We got to the hospital at 2pm and I got hooked up to the contraction and heart monitors. I was only dilated to a 1.5 but they wanted to monitor me for an hour and see if I would progress any. After an hour the nurse came in to check me and I was only dilated to a 2 but she told us that they were concerned because our baby's heart rate would drop after each contraction so the doctor wanted to monitor us for another hour before sending us home. At this point my contractions were getting really painful and closer together so I was hoping we would be able to get admitted. After that hour passed we were told that our baby's heart rate continued to drop with contractions so the doctor didn't want to send us home yet and ordered an Ultra Sound to take a closer look at his movements. It was a 30 minute, very specific Ultrasound and the baby needed an 8/8 score for everything to be considered "normal" and for us to get sent home. He had been moving normal all day but when they started the ultrasound he decided to stop moving so our little guy scored a 2/8. Because of that low score the doctor decided to admit us and induce me to progress labor.
My doctor was out of town for the Holiday so the on call doctor came in to introduce herself and talk to us about our situation. She said there was a chance this birth would end up in a C Section but that they wanted me to try and do a vaginal delivery if it was safe. At that point I lost it and started sobbing. I was so nervous and hated that everything was a huge unknown and I just wanted my baby to be safe! I had had a fairly normal pregnancy and so it broke my heart knowing that with every contraction he was struggling. The doctor talked me through everything and I felt better and decided to trust her and her judgement and to trust God. While I was pregnant I would always specifically pray that on the day I went into labor, I would have a team of doctors and nurses that were there to help ME get through labor and delivery and would know how to handle my anxiety and that I could fully trust them.
It was 8pm when they started my IV and Pitocin. They had to have the anesthesiologist come and put my IV in after 4 failed and very painful attempts from 2 different nurses. While he was there I asked him a million questions about getting an epidural. My entire pregnancy I was more nervous about getting the epidural than I was about labor and delivery because I was worried it would trigger my anxiety and panic attacks. But I was in a lot of pain, had been having labor contractions for almost 12 hours now, had been trying to mentally prepare myself to get one because I felt like if I didn't feel the pain I would be able to be more present and relaxed. He promised me if I didn't like the epidural he would take it out and that made me feel a lot better so I decided to have him come back at 10 pm. My mom arrived from Idaho at this time as well. Nothing had really gone smoothly since we got to the hospital so I wasn't super surprised when he had to redo my epidural 3 times! He said that that had NEVER happened before but it definitely made me get over my fear of getting an epidural. I felt like that numbing shot was worse than the actual epidural and it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.
Once I got situated back in bed, the nurse had to turn down the Pitocin because baby wasn't tolerating the strong contractions well. It was on a very low dose so she said it was going to be a long night and to get some rest because I basically had to progress on my own. She had to come in every hour and change my position to attempt to help baby's heart rate and a few hours into the night they had to put me on oxygen. I couldn't sleep at all. Partly because they had to change my position so often but mostly because I was so stressed about my baby! I was scared and expecting them to burst in the room for an emergency C Section at any moment. It was the worst knowing something was concerning about my baby and just having to "wait and see". I didn't understand why they wouldn't just give me a C Section now if it was just going to end up in one but my nurse reassured me that they were watching him closely and if things stayed like this I would most likely be able to avoid a C Section.
At 4 am my water started to break on its own and my progress was coming along great but it would still be a while before I would be able to push. Baby boy wanted to keep things interesting and decided to turn "Sunnyside Up". They put a peanut ball in between my legs to try and encourage him to turn back around but he did not like that position so they hoped that once he was lower that he would turn on his own. The morning went by soooo slowly! At 7am my new nurse predicted I would be able to start pushing at 10 am but things progressed reallllllly slowly. I could feel him dropping lower and felt pressure but I was stuck at a 9.5 FOREVER!!!I kept calling my nurse in to check me because I just wanted to start pushing! On one of the checks she told me she could see his hair and that he was no longer sunny side up! She also told me he was so low that I would not need a C Section if things went south and that made me less scared.At 12:45 she decided to call the doctor to come back to the hospital so I could start practice pushes. They wanted the doctor in the building even when I was practicing in case baby boy didn't like it. The doctor got there an hour later and I could start doing practice pushes. It was 2pm when I could finally start pushing!
When he got lower into the birth canal it was hard to monitor his heart rate so they had to attach monitor to the top of his head so that we could watch him closely. I pushed for a little over an hour when babies heart rate started to drop and we needed to get him out ASAP. They had to use a vacuum and the first attempt it slipped off and blood went EVERYWHERE. All over the ceiling and the nurses faces. I had no idea what had just happened but it looked like a room from a horror film. They assured me everything was okay and to give one last push. I pushed as hard as I could and at 3:19pm Hendrix Paxton McCammon was born. Everything was such a blur after he came out, I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open and everything happened so fast. They laid him on my chest for about 10 seconds but he was holding his breath so they took him over to the warmer to help his breathing and check his vitals. Paxton went over with him and I honestly didn't even know they were still in the same room as me, I thought they had left! I don't even really remember delivering the placenta or getting stitched up because I was so worried about my baby and was in shock he was finally here!
After about 10 minutes they brought him back over to me and I could finally really meet him. It was the best moment of my life. My loving supportive husband right next to me and our new baby boy safe on my chest. After a few minutes of just taking it all in I asked the nurse to lift Hendrix up so I could actually see his face and what he looked like because I was too weak to even try. He didn't look anything like I had pictured except for the dark hair but he was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. After over 24 hours of labor and extremely stressful moments we were so relieved to have our baby boy with us safe and healthy.
xoxo
Bailey
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