Andrew's Birth Story

Be warned that this is going to be a long post.  I want to make sure I record his full story for myself, at least.  (If you want the short version, see this post.)  I have to start about a week before Andrew was born, because things were happening way before the big day.

I was getting a little nervous because I felt like Andrew wasn't moving around as much as he had before. So I mentioned it to my OB and she ordered an ultrasound to check on things. Everything looked fine- Andrew was just being lazy. I was glad everything was fine but they ordered a non-stress test for a few days later and gave me instructions to set up the induction for the next week.

I was feeling some contractions at this point, but they weren't really very regular and not strong enough to make me stop what I was doing.

At the non-stress test, I was contracting regularly every 3-5 minutes.  But they were really mild contractions still and I was still only dilated to a 1 (like I had been for a couple weeks) so they sent me home.

My mom came up to stay with us a couple days before my induction date, just in case I went into labor on my own before the induction.  After all, I was already past my due date, so she had cleared her schedule to be available for me anyway.  We spent those couple of days hanging out and doing some last Christmas shopping.

My induction was scheduled for 6:00am on December 14th, but the hospital called me around 4:15am that day to tell me that they had to push back my time because they were so busy.  I was really disappointed, but at least we were able to go back to bed for a while.  We eventually were able to go in for our induction at 2:00pm that day.

Because I was already contracting, they didn't actually give me anything to move labor along right away.  At 5:00pm the doctor stripped my membranes and things finally started to get moving.  I was still in early labor technically until about 10:00pm, and the contractions started getting painful around midnight.  We couldn't really sleep because of the contractions as well as our excitement.  I labored for a while in the jacuzzi tub, but the monitors weren't staying on very well with the jets going so I had to hold them in place.  I gave up on the tub around 2:30am and Aaron and I both tried to get some sleep until my contractions got too intense at 4:00.  I got my epidural just after 5:00am and it helped so much!  The doctor broke my water at this point.  I had some BP issues, which were solved by lying on my left side and using the oxygen mask.

At 11:00am I had been stuck at 6 cm for several hours so I got an internal contraction monitor and we started the Pitocin.  My contractions increased in intensity until I reached the maximum dose at 3:00pm.  I had only dilated to 6-7 cm in that whole time.  Less than one centimeter and I was crying through each contraction.  Not a good sign.

Eventually the doctor recommended a c-section.  She gave us some other options too, but she seemed to think that I was not likely to respond well and that I wasn't likely to make any more progress based on how things had been going up to that point.  Aaron and I took some time to talk about it and cry about it and decided to go ahead with the c-section.  I remember the nurse telling me "everything happens for a reason.  We might not always know what that reason is, but it will all work out.  And in a week it won't even matter that you got a c-section because you'll have your baby in your arms.  It all happens for a reason."  I was glad my parents were there with us because Aaron and I were both so emotional and scared, but my parents had been through this before.  My mom had even told me a couple of days before about her experience when she was pregnant with me, when she had cried when they told her they would need to do a c-section.  My dad and Aaron gave me a priesthood blessing and I was wheeled off to the OR around 5:00pm.

A c-section is so strange because you can't feel any pain.  There's a sheet blocking the view, so you feel tugging and pulling in the belly but no pain to compare to what you know is happening on the other side of that blue curtain.

At 5:47pm on December 15, 2012, Andrew Jon Kimbler was born.  He cried, I cried, Aaron cried.

It turned out that Andrew was "sunny side up" which is probably why things were stalled.  Baby heads are meant to fit through the pelvis facing the other way.  He also had the cord wrapped around his neck, so he likely would have gone into distress if things had moved along as planned.  So yes, things happen for a reason, and really all that matters is that our little man got here and is healthy.