Day 23 - The Labor Story

My labor story is crazy, but I have a healthy baby so it was worth it! My doctor suggested that I be induced because I have metal rods in my back and he was worried if Gavin got any bigger that my labor would be too difficult for my back. I was admitted to the hospital on Monday night to be induced, but didn't start pitocin until Tuesday morning. Within an hour of being on pitocin, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and very strong. The doctor tried to break my water about 3 times and he couldn't get it. He also told us that he scrapped Gavin's head in the process. I was only dilated to a 2 at this point. For 8 hours I labored with contractions 1-2 minutes apart. I got up and walked around the room, used the birth ball, and sat on the edge of the bed to manage the pain without any meds. After 8 hours of painful back labor, I had only dilated to a 3. The doctor was finally able to break my water after a few more tries. At this point, I opted for the epidural because I knew that my labor was far from over. The doctor told me that you typically dilate a centimeter an hour, so I had at least 7 hours left. I continued to be in labor for the next 16 hours with contractions continuing at 1-2 minutes apart, but I had the epidural so I didn't really feel anything. I still had only dilated to a 6. During my labor, Gavin's heart rate would drop really low and I would have to go on oxygen. Other times, his heart rate would speed up and I had to change positions. After 24 hours of being in labor, Gavin's heart stopped beating completely. Nurses ran in the room, put me on oxygen, flipped my bed so my head was down and my feet were up, inserted an internal monitor, and pushed on my belly to try to get the heart rate back up. After about three minutes of having no heartbeat, the nurses were able to get Gavin stabilized and the doctor came in to tell me it was time for a Csection. Aaron got suited up and we headed to the operating room. Within about 15 minutes, Gavin was born! I couldn't see him at first because his arms and legs were blue and he wasn't crying. He went into another room where the doctors made sure he was ok. I was finally able to see him a few minutes later. He was born with a huge cone head from me being in labor for so long and he had several scrapes on his head from the internal monitor. After all of that, he scored a 9 on his Apgar test! He has been amazing and we are so thankful that he is healthy!