Now that I’ve had two weeks to adjust to being a new mom, I wanted to take the time to post Hudson’s birth story. In part, I want to write it all down so that I can remember it all. But also, because I really enjoyed reading these when I was pregnant. Here goes…
Hudson James was born on September 2nd, at 9:34 pm, weighing 6lb 7oz and measuring 18 and 3/4 inches long. He was a tiny little peanut and is already growing so fast! EVERYONE told me that time would go by so fast once I had him and boy were they right. It seems like time was moving in slow motion while I was pregnant, waiting for this one gigantic event that would change my life forever. As soon as it happened, everything just sped up.
I’ll start with Tuesday night – I was scheduled to go in to be induced on Wednesday morning at 9am. The previous two nights I started feeling what I thought were contractions, they lasted for hours on and off Sunday and Monday but didn’t get more intense or closer together. I was getting REALLY anxious waiting to go into labor and it was driving me nuts. I was trying every trick in the book to bring on labor and really hoping to beat my induction date. I didn’t get any sleep. Tuesday night, those contractions started again, only this time they were more painful and they were consistent at about 12 minutes apart all night. I figured there was no point in calling the doctor, I was heading into the hospital in the morning anyway…
Wednesday morning, after another night of literally no sleep, I was getting ready to go to the hospital. The nerves I had been experiencing over the past few days had gone away, and I was feeling strangely calm. Maybe it was because I was so tired, but I was feeling ready to get the show on the road. I got to the hospital and told the nurses I was there for my induction but thought I might already be in the early stages of labor. I was sure I had to have made some progress with all of those contractions. I was sure I had to be more than 1 centimeter dilated (which is what I had been for the past few weeks). I got set up in my triage room where they would start the induction process. They checked me….still only 2 centimeters! I was so disappointed. Once they hooked me up to the monitors they could see that I was having contractions about 6 minutes apart. It was 2 days before my due date and baby Huddy seemed like he was ready to make his appearance.
My doctor came in to check me and told the nurse to start a cervix softener to help efface and dilate me. That was the first step. They would check me in four hours and if I was up to 4 cm they could start pitocin. If not – they would need to do another pill and wait another 4 hours. By the time 2 hours had passed, I was beginning to feel the contractions get far more intense. I was working on my breathing and thinking “ok..I got this…I can do this”. Another hour passes, and I wasn’t so sure. The contractions were about 2 minutes apart and very painful. I could no longer take it laying on my side, I asked if I could use the birthing ball and they said ok. I felt slightly more in control of the pain when i was sitting on the ball…only slightly though. By the time four hours had passed and it was time to check me again, I was crying out in pain with every contraction. My breathing methods were going out the window, it was everything I could do to not lose it completely. My doctor checked me and said I was at 4 cm, she called for them to get me a room to deliver in, and an epidural. I DESPERATELY wanted one. They wouldn’t need to start me on pitocin. My contractions were already too intense and close together.
I ended up having to wait in that triage room for three hours after that. Once we finally did get moved into a delivery room, I got my epidural and it…was…glorious. I napped for about 2 hours. I woke up to a feeling of pressure. I hit the nurses call button and said I think it’s time to push. She came back. It was time, and luckily my doctor just happened to walk back in. After about 8 pushes, Hudson James entered this world with a few little cries. They laid him on my chest and that was “it”. That was the moment that everyone had told me about. My world had changed forever.
xoxo
Jamie
