Brighton's Birth: The Extended Version

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Add in more details to Brighton's birth story. I wrote it up the same day she was born, and I was still so hopped up on natural drugs I left out a lot of the crazy that happened. I didn't want to redo the original because you (or at least I) can tell how happy I was. So I'm just doing another, extended version.  With 20 seconds of never before seen footage! Just kidding.

Here I am blogging it the first time. Oh how awesome I look. With my bangs.

Okay, here we go...

I woke up with a pain in my stomach at about 5:50 that morning. Totally thought I had some major gas going on. I went to the bathroom and then laid back down. A few minutes later the pain was back, so I headed back to the bathroom. Then, again, back to lay down. The third time the "gas" pain came, I thought, "hmmm, maybe these are contractions." It was definitely painful, but for some reason I didn't just "know" like everyone said I would. I got my laptop out and started charting the pains. Here is my contraction list.  The first number is the time they started, and the second is how many seconds they lasted.

1. 606 – 60
2. 614 – 60
3. 619 – 60
4. 623 – 75
5. I had one in between here while I was on the phone with my mom.
6. 630 – 60
7. 633 – 30
8. 636 – 30

They weren't long, but they went from 7 minutes down to 3 in 30 minutes. Um, hello? Not sure how I didn't realize things were moving fast!

I called my Mom (@ 6:26am to be exact) to confirm I was really having contractions (again, um, hello?), and she told me that she could hear in my voice that I was more than likely in labor. I was struggling to talk normal, and definitely couldn't stand straight. I woke up Braden and told him I thought I was in labor. I told him I was going to shower and then we would go from there. While I was in the shower, I was doubled over in pain. I honestly can't remember what I even did in there. I just remember frantically hurry to get out. From the shower on, everything is a bit fuzzy. After I was out I, for some reason, told Braden he could shower if he hurried. I got dressed, and am pretty sure I yelled at Braden to hurry even faster. By this time, I couldn't walk during contractions, and wasn't even trying to time them. I just knew we needed to get to the hospital and get there now!  We walked down to the car shortly after 7am. My car was parked too close to the carport wall for me to get in, and I hysterically told Braden to hurry and back the car out so I could sit down.

During the car ride, I was gripping the arm rests, Braden's arm, anything I could get my hands on to bare the excruciating pain. About 1/2 way to the hospital, I was screaming at Braden  to call 911, because I was sure I wasn't going to make it. He called around to friends and family, and got the Labor and Delivery number (So mad I wasn't prepared with that!). He told them we were coming, and told them contractions had started around 6am. Being that it was like 7:15, and I was a first time mom, they told him we had plenty of time, and not to worry.

Not sure if my water broke before or after the call, but it broke in the car. My contractions were back to back and fluid just kept gushing (or so it felt) out. Our hospital is right off of the freeway, but there is a left hand turn light to get into it. Wouldn't you know, the car in front of us didn't turn quick enough and we missed the light, having to wait through a whole cycle! I seriously contemplated getting out and walking. Once in the hospital parking, I strictly instructed Braden he had better go slow over the speed bumps.

The labor and delivery building has a loading circle, so we parked there and went waddling in at about 7:25am. I held my soaking wet skirt in between my legs and walked as quickly as I could. Now the pain was just constant, and I had some crazy adrenal going on. I was on a mission.

I walked straight passed the check-in nurse towards the L&D nurses station.  I remember her looking at me and saying, "Oh uh, we'll take care of paperwork later."

We passed anther nurses station and a nurse said, "Do you want a wheel chair!?" I said, "No! I don't know? Whatever!" For a half second I thought I might get in trouble if I didn't follow their protocol or something. We rounded the corner to the L&D nurses. Again I walked passed them on my way to the delivery rooms, snapped my fingers like a military Sargent, and said, "It's go time!" (A nurse reminded me of this after Brighton was born, and I busted up laughing).

They told me all of their rooms were full at the moment, but that they had a few extra beds in a spare room they were using for storage. They said they would just have me change in there and check me and then they would move me when it was time to deliver. When I was in labor with Boston I went and took a picture of it.... I remember it having a few more boxes, but you get the idea. 

My nurse (who I think was pretty new) told me I needed to change into a gown. Before she was finished with her sentence, I was tearing off my clothes. Door open and all. I'm sure she thought I was crazy. Everyone was just talking to me so calmly and seemed to be moving entirely too slow. I'm sure they were all thinking all sorts of, "Oh my gosh, is this girl serious?" thoughts at this point.

I got on the bed, and she began to strap a heart rate monitor on me. She asked, "Do you want an epidural?" and I said, "YES PLEASE!" She couldn't find the heartbeat for a minute, and while she was fiddling with the monitor I said, "I need to push, is that bad?" She quickly "checked" me (and by quick, I mean she barely touched me) and said, "Oh! the babies heads right there! No time for an epidural, and try not to push!" FINALLY, the nurses started moving!  I was a 10 and the baby was coming NOW! Of course I started freaking out, hyperventilating even, and saying, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Luckily, a veteran nurse quickly told me, "Don't worry sweetie, you'll probably push twice and be done".

Until that point, I still thought I was going to be pushing and laboring for hours. So seriously thank goodness for that nurse or I'm sure I would have had a heart attack.

My doctor was still in route, and I over heard the nurses talking saying, "Dr. Moore is still 15 minutes away, what about Dr. Bustillo? Maybe we should get a ER doctor..." Something along those lines. While we were waiting, and I was trying not to push or die, a receptionist person came in with paperwork for me to sign. I just started scribbling my signature wherever I saw a line. A nurse saw me frantically writing, and told me I could just do those later. I said, "Thank goodness!" and literally chucked the clipboard like a frisbee. I can vaguely remember seeing stunned looks on peoples faces.

Sometime during all of the craziness, Braden went and moved the car. I remember freaking out that he was going to leave, and a nice nurse held my hand the whole time. Notice I just refer to them all as "nurse". I want to say there were 4 or 5 of them, but like I said, things are a bit blurry.  A few minutes later, Dr. Bustillo came in to deliver Brighton. I'll never forget. He said, "Uh, I've never delivered in here before!"

I had to switch beds, and again started freaking out because I was sure if I moved I would die. But as a contraction let up, my adrenaline moved my huge pregnant self over to another bed. They got me into position; with Braden on my right side, and told me to push when I felt a contraction.  They never had time to get anything on me besides the heart rate monitor. No IV, no contraction monitor, no monitor on the babies head. So I gripped Braden's hand as hard as I could (sideways so I was crushing his fingers, because that is the only way it seemed to help) and gave my all.  I screamed as Dr. Bustillo instructed me to, "ease up a little... okay push...ease up... okay push" while he helped so I wouldn't tear. I wanted to yell at him to stop doing what he was doing because it flippin' hurt! But with one push her head was out. He then told me to channel my screaming into stronger pushing and with another, quieter push she was out. It was exhilarating. After so much pain, she was here and the pain was finally gone! Talk about an adrenalin rush. Brighton was born at 7:52am.  About 27 minutes after walking into the hospital.  Dr. Moore arrived within minutes of her delivery and was so sad she missed it. 

Looking back I realize I was most likely having back labor the night before. But nothing woke me up throughout the night...not until 5:50am anyway. I went into labor with Boston with the same back pain. So at 6:36am I was timing my contractions, and holding my baby at 7:52am. They brought us breakfast in that same room, and I tried to nurse Brighton while we waited to be moved to our recovery room. When they came to move us, they asked if I wanted a wheel chair and I said, "What for? I think I can just walk". And I did. My body was so shaky, but I seriously felt amazing. Especially for just having a baby!   So crazy, but it makes for a great story!

I'm one of the lucky few that doesn't tear, and because of all of the adrenaline, I never even took an advil. I was sore for a few days, but because it was so quick, it wasn't too bad.

Brighton still making my life crazy. Her personality matches the way she came into the world. I think it's funny how labors mirror personalities a lot of the time. But even with all of the drama she brings, I sure love her and wouldn't trade her for anything!