For months I have been saying that Adrian was coming on May 10th. Much to everyone trying to convince me otherwise, I guess it was true. :) Kyle on the other hand said that Adrian would come on May 21st, which would be today. Luckily, I was right, since now we have had 11 wonderful days with him.
At 3:30am on May 10th, my water broke. This was a shock to me, and kind of threw me for a loop, because when it happened (not like in the movies..more of a slow trickle), I was not having any contractions. Following directions that we learned in our childbirth class, I called the Birth Center, which then they informed me that since my Group B Strep test was negative a few weeks prior, I could just ride things out at home and call in again around 7:00am. I tried to get myself to fall back to sleep, but the excitement that it was Adrian's birthday was too much for restful sleep. Kyle was also excited but didn't seem to have an issue with falling back to sleep. Around 7:00, my contractions were pretty regular but I was able to do some work around the house, Kyle got up and made breakfast and showered and together we made sure that we were ready to head to the hospital when it was time.
At 7:00am, I called the Birth Center again and they shared that if I was comfortable at home, just to stay there and to check in again in about 2 hours. So that is what we did....
At 9:00am, we called again, and at this point they asked that we come in for a check since it had been close to 6 hours since my water had broken. We finished up some things around the house and headed in, getting to the hospital around 9:30am. We got checked in, registered and settled into our "laboring room". After putting the monitor on my belly and monitoring Adrian's heartbeat and the heartbeat through a contraction, we were able to answer a bunch of questions, share our birth plan with the nurse, Molly, get checked for dilation (2 cm) and were finally given the green light to go ahead and labor in any way that I wanted.
Kyle and I decided to walk around the Hospital campus and complete the labyrinth. It was a nice morning, although the day did end up getting quite muggy and hot. We did have to get the heartbeat monitored every hour and every couple of hours get checked for further dilation. We kept our fingers crossed that things kept progressing naturally, as if they didn't by 3:30pm, alternative methods would have to be implemented since my water had broken 12 hours earlier, and the risk of infection would go up at that point. Things went as we had hoped and by 3:00pm, I was dilated to 4cm and the thinning (effacement) process was in full force. Adrian kept dropping and getting closer to birth even though the dilation was slow coming (I guess this is quite normal for a first pregnancy).
Labor continued and kept increasing in intensity. Kyle was an amazing support and stood by my side and completed whatever I asked for---massages, changing the playlists that I had made and making sure I was hydrated and eating. The best thing that I found was when the contractions came, was to have Kyle put his hand on my belly--it was supportive and comforting at the same time, and seemed to take away some of the pain. Kyle also kept talking to me, asking what he could do to help and sharing encouraging thoughts.
Around 4:00pm, the contractions were getting pretty tough and painful to work through. Kyle was proactive at this point asking if we could move to the water birth room and get in the tub. We both had done a bit of research on water births and the benefits of them. We were able to move to that room, I changed into my swimsuit top and Kyle into his swimsuit (in case I wanted him to get in the tub), and just before 5:00pm, I entered the tub. Immediately I found relief from the pain and pressure while in the water.
After spending some time in the water, I was checked again to make sure labor was not slowing down or at a stand-still. It wasn't and I was now dilated to 6 cm and almost completely effaced. The water continued to be soothing, but the pressure did continue to increase. Soon I was 100% effaced but not yet completely dilated, which means I couldn't yet push. Our amazing doctor, Aimee Young, was now with us at this point along with Molly, who was an amazing supportive nurse. Around 6:00, I was finally given the green-light to push, and at 6:20pm, Adrian made his was into the room.
The pain that was described for actual childbirth existed, but I do believe that it was lessened by the water. Being in the water, allowed me to move into any position that was comfortable at the moment and allowed for complete relaxation between contractions and pushing.
When Adrian was born, he had a nuchal cord (1 in 4 births have this), which means that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he wasn't breathing. The doctor cut this immediately and although he was not breathing, he was still placed on my chest to stimulate his breathing, which can usually happen pretty immediately. Adrian was a bit stubborn though, and wasn't doing this on his own, which means that they took him and tried to help him breathe by giving him oxygen. When they did give him oxygen, they ended up giving him a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). With this happening, they needed to complete a chest x-ray to figure out just how bad the collapse was, and if a procedure needed to be done to repair the issue. With two other doctors consulting now, it was decided that the collapse (25%) could most likely resolve itself given some time on 100% oxygen. Four hours later (about 10:45pm), Adrian was taken off the oxygen tent and watched under close supervision for another 2 hours. I was able to begin breastfeeding at this time, and we got to finally hold our little peanut. After spending about an hour with him, we gave him back to the nurse and decided to try and rest for a bit. Adrian kept doing wonderfully, and was delivered to our room at 1:00am. He continued to have an IV in his arm, but we were able to spend some time snuggling with him and then did try to get some sleep. At 5:00am, Adrian was taken for another chest x-ray.
Around 7:30am, the doctors came in and shared that the chest x-ray did share great things, and his collapsed lung was down to a 9% reduction--it was healing itself!! YEAH!! His IV was removed at this point and we celebrated his strength in overcoming his first life challenge.
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