Charlie's Birth Story

Charlie was due on May 4th.  My Mom flew in on Friday, the 3rd, even though we were convinced I would carry late again.  On Saturday, my due date, we took Harper to a birthday party and went on a long walk.  I felt great!  I definitely didn't feel like I would go in to labor and I didn't.;)

On Monday, the 6th, I went in for a doctor's appointment.  Charlie's heartbeat was really low, so they had to monitor him for quite a while.  After some juice and some water, he perked up and they let me go home.  My doctor stripped my membranes at that appointment.  I had had that done with Harper also, but it didn't do much.  My repeat c-section was scheduled for that Friday.  I was definitely feeling the pressure to go into spontaneous labor, but trying not to get my hopes up.  That night, I ate some "labor inducing eggplant parmesan" and went to bed.  I slept for about an hour and then woke up around midnight with constant pain.  I called my girlfriend, who is a labor and delivery nurse, and was going to act as my doula, and let her know what was going on.  She said to call back in an hour if it doesn't go away.  About 30 minutes later, I called her back because I was having regular, painful contractions, 3 minutes apart.

Once she got to my house, I was in enough pain that I knew I wanted to go to the hospital and get an epidural.  After my delivery with Harper, I thought I would try the natural route again.  Then I went in to labor and immediately knew that au natural is not for me.;)

We arrived at the hospital round 2AM.  I was 4 cm.  I was begging for the epidural, but of course, we had to do a bunch of paper work first.  Then they stuck me about 17 times before they got a good IV in me.  The anesthesiologist had to stick me twice to get the epidural in the right spot.  It was all scary, but I didn't care.  I didn't want to experience the pain that I had experienced when I was in labor with Harper.

By the time I received my epidural, I was 6 cm.  They kept wanting to break my water, but I was scared to let them.  I continued to progress and was at 10 cm around 8AM, but my "bag of water" was still intact.  I wanted to wait to see if it would break on its own, but eventually let them break it around 9AM.  Charlie was still up pretty high, so around that time, I decided to take a nap and let him "labor down."

My epidural was one-sided.  They kept offering to replace it, but I wasn't about to let them poke my spine a third time!  It worked on the left side, but I could feel everything on the right side.  I turned side-to-side pretty often so that it would drip down onto the right side and I would have relief for a bit.

I woke up a little after 11 and we decided it was time to push.  It was a work-out!  But it was also so calm and controlled.  My contractions never sped up.  They were 3 minutes apart for my entire labor, so I had plenty of time to rest between pushes.  Charlie was doing great and no one was in a hurry.

My doctor had the day off, but my nurse had been in contact with her all day.  She came in around 1 and asked me if I could deliver Charlie by 1:30, so she could take her daughter to the dentist.
Charlie was born at 1:29! Ha!
He was 8lbs. 7oz. and 21 inches long!

 I couldn't believe that he was bigger than Harper and I was able to push him out!  I was so worried about him the entire time.  I felt selfish for wanting a VBAC and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get him out and would have to go for a c-section anyway.  When he finally arrived, I was so emotional, grateful, happy, exhausted!

It was pretty much a "text book labor" which was exactly what I need after Harper's labor and delivery.  The recovery was definitely easier this time around and breastfeeding was a breeze.  I was so grateful for a positive experience all around!

I'll go ahead and get June's birth story out shortly, while it's still pretty fresh!