The story of Kellan

Got into bed on Wednesday night (March 9th) about 11:30 and had been having contractions on and off all day. I decided to lay down to try and sleep through them. I put on my hypnobabies track to try to fall asleep, I made it to the relaxation part and felt weird movement in my belly, then he kicked my bladder. At first, I thought I'd peed myself, i started to get up and said to andrew, "either I peed myself or my water broke...(and then i started gushing) yeah...my water just broke." It went everywhere, it was gross. We headed to hospital about an hour later and met Jamie there.

My nurse (kippy..yes, her name really was kippy) was a jerk, she insisted I get an IV and then after an hour of monitoring insisted that we start pitocin. She wouldn't let me get out of bed to labor and was eventually the reason that I had to get internal monitors. I started the pitocin at about 4-5am. Got the internal monitors about 8am (my doc placed them and she was PISSED at the hospital/staff).

At about 11am they had upped the pitocin considerably but contractions wouldn't stay consisitent, however, they were awful. I couldn't bring myself to labor out of bed at that point. We still laughed and joked between contractions and were still feeling positive...until they checked me. ONly 2-3 centimeters...same as when I got there. The upped the pitocin again.

I was moaning/yelling/crying through contractions and yelling NO when they started. I asked them to check me (about 1) and said if I wasn't progressing, I wanted the epi....i was still at a 2-3. SO we got the epi, which was a ray of freaking sunshine when you're having off the chart contractions 2 minutes apart. Jamie was freaking amazing with all her techniques we tried before that to decrease pain and get focused. So we continued upping the pitiocin and then got checked about 3 or 4. I was at 5 centimeters (loose) so we felt there was some improvement. I maxed out on the pitocin allowed for VBAC patients, but still wasn't having consistent contractions.

At 7pm they checked me again, still a 5. So, we called the doc. At 8pm doc called me back, told me this was not normal for labor, I should have progressed more. Asked me if I'd consent to a repeat c-section. No one ever made me feel bad for my decision or that it wasn't a choice. So, doc came in, we got prepped for surgery.

Went into the OR and I was feeling pretty good because I trusted Dr. M so much more than the past doc. They got started and I couldn't calm down, had to have anxiety medicine. K was born at 9:16pm weighing 8lbs 3oz and 21 1/4 inches long. Doc stopped and let me look my fill at him before they took him across the room. His apgars were 9 and 9.

At this point, I was convinced that I could feel pain (it was likely just hard pressure) so they gave me more pain meds. Andrew came and sat with K next to me. Surgery went really quick and we were back to the room with Jamie. They took out my epi quickly and then I was allowed to nurse K. He ate on both sides and then I got to watch his first bath. No family came to visit until the next morning so we had the whole night to get to know him. I feel amazing. Feel confident about my birth. People always seem so sad for me, but I'm not.