Our LONG birth story!

Ok. So Let's actually start at the beginning of February. I went to my 37 week appointment (after not seeing a Dr. since 30 weeks...stupid insurance and moving!). The Dr. checked me and said I was 30% effaced and 1cm dialated. She said she didn't think I would be giving birth that week, but it could be soon! I went to two ultrasounds after that. The first they didn't get all the measurements they needed. They said he was so big and far down, that they couldn't even get the measurements they needed! At the second ultrasound, she told me our boy was going to have a TON of hair! She took a few pictures of it just floating in the amniotic fluid! 

I went to my 38 week appointment and my Dr. checked me. He said that our boy was still pretty far up, but that I was BARELY a cm dialated. So I felt a little worse than my last appointment because I was hoping to have progressed some. I went to my 39 week appointment and was told the exact same thing. He's still high up, and I was only 1 cm. But this time he assured me that our little boy could still join us at any moment. I could be on the corner smokin' weed and crack and then BAM! Baby! Seriously, his words!! 

Now, sadly, he was going to be on call for my 40 week appointment, so I had to go see one of the midwives. I was actually pretty excited, because I had always wanted to see a midwife. But when we got there, she wasn't really interested in checking me. But she did anyways. Now, she told me that I was not even a cm. I was devastated, how could I have gone backwards??? TJ and I had planned on scheduling an induction for the next week, but she wouldn't even let us talk about it. I left very upset and angry. We scheduled a few NST's for the next week and that was that. She had asked if I wanted to be switched to her care instead of my Dr.s...... ummmmm. NO THANK YOU. My Dr. told me I could schedule an induction today.... and you refuse. So no. I do not want your service. 

The next week rolled around and my mom and I went to my NST. Baby was healthy and not in stress. Thank goodness. A few days later, TJ and I went to my next NST. Baby was still doing good. I was not having any contractions or any signs of labor and I was 41+3. We all went to my Dr.s appointment and when he checked, the baby was still high, and my cerix was behind him. I was STILL only 1cm. He asked me what I wanted to do and I said, I'd like to schedule an induction. He said. Great! How soon? I said, as soon as possible! So he put in a request to the hospital nurses to schedule me ASAP. I was so relieved. I wished I could be sent right over to the hospital, but I was still extremely happy that he was letting me be induced! 

We went home and relaxed. My mom did my nails. And we waited for a call to tell us when we could come in. 5 o' clock rolled around and I was SURE we wouldn't receive a phone call that day. But sure enough, I got a call at about 5:30. She said she had gotten an urgent request for me to be induced ASAP. She said the day was pretty much over, so we could start in the morning. We were ecstatic! TJ was a little freaked out, he and I went to Wal-Mart to grab some last minute snacks and such. 

I didn't know how I was going to sleep that night. I really couldn't. I knew I really needed to sleep, but I was too excited. I ended up only getting a few short hours of sleep. 

We went to the hospital and checked in at 7AM on Friday, March 6th. We started off with paperwork. Then we got settled in our room and I got to put on the gown I'd be wearing for the next few days. They started off with my IV. Which was not a pleasant experience. The nurse burst a vein on my right hand. My hand was so swollen! It's still bruised over two weeks later. The pain made me get extremely lightheaded and I almost passed out. Then the babies heart rate dropped insanely low. A group of 6 or 7 Drs and nurses came running into the room. One was massaging the babies head, One was checking my dilation. One was searching for the babies heart rate. One was giving me oxygen. It was great. After we got that done with, we called my mom back to join us. At about 9AM, I took the first dose of Misoprostol. It is a pill that is literally the size of an ant. It's tiny. You are supposed to take the pill in 4 hour increments and the dose is upped each time. We didn't make it to a second dose. If your contractions are too close together, then you can't take another dose, as it will make your contractions too close. They can't control your contractions, so you have to wait it out. So I took the dose at 9 and my contractions started soon after. They weren't painful, but they existed. When you are on this pill, you have to spend most of your time in bed. I was on an IV for dehydration, so I had to stay in bed even more. We did get to go on a few walks during the day. It was beautiful out, and they have a patio just for labor and delivery. It was nice to be able to go outside for a while. 

They decided that I wasn't going to be able to take another dose of the medicine as my contractions were not slowing down. So they checked my cervix. I was only to about a 2 or a 3. They decided to start me on Pitocin. I don't remember what time this was, but I'm going to guess about 8. The contractions started hurting a bit more. But they were still bearable. I wasn't able to sleep through them though. I finally was able to fall asleep at 11pm. I woke up to a pop and three VERY painful contractions at 11:15. After that, the contractions were extremely painful. At about 11:45, while my nurse was in the room, liquid started pouring out of me. At first I thought I might've wet my pants because I had the urge to pee during every contraction, but I knew it was my water. My nurse was very surprised. TJ woke up and said, you're water broke?? haha. My mom had just stepped out of the room. A while after that, the midwife came in. (Did I mention that I just got stuck with a midwife and not a Dr? I was a little frustrated about that, but it had been ok so far.) The midwife didn't want to check how far I was dilated since my water had broken. She didn't think I could've dilated much since the previous check. I asked if I could get an epidural while the midwife was there, but she told me I couldn't until I was AT LEAST 4 cms. And since I was only 2 or 3 previously, I wasn't allowed to. She did let me have a bit of pain medicine to take the edge off. The medicine lasted through just two contractions and only made me drowsy, but did not help with the pain whatsoever. My contractions were about 4 minutes apart, so at the most, I could get 4 minutes of sleep at a time. I waited a few hours and asked for another dose of the medicine. Once again, it only lasted through about 2 contractions.

 Finally, at 7 AM, a new nurse came. She came in to check on me and asked about my pain and if I was interested in an epidural. I told her I would take an epidural as soon as the midwife let me. The nurse looked at me and said. "Honey, if you want an epidural, you get an epidural. It does not matter how much you are dilated. I got mine at 1cm! I'm getting you an epidural." Then my mom mentioned the fact that we didn't want a midwife and we got stuck with one. The nurse left and came back with the anesthesiologist and told me I was off the midwives case and onto the Drs! I don't know what I would've done without her. So it was a waiting game from then on. Unfortunately, with every contraction, babies heart rate dropped, so I was stuck on oxygen all day long to help him get enough oxygen. My temperature went up, so they had to start antibiotics to treat me for an infection since my water had been broken for so long. They checked me in the afternoon and I went from 4 cms to 9cms in just about an hour. It was about time to start pushing. I asked to eat a little something to give me some energy. I got to eat a purple popsicle. How is it, that very flavorful food is so UNflavorful at the hospital?? It's crazy how nasty that food is. 

I started really feeling like I needed to push and finally it was time. We started pushing about 6:15ish. Drs kept coming in and out to check on us. Since his levels kept dropping so much with each contraction, and even more so with each push, we would push for one contraction and rest for the next. He was stuck in there. We could not get him passed my pubic bone. A while into our pushing, my Dr showed up! My personal Dr. It was nice to see a familiar face, since everyone else had been new to me up to that point. He kept checking in on me. After three hours of pushing, he decided that he needed to help pull the baby out with a vacuum and if it didn't work, we would need to do a c-section. We pushed through two contractions. On the second push of the second contraction, I felt the baby start making his way out finally! But as soon as I stopped pushing I felt him go right back in. On the last push of the second contraction, Dr. Kezmoh said that if we didn't get him out on this push, we would have to rush in to do a c-section. Everyone was at the ready. Kezmoh had to do an episiotomy to help the baby come out. I felt him pop his head out and it was such a relieving feeling. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his arm and his neck, so we had to stop pushing. I tried to hold him in as the Dr worked the cord off of him. Then he popped the rest of the way out. I cannot describe the relieving feeling! I couldn't see anything. Honestly, I was in a daze, so my memory is in and out. But I am told he was purple. Dr Kezmoh worked with him trying to get oxygen back into him. They started wiping him off and put him on my chest. I was in awe. I wanted to hold him, but they kept wiping him, so I just got to stroke him a little bit. TJ said when they put him on me, the purple just drained out of him. They kept the cord connected for as long as they could, and then TJ got to cut it. When they took him off of me to get his information, he started to cry. It was music to my ears. I was so worried about him, because he had such a hard time during birth. I could barely lift my head, so I couldn't watch them do everything they needed as much as I wanted to. I couldn't wait to hold him once again. 

I wish so bad that I could remember more of my actual pushing. But I can tell you, I fell in love with that little one the second I laid eyes on him. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I didn't want to sleep even though I was so exhausted, I just wanted to watch him. I wanted to make sure he was still breathing. He was so beautiful. I can't believe the love I have for this sweet little boy. I'm so grateful for him and that Heavenly Father trusts us enough to take care of him! 

Birth was very hard, but it was so worth it. I love our little guy so much and I'm so happy to have him in our family! 

Our sweet Clarkeson Leif was born on March 7th, 2015 at 9:49PM. He weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs and was 20 3/4" long.