Labor story

It all started 2:30am Aug 31, which is exactly the day that Jose and I had been predicting that Nico would join us. I began serious contractions 4 hours in after water breaking in spurts, and then saw the contraction periods get long and then short, without any consistency. The contractions were very intense from the beginning, and did not really grow in intensity, but remained at that level all day. We stayed home all day, and tried to do things with our doula Vynessa to further speed things along. I was having terrible back pain which is due to Nico having been off in his positioning. We arrived at the hospital with 4 cm dilation.  I worked really hard with Jose and our doula, and got to 7cm dilated by 1am. At this point, after 24 hours, without enough progress, the pitocin and epidural question came up, and I consented - I was exhausted, and in so much back pain that I couldn't even feel anything at all in my uterus. It was all in the back. After 4 hours of pitocin sped up contractions, my dilation actually went down to 6 cm, and Nico's heart beat started to stay down too long. So it was c-section time. At that point, as you an imagine, I just wanted Nico safely with us, and didn't feel that there was anything else we could have done to get my dilation further moved along. When Nico was born, he had the umbilical cord around his neck, which may be one reason why my body was not allowing things to advance further. He was born healthy and in great shape though, and this is of course the prize. The whole experience was very hard and pretty distressing at times but Jose and I have no regrets, and feel we made the right decisions at the right time. I did labor "naturally" for 24 hours, so also do feel that I know what that is like now, though also with all the back pain, found my experience pretty stressful and difficult. When we were leaving the hospital and passed by the delivery hallway, I kind of cringed! Again, we have the prize which is Nico, and I am feeling great today, so all is well.

Nico is now almost 11 weeks old, and weighs 15 pounds! We have been having a really great time together, and I feel great as a Mom.