January 11,2013 the most terrifying and longest day of my life. With me being over due I was beyond ready to have my son. After two weeks of practically begging my doctor, he agreed to induce me. My baby was measuring big and my doctor was concerned that with my small frame, I would have a hard time delivering naturally. We discussed my options, and he felt it would be best if I went into labor and attempted to deliver my baby naturally. I was fine with that. I had always thought of a cesarean as a possibility, and I doubted my own ability to deliver naturally. I really had no idea what to expect when it came time to have this baby.
I was admitted to the hospital at 8:30 a. m. on Friday, January 11. After six (yes SIX) separate attempts to insert my IV, they finally succeeded and hooked me up to a bag of fluids. After that I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and I was given my first dose of medication to begin the induction. The nurse inserted a small pill, placing it on my cervix. This was supposed to soften my cervix and induce contractions throughout the night. I woke up around 3:00 p. m. and according to the monitor, I was having consistent contractions every four to five minutes. Lucky for me, I didn’t feel a thing.
My doctor came in and checked me around 6:30 p. m. and said everything looked great, although he was concerned that my contractions were not progressing and I was not softening or dilating. He explained to me that my body was just taking its time with the medication and hopefully things would pick up soon. Hours later my doctor came back in. By now it was around 8:00 p. m. and I was sitting there laughing and joking around with my mom and the nurses. I was still only dilated to 1 centimeter and I was not progressing at all. My doctor decided to go ahead and break my water to see if that would help move things along.
He inserted a long white hook and popped the amniotic sac. It felt like Old Faithful was nestled between my legs. Once the looooong gush of fluid slowed down, my doctor patted my leg and said, “If you’re still smiling in an hour I am going to start you on some Pitocin. ” Needless to say, I wasn’t smiling 10 minutes later. I started having hard contractions right after my water broke. He checked me and I was dilated to 3 centimeters, which wasn’t far enough along to receive an epidural yet. Soon after, my contractions moved right into my lower back.
Back labor, I had heard so much about it and I had hoped I wouldn’t experience it, but lucky me, I had it and I had it bad. By 9:00 p. m. I was still only dilated 3 to 4 centimeters and I was in serious pain. My doctor gave me a shot of Fentanyl to take the edge off the contractions. It was my miracle medicine… for about 10 minutes. Then the contractions were back and harder than ever. One of the nurses suggested I go sit in the Jacuzzi tub to help relax. I was open to try anything at that point. With the help of the nurses, I made my way down the hall to the Jacuzzi room.
I slid into the tub and was almost instantly relieved. My belly felt weightless and the hot water relieved the tense muscles in my back. I was very relaxed and was feeling well enough to joke around with the nurses a little bit. Then suddenly, about 20 minutes later, nothing, and I mean NOTHING was funny anymore. My contractions became more intense than ever and not even the hot bubbly water could relieve the pain. The nurses helped me out of the tub and back down to my room. We had to stop twice in the hallway because the pain was so intense it was all I could to not to crumple to the floor.
The contractions had begun to hit four in a row with NO warning. I couldn’t feel them coming on at all, they were suddenly just there, at their peak. I would get about 15-30 seconds rest in between each one and they would start all over again. My doctor came in and checked me. I was dilated to 8 centimeters, which was far enough along for an epidural. Since my doctor was taking a patient into emergency surgery, the other OB doctor came in to administer my epidural. I sat up and leaned against my mom, the pain was so intense that no matter how hard I tried, I absolutely could not sit still.
They had to give me a second shot of Fentanyl just to relieve the pain enough to get the epidural in. The doctor had to try twice to get the epidural in place. He almost had it in and I felt something heavy and that unmistakable urge to push. I told my doctor, “Now wouldn’t be a good time to tell you I think I have to push would it? ” and he replies, “Hold on honey, I have to get this in. ” He finally got my epidural in place and checked me. Sure enough, I was dilated to 10 centimeters. I had gone from 8 to 10 centimeters in a matter of minutes. Thankfully my epidural kicked in fast and I was feeling great.
Although I was fully dilated, the nurse and the doctor said the baby was still very high up and that I had at least 1-2 hours of pushing ahead of me. The doctor decided to walk back to the practice to check some patients and he would be back in about a half an hour to see how we were doing. The head nurse told me to push and hold for a count of 10. I pushed and before I knew it she was yelling for the doctor to get back in the room stat because we had a baby that was coming NOW. The doctors barely had time to get their gloves on before Kaleb Bowens was born. The doctors passed him to the nurses who began to clean him up.
They were suctioning out his mouth and nose but he wasn’t crying. It took him a few seconds to take his first breath, and when he finally let out his first little cry, my heart just melted. They wrapped him up and laid him across my chest. I looked down at him and kissed his tiny forehead. He looked exactly how I had imagined he would. He had little wispy tuffs of hair all over his head and the softest skin. He was so precious and content and he opened his eyes and looked up at me and it was that moment that made me realize everything I had gone through was totally worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.