Zachary's Birth Story

Well better late than never I always say...here is Zachary's birth story.

On March 8th, I had my regularly scheduled midwife appointment for week 40. When they checked my blood pressure I was a little high. They reccommended that I go into the hospital the next morning for a non-stress test (monitoring baby's heartbeat). I went in that day, was checked, wasn't dilated, wasn't progressed at all, but my blood pressure was still high. The OB on call didn't want to induce me that day for fear that it would send me for an emergency c-section so she put me on blood pressure pills and sent me home with instructions to come back in on Friday morning to be checked again.

Thankfully my mom arrived on Thursday evening so she was able to come with us on Friday morning and be my driver! So we went in at 8am to be checked and possibly induced (gelled). Zach's heart rate was still good, I was only dilated 1cm and he was still very high. However my blood pressure was still high, so the OB said why wait, it's my due date, let's induce. They inserted a gel onto my cervix to help soften and dilate. My midwife (Taryn) and the nurses warned me that it would cause some cramping more than likely. Cramping....UNDERSTATEMENT!!!

So after I was gelled they sent us home for a bit to relax and get some sleep. We did some running around in hopes that some walking would help it along. Cramping progressed and i did feel the occassional contraction. The pains were in my back quite a bit. We got home, had some lunch, I wasn't that hungry and I tried to lay down for a bit. I was rather uncomfortable and the cramps were quite regular so I didn't get much sleep. We headed back to the hospital around 3pm and if I was progressed enough we'd stay for labour or I could be sent home with another gel insert.

We arrived at the hospital, the nurses checked me and I was only still 1cm and not having regulary contractions. The OB wanted to gel me again and decided that I should stay at the hospital and be transferred to her care from the midwives. This meant that Taryn would still come for the delivery and care for the baby when he was born. So there goes another gel and man did the cramps pick up!

I felt like I was in hard labour -- even though every one of the nurses kept telling me I wasn't technically. We walked the halls, Jordan rubbed my back, I moaned and groaned in pain. At 10:00 that evening I was in a lot of pain and hoping I could get an epidural soon! My nurse (Darlene) said that I couldn't get an epidural till I was at least 3cm because it would stall what little labour I was in. Well when Darlene checked me to see how far along I was it was the most excrutiating thing ever...and the sad news...I was still only 1cm!!! I was praying right then and there for a c-section at that moment. I was done, I was tired, I was in mass amounts of pain, I was done! The Doctor came in, checked me and didn't want to give me a c-section. She wanted to see if I would progress on my own. She offered me morphine, the possibility of breaking my water during the night and then oxytocin in the morning to see what happened. I was crushed! I wanted to see my baby soon, I wanted to be out of the pain, I just wanted a c-section.

So I got the morphine shot. It felt like it did nothing. At this point it's midnight. I told my mom to go home and get some sleep since nothing may happen till morning and we'd call her if something happened sooner. We got moved into an observation room and Jordan was given a bed to lay down in and try to sleep. I couldn't lay down so I sat and rested in a rocking chair.

I dozed on and off and at 2:30 felt like that the morphine was wearing off so I asked for more. Darlene told me to empty my bladder and she'd check me again...maybe I could get an epidural instead of morphine! So I went to use the washroom, sat down, felt a huge pain, lots of pressure and I stood right up. Then my water broke. WOOHOO!! When this happened the contractions started hard and fast. Darlene checked me and i was 7 cm! I could finally get the epidural! So while Darlene set that up I was going through contractions every 30 seconds. Jordan's sweater got quite wrinkled from me grabbing on to him. But let me tell you, the contractions were much more manageable over the cramps!!!

After the epidural it was bliss!! I was able to rest for a bit, close my eyes and finally relax. However, the nurses could not keep a good track on the baby's heart beat. I think it was around 4:30am and they discovered that his heartbeat was continually dropping. I was 10cm dilated but his head was not dropping into my pelvis so the Doctor knew that pushing now would only drop his heartrate more. So guess what...they sent me for an emergency c-section! Wasn't this the exact same thing I wanted 6 hours ago!!!!

So at 5:00amish I was brought up to the OR. I layed there on the table with tears streaming out of my eyes knowing that I would soon have a great baby boy with me! I just kept saying to Jordan, we're gonna have a baby, we're gonna have a boy! It was all I could muster.

At 5:28am Zachary came into this world!