At about 35 weeks of pregnancy, I started having really strong contractions at night. It was actually a Tuesday night and I was at a country concert at the Elkhart County Fair. I didn't think much of it until morning when I realized I was awake all night with the contractions and they weren't going away. My dad insisted I come in to the office to just get checked so my mind would be put at ease. They hooked me up to the monitors, which showed I was certainly having contractions, but they were irregular (or something like that!).
I went through the next 3 weeks with sleepless nights, daily/nightly contractions, trips to the doctor, 2 trips to the hospital, trips to the mall to walk and just plain misery. My poor family. My poor Nic. It was extremely hard emotionally and physically. I later found out I was basically in labor for 3 weeks. I wasn't trying to be impatient, but I was so tired of the pain and the constant contractions.
My dad finally suggested on Sunday that I may want to do a therapeutic rest, which would either put my contractions in a regular rhythm or stop them completely if I wasn't truly in labor. They would give me medicine to sleep through the night, but I would stay in the hospital. Let me tell you, whatever they gave me was AMAZING! It was a weird experience because although I was sleeping, I was aware I was still having contractions, but they were not painful. It also made me think I was the most awesome person in the world...and apparently I made that known to Nic through talking in my sleep.
When I woke up, they put me back on the monitor and I still had contractions. At this time I was only dilated to about 4. I was informed that because of a shortage of nurses, it would mostly be hours before they would even break my water and I might even be sent home. I was devastated. I couldn't go another day with the contractions. I wanted to feel like a normal human being again.
However, things changed, and was pushing 5 cm, so Dr. Byrne ended up breaking my water around 9:15 am. Before I knew it I was experiencing the worst pain I could ever imagine. My contractions were coming so close that I could barely breathe in between. To tell you the truth from the time that my water was broken until the time I got my epidural at 10:45, I barely remember...except almost breaking Nic's hand and yelling at the epidural guy (I don't know how to spell that one word) to hurry in the room and get the medicine going. Now that I think about it, I might owe him an apology.
I remember praying that the epidural would kick in quickly because I honestly thought I was dying. It was around 15 minutes later I started feeling a little relief and then finally numbness. I could finally breathe without wanting to die.
The doctor checked me and realized I was ready to push. For me, this was all too fast. I was in labor with the other 2 kids around 10-13 hours. This was all so fast. I pushed for about 10 minutes, and then my baby boy was out. He arrived at 11:16 am. He was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 21 inches. Perfect.
I felt pretty good after delivering him and didn't have any complications...and only one stitch. It is amazing to look back on all three deliveries and see how completely they all were.
The next 24 hours went very smoothly, which allowed us to be able to come home early. The only pain I really experienced was the cramping and then the soreness of every muscle from my shoulders to my ankles from the contractions. I didn't remember the soreness with the other 2 but I think that is because my water was broken before the epidural this time so I had to go through those strong contractions and clenching every muscle in my body to try to combat the pain. I feel very thankful and blessed for the way this delivery went. With that being said, I can now officially be content with being done at three.
That's the story of how my baby Easton came into the world.
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