My Labor and Delivery Story

Weight: 8 pounds 8 ounces

Height: 20.25 inches

I have been meaning to write this post for about 6 weeks now. Life with a new baby is chaotic to say the least. After trying to soothe Liam for about an hour, I finally have time to write this as he sleeps soundly next to me.

May 14th, 2010 was an odd day for me. I was in a weird mood all day. I felt down, and moody. I was upset by the silliest things, and just felt sad I guess. I remember Kyle calling me telling me he had to go to a mandatory flight lunch with his coworkers, and I was so upset and just cried. I didn't want to get off the couch. I knew something wasn't right. I only had a few mild contractions that day, but nothing was consistent or time-able. That night Kyle and I went out to dinner at Macaroni grill. Little did we know that that would be our last dinner together alone for awhile :)

On Saturday morning, May 15th 2010, I woke up around 7:50am to pee. Nothing had woken me up other than my full bladder. As soon as I was done using the bathroom, a contraction hit me with full force. I immediately knew something was different. This particular contraction, unlike the rest, made me sweaty, and I remember throwing my hair up in a ponytail because I was so hot. I walked back into the bedroom and leaned over the bed to wake Kyle. I remember saying, " I know I have said this a thousand times this week, but I really think Liam is coming." He looked at me like, " Ya, ya...I've heard this story before..."

When nothing else happened, I got back in bed and tried to go back to sleep. Being awake at 8am on a Saturday was just not acceptable for Kyle or I. We both love to sleep far too much to be up this early. And then it happened again. BAM! Another contraction 7 minutes later. Kyle was just staring at me during this contraction, almost like he was trying to figure out if I was just being dramatic or if this was really happening. I asked him to keep track of the clock for me. After that was done, I again tried to go back to sleep. Exactly 7 minutes later there was another. I was already having to zone off through them. I decided I am no longer laying in bed, and I am just going to start my day and see what happens.

I got up and walked into the living room to open the curtains and start my day. I was wearing cotton shorts, and as I turned to head into the kitchen to get breakfast, I felt "damp" down in my lady business, if you will haha. I reached down and my hand was wet. I slowly walked into the bedroom where Kyle was playing on the computer. The room darkening curtains were still drawn, so I held my hand up to the computer screen so he could see and said, " Ummm...I am fairly confident I am leaking fluid.." He looked up at me again with a look on his face that he still wasn't buying the fact that I could be in labor. I turned the bedroom light on, and down by my feet on our tile floor was a puddle about the size of a baseball. I told him that I am definitely leaking amniotic fluid. I asked him if we should start calling family to let them know that little Liam was on his way, and he told me no. He STILL didn't think it was happening.

I stood in the hallway with the phone in my hand for about 5 minutes, contemplating calling family. I was still having contractions every 6-7minutes, but for some reason, I was almost in shock that this could be it. I decided to call my sister, DeNae to get her opinion. After calling her about 15 times in a row, and getting her voicemail ( she was camping and didn't have cell signal) I decided to call my mom and get her opinion.

I had a few contractions as I was talking to her, and I felt myself already transition from stage 1, to stage 2. During stage 1 in labor, you can talk through contractions, and you are smiling and excited. Stage 2 you can no longer talk through the contractions, and you are simply miserable. Toward the end of our conversation, I could no longer talk through the contractions. At this point I had only been in labor for I think, about an hour. I decided to get off the phone and start gathering the last minute things for the hospital bag. I also wanted to try to eat something.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch with Kyle. I tried to eat 3 bites of cereal, and each bite made me gag and I literally could not swallow. I had to keep spitting my cereal back in my bowl. My body was not allowing me to eat. I had read about this happening, your body does not want food in it while you're in labor. It's safer to not eat in case you need surgery, also your body doesn't want food in there so you don't poop everywhere while pushing. That is why most women poop a ton right before they start their labor.

Anyway, after Kyle saw me struggling to talk and eat during contractions, I think he realized that this was really it. He got up and ran me a bath so I could try to relax as much as possible. He got the bath going and he started to grab our toiletries and such for the hospital bags.

I got in the bath and the contractions were every 5 minutes by now. At first I had the bath water off, and I was trying my breathing techniques as I laid in the water. The contractions were getting more intense, and I was no longer comfortable sitting in silence, or laying down. I cranked the bath water up so it was super loud, and I was sitting straight up in the tub, holding onto both sides just rocking back and forth through contractions. I started what I called my " labor song " which was me humming and breathing loudly through contractions. I could no longer keep my eyes open through them, and definitely could not talk.

Kyle wasn't moving that fast. Given that this was my first birth, we knew that it could probably take awhile. At 9:44am, I told him it was time to call the hospital and tell them we were on our way. The contractions were every 3 minutes apart now. I think I was only in the bath for about 20-30 minutes.

He helped me out of the bath and I threw some clothes and a pad on because I was still leaking fluid. My contractions were a lot stronger now. I was having to stop what I was doing, and wrap my arms around Kyle's neck and just hang from him, letting my belly just sag down. I would rock back and forth while hanging on him. Then as soon as they were done I'd try to help him load up the bags. Finally it was time to get in the car. I am one of those laborers that keeps her eyes closed the entire time to help focus. I remember walking down the stairs to the car and getting in, but the drive there was a blur.

The entire drive to the hospital I was silent, minus my " labor song." I was grasping the handle on the door, and just kept my eyes shut. When we got to the hospital we had to walk a ways. I wanted nothing more but to get admitted and get this pushing going, so I walked through my contractions. We had to get up to the 5th floor, and I was on a mission. Once we got to the doorway of Labor and Delivery though, I could no longer walk through the contractions. I stopped dead in the hallway and rested my heads and hands on the window ledge. I swayed back and forth until it was gone. We finally made it to the front desk and they were asking me all kinds of questions that I had no intentions on answering. Kyle was answering them all for me. I could give a rats ass at that point what they were asking me. If someone offered me $1,000 at that moment, I wouldn't have even acknowledged them. I pretty much tuned every voice out.

The nurse asked me if I wanted to try to use the bathroom one last time, so I figured what the heck. I got into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. No matter how hard I tried, I could NOT pee. I was feeling pressure, but I didn't think anything of it. I tried to pee for several minutes, but my body said no way jose. I walked back out to the nurses desk and she walked me to a room to check to see how far I was dilated.

They had me remove my pants and climb up onto the bed. I guess I wasn't scooted down far enough on the bed, and she kept asking me to scootch. I was noticing a lot of pressure now, because it was hard for me to sit up, let alone scootch! She started to check me between contractions, and she kept looking at me and saying, " Um when did your contractions start? When did you notice you were leaking fluid?" Kyle was answering for me, and he kept telling them 8am. 8am was the magic number. She then said, " Well you are definitely ruptured, I can see hair." Then she checked my cervix and said, " Oh wow, you are complete! You are at 10cm!" I looked at Kyle and said, " Omg! A 3 hour labor?! " And I gave him a high-five haha. ( Oh by the way, I was admitted to the hospital at 11:20am)

Nurses started to enter the room ( I was in a triage room at this point, not a delivery room yet ) and the nurse that checked me said , " We need to move her to delivery NOW. She is complete and she's ready to push! " Things were starting to feel chaotic now. My eyes were shut again, and I could just hear all the chaos going on around me. I heard people coming in and rushing out. Another nurse said , " Ok Mrs. Kelly, we are going to have you change into a gown and we will walk you down to a labor room." My nurse, Katie ,said, " Absolutely not. She can remain in her clothes. We are going to have to wheel her down to a labor room. If she walks, she will have this baby in the hallway. I do not want her to deliver in the hall. "

At this point, I feel like I am going to climb the walls the contractions are so painful. I remember grabbing so tightly onto the railings on the bed, just wanting to bite onto them or something. Kyle kept reminding me to try to relax, and to save my energy for my pushing. They pull up my bars on my bed, and start to wheel me out of the room. I remember squeezing Kyle's hand through contractions, while the team of nurses pushed me down the hall in my hospital bed to a delivery room. I didn't open my eyes to see anything, but it felt like I was in a movie. It all just seemed like I was dreaming.

When we got into the delivery room, they asked me to roll from the bed I was on, to a delivery bed. This had to be one of the hardest things I had done at that point. Liam was so low, and I was having so much pressure, that it felt impossible to sit up at that point. With the help from just about everyone, I finally made it onto the labor bed. Things started to get real crazy at that point. There were about 3-4 nursed running in and out. At some point, they inserted the IV cap in my arm in case I needed surgery. The doctor came in and said, " I don't know if they told you, but you are past the point of an epidural. " At the same time, me, Kyle and Katie all said, " I did not want one anyway. " The doctor tried to tell me that after I birth him, that she is going to give me pitocin to get my uterus to shrink back down faster. I said absolutely not. I did not want a drop of drugs, and I said I would like to use massage and breastfeeding to get it to shrink back down naturally. She seemed caught off guard, and said, " well we'll see.." I wanted to slap her.

Anyway, the contractions were back to back at this point. I though I had to wait for the doctor to come back into the room in order for me to start pushing. I looked up at Katie and said, " Can I push? If I don't push, I think Liam is going to fall out!" She laughed and told me I was free to push however, and whenever I wanted. I had them drop the bottom on the bed off so my butt was hanging off and so I was sitting up. They brought in a labor bar which connects to the bed so that I can hold myself up without having to use my stomach muscles. Katie and Kyle each grabbed a foot and pushed my knees up to my chest during each push. Because Liam felt so low, I wasn't able to fully sit up like I wanted, and Katie had to keep lowering the back of the bed. Eventually, I ended up pretty much on my back to push. It was easier to open up my pelvis. The doctor came back in and said that I would have to push for awhile, because Liam wasn't fully dropped. The nurses and doctors were up doing things, so it was mostly just Kyle and I flying solo through all the pushing which I enjoyed.

After several minutes of pushing, Katie tells me that she thinks in a couple more contractions, he will be here. She then asks if I want a birthing mirror, I figured why not. They wheeled in a huge mirror about as tall as I am, and positioned it so that I could see the progress of my pushes. At first I was not a fan of what I was looking at, but once I started to push again it really helped. I could see Liam's head each time I pushed, and it made me want to push that much harder to get him out. I start to push with everything in me, and about 4-5 contractions later, I started to feel that burning, " ring of fire " feeling. I knew this was it. They had the whole room chanting me on, and I knew it was time to get this kid out.

The next 2 pushes I gave it all I had. I was pushing so hard I felt like my entire body, especially my head, was going to explode. I had my eyes closed during the pushing, so I wasn't able to see Liam enter the world. Pushing felt great, you can hardly feel the contractions when you are pushing. I felt his body slip right out and I was so relieved I was done.

They took him and cleaned him up and Kyle brought him over to me. I was in complete shock, and I fell in love all over again. I could not believe that sweet little baby was a product of Kyle and I. As I was holding him, the doctor was working on getting my placenta out. Apparently the umbilical cord tore, so I was unable to deliver my placenta naturally. The doctor reached up and manually removed it. It was unpleasant to say the least. After I was all cleaned up, I attempted to breastfeed Liam. At first we struggled, but eventually he latched on and it was so awkward, yet so incredible. It was so weird how everything just felt so natural. I felt like I had been a Mommy to him for years.

About an hour later they put me in a wheelchair while holding Liam, and they wheeled me down to postpartum/recovery. They were trying to cater to me and baby me since I just gave birth and I just wasn't having it. I felt GREAT to say the least. I wanted to be up walking around, I wanted to be in my own clothes. The staff was beyond baffled that I was just up and doing things like it was no big deal. I was sore and aching from pushing, and it just felt better to be up moving and standing. They kept trying to give me 800mg Motrin and crap, and I refused to take anything. I wanted my birth and recovery to be as natural as possible.

I am proud to say I did not have a drop of drugs during labor/delivery or recovery. I have not taken one single pain killer in a year now. I never took a tylenol or any form of medicine while pregnant either. I have taken nothing but a prenatal vitamin for 11 months. I am proud to toot my own horn :) haha

Anyway, I was discharged the very next day, but Liam was not. He spiked a slight fever in the hospital and they wanted to monitor him. So we spent the next 5 days in the hospital and it was horrible. We were able to take him home on May 20th, 2010 ( his due date!)

I am sure I skipped out on a lot of details, but it all happened to incredibly fast, that I don't remember much. All in all, my labor and deliver was 4.5 hours from start to finish. I am scared to see how fast our next baby will be born! We should probably just camp out in front of the hospital the last month of the pregnancy just to be safe.