So the day has come and gone already. But regardless, I just finally have a moment to sit and write. July 4th was an incredibly eventful day for the Souster family. It's unbelievable that the one thing that I didn't think was really going to happen did. Chase was born on Grandpa Souster's birthday. How funny. I just didn't think that it would turn out that way, but lo and behold it did. And we couldn't be more thrilled. Chase Anthony Patrick came into this world fast and furious on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 12:30 P.M. The whole story is actually kinda humorous as things went completly backwards for me. Not once with the other 2 children that I had, did my water break.
So here I am on July 3rd getting ready to eat an ice cream sandwich and watch a movie, when all of a sudden, I felt this small gush of fluid. "Holy crap!!" I said as I jumped off the chair. Louise and Rob were looking at me like I lost my mind. I looked at them and told them that I think my water just broke. And just as those words came out of my mouth, chaos erupted in my home. I called Katharina my doula and told her the situation. She asked if contractions had started and I told her I felt nothing at all. Not even the smallest of Braxton Hicks. So she said that I should call the labour and delivery ward of the hospital and so I did. They told me that I should come in as things could potentially start quickly. So I hung up and immediately Rob gets on the phone making calls to people to tend to JR and Louise almost seemed to be in a panic. I think I was the calmest one at this point..LOL.
So my water broke at about 730 PM and by 8 we were at the hospital all checked in and in a case room waiting for something to start. I was under the impression that when ones water breaks (especially mine) things start and progress. My past has proven that once my water is broken, things go at lightning speed. So I was totally confused when absolutely nothing at all was happening. So Rob came home to get some sleep and Louise stayed with me at the hospital.
We tried with little success to get some rest. Louise has problems sleeping without her meds and we were both just far too anxious. But I managed somehow to get a little bit. I woke about 4 and was put on the monitor for a bit and it showed that still nothing was going on at all. So the nurses suggested that I take a hot shower to try and relax myself and get some more sleep. So I did just that and still woke up at 6 not able to sleep anymore. So since Louise was up, her and I talked about what was going to happen. The doctor on call for the night told the nurses that I was given 12 hours before they would pretty well force me to go on the drip which was something I was not wanting. But I know the risks to babies if they go too long with no water. So Louise and I weighed out the pros and cons of starting things going. We both decided that it was best that I bring it up to the nurses to start the drip and then I could still feel like I was in control of the situation. So at 7 when the nurse came in to check on me, I told her that we should get things going. She agreed and got right to work. She started my IV and then threw me on a very slow drip to try and see if we could just stimulate my natural oxytocin to kick in.
After waiting for things to kick in for about an hour, they came in, checked me and still no contractions. So they uped my dose. This pattern continued from about 730 AM to about 1130 AM when the resident on call came in to check me. She said that the problem could be what they call forewaters which is created by my waters breaking somewhere up higher rather than lower and the force of the baby's head pushes down and creates a pocket that prevents proper dilation. Sure enough, when she checked, she could tell that that was exactly what had happend. So she waited for a contraction to start to try and break the pocket but since I wasn't having any contractions, that was next to imposible to accomplish. So the resident uped my dose once again and joked how nobody on the ward expected me to have to be put up to the dose that I was at. I could hardly believe it myself.
Rob had gone to call my Mom and Dad and tell them that still nothing was happening. This was at 1145 and he came back in we were talking about pretty well anything we could think of at this point when all of a sudden I felt this incredibly strange feeling and twinge of pain. It was the oddest thing I had felt all night and day since my water broke. It kinda hurt too. Everyone was looking at me wondering what in the world was going on. Rob asked me if I wanted him to get someone and let them know that something was going on and I told him that I wasn't too sure. Sure enough less than 2 mins after that strange pain, I started to have my first real contraction. And holy crap was it intense. I breathed through it with ease and thought that if that was all it was going to be, then this was going to be a breeze. Then after that one subsided, another 2 minutes passed and another one started. More intense than the last. And I felt the incredible urge to push. So Rob went out to get someone and tell them and the resident came in and checked me. Not just 10 minutes before when she checked me I was at 5 cms and zero percent effaced, now I was 100 percent effaced and 7 cms. So they started to get everything together and ready for the delivery and I asked to go to the shower with these incredible pains and so Katharina helped me into the shower and in the midst of having all this pain I managed to sit for a moment on the seat in the shower. Bad idea. I felt the urge to push again so I squatted on the floor of the shower and was screaming that I needed to push. So Katharina said that I needed to get out of the shower onto the bed. So I left the shower and slowly made my way to the bed. With the contractions coming right on top of each other it was difficult none to say the least. I put the head of the bed almost all the way up and Katharina got behind the bed and held my hands as I dug my head into the bed through the contractions. She kept me breathing right and truly was my lifesaving grace that day. The resident came in and checked me said that if I got on my side, I would have this baby in 10 minutes. Wrong, I was having him in less than that just the way I was, on hands and knees. The resident asked if I would get on my back because after the test push, I was ready to start. I just presented her my butt and she got the hint...LOL.
I heard the resident laugh and say, "Well I guess this is just the way we are having this baby...I am going to need another pair of hands in here to help me catch him." I told them that I needed to push and the resident told me that I could do whatever my body told me to do. And I listened only to her, Katharina and what my body was telling me. It only took about 3 good pushes and there Chase was in all his 6 pound 15 ounce glory. He was gorgeous and I was feeling fabulous. With all said and done, I only had about 14 contractions and 7 mins of pushing and all natural. Just the way I wanted it. I was so thrilled that it went more like the way I planned than I thought it would. It was pefect and well worth it.
So there it is in print. The story of Chase coming into this world. A beautiful day indeed.
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