Birth Story

On Thursday I went to the doctor for my weekly checkup. I had him check me because I had been feeling a lot of pressure and I was sure I had to be dilating. I wasn't. But, he said my cervix was really soft.

My doctor recently started switching off and on every other weekend with another doctor. On Friday Brent and Brityn took me out to lunch. I used the restroom and discovered I was losing my mucous plug. I was not happy that this was happening on a Friday even though I had no idea if it was his weekend on or off. I told Brent and informed him I was doing absolutely nothing that weekend, no way did I want some random doctor I've never met before delivering my baby!

So, Saturday I did nothing and nothing happened besides a few random braxton hicks contractions.

Sunday, I got woken up three times by contractions. They weren't bad but enough to get my attention. When I got up I lost the rest of my plug. I had a couple more contractions that morning. We went to lunch with Speedy and Carol, I figured it was probably the last time I would be eating out for a while. I had a couple contractions during lunch. They were still really mild and not regular at all. I'm praying that they stay this way the rest of the day.

I took a bath with Brityn about 8:00, again figured it was going to be a while before I get to do that. At that point my contractions starting getting regular, 20 minutes apart but still not painful. After I got Brityn to bed I took a benadryl and went straight to bed, hoping to get some sleep. That didn't happen. By 10:30 contractions were still 20 minutes apart but they were getting painful so I got up and took a bath. If I couldn't sleep at least I could try and relax. I stayed in the tub till midnight. Brent went to bed then and told me to wake him up if I needed him. At this point I was having some contractions that were 8-9 minutes apart, but most of them were still about 20 minutes apart. I went and laid on the couch and over the next hour and a half they were coming 4-5 minute apart but I would have some that were 2 minutes apart, those ones were very mild and I just figured it was like a leftover contraction (yeah, I know, is there such thing?!). From 1:30 to 2:30 they got really painful. More painful than I remembered with Brityn. Painful enough I seriously thought about banging my head off the wall... I'm not kidding! I kept thinking "what in the world?! why is this so bad?!" At 2:30 (still 4-5 minutes apart) I decided enough was enough I was going to go get some drugs. I walked the 20 feet to our bedroom to wake Brent up. In a matter of maybe 2 minutes my contractions went from 4-5 minutes to one on top of the other. Brent went to call his parents. I got dressed and came out to get my shoes and my purse. I had to stop every 10 feet or so to get through another contraction. Brent went out to get the car out of the garage and I had a contraction that brought me to my knees and I felt like I needed to push. I'm starting to panic now. I just could not comprehend how things changed so quickly, and was I going to make it to the hospital?, and OMG I hope Speedy hurries! Luckily he pulled up as Brent was pulling the car out. He was walking in the door and I was hobbling out as fast as I could manage. I still haven't told Brent how bad it was, no need to have two of us panicking! Especially the one that was driving. Speedy must have known it was serious because he asked if we should call an ambulance, lol.

We got to the hospital at 3:00. The girl working in the ER asked me if I was in labor or just having pains... um seriously? Brent half carried me in the doors, yeah I'm pretty sure I'm in labor! Brent went to move the car while I checked in. I was literally throwing my ID and insurance cards at her, as she is asking me to sign things. Why do they ask woman who are about to birth a baby right on a chair in the ER to sign things? I would love to see my signature on those forms!

An orderly showed up with a wheelchair and we took what Brent says was the fastest elevator he's ever been on, up to the maternity floor. The nurse met us in the hallway and took me to my room, gave me a gown and tried to leave so I could get undressed. I didn't care that she was there, I started tearing my clothes off right in front of her. At this point I just wanted drugs and FAST! I told her I was requesting my epidural now! She tried not to laugh... I'll give her that. Her and Brent looked at each other like I was a crazy person. Actually I think I first asked her if my doctor was on call, even at that point I was still concerned about who was going to deliver my baby. I was undressed by then so she said she would check me and then go call Dr. Sironi. I'm thinking don't call my doctor first! Call the anesthesiologist!! Priorities woman! She checks me and I'm 9 centimeters dilated. I think it was at that point I started to cry. I said "so I guess I'm not getting that epidural?" WHAAAAAAAAAA! At some point during all this she checked me again and I was 9 1/2. She leaves to call the doctor and within maybe five minutes she is back and Dr. Sironi is with her. For some reason (I was not in a state of mind to ask) he was in the ER. Thank goodness he was on call and he was in the hospital, it wouldn't have mattered if he was on call or not, if he was at home there is no way he would have made it in time to deliver the baby. He checked me and I was 10 centimeters. The nurse got everything ready for me to start pushing, then she tried to get an IV in, four times. I guess she was digging around in my hand pretty good. Brent said he was waiting for me to start yelling... trust me I couldn't feel a thing! I figured if she could get an IV in I could at least get some drugs through that... or not. She finally gave up and it was time to push. I'm embarrassed to admit I became one of those woman who drive me crazy on the baby shows. I was yelling and screaming and crying. I kept saying I couldn't do it. At one point doctor yelled at me to focus and stay with them, get mad at the pain. The nurse told me I was going to push this baby out in three contractions. I told her "no, I'm not, it took me an hour and half to push my daughter out!" I guess I nearly kicked Dr. Sironi in the face on the first push so he told Brent to hold my leg. Brent said he was okay where he was. The doctor was like "NO! your going to hold her leg!" Afterward he said he was glad he did, it was awesome to watch him being born. With Brityn he just stayed up by my head, he wishes he had watched with her too. Well, the nurse was right three contractions and Ryder was born. Forty-four minutes after walking into the ER.

Carol arrived right after Ryder came out and when she rang to be let in the nurse told her she couldn't come in because I had just had the baby. She said "no, I want Bobbi Gonzalez's room." the nurse told her "yes, it's her room, can't you hear the baby crying."

Once they let her into the room she stayed with me while the doctor stitched me up. Brent watched while they took care of Ryder.

I realized around the time they finally gave me the baby that we'd forgotten the camera. After they got me to a post-partum room Brent ran home to grab it. Speedy was so nervous he had our whole house cleaned and a few loads of laundry done in that short amount of time. He couldn't believe I had already had the baby.

In hindsight I think my water must have broke when I got up to wake Brent up. The nurse and the doctor asked me if it had and I told them I didn't know. Neither of them could feel my bag of waters when they checked me. It must have just been a slow leak because I didn't feel anything but I did notice some weird colored stuff when I got undressed at the hospital.

I wish I could say that I'm glad it happened the way it did, be one of those woman who are all "yay natural childbirth" but yeah, NO! I would NEVER do it again. If I were to have another baby I would hightail it to the hospital the minute my contractions started. It was the hardest, most painful thing I have ever done. The only good thing about it was being able to feel the baby come out, that part was truly awesome. I'm sure there are a couple of other things that were good about natural childbirth but I will have to get back to you on that.