Labor & Delivery

After coming home from my "false labor" Monday morning Kary and I were pretty anxious to see if my contractions would kick in again. I called the OBGYN and made my appointment earlier so the doctor could check my dilation. Unfortunately it was still 2cm. When we got home we walked the dogs up and down the street over and over hoping to get my contractions started. They were still very sporadic. It was frustrating. The doctor told me only to go to the hospital when they were 3-5 minutes and getting stronger. Around 9pm I started to notice the contractions were more rhythmic and painful. Kary started keeping track and I took a warm bath. By the end of the bath I started to be in a lot of pain with each one. We kept track and by 10pm they were about 4 minutes apart and getting very painful. I called the doctor and he said to come in. We got to the hospital around 11pm. We had to enter the emergency entrance where there was a line of people complaining of mosquito bites and other random stuff. When it was my turn I told the man I was in labor and he quickly put me in a wheelchair. This time I needed it. I was wheeled into a room waiting to be picked up. There were some very creepy people in there and one woman was talking about smoking crack and then asked me, "Was you leaking fluid?" Luckily, a few minutes later Alexis (the most AMAZING nurse) came to pick me up to take me to the maternity ward. The foot part of the wheelchair was broken and my leg was dangling off as I was cringing every 5 minutes.
When we got to the triage room Alexis checked me and I was dilated about 3cm. She said that I will be admitted and have my baby this time :-) She put me on my side because the baby's heartbeat was slowing down. That was kind of scary. While Kary and I were waiting for the nurse to get our room ready my contractions started to come much stronger. I was to the point where I had to yell through them. I never felt anything like that. They radiated into my lower back and then to my uterus and I could feel them coming on each time. Kary was reading through MADGAB cards and I was trying to solve them as I was contacting.
By the time I was admitted to the room I was in hell. It was the worst pain I have ever felt. Alexis rubbed my knees through each one and held the barf bucket as I puked through a few of them. Finally the anesthesiologist arrived for my epidural. I didn't even mind the giant needle. The scary part was afterward I was completely paralyzed from my belly down. I could not wiggle my toes and when they tried to sit me up I fell over and started to faint. He said I had a very low tolerance and this usually doesn't happen. They quickly laid me back and gave me oxygen because my blood pressure dropped. The anesthesiologist then had to go back into my spine and remove some. The numbness lasted 3 hours and made me nauseated but at least I couldn't feel the contractions anymore.
I dilated pretty quickly after that and the doctor broke my water. That was weird. Around 9am the doctor said I was near 9cm and would be pushing soon. By this time a new doctor's shift started. I had met her once and thought she was kind of odd but she turned out to be amazing.
About 10am I started pushing and it lasted 3 1/2 hours. I could not feel the pain but could feel the contractions and the pressure. It took everything in me and seemed as though I would never get that baby out. Kary was by my side the whole time and iced me in between each contraction. I came down with an infection and had a 101 degree temperature. That made labor much more challenging. I felt horrible and had no strength...not to mention I had been up all night.
Finally about 1:00pm I finally started making progress. The head was coming! Kary, the nurses and the doctor were now cheering me on like they were watching the superbowl. They were screaming "Sara!" and "London!" and even though I was in hell I was cracking jokes and telling them how much it sucked..haha. Because of my infection the doctor said I was running out of time and the baby was exposed to too much bacteria. She gave me two options: a c-section or the vacuum. Both sounded awful but I was not going to give up so I let her try the vacuum but was worried about the baby. It was such a weird feeling when she did it and I pushed with all my power. Still no baby!!! As the doctor called in the OR to prep for me she had one last idea. She gave one nurse a towel and told me to pull on the towel as hard as I could as I pushed. I had 2 more contractions this way and did not want to go into surgery so I pushed my brains out and suddenly out popped the baby. I looked down and saw a pink baby that looked much cuter than the purple creepy babies from a "baby story." My baby looked like those giant adorable babies from tv and movies that look a few months old...haha. Besides the giant cone head of course. I didn't hear any crying for a while because of all the fluid in the baby's lungs. When I heard the cry I started to cry with relief that the hell was over and the baby was ok. Kary ran over to take pictures and as he came over and showed me the pictures a nurse told him she needed to talk to him. She pulled him aside and said our baby has testicles. Kary was confused and came over to tell me. When he came to the side of the bed he looked at me and said, "I think London is a boy." His face was pale and confused. I looked at him and yelled, "What do you mean a boy?! We had a girl." I started thinking about all the dresses, the pink room, how everything was perfect for a girl and how we imagined this little girl for the past 10 months. I started to yell and ask the nurses how the hell this happened. It was a very honest moment and now looking back I realize how selfish and bratty I was acting. But, I was in shock and had just been through a lot. I had a healthy gorgeous baby and I was instead thinking about pink stuff. They took London for a few hours for some testing and then brought him back and placed him on my chest. He was hysterical and had a giant laceration on his head from banging into my pelvic bone for 3 hours. He laid on my chest and when he heard my heartbeat he calmed down.
The first night was very hard. Kary and I were still in shock and were feeling depressed and guilty that we felt like this little boy was a stranger. He was not what we were expecting and it felt weird. We felt bonded to the little "girl" in my belly and it was hard to make the switch. It was almost like we had to mourn her and realize she never existed before we could feel like it was him all along.
That next night at 3:15am, London grabbed my finger and as I looked into his eyes I fell in love. Every feeling of guilt or longing for the daughter I thought I was carrying melted away and I saw the most perfect baby I always wanted. I sat there staring at him for hours and flashes of him running around in superman pajamas and acting wild and crazy with Kary made me smile. He was my little baby boy and he had stolen my heart. ♥


London James Gaffney
born October 5, 2010
1:25pm
8lbs 7oz
22 in