Isaac's Birth - the Details

I want to put the details of Isaac's birth into writing before I forget them.....

At my last Dr. appointment (Wed. of last week), I was dialated to a one and zero percent effaced, which was where I had been for the previous two weeks. Obviously, not much in the way of labor was happening. My Dr. said they would not consider induction until I was 41 weeks unless my body showed more signs of progression. She gave me the option of going ahead and scheduling an induction for June 14th because my favorite Dr. (who delivered both Alana and Peter) was on-call that day. I took her up on her offer because it encouraged me to have a definite date to look to for Isaac's birth. However, I was really hoping and praying I would go into labor on my own. Alana and Peter were both induced and although my experience with them wasn't at all bad, I wanted to experience going into labor on my own at least once. Also, the pain can be excruciating with Pitocin to induce labor and I wondered if I could handle it better the natural way.

Over the past weekend, I had a few small signs and symptoms of labor as well as contractions that would come and go, but I didn't know if things were really starting or not. By Monday though, all of these began to pick up in intensity. I'm not sure if this is any type of labor sign or not, but I was ravenous all day Monday. We sat down to dinner around 6:00 and I had to constantly pause in my eating as contractions came. After dinner, we cleaned up and I folded some laundry, contractions coming all the while. I was pretty sure at that point that Isaac was coming in the next day or so. We put Alana and Peter to bed and tried to get some sleep ourselves. I was trying to weigh at what point I should go in to the hospital. Tom slept for a little while, but I couldn't sleep at all. I woke him up around midnight and we watched some TV and timed contractions. They weren't coming extremely close together (about 10-15 min. apart), but they were terribly painful so I knew these were the real thing. Close to 2:00 a.m., I decided to call the Dr. and go in to the hospital. My mom came over to stay with Alana and Peter.

I was so worried all the way to the hospital that they were going to tell me I was still at a one and send us right back home. I couldn't imagine that could be the case though, because my contractions were SO painful. We got checked in and the Dr. quickly evaluated me with the news that I was 3-4 cm dialated and definitely in labor. I can't put into words how relieved I was. I felt like Tom and I have been sitting on "baby watch" for 2 months and Isaac was finally really going to arrive.

They admitted me and moved me over to a labor and delivery room at about 4:00 and started an IV and drew blood. My contractions were coming much closer together (about 2-4 min. apart) and I was in pain to the point that I could hardly breathe. Tom kept telling me it was okay to cry, but I honestly couldn't get enough air to cry although I really wanted to. The nurse told me that I could have my epidural as soon as my labs came back and she asked if I wanted her to go ahead and put in the order. I was so glad I didn't even have to ask. The anesthetiologist came and began my epidural around 5:30. It took awhile to have an effect, but little by little I thought I might would live again. My thoughts about natural labor being less painful than induction were WRONG. Although not for very long (about 2 hrs.), I was in the absolute worst pain of my life. Maybe that's not the case for everybody, but that is how it was for me.

Sometime in there, the nurse checked me again and I was about 4-5 cm. At 6:30, my water broke. Again, this was something new for me. Always before, the Dr. broke my water when they began the Pitocin - and it always hurt. This time, it broke on its own and after my epidural, so this experience was much better. The Dr. (my favorite - the one that delivered Alana and Peter) came in about 7:30 and checked me again. She said what she has said to us twice before, "Are you ready to have a baby?" I couldn't believe it was time already!

It took a few minutes for the nurses to get things ready, but after five pushes Isaac came into the world at 7:56 a.m. Tom thought he looked like our biggest baby yet, but I wasn't so sure. It turned out Tom was right. Isaac was 8 lb. 2 oz. Alana was 7 lb. 12 oz. Peter was 6 lb. 11 oz.

Isaac is doing well, although he gave us a very rough night last night. Nothing major, just typical newborn mix-up of days and nights and gas/stomach issues. It was a LONG night, especially because we had been up all night the night before.

I'm feeling like a human being again today, which is nice!

In a quick nutshell, there is Isaac's birth story. I will post some more pictures soon.