On Friday October 28, 2011 our beautiful baby boy, Reid Matthew Huber, was born. He was born at 10:32 a.m. and weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 20 in long.
As I last posted, we went to the hospital Thursday night for an induction on Friday morning because of low fluid levels in the womb. The plan was to have the ripening agent in over night and then start the petocin around 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning and go from there. The doctor put in the ripening agent at about 9:00 p.m. I had to stay in bed for at least 2 hours for the medicine to absorb through the cervix. They gave me an ambien later on so that I could sleep well through the night in preparation for the next day. After a few hours I started felling crampy...almost a little worse than menstrual cramps. They gave me a narcotic to dull the pain...so at this point I had an ambien and a narcotic. I started feeling crampy continuously and they determined I was having contractions and they were very close together...but I was only 4 cm. So I got some shot that was supposed to slow the contractions down and they took out the ripening agent. My crampy pain was starting to get worse, so I asked if I could have another dose of the narcotic. The doctor checked me again and I was still at 4 cm. He said at this point I could have my epidural if I wanted, but I decided to wait so that I wouldn't have to be bed ridden for a long time. I got another dose of the narcotic first and the nurse started me on the drip in preparation for the eventual epidural.
I then started having horrible contractions...it felt like menstrual cramps multiplied by 100. They were so bad and came on so quickly that the nurse got the doctor to check my dilation again, and he found I had gone from 4 cm to 9 cm in 1 hour! They got the anesthesiologist in there ASAP to administer the epidural (thank goodness the nurse had already done the prep!). I remember asking "are you sure there's time for it to kick in?" which there was. They administered the epidural and I felt instant relief.
I started pushing at about 9 or 9:30 and Reid was born at 10:32. I was in active labor for about 9 hours and it took only 1 hour or so for the delivery. The delivery itself was not as chaotic as I thought it would be...nothing like what you see on TV or the stories people like to tell. It was just me, Ryan, the nurse and the doctor. At each contraction Ryan and the nurse would each hold a leg, I would grab around my knees and push while they counted to 10. I did this 3 times for each contraction. At one point the doctor said she could see the head and Ryan looked (he wasn't originally planning on looking or watching down there). They asked if I wanted the mirror to watch and Ryan said I should...so I said OK and they brought in the mirror. It was really neat to see the head...and it helped with focusing my pushing more. When he was about ready to come out, they moved the mirror because they had to break down the bed and pull out the stirrups, so I didn't get to see him come out...but Ryan watched and he was really glad that he did.
Right when he came out he went over to the nursing team to get cleaned up. He had released meconium inside me during delivery so they had to make sure he didn't ingest any. While he was getting cleaned up and having vitals checked, I was finishing delivery. Yes, once you are done delivering a baby, you still have to deliver the placenta and then you have to get stitched up. While they were doing this I just kept looking over trying to get glimpses of Reid. I was also pretty loopy still from the ambien, narcotics, epidural, and having been up for over 24 hours straight (yes I had no sleep even with the ambien!). Ryan was over there trying to take pictures the best he could around all those people. Due to the blood loss I was shivering and they had to put a warming blanket around me before I could hold Reid because I was shaking so bad. Then I got sick. But after I threw up I felt much better and was able to eat a little broth, which really perked me up. Reid, of course, was just healthy and perfect.
Right when he came out he went over to the nursing team to get cleaned up. He had released meconium inside me during delivery so they had to make sure he didn't ingest any. While he was getting cleaned up and having vitals checked, I was finishing delivery. Yes, once you are done delivering a baby, you still have to deliver the placenta and then you have to get stitched up. While they were doing this I just kept looking over trying to get glimpses of Reid. I was also pretty loopy still from the ambien, narcotics, epidural, and having been up for over 24 hours straight (yes I had no sleep even with the ambien!). Ryan was over there trying to take pictures the best he could around all those people. Due to the blood loss I was shivering and they had to put a warming blanket around me before I could hold Reid because I was shaking so bad. Then I got sick. But after I threw up I felt much better and was able to eat a little broth, which really perked me up. Reid, of course, was just healthy and perfect.
So that is the story of my labor and delivery. It actually went better than I expected it to be and I feel very lucky. Ryan and I feel so blessed to have Reid and are in awe of him. We are looking forward to our new adventure with our little one.
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