Cole Allen Otte's Birth Story

It has been awhile since I posted to our blog. I thought with the recent arrival of the new addition to our family, it would be a good time to start this back up. Specifically, I thought I would start with sharing Cole's birth story. I know it's rather lengthy but I didn't want to miss anything.

The details:

Cole Allen Otte was born October 11, 2009, 4:07 AM, 8lbs, 2oz, 20 1/4 inches long.

The story:

Starting on Wed, Oct 7th, I began having contractions during the night. They weren't time able but painful enough to wake me up-and keep me awake. However, they would go away in the morning. On Saturday, Oct 10th, they stayed once I was awake. I started timing them and they were about 6-7 min apart lasting about 40 seconds. I was encouraged that I was getting somewhere. Talked to my mom who planned on coming into town to take care of Rachel once I went into labor. She is a 7 hour drive away so timing was important. She felt I was in early labor and decided to head into town. I called the on call midwife and told her how I was doing and she explained that it was up to me what I wanted to....if I wanted to come in to L&D and get checked out, that was fine. So that is what we decided to but we weren't in any rush. We did some straightening up of the house, took showers, put our bags in the car, and headed to the hospital. We still had Rachel with us at this point. On the way, we stopped and had some lunch. We finally arrived to the hospital and I was checked into triage. By this time, my contractions had really started to dissipate and I was almost feeling silly being there. The midwife checked me and I was only at 3 cm (same as I had been at my appt earlier that week) but I had effaced a little more-40% to 60%. However, baby was still pretty high up. Midwife told me I could stay and we could walk around or we could go home. I decided to just go home as I knew I would be more comfortable and who knew how much longer "it" would take to happen. We headed back home and once there, wouldn't you know it, I started having contractions again. They were a little more intense and feeling like they were closer together. My mom arrived shortly after and I was so relieved she was there...she could take care of Rachel and that was one less thing to worry about. So I started doing some focused breathing through the contractions, then I started having to lean against the wall, and then I actually started getting on all fours during them as it really helped with the pain. We had some dinner, mom put Rachel to bed, Brent and I watched a little TV, and then we decided to head back to the hospital. My contractions were about 2-3 min apart and lasting closer to a minute. I was nervous about being in the car while trying to manage the contractions but I made it. Back at the hospital, checked into triage, and learned that I was now at about 4-5 cm, 90% effaced-but the darn baby was still high. But at least I continued to progress. We got settled into our room and I started using the birthing ball. When I would have a contraction, I would hold onto Brent's arm (he was laying on the couch in front of me) and move around or bounce on the ball. This was around 10ish and I did this for a while-probably and hour and a half. I would get up to use the bathroom and such but was finding the ball to be the most comfortable. I got up to lean over the bed during one contraction and I felt some warm liquid trickle down my leg-I figured my water had broke. I could then tell my contractions were changing-they were becoming more intense. I had a feeling I was in transition but didn't know for sure. My midwife decided to check me and sure enough I was 7cm-yippie. While she checked me, my water broke completely. But-that baby had not moved down at all. I was hoping with my water breaking it would allow the baby to move down-but no luck. And holy smokes, the pain I was in was indescribable. I made faces and sounds I didn't know I was capable of! My midwife suggested I go into the tub at this point so off we went. It felt good to be in there and was very relaxing at first. As time went on though, I was finding it hard to be comfortable during the contractions. I was in the tub for about 45 minutes and then I started to feel the urge to push. Hooray-I thought-I am there and we can get this baby out of me! I was so miserable from the pain that all I wanted was the darn baby out of me! We headed back to the room and my midwife wanted to check me again. I have no idea of the time at this point-last thing on my mind. The only position I really felt somewhat comfortable in was on all fours-so that is how she checked me. Nice image, huh? Anyways, I was pretty much there-9.5cm...but baby had not moved down. This was becoming concerning for all of us. Midwife explained that there was a small pocket of water right in front of his head and that if I could get that out of the way, perhaps his head would come down. So I pushed a few times-and pop-I broke the last of the water. But did his head come down? Nope. I was still feeling the urge to push with some of the contractions so I pushed in various positions for a while. It was so hard to push because I was in so much pain. Midwife explained to me that I could continue at this for about another hour but if baby's head didn't come down by that point, we would have to start looking at our options. I told her I wanted to continue for an hour but I couldn't do it without an epidural. So the anesthesiologist was called in, gave me the epi, and I finally felt relaxed for the first time in about 7 hours. Shortly after getting the epi, baby's heart rate started going down. Dammit. It came back up and midwife said he looked fine-nothing to worry about. It then went down again. Crap. And then came back up. Cool. This happened about 3-4 times and finally my midwife expressed concern that the heart rate was just going dangerously low and that he really needed to come out. And the only that was happening at that point was via c-section. I was DEVASTATED. I had worked so hard to get this VBAC and I was ending up with major surgery again. But it wasn't even the surgery that I cared about...it was not being able to have a "normal" delivery that upset me. But, I didn't want my baby in any kind of harm so off to the OR we went....

Surgery was uneventful and unlike with Rachel, I remember all of it and never drifted off. I feel so good about that. He cried immediately after being taken out and it was the best sound ever. I asked Brent what we had (didn't know the sex) and when he looked at me and told me it was a boy, I saw such joy in his eyes-it was amazing. I was beyond thrilled to have a boy-more than I thought I would be. They brought him to me and I was able to briefly look at him up close. He had great color and was just perfect. I told Brent to go with him while they put me back together. It felt like forever but I think it was only like 20 min. I was finally wheeled back to recovery where Brent and Cole were waiting for me. I held him right away and he immediately started nursing-he knew exactly what to do-it was wonderful!!! It felt so good to hold him right away and feel his warm little body on mine. I was so in love! The rest of my hospital stay was fine. I left a day early because I was recovering very fast and I just wanted to be home.

The last two weeks have been wonderful getting to know him. He is so mellow, is a great sleeper, and nurses like a champ. I really couldn't ask for a better baby.