My Labor Story

First of all, I should say that I wanted a home birth in the jacuzzi tub without any interventions or medications.  Not exactly what I got, but the end result was the same:  the most beautiful baby boy I have ever seen!  So despite some disappointments and set backs, I am so thrilled to be a mother to Micah Paul Casey!

So, at 4:30am on Saturday, October 2nd, I woke up feeling wet and ran to the restroom.  I called out to Eli, "Either I wet my pants or my water broke."  All he heard was "my water broke" so he was up like a true paramedic on call in no time.  

We called my doctor's office to let them know and they told us to pack our bags and head to the hospital.  We took our time (I even took clothes out of the dryer - one last nesting ritual I suppose) and got to OPR at around 6am where I had to be triaged to confirm that yes, my water had indeed broken.

Unfortunately, since I still had not had a single contraction by 8am, they decided to induce me.  (Most doctors try to deliver within 24 hours of the water breaking to decrease the chance of the baby getting an infection).  And thus began the pitocin  (something I dreaded since it makes your contractions very intense and close together and it has been known to increase the chances of jaundice in a newborn).  It was pretty terrible, but I was able to labor for 11 hours without any pain meds (another thing I wanted to avoid for the health of the baby).  

At 7pm, I was still only dilated to 2 cm (even though I'd been at 1 cm for at least 10 days already!).  So after I had made such little progress and my Lamaze breathing was losing its effectiveness, I decided to go ahead and try and IV-administrated pain reliever called staydol.  I could still feel quite a bit of the pain of the contractions, but felt more relaxed in between.  At 9:30pm, I was still 2 cm, and at that point the doctors and nurses recommended an epidural - thinking that if I could relax a little it might help.  To no avail though...

At 11:30pm, Micah's heartbeat was going up and the doctors were afraid that continuing to have contractions after having no water for so long might be causing an infection... so we had to proceed to a Cesarean Section.  They checked me one last time at midnight and since I was still at 2 cm, Eli gowned up and I got wheeled to surgery.


The C-Section was probably the strangest thing I have ever experienced.  Couldn't feel pain, but I could feel all the stretching and moving of my stomach.  Luckily, there was a curtain up in front of me so I couldn't see anything.  Eli, of course, was fascinated by the procedure, and watched the whole thing!  Finally, I heard a piercing cry and knew that Micah Paul had entered the world at 12:39am.


The nurses cleaned him up and weighed and measured him (7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 inches long) and handed him off to Eli who got to come hold him by my head.  It was so amazing -- he kept turning his head from side to side as he heard Eli and I talking.  And he got a grip on one of Eli's fingers and one of mine while the docs finished stitching and stapling me up.  


I felt like the Grinch whose heart grew 4 sizes on Christmas day.  Never knew I could love anyone this much.  Such an amazing feeling to be a mommy!!!