Camden's Birth Story

I'll try to make a short story even shorter and keep it clean for the men who read my blog LOL...

At 9:30 pm on Monday night November 9th, the last of the kids was off to bed and that is usually when Chris and I go to bed as well (yes we are like old folks LOL, but we both get up EARLY remember!) I was having some contractions that I thought were just Braxton Hicks (had been having them for weeks). They didn't hurt at that point, but I did notice they were coming 3-5 minutes apart. I debated whether to stay up and time them or try to get some sleep and opted to go to bed, figuring they would subside.

Once I was in bed, they just kept getting stronger and closer together. I laid there timing them, not believing that I could possibly be in labor. But by 11:30 they were 2 minutes apart, lasting about a minute, and I had to breathe through them as they were quite painful. So I called my parents to come stay with the sleeping kids so we could head to the hospital to get checked out.

Luckily the hospital is very close (10 minutes) as I was very uncomfortable on the ride there. We checked in through emergency (after hours) at exactly midnight. About 10 minutes later, someone form Labor & Delivery came to get me. I think she could tell by the way I was acting that I was going to be admitted but sent me through triage anyway. Meanwhile, I am begging for my epidural LOL. The triage nurse checked me and said "I may not be able to give you your epidural" so I'm thinking I am not far enough along. Well, I was 7 cm dilated already. On one hand, I was glad all that pain was productive, but on the other, I knew the epidural may not happen and I was MAD. Hannah was an unmedicated delivery and I swore I'd never do THAT again!

They quickly got me from triage into a L & D room, it was maybe 12:45 at this point. They told me they would order the epi, but Chris says they were just humoring me LOL. From there, things went FAST. Camden's heart rate dropped from the 130s into the 90s and so they had me try some different positions to keep his heart rate up. This happened with Madi as well and even though all the doctors and nurses were so calm, I knew it meant possible emergency C-Section if he did not come out of the decels. I was scared at this point and didn't care about the pain, just wanted him out and safe. Meanwhile, out of nowhere, I had a tremendous urge to push. Doctor checked me again and I was complete. About 15 minutes and maybe 10 pushes later, Camden was born at 1:34 am on Tuesday, November 10th. The pushing part took longer than I expected but I had a nice break in between each contraction. His shoulders got stuck and that was the worst part, I tore up pretty badly and felt it since I didn't have any pain meds.

The thing I remember most about the labor (besides the PAIN) is just saying (yelling?) over and over, "This is NOT how I wanted it to go. I wanted an epidural, I wanted a pain free birth". Oh well, as soon as it was over, it did not matter how he got here, just that he was healthy and safe. We waited a long time for our precious boy and cannot imagine not having him in our lives. He is such a blessing!