Labor and Delivery

The end of this pregnancy was so different than the other 4, and I am so happy it all turned out OK. First of all, I have a friend in my ward who was due the same day as me. She is in real pain at the end of her pregnancies, so she decided to get induced on the 13th. Well, without me realizing it, that totally threw me off. On the 13th I started panicking thinking I was going to have this baby Any Day. Even though all nine months I had been telling people "All my pregnancies have been boys, they are all 9.5lbs. and they all come within 3 days of my due date." So, why did I start stressing at 10 days early? I was so anxious to get Evan here so he could take over while I was gone. Well, as you know Evan came, but the baby didn't, so we all kind of sat around and waited.
{This was taken on my due date 1/22. Evan and I took the boys out to a state park to go on a hike.}

I had a sore throat and a cough, so I guess it was better that little Alexander was waiting. Well, of course I went to ward council and church the day after my due date because I had no reason not to and the ward was shocked that I was there. I told everyone, I have an appt. with the Dr. tomorrow morning and I am going to see about being induced since all this baby is doing is gaining weight at this point.
The only other pregnancy that I interfered with the birthdate was Steven. I was two days overdue and I had been dilated to a 4 for like three weeks, so I went in and they broke my water. The rest of the boys came when they were ready, so I was very apprehensive about being induced. At the Dr. appointment she told me I am barely dilated to a 2 and in her opinion it would still be a couple of days, so we made an appt for the next morning to induce me. Well, when I left the Dr. office I started crying. Like full on crying and I wasn't sure why. I called Steve and he said maybe I should come home and take a nap since neither of us could figure out why I was crying about being induced when I was three days overdue. After talking to Steve I decided I needed to call my sisters or Mom and they would help me figure this out. Laura was the one I got a hold of and she did just what she was supposed to. She told me she was induced with Kea and it was her best delivery and it just feels weird to take this decision into your own hands and that was so true.{Taken on the day of the Dr. appt. Wow! I didn't feel as big as I looked. }

So, Steve and I went to the hospital at 6am the next morning leaving Evan to get the kids off to school. They broke my water at 8 and started pitocin shortly after.



Everything was going smoothly, but it was really starting to hurt. I have decided that going through labor while you are walking and standing is so much easier than when you are on your back in a bed. So, after some time I got an epidural. OK, so remember my last three pregnancies, I have gone in to labor on my own and have not used an epidural, so I was going with all the latest technology this time. The epidural was AAmazing! Within a short time it took all the pain away and I was totally comfortable. Right after I got the epidural the nurse told me to roll on to my back so she could check me and as she was doing that, she all of a sudden couldn't find the babies heartbeat. She sounded panicked, but I wasn't sure how serious this was. She got a heart monitor onto the babies head and his heartbeat was back, but it was a stressed heartbeat. It would beat at 60 and then shoot up to 170 then go back down to 80 and then shoot up to 150. The nurses and Dr. didn't like the sound of that at all and told me they were going to prep me for a C-section. Well, I lost it at that point. I Did Not Want a C-section at all. I was so mad at myself for forcing this baby to come and getting all these drugs and now I was going to end up on an operating table. I started bawling in the room with all those people around me. I just couldn't help it. I was so frustrated.
{They put this oxygen mask on me and said it would help Alexander get more oxygen and get his heart beat back to normal. It is funny how putting an oxygen mask on someone makes them immediately look like they are at death's door.}

Luckily the nurse said the baby seemed to be calming down and they were going to give him some time to have a normal heartbeat and then we would proceed as normal. I was shocked to see that it was like 1:00pm at this point. I had planned on having the baby within 4 to 5 hours like I had with the other boys. This was taking forever. So, now I just laid on the bed for a couple of hours while we let little Alexander rest. Finally they turned the pitocin back on and we finished the job. My epidural medicine was just running out when it was time to push, but I still couldn't feel a thing when I was supposed to be pushing. I have decided that if the epidural was a perfect science they would leave you just enough feeling to be able to feel when to push. I think I could have been a lot more effective. As it was I pushed for 45minutes and with the others I swear it was less than 15. The urge is just so strong to get that baby out.
With the pushing though, there is one thing I will never forget. Alexander's head came out and then shoulders and you know how at that point most babies just fall the rest of the way out? Well, not him. He was so fat his stomach was stuck. So I still had to give a couple more hard pushes to get his stomach and the rest of his body out. And I remember sitting up to push and seeing the Dr. just pulling the baby out like he was in a tug of war contest. It was crazy.
I am so grateful that this delivery story turned out the way I wanted. And I also learned a lot from the nurse after he was born. I was telling her I feel like I shouldn't have interfered with the birth date and she totally disagreed. She said a uterus is meant to live 39 to 40 weeks, after that amount of time it starts to break down. So, it is not as strong. And after 40 weeks your chance for meconium to get in the water goes way up which can be dangerous because it can get in the babies lungs. She said she would rather be a part of a 36week delivery than a 41 week. That totally surprised me and made me feel totally better about my decision. She said me being 40 weeks and 3 days was the longest she thinks any Mom should go. Very interesting. By the way....my labor and delivery nurse has a son in my tiger den and I totally loved her. She was the best!