RYAN JEROME'S BIRTH STORY BORN: September 25th, 2002
Well the contractions started Monday Night 9-23, but I didn’t think much of it since I’ve
been having them on an off for a week and was trying not to get my hopes up too much. I
went to bed and then woke up at 3:30 in the morning in more pain and with them
comming much more often. I was so excited there was no getting back to sleep for me. So
I took a shower, watched TV then thought I’d time them for awhile at 5:30am. They were
scattered about 4-6 minutes apart and only 30 seconds long. I called the hospital and
asked them when I should come in, they said when they were closer to 60 seconds long. I
called my mom and let her know labor was starting, then called my little sister before
school started and dh went and picked her up. She started keeping track of the
contractions for me. They were about 3-4 mintutes apart and anywhere from 40-80
seconds long. Nothing was staying consistant though. Well they started getting stronger
and I wanted to stay home a bit longer but dh really wanted to go to the hospital and my
mom was just dying to know how far along I was. So I called my dr’s office and asked
THEM when I should go in and the nurse told me right away cause it sounded like active
labor. That was about 10:30 am. So we packed up the car and headed over. We got there
and got checked in. They checked me in triage and I was only 4cm and 75% effaced (was
3cm and 75% at my dr’s appt a week ago so not much change!) so they got me set up
with a room and we settled in there around 11. I took a bath, walked the halls, breathed
through them. I didn’t want to be checked again cause I was affraid nothing was
happening and didn’t want to be disappointed, so I wasn’t checked again until 2:45pm. I
was still only 4cm but 100 percent effaced. They thought about breaking my water but
since labor wasn’t progressing they didn’t want to until I made some progress dialiating. I
was checked again at 5:15, the contractions were so much more intense and I was having
trouble breathing through them and some were comming right on top of eachother. But
when I was checked I was only at 5cm but it was progress so they said they would break
my water and see if that helped get things going any faster. So I took a bath and shower
while I waited for the dr to get out of surgery to come break my water. At 6:05pm they
broke my water. It was light yellow instead of clear so they were worried there may be
problems with meconium. I laid in bed and labored for awhile and was checked again at
7:30 and was STILL at 5cm. My parents had come down with Tyler to see me hoping
Ryan would be born soon but it didn’t look like things were going very fast. So my sister
Julie came and took him to her house to spend the night since it was getting so late. My
parents stayed the whole rest of the time and it was great to know they were near by. At
this point I was getting VERY frustread, upset, disappointed in myself and my body since
I was still at 5cm. I was starting to hyperventalate during the contractions and just
couldn’t seem to calm down. They told me they were going to start pitocin to get things
moving.. which made me more upset since I hate IV’s and didn’t want to get one. They
started the Pitocin at 8:15pm and hooked me up to monitors for the baby since his
heartrate was way up there. They were pretty sure it was just because he was so active (he
kicked and wiggled A LOT during the labor) but wanted to monitor him to be sure. After
a lot of consideration, some crying, feeling like a failure because I just couldn’t take it
anymore, my parents were a big help in calming me down and making me realize that I
wasn’t a failure for getting an epidural and that if it was going to help that I should do it.
They gave me some drugs earlier and they hadn’t even taken the edge off so I decided I
really needed an epidural if I was going to get through the rest of the labor. The nurse
made me feel really bad about it but everyone else was so supportive and calmed me
down. I was terrified of the epidural, I had one with my first and don’t remember much of
it and thought that it had made me feel sick ect. But after 17 hours of labor with barely
any progress I just couldn’t take anymore. I got the epidural right after the pitocin was
started at 8:30pm. After the epidural was in they checked me and I was 7cm!!! That
pitocin was working fast! The epidural was HEAVEN! I have NO idea why I was so
scared of it! I felt so calm and relaxed... actually rested a little for a few hours while my
body was doing all the work. My blood pressure dropped which is a normal side effect of
the epidural and they gave me some meds to make it better even though I had no
symptoms of low pressure. They checked me again at 9:35 and I was 8cm. I was so happy
to be making progress and to not be in pain anymore. Doug was thrilled because I wasn’t
breaking his fingers every time I had a contraction! They checked me again at 10:30 and I
was over 9cm. At 11 I started feeling pressure down there so the nurse went and asked the
dr if I could start pushing. I had a little lip left down there and they said it was ok to start
pushing and that they would push the lip out of the way when I pushed. I didn’t have a
very strong urge to push yet though so pushing wasn’t doing all that much at first. Laying
on my back pushing wasn’t working at all, so we tried several positions. We were hoping
to have him born before midnight but the pushing just didn’t go as fast as we thought it
would since I didn’t have as much as an urge because of the epidural. We finally got me
on my side and pushing and that worked GREAT! I pushed this way til he was almost out
then flipped on my back and pushed him out the rest of the way. So after a lot of pushing,
a tear and and a cut (From what I understand he wasn’t comming out so they cut a little to
help and maybe I tore even more when his head came out.) Ryan slid out at 12:52 am on
Wednesday morning after 21.5 hours of total labor, and almost 2 hours of pushing! When
he slid out of me all I heard come from everyone all over the room was “Oh My God He’s
HUGE!” I swear I heard that like 6 times right after he came out! They took him away
from me right away because of the meconium in the water he had to be checked right
away, I just sat there saying “I want my baby.” finally they brought him over to me and I
was just exctatic. He had Apagars of 9 and 10 and was just perfect! I cuddled him for
awhile and then they took him to weigh him and boy what a shock that was when she
announced “He’s 9lbs 15oz” My mouth dropped! I never expected a 10lbs baby. Then
they measured his lenth and his head (which they announced was huge, I could have told
them that! he he he) and brought him back to me. I am so glad the labor was long and that
I got an epidural. I could feel some pain when he was comming out even WITH the
epidural, I can’t imagine what it would have felt like for that huge head to come out
without one! My Mom, My Dad, My little sister Jillian who is 15 and my best friend
Lindsey were there for the delivery, along with Doug of course who didn’t leave my side.
Jill and Lindsey were actually there the WHOLE time we were in the hospital and were
such a great help and support to me and to Doug too. Doug felt so much better leaving
me to grab a bite to eat or to smoke knowing they were there with me. Tyler came to visit
his new baby brother the next morning. Check out our online photo album to see lots of pictures from the hospital and more!
~ Home ~ Dr's Appointments ~ Belly Pics ~ Baby's Name ~
TIME: 12:52 AM
WEIGHT: 9lbs 15oz
LENTH: 21 and a half inches
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