When I went to the OB on Friday I was dilated to a 3. The OB was very adamant about me needing to call her if I had any regular contractions at all. The next day at 3:00 I started having contractions about every 10 minutes. Nothing strong, just a tightening in my tummy. By 6:00 they were coming every 7 minutes and by 9:00 they were every 5. Everyone started saying I should call the OB but these contractions didn’t hurt at all and I have experienced labor contractions before and they are PAINFUL. I finally figured I might as well call just to see what the OB said and of course they wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked. I really knew this wasn’t the real deal and that we were just going to get sent home but I figured it would be good practice for the real day. So we called our neighbor Jennifer to come over and sit at our house because Logan and Aila were already in bed and I didn’t want to wake them up and take them to Doug’s brother’s house when we were just going to be coming back home in an hour or 2. So we loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. They hooked me up on the monitor and confirmed my 5 minute apart contractions and then they checked me… Now here is the whopper…I WAS DIALATED TO A 7!!! With Logan and Aila it took me all day to get from 3-5 and with Logan I needed pitocin to even get past 5 and with Aila I needed my water broken to get past 5. So I was so happy and excited and definitely shocked. I thought maybe this labor was going to be fast and pain free! We had to call everyone and let them know that this was the real thing and I was not coming home. Doug’s brother drove out to our house to pick up the kids and take them back to his house so Jennifer could go home.
Meanwhile, at the hospital they told me that they were unable to get in touch with my OB and I had to meet the OB that was on call. She was not nice at all and very pushy. She seemed to think my birth plan was a joke and was ready to start some medical intervention right away. I told her that I would like to walk around to see if I could keep the labor going and get it to progress naturally. She looked at me like I was nuts and said she had heard of a woman doing that in a hospital in Connecticut once. I was thinking really??? (In AZ they practically make you walk when you start your labor. I have done many laps while in labor with Logan and Aila! I probably have walked marathons!) But this OB agreed to let me “try”. She really wanted me to just lie in the bed and be on the monitors the whole time but I got my way and we walked for an hour. When I came back to get checked I was at an 8! And the real kicker was that I still was not in any pain! Now this OB (who shall remain nameless) couldn’t deny that the walking worked some so she let me go for another hour. I walked for another hour and when I came back to get checked the baby had moved to the front, dropped a station lower and I was more effaced. More progress even though I had not dilated more. So they let me walk again for another hour.
I knew that if I did not dilate in the next hour they were going to want to break my water but I did not want it to be this OB. I wanted my OB. Well God answered my prayer because when the hour was up we saw my nurse and she said that my OB would be there in 10 minutes! My OB came in and checked me and I had not dilated any more. By now I didn’t even feel the tightening of contractions and my labor had basically stopped. So I agreed to let her break my water. I was nervous about this because I know how much more painful labor is once your water breaks but I knew it would be better than pitocin. I was also excited because with Aila they broke my water and I was pushing within an hour. Well an hour went by and I still was having absolutely no contraction. By now it was 7 am and my night nurse changed shifts. She was so certain she was going to see my baby be born. At 3 am they had even rolled the delivery cart into my room. No one believed that I had long labors when I came in already at a 7 and progressed to an 8 in an hour. But here I was at 7 am and I was stuck at an 8. My OB suggested pitocin but I really did not want any artificial drugs. I didn’t want any pain meds either. I wanted an all natural labor. When we thought we were going to miscarry this baby and then he made it, I made a commitment to God that I was not going to miss one bit of this birth experience. I wanted to feel all of it because it was a blessing to be in labor and have this baby. I wanted to feel all the pain and all the good too. My new nurse was such a blessing because she was totally supportive of all natural labor and was really an advocate for me. We convinced the OB to let me walk for another hour to see if the water breaking would work.
Another hour went by and it was around 8:30 am and my OB checked me. Still nothing. I had to face the fact that I was STUCK. I came in at 11 pm at a 7 and by 8:30 am was only at an 8. Almost 10 hours and I only dilated 1 cm. So I finally agreed to the Pitocin. They started the Pitocin around 9 am. I started feeling horrible pain by 9:30. I knew that there was no turning back. Doug helped me through the contractions. He was such a great coach. He kept telling me how great I was doing and how he knew I could do it. I couldn’t even talk. I kept hearing the song “How Great is Our God” in my head and I focused on that to get through the pain. Focused on how this is what I had been waiting for. This miracle that God had given me. This baby who was never supposed to be born! By 10:30 I started yelling that I needed to push. I started pushing on my own and the nurse started to panic and told me to stop because she already saw some hair. She was trying to page my OB but the pager was broken. But I must have been loud enough that they heard me in the hallway and knew that the baby must be coming. So an entire team came into the room and my ob got her scrubs on fast and was ready to catch the baby. With Logan and Aila they were both out with 1 push. This time was harder, probably because I felt every bit of it. It took me about 15 minutes but then Levi was finally here. He came out totally healthy. It was the most amazing feeling in the world! I was literally shouting for joy. Praise God for his miracle!!!
Levi Vito Sheppard was born on Sunday, November 14th 2010 at 11:00 am. He weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long. We were originally going to give him the middle name Nathaniel but with my dad’s recent decline in health we thought that giving him my dad’s name as his middle name would be a great way to honor my dad’s memory. Vito means life. What more appropriate name is there for this little miracle who was supposed to die than LIFE?
Daddy was very tired while he waited for Levi to arrive:
Getting monitored for a few minutes before walking again. Still smiling and not in pain!
The camera went away for the pain part of labor...believe me those pics would not be pretty! LOL But we did remember to grab it after Levi finally came into this world! He entered the world at exactly 11:00 am on Sunday, November 14th.
His first cry:
His head was very round compared to my other 2 coneheads. And his skin was really smooth. A lot of nurses thought he was a C-Section baby:
Logan and Aila were both 6 lbs 13 oz and 19.5 inches long. Levi was 1 ounce smaller and a 1/2 an inch longer. He was 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. His apgar was an 8 and then a 9 : )
So I know I complained about the long waits in her office and about how she worried a lot but she was seriously the BEST ob I have ever had deliver one of my babies. She really let me make the decisions and was willing to work with me during my labor. She was super involved and I saw her every day that I was in the hospital! I am definitely going to have her deliver my next baby if we are still in Texas!
My first time nursing him:
Who does he look like?
Daddy getting to hold him:
In the nursery:
Time for visitors:
The cute sign they gave us at the hospital:
Mimi enjoying all her grandkids:
