"Hello World"

I checked myself in to CHOMP  (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula) at 7am Monday morning. I had been dilated to a 3 for most of March, and I was having contractions, but they weren't getting regular, and weren't really dilating my cervix. My original due date was March 13, but when I went in for my Dr's appointment the Tuesday after my due date, my Dr couldn't induce me, because CHOMP was completely full (I found out today that they didn't have a single empty room in the ENTIRE hospital. Crazy) So all inductions were being cancelled that day. 

So my Dr decided we would go by my "20 week ultrasound" due date of the 19th. He said if I didn't have the baby by myself by Monday, to check myself in at CHOMP by 7am. So, that's what I did.

Monday morning at 7am, Russ dropped me off at CHOMP on his way to the presidio for formation. Michelle Saavedra met me at the hospital (to be my coach while Russ went to his morning classes and took a test). My Dr came over around 8am to break my water. Since I was really hoping to go into labor spontaneously and naturally, the two of us made a deal - he would break my water and give me until 10am to make some progress. Well, he broke my water (took him a few tries - he says my amniotic sack was really full) around 8:30 am. Michelle and I walked the halls of the birthing center until about 9:30 am. The nurse had said to be back by 9:30, but I think we were a little early, since breaking my water did absolutely NOTHING to help start labor... no contractions, nothing. So I figured that we might as well just go back and get this thing started. 

The nurse hooked me up to pitocin at about 10:30 am. She increased the dose every half hour until noon, when she came back in to check me. When she started the pitocin (and when I had my water broken) I was dilated to a 4 (so I had made at least SOME progress since the last week), but only 30% effaced. Well, the pitocin was definitely doing its job. The contractions got stronger and stronger. For the most part, they weren't particularly painful. Just a lot of pressure, and some pain in my hips (I supposed from the pressure). Other than that, they were very edurable. However, once she had increased the dosage the second time, I was starting to think about what kind of drugs they could give me to help me get through the contractions. Of course, I didn't know how far dilated I was, so I wasn't sure exactly how much longer I would have to endure. My nurse finally checked me around noon, and I had only dilated one centimeter, but I was almost completely effaced.

At 5 centimeters, knowing the worst contractions were yet to come, I said "Bring on some drugs." It wasn't bad enough to want an epidural, and knowing that I only had 5 more centimeters to go (and knowing they wouldn't take TOO long), I just wanted something through my IV, to take the edge off. So I got some Fentanyl, which was a nice narcotic that made me relax really well (almost forgot about some of the less painful contractions), but only lasted about 30 minutes on me, and could only be administered every hour. Needless to say, I got a dose every hour, and luckily after the second dose, I was so used to relaxing on the drug that between doses wasn't too bad. 

Russ got there just before I asked for the drugs, and he was a great coach (once he stopped calling me a wimp - I think he didn't realize exactly how far advanced I was into labor by the time he got there. Heh... he thought I was still in the stage where you can laugh between contractions). I dilated to a 6 in the next hour (since I was getting pain killers every hour, they checked me every hour), and was completely effaced. This boosted my confidence, just as the contractions got harder. 6 to 8 wasn't too bad, and I made that in an hour. 8 to 10 was in just about the same amount of time, maybe a little longer, and it was HORRIBLE. That's when the "pushing" contractions started coming. Anyone who has had a baby knows what I'm talking about - those contractions when your body yells "PUSH!" and your nurse/doc/midwife says "Breath through it."

Anyway, by the time my Dr got there, I was dilated to a 10 and basically said, "Ready or not, here I push." As he walked in the door, I asked if it was him, and when it was, I was like, "I am pushing now, like it or not." I think my Dr might have actually said it was okay to push. I'm not sure whether or not he said I could, but I pushed with a contraction - not a very effective push - mostly it was my body doing what it had been WANTING to do for the last hour. My Dr started scrambling to get his gloves and booties and stuff on, the nurses were racing around to get the bed ready, and Joseline was crowning her little head into this world. When my Dr said "Give us one good push, and we'll have this baby." I seriously thought he was joking. But then I did it. One good push (and maybe a half a push after that) and out popped Joseline. It was a miracle.

There she was, after 2 hours of not so intense labor, 2 hours of intense labor, 1 hour of misery, and one good push. 

No perinial tears, no pushing for hours, no funky head shaped baby from pushing so hard, just a beautiful baby, and a mama with energy to spend loving her baby, instead of passing out as soon as she's born.

Some day I'll post Vincente's story and you'll be able to see the drastic difference between that labor and delivery, and this one.

So I did it - I did induced labor without an epidural. And it wasn't that bad. Okay, in all honesty, the last hour was really bad, but Russ was a great coach - he kept telling me to squeeze his hand instead of push when I wanted to push, and squeeze I did. I think I only pushed "on accident" three or four times. With Vince, I couldn't stop pushing, no matter how hard I tried.

Today (Tuesday) as we were being discharged, the nurse said to us "You guys make a great team!" It made my little heart swell. That's actually been something we've been struggling with in our marriage - being a good team, working together, and having unity in our marriage, instead of just two people living in the same house. So to hear someone say something like that was really really encouraging.

Joseline Marie Rowley says to the world "Hello, World!"