Brayden's Birth Story: happy induction day!

On the anniversary of Brayden's induction I figured it would be the perfect time to post and re-visit Brayden's birth story!  It was definitely an interesting and life changing experience and ended up being the best day of my life.  Only took 34.5 hours! :)   Looking back at things, we try and find the humor in all the not so funny things, but it was more than worth it in the end and gave us one heck of a story.

* Warning Details are graphic and TMI, read at your own risk*  :)

Every pregnant woman dreams of the day that they will finally get to meet the little miracle growing inside of them. I always envisioned my delivery experience to be fairly smooth. Laboring for a while at home, heading to the hospital and at the right time getting my epidural.  I always dreamed of the moment where my son would be place on me and I'd get the chance to look in to his face for the first time.  Little did I know Brayden had other plans for me!

40 weeks of pregnancy had come and gone, I tried anything and everything short of castor oil to get this little man out. Considering I started irregular contractions around 32 weeks I had it set in my head that it was only a matter of time before Brayden decided to make his grand appearance.  The joke was on me.  I continually stayed at 1cm till I hit the 41 week mark. But I had made some progress and my cervix had thinned out some and I was 70% effaced.  So at my 41 week appt the dr confirmed my induction to start that evening at 6pm. I did NOT want to have to be induced but at that point I was so uncomfortable and anxiously waiting to meet our baby I just wanted him OUT! lol   So we went home, I made sure I ate a large meal since I didn't know when I was going to be able to eat again and took a nap before we headed out. 

Jason and I arrived at the hospital and got all set up in one of the induction rooms by 6pm. The game plan was 12 hours of Cervadil then lots and lots of Pitocin.  (yippee!) At this point I was totally ready to get started. A resident came in to put the Cervadil in my cervix. Apparently my cervix hooks to my left (or the dr's right) so it felt fabulous while she spent a min or two up there getting the placement just right.  By 8pm the contractions that I was already having became much stronger.  I was offically starting labor.  I was able to breath and talk through contractions at this point but they were definitely a lot stronger than anything I had in the past and consistently coming in a decent pattern every 4-5 minutes.

All swollen but just getting started being induced!

Overnight I tried to sleep but that was a no go. The contractions were still managable despite getting stronger. But I couldn't manage to get any rest.  After the 12 hours of cervadil I was still only 2-3 cm.  All I could think was you have got to be kidding me!  I should of known that this would be only the beginning.  About 9:30am I had gotten up to pee for the 100th time, as I walked in the bathroom I had an insane gush on the floor. Of course I'm an idiot and my first though is "I can't believe I'm peeing myself"! haha. As i walk across the bathroom it just keeps coming and coming.  I call out to Jason as I'm trying to whip myself off "umm... i think my water just broke".  lol He runs out and lets the nurse know. I was thrilled to know things were finally progressing and was proud that I managed to get out of the bathroom with out slipping and falling on the floor.  Jason actually goes in to the bathroom and cleans up the floor, I think the nurse thought he was nuts and was like "we would of done that for you". lol I guess it's good to know we have manners and know how to clean up after ourselves even during labor.  haha.  

At this point since my water has broken, they prepare to move me over to the other wing where the "real laboring" women get to go. It's been like a dream land up until this point so I was getting really excited that this baby may actually be coming.  But of course every other woman in South Jersey must of been giving birth at this point so I had to wait a while to even get in to a room.  By 12:30pm I am finally in my own labor room and am REALLY feeling the pain of the contractions. They aren't kidding when they say your water breaking makes them even more intense. At this point I'm breathing and not talking through contractions and they are about every 3 or so minutes apart.  While the nurses get me situated and the cord blood lady comes in for me to sign stuff they offer to give me Nubain to take the edge off. I am STILL only 3cm. And apparently there is some magic rule that you are not allowed to have the epidural until you  are 4cm. Of course! lol So, they give me the Nubain in my iv and all I can think is it's the most magical thing ever!!  Almost immediately I got this great relaxed/buzzed/sleepy feeling I can barely keep my eyes open.  So i relax and float in and out of consciousness for about an hour and a half.  Jason and my mom come back up and begin the waiting game along with me.  

Then the Pitocin starts.  Oh Pitocin, Pitocin!  You are the bain of my exhistance and who ever created you surely thought torturing women was fun.  By 4pm I am having contractions every 1-2 minutes and they are getting insanely painful.  They have been upping and upping and upping the pitocin because I had not making any progress. FINALLY I am 4cm and all i can think is GIVE ME THE DAMN EPIDURAL! lol  Ok, I was nice and sweet and didn't curse at the nurses to get the anesthesiologist but in my head I was cursing like a sailor and praying for a Dr to jam that needle in to my spine.  The anesthesiologist finally gets there.  I am practically clapping and thanking him for his exhistance! I would of done anything that man said if I was going to get even a little relief.   They ask Jason to leave the room and we go on with the epidural. Seriously the most painful part was the local they gave me to numb the area. Oh and trying to sit perfectly still while your having crazy "pitocin contractions" (as i affectionately call them) is not that easy. Thank god for the amazing nurse that helped me breathe through them.   

Okay so the epidural is in!  They tell me it can take about 20 minutes to feel the effects so I believe them since my legs are starting to feel a little tingly.  15, 20, 30,  minutes go by, they up my pitocin even more and I am writhing trying to breathe and get through the contractions. At this point they are 1 min apart and I have been in labor for 23 hours and am STILL 4cm! So they call back the anesthesiologist. He takes FOREVER to come back, because he is apparently the only one available.  He finally arrived and trys to reposition the epidural by pulling it back a little and I'm told it "should" do the job and it would take effect soon. HAHAHAHA, time goes by with an even higher dose of pitocin and another "attempt" at repositioning the epidural which is a complete failure. The contractions are beyond anything I could of ever imagined and seemed like they would never end. they were right on top of each other with maybe a few second in between to collect myself.  

Back tracking a little , Brayden was doing wonderful during the labor. I have to go say I was really lucky to have such a healthy baby. Dr's and nurses had all felt my belly and were saying "oh, your son is prob going to be about 8 lbs"  oh okay, that sounds manageable. After giving birth to him I think they need to re-evaluate their guestimations! lol I knew he was going to be tall because even after he dropped his feet were still up under my ribs but I didn't think he was going to be so big. Back to my point,  In the midst of all of the contractions and epidural trials he was still moving and kicking.  Some how he managed to move and completely roll over while descenting in the birth canal.  Only my kid.  I just though he was rolling and moving but not to the extend that he did, he turned himself completely from posterior facing, like he was suppose to be, to anterior.  Thanks a lot Bray.  lol  But we didn't find this out till we got down to the fun part....pushing!  

Back to the epidural. Or should I say epidurals!  Yup the anethesiologist came back for a 4th time and did a whole new epidural with a super strong bolus to help kick start things. I think the Dr was playing a cruel joke on me b/c instead of working the second epidural numbed my butt and legs even more. And the bolus of meds went straight to my left leg so I literally felt like it was non exhistant.  But the medicine did absolutely nothing for the contractions and pain and they pretty much gave up on it working.  Over the course of the next 10 hrs I begged my nurse to keep turning up the epidural in hopes that something would make its way to the right place.  lol  Wishful thinking.  By 7pm I am still only 4cm. It seems like an end is no where in sight. My family has been waiting in the waiting room since we started inducing and is wondering what the hell is going on.  lol Finally we tell them it could be a WHILE so my parents and katie go home to get a shower, eat something and relax for a few minutes.  By 10pm the nurse comes in to do another cervical check and by the grace of god i am now 8 CM!  I am beyond excited at this point. I can barely see straight from the back to back "pitocin contractions" for hours and I feel relieved it's almost over.  I may get to meet my son soon. But in the tradition of my body being difficult he doesn't come for another 9 1/2 hours.  My parents run back up to the hospital in hope that things would be happening soon and my mom and dad in law decided they would just stay at the hospital as well.  

Side bar: I'm not going to lie, labor is the most amazing experience but I seriously never imagined things being the way they were.  I struggled so hard to get through each and every contraction.  I think I did pretty well considering.  I never screamed or yelled just made some sounds and continually thanked and apologized to my nurses for putting up with me.  Some of the nurses were better than others, that was for sure! It was kinda funny(wait not really) and sad when they would come in for a new shift and be like "OMG you are still here!?!"  Yes, yes I am, i felt like keeping the baby in till you arrived!  Really people? A woman who has been in labor for about 27 hours totally wants to hear that.  lol My least favorite nurse was actually the one that was there for the last part of my delivery.  Good and bad, she was my like my bff by the time Brayden was finally out!  

By 3am I am finally at 10cm!  The time has finally come! I am so tired, thirsty and starving despite the pain and I really don't feel like I have much left in me to push this baby out.  But my determination to meet him outweighs everything and they have me to a practice push to get things going.  For the record I KNEW my first few pushes were not doing anything. I could feel everything "down there" and it took me a little bit to figure out how and where to push to make him move.  Pushing turned in to a marathon. Should I of been surprised  No, but it was intense and unexpected. At this point we didn't know that Brayden was anterior. Which makes it like 10x harder to get him out of the birth canal b/c he is facing the wrong way.  I fall in to a rhythm of contraction after contraction so I feel like i never get a break from pushing.  The pain is beyond unbearable. But the urge to push almost makes it better. Pushing during contractions helps me get through this time.  I can feel Brayden slowly descending. But as he's coming down he is pressing on my sciatic nerve. The back labor makes my already unbearable, Pitocin laden, exhausting labor feel 100x harder. After every contraction I immediately have this insane pain in my back and down my legs.  There is NO break.  I take Jason and my moms hand and make them dig their fingers has hard as possible in to my spine to help me get through it.  Needless to say they had to take turns b/c their hands hurt from pushing so hard.  

"We can see a head!!" I am so freaking excited but can't find the breath to celebrate.  But we keep pushing and pushing and he is not moving.  Now we know something is up.  During all of the pushing the nurses decide to try a variety of birthing positions. I'm all for it but I think they almost forget that I literally can't feel my butt and legs and my left leg is complete dead weight. We try a birthing bar, use sheets for leverage, then she says, we are getting on our knees. All i can think is you have got to be kidding me!  lol It takes 3 people to turn me over because I'm such a dead weight and the nurse, my mom and Jason literally have to hold my legs on the bed so i don't fall off. The nurse does counter pressure, which is FABULOUS by the way to help get me through contractions.  We try pushing squatted and holding on to the bed, doing a hula-hoop motion, you name it.  They get me laying back on the bed and I keep pushing because my body is making me.

At this point the dr is trying to figure out how to get him out.  Here is where it gets even more graphic. She ends up putting her hand inside me and realized he is face up and tries to turn him around in the birth canal!  All i can say is this was some over level pain.  She ended up tearing me internally and he stayed in the same position.  After 4 hours of pushing I didn't think i could physically do it anymore. I had been awake for almost 3 days with a small nap in there, labored for 34 hours hard and the Dr's were at a loss. He was so far down the birth canal for so long they said a c-section was not an option at that point. The Dr actually called in one of her colleagues that was about to head in to a conference. The plan at that point was a forceps delivery and he was the guy to get it done.  At just after 7am he gets there and the room is instantly changed over like it was a scene of a movie.They turned up the lights, uncovered tables of tools and supplies and a rush of people came in. They asked me if I minded people watching. There were literally about 20 people in the room from OB's, med students, nurses, the pediatrician, NICU dr and nurses, you name it. I was like a gallery on display for a delivery that everyone just HAD to see... and honestly I didn't care who was there all that mattered was that they had a plan to get him out! Again I can't reiterate how lucky I was that Brayden was so strong and healthy. Through it all his heart rate stayed nice and strong!

SOME of the people at the delivery! 

The dr did an episotomy to get the forcepts in and two pushes later our lives changed forever! My poor baby was purple, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. I didn't get to have him placed on me for our first moment, they whisked him away to the doctors to make sure he was okay.  Fortunately he was perfect and healthy and started crying. It was the most amazing sound  I have ever heard.  I just laid there crying and crying. Happy Birthday Brayden Thomas! 

Thats one big baby! lol +

To make things better the instant he was out the back labor and contractions stopped.  Hallelujah!  They then told me that I had to push to deliver the placenta and I just laughed. I even joked with them "are you kidding me?" lol  Of course the placenta got stuck the resident dr had to put her hand in me to help it out. It took a few hard pushes and we got it out but I bled a LOT.  As they cleaned up Brayden they gave me the bad news. Even with the episiotomy I tore 3rd dregree from front to back.  It took them an hour and a half to put me back together. They were able to give me more locals to help minimize the pain but it definitely felt weird to feel them pulling on the muscles to put me back together. I shutter at the memory.  During all of this they did get a chance to weight Brayden, do footprints and all the usual newborn things. He was MUCH larger than the "guestimations" of 8lbs. He ended up being 9lbs 9oz and 22 1/2 inches! I'd say that's a HUGE difference!  lol

First Time Holding Brayden! 

When I finally got to hold Brayden for the first time, it was an hour and a half after delivery. It was the most amazing feeling and I was completely overwhelmed with love.  I can't even begin to describe how it felt. I think only a mother can understand those first moments.  In the end after almost two years of TTC, 2 rounds of  IVF,  34.5 hours of pitocin induced labor, 4 hours of pushing, 3rd degree tearing and excessive blood loss we finally delivered at 41weeks and 3 days. I can honestly say i wouldn't change a thing and I would do it all over again 100x if it means I would have my son.  He really is the love of our lives and is truly a miracle!!! I LOVE YOU Brayden Thomas!