Week 39 of my pregnancy was intense. I thought my water broke one day. Then I thought I was in labor every day after that with rather consistent Braxton Hicks contractions for several days in a row. Ha! Now that I know what real labor pains feel like, I don't think I can mistake labor ever again.
On Thursday, August 16, I woke up to some REAL contractions around 1 am. They woke me up about every 30-45 minutes after that. I had my OB appointment that morning, so I of course hoped to be uber dilated and ready to be admitted into the hospital. I was a whopping 1.5 cm, and we scheduled an induction for the week after, on August 23. As any 9 month pregnant woman would do, I cried when I left the office.
Being quite the rebel, and really needing a distraction, I drove to San Marcos to meet my amazing friend Morgan for some Chick fil A and shopping. I was still having contractions, and had no business driving on I-35, but at that point, I didn't really care. Anything to keep my mind off labor! We had a great time. It was stinkin' hot outside, and I had to stop walking several times to wait for contractions to pass.
I got home around 4 pm, contractions were now about 15 minutes apart. I tried the whole bathtub thing to relieve the pain, but I get grossed out sitting in a tub for more than 10 minutes. So maybe I had one contraction in the tub. HAHA! At least I tried.
At 8:30 pm, I had my Fantasy Football draft. Contractions were now about 5-8 minutes apart, but I was super excited about the draft. And though I was on the floor in pain for most of it, my team is going to dominate this year. We went to the hospital immediately after the draft ended.
At about 10:30 pm, I was checked by a nurse at the hospital, and was 3.5 cm!!!!!! We were IN LABOR! Those were such fantastic words to hear. Tom and I were pumped. At 2 am, I was 6 cm, in plenty of pain, mostly in my lower back during contractions. I requested my epidural and had immediate relief. So thankful for that invention! At 4 am, I was 8 cm, then at 6 am, 9 cm. At that point, we were going to have my water broken, and I thought pushing was right around the corner. Which was awesome, because I was SO HUNGRY! Who knew that I still had 9 hours of labor to go....I think next time I will be a rebel and eat behind my doctor's back.
Then the story gets a little sticky. The shift change with the hospital staff happened at 7 am. The doctor didn't come in to break my water until maybe 9 am. This whole time, I was thinking that I would have the baby any minute!!! Water finally is broken, and then we are told to wait and see if the baby will drop lower on his own. A few hours later, a new nurse checks me and says I am 6 cm. WHAT??!!?!?!?! She gave this long explanation about how some nurses are more lenient than others with dilation... It was so confusing, but we just went with it. She started us on Pitocin and by 3 pm I was finally 10 cm and ready to get the baby out! I had no idea that only one nurse would be with us during all the pushing. At the very end, the doctor and a whole arsenal of nurses come in. Definitely not like the movies! I ended up throwing up twice during this time. Not sure where the nausea came from, but it was gross. And I couldn't believe that after 9 months of being pregnant, I threw up for the first time in the last hour! I pushed for an hour, and then we met our son!
Cole Henry Heinemann
7 pounds, 11 ounces
21 inches long
August 17, 2012, 4:06 pm
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| Trying to figure out how to put Cole's first outfit on... not easy! |
We went home Sunday around noon. Our stay in the hospital was excellent. We got plenty of sleep and had lots of family and friends spoil us with meals. The End!
love all these sweet first pictures! The Heinemann family is so beautiful!!
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