My Mom's Story: How I Came Into This World.

On October 31st, My Doctor decided that she wanted to induce sooner rather than later due to the simple facts that my due date was the following day, my amniotic fluid level was already low and continuing to plummet, my cervix wasn't softening fast enough, I was only 1 cm dilated, and was having no contractions what so ever. She wanted to induce me on a day that she was on call so that she could be the one to deliver the baby. The next available date was the 2nd of November but being that emergencies spring up all the time, she wanted me to call at 7am on the 2nd to make sure they have a room for me.



It was 7am on Tuesday the 2nd of November so I called the birthing center. The lady said that they were kind of busy and they would give me a call as soon as a room opened up. At 2pm I got a call from the birthing center asking me if I was aware of an induction that was supposed to take place this morning. I was like "uhh, yeah. I called at 7 and the lady told me you guys were too busy to take me in." She responded with "yeah we are busy today but I'm thinking we can get you in at 7pm tonight." I said that was fine. 3pm came around and I had a doctors appointment scheduled so I decided to go in and tell them what the birthing center said. While at the doctors and hooked up to the fetal monitor I got another phone call from the birthing center. They were ready for me!!!



We got to the birthing center a little before 6pm. I was taken directly to this big fancy room that looked more like a hotel room than a hospital room. Fully equipped with a table and chairs, a rocking chair, a couch bed, a tv, a VCR ( yeah, I didnt even know that people still had those ), a bed that converted into a birthing chair, and a jacuzzi tub. As soon as we got to the room, the Nurse gave me a gown and this belt thingy to hold the fetal and contraction monitor on my stomach. I changed and got into bed. Shortly after, they set up my IV AND it only took one try. Usually they have to poke my hands a number of times to find the veins but this Nurse was good! A few minutes later my Doctor came in and told me the induction plan. She wanted to put this thing that looked like a tampon up my vagina and against my cervix in hopes that over a 12 hour period my cervix would soften. Once the cervix was softened and I began to dilate she would then put me on pitocin to make me contract harder and more frequently. None of that sounded appealing but whatever. At that point I was just ready to see his sweet little face. She gave me a menu and told me to order 'room service' and eat before they put that thing in my vag.



I ate half a turkey sandwich and some chicken noodle soup then at 8:30pm the nurse came in to shove that thing up there. It was very unpleasant to say the least. She said that my cervix was really high so it was hard for her to find the opening. After about 3 minutes of her probing me with her lubed up fingers she finally got it in. They said I wouldnt be able to feel it once it was in...they lied. It wasnt painful but it was definitely uncomfortable. Soon after that was in, I started to get contractions. They were painful but tolerable and happening every 5 minutes or so. At 1:30am I went to pee and that thing fell out in the toilet! The Nurse checked my cervix before she put another one back in and I was only 2cm!!! All those contractions and I wasnt even opening! so frustrating. So she put the other one in and it wasnt as bad as the first time, still uncomfortable though.



4am came around and i was hurting pretty bad. The contractions were strong and 3-4 minutes apart. I called the Nurse in to ask about pain medicine options. This other Nurse that wasnt even my nurse was telling me that its not a good idea to get pain medicine right then because i still had a while left with that thing up my vag and I could only get 3 different pain shots in my IV. She was basically trying to scare me saying that If i got it now Id build up a tolerance and the ones later on wouldnt work. Its safe to say that she was kind of a bitch. So whatever. I decided to wait a little longer. I began to cry at that point because I began to question whether or not I could do it. Raf comforted me for a bit and all was good for the next hour.



At 5am I had had enough. I wanted something to help with the pain. They put something in my IV and I immediately felt warm. The contractions were still painful but I was able to relax and rest in between them which was nice. It was 6am and I had to pee again and AGAIN the thingy fell out in the toilet. *sigh* The nurse checked me again and to everyones surprise, I was 4cm!!! EPIDURAL TIME! My doctor came in to double check that I was 4cm and then gave the anesthesiologist a call. She told me that hopefully within the next 12 hours, we'd have a baby. At that point I didnt care how long it took as long as I wasnt in any pain.



A few minutes later the anesthesiologist was in there with his little cart and began setting up. I was told to sit with my legs off the side of the bed and hunch over. Raf sat in front of me and held my hands. The guy felt up and down my spine then rubbed iodine on the area. He injected some numbing crap in there that was really cold and made me jump when he injected it. He then put the epidural in and said that I shouldnt feel any pain while he was back there but if i did let him know. It DID hurt a little but nothing compared to the contractions so I wasnt about to complain. Immediately after it was in, there was relief. They then started the medicine to strengthen the contractions so I lied back down and thought I was finally going to get some rest but boy was I wrong.



About an hour later I started to feel some pain on my left side. It wasn't horrible but it wasnt pleasant. It slowly got worse! I called the nurse in telling her that I could feel the contractions on the left side and my left leg wasnt as numb as my right leg. She seemed to think that maybe I would be more comfortable if I had a little button to push to get more medicine in the epidural whenever it was hurting. For about an hour I felt everything! It was horrible and the contractions were only 2 minutes apart. Every contraction was sooo strong. I'm pretty sure I almost broke my bed rails with how hard I would grip them every 2 minutes. This went on for about an hour unfortunately.



At around 8:30am, another anesthesiologist came in, whom Id like to consider my life saver, and redid the spinal tap. It was perfect. Both sides were numb and I didnt even know when I was having most contractions. I could feel the really big ones, but it wasnt painful, it was just a lot of pressure down there. I was FINALLY pain free!At 9:30am another doctor came in (since my doctor was no longer on call) to check my cervix. AGAIN to EVERYONES surprise, I was 10 cm! I was done! She stuck a little hook up my vag to break my water to bring him down a little lower. Not much of anything came out and I'm guessing thats because my fluid was low to start with. The doctor said they're just waiting on the baby to drop down a little lower and then I could start to push. I told her that I was getting the pressure and the sensation to push. She told me not to push but if I felt like I was going to poop let her know. I told Raf that the pressure was getting stronger and he should go pick up my mom before its too late. He left to go get her a little after 10am. Thank goodness we only live 4 minutes away from the hospital cause they got back just in time.



The nurse came in to check how low the baby was and he was 'right there' she said. She paged the doctor saying that I was ready to start pushing. As soon as the doctor came in, bright lights started coming down from the ceiling, multiple trays and buckets were brought in, and the lower half of my bed was taken off. While the doctor put on her protective wear, the nurse had me push a little during a contraction. She immediately told me to stop because he was right there. She called the front desk and told them she needed a baby nurse in the room because he's about to be born. She put my legs in stirrups and the doctor sat down on her stool. Raf looked like he had seen a ghost. I wasnt sure if he was going to be able to watch considering how he tends to pass out at the sight of blood so I was a little worried.



I began to push at 10:36am while Raf recorded the whole thing. They had me push 3 times during each contraction. They said how great I was doing and to keep it up. 6 minutes and 3 contractions later I heard him cry! He was born at 10:42am. they told me to look down to see him. He was nice and bloody. Raf cut his cord and they laid him on my chest and wiped him really hard with towels. I cried and he just squinted and looked around. Everything that happened right after that is kind of a blur. I know laid there for a good 20 minutes with my legs still up in the air while the doctor delivered the placenta and stitched up what I learned was 2 different tears. Apparently I tore up by my urethra that required one stitch to fix and at the bottom of my vagina that needed 2 stitches to fix. She said that I didnt lose that much blood but it was enough to make me anemic again. She said they give the severity of the tears a level from 1 to 4 and mine was a 2. Its safe to say that I was NOT looking forward to the first pee that I would have to take.



I could continue on about the mesh underwear they made me wear with these giant pads to absorb all of the thick blood clots that would exit my vag for the next couple weeks but thats probably too much information huh? lol



And thats how 19 inch long, Noah Alexander Gutierrez, who weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces was born on November 3rd, 2011 at 10:42am. :)

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