Two labors for the price of one

a.k.a. The Gory Details

a.k.a. Why I'll never do a VBAC again

Forgive me for taking so long to post the sordid details of Clive's birth. I knew it would take me a long time to write and lately my free time has been spent calling friends and family, sleeping, or carving out some alone time with Chloe.

So, things started happening late Saturday night (I had my membranes stripped Friday afternoon so I was mentally prepared for some prompt action) and my contractions quickly progressed from slight discomfort to pain every 5-6 minutes. I phoned my midwife and my pal Lindy (she came over to stay with Chloe) and we were on our way to the hospital by 1:30 a.m.

At the hospital I was checked at found to be between 3-4 cm dilated. Wow, I didn't imagine the contractions would be that bad at just 3-4 centimeters! Since I had been induced with Chloe, this whole natural labor thing was brand new to me. I was nervous and a bit scared about what the process would entail. Matt and I walked the hall for an hour while I battled and blew through the contractions. Isn't it incredible how one minute you can be in horrid blinding pain and then the next minute as the contraction winds down you can talk rationally?

After an hour of walking the hospital corridors and being checked to be 4-5 cm, I decided it was epidural time. I'm certainly not a he-woman when it comes to pain and if Clive's labor was to be anything like Chloe's (which it was) then I knew I was in for a long haul with contractions. The epidural was administered and I practically kissed the anesthesiologist for relieving my pain so miraculously. Ah. Whoever invented epidurals should be awarded with a medal of honor.

Alas, I had hoped to nap through contractions a bit but it was not to be. Shortly after the epidural kicked in, I started shaking uncontrollably. Turns out I had a fever from an infection in my uterus. They gave me antibiotics through my iv to fix that. Then the epidural started wearing off. Crazy, eh? It had only been an hour or so and then I started feeling increasing pressure and pain. They redosed me twice but the effects kept wearing off. It seems that Clive was giving me some VERY STRONG contractions. My midwife kept looking at the monitors and saying cheerfully, "You sure are getting some good contractions, girl!" One anesthesiologist even thought I was on pitocin since because the contractions were so monstrous. Little Clive was trying hard to get out!

I progressed slowly over the next hours and eventually ended up at 6 cm. By this time I had been given a second epidural because the first had completely stopped working. The second anesthesiologist had a difficult time administering the epidural (he says I have slight scoliosis) and it took 20 minutes before the soothing drugs numbed me again. At this point I was thanking God for my wonderfully patient and caring midwife! Don't get me wrong, Matt was a great support too, but my midwife had some magically relaxing way of helping me breathe through the contractions. I'm so thankful she was at my bedside with Matt during the whole ordeal!

By now it had been about 10 hours and I still wasn't getting past 6 cm. I was utterly spent and didn't think I'd even have the energy to push when/if the time came. Matt and I discussed it and we decided if I hadn't significantly progressed in the next hour we'd ask for a c-section. My midwife came in and advised us in exactly the same way. She checked and I had gone DOWN to 5 cm! My cervix was incredibly swollen from the infection and Clive's heart rate was going down slightly with each contraction.

Everyone hustled and bustled and nurses and doctors came out of the woodwork to whisk me away to the operating room. I've been through a c-section before so I knew what to expect. I was still nervous though since my body had been taxed so thoroughly with Clive's labor process.

The c-section took much longer than my operation with Chloe; more than an hour in total. I was nauseous/heaving and shaking again with chills. I squeezed Matt's hand and we chatted with the anesthesiologist (the ones we've had are always really kind and laidback) to take our mind off the surgery. But when it was all over, we had a beautiful healthy baby boy! He came out squealing like a small dinosaur (fluid in his lungs) and the doctor peeked over the sheet to announce to me, "You've got a big boy here!" When he said that I thought for sure we had another off-the-charts 10 pounder. When he announced Clive to be a mere 8 lbs. 4 oz., Matt and I chuckled that the doctor considered that a big boy. :)

The rest of the story is fairly uneventful except that Clive was slightly affected by my infection. His temperature began falling the first night and he had to be put in an incubator for a day and a half. He turned out to be fine but it was scary at first since we didn't know how bad his infection was.

We came home on Wednesday and Matt's been taking tremendously good care of me ever since. He's taken over all Chloe-responsibilities, laundry, and most meals. Now that I'm 10 days post-partum I'm feeling much stronger and my incision is hardly bothering me anymore. Gotta love strong pain medication! I'm easing back into more Chloe time and doing meals again. I get about 6 hours of intermittent sleep at night and usually one nap a day to keep me going.

God is so good to have blessed us with such a precious beautiful healthy baby boy! Though the delivery didn't go as we planned, we're thankful that God kept us all safe and healthy through the experience. And the most important thing is that we've been given the miraculous gift of life in our new family member - Clive Simeon.