Wow - THAT Came out of Me?!

My birth story is a fairly crazy one, at least according to what I've been told by others.  Of course this is my first (and possibly only child...to be determined at this point) so I have nothing with which to compare this experience.  (That sentence would do my high school English teacher proud. I didn't end it with a preposition.)

Anyway, my birth story begins at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, 2012.

I fell asleep watching Saturday Night Live as was typical of me at my old age (32) and the fact that I was 9 months preggo. So sleepy.  I woke up around 11:00 p.m. So, if you do the math, I likely made it through 10 minutes of the show before falling asleep.  I went to the bathroom as at that point in pregnancy, I ALWAYS made sure to pee RIGHT before I went to sleep.  If you've ever been preggo, you know there are 4 times you are always sure to pee: 1) right before bed 2) right when you wake up 3) right before you leave to go anywhere and 4) right when you arrive at your destination. Around 11:30 I awoke with my very first thought being "Holy Sh@#, I just peed myself!"  Well, it wasn't pee...my water broke.  I immediately called for my hubby who had just gone to sleep himself, then I called the birthcenter at the hospital I was to give birth at to let them know we'd be on our way shortly.

We arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight on December 2nd.  However, other than my water breaking, I was having no signs of labor.  We walked the halls for about an hour trying to make something happen from 1:30 - 2:30 a.m. and still nothing. The nurse told us to try to rest..YA RIGHT.  Both my husband and I were so amped up at this point, there was no rest that whole night for either of us.  Not to mention, the patient beds in the rooms are like sleeping on the floor...I imagine prison beds to have more comfort. We did try to sleep though.

At some point in the night, they noticed baby boy's heart rate was irregular.  Very often one beat would jump the gun and beat early.  So they were monitoring that closely.

By 4:45 a.m. there was still nothing happening.  No pain, still only dilated to a 2, NOTHING.  So they started pitocin.  Um ouch.  Within an hour I was feeling some decent contractions and by about 9:30 a.m. they were pretty bad.  "GIVE ME SOME DRUGS!"  I finally declared.  We started with IV drugs and what a trip.  I actually got some sleep, but it was an unsettled sleep.  That is what I would imagine tripping on acid or something to feel like.  I was dreaming in 3D and cartoons and rainbows, but in a weird, not-so-great way!  I would wake up and say something to my husband (who was by my side the entire time), and would get no reply.  So I'd get a bit upset and ask him why he didn't answer me.  Apparently I THOUGHT I was saying things out-loud, but was NOT.  That drug lasted about an hour and thus began the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life.  Not to mention that I was STILL only dilated to a 2.

To which I replied "EPIDURAL PLEASE!" after first asking what the longest timeframe one could keep an epidural going was.  The nurse was great and I was to be next in line for the anesthesiologist.  Apparently 4-5 new women had come in over the course of the time we had been there and the anesthesiologist was literally going from room to room giving epidurals.  Sweet relief is all that can describe the amazing calm you get after feeling HORRIBLE pain and then nothing...The time is now around 11:30 a.m. on the 2nd and the nurse said to be prepared for 8-10 hours of labor and then 1-2 hours of pushing.  So, I'm figuring baby boy Raab won't even be born until 10 p.m. or later at this point.  So we settle in for the long haul, we alert our families it'll be a while and I finally get a bit of shut eye.

I awoke around 1:00 p.m. when the nurse was in checking me.  She decided to check my dilation.  At 1:15 p.m. I'm to a 4 now - whoo-hoo!  We let the families know that maybe it will be a bit quicker than 10 that night, heck it may be 9 :)  She came in to check me a bit later and I nonchalantly tell her I'm feeling a bit nauseous, FYI.  Not necessarily like I'm going to puke, just a bit nauseous.  She asks if I want meds for that and just as I'm saying "I don't know if that's necessary" I projectile vomit in a barf bag.  She figures she should check my dilation again and I'm to a 6!  Apparently nausea is a side effect of labor speeding up.

Within 2 hours, I went from being dilated to a 4 to holding my baby boy in my arms.  I refer to my boy as a rocket and I'm the rocket launcher.  He came flying out of there rather dramatically.  It all happened so fast.  The on-call doc, Dr. Danielson, as well as nurses-galore came rushing into my room.  My mom even said they saw a nurse running down the hall, but didn't figure it could be for me...not yet, anyway.  It was time to push Da Baby (that's what my brother called him) out!  They threw oxygen on me as the baby wasn't getting enough and his heart-rate was dropping.  All I heard was a nurse tell me was "we need to put oxygen on you as the baby isn't getting enough."  My husband later told me that the doc said "we need to get this baby out his heart-rate is dropping."  Boy am I glad I didn't hear that.  Anyway, the doc barely got in the room and dressed properly and I was pushing.  3 strikes and your out? Try 3 pushes and baby boy was out.  And only about 5-10 minutes of pushing.  With the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice nonetheless.  No wonder his heart-rate was dropping.

The rapid-fire birth was not just traumatic on the baby but also on mommy.  I couldn't stop bleeding.  Good thing I had an epidural as after the placenta was delivered, the doc was damn-near doing the Heimlich maneuver on my abdomen and digging up in me to get blood clots and stop the bleeding.  I imagine that would have been insane pain if I was feeling it.  Ouch.

All I can say is God is good and he was definitely intervening that afternoon.  Had anything gone differently or had I labored into all hours of the night, either baby or mommy may not be here today.

Baby boy's heart still appears to have that same issue, but they did an EKG on him right after birth and currently don't determine it to be anything that needs treatment now.  Another EKG will be done on Tuesday at his 2-week checkup to be sure.  

Gabriel Peter Raab.  Gabriel means God is My Strength.  So true! 

I would also like to state that Dr. Danielson was not super happy with Melissa, my nurse, for getting me an epidural when I was only dilated to a 2.  But thank God she did as there may not have been time had she waited :)  thanks Melissa!

As I lay there holding my baby for the first time in total and complete shock that he's here and utter amazement that this baby not just came flying out of me but that I grew him for 9 months, I was overwhelmed with this precious gift we had been given.