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Well I must have been really close when I posted last... I guess being in a bad mood is a sign of impending labor. 
My labor was quick, and AMAZING!!! I am so proud of myself.
Feeling pretty miserable, at Matt's suggestion, I took caster oil mixed in with a homemade Orange Julius on August 9th. I woke up at 330 am with acid reflux and took a Tums, and went back to bed on August 10th. Then at 400 am I had a contraction that woke me up, and they went every ten minutes. The contractions didn't hurt too bad, so I slept in between, then at 430/445 am they went to every 5-7 minutes. They still didn't hurt too bad. I woke up Matt and told him what was going on, and he called the hospital. I had been sitting on the toilet, as it was the most comfortable place. I stood up and felt a trickle~ wasn't entirely sure if my water had broken, or if I didn't wipe well enough after peeing. My OB called at 6 am and we told her what was going on. She said to go ahead and come in and get checked out in the next hour. She thought we had some time to get Emma to her arranged child care and what not. We finally dropped Emma off at a friend's house at 8 am, and got checked into the hospital at 9 am. We got to the hospital and went to OB triage to make sure I was in labor. While I was waiting to get hooked up to the external monitor, I felt this gush while sitting on the bed. I looked at Matt and said "I think I just peed on myself." He replied "You're too young to have urinary incontinence." He looked and said "I think your membranes ruptured." Just then the nurse walked in, we told her what happened, and she agreed. The nurse grabbed some test paper and it came out positive. She said "looks like you're definitely staying!" They monitored me for about 10 minutes- had two contractions, and got me into my room. The thing is the contractions weren't painful, and I only felt one of them.
My L&D nurse (Kirsten) said she wanted to avoid giving me anything at all to augment my labor. She was very pro-drug-free, and had 1 child with an epidural and 3 children drug-free. Kirsten checked me to see where I was starting from-- 4 cm, 80% effaced, and -2 station-- pretty common for the baby to "pop" back up into the pelvis when the membranes rupture. I went and walked around for about an hour, and then got hooked up to a central monitoring system. I also had to have a heplock put in, which took a couple of tries and the IV specialist ended being the one who had to put it in. It didn't hurt thanks to lidocaine. Anyway, my contractions weren't strong but still going every 5-7 minutes. I got back to my room at 1115 am, and was told that the OB said if things hadn't picked up in intensity by 11 am she wanted to give me the lowest dose of pitocin possible. So I got hooked up 1130 am, and was told to go walking around. I walked one loop around the floor, had a couple of strong contractions but nothing I couldn't handle, had a gush in the hallway, got back to my room at about noon and needed to go to the bathroom. Went to the bathroom, and had one heck of a contraction that I needed to breathe through. I told Matt "If I have any more like this, I am definitely going to need the epidural." We walked back towards the bed, and I had another strong contraction. Kirsten suggested I sit in the rocking chair (at about 1215 pm), and I had three super strong contractions. My contractions were about every 2 min now. Both she and Matt helped me breathe through them. By the end of the third one, I told Matt "I NEED the epidural." My nurse paged for the anesthesiologist, and said "Let me check you"-- I was 6 cm and +2 station. I had one really strong contraction, felt like I was going to lose it mentally. I told Kirsten "I am having an immense amount of pressure." She checked me again-- 8 cm. One more contraction-- I told Matt "I can't do this! I am having even more pressure, my thighs burn." Both Matt and Kirsten told me to concentrate on breathing and relaxing, encouraging me. Kirsten checked me again-- "Crystal, you have just a little lip left and you are complete, the baby is coming-- if you feel like you want to or need to, with the next contraction you can start pushing. You CAN do this!" She paged the OB to get in right away. The next contraction I started pushing, and within 10 minutes he was out. The OB showed up by the third push. It seemed like only 4 or 5 pushes total. I remember before the last push the doctor had me stop so that my perineum could stretch out slowly. At 1241 pm, our son was born! Talk about quick-- 1 hour and 11 min after an extremely small dose of pitocin was adminitered. I had no tears. I feel great. Brigham nurses ok-- we are working out the kinks.
I can't believe I gave birth drug-free. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I will admit it was hard, yet it was so worth it. I feel so proud of myself, and amazed at the same time. I had planned on receiving the epidural right away if given pitocin to augment or induce labor this time. However, I decided that I probably should do the "wait and see method" and see how my body would handle it. I am glad it went quickly. I'm not sure if I could have handled 40 hours of that. I am amazed at my body, and how I was able to do give birth this way. I was petrified of crowning, but when he crowned I was so focused on the pressure of the contraction that it didn't hurt the way people said it did, which is what scared me (I heard it burned). I am so thankful that my husband and wonderful nurse kept me focused through it all. People joke I shouldn't have any more births like that or I will put Matt out of a job.
Oh the stats-- Brigham Casey, 7 lbs 14 oz., 20 in., 13 1/4 head, 13 1/2 in chest.
He is 2 oz, and 1 in bigger than Emma.
Anyways that's the scoop!
Crystal
My labor was quick, and AMAZING!!! I am so proud of myself.Feeling pretty miserable, at Matt's suggestion, I took caster oil mixed in with a homemade Orange Julius on August 9th. I woke up at 330 am with acid reflux and took a Tums, and went back to bed on August 10th. Then at 400 am I had a contraction that woke me up, and they went every ten minutes. The contractions didn't hurt too bad, so I slept in between, then at 430/445 am they went to every 5-7 minutes. They still didn't hurt too bad. I woke up Matt and told him what was going on, and he called the hospital. I had been sitting on the toilet, as it was the most comfortable place. I stood up and felt a trickle~ wasn't entirely sure if my water had broken, or if I didn't wipe well enough after peeing. My OB called at 6 am and we told her what was going on. She said to go ahead and come in and get checked out in the next hour. She thought we had some time to get Emma to her arranged child care and what not. We finally dropped Emma off at a friend's house at 8 am, and got checked into the hospital at 9 am. We got to the hospital and went to OB triage to make sure I was in labor. While I was waiting to get hooked up to the external monitor, I felt this gush while sitting on the bed. I looked at Matt and said "I think I just peed on myself." He replied "You're too young to have urinary incontinence." He looked and said "I think your membranes ruptured." Just then the nurse walked in, we told her what happened, and she agreed. The nurse grabbed some test paper and it came out positive. She said "looks like you're definitely staying!" They monitored me for about 10 minutes- had two contractions, and got me into my room. The thing is the contractions weren't painful, and I only felt one of them.
My L&D nurse (Kirsten) said she wanted to avoid giving me anything at all to augment my labor. She was very pro-drug-free, and had 1 child with an epidural and 3 children drug-free. Kirsten checked me to see where I was starting from-- 4 cm, 80% effaced, and -2 station-- pretty common for the baby to "pop" back up into the pelvis when the membranes rupture. I went and walked around for about an hour, and then got hooked up to a central monitoring system. I also had to have a heplock put in, which took a couple of tries and the IV specialist ended being the one who had to put it in. It didn't hurt thanks to lidocaine. Anyway, my contractions weren't strong but still going every 5-7 minutes. I got back to my room at 1115 am, and was told that the OB said if things hadn't picked up in intensity by 11 am she wanted to give me the lowest dose of pitocin possible. So I got hooked up 1130 am, and was told to go walking around. I walked one loop around the floor, had a couple of strong contractions but nothing I couldn't handle, had a gush in the hallway, got back to my room at about noon and needed to go to the bathroom. Went to the bathroom, and had one heck of a contraction that I needed to breathe through. I told Matt "If I have any more like this, I am definitely going to need the epidural." We walked back towards the bed, and I had another strong contraction. Kirsten suggested I sit in the rocking chair (at about 1215 pm), and I had three super strong contractions. My contractions were about every 2 min now. Both she and Matt helped me breathe through them. By the end of the third one, I told Matt "I NEED the epidural." My nurse paged for the anesthesiologist, and said "Let me check you"-- I was 6 cm and +2 station. I had one really strong contraction, felt like I was going to lose it mentally. I told Kirsten "I am having an immense amount of pressure." She checked me again-- 8 cm. One more contraction-- I told Matt "I can't do this! I am having even more pressure, my thighs burn." Both Matt and Kirsten told me to concentrate on breathing and relaxing, encouraging me. Kirsten checked me again-- "Crystal, you have just a little lip left and you are complete, the baby is coming-- if you feel like you want to or need to, with the next contraction you can start pushing. You CAN do this!" She paged the OB to get in right away. The next contraction I started pushing, and within 10 minutes he was out. The OB showed up by the third push. It seemed like only 4 or 5 pushes total. I remember before the last push the doctor had me stop so that my perineum could stretch out slowly. At 1241 pm, our son was born! Talk about quick-- 1 hour and 11 min after an extremely small dose of pitocin was adminitered. I had no tears. I feel great. Brigham nurses ok-- we are working out the kinks.
I can't believe I gave birth drug-free. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I will admit it was hard, yet it was so worth it. I feel so proud of myself, and amazed at the same time. I had planned on receiving the epidural right away if given pitocin to augment or induce labor this time. However, I decided that I probably should do the "wait and see method" and see how my body would handle it. I am glad it went quickly. I'm not sure if I could have handled 40 hours of that. I am amazed at my body, and how I was able to do give birth this way. I was petrified of crowning, but when he crowned I was so focused on the pressure of the contraction that it didn't hurt the way people said it did, which is what scared me (I heard it burned). I am so thankful that my husband and wonderful nurse kept me focused through it all. People joke I shouldn't have any more births like that or I will put Matt out of a job.
Oh the stats-- Brigham Casey, 7 lbs 14 oz., 20 in., 13 1/4 head, 13 1/2 in chest.
He is 2 oz, and 1 in bigger than Emma.
Anyways that's the scoop!
Crystal
Great job, Crystal! Congratulations!! 
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