Max's Birth Story

Okay, finally getting around to this almost 2 months later.
I was scheduled to go in for an induction on the 31st of January. I got a phone call to come in on the 3oth in the evening for my first round of "the gel". Basically it makes everything soft and is suppose to get things moving along. We got to the hospital around 4 p.m. I got my first gel around 7 or 8 p.m. I felt some slight movement but no labor pains. Tim stayed with me till around 2 a.m. then went home and they we were told that I was going to get another round of gel the next morning around 7 a.m.


The next morning we move rooms. I go downstairs to the delivery suite and get my second round of "the gel". (I got one of the 2 rooms that had a window which was kinda nice.) I was then told to walk around, sit on the exercise ball, walk some more....basically keep moving to get things moving. The second round of gel made some very mild contractions come along. I was on all the monitor and Max was fine.

Around 2:30 p.m. my doctor came in and checked me and basically I was a little softer but that was about it. She said that it was time to start the real drugs. I was then given the poticin (spelling) and then they broke my water. Let me just tell you that when they broke me my water is one of the most painful things I have had happen to me. Then I remember people telling me that when they break your water or when your water breaks it is just one big gush and it feels like you are peeing yourself. Well that is all true, but for me every time I moved more "water" came out. I was gushing water for hours. It was very annoying. The poticin was being doubled every hour starting at 4 mg. So the 2nd hour it went to 8 mg, then 16 mg, etc. At 6:30 p.m. I was checked to see if I was dilated at all. I was about 1 cm. It was slightly disappointing. I thought I would have been farther along with the amount of pain that I was in.

At this point when they checked me they thought that either cord was in the way or they didn't break all of my waters. The midwife (the 2nd one of the day) went and got the doctor that was on the floor and had him come in for a quick feel. The midwife thought it was just another water membrane and he thought otherwise. My doctor, Debbie, was called at home and came in to check for herself. Once she got there, she did an ultrasound and found that it was not cord just another member that needed to be broken. So that is what she did. It didn't hurt as bad as the last time cause the real contractions were going on, which are no joke.
The contractions were coming hard and strong, like about 45 seconds to a minute apart and they hurt REALLY BAD!! They offered to do my epidural but I said no, I wanted to wait until I was in active labor (which is 4+ cm). Debbie said that if I was in that much pain that I didn't need to be brave and just get the epidural. It would make me more comfortable. I agreed but they had the find the ansegiologist. At this point it was around 7 p.m. I was offered "the gas". It is a pain reliever as well as to help control your breathing. It worked great the first few times, it helped as a distraction from the contractions but again, only for a short while. It basically made you feel drunk, which was pretty nice. :-)

After a short while the contractions were getting stronger and I really wanted my epidural. The poitcin makes the contractions harder than normal labor, or as least that is what they told me. I had to wait a hour for my epidural but my midwife was great. She had everything all set up so when he got there all it had to do was put in the giant needle, which I didn't see (Tim told me), and give me my drugs. I had a boost button as well, so when I started to feel more than normal pain I just hit the boost button and 10 minutes later I didn't feel much. It was great. I could have kissed that man.

So now we wait and hope I progress. It was at this point that Tim told me that I could have my name of Maximus. I told Tim in the mist of labor that I was going to get it whether he liked it or not. But it was nice to know that he liked the name as well. I was slightly worried that the name wasn't going to fit him or he didn't look like a Maximus. I didn't share this with him at the time.

At 11:30 p.m. my doctor came back and checked me to see if there was any progression from the 1 cm that I was several hours ago. I was a huge 2 cm. It was at this point that Debbie said that it didn't look like I was going to make much more progress and that we could either wait a little longer to see if I was going to progress or we can just go ahead with the C-section. Tim and I talked about it briefly and opted for the C-section. I had had enough of this and was ready for it all to be over.

Shortly after I was wheeled down the theater (operating room). Tim came in shortly after and they started. About 10 minutes after they started Maximus Angelo was born. He was born at 1:13 a.m. I didn't do well with the ansestic but was okay enough to see Max and when I saw him he looked like a Max, no doubt about it. Tim was banking that Max was going to be over 9 lbs. Max was 8 lb. 15 1/2 oz. He was a half ounce off of 9 lb. Tim thinks that if Max didn't pee right after he came out that he would have broke the 9 lb marker.

Once Max was out then came the fun part for me. I was throwing up, shaking, and over all slipping in and out of consciousness. I wasn't great with the ansetic because I had so much over the last few hours. But after it was all said and done it was all great. I was then wheeled to recovery where I would stay for way longer than what I wanted to.

Tim went home around 4 a.m. and returned the next day with my parents who flew in that morning and were picked up by our very good friends Chris and Ed. Thanks guys!

Life has officially changed forever. Nothing is the same. Everything takes longer and more planning than I ever thought. But it is all for the good. Love you Max.