Haden's Birth Story
The Hospital Birth of Haden
It is 3 years after the fact that I write this story so I know of the finer details will be lost here but I wanted to try my best to write down the things I do remember about Haden's birth.
On September 22, 2006 after a late night trek to a gas station and a king size Snickers for my belly, my husband and I laid down in the bed to try and get some sleep. While laying there I started having noticeable contractions. This started right around midnight. We stayed in bed timing the contractions from the very first one, to be sure I was actually in labor and did this for an hour. During that time I started having bloody show. Contractions were coming every 5 or 6 minutes & had been like that since I first noticed them. Seeing as my doctor had said we should go to the hospital when contraction were coming every 5 minutes for an hour, we hopped right out of bed to start getting ready to go.
I did some cleaning around the house because I wanted to come home to prettiness and Michael ran around trying to make sure we had everything packed that we would need. Contractions were very mild at the time, pretty much like strong period cramps but nothing as bad as I had felt because during my high school years I had a period of time where I suffered very severe period cramps that would sometimes cause vomiting. I was okay with taking my time leaving but Michael really wanted to leave so we headed out to the hospital at 3 in the morning.
The ride was slightly uncomfortable and I was glad to get out of the car. We went in & sat down at the admissions desk and took care of things there. Then headed upstairs and went into triage, where I was asked a series of annoying questions and then had my cervix checked where I was found to be at 2 cm, which might have been more exciting if I hadn't already been 2 cm for the past 2 weeks. They would not admit me, so I was told to go walk the halls for an hour and then come back to be checked again.
So we walked and walked and walked in circles around the L & D floor. Contractions were a bit stronger then, I would stop walking during them and lean down and brace myself on my knees or Michael or the wall. As soon as we hit the hour mark I headed straight back to triage and was checked again. Almost 3 cm. Close enough they said, and decided to go ahead and admit me. That was when I received my first epidural offer. I declined and said I would wait a bit longer because I didn't really feel like I needed one then.
I was moved to my room and hooked up to monitors and an IV. From that point I kind of felt like I should be in the bed, since I was hooked up and it was right there. So I sat down in the bed, taylor sitting. My nurse offered me the epidural again before she left the room. I declined. Again. Contractions seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable. I chatted with my parents and Michael in between them, still sitting in the bed. Nurse came in to check me again and I was 4 cm. I then received my 3rd offer for an epidural, which I decided to accept. Mostly because I was getting more uncomfortable and really didn't know what to do about it, Michael looked really tired, I felt pretty tired myself and I figured they were just gonna keep asking me about it until I did, so I might as well.
It was 6:00 in the morning and the anesthesiologist was called. It didn't seem to take very long for him to get there. I was super nervous about getting it. I almost wanted to cry because I really didn't like the idea of a very big needle being put in my back. I leaned over like they asked me to and squeezed Michael's hands, anticipating the terrible pain I was sure to feel when they stuck me but I never did feel anything. And it was done.
My parents left after that and Michael and I decided to lay down and try to get some sleep. As the medicine began to take affect, my entire lower half went completely dead, I couldn't move my legs at all. I started to feel shaky and not right. I felt like I was drugged and then started to feel a little nauseous too. After a bit those feelings subsided some and I was able to fall asleep, but it was incredibly patchy. I kept waking up every time the nurse would come into the room and then I would doze back off.
At some point the nurse came into the room, which woke me up. I heard her doing something right next to me so I rolled my head over and opened my eyes and she was putting something in my IV. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was just giving me a little bit of Pitocin. I nodded and closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I'm sure somewhere in all that my cervix was checked again but I don't really remember.
Later we woke up and my family came back. Hanging out... hanging out... water broke! Pop! It felt like someone uncorked me. Cervical check & I am 8 cm. They start setting the room up for delivery & I feel really excited knowing that I am getting close to the end. At around 11:30 I am checked again. I am 10cm! The nurse tells me I can start pushing and calls the doctor. From that point I get to have my legs pushed back, while I'm told to hold my breath for a count of 10 while pushing. The nurse is oh so helpful by counting very loudly while I'm doing it and telling me what to do with each push.
Eventually the doctor shows up and get down in between my legs to watch my progress. Eventually Haden's head is crowning, right there and then going back up. Over and over again. I can't quite seem to get him to come out, probably didn't help that I couldn't feel a thing. Apparently my doctor had somewhere important to be and didn't think I was moving things along fast enough since I had been pushing for almost an hour and a half so he decided to give me an episiotomy. I wasn't told this was going to happen, I didn't even see it happening but I felt it. When he cut me I could feel the pressure of it, my tissues coming apart. A couple more pushes and his head came out & then his body.
They put him on my chest and I felt like nothing I had ever felt before. At that moment I was a mother. I hadn't felt that while I was pregnant. It was consuming and awe-inspiring, the depth of my emotions at that particular moment. I was crying from my happiness... & then they took him away. After probably 5 seconds of being skin to skin with me, they snatched him off me and took him over to the baby warmer to perform all those very important newborn procedures.
I kept crying asking them how long it was going to take and they kept telling me not long. Everything instinct in my body just wanted him back with me because that was where he belonged. It felt like an eternity before he was finally given back to me. That was probably the most miserable 15 minutes of my life. As soon as I had him in my arms, I put him straight to my breast and he latched right on. He still is a good little eater.
Haden Charles Bowden was born on September 23, 2006 at 12:49 pm after almost 13 hours of labor. He weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. & was 21 inches long.