The Great Birth Story - Now With Pictures!

Kellan Thomas
08/20/09 10:34 am
8lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches long

Ok, so remember what I told you about being honest and graphic - yeah you might want to stop right there unless you want to hear it all :)

After my Dr. visit on Tuesday, I had some show and a few contractions, but by midday Wednesday I was starting to worry that it might come down to an induction. Wednesday afternoon I started to have more show and more contractions and sure enough by midnight Wednesday night the contractions were strong enough to keep me awake. I got in a warm tub to try and relax them a little and was hoping I could get back in bed. By 3am I had to wake up Brooks because I knew this was the real deal and didn't want to be alone. We called Yvonne, our doula (who was there for both Fin and Dash's births) and gave her a heads up. By 4:30 Yvonne was here and we were working through labor by sitting on the birthing ball in the family room and doing some laps around the block. The contractions were tough but I felt like I could cope with them pretty easily.

Sometime after 5am I realized that the boys would be getting up soon and started to worry about them seeing me in pain. I wasn't ready to go to the hospital yet so Yvonne suggested that we head to her house (which is right next to the hospital) for a few more hours. We hung out there until just after 7 am when I felt things were getting rougher. We arrived at the hospital, got right into our room and by the time I was finally cooperative enough to get into my gown etc. and let them check me, I was already at 7 cms. Honestly, I was blown away! The contractions were painful but I was totally able to manage them and they were consistent but I felt like I had time to catch my breath in between. For the next two hours I walked and worked through things but was starting to feel a little worn down. The Dr. had suggested breaking my water to get things progressing and since Kell was still at a -2 station. When the nurse checked me again just before 10 am and I was still sitting at a 7, I agreed to speed things up. I was totally terrified of things getting more painful, but I was also loosing energy fast.

The Dr. was in fast and broke my water just after 10 and the next contraction hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to stay in bed and on the monitors for the first three contractions while Kell adjusted to life without water and I felt like I was going to lose my mind. When I was finally told I could stand, I felt better but the contractions were really brutal. I think I only had three contractions standing up before I felt pushy. The nurse came in at maybe 10:15 and said Kell was still at a -1 almost 0 and I was only 8 - 9 cms. Yvonne quickly reminded me that since this was my third, things could change in a minute. But she didn't need to say anything since I knew that my body was working on getting him out ASAP. All of a sudden I started screaming and I knew he'd be here in moments. The nurse asked me to sit on the bed so she could check me again and I think at that point I was screaming about sitting on his head. I was in so much pain I couldn't articulate anything but I vaguely remember laying on my back and wondering why no one was paying attention to the fact that he was coming NOW! As a matter of fact, Brooks took a picture. Of me. Mid contraction. Sitting on the baby's head. Here it is...

And note the timestamps...
Yeah, I told you I was going to get a little graphic :)

So the nurse starts screaming and the Dr. is nowhere and then, lo and behold, the one Dr. I wanted to avoid, the Butcher, was sitting at the nurses station checking his email. (Sidenote: WHO DOES THAT?!?! YOU'RE NOT ON DUTY?!?!) And by the time he walked in, Kell's head was out (poor nurse didn't even have time to get gloves on!) and he escorted the rest of Kell into the world. There was a scuffle over the umbilical cord (I guess the dr. tried to cut it and Brooks was all hells no). And then the Dr. on duty came in and was screaming that he had just left, what happened. It was pretty funny to watch everyone running around all crazy wondering how all that happened - I was just wondering why no one had listened to me!

They left us all to bond for a while and then came in to weigh Kell and give him his bath. By noon we were in our recovery room and since I was first birth of the day we got an awesome single room with a pull out bed for Dad. Brooks went home and picked up the boys and Nanny and some burgers and we had a nice picnic dinner in the room. Fin was enthralled with his new brother and Dash said hi and then wanted to run around the room. I think it went well! I was planning on coming straight home, but it was so nice we decided to stay for the night. Then Brooks decided to snore. Alot. So I sent him home to sleep. Daddy came back to get us the next morning and we were checked out and on our way home before Kell was 24 hours old!