Cooper's Birth Story: Part 3

Before I could barely blink there were a few different people coming in and getting things set up and my nurse was back giving me instructions on what we would be doing while pushing. They ended up starting me on a very small amount of ptocin because my contractions had slowed somewhat and they were trying to get them closer together for when I was pushing.

I started actually pushing around 12:30 or 12:45 and made it through one contraction of pushing. The baby's heart rate dropped after this and I had to wait through another contraction before trying again. During this time my nurse switched out with my new nurse, Erin. She caught her up to what was going on, stayed through one more contraction of pushing and then left.

My next 2 1/2 hours were spent pushing on my right and left side. We had to wait for every other contraction to push because his hear trate dropped every time and we had to give him and me time to recover. I tried pushing on my back only once because his heart rate dropped way low (I never knew exactly how low because my people knew it would just stress me out more and I knew better than to ask). He did the best on my right side, which is where I did the majority of pushing. He just never made any progress. They could see him moving as I would push but as soon as I quit, he just went right back to where he was.

Zach and Mom were amazing and did their job well of keeping me calm. Zach was calm enough to go out and get some pizza from the waiting room and bring it back to eat while helping me through contractions. It didn't seem so crazy at the time but afterwards this totally cracked me up! I had major reflux during the time I was pushing and at one point threw up because of it. This was not a fun thing but we all survived. The funny thing was when mom and Zach both high tailed it to the other side of the room when they saw what was going on! Erin was the only one who stayed with me in that part.

I was obviously making zero progress, despite my best effort. They called the doctor and he was already on his way back over to check on me. The last couple of contractions before he got there, the baby's heart rate continued to drop a little more and then recover in between. When the doctor got there he said it was time to go ahead and get him out. We would attempt with forceps but only if he could gently turn him, if not he said we'd be headed for the OR.

The next couple of minutes were a blur of nurses getting all the stuff ready for delivery, for the baby and for the doctor. I swear there were like 10 people in there and they all stayed! They all had a different job but they all were literally cheering me on.

A few minutes later... I had my baby boy. It was simply the most incredible experience. I will never have the words to describe the feeling I had when he was born. Instant relief and joy. His first cries were music to my ears.