A few days before the babe was born I started noticing more hip pain. I'd had it occasionally throughout my pregnancy but it was getting more consistent.
Friday, I went to work, cleaned the apartment (even dusted-- hey oh), painted my nails, reorganized the diaper bag, went to a baseball game with my hubby, watched the rest of "The Book Thief" and hung out with my sister's family at the mall. It was an awesome, busy day.
Sean and I hit the sack around 10 pm and I was a bit uncomfortable from the endless hip pain (which had happened before and a bath usual did the trick). A bath didn't help so I just tried to rest. At 11 pm I figured that I was having some false labor-- I started timing my contractions just to see where they were at. For about half an hour they were about a minute long, 7 minutes apart.
At about midnight, I woke up Sean and had him keep me company. I had him use my nifty contraction timer app. They were all over the place-- sometimes right on top of each other and pretty dang intense. Sean measured the intensity by what I was saying. I tell ya folks, that kind of pain doesn't make you the most eloquent of people. Regardless of the pain, I was pretty positive about my false labor theory.
I suggested we go for a walk (walking is recommended right?) and we made our way out of our complex and crossed to the temple. Getting to the other side of the street was enough for me and I was done with the walk.
At about 1:30 am I was not handling the pain well. At all. I asked Sean for a blessing and suggested we go to the hospital, if anything, just to be given something to handle the pain so I could rest.
While I had breaks from contractions Sean got our bag ready just in case we had to stay at the hospital. (This is where having our hospital bag packed at 34 weeks came in handy and I had a list of things we needed that weren't already packed. Three cheers for preparation!) Sean was really great company to have during contractions. He stayed calm and just held my hand or let me lean on him.
Our trip to the hospital was pretty funny. Has anyone noticed how hard it is to stay seated during contractions? I had the window open, squirming like crazy, and repeating affirmations like... "My body was made for this." "I can do this." "Heavenly Father created my body for this purpose." It's kind of funny what things you'll do to try to cope with pain.
When we got to the hospital I had to stop for a contraction in the waiting room. (2:10 am-- I purposely looked at a clock.) At the desk the nurse asked if I wanted a wheelchair. I declined but quickly corrected myself and accepted it as a contraction hit me. Contractions were still all over the place. The only thing consistent was that they were close together. The nurse wheeled me to labor and delivery. *Random* During that little ride we found we were both Hilarys and spelled it the same. You may think that's no big deal but it's rare I meet someone named Hilary with the same spelling.
Labor and delivery got me into a room and I changed into the gown. They said they'd come back and check my dilation and then check again in an hour to see if I had progressed. I can understand why women like to labor at home because contracting at a hospital was no bueno.
A nurse came in to check my dilation for the first time. After checking she said, "We're going to go ahead and admit you. You're at an 8." HA. An 8. After she left I turned to Sean and said something to the effect of "Holy crap I'm at an 8."
Can I just remind you guys that I thought this was all false labor? I'm crazy. Clearly.
The nurses came back in, I had an IV excellently inserted in my wrist, was given my first dose of penicillin (strep B positive) and asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist had literally just left for the night as I was walking in so they called him back. After about an hour of being at the hospital, I received my epidural. (I'm no hero folks. Laboring to an 8 was a complete accident.) The anesthesiologist was fantastic. After telling me to stop swinging my legs, (pain coping mechanism?) he administered a spinal-epidural combo so that I would receive instant relief with the spinal and then continued relief with the epidural. And oh man did it work. He told me I'd get a headache as a side effect but that never happened. Tender mercy.
I was sick, briefly, from the epidural and my BP had dropped so they put me on oxygen. I was kept on oxygen until I started pushing. Baby's heart rate would drop after each contraction and the oxygen seemed to be helping.
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| Post epidural. Obviously. |
About half an hour later, two fantastic RNs came in and did some practice pushes with me. The epi was so perfect that the pushing was really effective. The RNs called the doctor on call and we waited for him to make his way to the hospital. Before the doctor got there we did some more pushing to make some progress before the doctor came in. First time moms can push for quite a while so it made perfect sense to me.
While we were waiting, we all made birth weight bets. The two RNs bet 6 lbs 11ou and 7 lbs. I bet 7 lbs 3 ou and Sean bet 7 lbs 6 ou. An epidural was the perfect option for me. It allowed me to participate in said betting and really relax and soak in the entire experience.
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| LOVEDDDD our L&D nurses! |
After 30-40 minutes of pushing - start to finish, Klaus Andrew Lewis Stevenson was born. Three weeks early at 8:22 am, 7lbs 6 ou (Sean won!) and 20 inches long. Wouldn't have asked for it any other way.
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| Daddy and his son :) |
We get asked a lot how to pronounce our sweet boy's name--
Definitely NOT Clause as in Santa Clause.
Say Cloud.
Now replace the D with an S.
And there ya go. :)
{A NICU Story} Baby Klaus --- in the weeks to come
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