Bentley's Birth

Some of you may want the 411, some of you don't, so I'll keep it simple without the gross details...

Monday 7/12: Feeling pretty crampy and crummy.  I had a hunch that something was going down this week...

Tuesday 7/13: Not feeling great again.  Mum came over to help organize the guest room closet and dresser.  I wasn't feeling well so she took me to my Drs. appointment in the afternoon.  At my checkup I was 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced.  We stopped at Panera on the way home and I had a MASSIVE sweating attack and had the shakes.  People kept staring - good times.  Nothing a little fountain Coke can't help though!  When we got home I started having Braxton Hicks, which eventually went away. 

Wednesday 7/14: Feeling pretty crampy again, a little better than the last two days though. 

Thursday 7/15: When Christopher woke up for work, I started to feel some odd cramps - different than the crampiness I had before.  These ones definitely had a set 'start' and 'end' to them, unlike anything to date.  I told Chris to keep his phone handy just in case.  I kept a rough time of when they were coming, and it was about 25 minutes in between - I only had about 4 or 5 and they stopped.  Still didn't feel great during the day and then at about 8:30 PM the "cramps" came back.  I only had about 3 and they were about 25 minutes apart again.  I fell asleep at about 10:30...

Friday 7/16: Woke up at 12:30 to these annoying "cramps" again.  At this point I couldn't figure out if they were real contractions or false labor, or what was going on since I was still a couple of weeks away from my due date.  Sure enough, they kept coming and I couldn't sleep.  I decided to do some odds & ends around the house.  Mum had steamed the curtains a couple of weeks ago, but we got the rugs cleaned and I had to tuck them up off the floor so they were a little wrinkly - what better time than 2 AM to spray the curtains with Downy Wrinkle Release?  I also decided to pick up the kitchen and some other things downstairs, and run the dishwasher.  Still not tired, so I hopped on the computer.  I figured just in case I would send off a couple of emails (did you get the baby pool email and notice it came at 3 AM?!).  I tried to lay down again and decided I would try timing the cramps - at first they were about 25 minutes apart, down to 20, to 12-14 minutues for awhile, finally down to 7-9 minutes apart.  I decided around 4 AM it was time to call the Drs. office - and the nurse confirmed these were in fact CONTRACTIONS.  HUH?!!!  But it wasn't time to go to the hospital, so I had to wait it out awhile.  By 8:30 AM when the regular office hours started, I called in again - the contractions had become 4 to 5 minutes apart.  The nurse suggested I lay down for an hour, drink three big glasses of water in case I was dehydrated, and call back.  Well, 45 minutes later I lost my "plug" - EWWWW, sorry, that is the ONLY gross detail I'll share, I PROMISE!!!  So, I called Christopher at work and told him it was time to head to the hospital.

We had most everything packed, so I hopped in the shower and put a few last minute things in our bag.  And we were off!!  Stopped to get gas and the hubby got himself some beef jerky for the car ride to the hospital.  Fortunately we missed rush hour and arrived at the hospital around 11 AM.  Exiting the elevator on the maternity floor I asked the nice receptionists to "help me."  We got checked in and headed with a nurse to an Antenatal room, where they hooked me up to 1) a monitor to track the baby's heartbeat and 2) a monitor to track my contractions.  The nurse checked me and I was still only 1 cm dilated but 90% effaced.  It was too soon to admit me so we were sent on our way to wander the hospital for a few hours - let me tell you, walking around anywhere while having contractions is NOT FUN.  We sat in the cafeteria and I felt like the center of attention, we walked up and down some stairs, we sat on a bench in the hallway where it felt like EVERYONE was staring, and then made our way to the ER waiting area where there was a TV for the hubby to watch the British Open.  I was so uncomfortable the only place I could sit was the bathroom, so I disappeared to the nearest ladies room for awhile.  When we headed back upstairs around 2:30 PM, I hadn't progressed at all.  So guess what?!!!  We had to go home.  We had a "fun" ride home (by fun I mean miserable - I cried most of the way...) in rush hour traffic on the Pike.

When we got home I tried everything they suggested - Benadryl to try and sleep, walking around, sitting on the yoga ball, but nothing helped.  The only things that helped the pain were sitting on the toilet - probably sounds weird, I know - and hot showers.  I must have taken 5-6 showers.  Mum and Dad brought me watermelon shebert with chocolate jimmies - yes, random, but I had been dying for it for a week - and I barfed it up (this is what I craved when I was first suspicious I was pregnant, and the week before I went into labor I was dying for it again...).  At least it tasted good on the way down.  I alternated laying down and showering, doing anything I could to help the pain, but it wouldn't go away!  By the end of the day Friday it had been a solid 24 hours of contractions - and most of the time they were 3-5 minutes apart, which didn't give me much of a break.

Saturday 7/17: I jumped in the shower again early morning but the contractions were just becoming stronger.  I finally decided to call the Drs. office again and they told me to come in.  WOOHOOOOO!!  We grabbed our bags, got Hurley situated, and headed out around 2:30 AM.  Between contractions I was desperately hoping we wouldn't be sent home again.  Well, I had only progressed 2 cm - at about 3:30 AM Saturday I was 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced.  The Dr. did not feel comfortable sending me home since I was progressing, but by hospital standards I could not be admitted.  So, she suggested we walk around AGAIN or get a snack?!!  I couldn't bear it - so she said if there were enough nurses on duty she would give me an IV of meds to take the edge off and help me relax.  But after checking, it was a no-go.  I LOST it and was in hysterics after 28 hours of steady contractions and no sleep or food (puked everything up except 2 pieces of toast).  After realizing how upset I was over the central system at the nurses' station (since I was hooked up to monitors), they opted to keep me under observation and give me 1) an IV of meds to help me relax & take the edge off and 2) a shot (in the butt - OUCH!!!) of anti-nausea meds.  I started to relax and doze off when all of the sudden...POP...my water broke!  It was about 5:30AM.  From there it was a mad dash to get me admitted and shipped down the hall to a labor and delivery room.  I got in my wheelchair between contractions (with towels and pads underneath me since I was non-stop leaking at this point, HAHA - I just kept saying "I'm leakinggggg") and I was "that" girl yelling in the hall while they wheeled me to our room. 

Lucky for me, the Dr. had called down to anesthesia so that the anesthesiologist would be only a few minutes behind us - NOT so lucky for me that she forgot to put the "official" order into the system, which means he cannot technically administer the drugs yet.  After a few screams down the hall by our nurse and demands to "find that Doctor" because "do you hear this girl?!" the order was in the system and I was on my way to HAPPY LAND.  Let me tell you, the epidural is GLORIOUS!!  It didn't hurt and Chris even watched him do it.  At that point, I swear there were butterflies & rainbows all around.  It was a happy place.  There was one 'window' on my left side where I could still feel contractions (very common), but my wonderful nurse Tammi had him come back to fix it - he adjusted the thred a smidge.  The OB on duty checked me around 8 AM and I was 6 cm already.  From then on, Labor Room #12 was a happy place.  Chris watched the British Open and I dozed off FINALLY.  Tammi showed me my self-medicating button which we hit several times!  At 10 AM I was 8 cm and 100% effaced - so I made a couple of phone calls!  The parents were on their way.  Another nap & more golf...12 PM I was 10 cm and ready to push.  But I didn't quite feel the urge yet so we hung out and chatted with our nurse, Tammi.  She was a saint.  St. Tammi of Baby Nurse-hood, I love you.  She made sure I pushed the self-medicating button, and then when I started to feel crampy again she called the anesthesiologist to give me a shot of pain meds - just enough to take that last edge off.  By about 1:30 PM or a little after we started pushing - very low key, unlike what you see on TV.  The lights were dim, we had our tunes on, and Chris had one leg, Tammi had the other.  Push...push...push...he was right there...so Tammi got the OB and a nurse for Bentley...and at 2:35 PM on Saturday, July 17th (12 days early!), Bentley Christopher was born to the tune of Dave Matthews Band, Crash.  Most first-time Moms push for 1-3 hours, but since I had 30 hours of early labor little Bentley was nice to his Mommy and came very easily, with under one hour of pushing. 

They put him on my chest and his eyes were wide open, arms up in the air.  He didn't cry or make any noise but within a few minutes the nurses said he was fine, just very chill - like his Daddy.  I couldn't believe he was only 6 lbs / 11 oz!  We were expecting at least an 8 pounder.  Christopher went to be with him across the room while they cleaned him up, did his APGAR, and got him all wrapped up. 

From there, I went down for the count.  Started dozing off and didn't feel good - I asked Tammi for some juice but it didn't help.  The next thing I know they were dropping the back of my bed to get my head down, oxygen mask, monitors on my fingers, cool cloths on my head, and I was shaking out of control.  My lips turned blue apparently and blood pressure dropped.  I guess I hemmorhaged pretty bad and lost a lot of blood.  After I felt a little better, the families came in to meet Bentley (it was like we had paparazzi in our room), and I had two large Cokes (fountain soda - yummmm) and a turkey dinner with milk - which was PERFECT because this was one of my favorite pregnancy meals & drinks. 

A couple of hours after the fam left, I developed a 102+ fever, high blood pressure, and high pulse.  I had to have a couple of tests done and ended up receiving IV antibiotics for the rest of our stay.  My fever broke and eventually my vitals leveled off.  But when my blood was checked on Sunday morning my hematocrit count was only 21 (as a result of the hemmorhage I became very anemic), which is borderline blood transfusion.  Since I was so young the Dr. really didn't want to transfuse so they kept me in bed and kept a close eye on me.  Before discharge on Monday my count was the same, but the OB felt comfortable releasing me with antibiotics, big doses of iron, and under the condition that I needed to take it VERY slow and have my blood checked again in a week.

And here we are!  So after 30 greuling hours of wondering why in the hell anyone would go through this more than once, 10 hours of labor in a "happy place" (well, mostly in a happy place...) and a slow recovery, we have a beautiful son (and yes, I'll do it again!).

Have a great day!

~E