Baby Story Number Two

 Griffin's birth was so different from Gavin's. It leaves me a little scared and curious about what lies ahead in just a few months! Again I had fun going and reading Jim's account of my second labor and delivery. So I thought I would re-post it here, and add my own account in the mix. There may be more details than you want. You have been warned. 

Kathie's mother was in town on good faith that the baby would be born sometime during her visit.  Since she was leaving Monday, we were against the clock, and were worried that she might leave before Griffin made his grand appearance.  Kathie had strong enough contractions on Friday morning that she asked me to stay home from school, feeling pretty confident that she'd be going into labor within the day.  By lunchtime, they had completely gone away, and Kathie was frustrated that it was looking like a false alarm.

 I was so mad. We were sure we had timed my mom's visit so that she would be here to take care of Gavin when the baby came. I just wanted it to be the day! I didn't feel one contraction the rest of the day, until after my water broke.

Just to give nature a little push from behind, Kathie did a few sets of stairs and then walked around at Ikea for an hour or so.  About a half hour after returning, her water broke.  I've never seen anybody's water break before, so this was a first for me.  I knew I needed to get a towel  but was frozen in place for a minute in fascination with what was happening.

Now I have heard friend's stories of their water breaking and it just being a little trickle. One of my friends didn't even know her water had broken. Oh this was not the case for me. I was sitting on the edge of my mother's blow up bed and suddenly I felt something pop inside of me.  It almost felt like someone had snapped a rubber band inside of my belly. It was so weird I immediately stood up wondering what in the world just happened. And then Niagara Falls was running through my house. They called me the water lady when my water broke with Gavin because they had never seen so much water, and I would dare to say they would have said the same things again if I had been at the hospital. My mucus plug also came out with the water, and that was pretty much the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life (sorry for too much information here.)  It was the size of a tennis ball and so gross. I wish I had a picture to capture Jim's face as he stood frozen in amazement  I laugh just thinking about it right now. Even after my water broke I didn't feel any contractions for several minutes. I wanted to hop in the shower because I felt so disgusting, but my mother was wise and told me to get in the car right away.

Fortunately, we were all packed and prepared with overnight bags, an installed car seat, and a full tank of gas.  We left for the hospital about 10 minutes after her water broke (4:45pm).  By the time we arrived downtown, did some quick paperwork, got checked in, it was about 5:45.    During the drive down, Kathie only had a few contractions, which she described as relatively mild.  But her very first examination from the doctor about 20 minutes later revealed that she was already at a 7 and 100% effaced!  

It was so weird to be rushing to the hospital and only feeling one or two contractions on the way. I did however, continue to have gushing moments. I was in total shock that there could be any water left in me. But it kept coming every time me or the baby moved. I felt almost totally fine while we were checking in. The contractions were starting to come but they were not that bad. But in the short wheel chair ride from the front desk to my room, the contractions went from being mildly obnoxious, to taking my breath away with severity. I got settled in to my bed and the nurse started to ask me questions. By this point, although only about ten minutes later, I couldn't even concentrate on what she was saying. I was in so much pain and it never went way. My contractions were now overlapping. I asked for an epidural and she responded quite rudely. She even made Jim go sit down on the other side of the room. I remember thinking everything she did seemed to be in slow motion. She wasn't in a rush because ten minutes ago, I wasn't in a rush. But now, I wanted to punch her. She would not listen to me tell her how much pain I was in. I thought at this point I was going to start throwing up again. One of the other nurses saw and brought a huge box fan and set it up to blow right in my face. She was my hero. It literally saved me from vomiting like I did with Gavin. 

Kathie wanted an epidural  (I was surprised that it wasn't too late), and they quickly put in the orders for the anesthesiologist.  He put the epidural in about 6:30 pm.   Meanwhile, Kathie was in a lot of pain and contractions were getting worse.  For whatever reason, the epidural never worked . . . at all.  Kathie never felt numbness or relief anywhere.  Since she was still in considerable pain at this point, there were going to take some other measures, but it was too late.  The baby was crowning and it was time to push.

The rude nurse was shocked when the doctor checked me and I was at a seven. She put in for an epidural and to my relief the anesthesiologist came right away. However, he was accompanied by a resident. I felt the needle go in my back, something I don't remember with Gavin. It hurt! And then I heard the doctor say something like,
"You were suppose to wait three minutes to do that, but hopefully it will be okay."  But it wasn't. I waited for that sweet relief to come. Luckily somewhere in the middle of it all I got a new nurse that was awesome. They told me to relax and let the meds help me. But I started to panic.
"it is not working! It isn't changing anything!" I was yelling. They told me to wait. And I did, but nothing changed, it just kept getting worse. They finally believed me that it wasn't helping and said that the epidural must not have taken, but by this point it was too late. There would be no epidural for me. I spit a mouth full of ice chips right in Jim's face. Sorry hun.  And that is when I panicked. I was not prepared for a natural birth. I had never considered it a possibility. At this point I was dilated to an eight. It took me hours to move from an eight to a ten with Gavin. I thought about that and started to hyperventilate. My new awesome nurse came right to my side to calm me down. Somehow she got me to start breathing normal again. I don't remember what she said or did, but it she was my little angle. I am pretty sure I was sobbing by this point. I started to pray with all my heart that it could go fast. I knew I couldn't wait through that pain hours more.  I had no relief because my contractions were on top of each other. I felt so out of control of everything in that moment.  I just had to endure whatever happened to me with no choice in the matter. That is a hard situation to be in. I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help me through it and make him come fast. My prayer was answered almost immediately. I told them I needed to push. The doctor had only checked me minutes before, so they all told me to wait and he would check me again in a little while. But there was no way I could wait. The nurse took a look and immediately called the doctor back in. Griffin was out in four pushes. I always thought the movies were so fake where the woman screams while pushing. Well they aren't. You have to scream to be able to push. It was amazing and horrifying all at the same time.

Less than 5 minutes later, I was holding my second baby boy in my arms.   From water breaking at the apartment at 4:45p to time of birth at 7:29p, those 2.5 hours were probably the fastest of my life, and the longest of Kathie's.  

Jim got that part right for sure. After relief came and contractions slowed, I was much more aware than I was after Gavin was born. I remember looking at the clock and being shocked at how little time had really past. I was sure it was close to midnight, but it was only about 8:00. But with pain like that every second had felt like an hour. I felt a sense of accomplishment that I didn't have with Gavin. I had survived an unintended natural labor, I may not have done it very gracefully, but I did it. And Griffin was as beautiful and precious as could be.

Everything that could have been different was different with my two labors. They were polar opposites, and that is what made it the most frightening. So many people say how lucky I was to have such a fast labor, and I understand what they mean, however it was so incredible crazy. Everything felt out of control. As I talk about these two experiences people ask which I would rather do again, and I can't tell you what I prefer  The recovery was much harder for Gavin, but Griffin's was just crazy and felt so overwhelmingly out of control. I honestly can't choose. I am hoping that baby number three with be the best experience, that all will go according to plan. However, this time I will be mentally ready for a natural birth, just in case.

 Griffin Scott Gwilliam was born 7:29 pm on a Friday evening it 2010  He measured 20 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz.