Evan's Birth Story

This is the story of how Evan came into the world. It may be long because I want the details for our family journal, which is what our blog is.

Friday before Evan's due date (Wednesday) I saw the doctor who told me that I was only 1cm dilated, 50% effaced and at -3 station. He thought I would probably go over my due date. I was a little discouraged because the week before another doctor at the office had told me I was -1 station. I was completely convinced that I would not go into labor on my own and that I would be induced the week following my due date. Well Tuesday, the day before my due date, I woke up before the alarm went off. I was having back pains and as I was laying there, I realized that they were coming in intervals. Could I be in labor? I couldn't tell for sure but when John woke up some time later I said I'm not sure but I think I'm in labor. We decided that he would go to work and we would keep in touch through out the day. I kept myself busy around the house all day but the back pains kept coming every 5-10 minutes and varying in length and intensity. At about 4pm I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable and anxious being at home alone so I called the doctor's office to find out which doctor was on call that night and when I should go to the hospital. The nurse at the office asked me about my contractions, which were now coming every 3-7 minutes, still varying in intensity and lasting about 30 seconds. She said she wanted them to be consistently 5 minutes or less apart and lasting 60-90 seconds. 60-90 seconds?!? I thought I could never last through that! When John came home from work I was very uncomfortable but I told him what the nurse had said. We decided to go to the hospital anyway thinking that the worst they would do was tell us to go walk for a while. So we put out the garbage and drove to the hospital.

When we got there, at about 6:30, the nurse checked me and said that I was dilated to 3cm and had me walk around the unit for 30 minutes. I was really uncomfortable but John helped me and we walked the hallways stopping every so often for a contraction regardless of who was present or watching. It wasn't until I threw up in the hallway and John launched himself over the check-in desk to grab a garbage that they decided that they should check me again. At that point I had dilated to 4.5cm and they decided to admit me. They called the anesthesiologist right away so that I could get an epidural. I was shaking so badly that they had to give me some fentanyl so that they could put in the epidural. That was kind of cool because I went completely limp and calm even though I was still having contractions. By the time the epidural was in place and I had some much needed pain relief, it was 10pm and I was dilated to 6cm. I thought I would feel like I was straddling a bowling ball at that point but I didn't. I was able to get some sleep through the night because my labor got stuck at 9cm since my water still hadn't broken. The nurse kept saying that it would break at any minute but it never did, even when she tried roughing it up when she checked my cervix. They decided to let me rest and the doctor came at 6:30am and broke my water. I started pushing at 10am and Evan was born at 11:51am. The pushing was really tiring and it felt disconnected from the whole labor experience because I had such a long time in between (although it was nice to get rested up!). I actually felt a lot of the contractions during the pushing because my legs were completely numb and the epidural dose had been cut in half in an effort to wake them up. My legs never gained any strength and I could feel a lot from my pelvis up. The weirdest part was when the doctor pulled the baby out of me and I could feel his little body curled up inside me being pulled out. Then they plopped him on my jello belly and I met baby Evan for the first time. He was screaming, which was a good sign, and he pooped all over me (a sign of things to come). It was so amazing to hold and see this tiny (but huge at the same time) squirming baby that had been growing in my belly for so long. His little hands reached up and touched my face and it was just the most incredible experience. He is so sweet and perfect, I couldn't stop looking at him and kissing his soft hair and face. John was great through the whole thing, he was so supportive and so excited when Evan was born. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and labor partner!

John thinks this picture is really funny. This is me at 8cm dilated, around midnight and sound asleep. In my defense, I finally got my epidural and some much needed rest after laboring all day long.