My due date was August 31st. I was sure I was going to go a week early, but the days passed by and nothing happened. In and out of the Dr's office over and over again just left us in disappointment. Finally, on the 30th, I went into the office and was sure I was in labor. I had been having contractions for hours and knew this was it. They again sent me home and said to walk around, time the contractions, relax, wait until you can't take it anymore, then come back. I wanted to scream. I was like, there is no way in hell I am going one more night without having this kid! We walked around the neighborhood over and over and over again. Dave downloaded a contraction app on his phone and we started keeping track. Every time I would walk, they would get stronger. If I stopped or sat down, they would stop. Talk about frustrated! I knew nothing was happening. That's it! We're having sex! We put Hayley to bed and did the deed. Not to go into detail, but certainly was not the most enjoyable experience. But about 10 minutes later, something kicked in and bam, I was in agony. NOW I know what the real contractions are feeling like. I laid down and we timed them. They were huge and on a scale of one to 10, they were 11's. But they were 10 minutes apart. We decided after almost an hour to call the doctor. She called back right away and told us to go in. This was about 10:00. Dave called my mom and told her to head over because the plan was she and Pops would come to the house and stay with Hayley. My mom would come to the hospital if we needed her, and she would be close. My mom asked Dave where I was and he said "She's on the yoga ball writhing in pain." My mom said, "GOOD!" In the meantime, I called Sarah and asked her to come over so we didn't have to wait for my parents to come. She walked over and off we went.
When we got into the hospital, they checked me and I was only 2 cm. Maybe 3. Not enough! But my contractions were monsters. They were going off the charts on the monitor and I was in agony. The worst pain I have ever felt. Wow, having a baby is hard! And it hurts! Because I wasn't moving along, they decided to give me Stadol to take the edge off and get me admitted. I really didn't want to take it, but I was afraid that if I didn't, they were gonna send me home. It took an hour to get me admitted, and before they gave me the drugs, I asked to check me again. Nope, barely 3 cm. Dr. Byrd had come into the hospital then, and stopped by to see how things were going. I was still writhing.
Because I was in so much pain, the nurse put me into the "polar bear position". I rolled over onto my knees and elbows and every time a contraction came, either the nurse or Dave would rub my lower back because it was hurting so much. I can't get the epidural til 4 cm, so we had to wait. For the next 4 hours, I remained in that position. I begged for my mommy, cried and howled, whined and moaned. Dave fell asleep for an hour. My mom came in and stayed with us. They gave me a second shot of stadol and I turned into a total loop d loop. I felt completely high and the world was spinning and I was acting like a total cook. That second shot was a big mistake. It didn't help anyway. Finally at 4am I was able to get the epidural. It hurt so bad, and it was such a relief to have that epidural in. I think I fell asleep at that point for about an hour. I was so exhausted from working so hard through that labor, I knew that even if I was 10 cm right then, there was no way I would have the energy to push. Finally around 6:30 I was ready to push and dilated. I pushed twice and nothing was happening. Dr. Byrd decided she wanted to move me to a birthing stool. Then things started happening very fast. The nurse told Dr. Byrd the heart rate was down to 60. A baby's heart rate should be somewhere around 160. I never got to that stool. I started vomiting, they put and oxygen mask on me and I kept having to remove it to throw up. Dr Byrd said I need people and the room poured with people. I of course had no idea this was all going on because I was sick, which I realized later was a good thing because I didn't panic. Dr Byrd said she needed the forceps and stuck 'em in and gave a good twist. Then she said ok Carolyn, I need you to push RIGHT NOW! So I did. Right before that I looked up at Dave and he was crying. I knew something bad was going on. So I pushed two times and out he came. He didn't cry when he first came out, then they suctioned him and out came the scream. I was so happy to hear that little baby's noise! And he was perfect. He didn't even have a cone head. He was born at 7:13 am on August 31st. He weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz, and was 21 inches long. Beautiful. After he came out, the first thing I did was look up at my mother and say Thank God I am NEVER doing that again! Right then and there I was sure I was done having kids!
The next morning when Dr. Byrd came in she told me what happened. Brady was transverse, which means sideways. So she had to use forceps to turn him. Every time I was having a contraction, his poor head was pushing into my pelvic bone, that's why his heart rate went down.
So there it is, Brady's story. He is 5 months old exactly today and I realize this memory is starting to fade, so I'm glad I wrote it all down now.
