My Labor Story

Here it goes...

On Wednesday night (August 10th), I was having pretty consistent contractions but they were not painful. They felt like menstrual cramps and I was able to fall asleep fine so I didn't think much of it. Thursday morning comes and I noticed I had very watery discharge. I have been having very mucusy discharge all week long and suddenly it changed to a bit watery so I thought it may be that my water broke. I waited and see if it would soak my pad but I only had to change my liner once a day so I didn't think I was leaking water. Then on Saturday morning, we went in for our doctor's appointment. As soon as Dr. Wong checked me, she said that I am leaking water and my water had broke. She used the sonogram to see how Baby Lee was doing in there and she said I am low on water but Baby seems to be doing just fine. Then she told me that we are going to have the baby today!

She had to repeat that sentence a few times because I was so shocked. She told me that we need to head to the hospital and she will meet us there once I get hooked up. She seemed a bit concerned about the fact that my water may have broken on Thursday morning and it was already Saturday morning. But she reassured me that Baby seems to be doing fine, we just have to quickly get him out of me.

I left the office and I nervously called Danny (he was waiting at the car since parking was an issue that morning) and told him what Mary said to me. He thought I was joking at first lol and once I got into the car he realized that we are going to have Baby Lee that day and I think he got pretty nervous as well. We had packed our hospital bags but we did not bring it with us to the appointment (I know... we should of been more prepared) so we had to drive home first to get the bags. When we got home, I finished packing the bags while Danny prepared the dog foods for the next day so Jeff can feed the pups while we were gone (Thanks Jeff!). Appa, Umma, and Lydia arrived a few minutes later and they drove us to the hospital. On the way to the hospital I was quite nervous since Baby Lee could get an infection! I prayed to God that He would keep Baby Lee safe.

We arrived at the hospital at 11AM (speedy considering we left the doctor's office at 10) and the floor seems to be very quite. We gave all the paper work to be admitted and we had to wait for about 20 minutes for them to bring us in to a labor and delivery room. Since Mary had already called them so they were expecting me and they didn't have to check me or anything. Everything went very slowly... the nurses were working at a very slow pace I think because there were only the 3 of us on the labor and delivery floor. The nurses took their time asking me a long list of questions about my pregnancy and my preferences. They hooked me up on the IV (It was not bad at all, just like if I were to get my blood drawn), gave me antibiotics through the IV because my water had broke on Thursday and I am GBS positive, and started me on pitocin to induce labor. All that was done by about 2:30PM. The nurses and doctors would ask me if I have any questions and I really only had one question - when can I get my epidural ( lol I know I know, I am such a wimp). So even though I was not in pain they started me off on the epidural right away. Danny was not allowed to be in the room so he left the room at around 2:45PM and I was done by 3:15PM. I thought the epidural would of been really painful but it was not bad at all. It really just felt like a pinch on my back and that was it. I had to sit very still the whole time but it wasn't an issue because I wasn't feeling any contractions. After the epidural was administered they hooked me up on a catheter so my urine can be drained. I can still feel the touching down there but it wasn't painful (perhaps the epidural had kicked in already). Just as I was asking the nurse how does the catheter work, I saw the bag filling up with my urine @.@ It was quite embarrassing.

I felt numb pretty much right away and the anesthesiologist was surprised at how sensitive I am to the drug, so she lowered the maintenance level to about 12. From that point on, we were just waiting for labor to progress. Mary came shortly after and she broke the rest of my water. It didn't hurt and it soaked up a lot of wee wee pads. Apparently I had a high pinch leak so Baby Lee must of pinched a hole up top of the uterus so it started to leak but there were still a bubble of water. At that point I was about 2cm dilated. After getting all hooked up, I asked Danny to pray for us. We both cried a bit. 

We were instructed to sleep and wait for labor to progress. At about 6:30PM or so, I started to feel my contractions. Mary came in right around that time to check me and she said I was about 3cm dilated. I mentioned to her that I am feeling some cramps and she asked to make sure I am not feeling pressure since epidural does not get rid of the pressure feeling. I explained to her that these feel like menstrual cramps so she had the anesthesiologist come in to check on me. The original person went home already and a more senior anesthesiologist came in to check on me. He said that I was "shallow" and asked me if I would want my epidural to be re-done. I quickly said yes because I do not want to feel any pain! The contractions were just like bad menstrual cramps but I cannot imagine how it would be like once I am in active labor (>4cm). There was a part of me that was really afraid that I am one of those few people that the epidural won't work on me but I was hoping for the best at this point. Danny had to leave the room again so this time he went out and got a bite. The room is fulled of people now- a nurse, Mary, two anesthesiologists. I didn't feel much of anything when they put the needle in this time. But the strange thing was, I didn't feel the numbing sensation right away this time whereas the first time I felt numb right away. So I waited 15 minutes and finally it started to kick in. My legs were getting heavy but only a tiny bit. I definitely don't feel my contractions anymore. I was praying to God that this would work because I know I am going to be in active labor soon.

By around 9PM I was barely 4cm dilated, I started to feel some pain/pressure only on my right side. I was like... great... the epidural didn't work again!?! I told the nurse and the anesthesiologist came in to check on me. She told me that I should be laying on my right side so the epidural can drip to the right side as well. After half an hour of that, we know that the epidural is definitely wearing off so she gave me another dose and thankfully that worked till midnight.

By midnight I was about 6 - 7 cm dilated and I was feeling a lot of pressure from every contraction. I didn't want to get another dose of epidural because it slows down labor since it relaxes the uterus. At the point I just wanted to get it over with. So I sucked it up and tried to just wait it out. Then by 1, the pressure was pretty severe and I called Mary to check me again. Finally, I was fully dilated. I could not believe how fast that progressed. Now it's time to push!

I started pushing at 1: 20AM. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I was feeling every contraction. There was just a lot of pressure. I didn't feel the pain though because I still have the epidural and Mary did not need to turn it down. The best way to describe the feeling is that I really really have to poop and I am very constipated. lol Mary was coaching me how to push and at one point I wasn't pushing correctly so we stopped and she made sure I was using my abdominal muscles. Every time I felt a contraction coming up, I would say "I have to poop... Mary! I have to poop.." lol now it's really funny but it was not at that moment. I was also sweating a lot from all the pushing and Danny was very sweet the whole time wiping my sweat away and giving me gentle encouragements. After about 30 minutes of pushing, I asked Mary if she can just take him out. Mary said: "Oh no, you are going to delivery this baby vaginally, that's why I let you drink water already" Then I asked her if she can just vacuum the baby out. She said no but she can cut a small incision to make things happen faster. I asked her what she thinks was better- to let it naturally tear or to perform the incision and she said the incision will help the baby come out faster. Danny also agreed and he thinks the incision will be a controlled tear. I quickly agreed because I did not want to push anymore. So she made the incision and she said to me that Baby Lee will come out after the next contraction and I was so happy and couldn't wait for the next contraction. So the next contraction came and I pushed but still no baby. We waited for the next contraction and finally Baby Lee's head came out and I pushed one more time, his whole body came out. At that point, I couldn't care less what was born as long as it got out of me. After 46 minutes of pushing, Baby Boy Lee was born!

They placed Baby Lee on top of my tummy and I could not believe he is my son! He was in me the whole time but he looks nothing like me haha. I started to cry a little and I helped wipe him clean. The nurse then quickly took Baby Lee to the warmer next to us and started to clean him. Mary then delivered my placenta which took her just a few seconds. I felt a tug but really no pain. Mary also reminded Danny that now it's time to take pictures so he quickly went over to the warmer and start taking pictures of Baby Lee. The nurse asked us what are we naming Baby Boy Lee and we finally announced his name- Elijah Cole :)

So that was the birth story our little baby Eli. I cannot believe how much I love him already. I feel so blessed and I cannot thank God enough for entrusting us with Eli. Immediately after birth I already forgot all that pain and I think it's all worth it to go through 9 months of pregnancy and 12 hours of labor and delivery for our little baby.

Every nurse we spoke with told us how lucky we are to have came in on Saturday because Thursday and Friday were super busy for them. There were a dozen women going into labor at the same time and they had to wait for a labor room for hours and hours. I could not have hoped for a better labor and delivery process. Throughout pregnancy, I've always said to Danny that the perfect labor and birth scenario would be that we would go in for our doctor's visit and Mary would announce that we are ready to head over to the hospital.. and indeed that happened! Also, my biggest worries were that the hospital would be so busy that I won't get my epidural on time (or my epi won't work). If we were to go into labor on Thursday when my water broke, I think I would of have had a lot of trouble getting my epidural on time and would of suffered a lot. Thankfully everything worked out and we have Baby Eli in our lives now and we feel so complete :)