I'm not sure whether to call this Maverick's birth story or my birth story. I guess you could look at it either way since I gave birth to him and he was born on that day. One of my friends asked me to share my birth story so almost 15 months after it happened I decided to write it for this blog.
Thursday June 23, 2016 was supposed to be my last day at work before giving birth. I actually wanted to tough it out and stay working until I went into labor (which technically happened anyway) but my husband wanted me to take off in the 39th week. After much arguing I gave in and decided to have my last day on June 23.
While I was getting ready for work in the morning I was going through Braxton Hicks but it was more painful and more frequent than it had been. I started having Braxton Hicks (false contractions) about a month before giving birth. Shawn thought it was real contractions and called my gynecologist and I was instructed to go into the office.
"But today was supposed to be my last day of work," I grumbled to Shawn as we got ready to drive to the doctor.
"Guess what?", he replied back to me, "Yesterday was your last day!" He said as we finished getting ready and went into the doctor.
When we got there and I had an internal exam they discovered that I wasn't dilated but they said they were going to do a sonogram to check my levels of amniotic fluid. While we waited in the office I grumbled about how the day was wasted and how I now had to take extra time off work for no reason. We were called in for a sonogram shortly after that. They found during the sonogram that my amniotic fluid was slightly low and said they might send me in for delivery since at this point I was 38 weeks almost 39 weeks along with Maverick. We waited in the office for awhile longer than my doctor called us in and said we were definitely to go to the hospital and I was going to be induced since my fluid was low and the baby was far enough along.
In mild shock and disbelief I went to the hospital with Shawn. Maverick is my first child so I naively thought he might be born on Thursday. Little did I know sometimes it takes awhile for the baby to come with an induction. In my case it ended up taking quite awhile.
Once I was admitted to the hospital after foolishly eating very little (thinking they were going to let me eat while I was in labor - EAT FOOD before you go to the hospital ladies!) I was told to change into hospital garb and one of three doctors that I would end up seeing for the duration of the labor gave me cervacil to open up my cervix. They said it would take about 12 hours for it to kick in. Alright I thought Maverick would be born late evening, very early Friday morning hahahahahahaha!
While the cervacil was kicking in my mom and mother in law came into visit me. My mom rushed to the hospital from my childhood home thinking the baby was coming quickly (she was naive like me...even though she's had 4 kids). I was given a liquid dinner. My mom being very addicted to food was pawing over my jello, italian ice, chicken broth which they exchanged for vegetable broth because I'm a vegetarian, gingerale and tea. I said to my mom one of the most memorable less colorful lines of my labor.
"Don't touch my liquids," I said to her as I got the tray and started eating or drinking everything.
Finally after 12 hours as promised the cervacil was taken out and they started giving me petocin to induce contractions. At this point I still wasn't dilated at all yet. The anesthesiologist came in to offer me options for pain killers and epidurals. My mom asked him if he was going to give me some sort of outdated pain killer she was familiar with and I ordered her and my mother in law downstairs. I opted for the first pain killer offered which made me fall asleep and made the baby's heartbeat way too crazy. After texting with my boss I asked to have an epidural. New epidurals are great they're a constant liquid drip instead of just one shot. My mother thought I only got one shot it took awhile to explain to her I was on a liquid drip. I fell asleep with my epidural thinking okay fine I can deal Maverick will be born early tomorrow morning.
Friday morning came and the second of three doctors came in to check on me. The doctor informed that I was finally at 1 centimeter and that Maverick would be born on Saturday. At this point I started crying. I wanted to eat real food, I couldn't believe it took me this long to get to 1 centimeter and I was begging for a C-section out of emotion. This was after they caught me eating liquids that were delivered by the kitchen because they didn't know they were no longer supposed to feed me.
My second doctor had an interesting accent.
"NO!," she said to me, "I do not order C-Sections by choice."
After disappointment I settled down for a long day confined to the hospital bed (I'm a person that doesn't like sitting down very long if I can help it). I had visits from my family, I slept, Shawn and I watched old episodes of the original star trek together. I begged to eat by the end of the night I was so desperate I would have eaten a cheeseburger if someone bought me it or something with meat in it.
By very early Saturday morning I think I was up to 3 cm. My doctor with a foreign accent finally ordered for my water to be broken. They told me things would be fast at this point.
By mid-morning I think I was maybe 5 to 6 cm. The nurses came in to get things ready for labor. My third doctor the one who would deliver Maverick, my favorite doctor at the office I visit came in for her shift as well. They promised it was almost time Maverick was going to be born and evicted from my womb. I was worried I was going to shit myself during labor in front of my favorite doctor. I'm sure they've seen it before.
I think it was 11 or 12 maybe close to 1 when I was finally at 10 cm. The doctor said I could wait a little while for my body to do more work or I could push Maverick out now.
"I'm going to push," I said not wanting to wait any longer for my baby. I had almost an hour of rough pushing. Tougher than the hardest boot camp class I ever took. I was breathing hard, sweating, panting, and hyperventilating between pushes. Screaming I couldn't do this anymore while my doctor urged me on telling me that yes I could I was strong and I could do this. Finally she said she saw the head coming out so I pushed some more and at 1:51 PM on June 25, 2016 Maverick was born. I had brief skin to skin with him before they took him for an apgar test (My baby got a 9 out of 10 which is an almost perfect score!) and than I asked for Shawn to hold him. I carried him for 9 months I wanted Shawn to get a chance to see and hold his son.
While Shawn was holding him some scary stuff happened that I'm putting out there finally. It was taking awhile to get my placenta out. They were pushing on my stomach but it just wasn't budging. Finally after some time they pulled it out and started stitching me up. I had gotten a second degree tear. Suddenly I heard the doctor ordering for a shot of something and nurses and staff were swarming the room.
"What's going on?" Shawn asked as he got up with Maverick.
"Dad," the doctor said, "I need you stay there with the baby."
"You're hemorrhaging," the doctor informed me!
"I don't want to die," I said as the doctor was working to stop the bleeding. I was thinking I might end up dying from this leaving my newborn behind with only his father. It was a joyful moment that Maverick was here but also so scary as well. Luckily they were able to stop the bleeding without having me go to the OR. Once everything was cleaned up and than I ended up shitting myself after the birth from some of the medicine they gave me, I begged to get out of bed and down to the private room we were going to pay to stay in while we recovered from the birth. After my insistence they agreed to let me go to the room in wheelchair. In my room, very dirty and in need of a shower that I wasn't allowed to take just yet I met my family and Shawn's family looking like the first of many times I would look like a hot mess while everyone met their new grandson or nephew.
That long story sums up the birth as much as I can remember!
Thursday June 23, 2016 was supposed to be my last day at work before giving birth. I actually wanted to tough it out and stay working until I went into labor (which technically happened anyway) but my husband wanted me to take off in the 39th week. After much arguing I gave in and decided to have my last day on June 23.
While I was getting ready for work in the morning I was going through Braxton Hicks but it was more painful and more frequent than it had been. I started having Braxton Hicks (false contractions) about a month before giving birth. Shawn thought it was real contractions and called my gynecologist and I was instructed to go into the office.
"But today was supposed to be my last day of work," I grumbled to Shawn as we got ready to drive to the doctor.
"Guess what?", he replied back to me, "Yesterday was your last day!" He said as we finished getting ready and went into the doctor.
When we got there and I had an internal exam they discovered that I wasn't dilated but they said they were going to do a sonogram to check my levels of amniotic fluid. While we waited in the office I grumbled about how the day was wasted and how I now had to take extra time off work for no reason. We were called in for a sonogram shortly after that. They found during the sonogram that my amniotic fluid was slightly low and said they might send me in for delivery since at this point I was 38 weeks almost 39 weeks along with Maverick. We waited in the office for awhile longer than my doctor called us in and said we were definitely to go to the hospital and I was going to be induced since my fluid was low and the baby was far enough along.
In mild shock and disbelief I went to the hospital with Shawn. Maverick is my first child so I naively thought he might be born on Thursday. Little did I know sometimes it takes awhile for the baby to come with an induction. In my case it ended up taking quite awhile.
Once I was admitted to the hospital after foolishly eating very little (thinking they were going to let me eat while I was in labor - EAT FOOD before you go to the hospital ladies!) I was told to change into hospital garb and one of three doctors that I would end up seeing for the duration of the labor gave me cervacil to open up my cervix. They said it would take about 12 hours for it to kick in. Alright I thought Maverick would be born late evening, very early Friday morning hahahahahahaha!
While the cervacil was kicking in my mom and mother in law came into visit me. My mom rushed to the hospital from my childhood home thinking the baby was coming quickly (she was naive like me...even though she's had 4 kids). I was given a liquid dinner. My mom being very addicted to food was pawing over my jello, italian ice, chicken broth which they exchanged for vegetable broth because I'm a vegetarian, gingerale and tea. I said to my mom one of the most memorable less colorful lines of my labor.
"Don't touch my liquids," I said to her as I got the tray and started eating or drinking everything.
Finally after 12 hours as promised the cervacil was taken out and they started giving me petocin to induce contractions. At this point I still wasn't dilated at all yet. The anesthesiologist came in to offer me options for pain killers and epidurals. My mom asked him if he was going to give me some sort of outdated pain killer she was familiar with and I ordered her and my mother in law downstairs. I opted for the first pain killer offered which made me fall asleep and made the baby's heartbeat way too crazy. After texting with my boss I asked to have an epidural. New epidurals are great they're a constant liquid drip instead of just one shot. My mother thought I only got one shot it took awhile to explain to her I was on a liquid drip. I fell asleep with my epidural thinking okay fine I can deal Maverick will be born early tomorrow morning.
Friday morning came and the second of three doctors came in to check on me. The doctor informed that I was finally at 1 centimeter and that Maverick would be born on Saturday. At this point I started crying. I wanted to eat real food, I couldn't believe it took me this long to get to 1 centimeter and I was begging for a C-section out of emotion. This was after they caught me eating liquids that were delivered by the kitchen because they didn't know they were no longer supposed to feed me.
My second doctor had an interesting accent.
"NO!," she said to me, "I do not order C-Sections by choice."
After disappointment I settled down for a long day confined to the hospital bed (I'm a person that doesn't like sitting down very long if I can help it). I had visits from my family, I slept, Shawn and I watched old episodes of the original star trek together. I begged to eat by the end of the night I was so desperate I would have eaten a cheeseburger if someone bought me it or something with meat in it.
By very early Saturday morning I think I was up to 3 cm. My doctor with a foreign accent finally ordered for my water to be broken. They told me things would be fast at this point.
By mid-morning I think I was maybe 5 to 6 cm. The nurses came in to get things ready for labor. My third doctor the one who would deliver Maverick, my favorite doctor at the office I visit came in for her shift as well. They promised it was almost time Maverick was going to be born and evicted from my womb. I was worried I was going to shit myself during labor in front of my favorite doctor. I'm sure they've seen it before.
I think it was 11 or 12 maybe close to 1 when I was finally at 10 cm. The doctor said I could wait a little while for my body to do more work or I could push Maverick out now.
"I'm going to push," I said not wanting to wait any longer for my baby. I had almost an hour of rough pushing. Tougher than the hardest boot camp class I ever took. I was breathing hard, sweating, panting, and hyperventilating between pushes. Screaming I couldn't do this anymore while my doctor urged me on telling me that yes I could I was strong and I could do this. Finally she said she saw the head coming out so I pushed some more and at 1:51 PM on June 25, 2016 Maverick was born. I had brief skin to skin with him before they took him for an apgar test (My baby got a 9 out of 10 which is an almost perfect score!) and than I asked for Shawn to hold him. I carried him for 9 months I wanted Shawn to get a chance to see and hold his son.
While Shawn was holding him some scary stuff happened that I'm putting out there finally. It was taking awhile to get my placenta out. They were pushing on my stomach but it just wasn't budging. Finally after some time they pulled it out and started stitching me up. I had gotten a second degree tear. Suddenly I heard the doctor ordering for a shot of something and nurses and staff were swarming the room.
"What's going on?" Shawn asked as he got up with Maverick.
"Dad," the doctor said, "I need you stay there with the baby."
"You're hemorrhaging," the doctor informed me!
"I don't want to die," I said as the doctor was working to stop the bleeding. I was thinking I might end up dying from this leaving my newborn behind with only his father. It was a joyful moment that Maverick was here but also so scary as well. Luckily they were able to stop the bleeding without having me go to the OR. Once everything was cleaned up and than I ended up shitting myself after the birth from some of the medicine they gave me, I begged to get out of bed and down to the private room we were going to pay to stay in while we recovered from the birth. After my insistence they agreed to let me go to the room in wheelchair. In my room, very dirty and in need of a shower that I wasn't allowed to take just yet I met my family and Shawn's family looking like the first of many times I would look like a hot mess while everyone met their new grandson or nephew.
That long story sums up the birth as much as I can remember!
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