May 21st, 2009

Warning - if you don't want to read about dilation and placentas...you may want to skip this post!

Max was due on May 27th but since his brother tipped the scales at 11 lbs. 2 oz., Dr. Chun let us know that she would induce me early if my body seemed ready. I had my last OB appointment on Wednesday, May 20th. Aaron wasn't able to make it, so I just ran there quickly myself. I was about 3cm dilated at that point and my cervix was soft. So, Dr. Chun set up an appointment with Labor and Delivery to induce me at 7am the next morning!

Liam slept at Ron and Meg's that night, and Aaron and I didn't sleep much at home! We were out the door by 6:30am and arrived at the hospital just before 7. They buzzed us into the maternity ward and showed us to room 315. Then we waited. Shift change for the nurses is 7am, so we were right in the middle of that. We just sat and relaxed for awhile until a nurse came and gave me a gown to change in to. I got "comfy" in the hospital bed and proceeded to watch Golden Girls for about an hour! A nurse came in to register me and get paperwork done around 8:30. She then did an ultrasound to be sure Max was still head-down before starting the pitocin IV. He was indeed head-down, so she started the pitocin around 9am. That's about the time that I was induced with Liam! I started to feel contractions a little bit around 9:30am.

Dr. Chun arrived around 10:30am to check me. I was about 4cm and she broke my water. There must have been a lot of fluid because she said "whoah!" as she broke the sac. I had my epidural ordered around that time, but the anesthesiologist was in surgery and couldn't come down right away. I wasn't feeling intense contractions yet, so that was fine. I finally got the catheter for it placed around 11:45am. They planned to hook up the epidural medication later on. I don't remember feeling the needle or the catheter when I got my epidural with Liam, but this time I definitely felt everything. Aaron held me really tight while the doctor got everything set. I waited about another hour and then had the epidural started.

It didn't work. There was no blissful numbing happening at all. Contractions with pitocin are super intense and don't give you much of a break in between. My nurse kept turning down my pitocin, but that didn't seem to help much. I was in a lot of pain at this point. Crying uncontrolably and making Aaron feel pretty useless. The doctor came back in and injected a stronger medication directly into the epidural line. That didn't work either. About two hours after the first failed epidural, a new one was inserted. This one worked.

I could still feel a lot of pressure, but no pain at all. I finished dilating really quickly after my epidural with Liam, and the same thing happened with Max. I was checked at around 3:30pm and was about 9cm dilated. I was 10cm at 4:30pm and my nurse called Dr. Chun. She was with her last patients of the day, so she asked if I could wait. SURE! I was in no pain, and the longer we waited the further down Max would move, so it was fine with me. We ended up waiting only 15 minutes, so that was fine. She arrived around 4:45pm and I was prepped and ready to push. She had me do one push just to see what would happen. Apparently not much because she decided to go and check on her other patients and then come back to me. I was a little discouraged, but the nurses assured me that he was right there and that I wouldn't have to push long.

Dr. Chun came back in just a minute and I pushed just a few times before Aaron said he could see Max's hair! I could feel the pressure and Dr. Chun moving things around, but no pain. I couldn't feel Liam being born, but I could feel Max! I felt his head and even his little wiggly body as he slid out! Dr. Chun put him right on my belly, so I got to hold him right away! Aaron even got to cut the umbilical cord! Liam wasn't breathing right away after birth, so they had to rush him over to the suction station before Aaron could cut the cord. Max was born at 4:54pm.

I had no lacerations at all! I waited a half hour or so after his birth before I got up. I could walk fine, and didn't feel ANY discomfort apart from the epidural site in my back. I couldn't believe it! I guess a 9lb. 6oz. baby is nothing compared to the whopper that was Liam! Not only did I have a ton of amniotic fluid with Max, but the nurse told me that normal placentas weigh between 800 and 900 grams. Mine weighed over 1200 grams! Max's umbilical cord was also really thick. He was getting some good nutrition in there! Needless to say, I felt about 25 lbs. lighter after all that!

Two great birth experiences with my two sweet boys. I couldn't have asked for better memories!