The Labor and Delivery

Here is how it all went down:
Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. we went to the doctor to get induced and have this baby. For those who don't know, I was delivering in my doctors birthing center. He checked me before we got started and I was still about the same: dilated to a 2 and my cervix was getting softer and thinner but not all the way ready. So we got my IV in and all that good stuff and at noon the doctor broke my water to start things off. Then about 12:30 he started me on some pitocin. Right off I started having contractions and by 1:00 I was having regular contractions, every 2-3 minutes that were getting stronger. So around 1:45 he took me off the pitocin and I continued to have regular contractions on my own. He checked me again but I still hadn't changed much. So he put me back on a lower dose of pitocin just to help things move along. My contractions continued to get stronger and I was just getting to the point where I needed to take deep breathes through them when he came in to check me again, probably around 2:30 or 3 (the times are all a little hazy in my mind because so many things started happening) and I was dilated to a 3 and a little thinner but I just wasn't progressing the way I should have been, especially considering how quickly I labored with Matthew. Dr. Dewey said that sometimes the baby's head will get turned sideways and so they can't descend down into the birth canal and they just need to turn their head and then they drop right down. So he was feeling for the baby's head to see if he could help turn it if needed and the more he felt around up there (yes, this part was pretty uncomfortable) he discovered that he thought the baby was breach. He had checked a few weeks prior and thought the baby was head down, so either baby turned during that time or it was just one of those cases where the doctor misjudged what he felt.
In any event, they brought the ultrasound machine in and sure enough, baby was breach; I was going to have to have a c-section. I was surprisingly calm and didn't freak out at the thought of having to have a c-section. It was just one of those things where there was nothing I, or the doctor could do about it. It wasn't anybody's fault (besides my silly baby's) and so the only thing to do was take it in stride. I was actually the most scared about having to get a spinal to tell you the truth. There is a reason I have never had an epidural and that is because that whole process always seemed very daunting to me. Anywho, we packed up our stuff and they took me in a wheel chair across the parking lot to the hospital. I got all checked in there and had to get a new IV in. Both my doctor, and the anesthesiologist had a hard time getting my IVs in and so I have poke marks and bruises on both hands and arms as a result. But they finally got it in and then I had to wait for them to drip 2 liters of water through my IV before they could do the surgery. I was SOOOOO thirsty during this time and they wouldn't let me drink anything-not even one tiny little ice chip. My nurse Bonnie was amazing and helped me through everything. She explained exactly what was going to happen since I really had no idea and made me feel very calm. The anesthesiologist was also great and explained everything really well to me, and stayed there with me through the whole thing. During all of this my labor was starting to progress quite quickly and my contractions were getting harder and more painful with each one. By the the time they were ready to take me back to the surgery room I was in hard labor and really hurting. Justin wasn't able to come into the room until I was all prepped so my wonderful nurse Bonnie helped me breath through contractions, talked me through them, let me squeeze her hands and sides, and was just all around amazing. I could not have done it without her. When my doctor got there I was starting to feel more pressure and so they checked me to make sure baby wasn't trying to come. I was dilated to a 5 or 6 but baby was still really high. It was still a few more minutes before they got the spinal in and had that baby been turned the right way, I would have had another fast labor.
The spinal wasn't bad at all, which was good since that was the part I was worried about. I hardly felt anything, just a little poke like when they gave me my IV. One of the hardest parts was waiting for it though because I knew I was going to be getting the spinal and that as soon as I did I would be all numb and unable to feel anything. Each contraction I had to work through made me wish they could give me that spinal a little faster. But finally the pain went away and my body could relax. My blood pressure dropped really low and I started getting naucious and so they had to give me some medicine to help with that and they watched my blood pressure really closely because it stayed super low during the whole surgery. It was at this point that they brought Justin back in and they started cutting. From the time of incision to delivery was only 4 minutes!!! It felt super weird because I could still feel pressure and as they were working my stomach felt like a water bed that somebody was jumping on. It kept sloshing around all funny. Even though it went really fast it felt like forever and at one point I asked Justin to tell me what they were doing because I couldn't see anything, I was just laying there staring at the ceiling. Then they pulled the baby out and I could hear him cry. Koyle Fielding Jones was born at 5:38 p.m. They took him right over and started checking hime out and Justin went over with the baby. This was the absolute worst part of the whole thing. I was just sitting there being stiched up and I could hear my baby crying in the room but I couldn't see him. I started getting emotional and had tears in my eyes because I just wanted to see my baby. Once they had the initial check done Justin carried the baby over and I got to see him for just a second and then they took him to the nursery. As I was getting stiched up I kept getting colder and colder. It was kind of weird because I was numb from the chest down so the bottom half of my body was warm and calm, but my arms and hands were freezing and I was shaking. They finally finished and wheeled me back into the recovery room. I was sooo cold and I couldn't stop shaking for about 45 minutes after. My mom was there with Matthew as soon as I was done and so they came in. Then I had to wait and wait to get see my baby. It was almost 2 hours before they finally brought him in to me. He was so precious. A perfect little baby; really he was because he hadn't been squished or anything. He nursed really well right away.
I was really pleased with the way everything turned out. I was healthy, baby was healthy, the surgery went perfectly, and even though it was definitely not the birth I had planned, it all worked out in the end. Once again I was grateful for modern medicine and the fact that I didn't have to labor for hours and hours upon end, not being able to get the baby out because he was turned the wrong way. Instead I had a healthy and beautiful baby boy!