Joel's Birth Story
I woke up Monday morning around 4 having some contractions but nothing too exciting or consistent. Considering this had happened a few nights before, I was trying not to get my hopes up. However, with the previous times, the contractions stopped by the time I got up and these were sticking around. They were about 7 minutes apart so I went about the morning. Since they weren't going away, I called my more experienced friend and she advised me to call my doctor just to see what she thought. Dr. Wheeler said to come in to Labor and Delivery and get checked and we would do our best to have a birthday party that day. It was so relieving to have someone make the decision for me, even though I knew I wanted as little medical intervention as possible.
We got to the hospital around noon and I had not progressed any further. Contractions were still coming and getting a little stronger. It was a nice change to have Peter drive me to the hospital and be there for the whole process, unlike when Kale was born. We set about walking the halls and stairs to help things get going. The nurse and doctor both thought Joel was face up since I was laboring in my back. After some walking, we did some different things to try to get him to turn. I got in the bath around 2:30 and around 3:00 I could tell things were different. It was definitely more painful and the bath wasn't helping relax me. Contractions were now about 3-4 minutes apart and lasting longer. I got checked again and was now at a 7. In my mind I had 3 or 4 hours left, going at a centimeter an hour. Things were getting intense and the exercise ball was the only thing that gave a slight bit of relief. I was trying to breath and relax through the contractions but that is hard to do when it hurts so bad! I had them check me again around 4:30 and I was an 8. Things were moving along, but not fast enough for me. It really hurt! I was having a couple contractions in a row and trying to focus but that pain kept distracting me!
At 5:00, I asked for the drugs. To quote the movie Baby Mama, it literally felt like I was sh**ting a knife. I wanted to go as natural as possible but if drugs became necessary, I wanted to try an intrathecal instead of an epidural. With Kale, I couldn't feel anything when it came time to push and that was very difficult. An intrathecal is similar to an epidural but only lasts a couple hours. Anyway, I asked and begged for drugs as Peter tried to get me to wait, as I had instructed him in the weeks previous. I was not hearing it! The doctor told me that by the time the anesthesiologist got there, the baby could already be delivered so I did not get the relief, much to my disappointment at the time. I was back in the bed now and really feeling the urge to push. My water still hadn't broken! God must have really healed me back at 23 weeks :). The doctor checked me and I was complete. She told me I could go ahead and push if I felt like it and she was going to get ready to break my water. The pain at this point is what I would describe as unbearable. I remember crying out to Jesus at one point, oh it hurt! As I started pushing, He brought some relief as my water came gushing out. Not only was the bag made of Teflon, but there was a ton of water! Yes, God does have a sense of humor!
I started pushing at 5:32 and oh.my.word. Joel had still not turned face down, the position that is most conducive for babies to come out. Babies that are face up don't fit through the pelvis as nicely and it makes the labor and delivery a lot harder. It took a few pushes for me to find what worked but I could feel him come down the birth canal. They were having a hard time finding his heartbeat externally so a couple of contractions they asked me not to push so they could check on him. This was the hardest part. Resisting that urge.
They ended up putting an internal heart monitor on Joel's head but it wasn't that necessary because he was born about 2 minutes later, at 5:47. Unlike with Kale, I was able to watch my little boy being born. It was all extremely fast and extremely intense. Joel was put on my chest and I admired my second son while sucking down oxygen. He was completely perfect, weighing in at the exact weight his older brother did when he was born. Every day we fall more in love with both our boys and thank the Lord for his abundant blessings.
I woke up Monday morning around 4 having some contractions but nothing too exciting or consistent. Considering this had happened a few nights before, I was trying not to get my hopes up. However, with the previous times, the contractions stopped by the time I got up and these were sticking around. They were about 7 minutes apart so I went about the morning. Since they weren't going away, I called my more experienced friend and she advised me to call my doctor just to see what she thought. Dr. Wheeler said to come in to Labor and Delivery and get checked and we would do our best to have a birthday party that day. It was so relieving to have someone make the decision for me, even though I knew I wanted as little medical intervention as possible.
We got to the hospital around noon and I had not progressed any further. Contractions were still coming and getting a little stronger. It was a nice change to have Peter drive me to the hospital and be there for the whole process, unlike when Kale was born. We set about walking the halls and stairs to help things get going. The nurse and doctor both thought Joel was face up since I was laboring in my back. After some walking, we did some different things to try to get him to turn. I got in the bath around 2:30 and around 3:00 I could tell things were different. It was definitely more painful and the bath wasn't helping relax me. Contractions were now about 3-4 minutes apart and lasting longer. I got checked again and was now at a 7. In my mind I had 3 or 4 hours left, going at a centimeter an hour. Things were getting intense and the exercise ball was the only thing that gave a slight bit of relief. I was trying to breath and relax through the contractions but that is hard to do when it hurts so bad! I had them check me again around 4:30 and I was an 8. Things were moving along, but not fast enough for me. It really hurt! I was having a couple contractions in a row and trying to focus but that pain kept distracting me!
At 5:00, I asked for the drugs. To quote the movie Baby Mama, it literally felt like I was sh**ting a knife. I wanted to go as natural as possible but if drugs became necessary, I wanted to try an intrathecal instead of an epidural. With Kale, I couldn't feel anything when it came time to push and that was very difficult. An intrathecal is similar to an epidural but only lasts a couple hours. Anyway, I asked and begged for drugs as Peter tried to get me to wait, as I had instructed him in the weeks previous. I was not hearing it! The doctor told me that by the time the anesthesiologist got there, the baby could already be delivered so I did not get the relief, much to my disappointment at the time. I was back in the bed now and really feeling the urge to push. My water still hadn't broken! God must have really healed me back at 23 weeks :). The doctor checked me and I was complete. She told me I could go ahead and push if I felt like it and she was going to get ready to break my water. The pain at this point is what I would describe as unbearable. I remember crying out to Jesus at one point, oh it hurt! As I started pushing, He brought some relief as my water came gushing out. Not only was the bag made of Teflon, but there was a ton of water! Yes, God does have a sense of humor!
I started pushing at 5:32 and oh.my.word. Joel had still not turned face down, the position that is most conducive for babies to come out. Babies that are face up don't fit through the pelvis as nicely and it makes the labor and delivery a lot harder. It took a few pushes for me to find what worked but I could feel him come down the birth canal. They were having a hard time finding his heartbeat externally so a couple of contractions they asked me not to push so they could check on him. This was the hardest part. Resisting that urge.
They ended up putting an internal heart monitor on Joel's head but it wasn't that necessary because he was born about 2 minutes later, at 5:47. Unlike with Kale, I was able to watch my little boy being born. It was all extremely fast and extremely intense. Joel was put on my chest and I admired my second son while sucking down oxygen. He was completely perfect, weighing in at the exact weight his older brother did when he was born. Every day we fall more in love with both our boys and thank the Lord for his abundant blessings.
