Our early arrival

Our little Turtle was born April 29 at 5:28 pm, at 37 weeks.

He was 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 19 3/4" long.

Turtle's Birth Story

It begins...

DH and I went to our Breathing & Relaxation class on April 28. I was a little uncomfortable but was hanging in there. At the break, I went to the bathroom, and noticed that my belly looked ... different. Maybe lower. I couldn't figure it out.

We spent 2 1/2 hours learning all about coping with early labor, with reminders of how the labor coach needed to keep the mommies hydrated and fed before going to the hospital. We reviewed all the levels of breathing to get through the contractions. We were READY. We got home at around 10, and I went up to bed at 11:30.

I couldn't sleep. I was having what felt like awful menstrual cramps. After a while, I turned on the light and grabbed my watch to see if these were contractions. For some reason, I thought they would be higher, but figured I would see if there was a pattern. I tried timing til 1:00 am, when DH came up to bed. He asked what was going on and I told him I couldn't figure it out, so we decided to go to sleep.

I was still cramping, and had to keep hopping up to go to the bathroom. At 3:00 am, I felt a pop and a hot gush and I ran for the bathroom (as much as a 9 month pregnant girl can run). Oh. My. God. My water had broken.

I cleaned up as best I could and asked DH if he could call the doctor. I got in the shower and rinsed off, and DH reported that we needed to go to the hospital. We finished packing the bags, got all of our checklists put together, walked and locked up the dogs and we were on our way. It was a quick drive, and I still wasn't having any major contractions.

At the Hospital

We checked in to the ER at around 4:00 am and were brought up to L&D. They got me in a sexy hospital gown, did my first internal exam (ouch!) and checked to make sure that I really was leaking amniotic fluid, not anything else. I was 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. They got me hooked up to all the monitors and we were good to go.

They brought us to my room, and got me settled into bed, and hooked up to an IV. Dr V came in and checked me out (this internal was MUCH better than the first). He explained that he wanted to hook me up to pitocin, since I wasn't having any contractions and because I wasn't really dilating at all. The good news - it would help get me going. The bad - I would be confined to bed. Not thrilling, but I wasn't really feeling the need to debate it.

At 7:00, DH went home to collect the pugs and bring them to the vet. He also wanted to pick up a few things at the house so he would be settled for the day. Our birthing nurse, D came in and introduced herself. She told me that Dr. V would be on call until 5 (wheeee!!! Dr. V was my favorite of the group) and there was a good chance he would be delivering my baby. YAY! She said she would be increasing the pitocin every 20-30 minutes to help me along.

I was also starting to feel the contractions. They weren't awful - kind of a combo of a burning menstrual cramp, coupled with something slamming sharply on my bladder. Nothing too unbearable. My big problem was that the only comfortable position was sitting up and bending forward, which moved the fetal monitor - bringing D running to the room more than once.

DH came back to sit with me by 9, and we sat through a few hours of contractions. Everything was going smoothly, with the exception of my blood pressure, which was very low. I was still feeling alright, so when DH wanted to go grab lunch at around 11:30, I said fine. I was still only 3cm dilated, so there was still plenty of time.

After he was gone, the contractions got a little worse, and I started getting very nauseous. My blood pressure dipped drastically again, and D came in to talk to me. I was not oppposed to having an epidural but I wanted to try without. DH supported that decision 100%, with the condition that if at any time, the baby was affected by the stress on my body, I would reconsider. The dips in my BP were causing drops in the baby's heart rate, and as this was being explained, I started getting sick, making things a little worse. I wanted to wait for DH to get back before doing anything, but I didn't want to put the baby in any distress either, so I decided to go for the epi.

The anesthesiologist came in, explained the procedure and D helped me get in position. We waited through a few contractions and then Dr. P began. It was minorly uncomfortable - all I felt was a sting and a little burning with the first needle. It took a few minutes to place the block, and D held my hand and helped me with my breathing the entire time. We were just finishing up when DH came back, and he was happy when I explained why I had opted for the epi.

Unfortunately, the epi also caused a little bit of a dip in my BP, and I got sick a few more times. Dr. P stopped it for a little while so my body could adjust to the introduction of the block, and then we got it resumed. It was probably 2:00pm when everything was settled, and DH and I sat and held hands and got some nice conversation in.

At around 3:30 or so, D came back in and DH mentioned that he wanted to go to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. D did a quick check of my cervix and told him that she would put on a pot of coffee in the snack room for him, not to go far, because it was going to be time soon. I started to get a little nervous, and DH reassured me.

A little after 4, D came back in, checked me and told me that we were going to start doing some practice pushes. She and DH each took a leg, and I got through a few series of pushes. D knew I was concerned about an episiotomy so she did some perineal massages for me. While she was working, two nurses came into the room. One was going to be for Turtle, to take him when he was born and run his tests. The other was to assist the doctor when he came in. She set up all the tools, got my feet on in the stirrups and prepped the area.

D told me that she was going to call Dr. G (Dr V was off at 5, so he would not be delivering Turtle - boo!) as soon as Turtle started crowning and then I was going to push as hard and as long as I could on her counts. Dr G came in and got all set up. We did some more rounds of pushing, and D told DH to look so he could see Turtle's head. He loved every second of it!

At 5:28, Turtle was born. D put him on my chest with some blankets while they cleaned him, and he was just the most perfect little thing. I started crying, and DH was right there for me the whole time. He cut the cord, and they took Turtle to the warmer to finish cleaning him and get his vitals, etc.

Dr. V came in to check on me while Dr. G worked on the afterbirth and stitching me up (unfortunately, I had to have an episiotomy). This was the worst part of the whole labor & delivery process. Dr. G had to pump on my uterus to get everything out and it was awful. Dr. V held my one hand while DH held my other until Dr. G was able to finish. I cried but kept looking over at our beautiful son.

DH went to check on him, and came back to report that he was doing just great. D brought him over to me and we all got to hold him and cuddle him.

They wrapped him up and put him in his crib and we just watched him for hours. DH left for just a bit to pick up some dinner for us, and by 10:00 pm, we were ready for bed. At midnight, the nurses took him to the nursery for his bath and they kept him until 4:00 am when they came back to check on me. It was wonderful having our son in our room with us.

It was the best day of our lives.