Trevor's birth story

Birth Story of Trevor

On Monday, August 22nd I went for my 40 week check up with Dr. Versteeg. My due date was the next day. She asked if I would be ok with scheduling an induction for that Wednesday. Because I had been having pre-labor pains for almost 4 weeks, I was happy to make Wednesday the day we would welcome you into the world.

Dr. Versteeg set everything up for 8am and sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech said everything looked fine, that Trevor appeared healthy, and weighed approximately seven pounds. We went home happy to soon be welcoming our bundle of joy into the world. And I was very happy to be starting maternity leave.

I started my leave the next day to take time to finish packing, rest, and finish preparing the home for our new baby. That day Travis did a lot of cleaning while I rested. I was too excited to sleep. My mind raced of thoughts of what the baby would be like and how I would be as a mother. I was very nervous about labor and delivery. I was a little scared to be induceda s I had heard it makes labor longer and harder. I was also trying to imagine how much our life was about to change.

That evening we went out for dinner at Village Inn. Dinner was not a good experience. The service was poor and we were served the worst scrambled eggs known to man.

We laid down at 12 am to try and get some sleep as we knew we were going to have a very long day. At 12:10 am I felt the very familiar labor pains. But this was the first time I had felt them when laying down. We laughed because we had been joking that day that Trevor would probably decide to come before the scheduled time.

I noticed that there were a couple close together so we started timing them. They were about 5-7 minutes apart, so we called the hospital. Since they weren’t all that close together and I was having no trouble talking through them they told us to wait and try to get some sleep.

Travis fell asleep but I could not sleep at all. They started getting stronger and by 2:30 am I was really starting to hurt. I woke Travis up and we timed again. Still at 5 minutes, but I could no longer talk through them.

We called the hospital again and they told us to come on. We arrived at the hospital at 3:30am. My first check was at 4:25 and I was 3cm dialated. A second check was at 6:55 am> I was at 5cm and in quite a lot of pain. It seemed I had forgotten everything I learned in Lamaze class. I was holding my breath with each contraction. Travis had to remind me to breathe everytime. We had brought a stuffed Tigger as my focal point. I didn’t use it because with each contraction I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for it to end.

By 7am I was asking for the epidural. The anesthesiologist showed up at 7:15. That 15 minutes seemed like an eternity. I was very happy to see him! I was very scared to get the epidural. I had seen the needle in Lamaze class and it was huge! I hate needles. But I was so ready to take the edge off of the pain.

Mostly the process of getting the epidural is a hazy memory, maybe because It was a pretty bad experience. I do remember having to sit very still hunched over with Travis on 1 side and the nurse on the other. It was so hard to sit still through the contractions. I got sick a few times during the procedure. Travis freaked out because it was red (yuck I know) but I had just eaten a red popsicle! The whole process only took about twenty minutes, but it seemed like forever. By 7:45 I was feeling no pain. Actually I couldn’t feel anything from the chest down! My legs were pretty much useless. My right leg kept flopping off the bed and Travis would pick it up and put it back on the bed!

Sometime after the epidural Trevor’s heart rate dropped. The nurse changed my postion to try to get the heart rate to return to normal. When that didn’t work they started me on oxygen. The oxygen mask was a bit of a pain but not near as much as the blood pressure cuff. The entire time I was laboring the blood pressure cuff automatically inflated about every ten minutes. It seemed very tight and the next day I had a bruise on my arm where the cuff had been. I don’t remember how long I was on oxygen but it seemed like for a very long time. Intially I was a little worried that things might be heading the wrong direction. Luckily after a while, heart rate returned to normal and the mask came off.

I was checked again at 8:05 and was shocked to find that I was at 8cm. The nurse was shocked as well. She said I was progressing faster than most second and third time moms. She also said it was likely that we would be proud parents very soon, possibly even before noon! She said that Trevor had a full head of hair and that you were bigger than the 7 pounds the ultrasound tech had thought. She was betting you were at the very least 8 pounds!

I could only feel light twinges of the contractions. I kept asking Travis and the nurse if I was having a contraction! My forth check was at 9:40 am. I was at 9cm and at a +2 station. The LDR nurse said it won’t be long now. I was getting nervous/excited/scared about the whole pushing process. I was also very excited knowing very soon I would be holding my baby in my arms for the very first time.

The last check was at about 10:55. She said that there was just a rim and that I was ready to start pushing. The contractions were still too far apart so they started Pitossen to bump the contractions up a notch so that my pushes would be more productive.

Earlier In labor, my nurse had asked if a coup of high school students who were interested in pursuing a career in nursing could watch the birth. I had always been somewhat of a modest person, funny how laboring completely took away my modesty! I told her that I would be fine with them watching.

Intially, pushing was difficult for me because I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t tell if I was even doing anything. Trevor was still facing the wrong direction, so with each push they were trying to turn him. He would start to turn the right way, then when Travis would start counting for me, he would turn towards Travis. We joked that maybe Travis should crawl under the table to count!

Then the epidural began wearing off. It started with feeling my toes, then being able to move my legs. Then the contractions started hitting me. I had been pushing at this point for about an hour. I couldn’t take it and begged for the anesthesiologist to give me more to knock out the pain. They thought I still had a ways to go and the Doctor told me she really wanted me to be able to feel the pushing so I would progress faster.

Travis told them to please give me more meds for the pain. After pushing for awhile longer and getting to the point where I didn’t think I could push one more time the anesthesiologist came in. Boy, was he a sight for sore eyes! He gave me another dose. I’m sure he has have a big ego because if all the ladies are as happy to see him as I was… he surely must have a God complex. :o) He gave me another dose and it didn’t take long to kick in. Though I was completely exhausted I was ready to be done.

I pushed for a bit longer and Dr. Versteeg said that Trevor was right there ready to make his entrance with just a few more pushes. There was a flurry of activity around the room as a bunch of nurses came into the room. She had me push as hard as I could several times and Trevor still refused to come out.