I am posting this again because I like to remember!!
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I was 38 weeks pregnant when I went to my final OB/GYN appointment. My midwife stripped my membranes that day and told me that she expected to see me in there next week...since it was my first pregnancy, she didn't expect things to advance too quickly.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Matt was on a detachment with his Navy squadron in Fallon, Nevada and wasn't going to be able to make it to the birth. Matt and I weren't married at the time, so the Navy doesn't have much obligation to keep fathers around in those cases.
The next day, my mom flew in from Missouri to be there for the birth. She was going to be there for a few weeks so I had a pretty large window to hopefully have the baby. I was having mild cramping and some contractions that day, but nothing serious. I had been having ones like that for a few days.
The next day, I drank about 6 ounces of castor oil just to see if I could throw myself into real labor. I was scared to death of having the baby late or something and my mom not being there, so I was trying EVERYTHING. Of course, I sat on the crapper for hours after that.
Then, around 1am I woke up from a dead sleep in the strangest pain I have ever felt. I thought I had to crap again, and I just felt really weird. I can't explain it. My plug (yeah, sounds gross) had been coming out ever since my midwife stripped my membranes a few days prior. But when I went to try to go to the bathroom, it was more bloody than usual, and I didn't have to poo.
I went into the living room and crawled onto the couch bed and woke up my mom and told her I didn't feel "right". She was like "are you in labor?" I had no idea if I was or not because the contractions weren't all that bad, but they were pretty regular. They were REALLY tolerable. So, we waited a couple hours and then I decided to call the NURSE LINE which is a line the Navy provides to pregnant women who have questions...I was in the Navy at the time BTW.
The NURSE LINE told me to go ahead and go to Labor and Delivery because I was bleeding some (my hospital was an hour away or more with traffic...I had to use the Navy hospital unless it was an emergency).
Oh, I forgot to mention, my mom is a nurse and she was more concerned because I was swollen REALLY badly and my blood pressure was ridiculous...she determined that AFTER we called the NURSE LINE.
So, my mom drove me to the hospital...it was awful because my mom is from the back woods of Missouri and had NEVER driven on a freeway before. That was really interesting and painful. By the time we got there, the contractions were REALLY bad.
They let me in to check me out. I was only 3 centimeters dialated and like 75% effaced, but my blood pressure was so high, that they immediately admitted me and put me on Magnesium Sulfate. (forgot to mention that I had preeclampsia, Mag Sulfate is something they use to lower blood pressure) Mag Sulfate is NOTHING to play with, that stuff was TERRIBLE, and it slowed down my labor a lot, so they started me on Pitocin...let me just say that is the most EVIL substance of all. Immediately I started having the WORST contractions in the world.
I told the nurse to give me my epidural as soon as they could...I had NEVER wanted to go without pain medication in the first place, why suffer if I don't have to? Anyway, I got the epidural and was in heaven for about 5 hours. (They broke my water right after I got the epidural) Then something happened to the cathedar in my back and they never could replace it correctly. I kept telling the doctor that it hurt back there, and she argued with me that it couldn't possibly hurt because she knows she got it right. I almost slapped her, I am the one in pain, NOT her, how would she have known if I was or not? Stupid!!!!!!
On top of that...the back labor began. Nothing in the world can get rid of that pain, not even drugs. It was terrible. Then James' heartrate started dropping. They assumed his cord was around his neck because of the way my contractions were affecting his heartbeat. That scared the crap outta me, but they let me keep going.
So to make a long story short(er) at about 1:30AM I felt the need to push. I didn't tell anyone for a long time because I was really scared that it was going to hurt...I was in so much pain already (no more drugs for the last 8 hours), I don't know why it mattered. So I waited a really long time until I couldn't hold on any longer. I yelled at the nurse to get in there, and she had me start to push. I told her to kiss my ass and get a doctor in there. She was really rude about it and made me push anyway. She even tried to make me hold my own legs...I was in labor for damn near 24 hours straight at this point and that bitch wanted me to hold me own legs...UH, NO! And I didn't. My mom and some other nurse did.
By the time the doctor came in, James was crowning. The doctor said okay, we are going to try to have this baby out in 40 minutes. I don't think so. I am NOT going to push for that damn long (I was thinking). One minute later, James' head was out. He had a bowel movement and there was meconium. Then they made me stop pushing because his cord was around his neck so tight (twice)...they had to cut it before he came out. After that, I pushed him out. The pushing took a TOTAL of 15 minutes. Go ME!
Anyway, right after he came out, my mom BOLTED out of the room crying, and they whisked James away without letting me see him, and he wasn't crying. No one would tell me what was going on and I was freaking out...the doctor was trying to get me to calm down because I had hemorraged and she was trying to stop the bleeding and get all the clots out and repair my tear. I tore REALLY bad and needed stitches.
Then I heard the happiest sound of my life...James was CRYING!!!! It was MUCH easier to lay still after I heard him cry. Turns out there was nothing wrong with him, he just wasn't crying at first. His scores were perfect, and he had no meconium in him at all.
Then my mom came back in sobbing. I was pissed because she ran out crying and didn't tell me why...I was FREAKING out thinking my baby was dead. Know what she had to say?
"THAT WAS NASTY!!!"
She damn near gave me a heart attack because she thought the birth was gross. My mom is a freaking NURSE for goodness sakes.
Anyway, James Cameron was born at 0240 on 24April2004, weighed 7lbs 5ozs and was 21 inches long.
We were in the hospital for a few extra days because I was still on the Magnesium Sulfate for my blood pressure, but James was fine and so was I in the end. My mom stayed with me the entire time.
