Fast

I know it has been over two weeks since I had Braden, but I still want to post his birth story, and fast is the best word I can think of to describe how things went down the day he was born.

Some of you are probably unaware that I had a c-section with Rebecca. While I was pregnant with her I got pretty severe preeclampsia, which is a disease caused by the placenta that can be fatal to mother and baby. The only way to get rid of preeclampsia is to get the placenta out of the body. At 32 weeks with Rebecca, my doctor and perinatologist were so worried about my health that they decided it was time to remove the placenta from my body, which meant that it was time for Rebecca to be born, ready or not. I never went into labor, and if I had any early contractions while pregnant with her, I had no idea they were contractions. To be honest I felt a little cheated out of the whole birth experience. I actually felt more like I was going in for liposuction when she was born.

Because of the circumstances with Rebecca's birth, I decided that I wanted to try a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) with William. VBACs are actually pretty controversial here in Las Vegas - many hospitals won't even let women deliver that way, and there are only a handful of doctors who will consent to do them. And the hospitals that do allow VBACs have pretty strict rules for the doctors performing them: the doctor must be on the hospital campus the entire time the VBAC patient labors just in case her uterus ruptures at the c-section incision, and she has to be rushed to the OR for an emergency c-section. The hospitals also make VBAC patients sign a waiver saying that they won't sue the hospital if something goes wrong with the VBAC.

Luckily, my ob/gyn happens to be one of the few here who will let his patients have a VBAC, and he agreed to let me try with William. But because of the hospital rules, he asked that I be induced to make sure that he was around when I went into labor (because most other on-call doctors would immediately take me down for another c-section). Everything went well, and I had a successful VBAC with William. His birth was everything I expected having a baby to be, so I decided to try another VBAC with Braden.

My doctor set my induction for a week before my due date. I was scheduled to be at Valley Hospital at 5:30 am on Monday, March 2. I actually went in that morning having regular contractions. After my nurse got all of my information in the computer, she checked me, and I was dilated to a four. Because I was progressed so far along, my doctor came in at 7 am and broke my water and started the pitocin. My nurse asked if I wanted an epidural, and I told her yes.

By about 9 am, my contractions were starting to get a little painful, but I waited patiently for the anesthesiologist to come since I had already informed my nurse that I wanted an epidural. By 10 am I was hurting pretty badly, so when my nurse came in, I politely asked when I was getting my epidural. She said, "Are you ready for it?" And I said, "I'm hurting pretty good." She informed me that the anesthesiologist had a little problem and was stuck in the OR and that after he left the OR he had to do a spinal block for another patient, and then I would be next. By 10:20 am I was screaming and crawling up my bed and thinking, "Wow, I am such a wuss. I've only been in labor for a few hours, and already I can't handle the pain."

The anesthesiologist came in right after that, and I was so excited to see him. And while he gave me my epidural the contractions kept on coming even harder and more often. And then he was done, and the contractions continued to come, and I felt NO relief. At that point my nurse said, "Are your contractions feeling any less intense?" And I said, "Maybe a little bit." And then I had another contraction that made me scream and crawl up my bed. So she decided to check me. And she said, "Oh! You're complete! It's time for you to push. When you have another contraction give me a small push." And I did. And she said, "Oh! There's his head! I better call Dr. Groom."

Dr. Groom came in a few minutes later, and it took everything I had not to push. My body just wanted to push in reaction to the contractions. Luckily my epidural kicked in just enough when my doctor got there that I didn't feel a whole lot while I pushed except for the urge to push. I'm so glad that my nurse did not check me before I was given my epidural. I don't think she would have let me have it because of how far I was progressed. And the episiotomy I got would have been no fun without some kind of pain duller.

And so Braden was born at 11 am on March 2. He came fast and with a lot of pain, but he's so worth it.