Sloane's Birth Story

I wanted to write this out before I forgot it.

I had a great pregnancy and was able to work up until 37 weeks, and then I was put on bed rest for the last 3 due to high blood pressure. I was to be induced around my due date of May 25^th.

 On May 24^th, I was set to be induced at 6 a.m. I had gotten up at 5 a.m. and showered/packed. I got a call from Good Sam saying that the birth unit was full and they had to save the last room for someone in active labor. Since I was to be induced I had to wait.  This was hard getting your courage up to go in and then having to wait.  I got a call later that day that I could go in at 6 p.m. to be induced. Little did I know this meant a marathon of induced labor, laboring through the night.

I remember Mike acting strange before we left and heating up the oven to make cookies around 5 p.m. He pulled out the first batch and sat them on the oven and we left. I remember deciding the middle name on the way to the hospital. We work well under pressure I guess.

We got to the hospital before 6 p.m. checked in, and got to our room changed and Pitocin was started around 6 p.m. I was around 1cm dilated starting out.   We were so excited. I remember walking around our room and channel surfing. Then contractions started and got worse and worse. I found out Pitocin is like kick starting your body into labor when it’s saying no I’m not ready yet.  The nurse told me that I could take the IV pole and go walk around the halls of the hospital to get things going. I was a little surprised of this because I had been unable to do any walking for the past 3 weeks due to my high BP.  Of course, I didn’t hesitate though. Anything was better than laying in bed through the pain.

It was a long night of labor….each time the nurse checked I had not progressed any. All I knew was the contractions were getting more and more terrible and I was not making any progress. It was discouraging.  By the middle of the night, it was wearing on me. I tried the exercise ball and any position I would move and get comfortable the nurse would come in and tell me I had to move because the baby’s heart rate kept dropping.  I had a young nurse who had not had kids yet. Nothing against young clinicians, but I do know you must choose your words wisely.  She had made comments like you do know if this doesn’t work we will have to send you home. This was pretty discouraging after pit labor all night long.

The NBA finals were going on at this time so Mike watched those on TV and pulled up the food channel on my laptop.  It stormed all night and the power had gone off in the hospital. The nurse came in to pull the shades of the window down. We asked what the protocol was and she said that if we were in a tornado warning that all the beds would be wheeled to the middle hallway. Thankfully it never got to this point and backup generators were turned on so we were able to keep monitoring Sloane’s heart rate. 

I had made a goal to try no pain meds. I thought this would be attainable but I now know with pit it makes it incredibly difficult.  I had not progressed enough to get an epidural and they were worried it would shut my labor down. By about 5 a.m. after 11 hours I was checked and was at 1.5cm. I wanted to scream….how could something be so painful and not make any progress.

At 5:30 a.m. my water broke on it’s own. I was encouraged by the progress but yikes this was the worst pain I have ever experienced. The contractions came fast and super strong now. My mom and sister came in and helped me through the breathing. The breathing was the only thing getting me through them. At 7 a.m. I got a new nurse. She was awesome. She knew I labored all night long and needed and epidural in order to keep going.  The anesthesiologist came in and got the process started. The problem was my contractions were coming so fast and strong that it was hard to find a time to do it. I remember the nurse just bear hugging me and holding me still while they did it.  I was finally able to get a little bit of rest after in. The nurse checked me and I was at 10 cm. just like that. 

I was able to rest a couple of hours and then about 9 a.m. I was to start pushing.  I pushed for 2.5 hours+.  I was not making much progress. There was one moment where I saw the nurse’s face and my mom’s and knew something was wrong. Every time the baby would slide into the birth canal her heart rate would drop.  I was also having some chest pain and the nurse put an oxygen mask on me. After a couple hours, the nurse went to get the doctor. I heard them talking in the hallway concerned on if she would fit through my pelvis.  The doctor decided to use suction since I had pushed for so long and there was no progress.

At 11:50 a.m. on May 25^th after 18 hours of labor she was finally here. A 6lb 7ounce precious little girl and that long marathon night no longer mattered because it was all worth it.  Children are such a blessing and I love her more each day I get to know her and see her grow and learn more about Jesus.