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HAYDEN JENNINGS DODSON

I am so excited I finally got to put my birth story on here. I got so much pleasure out of reading everyone's birth stories when I was pregnant. This story is kind of long , but it took awhile for Hayden to finally get here. I was due on Sunday, March 17, and nothing happened. I never thought I would carry him till his due date because from about 6 months on I was measuring 3 or 4 weeks ahead of what I should be. I was beginning to worry that he was going to be a huge baby, but by my due date I really didn't care how big he was going to be, I just wanted to carry him in my arms instead of my stomach.

I went to the doctor on Mon. the 18th, he checked me I was at 1cm and softening a little, my blood pressure was up a little so he did a stress test on the baby, he was fine. My doctor gave me the choice to go on to the hospital to be induced or wait a couple of days and see what happened. I decided to wait until Wed. to come back to the doctor and if I hadn't delivered by then I said I definitely wanted to be induced . Well Wednesday came and nothing had happened so my doctor sent me to the hospital to start inducing me.

I got to the hospital about 9:00 a.m. and got in my room and the started hooking me up to those really comfortable monitors, ha, I got my I.V started and in went the pitocin. They had also decided to insert gel suppositories to soften my cervix. Well it really wasnit very long before I started having some mild contractions, actually then I thought the were pretty good ones, but now I know they were nothing. They increased the pitocin drip three times , gave me 3 suppositories and nothing was happening. Well by the time my doctor came in that evening I was ready to get up out of that bed and I wanted something to eat, so they decided to stop everything until the next morning. The contractions stopped as soon as they stopped the drip. I went for a walk and got something to eat and sleep pretty good, until midnight when they decided to try another suppository , they did that again the next morning, nothing happened and I was really getting tired of going through the pain of having those things and I was ready to get out of there. So at noon home I went , we lived about 30 mins. from the hospital and before we got home I had started having contractions again, I couldn't believe it. I was home for about three hours and then I headed back to the hospital the contractions were about 2 mins. apart and lasting for 1 min. I get to the hospital and the check me and they can't reach my cervix. I had thought this was it for sure, back home again. The contractions eventually were gone. Well Friday came and went and I felt fine. I got up Saturday and spent most of the day working outside in the yard. I had a few small contractions but I had made up my mind that I was not going back to the hospital until I was positive I was in labor. Well Sat. evening I started having really bad cramps, that what I thought they were. I keep saying it was a kidney or bladder infection or I had to be constipated. I bet I went in the bathroom about 30 times thinking that's what it was. I didn't think it was labor because the pain was constant and it was so different than the contractions I had earlier in the week. It was about 1:00 a.m. by the time I was convinced I was in labor but I couldn't even time the contractions they were so close, so we were worried about the drive so I ended up going in an ambulance.

Well I got to the hospital and I got in the room at 2:10 a.m. when they checked me I was at 6cm. About 45mins later I was dilated to 8cm, no epidural , my doctors don't give them. They gave me a shot to relax me , it might have done that, but it sure didn't help the pain. Around 4:oo a.m. they said I was at 10 cm and I could start to push. I pushed and pushed and pushed . They had the greatest thing a push bar. I loved it . I really found it helpful I used it in all different positions trying to get the baby to move. His head was turned a little to one side and it was keeping him from moving down. They had me sit up, lay down, squat on all fours, lay on one side with one of friends holding my leg,but we just couldn't seem to get him to move his head.The hospital where I was has really big birthing rooms, I had seven people in the room .I had the radio playing the whole time,and I had the best nurse that never left the room from the time I got there until after Hayden was born. My mom and my best friend were really great coaches. My mom probably counted to ten a thousand times while I was pushing. My aunt videotaped the whole birth, it is interesting to watch when your not experiencing the pain. Anyway, after almost three hours of pushing I was beginning to think he was not going to come out the way we all had planned. But then they decided to try vacumn extraction, that was the worst part of the whole experience to me. Your trying to get this baby out and their putting something in. The hooked it up twice and it slipped off so my doctor decided he would give me an epsiotomy. So they did the vacumn again and when I started to push it finally worked out he came. It was kind of hard not to push after his head was out but they wanted me to wait until his mouth and nose was suctioned. Then one little push and he was out. It was 7:10 a.m. and he was finally here. Right then I felt like I could've got up and ran around the room. It's like all the pain was instantly gone. I nursed him right away and I was so surprised at how he just latched right on.

We stayed the night and went home the next afternoon. I was so excited and nervous I don't think I sleep the first couple of days. Hayden is 3 months old now and growing so fast. He is 26 inches long and weighs about 13 pounds, and nursing is his favorite thing to do. I was really worried the first week that I wasn't going to be able to handle the breast feeding, I got an infection the first few days. But here it is 3 months later and I'm so glad I stuck with it. I think it creates a special bond between you and the baby.

Love to Hayden, Mom
Feel free to e-mail me at sdodson@cei.net