Starting around 35 weeks I started to hurt. My hips felt like they were breaking apart and things were just generally uncomfortable. Sleeping was nearly impossible and I'm just glad that it was summer time and I didn't have to be on my feet trying to teach. Caroline watched way too many movies during these last few weeks, but you do what you gotta do!
At my 38 week appointment, the doctor checked me and I was 2 cm and 60-70% effaced. I knew that I could walk around like that for weeks, so I didn't get too excited, but at least it was something! That night, Jason and I were watching a movie and I started contracting pretty regularly. I started to get a little bit nervous that the doctor had started something, but figured I would go to sleep and if it was real it would wake me up. So we went to bed and woke up the next morning and nothing was happening. The next night the same thing happened. And the next night. And the next night. The contractions were pretty intense and pretty regular for a couple of hours at night and then nothing. It was so frustrating!!
I got checked again at my 39 week appointment and I was 4 cm and 70% effaced. Those contractions were doing a little something. The doctor thought for sure that I would go that weekend, but we set an appointment on my due date just in case. At that appointment, we were going to set up an induction plan if he still wasn't here.
After my 39 week appointment, I kept contracting at night and waking up to nothing. It had become so routine at this point that I was afraid I was going to be in real labor and not know it and just drop the baby on the floor! So, I called Mom on Sunday and told her just to come up on Monday. My appointment was Tuesday and Jason had football for a good bit of those next few days and it would be nice to have her around. It may be early, but she was dying being so far away and I figured something had to happen at some point. Plus, Sunday (August 10th) was a super moon. It was supposed to be one of the biggest moons of the year. With all that I had heard about babies and full moons, I (and my mom, sister, and sister in law!) just knew that would be it. That extra gravity would pull Cam on out of there. I went to bed Sunday night (everyone with their phone on because they knew they would be getting a phone call) and woke up Monday morning with nothing. Damn it all!
Monday morning, Mom headed up here. She got here around 4, so Caroline, Mom, and I loaded up and headed to Leslie's to hang out for a while. We had some hibachi for dinner and the whole time I was contracting pretty regularly. I didn't think anything of it because it had been happening for weeks. Mom asked me how my contractions had been lately and I told her that I had been contracting most of the night. She asked me on a scale of one to ten how bad they hurt and I told her they were at a six. Both Mom and Leslie dropped their mouths open. They couldn't believe that I was sitting there probably in real labor, but it was what I had done for weeks. No big deal. We left Leslie's about 9 and headed home. The whole way home I was still contracting pretty regularly. They were all in my back and wrapping around to my hips and not so painful that I couldn't talk or sit still. We got home and Jason was home from football. He helped me get Caroline in the bed (which I wanted to make sure we did if things were really happening). After we got Caroline settled, I sat down. My back was killing me and I looked at Jason and told him it might be time to pack up his stuff. We both kind of laughed about it, but then I realized that I was pretty serious and he hopped right up. Mom told me to go take a shower and if they were still Braxton-Hicks, a shower would relax me and they might stop. If it was real labor, I would know and at least I was have a clean va-jay-jay! I got undressed and into the shower and I couldn't stand up at all. Those suckers started to hit and hit HARD. It was the real deal. I barely even dried off, got my clothes on, and grabbed my stuff. We were in the car in less than 5 minutes. The contractions were getting super intense at this point and there was no real break. They were right on top of each other. Like the scene of a movie, Jason flew down Silas Creek Parkway and I was just breathing all that I could and trying not to pass out from the pain. I don't think I opened my eyes one time.
We got to the hospital at about 10:30pm. We pulled up to the curb in front of the hospital and just left the car. There was no way I was walking from the parking deck and valet was closed for the night. They checked me in and told me to head to triage. Once we got there, the computers were down and they were taking their sweet time while I couldn't even stand up straight. I was in an extreme amount of pain. When they finally got me to go around the corner to the rooms, the girl asked me to stand up tall when I had a chance so that they could get my height and weight before heading back. Are you freaking kidding me? What part of 'I'm in labor' did they not understand! I'm pretty sure instead of 5'9" like I really am I was somewhere around 5'2"! I finally got back to a room, changed into a gown, and then we were just sitting there. I couldn't lay down, I couldn't stand up, I was in the middle of the real deal and no one seemed to be very concerned. Jason finally went out of the room and asked for some help. A nurse came in and checked me and yelled out, 'I've got 9 centimeters!' HOLY SHIT. No wonder I was in such freaking pain. I was about to pop that baby out right there! I started to panic because I didn't think I'd have time for an epidural. I also wasn't going to have to get the doses of penicillin that I needed for Group B Strep that I was positive for. Not much I could do about either of those at this point.
They wheeled me up to labor and delivery and shit got REAL crazy. I had people putting IVs in my arm, putting wrist bands on, asking me my birth date and name, introducing themselves - meanwhile I have both hands white knuckling on the bed rail and I am in so much pain I am crying and asking for an epidural as quickly as humanly possible. Jason told me that every time someone would ask me my name and date of birth I would just yell out, 'SARAH COLLINS SMITH! 9! 2! 84!' I was not playing around and I did not have time to have conversations with people unless you were the anesthesiologist and you were about to put a huge needle in my back. Dr. Ramsay (the OB that we really liked that happened to be on call that night!) checked me soon after we got to the labor and delivery room and she told me that my amniotic sac was still in tact, but was right there and this was going to be happening really soon. I asked if I was going to be able to get an epidural and she said that the anesthesiologist had been called and they would see what they could do. Within a few minutes I heard someone introduce themselves and say they were the anesthesiologist. HALLELUJAH! She asked me my name and birthdate (ahh!!!) and started going through the risks of getting an epidural and asking for my consent. I think at some point I had to sign something. WHAT?! Ain't nobody got time for that. Eventually, she got to work and was a complete miracle worker. I was laying on my side and she got that epidural in and it worked like a charm. With Caroline, it only worked on one side, but this time it worked perfectly. Within a few minutes, the edge was taken off and I was in a MUCH better place. By the time I settled down it was about 11:45. Jason and I were talking and I told him how cool it would be if Cam was born on his due date. Dr. Ramsay checked me again and said that everything was ready to go when we were. Jason asked her if we could wait a few minutes and she said she would check her other patients and come back in a few.
At 11:57, Dr. Ramsay came back in and she said that it was time to get things cranked up. She went ahead and broke my water, they broke down the bed, and it was time to rock and roll. We waited for a contraction and it was time to do work. I pushed through that contraction, we waited for another one and I pushed through that one. I pushed through four or five contractions and Dr. Ramsay said that the next contraction would be it. We waited and the next contraction hit and I pushed. All of a sudden Dr. Ramsay says, 'We need NICU. We need help.' Nurses knock Jason out of the way and jump up on the bed. I have two grown women pushing as hard as they can on my stomach and I am yelling from the pressure. Jason could see that the umbilical cord is wrapped around Cam's neck and that Dr. Ramsay is using everything she has to pull it up and get it unwrapped. The nurses push on my stomach for about a minute and finally he is out. 12:15 am on his due date - August 12, 2014. They take him over to the warmer and we don't hear a thing. Dr. Ramsay keeps reassuring us that he is in shock and just to give him a minute. After a solid minute, we finally hear those cries. I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath, but I finally let it out and started crying. That was the most intense couple of minutes of my life. Poor guy was so big that his shoulders couldn't turn like they needed to once his head was on the way out and he got stuck under my pelvic bone. Thank the Lord I had an epidural because there is no telling how bad that would have hurt!!
Once Jason got over to him, he could immediately see that his face from his nose up to the top of his head were completely black and blue. He was totally bruised up. What a rough way to come in to this world! His initial APGAR score was a 2, but then his score after 10 minutes was a 9. Once things settled down a bit they weighed him and told us that he was 8 lbs 10 oz! He was a big boy! They checked his shoulder and let us know that there had been no damage on the way out. He very easily could have dislocated it when it got stuck, but we were very lucky. He was good as gold!
We were finally able to meet our boy!!
Welcome to the world, Camden Michael!!
8.12.14 8 lb 10 oz 22 in
I loved reading your birth story!! That was scary, hilarious, and touching all in one! You are a great writer. :)
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