Adam’s Birth Story

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I know everyone has been waiting for this story, and I am very excited to share it!

On Wednesday June 16th, I woke up with some spotting. I knew that was one of the signs of labor starting, but I had also heard that it could still be a few days after that, so I tried not to get too excited. Around 8:45 pm that night, I started getting contractions. It wasn’t anything too different then what I had been getting off and on during the last couple of weeks so I thought they might be braxton hicks. After an hour or two I told my husband I might be having contractions, and started to time them here and there. They were kind of all over the place so I told Jon they were just braxton hicks and he was disappointed.

We finally decided to go to bed, and meanwhile I was still having contractions. I was going back and forth in my head trying to figure out if they were real or braxton hicks. I talked to my husband about it and right before he went to asleep he told me to time them and just wake him up if we needed to go to the hospital. I couldn’t sleep so I just lay awake in bed.

It was 12:15 when I started keeping track of the contractions, and ended up timing them all through the night since I couldn’t sleep because of the pain. I laid in bed, and I used my ipod to type out each time I had a contraction, where it was, and how many minutes apart they were. My contractions kept switching from my back to my stomach and sometimes they were in both at the same time. Eventually though they ended up all being in my stomach. Here are the contractions and how they were going, click on the link if you want to see them all until I went to the hospital there were a lot!

12:15am (back)
12:21 am (back) 6 minutes
12:27am (back) 6 minutes
12:32am (back) 5 minutes
12:40 am (back) 8 minutes
12:46am (stomach-back) 6 minutes
12:53am (back) 7 minutes
12:58am (back) 5 minutes
1:02am (back) 4 minutes
1:07am (back) 5 minutes
1:09 am (back) small one 2 minutes
1:11am (back) small one 2 minutes
1:20am (back) sharper pain 9 minutes
Contractions are continued here…

If you continue and look at my entire list you can see that they did not continuously stay for five minutes apart. I was so confused if I should go to the hospital or not because of that. The doctor had told me they had to be five minutes apart for an hour. Finally, after not sleeping all night around 6:0o am the pain was so bad, I woke Jon up and told him to PLEASE take me to the hospital! It was weird because as soon as I got up the contractions got a lot closer! It took us about a half hour to get ready because I kept stopping every few minutes, and poor Jon was going crazy thinking I was going to have the baby right there on the floor! I told him we had plenty of time, but he still wanted me to hurry!

When we got to the hospital, I still wasn’t sure I was in labor, so we left all my things in the car and went to check in. Finally, they took us to a room where I got to change into one of those lovely hospital gowns and they hooked up a fetal monitor to see how Adam was and how my contractions were. I had brought the entire list of my contractions, and the nurse was not completely sure I was in labor since they were not consistently 5 minutes apart. I was thinking there was no way I was going home, I MUST be in labor!! After checking me for dilation, the nurse said I was at 4 cm. and I didn’t have to go home! Jon went to get my stuff from the car and they helped me to the labor room.

I was able to keep up during the day by posting to Facebook what was going on from my husband’s iphone. Here is my first status of the day:

“Had contractions all night didn’t sleep finally went to the hospital this morning and I am at 4 cm. Adam should be here today!” –June 17th @ 8:38 am

After I got settled in, the nurses looked over my birth plan and told me everything looked good. They brought me lots of paperwork to fill out, and put my IV in, which wasn’t too bad once I got used to it! As I kept having contractions, they asked me when I would like to get my epidural. The contractions were getting pretty bad, and each time I had one I wanted an epidural, but as soon as it was gone, I felt fine! I decided to get it a little while later before they had to check me again for dilation.

For the epidural they told me that my husband could not stay in the room, and I was pretty upset. They said it was a new policy they had because they have a lot of dads who pass out or get upset with the nurses when they see what they are doing. Thankfully, I had a really great nurse who stayed with me and let me squeeze her hand while they put it in! It wasn’t bad at all, I was scared but the anesthesiologist said it went right in with no problems at all! After that they had to put the capither in and it was not fun. They kept trying, but I was so scared they finally let Jon come in so I would calm down, and they got it in. After that I was finally able to rest since I was not in pain anymore, and they told me if my water did not break in a few hours, the doctor would be in to break it for me.

Facebook status: “Epidural went in great capither not so much. Just resting now, at noon they plan on breaking my water.” -june 17th @ 10:27 am

Here is a picture of how they were monitoring Adam and I. The top is his heart rate, and the bottom are my contractions. Yes, the contractions are off the charts, but by this time I wasn’t feeling a thing thanks to the epidural!

June 17th @ 10:45 am, feeling pretty good after the epidural, just very tired after not sleeping all night!

After my epidural I was able to sleep and rest a little while. Jon was on his computer and we had the tv in our room on. I was getting nervous about the doctor breaking my water and praying that it would break on its own. Finally, in the afternoon, when my water still did not break, my doctor came in and broke it. I thought it was going to be bad, but I didn’t feel a thing! After that I was so relieved and we found out by then I was at 8cm. I felt like the waiting was almost over!

Facebook status: “The doctor just broke my water and I am at 8 cm!” -June 17th @ 12:51 pm

So as the afternoon went on I kept resting and watching tv in my room. I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. I was texting with some friends and invited a friend from church to come visit, since nothing was going on and we had just been sitting in the room alone all day. Sometime during the afternoon the nurse checked me again for dilation and I had not progressed. She said I was not effaced enough and that she was going to have to give me a small amount of pitocin if things did not keep going on their own. I did not want them to give me pitocin, since that is what I had been trying to avoid all along, but it could not be avoided. The nurse promised me it would be the smallest dosage, and we would see what happened.

Facebook status: “I was not effaced enough and not progressing. They gave me a small amount of pitocin to get things going about 45 minutes ago. We’ll see what happens.” -june 17th @ 4:18 pm

After waiting an hour or so more, the nurse came back and gave me more pitocin, and checked for dilation. I was at 9 cm. I could definitely feel the pitocin taking effect, because I was starting to feel contractions again, and they were pretty bad. The nurse kept telling me it was the pressure of the baby, but they were definitely contractions. She tried upping my epidural, but it didn’t help much, so they gave me some other pain meds since it was so bad. After that took effect, all I could feel was the pressure of the baby which was bearable compared to the contractions. Now all I had to do was wait to be at 10 cm. and start pushing!

Facebook status: “More pitocin, feeling contractions now and it’s bad but I am at 9 cm.” – june 17th @ 5:33 pm

Around this time my mom had arrived from her 6 hour drive from Florida. She kept us company for awhile. The nurse kept checking me and I kept asking what I should be feeling as far as when I should know if it was time to push or not. She assured me that I would definitely know! A little while later my in-law’s arrived and came to visit for a few minutes before they went to wait with my mom in the waiting room. Finally, the nurse checked told me it was time, I was at 10 cm. and ready to push! I was really nervous about it, and so ready to meet Adam! The nurse explained how everything was going to go and how to push. Every time I had a contraction she told me I would take a deep breathe, hold it and push while she counted to 10.

It was around 8pm when I started pushing. Let me just tell you this part was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I had already been up the previous night before and it had almost been a full 24 hours, since labor had started. Every time I pushed I asked the nurse how far Adam had come, and she would show me with her fingers how much of his head was showing. I was getting discouraged because it seemed like nothing was happening, but she assured me he was coming along slowly. It was really hard figuring out how to push and the nurse ended up helping me figure it out, by coming up with a different method. She held a towel and had me grab the other end, and at each contraction I was supposed to pull as hard as I could on the towel as she pulled and push at the same time. It was kind of like tug of war. It helped a lot and things started going faster. After each contraction I was so exhausted I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. The entire time I had them closed. I could hear Jon right next to me encouraging me each time I said I couldn’t do it, and I kept thinking that Adam was never ever going to come out!

Finally, the nurse said it was time to get the doctor because Adam was about to come out, and I was so ready! The doctor came and took over and a bunch of other nurses started pouring in and getting everything ready for Adam. And like a lot of people told me, at that point I did not care who was in the room, I just wanted him out!! After pushing for awhile longer the doctor told me, that Adam was not going to fit and she was going to have to cut me. I was upset, but I knew at this point there was nothing I could do. She gave me a shot to numb the area, and told me she would cut at the next contraction while I pushed. As soon as I pushed and she cut me, he came out all at once! I remember thinking, “I hope she catches him!” It shocked me how fast it all happened because they told me his head would come out first and then I would have to push more before his shoulders and everything else came out. I was so relieved to have him out though, and I kept thinking, “I DID IT!!” Actually, I think I even said it! They took Adam and cleaned him all up and I could hear him crying and I just wanted to see him! Jon went over and watched over Adam, and took a video of his first few minutes.

After 24 hours of labor and an hour of pushing, Adam was born at 9:03 pm on June 17th, 2010! I was not able to hold him right away, because the doctor had to stitch me up where she had cut me. It seemed to take forever! The stitches were not fun either, I could feel everything she was doing, and I kept asking if she was almost done. I just wanted to hold my baby! After awhile she told me she was done but just had to check to see how they held. As she did this she found that I had torn past what she had cut. It was bad, and she told me that she was not even close to done with the stitches now that she had found the tare. I was so frustrated, and she told me that I needed more meds so she could do a good job stitching me up. She said I was so tense and the tare was so bad, that they had to give me something or she would not able to do a good job. She told me it was going to make me sleep, and I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed Adam after. I was really upset and didn’t want the meds, but they had to give them to me.

Before they started they let me hold Adam, and Jon brought him to me. He was just so precious! I got to hold him a few minutes and then the medicine kicked in. I fought to stay awake, because I wanted to breastfeed Adam so bad, and I was able to stay awake, but the medicine made me so out of it that, I could not even talk. My words slurred together when I tried to talk, and it was really hard to stay awake. Finally, after almost two hours the doctor finished stitching me and since I had stayed awake, they let me try and breastfeed Adam. After, even though it was late they let our families come in and see Adam for the first time. I was really out of it from the meds, and could barely stay awake at that point. I remember my mom was crying and everyone loved Adam of course!

Facebook status: “Well after 24 hours of labor Adam was finally born at 9:30 pm. He is 6lbs 11oz. I didn’t get to hold him right away because they had to stitch me up, I had 4th degree taring. We tried breast feeding but he is having a hard time latching please pray for thanks so much for all the love a support! Adam is amazing and we thank God for him!!” – june 18th @ 12:36 AM

Adm is such a good baby, and we just love him so much! God has blessed us with a wonderful baby and we are so thankful for it!

Adam a little while after birth.

Our little family!

The proud daddy.

Going home from the hospital.

Mommy and Adam.

Click HERE to see more hospital pictures!