Birth Story: Hudson Jeter Pellegrin

Hudson Jeter Pellegrin
6 pounds 3.4 oz
18 1/2 inches long
{With Daddy's big blue eyes}

When I said I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible, laboring to 7cm was not what I had in mind. Monday I went to work just like any other day. I was feeling a little more of a constant pressure in my lower abdomen, but I didn't think anything of it really--just another usual pregnancy symptom, something I would have endure until his arrival. As the morning progressed, I realized the pressure was becoming more intervallic. I emailed my doctor around noon and explained the pain. She informed me that it may be the start early labor and if the contractions are every 10-15 minutes for 2 hours, I have leakage of fluid or vaginal bleeding then go to labor and delivery. Even though she said this, I kept thinking it was just braxton-hicks and the pain would go away. By 7th period I was becoming a little more certain that they were labor pains, but I could walk, slowly, and talk through them. I told my 7th period class that I thought I might be having contractions, to which they freaked out asking if I was going to go into labor right there, or if my water was going to break.

I went home that day and told Nathan that I might be in labor, but that I might not be also, so went to dinner at Chi Chi's pizza as we had planned, and I started tracking my contractions around then. At that point they were really inconsistent. One would be 20 minutes apart lasting 30-35 seconds, the next would be 9 minutes later lasting 30-35, then back to 8 minutes, to 12 to 15 and all around 30 seconds long.

By 10:00 I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and trying to decide if I should call in a sub. for the next day. I decided to make sub. plans just in case. By 11:30, after lying in bed for a while, I realized there is no way I was sleeping through the pain. I got up and went out to the living room and watched "The Bachelor" recorded from earlier that night. I started tracking my contractions again. Now they were 6-8 minutes apart and lasting for about 30-50 seconds, but I could still talk through them and bare the pain. I was still in denial about this being the real thing, after all it was two weeks early. I decided to call in for the sub. because if anything, I wasn't going to go to work the next day due to a lack of sleep. Between 1:00 to 2:00 the contractions were anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart and lasting for about 30-40 seconds. I was confused by the inconstancy. I thought contractions would be consistent. By now the pain was getting quite intense, and I still felt like they were, I guess "bearable."

Around 2:45 I lost my mucus plug and knew that things were really progressing. I decided to call the hospital and talk to them about my symptoms and see if they recommended I come in. I told them that my contractions were about 2-5 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds. Now, this is where things went wrong. Whatever nurse I talked to asked if my water had broken, to which I responded no. I guess to her patients shouldn't come in until then or something... who knows? She told me that if they pain becomes too unbearable that I can come in but she can't promise that they will keep me and that I should take some benadryl or motrin for the pain!!! (are you kidding me?) I hung up thinking that I wasn't far enough in labor and I didn't want to go through the hassle of going down there (it's a 25 minute drive to the hospital) to only be turned away.

At this point I went into our guest bedroom and lied in bed. From 3:00-4:00 the pain really changed and the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting for about 30-40 seconds. At this stage the pain caused me to cry, so I went into our bedroom and awoke Nathan and said through tears, "The pain really hurts." He got up right away and began asking me questions and being very attentive. He was ready to do whatever I wanted. I continued to cry and I told him what the nurse on the phone had said, and how I wasn't sure if we should go or not. After all, my water hadn't broken!

I called my mom at that time and told her I was in labor. She asked how far apart my contractions were, and when I told her she exclaimed, "Melody you should be at the hospital!" But I still felt my contractions were too irregular. I was on they phone with my mom for about an hour and a half and she walked me through breathing and timed contractions with me. By 5:00 Nathan and I decided to go, even if they turn us away I needed to find out what's going on. Can you believe I still questioned whether or not they would keep me? Or if I was far enough on in labor? I told Nathan, "I hope I'm at least 4cm dilated. They will keep me and give me the epidural at 4!" I was still on the phone with my mom up until getting in the car at 5:30. I could no longer talk or walk through the contractions, and my mom says she knew I had really progressed in the hour and a half we had been talking.

In the 20 minutes it took to get to the hospital my contractions were coming every 2.5 minutes and lasting 30-40 seconds and I was in PAIN! Man was I in PAIN!!! Nathan dropped me off and I waited in the lobby of the hospital for him. As people walked by and saw me curled over in agony they were quite concerned and asked if I needed help. I told them, "Oh, I'm just waiting for my husband." He got back to me at the end of a contractions and I knew I had 2.5 minutes to get in the elevator and make it to the third floor to Labor and Delivery. Just as we got there, I had another, had to stop walking, I curled over the railing in pain and tried breathing through it. As I'm doing this, another pregnant lady and her husband walked leisurely past with no signs of pain; she clearly came in much early than me! I thought the nurses would ask me how far apart my contractions were or something, but they didn't need to. One look at me and they knew I was going to have a baby soon. I chose delivery room #7, the family lucky number. The nurse gave me a my robe, and I tried to change modestly, but as I felt a contraction coming I thought, "Screw this," and I stripped naked, threw my robe on and rode through another contraction, and at that moment my water broke.

Soon I was hooked up to the monitor and the doctor came in to check me. To every one's surprise, and most of all mine, I was 7cm dilated!!! Are you kidding me? You mean I could have come in like 3cm ago? The nurses commended me commented that I must have a high tolerance for pain, especially this being my first baby.

When they asked if I wanted an epidural, I couldn't say yes quick enough. Although some crazy person said, "You might as well do this all natural, you've gone this far." HA! I don't know how long it took for the anesthesiologist to arrive but it felt like forever, and in the meantime I grew quite feisty and I progressed to 9.5cm dilated. One of the hardest, and scariest things was to remain as still as possible while they inserted a huge needle in my back. Somehow I did it.

Unfortunately, Hudson had a negative reaction to the epidural. His blood pressure dropped. Suddenly, Nathan was asked to leave the room, I was swarmed by nurses, an oxygen mask was strapped on my face, and a doctor came and broke the rest of my water, after which I felt the strongest contraction of all. I heard mumblings of a c-section if he didn't stabilize. They rolled my body this way and that and discovered Hudson liked me on my left side. Once his blood pressure stabilized, they let the epidural take full effect and soon I was at peace.

By then it was 8:00 in the morning. The rest of the morning was spent trying to relax and sleep. At maybe 10:30 the nurses mentioned administering pitosin to help him progress downward, which I didn't want originally, but agreed. Yet, they decided to hold off and never ended up giving it to me! Yay!

Around 11:30 or so they checked me, and like it was no thing they started setting up the bed for delivery. It all happened so fast. The midwife came in and we were ready to go. I was very nervous because I was severely exhausted due to the lack of food and water. I hadn't eaten anything in nearly 10 hours, and I didn't think I would have the strength I needed. The nurse let me have the tiniest sip of water before we started pushing and even that was so satisfying. Nathan helped all throughout the delivery. He helped hold one of my legs and pushed up on my upper back to help me get leverage and curl into my push. At first I was using the mirror, but it became more of a distraction, so I asked them to take it away. I threw up twice during deliver, and I did receive an episiotomy, and Nathan would have liked more warning about this as it was done right in front of him and he quickly look away. After about 35 minutes pushing, I saw the midwife pull out Hudson's tiny body. They took him to the table right away as his blood pressure was low again.

I watched them clean him up, and Nathan was over there checking him out too commenting on how he has his eyes. In the meantime, they brought me a big jug of cranberry juice, and let me tell you, nothing has ever tasted so delicious in my entire life.

Finally, after all the cleaning and measuring, I was able to hold my little guy. There is nothing that can describe this feeling. Nothing mattered at that time other than Hudson and making him happy and keeping him safe. We spent time cuddling together skin-to-skin as he breast fed for the first time. He truly is a little treasure and an angel. Love at first sight.













All in all, I am happy with the birth. I feel a little silly not knowing when I should have gone in, or if I was in real labor, but it all happened better than I could have imagined.