Birth Story: Leslie from Little Boys and Lattes

This is a long story… Over 41 weeks to be exact, but who’s counting, right? I’ll skip the morning sickness, headaches, cramps, sciatica, heartburn etc. and skip to when I was about 37 weeks pregnant. (I’ll also leave out the countless hours I spent walking on a treadmill during my final weeks.) At this point Eli was face up, twisted, my cervix was WAY off to the left side, I was dilating some (about 1 cm) and “prodromal labor” started. I was no longer having braxton hicks, these were REAL contractions that continued from this point until I went into active labor at 41 weeks + 1 day. They say the last month of pregnancy is the longest time ever, but it literally feels even more like an eternity when you’re in early labor the whole time. ha! The contractions were very sporadic during week 37, but when I was 38 weeks pregnant, they got more intense and more frequent. I would regularly have painful contractions every 5-15 minutes apart for a few hours and then it would suddenly stop and start up again a few hours later. Exhausting. Painful. Defeating. These were some of the toughest weeks I experienced between both of my pregnancies (and the other one lasted 42 weeks AND both pregnancies had horrid morning sickness from 4-17 weeks).

At my 38 week appointment, I was 3 cm dilated and had my membranes stripped (which did NOT work this time or when I had it done again at 40 weeks). I had planned to not be induced since I had a poor experience being induced with Jayce, but after weeks of these contractions, I was so exhausted I could hardly stand it so my midwife and I decided to schedule me to be induced at 39.5 weeks. This is where the real turn of events starts…

I went in to be induced at night time and they started me off with Cervidil to see if that would trigger labor since I was already dilated some and having contractions. After that failed, they started pitocin. I was on the pitocin drip for a total of 9 (yes… NINE) hours with the dosage being increased every 20 minutes or so until they got me to the highest level that they use. I had consistent contractions 2 minutes apart for the ENTIRE 9 hours, but even after all of that I had ZERO changes in my cervix. Yes, you read that right… I’m one of the rare cases where an induction actually didn’t work. You cannot even imagine how shocked we all were. I mean, people have scheduled inductions all the time, how could it NOT WORK?!

This was one of the toughest things for me emotionally. I had a decision to make… Leave the hospital, send all of my family home even though they traveled hours, leave the room where everything was set up and ready for my baby, go home to Jayce after we already told him we would be back with his baby brother, leave after everything I went through and all the pain I had endured over the last 9 hours… OR… My midwife could break my water and really get things going. But, what if that didn’t work either? Then I would be forced to get a c-section. I thought about this for a few hours and shed so many tears over the issue. Eli was still face up, my cervix was still very posterior and off center, and 9 hours of pitocin didn’t work. Although it was an incredibly painful decision, I decided to go home because I felt that he just wasn’t ready if none of that worked.

Fast forward through another week and a half of prodromal labor, and there I was on a Monday sitting at my 41 week appointment. Ah, the joy I felt when everyone at the office said they thought I already had my baby. Not.  There still wasn’t much change minus a little softening of my cervix, and at this point I was getting close to having to be induced so we went ahead and scheduled it for that Thursday when I would be 41.5 weeks. After having to be induced at 42 weeks with Jayce and after everything we had experienced up to this point with Eli, I was 100% sure I was going to be induced again. I started believing that my body was not capable of going into labor on it’s own and that something was wrong with me. So I went home from my appointment feeling as defeated and exhausted as humanly possible.

I went to bed that night and woke up around 1 am with contractions (not unusual, this had happened many many times). They started just like they had every other time being about 10-15 minutes apart. Over the next hour or 2 though, they were getting stronger and closer together until they were 3-8 minutes apart. I decided at around 2 am to get in the tub and got Landon up because they were getting more and more painful. The back pain starting getting pretty bad and I had to have him put pressure on my lower back so I could get through the contractions. (Oh, great, back labor… *eye roll*) At 3 am Landon convinced me that this was the real deal and I had gone into active labor. He called his dad to come over and stay the night with Jayce, got the bag together, called my parents, and we headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital around 3:15 am, they confirmed that I was in labor and I was still 3 cm dilated as I had been for weeks. They said they would usually send me home, but since the contractions were getting closer and more intense AND since I had an induction scheduled soon anyways, they decided to let me stay. At first the contractions were painful, but I could manage through them just fine with pressure on my back, being in the tub, or on the exercise ball. But then, after 7-8 hours, the back pain got so intense that I couldn’t even get through the contractions without literally feeling like I was going to faint or just die. I had NEVER experienced such horrific pain in my life (and I had a ruptured appendix as a child). After a long and grueling 9 hours of back labor, I decided to get the epidural. Best. Decision. Ever. At this point I was about 4-5 cm dilated and Eli was still face up, but my cervix was starting to move back to center.

Aaaaaah. Smooth sailing now. I truly do not believe I could have continued the labor without passing out and being unconscious if it weren’t for the epidural. Once I got the epidural, it was only about 7 hours later that Eli was born. When it was time to push, my midwife came in and had my mom hold one leg, my husband hold the other, and my mother-in-law support my back. I had a little trouble pushing at first because I could not feel anything (I had my anesthesiologist crank up the dose a few times haha), but I got the hang of it after a few tries! I pushed as hard as possible and after about 10 minutes my midwife said that his heart rate was getting a little low and gave me an oxygen mask. I had a brief moment of panic, but I didn’t even have time to think about it because I knew it was vital that I pushed and got that baby out. I literally grabbed the mask and got right back to pushing when she told me to! Probably about 10 minutes later my mom said she could see a head full of hair and just minutes after that, this tiny little thing was placed up on my chest. What. On. Earth. My first thought was how small he was! (He was 7 lbs 2 oz and Jayce was 8 lbs 11 oz) I couldn’t even believe that he was here. After all that I went through to get him here, there he was.

March 8, 2016 was one of the best days of my life! Eli is the sweetest, easiest and happiest baby ever. He has been such a blessing and I feel like he’s always been here; it’s like he has always been a part of me, even before I was ever pregnant. He’s now about 2.5 months old and we couldn’t be more in love with him!