My Birth Story

A retelling of my birthing experience as written from my journal.

Friday, March 8th 2013

Today is the day of the induction. Tim and I woke up at 5:30 am and left shortly after 6:00 am to drop off the dogs at Tim's parents to make it to the hospital by 7:30 am.  I didn't want to leave them, and even cried as we drove away. This was the first time that I had been away from Koda for more than a day.

Not long after we arrived at the hospital we came to find out that my orders and prenatal weren't called in, so they had to contact my doctor Marylynn Cardona. Tim was a little upset at this moment and said out loud “We better have this baby today.” He wasn't directing his comment to anyone in particular, but it really embarrassed me when he said that in a rude tone. I think that Tim was more anxious than me to get Kohl out...They asked us to wait in the waiting area while they got everything figured out. I felt that the nurses were very helpful is getting everything together. They soon came back and invited us to go get something to eat in the cafeteria while they waited for the orders. The nurse at the moment showed us the room I'd be delivering in #4214, and we put our bags down. So 8:06 am we ate breakfast down in the cafeteria and waited to start the show at 9:00 am.

We headed back upstairs to the room... It is currently 8:40 am, and I'm in my hospital gown waiting to be hooked up. It is now 9:33 am and I am hooked up to the baby monitor. 10:56 am... I have my IV and they will start an insulin drip, and penicillin for the Group B Streptococcus

1:09 pm Dr. Cardona came in to check my cervix, and it's turning out to be a slow process. At 3:00 pm they gave me Cytotec to help soften my cervix, and I experienced some pain, but the pain level at the moment is low and manageable. I'm currently at 1 cm and a wiggle (as the nurse put it). I'm feeling some frustration with my uncooperative body, but we are going to have this baby.

7ish...getting up to walk. Tim had beautiful flowers, stuffed doggy, and balloons delivered. So sweet. Plus I've had Kylea and Angie friends of mine who work here at the hospital come and visit me.

Its now 9:12pm, and they've put me on Pitocin which is causing more frequent contractions, but it's still a matter of time. I'm currently laying back and listening to music. Tim is laying down to get a little bit more rest. I really want this baby today, but I have feelings it might be early morning tomorrow.

It's going on 11:30PM and Dr. Cardona just wants to let the contractions keep progressing, and then they'll check me at 1:30am. I went ahead and asked for Fentanyl which is a pain relief med. to help before going with the epidural. It doesn't completely get rid of the pain just lessens it. I like it. First dose seemed to work for a good 45 minutes. The second dose worked for about 30 minutes, and at this moment I'm getting uncomfortable with the pain so I got my epidural at about 1:10 am and Dr. Cardona came in and broke my water at 1:45 am. We're hoping this speeds up the process.

After my epidural I was able to get some sleep for a few hours, but I woke up in pain. They checked me at about 5:30 am and I was dilated at 5 cm, but when they checked again about 20 mins. ago at 6:00 am I've dialated to 9 cm... SO WE'RE ALMOST THERE. At this moment Tim is downstairs getting something to eat, so I give him a call, and his reaction was “CRAP,” “HOLY CRAP!” He got his food and brought it up to the room to eat while the nurses were now getting everything ready to bring this baby into the world.

*At this point I'm recalling what happened*

They had me start pushing 1,2,3, and breathing in between contractions. Tim was really fascinated with the whole process, and was very supportive. He held my hand, and rubbed my back in between contractions.

It continued for 2 hours and 20 minutes when finally Dr. Cardona got a vac and with a combined effort she pulled, I pushed and “POP” out came Kohl. It literally felt that way. He just came right out all at once.

We did skin-to-skin, and I was crying hysterically. It was love at first sight!