I think I'm in labor. Baby today?

I woke up today at 7:30am as Dennis kissed me before he left for work. I normally get up at about this time anyway, since it is about the time that Andrew gets up. I noticed right away that I had a bit of a cramp in my belly, and I wondered if it could be a contraction. I had my labor started in the hospital with Andrew, so I wasn't sure what was actually labor pains and what was Braxton Hicks. I thought I would just monitor my feelings and see what happens. I had been monitoring contracions all month off and on. Nothing ever lasted past a few hours, so I assumed that this would be the same. Dennis' brother and his girlfriend were visiting us for the week, and they had just arrived the day before. I had suggested earlier that they take my car and drive to Galena for the day, but since I was having pretty consistent contractions, my brother-in-law was a bit worried about taking my car. He said, "what if you need it to go somewhere?" What a funny thing to say!! It just goes to show that he doesn't have much experience with women in labor. Haha. I told them that I would call my mother to come over to watch me and Andrew. As they were getting ready to go, my mother showed up. It was perfect timing. I was, in fact, in labor. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. At about 10am, my mother, Andrew and I were at my house hanging out. I thought this would be a great time to update my blog, since the thought of having a baby made me think that I wouldn't have time to work on it. At about 11am, my mom made Andrew and I a grilled cheese sandwich. She's such a trouper!! Where would I be without her!?! :) I sat eating when the phone rang; it was my OB/GYN office. They wanted to add a stress test to my appointment, so they wanted me to come in at 8am instead of 8:30am the next day. I said that would be fine, but I also mentioned that I was having contractions every five minutes since 7:30am that morning. The lady on the phone said that she would talk with Dr. H and get back to me. She actually put me on hold, so she could talk immediately with the doctor. This told me that my condition was likely serious, but I was still a bit in denial. When the nurse came back on the phone, she told me that the doctor had suggested I go straight to the hospital immediately. I had a feeling she was going to say that. Since I had already gone to the hospital before as a false alarm, I wasn't too excited about going back unless I was going to have a baby. Never having had labor start on its own before, I wasn't 100% sure that this was it. It was close to 12noon by this time, so I thought I would just wait until Dennis came home to go to the hospital with him. Luckily, my mother could take Andrew, so things worked out all around. I finished eating and got a few things together. Then, I texted Dennis to tell him that I needed to go to the hospital. He was reading the text as he walked in the door. My mother, being wonderful, had also made an extra grilled cheese for Dennis, so he could quickly eat when he got home. It didn't take long before we were on our way to the hospital. Mom and Andrew stayed at the house so Andrew could finish his lunch. Hopefully, we'd see them after getting a new little guy. Dennis loaded up the car with what we would need for labor and the stay at the hospital. I had a bag packed, and we also took along two pillows from our bed, the camera, video recorder, and exercise ball that I had borrowed from my sister. I was planning on having a natural birth without pain medication, and I wanted the ball to help with the pains. We checked into the hospital at about 12:50pm, and they put us in an actual labor room instead of a triage room like before when I was in preterm labor. This also made me feel that things were going to happen this time. I was getting a bit excited. Room 541 was going to be my new home until I delivered my son. I immediately got undressed and into the hospital gown. I shared my birth plan with the nurses, so there wouldn't be any issues. I had shared the plan with Dr. H weeks before, so I was confident that things would work out as I wanted them to this time around. When I had Andrew, the doctor who delivered him was a man I had never met and was against many of the things I wanted in my birth plan. I was hopefull that I would have a better experience with all staff involved this time. We'd have to see. Gerri, the nurse who checked us into the room, also checked my cervix. I was a bit surprised to find that I was dilated to 6cm, but she could stretch me to 7cm. I knew that I was feeling lots of pressure over the last week or so, and I had heard that the only feelings a cervix would register were stretching. I had a feeling that the process was moving along, but this confirmed it! She also told me that my cervix was very thin and stretchy and that I was 90% effaced. It didn't seem like it would be long before I would have the baby, but I knew there must be lots of women out there who stayed at 6cm for a long time before delivering their babies. My contractions also weren't getting stronger, so I wondered if that also was a sign that I would be stuck at this dilation for a while. Only time would tell. Dennis' response to all of this was "I'm ready for this," which he said with a laugh. I think he was a being a bit sarcastic, since he forgot to put the baby seat in the car for the new baby. haha He'd have time later. For the first few hours, Dennis and I mostly just waited in the room, while I sat in the bed having contractions. In the meantime, Gerri came in to start an IV at 1:50pm. I was scared about this since she was the one to give me my IV back on August 31st, and she used a catheter that was much too large and hurt like hell. It also hurt for weeks after they took it out. :( At 2:00pm, there was a shift in the workforce, and Gerri was out allowing Chelly to come in and be our nurse. Chelly was of a grandma's age. I wouldn't say that she was old enough to be my grandma, but she had grandkids of her own. She was probably in her 60s, and she was great. She was kind, patient and very smart in the ways of her profession. She was also with us back on the September 1st, and I was glad to have her. At this point, I was given 500 million units of penicillin in my IV. This was because I tested positive a few weeks ago for Group B Strep. They didn't want the baby to get it on the way out, so I had to have to doses of antibiotics before I delivered to prevent any harm going to my son. Dr. H also showed up at this point. She said that she would just wait until my water broke or until the second dose of antibiotics was gone in my IV. I didn't know then that it would be close to 7pm for the antibiotics to be in my system, so I was a bit on the anxious side. I just had to wait out the contractions and see what happened. At around 4pm, the nurse, Chelly, came in to tell me that she'd give me the second dose of antibiotics at 6pm. When that was gone, she would talk to Dr. H about checking my cervix again and perhaps breaking my water. It was nice to have some times, because the waiting is truly the hardest part. During the duration of my labor from 4pm to 6pm, I did a variety of things. I stood and held on to Dennis during contractions. I also sat on the exercise ball. Dennis rubbed my shoulders and counted as I breathed lamaze. He was truly wonderful, just as he was when I was in labor with Andrew. He was so patient and went along with whatever I wanted. I really appreciated having him there, and I don't think I could have stayed as calm as I was without him. After the second dose of antibiotics went through my IV, I was eager to hear what the doctor was going to say. At 6:40pm, Dr. H checked my cervix, and she told me that I was 9cm, 90% effaced and at a -2 station. This meant that I was pretty much ready to go, but the baby was up a bit too high. If I were at a +2 station, I would be pushing the kid out. I wondered how long it would take for the baby to drop, and I had been waiting all day for my water to break as well. I had hoped that my water would break on its own outside of the hospital. Boy, am I glad that I didn't get my wish. Overall, when I think about the labor process, it really didn't seem that bad. It actually wasn't that bad during the process. Only at the very end, did it seem to get heavy with hard labor feelings. That only lasted about 20 minutes before the water broke, though. At about 7:15pm, Dr. H broke my water. She used the long, plastic stick to break my water. HOLY COW!!! Can I now say, "thank you, God for not allowing my water to break anywhere other than in that hospital bed." Immediately, I felt the baby drop. I would tell Andrew about when he was born and how I felt him slide down into position as if he were going down a slide. I would say that was when he went down the "weee", since that is what Andrew used to call the slide. With Edmund, I wouldn't say it was quite like that exactly. It was definitely a "weeee" type of feeling, but it felt almost as if he were already out. He slid down as far down as he could go. It is amazing how much that sack of water kept him in. With it gone, I can't imagine what would have happened had I been at home or out alone with Andrew. I don't even want to think about that. Once the water was broken, I immediately screamed, "help me, help me." I was freaking out because it almost felt that I wasn't ready for the baby to come out. The pain also became much more intense when the water wasn't there. It was just all happening too fast. Speaking of fast, I asked the doctor right away if I could push. She said that I had a smidge left of my cervix, which would need to be completely thinned out before I could push. She told me that after 2 or 3 more contractions, I could push. I didn't know how long that would be, so I started to panic. The pain/pressure was so intense, that it felt that the only way to get past it would be to push. Luckily, the contractions were on top of each other, so I didn't have to wait long before I could start pushing. All in all, it only took about 15-20 minutes for me to push the baby out. I can't say that it felt much longer than that, but there was non-stop action during the entire delivery. I was scared and in pain, and I constantly asked them to help me. Being in pain isn't a good feeling, and I just knew that it was going to get worse before it got better. I felt everything. Because I had in my birth plan that I didn't want pain medication, no one had asked me about it during the entire time I was laboring. I appreciated that they were so supportive of my wishes. I never asked for pain medication, even during this hard time. I was so determined to have a natural experience, that I wasn't even considering pain relief until after the baby was born. I pushed as best as I could. I had a nurse on each of my legs holding them back, and Dennis was on my right side counting and rubbing my head. He kept telling me how proud he was of me and how I was doing such a great job. I was great to have him there, but I have to admit, I was getting into that scary, yell-at-everyone phase. I wasn't like this during Andrew. When I was delivering Andrew, I was more sad than anything. With Edmund, I was mad with little things. I think this was because I felt it all. I was a bit irritated that my nurses didn't have such a good hold of my legs. I wanted more support. Also, my doctor actually called me Kristin twice. I really yelled at her the second time, when I said, "my name is Kelly," as I was about to push again. I would cry in between screams, and I meant screams. I never screamed so loud or with so much force as I had at that moment. I tried to give the pushing all I had, but it just didn't seem that the baby was going to fit. The doctor and nurses tried to stretch me in between pushes. The mere thought of that makes me cringe. It was so painful. The doctor finally said that she felt I should have an episiotomy. I was against it in my plan, and she knew that. Still, she wouldn't have asked if she didn't think it was the best solution. I half cried when she asked because I knew that I would feel the entire thing. It is one thing to ripe on one's own, but to have someone ask if she could cut me in a very sensitive area, was horrible. I agreed and braced myself for more pain. Though I was feeling terrible at this point, I knew that the harder I pushed, the shorter the delivery would be. I had a couple of good pushes, and the head came out. I wasn't sure what was happening, and I was then told that the head was out. Dennis was happy at this point and kissed me on the forehead. He said that the baby was beautiful. He had said the same thing with Andrew. He had the easy job! :) The weirdest feeling came next after I had pushed the baby's body out. I can't quite explain it, but I felt the shoulders and body slide out of me as if it was a slug falling out of a bottle. I asked, "what is it?" because I really wanted to hear her say "it's a boy." She seemed confused why I was asking, but eventually said, "it's a boy." I just needed to hear it to know that it was true. Edmund Johs was born at 7:37pm. He was 8lbs. 7oz (6.7oz to be exact.) and was 20 1/2 inches long. As stated in my birth plan, I wanted the baby to be placed on my chest before anything else was done. The only things the doctor could do before I got to hold my son was clean out his mouth and have the umbilical cord cut. Dennis cut the cord, and I actually got to see it happen this time because I was sitting in a different position for birth than I had with Andrew. It was really neat to see. Dennis didn't hesitate. He kept kissing my forehead and telling me that he was so proud of me. He said that he was proud of me for doing it "my way," which meant without pain medication. He was so happy and excited for his new little man, and he told me that he thought I was amazing for giving birth without pain medication. The baby was then placed on my chest. I really wanted the skin-to-skin exposure, so it would be easier to breastfeed. I just didn't plan on being in so much pain. After Edmund came out of me, I wasn't able to move because of all the pain. I actually shook from the waist down because of the trama I had experienced. My abdomin was cramping so badly, and I felt unable to move. I had never felt so much pain as I did at this point. It is crazy to think that I would be begging for pain medication after the birth instead of during. Who would have thought! During the time that my son sat on my chest, the doctor stitched me up. I was so sensitive at this point that the shots she gave me to numb everything was so painful as well. I even flinched a couple of times, since she started the stiching process before I was even numb. This and many other reasons that were mentioned before are reasons enough for me to find another doctor. I would expect behavior like this from a man, who has no idea what this experience/pain is like, but to have a woman, who is actually a mother, be so insensitive, is unbelieveable. Tragic. It was hard even to look at my new baby, which made me sad. I wanted to enjoy this experience, as I did with Andrew. I asked many times for pain medication. During the time of laying limp with my new child on my chest, the doctor finished stitching me up and then asked me to pass the placenta. I actually had to push it out after getting my stithces. Weird! I don't know why this was done, since I never was asked to do that with Andrew. I just assumed that those things just fell out on their own. This was a new experience, for sure. I had to assume that the doctor knew what she was doing. Maybe she just wanted to check my muscles abilities and her stich job. Whatever. The doctor was out the door once the placenta came out, so the nurses started to clean me up after that. They also gave me pain medication then, which went into my IV. It was some sort of narcotic. It didn't work right away, but I was able to attempt to move at this point. I asked them also to help me move onto my side. I still couldn't move because of the pain. Laying on my left side was extremely better, and I actually got to look at my son more this way. I even breastfed him on my left side at 8:30pm. The nurses even pointed out that they were playing the lullabye over the loud speaker. This happens everytime someone has a baby, and normally, new mothers don't get to hear it play for them/their child, so it was nice to get to hear it for Edmund. This was now time for Dennis to hold the baby. He's such a patient man at times. He never once rushed me to try and hold the baby. He looked the part of a happy, new dad. He just loved the baby, which one could tell by Dennis' big smile and kisses he gave the baby. The nurses took the baby then to the nursery to do some tests and get him cleaned up. Dennis followed along to watch, and I tried to move off the bed and use the restroom before being wheeled to a new room. I just couldn't make anything happen in the bathroom. I think it was partially due to two factors: one being that I was shaking so badly, and the other was that my muscles just weren't resonding to the signals the brain was sending it. It was kind of like trying to lift a car with my mind. Impossible. The nurses said that it was okay, so I got in the wheelchair and headed to room 521, where I would be for the rest of my time in the hospital. With Andrew, I walked to my new room, but this one was much to far down the hall for me to walk. Once I got to this new room, I actually felt a bit better and was able to pee. I tried to breastfeed again at 11:30pm, but Edmund was passed out. He didn't want to wake up. The nurse, KJ, gave me a stool softner and a motrin after she got Edmund dressed from his poor attempt at feeding. We were all asleep just before midnight. Throughout the night, Edmund spit up quite a few times. He also needed to be changed a lot because the spit-up got all over his blanket and shirt. I thought it was a bit strange that he was spitting up, since that didn't happen with Andrew, but I thought he just had a bit more of the fluid in his system that needed to come out. I tried to breastfeed a couple more times, but he didn't want it. I think it was because he was so filled with fluid.