Cole's Birth

I have been thinking a lot about Cole’s birth lately. I suppose with his first birthday quickly approaching its pretty normal for me to be reflecting on all the emotions and the magnitude of that joyous day.
I had a very low risk pregnancy throughout, besides the expected aches and pains your body goes through when carrying a baby for 9 months it was pretty smooth sailing. I suppose Cole just wanted to make his entrance into the world a little more exciting. After experiencing a gradually increasing blood pressure the last two weeks of my pregnancy, the doctor ordered me to have a NST scan to make sure Cole wasn’t under any distress. During the 20 minute test Cole’s heart rate dropped to a very scary 65 bpm for 3 mins. This of course brought concern to us and to my doctor who sent us straight to L&D to take further tests and make sure everything was ok. Thankfully everything was fine. I suppose we will never know why his heart rate dropped it must have just been a fluke. Being overly cautious my doctor moved up my induction date to that coming Monday, June 28th.
This is where I wish I had known more about induction. If I had I would have requested more tests that Monday instead of an induction. Allowing me more time to go into labor on my own. I was a first time Mom who was a bundle of nerves, excitement and all I wanted was my baby to be safe. So one day before my due date I was induced.
Right away by body starting really reacting quickly to the induction medicine. The contractions were happening fast and were pretty strong. I remember thinking wow is this how labor is supposed to be? I was clueless. I really didn’t know what to expect when being induced. It felt like extreme period cramping but wasn’t unbearable. I just didn’t seem to have anytime in between them to recover. What happened to the every 5 min then every 4min then every 3 min.? Does that only occur if you go into labor on your own? Clueless I tell you. So for me from the very start I was having them every 2mins. My doctor came in after about an hour in and broke my water and inserted an internal contraction to monitor the intensity of the contractions. I can recall the nurse coming back in after the doctor was done and looking at the monitor and saying oh wow you’re having some pretty intense contractions. Yes I felt them but I thought I was being a wimp about it She explained to me that since I didn’t have any objections to getting an epidural I might as well go ahead and get it now. I was at 3cm.
When the anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural he instructed Cam to sit across from me on the side of the bed so I could rest my arms on Cam’s shoulders. Of course when you get the epidural it’s very important not to move, right as the needle went in I felt a flush of water. Yep all over Hubs feet and wouldn’t you know it he was wearing flip flops. Oops. It seems that when my water was broken earlier it had not fully broken. Ha I still smile about that. He’s face was priceless.
Once the epidural kicked in laboring went well, we listened to music, watched TV and talked. Time slowly passed and I seemed to be progressing but slowly. It seemed to take hours for me to go from 3cm to 5cm. I tried to sleep but it was impossible with the nurses coming in every 30 min to check on you. I watched the montitor looking each contraction come and go. It was around 7cm and 9 hours into laboring I started getting so sleepy and I was starting to feel the contractions. Somehow I feel asleep, I suppose my body knew the next few hours were going to be hard. When I woke up I had finally reached 10cm and was ready to push. I could feel an intense pressure and the need to push. The contractions were coming fast every minute and a half at this point. The nurse instructed me to start pushing …after about 45 minutes I was exhausted. The doctor came into check on me and said that Cole’s head seemed to be turned wrong, that I was going to need to keep pushing to turn his head the right way. I remember listening to him talking and thinking I have no idea what you’re saying but this isn’t going to be easy is it?!? After another hour of pushing, I turned to Cam and my mom and said I’m going to cry now. And started bawling. I was exhausted. I wanted to meet my son so bad but it wasn’t going the way I thought it would. I suppose it never does. After some encouragement from them, I pulled it together and started pushing again. It had been 24hrs since I had even had a sip of water and I was feeling weak and sick. Induction and Pitocin were not my friend, and it seemed to be causing some issues. I had a fever, my blood pressure was off and Cole seemed to be in distress. He’s heart rate dropped with every contraction. My doctor came in and said I had done well but Cole’s head had only turned half way and that it would be another hour of pushing. Another hour I just didn’t have in me. He said I’m going to work with you while you push him out and use forceps to turn his head and get him out now! I realize now that if I didn’t go down this path I most likely would have been on my way to the ER to get a c section. I also didn’t realize then the urgency of my doctor to get Cole out. I’m so thankful for my doctors encouraging words, he’s calmness and assurance that he would take care of my baby. I’m not sure Hubs felt the same way, there was fear and shock in his eyes when the cart of tools was rolled into the room. I turned to him and said “hey if I’m going to do this you need to get on board now!” Ha. Yea I was ready, I turned my head toward my sister so I wouldn't see the forceps. I started to push and without warning throwing up. No one seemed to notice I was throwing up but my sister she grabbed the closest thing to her a bed pan before it went everywhere. During the next push the Doctor used the forceps to turn Cole’s head and pull his head out. The doctor told us that his cord was wrapped around his neck and that he had pooped on his way out. With one last push he was out. The Doctor held him up in front of me, my baby was here! I can’t explain that feeling, it’s so surreal and beautiful. A miracle. Happy tears flowed and my heart grew that very second.
Because of the meconium they had to clean him up and make sure everything was ok, poor little guy had a tough day. Thankfully he was doing great! They brought him over to me and I just stared at him in disbelief …he was beautiful, so small and just perfect.
That day was one of the most amazing and trying days of my life. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year. I get a little anxious thinking about how quickly things have gone by. It’s been a life changing 11 months and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Cole and our family.