The Yeltons: The Birth Story

It all started on Saturday May 25th. I was having pains that felt like menstrual cramps. I knew some friends had described contractions as feeling like these, but I didn't think much of it because there was no pattern to when they would come. As the day went on I noticed they were coming on a little more frequently so I thought maybe this is what they call "early labor". I went about my day and had lunch with my mom. I was hoping to run errands, but wasn't feeling up to it. I went back home and laid around the house. Later that afternoon Gray's dad came over for a visit and then my sweet friend Christine came over to see Evie's nursery. While they were here I started having more and more of these cramps. Gray and I finally decided that these were probably contractions and that I could possibly be going into full on labor at some point that day.

Later that night the contractions were coming on stronger and stronger. We started timing how far apart they were and at this point they were about 8-10 minutes apart. I knew I wanted to take a shower before heading to the hospital so I attempted to do that and finished some last minute packing. The contractions were now coming every 5 minutes and we had planned to call the doctor once they were like this for an hour. As we were timing them Gray was able to tell me when I was about to have another one because they were coming exactly 5 minutes apart. We called the doctor and she told me to come on in.

Gray and my mom packed the car with our bags and we got ready to leave. I was not looking forward to this car ride because I knew all I could do was deal with the pain. When we pulled up to the Emergency Room Gray ran in to get a wheel chair and the next thing I notice is the car in front of us in backing up and he backs into my car. I lay on the horn so he will stop. I could not believe what had just happened. My mom jumps out the car to go check it out and Gray comes out in shock at what has just happened. All the while I am sitting in the car mid-contraction. Gray helps me into the wheel chair and the nurse comes out to take me inside. We check in and eventually head back.

We got back to the MAC unit about 10:45 pm and I get changed. The nurse starts asking questions and we realize that my water had broken before I got there. The best part of that news was that I would not be going home! She checks everything out and tells me I am about 4 cm dilated. Coming into the hospital I was already at 3 cm. A few minutes later we headed to labor and delivery. They got me into the bed and started everything for the epidural. My contractions were so strong at this point that every time I had one I felt very sick. I eventually did get sick while having them and that was horrible. After the epidural set in I was feeling much better and able to relax. A lot of our family had gotten there so we were visiting with them. Everyone was so excited because we thought" we were so close to meeting our baby girl.

The doctor came in frequently to check my progress and every time she came I was only about 5 cm dilated. While all this was happening my nurse had gotten called to an emergency c-section so they put another nurse in my room. There was somewhat of a mix up because the doctor called for Pitocin, but when my nurses switched no one had given it to me yet. This was a little frustrating because this only prolonged the labor even more. Eventually they got me the Pitocin so all we could do was rest and wait. Hours went by and not much progress. I had been in labor for so long that my epidural had started wearing off. They had to call another doctor to come in to give me a stronger medicine. Thank goodness they did that because I was not trying to have this baby natural!

Around 1:30 or so that afternoon the doctor came in and said it was about time for me to start pushing. This was music to my ears because I had been in labor for almost 15 hours at this point (not counting the labor at home). Once I started pushing it took another hour to hour and a half for me to push , but at 3:34 our baby girl entered into the world. I could not believe she was finally here after 17 hours of labor. It was by far the greatest moment of my life when I saw her.