Baby Joe's Birth Story Part Two

Baby Joe's birth story is a long one, so I'm going to break it up into parts. If there are crazy misspellings or words that just plain don't make sense, forgive me- I'm a new mommy!

You can read Part One here.

Part Two


Getting up to go to the bathroom was a challenge. I had to have a nurse come in and unhook me from the fetal monitor and push my IV pole to the bathroom. I had to have the fetal monitor cords draped across my shoulders so I was paranoid they’d drop into the toilet. Every time I got back into bed my blood pressure would skyrocket.

In the middle of the night they put in the second round of Cytotec. The nurse said there was no change to my cervix. I was beginning to get discouraged. It didn’t help that I couldn’t eat or drink and I was starving and had bad cotton mouth. I couldn’t even have ice chips because the nurse said if I had to go to surgery there was a chance of aspirating that liquid.

I was beginning to fear a c-section. I would do whatever I needed to do to make sure that my son was safe, but I still couldn’t help feeling somewhat cheated out of a natural vaginal birth. For weeks I had been looking forward to that moment that I knew I was going into labor. I was looking forward to losing my mucous plug, feeling my water break, and feeling the first pains of contractions. I was looking forward to the confusion of “Is this really it?” and calling the doctor and having him say “Come on in!” I still held on tightly to the hope that the induction would work.

The next morning (Wed. Sept 1) the doctor came in to check if I had progressed at all. My cervix had dropped a little, but I was only one cm. dilated. They started me on Pitocin, an IV drug to start labor. Then came the bad news. No more getting out of bed due to my high blood pressure. That meant they had to insert a catheter. UGH, that was a horrible experience. It was so uncomfortable and I kept having bladder spasms. I kept feeling like I was peeing myself. Thankfully minutes after they inserted my catheter my best friend Ashlee showed up. She had driven 3 hours to come visit me and I thank God she did. She held my hand as I writhed in pain and kept me distracted by discussing our favorite TV shows and hometown gossip. Then came the other part of the bad news. Since my blood pressure was still dangerously high, they started me on magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures. The nurses kept on saying on horrible it was, but it would take a couple hours before I would feel it. The other problem with magnesium sulfate is that it is used to stop contractions for women experiencing pre-term labor. So here I was getting stuff pumped into me that starts contractions and stops them… which one would win out?

My dad also came to the hospital early that morning. The rest of the day was spent waiting around. Ashlee massaged my back and feet. We watched TV. It was a long day. Toward late afternoon the magnesium or “mag” as the nurses called it started kicking my butt. My face started feeling like it was on fire and I got the chills. And I had the worst case of dry mouth I have ever had in my life. Sure I was getting fluids intravenously, but I was DYING for ice cold fresh water to fill my mouth and throat. Its funny what mag can make you grateful for- I will never take for granted a drink of water again! Finally the nurse let me have “limited” ice chips and even though it felt good to have something cold and wet it still wasn’t satisfying.

The nurse came in to check to see if my cervix had changed any. After a very painful check she told me that I hadn’t progressed at all. She told me that the doctor would probably strongly suggest going in for a c-section. However, she did tell me that if I wanted to fight for trying one more night of the Cytotec and a day of Pitocin to not be afraid to speak up. I told her that was what I wanted to do. I would feel better going into a c-section knowing I tried as long as I could to try and coax my baby out.

The nurse said she would “put in a good word for me” with the doctor. When she left the room I broke down in tears. I wasn’t quite ready for this all to happen. I thought I had a couple more weeks to mentally prepare myself to be a mother. Both my life and Ryan’s life were going to drastically change and I was terrified. Sure, I knew that eventually our son had to come out. But the days before the doctor’s appointment that sent me to the hospital I was in a kind of denial that I was going to have a child. I had been pregnant for so long that I had grown accustom to the big belly, the swelling, the waddling, the kicks and wiggles inside me. The fact that I could be having my baby in the next few hours was scary, especially since it would be c-section.

The doctor came in and immediately put my fears at ease. He said he felt comfortable with me trying the Cytotec one more night and checking my progress in the morning. I was happy that he was willing to let me try a little longer. The nurse then put these things on my calves that inflated and deflated to prevent my legs from getting blood clots. At first it kind of felt good- a nice leg massage.

Ashlee left soon after that and said she’d be back in the next couple days. Then my brother came 2 hours to come visit me so that was a nice distraction. Soon he left, and my parents and Ryan’s parents left to go back to their hotel rooms. Ryan and I relaxed and watched TV. At one point we were bored so Ryan grabbed a baby name book that was up at the nurses’ station. We had pretty much narrowed down the name for our son. We’ve always known his first name would be Joseph. I wanted Ryan’s name as a middle name and Ryan wanted his Grandpa Edward’s name as a middle name. I was OK with the name Joseph Ryan Edward, but not 100% sold on it. But after looking at what each of the names meant I decided it was perfect. One of the meanings of the name Joseph is “God provides”. Ryan’s name means “little king.” Edward means “protection.” So our son’s name would be “God provides a little king to protect.” I thought it was perfect!

I barely got any sleep that night. First of all the things they put on my legs that felt so good at first started itching like CRAZY! I was sweating so badly and it was just uncomfortable. I was basically chained to my bed with those things, my 2 IV’s, my catheter, my fetal monitors and blood pressure cuff. So every time I wanted the side I was laying on I had to get a nurse to help me move and readjust my blood pressure cuff. I was still dying for something to drink and my face was still burning up. Ryan got me a tub of ice water and soaked some wash cloths in them to cool my face. That cooled me down for about 45 seconds before my face would feel like fire again.

I was praying that this round of Cytotec would work. But I also prayed to God and said, “My body is yours, do with it what you will. You know what is best for both me and my son.” It was hard to completely hand myself over to God’s will, because deep down I was still wanting to bargain with him about letting me have this baby vaginally. It was hard to give up control.

The thump, thump of my son’s heartbeat eventually put me to sleep.

The next morning probably around 7:30 the nurse came to check to see if I had dilated. I hadn’t. I had told my mom that if I hadn’t progressed any that I would want the c-section and not to try another round of Pitocin. My mom called the priest of our parish to have him do an anointing of the sick and a blessing on me. Fr. Kevin showed up very soon after that and after the anointing and blessing I felt a lot better. I truly feel that the grace from that is what helped me brave the next couple hours. Soon after that my doctor showed up and said he thought we should proceed with the c-section right away.

Everything happened so quickly!