a birth story

GeoTagged, [N39.77712, E86.12802]

this is the birth story of cole...

we arrived at the hospital at 6 pm on sunday evening, may 16th. all day I ran errands, finished cleaning the house & an hour before leaving for the hospital I embroidered his welcome home outfit!

once admitted I was immediately given an iv. it hurt. like really bad and I was hoping to be able to manage some sort of pain before asking for an epidural!

I was given cervidil shortly thereafter. it was very, very painful & the nurses had to do periodic checks to see if it was working.

I ordered dinner & attempted to watch the season finale of brothers & sisters. by 2 am I was in immense pain. I couldn't sleep, I had to pee all of the time & I so wanted to be in my bed at home. I then had an emotional breakdown. my pregnancy was ending & I missed my dogs. bry crawled in bed with me & held me while I sobbed like a baby.

later that evening the nurse gave me nubain for the pain. I passed out within a matter of minutes.

day 2, may 17th. my doctor came in at 8 am & broke my water. the urge to use the restroom every 10 minutes had ceased. she began the induction by adminstering pitocin.

I was 2 cm dilated & 70% effaced.

at noon my doctor came in to check me. I hadn't progressed. she asked how I was and I said, GREAT! I was lying. I was in a lot of pain & the contractions were very strong. she asked if I wanted am epidural. I was trying to hold out a while longer. then the next one hit & I said, I'll take it!

the epidural didn't hurt a bit. I felt awesome & was so happy to be able to rest. little did I know I'd be resting for a long time!

I was still 2 cm at 2 pm and 4. I was frustrated. I was tired & I wanted a csection! bry said no & that I had to be patient. I wanted to rip his head off! I had been confined to a bed for 24 hours & hadn't progressed.

my doctor came in & said she wouldn't be able to deliver me. I thought she was kidding because she had promised me a few days before she would. her husband had been in a car accident though & I felt really bad for her. plus I was not in any pain so I was on cloud 9!

by 9 pm I wanted to cry my eyes out. I had not progressed much & saw no end in site. I was SO tired.

my nurse strongly recommended I get sleep because pushing would wear me out.

finally at 11 pm I was ready. they kept increasing my pitocin until I was dilated enough. I then labored down from 11-midnight.

day 3-starting exactly at midnight I began pushing. I had no idea the energy that was exerted. I was already exhausted! but I knew the harder I worked the sooner it would be over & I could meet my son!

I fell asleep inbetween contractions. I didn't have my eyes open but once to look at my husband coaching me on until the very end. they moved the mirror up so I could see cole make his debut & I kept my eyes open the rest of the delivery.

I pushed for one hour, 23 minutes. then the greatest thing ever arrived, cole matthew hageman. a total of 31 hours of labor with minimal pain.

it was an amazing experience. the nurses were great! we taped the birth & it is so awesome to rewatch it.

that is my birth story of sweet baby cole!