We had been ready to meet Mr. Landon for quite some time. We knew we were expecting very early (we found out April 2, 2013) when I was only about 10 days pregnant. So, needless to say, we were very ready to meet the little guy. I had a pretty routine and uneventful pregnancy for the most part. A couple little bumps here and there but nothing major. On December 17, 2013, the day before his due date, I woke up at about 5am with very infrequent, sharp lower abdominal pain. I knew right away that this pain was different than any other in that I had, and since it was so close to when he was due, I figured this was "it."
I laid in bed for a while and then Greg and I came downstairs around 7 or 8am. At that point the pain was coming inconsistently and I was kind of pacing the downstairs trying to figure out if this was really the day I was going to give birth! Greg was supposed to go into work but stayed home since the pain was decently strong and we didn't really know what was going on. We started timing the contractions and they were about 10-15 minutes apart and were lasting about 20ish seconds. We called the doctor and they told us to wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasted for about 50 seconds. I continued to pace around and around 1pm they were 5 minutes apart and lasting between 40-50 seconds so we went ahead and went into the doctor. He checked me and said I was still 80% effaced and only about 1cm dilated. This was so disappointing. Especially because the doctor said we should head home and wait until the contractions were even stronger. I almost cried. And when he told me to "get some rest," I almost became violent. How do you "get rest" when you stomach is tightening to the point that you can't walk every 5 minutes??
Greg and I headed home. At this point we were not so sure that we would be meeting our baby on the 17th. I laid on the couch and tried to "rest." I would nod off for a bit and then wake up in pretty severe pain ( I would say maybe a 4 out of 10). I did this for about an hour and a half and then I couldn't take it anymore. Around 4:30pm I started to lose it a little. I started crying and told Greg I couldn't take it anymore and we needed to call the doctor again. They said to go ahead in and the on-call doctor would meet me there. We had already packed our things in the car when we went to the doctor earlier in the afternoon so we didn't have much to take with us. We put away a few things in the house knowing...this was it!
I held Greg's hand in the car as I would have contractions and we made it to the hospital around 5:30pm. We were checked into our room by 6pm and the fun began :) My contractions were a little worse but still manageable. I was 2cm dilated at that point and the doctor could feel his hair when she checked me! They gave me IV fluids and antibiotics since I was Group B Strep positive. The doctor came in around 8 or 9pm and tried to break my water but nothing came out. She thought maybe Landon's head was blocking the opening so the fluid was all behind him. Around 10pm I got my epidural and my catheter and they gave me a little pitocin just to get things going. This is when things started to go downhill... The epidural worked quickly but I had a "hot spot" where I could feel everything in just one spot of my lower, right abdomen. Looking back, I wish I would have just worked through that, but the anesthesiologist came back in and re-dosed my epidural which made me suuuuuper numb. You would think this was a positive thing but I couldn't move my legs at all. I literally had to be flipped from side to side and I couldn't get comfortable to sleep since I couldn't really move around in the bed. I dozed some but not much. Around 3am (now December 18th), they checked me and I was 10cm. They let me "labor down" for about 30 minutes before starting to push. This is really when things got worse...
At 3:30am I started pushing but could feel nothing-- no pressure, no contractions, couldn't feel my legs...nothing. I guess this is the point of an epidural but it seemed extreme I guess. I had always heard that people could still feel pressure with each contraction and I could literally feel nothing. This affected my pushing because I couldn't really feel where to push down. At this point, I hadn't eaten in about 15-20 hours so I was STARVING. All I was allowed to eat was ice chips so I started feeling really nauseous. About 30 minutes into pushing I threw up repeatedly into a bucket that Greg was holding. He was on my left and my sister was on my right-- each holding a leg. I continued pushing with little progress and one more big vomit. About 2 hours in, Landon was coming but he was stuck under my pelvic bone and his heart rate was starting to decline. They gave me oxygen and had me rest through a few contractions to give him a little bit of a break. He recovered during those rest times but the doctor said if he didn't come soon, I would be headed for a c-section. This kind of sent me over the edge since the whole thing had been such a long process. I cried and really did not want a c-section if at all possible (again, looking back now, I'm not sure a c-section would have been much worse/more recovery than what I went through). Around 5:30am the doctor said we could try to use the vacuum but if that didn't work it was an emergency c-section. She prepped everything and I started pushing again and she attached the vacuum to his head. Apparently that was all he needed because with just a few pushes from me and pulls from her, out he came! At 5:53am on December 18, 2013 (his due date!), Landon William was born! He weighed 8lbs. 1oz. and was 21 inches long! He had dark black hair and mocha skin :) No water/fluid came out which the doctor was surprised by but said that meant he was very ready to be born!
Unfortunately, the stress of the labor had taken a bit of a toll on him. When he came out, the cord was around his neck and he had had a bowel movement while inside me (lots of meconium came out when he came out) which shows that he was in distress. The doctor suctioned him for a few minutes and then he was taken to the warmer. Neither Greg nor I could hold him yet. He seemed OK over at the warmer but they were suctioning him for a while since it is dangerous if any meconium gets into their lungs. In the meantime, they delivered my placenta and stitched me up. I had a second degree internal tear that tore in 5 different directions so the doctor was stitching me up for about 45 minutes. I was able to hold Landon for about 1 minute and then they had to take him to the nursery for observation--definitely not the way I thought our first hour after birth would be. I had lost a good amount of blood and still had not eaten so I was feeling pretty woozie and almost passed out. They gave me more fluids and more oxygen and then I started to feel better.
At about 10am, they finally brought Landon to me and I was able to hold him for the first amount of extended time. I couldn't believe that he was finally here and I was so excited to finally meet him! He tried to nurse a little and we cuddled before Greg and family got a chance to hold him. It was a rough entrance into the world--for both baby and mama--but we made it, and he was all we were hoping for and more!!
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