On Tuesday, July 1st, my mother-in-law and family wanted to do a quick mini-shower for me. I had had my 37 week check up the day before and was already dilated to 4cm and completely effaced. On the way to work, I said to Brett, "I think today is the day." Not that I had had any contractions up to this point. I never even felt a Braxton Hick the whole pregnancy. But this day, I felt morning sick again. I was even going to leave work early because I was just not feeling well and wanted to get a nap in before the shower.
Regardless of feeling sick, I made it through work. I went home and met Kathy, Randi, Grandma Myrn, and Rachelle at my place. I showed off Jack's nursery. Then we met Denise and Payton at the Spaghetti Factory for lunch and presents! We had a wonderful time.
On our way out, I was walking and thought I had peed my pants a little (thank you bladder!) or was just super sweaty from sitting down the whole time. In my head I was super embarrassed and ready to get home and go to the bathroom.
Kathy, Grandma, and Randi walked me and Jack's presents into the house. We gave hugs and said goodbye. On their way out, Randi said, "Mom, we should just get a hotel up here in case Jack comes." I replied, "Randi, if you get a hotel, Jack will wait 3 more weeks to come but if you go home, he will come tonight! That's just how it works."
Once they left, I rushed into the bathroom to see the damage done by my squished bladder. The second I looked at my pants my heart started rushing. I kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" There was a huge circle of water in my pants that was not made by urine. After flipping out and trying to get a hold of my mom to make sure I wasn't crazy, I quickly called Kathy. "I think you need to turn around.... I'm pretty sure my water broke!" Randi had been right about the hotel after all.
On their way back to get me, I called Brett.
Me- "Hey!"
Brett- "Hey! What's up?"
"Your mom is going to pick you up from work."
"Oh! Where are we going?"
"Well, she's going to pick you up.... Then you're going to come and pick me up... And then we're going to the hospital!"
Then I called Aunt Allyson to let her know to come to the hospital. After all the preliminary phone calls, I called my doctors office just to make sure I wasn't crazy for going to the hospital. They didn't think I was crazy! YIPPEE.
Kathy drove Brett and me in the Versa to the hospital and dropped us off at the front doors around 5pm. Brett and I walked in freaking out and super giddy. I wasn't in any pain so I felt really stupid but off we went to Labor and Delivery. On our way in, the dentist called to remind us of our appointments for the next day. I had to tell her, "Well... we're in the hospital on our way to have a baby right now so we're going to have to reschedule!"
They admitted me into a room where a nurse came in to make sure it was my water that broke, not a leak of something else. We waited very impatiently. The whole time I'm thinking, "We're stupid! We're just too excited for Jack to get here! It isn't amniotic fluid. Oh crap, I've embarrassed myself by crying wolf!" And on it went. FINALLY the nurse came strolling back in with fluid bags and an IV. I knew what that meant: WE WERE GOING TO HAVE OUR BABY! I was so so happy! It WAS amniotic fluid that leaked!
Around 6pm, the nurse started me on Pitocin which started labor. At this point, I was dilated to a 4+. Aunt Allyson, Kathy, Doug, Grandma Myrn, Randi, and Nathan were all with us in the hospital. We just had a little party! Once the labor pains started kicking in, the nurse called the Anesthesiologist for my Epidural. My sweet sweet Epidural. Being pain free was the absolute best.
At one point, it stopped working on one side of my body. I remember telling everyone, "No I'm just feeling pressure!" But by the time the nurse came in, I was in PAIN with each contraction. They moved me around to my other side and THANKFULLY it began to work on BOTH sides of my body. With my Epidural, the whole "Labor" part was awesome! I kept saying time and time again, "This is the best thing ever! I get to hang out with my family, eat flavored ice chips, and meet my baby!"
But then the "Delivery" part hit.
Around Midnight, they had measured me at 10cm!! YAY! The nurse told me that we would let the baby rest and descend for 1.5 hours. Cool with me - I wasn't in any pain. We took bets when the baby would be here. We were all saying 2am, 2:15, 2:30. We thought for sure the baby would be here before Aunt Allyson's guess of 3:30am.
She won the guessing, although it was a bit off still. :/
The nurse came back in at 2:30 (an hour past when she had originally said) and finally had me start pushing. I worked and worked and worked and worked and worked. With every push, I would think, THIS IS GOING TO BE IT! And then with every push I would be sorely disappointed. This continued for 3 hours with the nurse and resident. At this point, I had been pushing so long, my arms were unable to hold up my legs any longer. In between breaks, my body was chilling so badly I couldn't stop shaking so Brett and Kathy had to help hold me to calm the shakes. I had a high fever so they pumped me full of anitbiotics. I was super nauseated, so they gave me some Zofran. FINALLY they called my doctor. Plus, these whole three hours I'm feeling the uncomfortable urge to bear down.
When the doctor got in around 5:30am, she gave me the tough love pep talk I needed to hear. I had three options:
1. Push this baby out. (Like I wasn't trying already...)
2. Vaccum him out. She didn't want to do this because that would be bad because he already had a huge sore on his head from pushing so long.
3. C-Section.
In the meantime, she had the nurse turn off my Epidural to get me "feeling more". Then I started pushing again.
After pushing for another hour, it was clear he wasn't getting pushed out without help. By this point I'm feeling everything and in tears. I was so physically tired, very sleep deprived, and emotionally drained from the decreasing hope and increasing disappointment that with the next push he'd come out. Somewhere in all this I got an episiotomy which scared me more than anything for some reason. They got the vacuum and I honestly don't remember much else because I was in so much pain at this point. What I do remember was at one point everyone had their hands on me whether it was for comfort, support, help, or all of those things. I had one person on each side holding my hands and back and two more holding my legs. With a few more very painful pushes, screaming, crying, and the help of the vacuum, Jack Emery Mecham was born.
After 11 hours of labor, 4 of those spent pushing, he was here on July 2, 2014 at 6:51am. He weighed 8lbs and was 20in long.
After they cleaned everything up, they moved us down a floor and into a smaller room. At 10am in the morning, I let them finally take Jack away from me and told them to look after him while I slept. After fifteen minutes, I was crying in my room wanting him to come back so badly. My brain also kept going over that miserable last two hours of pushing and delivery. A huge rush of gratitude for my Savior came over me as I felt his comforting love that he knew my pain. I needed someone who truly understood my specific labor pain. In that moment I knew that He knew. I also thought about how at my worst point of delivery, everyone had their hands on me for support and comfort. How many times in ours lives have their been the hands of angels, helping us to get through whatever trial we face? How many hands have lifted our heads and held our hands? I was and still am so grateful for my angels. This was the best kind of trial because it was short and has a happy ending. With the help, support, and comfort of my loved ones, Jack Emery Mecham can now be a part of our little family.
