have a vaginal birth but the other two things were out the window. Luckily, I was able to see him after that for a few minutes before they took him to the nursery for his antibiotics. We were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy who despite being stuck in the birth canal for nearly 4 hours had nothing wrong with him and only had a small bump on his head from the forceps. We had to stay in the hospital for an extra day but it was so worth it to take home a happy healthy boy. Even though I had a tough 30 hour labor and a difficult few weeks after I felt so incredibly blessed to have a healthy baby boy, the most amazing husband, and a loving supportive family by my side through the whole thing!