My Miner Madness: Hudson's Birthday!

Wednesday morning around 1:00 am I started having contractions. I had several false alarms earlier in the week so, I tried to go back to sleep. After what I'm thinking was about a half an hour I started getting very uncomfortable with the contractions, so I started timing them. I didn't want to wake Matt up for another false alarm so I timed the contractions for about a half an hour before waking him up. I got up and took a shower and got ready to go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 4:00 am. The nurse checked me and I was 3 cm and about 70% effaced. The nurse sent me walking for about 45 minutes. When I got back, the contractions were coming pretty fast and the nurse told me that I was going to be admitted regardless of cervical change. That was good since I had only dilated about a half a cm with walking. We started planning for an epidural at this point. The contractions were tolerable but I didn't get much rest in between. I was waiting for my labor room to be ready, It was change of shift when the unit secretary for day shift in OB triage came in and started cleaning her phone and work station with a very strong cleaning solution. This is something that I use every day at work, and it has never bothered me before, this time was different. I ended up getting my IV and a nice dose of Zofran (anti nausea medication) at that time, before I was moved into my labor room.

Around 7:00 am I was moved over to labor and delivery and had the most spectacular nurse Carol. She was so helpful, calming, and kind. She answered questions that I didn't even think of to ask. The anesthesiologist was busy with a cesarian section and then was mysteriously MIA (probably getting breakfast and coffee) until about 9:00 am. It really wasn't that bad, Carol kept me distracted for most of this time.

Around 9:00 am the anesthesiologist came in and started my epidural. It was so easy, I only felt a few tiny little pinches from the lidocaine injections. I didn't feel any more contractions after she gave me my loading dose. I was able to hang out and relax the rest of the day. We had lots of visitors, and I was able to enjoy them.

Around 2:30 Carol's shift ended and Erin was my new nurse for the evening. She had a completely different style of nursing than Carol but I loved her just as much! She made me feel calm and comfortable with what was going on with my body. Around 4:30 she asked me if I wanted to start pushing. I couldn't believe it! It was time! Everyone left the room other than Matt, my mom, and Erin and I started to push. I guess I was pushing for over 2 hours but it didn't seem like that long at all. Just when the pressure got to be a little much, Erin told me to hang in there she was going to call the doctor. This remind me that I must have been close because doctors don't just hang out in the room for too long before the baby's born. Sure enough a few pushes later out came the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.

Hudson Michael Miner was born at 6:25 PM on Wednesday April 7th, 2010. He weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. The nurses suctioned his mouth and nose, but he aspirated a bit of amniotic fluid so he needed to go to the NICU for a few hours to watch his respiration rate and oxygen saturation. The nurses let me hold him for just a few minutes before heading to the nursery. After just a little while I was able to feel my legs and was able to get into a wheelchair and head to the NICU to see my baby boy. Although I had held him for a few minutes after he was born, I found myself staring at him lying in the NICU bed thinking, oh my..... this is my baby boy. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. The nurse was checking his blood sugar, drawing labs, giving him his first shot and bath and all I could do was stare at him and think to my self over and over, this is My baby boy. He's not my patient, I didn't have to draw any labs or check any vital signs, my only job was to love him.

Around midnight we were able to head back to the post partum room. The nurse assessed me and Hudson and we tried to get some sleep. For the next few days we worked on breast feeding, and resting. We were discharged home on Friday afternoon. The car ride home was great, Hudson was awake and seemed to enjoy the ride.

In OB Triage, Pre Epidural, Between Contractions.