Short Version: Cade Christopher was born Tuesday September 16th (1 week overdue) at 7:49am after a successful induction. He weighed 7lbs. 4 ozs. and was 20 inches long.
Long Version: I woke up at 5:30am Sunday morning with the most intense contractions I had yet. All day Sunday I was hoping that this was it and we were about to give birth, but no matter what I did the contractions wouldn't get any closer than 7 minutes apart. They were really strong and painful, and some of them lasted as long as 3 minutes, but they never got close together. Needless to say I didn't get any sleep Sunday night. Monday morning I went and saw my midwife and was very disappointed to learn that all of the contractions for the past 36 hours had only moved me from 2cm to 3cm, and still 50% effaced. So she sent me home to wait for our scheduled induction at 9pm that night.
At 9pm we arrived at the hospital and were happy to find that I had progressed to 4cm, 80% effaced, and the baby had dropped from -2 station to 0 station. So the midwife decided to skip the first phase of induction with the cytotec (sp?) and proceed directly to Pitocin. She started me on the lowest dose of Pitocin at 11pm, and told me not to expect anything to happen for 2 hours. Within 30 minutes my contractions were 4 minutes apart and lasting 2 minutes. She checked me at 1am and I was 5cm and 100% effaced. Then things really got going, my contractions were coming right on top of each other with only about 30 seconds in between and were lasting 2 to 3 minutes. She checked me again at 2am and I was 6-7cm dialated. At this point I was in so much pain and wasn't getting any break in between the contractions so I opted for the epidural. Getting it put in wasn't as bad as I expected, just a little prick from the local they used to numb it. Unfortunately I did get a little sick from the initial dose of medicine and my wonderful Hubby had to hold the bucket while I puked for a few minutes (what a guy!). Then it completely kicked in and I was able to relax and get some sleep, which was amazing considering I hadn't really had any sleep for almost 2 days at this point. So I slept for a few hours, and by 6am we were ready to push.
We started pushing at 6am and he was born at 7:49am. This was definately the hardest part for me as I was tired and I was having some trouble moving him down. But I had a great midwife and nurse helping, and Eric was a great coach, trying to keep me motivated to get him out!! I did have a small internal tear and got about 10 stitches, but that isn't too bad. The hemorrhoids are far worse at this point! boo!
Baby Cade is doing great, so far he is just eating and sleeping.
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3 comments:
Caren!!!! Congratulations. I had no idea that you had him already! He is beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your birth story. We can talk about the physical after effects (fun stuff) if you ever want to. It's quite the rollercoaster. I can't wait to meet him!!!
Eric and Caren,
Congratulations! He is so beautiful. It is so wonderful to hear and see the birth story of our newest member of the family. I just hope it isn't too long before we get to see him! Maybe a family reunion in the summer is in order!!! Blessings to all of you!
Tom and Missy Rush
Hi Caren. I'm posting on Bryan's account (This is Anne). So glad to read your birth story and even happier you got to skip the Cytotech. Working in the birth industry, I know quite a bit about that drug and it's a scary one.
Anyway, I'm so glad that everything went well for you, and yeah, those transition contractions being one on top of the other are not a whole lot of fun at all. If you want, I can send you my birth story, just let me know.
I hope you are recovering well. I know how hard this period of adjustment can be, so if you ever need someone to talk to about what you're going through, just give Bryan a call (cell number on our web site) and have him hand over the phone to me.
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