Ellison's birth story...

Thursday April 12, 2012 at 11:02 PM my world changed and this is how it happened...

On Wednesday morning at 5 AM I was awoken by some mild contractions.  I waited until I felt 4 of them before moving or telling  Andre...because I did not want them to stop.  I was already 6 days late and I was really hoping to meet our little baby before the weekend and possible before our scheduled appointment on Thursday.  So after 4 contractions I told Andre that I was contracting and I started timing them with my contraction timer on my phone...(what a world we live in now...my mom and dad could not believe I had something on my phone that would do this).  The contractions were about 30 seconds long and every 6 minutes to start.  At 6:30 I woke up to feed the pups and gave Tucker his meds and the contractions were still coming so I called my mom and told her what was going on. I decided to go ahead and call into work and tell my boss that I would not be making it and hopefully the baby would be here soon!!!  Maybe a little too ambitious :)

By 11AM my contractions were every 30-40 seconds and coming every 5-6 minutes...so they were getting a little longer and a little closer together.  This was reassuring since false labor doesn't progress like that.  I ate some pasta and drank some lemonade for lunch since I knew that I needed to keep it on the light side.  After lunch to contractions picked up a little...they were lasting 40-50 seconds every 5 minutes.  At 3 PM I had my first contraction that lasted for more than a minute so I knew that we would be heading to the hospital soon so everyone got showered and my mom arrived in Florence.  The Bradley method of natural childbirth suggests that couples head to the hospital when contractions are 60-70 seconds long every 2-4 minutes, so at around 5 we headed to the hospital.

We got there and checked in...my contractions were getting more intense that I had to stop walking and breathe through them.  I would not describe them as painful, but more of lots of pulling and stretching in my lower belly.  The nurses checked me and I was at 3 cm and 80% effaced.  They let me labor for an hour and checked me again.  Unfortunately even though I was having strong contractions, I was not in active labor because my cervix was not changing, so they gave me the option to go home for the night or to continue laboring in  the hospital since my contractions were so strong.  We decided to go ahead home and continue laboring there, since I knew I would be MUCH more comfortable.  We left the hospital around 8PM and went home.  We ate some leftover PW Chili and Fritos that I had made for the night before.  After dinner we attemped watching Survivior and American Idol to take my mind off of the contractions... que my mom and Andre watched while I laid in the floor with my huge pregnancy pillow and watched like every few minutes.  ( I can not tell you one song that was sung or anything that happened on Survivor)

I tried for the longest time to get into a comfortable position, but decided to just retire to our bed and I would try to get some rest between contractions.  We laid down around midnight and I labored through out the night...with some heavy concentration, relaxation, deep breathing, and Andre rubbing my back.  The intensity of my contractions definetly stepped up over night and by 8AM Thursday morning I was ready to go back to the the hospital.  So my mom called my doctor's office to get my 3PM appointment moved up and they told her for me to just come on in...no appointment was needed for my situation (thank goodness).  Andre and I headed over to the doctor's office and that car ride was not the most pleasant.  My contrations were lasting around 70 seconds every 3 minutes...and they were INTENSE but I was still breathing through them.  I kept telling myself that there is always a break between each one...that was my saving grace.  The doctor checked me and I was 4 cm and 100% effaced and in active labor so I was told that I was going to be admitted to the hospital.

My doctors office and the labor and delivery ward are in the same building so we just walked from the doctors office to the maternity ward and got checked in.  Once in the woman's center I changed into a gown and the nurse started my initial check.  The nurse started my hep lock IV (it took 2 nurses, 1 blown vein, and 4 sticks) and did 20 minutes of initial monitoring...where she tracked my contractions and had me connected to a heart rate monitor. I got a hep-lock IV because I wanted to drink liquids throughout labor and only have intermitting monitoring.  I started progressing quickly and was 7 cm and stretchy by 1:30 PM.  The nurse even made a guess that I would deliver before 6PM.

After hearing the encouraging news of my fast progression I continued to labor standing and walking.  I found that walking around and leaning on Andre during contractions to be the most comfortable and efficient.  The contractions kept increasing in intensity so I was asked to be checked again at about 3PM but to my disappointment I was still 7 cm.  Over the next couple of hours I did not make much progress which is odd because usually the transition phase is the quickest so my doctor suggested that she break my bag of water to help me along.  So at 6:43PM my water was broken and I progressed to 8 cm.  My spirits were lifted once again which was a good thing because the contractions were getting much much worse (but still manageable).  The next couple of hours were a blur...(8:30-10:30PM) the contractions got so bad that I could hardly take it and I was not making any progress...

I totally lost my focus and the intense pain was just too much (I soon find out why the pain what SO intense).  Since I stopped progressing and was stuck at 9 cm my doctor tried some directed pushing to see if maybe that would work since nothing else had helped.  I pushed through about 3-4 contractions...pushing through a contraction when you do not have the urge to push is not easy!!!  After pushing did nothing the only other option we had was an emergency c-section.  The doctor knew there was something wrong because there was no way that I should not be progressing especially with these intense contraction...

The decision was made at 10:30PM for my c-section and I was back in the operation room getting a spinal within a few minutes.  I was so impressed with how fast everything came together.  Once I was prepped Andre came back and the surgery to our baby started.  Once my doctor made the incision she told us that baby Scott was transverse.  So I would have never been able to actually have him vaginally.  Then she pulled our littlest buddy out and we heard the most precious cry...and Andre told me that we had a son...

I am tearing up as I type this...Andre got to hold him and he introduced me to our son Ellison Davis Scott.  Born 11:02 PM weighing 8lbs 15.2 oz and 20.5 in long.  Those moments will always be with me...and I hope they are as vivid as they are now on his 5th, 10th, 25th etc birthday.  Then shortly after meeting Ellison he was wisked away to get checked out.  Andre went with him and the doctors finished me up.

We were reunited in the recovery room and I got to nurse him for the very first time.

Even though Ellison's birth did not turn out the way I would have thought it would have been...I would not change a single part of it.  I got the privilege to have natural labor for 42 hours and progress to 9cms on my own. Then I got to experience a c-section (and I have to say it isn't that bad).  The end result is the same, we have a sweet healthy little boy to hold in our arms and love unconditionally.