July 19th was his due date, I went into the doctor for my apptointment at 1 and she did a membrane sweep. She said if it worked it would work within the next 24 hours. So Friday, July 20th, around 10 am I started feeling my belly getting all tight with a little bit of discomfort. I talked to my friend who has 2 kids and she said it sounded like I was in labor. She came over and we went walking around the neighborhood. The tighening would come every 10 minutes at first and eventually down to every 5 minutes. She left around 330 and I decided if I was in labor I would need a nap if I was going to be up all night. So I layed down for a nap and woke up around 5 and felt NOTHING. No tighening no discomfort anything.
Jon came home and we went walking around again. Still nothing. So around 10:30 I decided I'd go to bed feeling quite disappointed that I was not in labor and that was just braxton hicks. Jon stayed downstairs playing xbox. I woke at midnight (July 21st) with the worst cramps ever. I took a couple of tylenol, and waited to see what happened. Well every 4-5 minutes I would feel the cramping, it was not the same tummy tightening as I had earlier. This just felt like very strong period cramps. I had a tiny bit of blood starting as well. I really didn't know what to do so I called labor and delivery, they said to wait until the tummy tightening comes back or until the pain gets to strong. Well that really didn't take long. About a half hour later I decided, I really didn't care if they sent us home I wanted to go in and get checked. The epidural was very important to me so I wanted to make sure I got there in time. One of Jon's friends a couple of weeks before, his wife did not get there in time and could not get the epi.
So we go to labor and delivery, they check me, said I was having contractions but was still only at 1.5 cm and 80% effaced. They called the doctor on call, who said to get me to walk around for a couple of hours. We walked around for about an hour and I went back to get my phone, she said she would check me again. I was then at 2 cm and about 90% effaced. The doctor said to admit me and start me on fentynol. I have very low pain tolerance so the contractions were horrible on me. They gave me one shot of fentynol which dulled the pain a bit but I still felt it. An hour later they gave me more fentynol a stronger dose this time and I was out of pain for a bit. They got me up and walking again once the pains had been lessened. I walked around for about 40 minutes then the pains came back to strong. They checked me and I was 3.5 cm dilated. I was doing the typical 1 cm per hour-hour and a half. In order to get the epidural I needed to be 4 cm. I got there around 7 am. But they wanted to wait until the new anesthetist came on around 730-8 so he would be fresh and get me a good epidural. At this point the contractions were every 2-3 minutes lasting for a full minute. It hurt A LOT!!! Like nothing I have ever felt before.
Then around 7:45 am God sent an angel and the anesthetist came along to give me my epidural. He was very fast and efficent. He was British and sang to the radio the whole time. Within 5 minutes the pain was gone. It was fantastic!!! I could still move my legs but was completely frozen. Since I had the epi I couldn't get up and walk again, so I just laid there and talked to the nurse who spent the day with me. Jon was there but he was dozing a lot. I think it was around noon that he woke up and stayed awake and we watched youtube videos and chatted. Around noon I was to 9 cm... and stopped. Also my water hadn't broken.
Around 2ish I felt the need to (excuse the details) have a big poop. They did not lie about that's how it's gonna feel when you want to push. I was still only 9 cm. The urge kept getting stronger and stronger though. I could feel it through the epidural. It was every 3-4 minutes. I knew I was not fully dilated so I could not push. But my body wouldnt dilate any further. They called to doctor who said he would come up and break my waters and start me on pitocen and see if they would help with the contractions. Well as soon as he broke my waters I went to 10 cm and was ready to push, so I started.
They were extremely painful. It felt like I had been constipated for a month and trying to have a poop.They told me Alexander was face up, which means that it will be a harder, longer labor. (they also told me typically first time it would be 1-2 hours) I was pushing for about 10 minutes when I started asking for a csection. I was way to far gone for that and they refused me. The doctor left and told them to let him know when the baby was about to be delivered, since he knew it would be a long time before the baby was coming out. I would push atleast 3 times for every contraction. The nurses were fantastic coaches. Jon was incredible. He watched the whole thing, from the time they started seeing the head coming out. I was convinced I couldn't do it because it hurt so bad.
At one time the nurse said just thing as soon as this is done you'll have your baby boy.. my responce.. I don't want him... :S (pain makes you say weird things) after about 25 minutes of pushing they told me to stop that they needed to get the doctor cause he was right there and coming out. So the doctor came in. Apparently I told him I am not doing this for 2 hours, and pushed Alexander out. It was 40 minutes of pushing and he came out screaming! Alexander was delivered at 3:39 pm on July 21st he was 6lbs 15 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.
So here he is: Alexander Peter Dickinson :) our little angel.
