Not a Storybook Birth

Well, like others, ours was not storybook and didn't go according to plan either. Birth plan went right out the window!!
I woke up the morning of my due date, June 29th at 3:47 am to potty. At 4:17 am I had my first contraction, followed by 4:27, 4:40 and 4:52. Paul called to let work know he was in a "holding pattern" and wouldn't leave without knowing if I was in labor or not (I had been contracting for two weeks before off and on). Well, consistent contractions kept coming all the way up 'til 6:13 am when I decided to go back to the potty. When I stood up... "GUSH!" my water broke all over the freshly cleaned carpet!
It took about 30 minutes for contractions to pick back up after my water broke, so I used the time to sit and relax in the living room while Paul got dressed. He wanted to head to the hospital earlier than we planned since my water broke much earlier than we thought it would. Around 11 am we checked into the hospital and the minute I stepped foot into my room, contractions stopped completely. So fours of walking and rocking on the birthing ball but only five contractions.
My doctor got there to check on me about 4 pm and did a sterile speculum exam looking for traces of amniotic fluid and found none. Since my contractions had slowed to about one per hour and the fact that I was trying to avoid pain meds, she sent us home. The thought is that what we thought was my water breaking that morning was some "other" kind of fluid that can build up around your uterus and since he's dropping deeper into my pelvis, it released those fluids. They discharged us and told us to come back when my water breaks for my contractions are back to six minutes apart. When we pulled up at home and I stood up getting out of the car, my water broke!! So we planned to continue to monitor throughout the next few hours and see where my contractions were and decide when to go back. Once they are less than five minutes apart for more than two hours then we'll go in. All the insanely intense contractions I had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only dilated to 2 cm. So I wasn't going back until I was much further along into active labor, which we thought would be later that night or first thing the next morning.
Side note: It was so heartbreaking to leave the hospital. They had all his meds and towels, blankets, cap etc. all ready for him with his name on it in the room... I was just really frustrated to go through 16 hours of hard contractions and only be 2 cm, very discouraging to hear.
The good news is that I never stopped contracting the entire time we were home. So we decided to go to bed and get some sleep knowing full well in the middle of the night we'd be back at the hospital now that it appeared my water had broken for real this time. I slept in between contractions and by the time 11:30 pm rolled around, I was in too much pain to even walk. So I woke Paul up and said we needed to head back to L&D right then. So by 12:15 am we had been re-admitted right back to our same room. They checked me and guess what???? I was STILL 2 cm!!! and they claim my water still had not broken.
So, since my water "hadn't broken" according to them, and my contractions were not regular (one every 10-12 minutes lasting two minutes) they offered me a "cocktail" to get some sleep through the night and reassess in the morning. They gave me two shots of morphine (one in IV and one in butt), and one Ambien. I slept like a baby until 6 am. The on-call doctor came in at 6:30 am to do an exam and guess what!?!?!? STILL 2 cm!!! OMG! He seriously did not want to come out!
Doctor suggested I start Pitocin at lowest level to get contractions more consistent. Around 10:30 am the contraction were right on top of each other and I could not longer handle it without pain meds since at this point I had been in labor for 26 hours. So the RN offered a drug called Nubain, its an IV pain med to take the edge off contractions. IT DOES NOT WORK!! By noon I was screaming at the RN -- I needed an Epidural. From that point on I don't remember much, not even the anesthesiologist coming in to administer the Epidural. The Epidural on top of the Nubain had me in "la-la" land for the rest of labor and the delivery.
The most wonderful nurse in the world, Denice, came in to check me at 4 pm. I went from 2 cm to 10 in four hours. So she had me do a practice push to see how I did. Half way through the push she stopped me and said she needed to call the doctor because he was coming very quickly. The doctor came in at 4:20 pm still needed to change into scrubs, so we were still in a holding pattern for a few minutes. Meanwhile, family is out in the hallway and the RN's are prepping the room for delivery. After five pushes he was out!
So, in hindsight, our birth plan was a joke! But I did get the hour of skin to skin contact with him which made all the difference in the world. Sean Christian was born June 30, 2010 at 4:31 pm. 8 lbs., 2 oz., 20 inches and the best gift we could have ever asked for and received.
Tiffany & Paul, Brown Deer