(Just a little background on this pregnancy): It was horrible. I was on Diclectin pretty much all the way through it due to nausea and vomiting. I was such an emotional wreck all the way through it. I was always losing my patience with not only my daughter, but everyone I came in contact with. I wanted to be left alone and I felt like a bear. I was growing facial hair at a very rapid rate and couldn't keep up with it. I was gaining weight rapidly due to swelling, and looking back on it now, I was really swollen!! Due to the rapid weight gain, my joints really felt it and it hurt to be up and walking. I felt like my knees would give out on me at any moment. I WAS DESPERATE to get this baby out of me!! I had an emotional breakdown January 11th and bawled my eyes out all day, I just layed in bed sobbing!
Friday, January 6, 2012: I was 37 weeks pregnant, and went to my prenatal appointment. This appointment my cervix was barely a fingertip dilated, firm and very posterior. I wasn't surprised as he was still very high and I knew he hadn't dropped yet, which didn't help my cervix what-so-ever. This check was very uncomfortable, I don't know what he did in there but I was sore the whole weekend and very crampy. I knew something was going to happen soon as that weekend I was having indigestion and (sorry if this is TMI) my system was evacuating if you know what I mean.
Sunday, January 9th: I lost my mucous plug.
Friday, January 13th: I was 38 weeks and at this prenatal everything was looking ok, 1 cm dilated and my cervix was starting to thin out but it was still very posterior. Again, I'm pretty sure the doc did a membrane sweep, as this check was more painful than the one the week prior. Discouraged and desperate I went home and looked up natural ways to induce labour. Out of all the ones I found and researched, the least invasive and more safe sounding to me was Accupressure. So I started pressing on all of the accupressure points and after doing a couple of them I started having contractions. Obviously nothing consistent, they would come every 20 or so minutes for a couple of hours and then go away. I had these contractions for a couple of days where they would come and go and that made me mad and discouraged, so I gave up and decided to just hang in there and that there is an end to pregnancy. When the baby is good and ready to come, they will come. So to keep my mind off pregnancy and the fact that I was still pregnant and uncomfortable, I decided to take my husband out on a date. We asked my grandparents to watch Cadence and we went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and then watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It was a lot of fun and little did we know it would be our last date in a long time. LOL
Sunday January 15, 2012: Due to Sister Steed being sick, I was asked if I could whip up a lesson to teach our Beehives. I was a little overwhelmed and nervous as I was having contractions all night the night before and I was so uncomfortable but I thought as soon as we went to church the contractions would lighten up. They didn't, and I cried every now and then at church and people could just tell things were about to happen, and that I was done being pregnant. It also didn't help that everyone would come up to me and ask me how I was doing. That night we had family dinner at my moms house and I was still having contractions about every 10 minutes at this point. My mom asked if I thought this was it and I said I think it is but we'll wait things out and if things progress during the night that I'd call her. She told me it had better not be tonight as she couldn't get anyone to cover her at work. I said at this point, things are out of my hands and if this baby wants to come, he will.
Now is the part where things get good!!
January 16, 2012:
2:45am- I was woken up by an excrutiating pain in my stomach, but it subsided so I tried to get back to sleep.
3am- Half out of it, I felt a little warm trickle and thought "WOW, that is a lot of discharge." I sat up to see what was going on and all of a sudden an even bigger gush. I leaned over to Andrew and shook him awake and said, "I think I just peed?" I had heard that pregnant ladies can pee there pants due to baby kicking the bladder and such, so that is my reasoning behind the comment. I got out of bed and it just kept coming, at this point I knew I hadn't peed and that my water broke. IT WAS GO TIME!! I went and just sat on the toilet, because the water just kept coming. Andrew had to run around the house and grab things that I might possibly need. Note: I had not packed my hospital bag yet. I was supposed to go grocery shopping, clean my house and pack my hospital bag this day but alas my water broke and couldn't do any of that. HA HA!
3:45am- Arrived at the Raymond Hospital, was checked and was only 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. I was admitted and given this pad to absorb all of the amniotic fluid draining from my body. 
I had to take a picture of it, because it was so huge!! We thought it was hilarious! Anyways back to the story, sorry. So now we're in our Labour and Delivery room and was told that now we wait until contractions pick up and we start progressing. Then Dr. Steed walks in and tells me Dr. Smith can't make it as there was an emergency at home.. So now I don't have my doctor that I've been seeing this whole pregnancy and I'm left with a doctor that I'm not familiar with.
10:30am- Was checked and still only 2 cm dilated and very posterior. What the crap!! They tell me I'm showing little progress and that we need to start talking induction. I was scared to death as that meant Cervadil and if that doesn't speed things up, PITOCIN!! This is all without pain medication. I was scared, and they could see that, so they said they'd give me until noon before they'd do anything if I hadn't progressed.
12pm- Well, they checked me and guess what? Still 2 cm and still posterior. He inserted the Cervadil at this time. Now the protocol for Cervadil is once inserted you can't get anymore administered until 6 hours has passed. I told them that we'll go with the one dose and if still making little progress to just hook me up to the Pitocin. They were fine with that.
6pm- 2.5 cm dilated, 100% effaced. Gotta wait for Dr. Steed to come give the orders for Pitocin to be hooked up and administered.
8pm- Pitocin finally hooked up and coursing through my veins! YIKES! Was given the ok to walk the halls to see if that helps as well. Contractions are starting to pick up and get more intense as soon as it's hooked up. They are still tolerable and I can just breath and concentrate through them.
12am- 5cm dilated, still very posterior. Due to my cervix being very posterior the cervical checks were very painful and long as he had to dig around to find it! Not very pleasant. I am so excited to finally be showing progress. The contractions are still very manageable, I continue to breath and concentrate through them. I also grabbed the birthing ball and rocked through every contraction on it. I loved that birthing ball and had a hard time parting with it once I hit transition.
3am- I asked for something for pain as the contractions were getting unmanageable. I was exhausted from the already long labour. At this point I was starting to sound animalistic and moaned through every contraction. Sitting on the birthing ball at this point was excrutiating as he was making his way down the canal. I got into the only position that felt comfortable which was my hands and knees and rocking back and forth. They said the only thing I could have at this stage in labour is nitrous oxide (laughing gas). I willingly took it and sucked that crap back with every contraction. After the 5th or 6th contraction my body started convulsing and shaking on it's own. It was a very out of body experience for me. My mom grabbed the laughing gas mask from me and blamed the convulsions and shaking on that. I quickly grabbed it back from her and explained I am in transition. I knew what was happening as it happened with Cadence as well. Sure enough I'm at 9cm. The nurse was getting everything ready for the baby to arrive and I knew we were almost done. SO I THOUGHT!! I was stuck at 9cm dilated with an anterior lip for 4 BLOODY HOURS!!! I was getting delirious and telling the doctors to stall my labour for a few hours so I could get some sleep and then retry this later. I got weird looks from everybody and at the time I didn't know why!! Ha ha ha
7am- I asked my husband for a blessing and of course he agreed. We kicked everybody out of the room, including my mother to allow Andrew to focus on getting the spirit. It was a wonderful blessing and it helped clear my head! I told the nurse to grab the doctor and I told him I couldnt take this anymore. I demanded to be transferred to Lethbridge with the option of drugs! Dr. Steed called Lethbridge where Dr. Davey was on-call, they told him to send me in.
7:15am- I was still hooked up to the max dose of Pitocin at this point and I was writhing in pain. Andrew didn't like seeing me in this much pain so he closed off the IV to the Pitocin because the nurse was taking her time.
7:30am- The EMT's showed up to my room and strapped me onto the gurney, laying flat on my back!! OUCH is all I have to say about that!! On the way to LRH we hit a couple of bumps 10 minutes into the drive and all of a sudden I had a strong urge to push. I screamed to the Paramedic with me that I have to push, she quickly checked me but didn't see any crowning just bulging. We then sped all the way to the hospital, sirens blazing and lights flashing. Oh ya baby!!
8:00am- The rest is quite a blur as it happened so fast. We arrived into the labour and delivery room packed with nurses and student nurses. One of the more experienced nurses checked me and said my cervix was still 9cm but almost a 10, she instructed that with my next contraction to push with all my might. BAD IDEA!! She reamed the cervix to 10 cm and Nixon shot down the birth canal. Dr. Davey wasn't there yet so the nurse told me to stop pushing! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!! The urge to push was so strong I couldn't resist and I was grunting and panting to try and stop the urge! Finally Dr. Davey ran in, suited up, got into position and told me to push with all my might. I was so tired I couldn't muster up any strength, plus it hurt like hell!! The ring-of-fire is real and boy does it hurt. They told me to keep pushing and focus on pushing where his fingers were. I continued scooting back because the pain and burning was immense and intense. I screamed that I couldn't do this, it hurt too much. Finally I looked up at my husband and the fear in his eyes gave me enough energy to push with all my might. I pushed and screamed so loud I think I scared all the ladies who were in labour. Nixon's head emerged sunny side up (explains why my labour was so long) and Dr. Davey told me to stop pushing so he could turn his body into a better position and suction out his nose. Then he told me to push one last time.
8:08am- He was finally out!! No stitches required thankfully. 9lbs 9oz 21.75 inches long. His face and body were badly bruised with how fast he shot down the canal in anterior position. They also told us he has an undescended right testicle and that he is tongue-tied. They cleaned him up and I was finally able to hold my precious baby. He latched immediately and breastfed like a champ.
I am very greatful for my Father in Heaven. He watched over and protected Nixon and I during this beautiful experience. I'm greatful for beautiful, healthy children and what a true miracle and blessing it is to give birth to something so perfect. I'm very greatful to my family for taking such good care of Cadence during this and for their continuous love and support. I couldn't have done it without them. Nixon is such a good baby so far. Just eats, sleeps and poops. :) We love him so much and we are excited we have him for all eternity!!
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