Landon's Birth Story

I have been meaning to keep blogging even after Landon was born, but I haven't done a very good job. I have also been meaning to write out his birth story before I forgot, so here it goes.

Tuesday May 11th I got up and went to work like usual. Around 9:00 am I started feeling a tightening in my back that wrapped around my stomach and was slightly more painful then a Braxton Hicks contraction. I didn't think too much about it. An hour later I noticed the same thing kept happening quite often and they didn't seem to stop. I figured I better start timing them to see if there was a pattern. Sure enough, there was. They were coming very 9 or 10 minutes. Of course the first thing I did was call Ryan to tell him I thought I was having contractions and also alerted everyone else. I went over to tell the secretaries at work what was happening and they were so excited! Every hour or so they would come over or call to see if anything had changed. Nothing really did. They didn't increase in intensity, but they were beginning to come every 8 minutes. I found an app on my phone for a stopwatch so I could time then and not forget! :D Everyone though I was crazy for staying at work, but I figured going home was pointless. I didn't want to use one of my sick days and I wasn't in that much pain. Plus my work is closer to the hosital then our house is! haha

The contractions really weren't that painful at this point and when I left work at 4:30 they were still the same. Ryan called his mom and told her the situation and thought she should probably come since she lives about 2 hours away. I got home and we did our usual nightly routine of dinner and cleaning up. It was also American Idol night so I was pretty excited! My contractions were starting to get a little more painful and coming every 8 minutes still, so around 5:00 pm I decided to call my OB to see what they wanted me to do. I left a message with the on call nurse who told me that Dr. Griffin was on call and would call me back in a few minutes. I was so excited she was the one on call! She isn't our favorite Doctor I really wanted to deliver Landon, but she is my primary Doctor and I knew her pretty well. She called me back and said most likely if I came to the hospital they would either send me home or I would be walking the floors for a while. She thought I should wait a little bit. Ryan's mom arrived about 7:45 right before the show started and my contractions were more painful, but still coming every 8 minutes. All of a sudden, about the time American Idol started, my back started hurting extremely bad. The contraction I had felt before were gone and replaced with this AWFUL back pain. I can't even descibe it. I was confused because I had no pain in my stomach. I wasn't sure what was going on, but the back pain was coming very regular. Ryan had both our phones and was monitoring the length of my contractions as well as how far apart they were. It got to the point where I couldn't even concentrate on the show. I was in so much pain. It felt like someone stabbing me in the back. It was right above my butt and went up to about where my kidneys are. I finally said I couldn't take it anymore and we needed to leave. You know me, I had to change and put my jeans and nice shirt on and take my last pregnancy picture. Poor Mo was so confused and upset. I cried when I kissed him and said goodbye because I knew I wouldn't see him for a while and I also knew we would be coming home with another little person and he would be jealous! (Stupid hormones) haha

We arrived at the hospital around 9:00 pm. The contraction in the car were awful. I reclined my chair back and figured out how to breath to get through them. I closed my eyes, went to my happy place, and just breathed in and out very loudly. We took a picture in front of the Sparrow Hospital sign in between contractions! haha I think I had 2 on the way up to triage. Once I got there I had to fill out one form and then they sent me to the triage room. I was given a gown and went to change and go to the bathroom. The contractions were still coming so everything took much longer then usual. When I was all situated in my gown, the nurse came in to check me. I was 4 cm and was definitely having timable contractions. I think one of the first things I said when she came in the room was, "I need the epidural!" She certainly didn't need to ask me if I wanted one! haha She put my IV in and said everyone thinks that's the most painful part. Umm I barely felt it. Compared to the horrible back labor I was having it felt like nothing! She could have poked me with 100 needles and I wouldn't have cared.

It felt like I was in that horrible little room for forever! Finally she came in and said they had a room for me and I could be admitted to Labor and Delivery. They wheeled me to my room and I kept asking when I could get my epidural. I was scared of the getting the epidural my whole pregnancy, but when the time came, I wasn't scared at all and couldn't wait to get it in. They said they paged the Anethesiologist and he would be there soon. He needed to hurry! I was so tired and sick of the back labor. I got my epidural around 11:00 pm. It wasn't painful at all. The numbing shot was the worst, but again, compared to the back labor I didn't care. It felt really funny when the large needle was going in. I just felt pressure. Thankfully he got it in before I had anymore contractions. He said it would take about 15 minutes for it to fully take effect, but after he put it in, I felt no contractions. It was AMAZING! What a relief. He said I would have to lay on my side and switch every once in a while to make sure the medicine was spread equally to both sides of my body. It was such a weird feeling. My legs, feet, and belly were numb. I could move my legs though.

Every once in a while they would come check me and I was progressing about 1 cm and hour. Of course Ryan was with the whole time and after I was comfortable they let my parents and Ryan's mom come in to see me. It was pretty late by this time and we told them they should go home and get some rest because it would be a long night and I probably wouldn't deliver until the morning anyways. Everyone left and I attempted to get some sleep. I never slept, but I rested at aleast. At one point I started to have a little back pain and wanted more medicine! The Anethesiologist came in and gave me another dose. This made me feel very weak, but the pain went away. I wasn't sure how I was going to have any strength and remember asking everyone how in the world I was going to push this baby out! haha After a while I started being able to feel my stomach tighten during every contraction. They didn't want to give me any more medicine though because I needed to feel a little in order to push.

I progessed fairly quickly and was really excited when they checked me and I was 9 cm! Woohoo! I thought I was so close! Not so much. Two hours later I was still 9 cm. The Doctor came in and gave me my options. She wanted to put an internal monitor in to check the intensity of my contractions because she didn't think they were strong enough to get me to 10 cm. If that was the case, she wanted to give me some Pitocin to stregthen them. I thought that was a great idea. Just get this baby out!!! The put in the internal monitor and sure enough, my contractions weren't strong enough. They started the Pitocin and only had to turn it up a couple times before I was 10 cm! The nurse had me do a few practice pushes with her holding one leg and Ryan holding the other. I could still feel the tightening in my stomach so I knew when the contractions were coming. I could get about 4 good pushes during each. The nurses were amazed at how good I was at pushing and decided they better get the Doctor in there because it was going to be fast.

I didnt't think the pushing was bad at all. The most uncomfortable part was when I had to rest in between contractions. I could feel this large thing just kind of sitting there and it felt weird. I just wanted to push it out!! I pushed for about 15-20 minutes and out he came! I didn't feel any pain during any of this thankfully. Then they took him away to clean him up and he started crying. He had some nice lungs! I rememeber thinking how I couldn't believe I had just given birth to our little baby!! It was such a weird feeling. Ryan was so excited and kissed and hugged me, then went over to be with Landon.

This is where the fun began!!! They had to push on my stomach to get the placenta out. That didn't feel so great. I guess they had to pull a little to get it out. That's what Ryan said. Then they gave me a little break and started stitching me up. The Doctor and a resident did the stitching. The needle they used looked like a fish hook! I couldn't feel the needle, but I could feel all the pulling and tugging they were doing and it was very uncomfortable. It seemed to be taking them forever! I thought they were done, but the Doctor told me they were only half way through. Ugg I wanted to cry. I wanted to hold Landon, but I was so uncomfortable I didn't think I could hold him yet. They finally got done stitching me up and that had lasted and hour! It was the worst part of the whole ordeal. They sat me up and took my epidural out. It was so weird when the feeling started coming back in my legs and stomach!

My parents and Ryan's mom came in to see us while I was recovering. I also finally got to hold my baby!! Once I got feeling back in my legs and could walk around, they put in a wheel chair and took me over to the mother baby unit. After being there for an hour or so the pain started! I was so swelled up and hurt so bad. Not fun. It was really hard to sit like a normal person so I mostly just laid on my side. I won't give you all the gorey details, but ouch!!! Landon was in and out of the room. He had to go for tests and stuff. He didn't cry much unless he needed to eat. He was a natural at breastfeeding. I was very lucky. We had a few visitors and I pretty much only got up to go to the bathroom. That night we decided to keep Landon in the nursery so we could get some sleep. The nurses brought him in every 4 hours to eat and then all I had to do was hit my call button and they would come back and get him! It was wonderful! haha

The next day I felt very well rested. I was still hurting really bad and couldn't imagine going home the next day. Landon slept most of the day, but I felt better and got to hold him more. Breastfeeding was still going great! Even though I wasn't having any issues so far, we attended a free breastfeeding class given by the lactation consultants. We ended up being the only ones there so we go some one on one training! Those ladies sure know what they're talking about! We had more visitors that day and then we decided to keep Landon in our room for the night. That didn't go so well. He just cried and cried. At about 1:00 am we decided we needed sleep and called the nurses to take him to the nursery. He slept great there of course!

The next morning it was time to go home! The time went so fast. I got up and attemped to take a shower and put on some makeup. That was a very long process since I was so slow. I was still so swollen and in a lot of pain. We left the hospital around 11. I managed to hobble out and sit down in the car. Ouch! haha Landon looked so cute in his going home outfit. It was the weirdest feeling to be taking our baby home with us. I also wanted to take the nurse call button with me! :D There were so many emotions. We were so excited, thrilled, nervous, and scared. That was a very emotional car ride!

I'm going to try and keep my blog updated now that I'm getting into the swing of being a Mom! It only took me 3 months! :P