Saturday, May 17, 2008

Landon's Birth Story

May 8, 8:30 AM I had an appointment and my doctor noticed my contractions were getting closer together so she decided to strip my membranes in hopes to get this boy moving.

May 8, 8:30 PM
My contractions started to feel different, they weren’t that painful but were definitely more uncomfortable. They were around 5 minutes apart, but I decided that if they woke me up that night I’d call the doctor.

May 9, 3:30 AM
They woke me up and I wasn’t able to fall back asleep. I decided to keep timing them and wait until my doctor’s office opened. I called the doctor and they told me to come in. I knew as soon as I got in I was going to be very uncomfortable, so I wanted to wait until they were really painful.

May 9, 2:00 PM I went to the hospital. They said it was early labor (1cm 80% effaced) and to go home and wait until they were 2-3 min apart.

May 9, 7:30 PM
They reached 2-3 min apart so we went in. My doctor ended up having a medical emergency herself so another doctor was on call (who was not familiar with my history). I hadn’t changed from earlier and after they pumped a lot of fluid into me my contractions spaced out to 6 min apart.

May 9, 9:30 PM
They sent me home again. Since I was trying for a VBAC, they didn’t want to use anything to speed my labor along because of increased chance of uterine rupture. My doctor would not have sent me home with my high risk history. I was so upset because I knew this was the real thing and to drive during those contractions was miserable, but there was no convincing them to let me stay so we went home.

At home I was miserable, but tried to breath through my contractions and not let my mind get out of control (I wasn’t always successful though!). Seth would pray through the contractions and that helped tremendously.

May 10, 1:30 AM We decided it was time to go back in. When we got there I started throwing up in the parking lot, I was miserable and could not think how I was going to walk in. My mom and sister had just arrived (from their 8 hour drive) and met us in the parking lot with a wheel chair. When they checked me, I had changed to 2cm and was 100% effaced so the doctor let me stay. I started to have back labor and was in so much pain. The thing that helped me the most during each contraction was to repeat, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I continued to progress slowly through the night and was exhausted.

May 10, 7:45 AM I finally caved and got the epidural. I had wanted to go natural, but after being up for 28 hours I was running out of energy and endurance. When they checked me after the epidural placement, I was 7cm and the nurse accidentally popped my water.

May 10, 8:15 AM The doctor came in said I was complete and ready to push.

May 10, 9:17 AM Our precious Landon John was born. I couldn’t believe how big was at 9lb 7oz and 22 ¼ inches long. We were so thankful to have such an uncomplicated labor and delivery.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us during this pregnancy, the Lord is so gracious and we are truly blessed!

5 comments:

Ben and Kristi Graves said...

what a great testimony you are. =) i am sorry you had a long hard labor, but glad that the pushing didn't last too long and that everything went so smoothly with his delivery!! give him kisses for me! love you!

Rachel said...

That happened to me too, Marcie! Hours and hours of labor - 22 maybe? and then the epidural and almost instantly I went from a 3 to complete! It was crazy! I was thankful though. :) I'm so glad it worked for you too. I was praying for you that night. We are so excited for you guys!

Kari said...

I loved reading your story, thanks for posting. I'm sure you'll love reading it later on too. Somehow the memory of all the pain fades as time goes on. I truly have great memories from my delivery.
Landon looks adorable and so much like his Daddy and maybe some of his uncles. What are others telling you about his resemblance? Enjoy this special time, it goes sooo fast. Also, we'll be praying for the situation with his eyes. Love you all.

tsbjf said...

Oh wow, I can't believe you were having contractions for so long! And that they sent you home twice! That's a long time to go without sleep. And I hear you on how painful it is to ride in a car while experiencing contractions, that is the worst. I'm glad that it all worked out though!

MagenRanae said...

That's wonderful that you have the whole story written down!