The birth of my third son

THIS IS AN OLD POST I NEVER PUBLISHED.  HE WAS ACTUALLY BORN 2/27/14.

Announcing the arrival of my third son, J.a.i.m.e. K.u.l.e.'a.

He is named after my grandfather and his middle name means "successful, competent and happily"  a fitting description for this easy natured child.  (Well, easy natured in that his pregnancy and birth were easy).

Like my other three boys, I want to record his arrival, as much details as I can, before I forget it.  So without further adieu, here is the story of Kule'a's birth.

On Wednesday, February 26, I went to work as usual and came home as usual.  DH was away at work (24 hour shifts), so after I picked up Kaua from school and Ho'ea from my grandparents, we had dinner, bathed them and came home.

That night, around 8pm, I was talking with a friend of my on the phone, and this pregnancy was unique in that DH's uncle recently passed and he was debating about whether he should attend the funeral on another island.  The problem was, the funeral was on February 27 and the burial on Saturday, March 1 and my due date was the following Wednesday, Mar. 6.  So if he attended either, there was a very real possibility that he would miss the birth.  We had decided that he would fly out on the day of the funeral and not book a return flight with the possibility of having to come back sooner than the burial date.  The plan was that I would call him if I felt like I was going to go into labor and hopefully, he would be able to catch a flight back in time.  (I know not a good idea in hindsight).  Well, my friend was asking me very specific questions, such as how I was planning on going to the hospital, who would be with me, etc. if I did go into labor while DH was away.  Although, I had thought about it, I really did not actually have specifics set in stone and her questions made me realize that I did not have the plan well thought out.

After speaking with her, when my DH called home to say goodnight, I brought up the subject with him.  He became frustrated and realized that it would probably be best if he did stay home.  Anyways, to sum it up, the conversation did not go well.

At around 10pm, I started getting myself ready for bed.  My two year old, Ho'ea, is a late sleeper so I was also getting him into bed too.  That's when I started noticing that my contractions (which I had been having very sporadically and not at all painful throughout the past week --- which seemed to be braxton hicks-like) were coming more consistently.  I had just downloaded a contraction app in the past few days and started timing them.  Sure enough, they were coming consistently, but were inconsistent still (if that makes sense).  The intervals between the contractions ranged between 4 to 7 minutes and they were about 30 seconds to 1 minute in duration.

Knowing that this is how the birth of Ho'ea started off, and that because they were not painful or very regular, and Ho'ea still came, I decided that I was not going to take any chances with this.  I called DH a little after 10:30pm and told him that the contractions were coming closer together and that although I wasn't sure, to be safe, he should come home. DH got permission to leave from his captain, and he was on his way home.  I then called my grandparents and let them know that we would be dropping the boys off incase I needed to go to the hospital.

DH works about 20 minutes away, so during his drive home, the contractions became a little stronger.  Knowing how quickly things can move, I decided to ask my grandparents to come get the boys (they live about 7 minutes away), so that DH and I could just go straight to the hospital from home.

So GG and Papa (what they greatgrandkids call them) came over and the boys (poor things) were woken up and placed into their car.  (We should have just driven them, b/c they were a little bit freaked out at this late night excursion).

DH and I went to the hospital.  At this point, the contractions were still mild and still consistently inconsistent.  We were able to park and walk into the emergency room and get ourselves checked in with ease.  (Last time, I was in so much pain, I could not concentrate and signed whatever they wanted me to).

I was able to walk up to the OB department and get myself changed again with ease.  I was assigned a veteran OB nurse (30 years!) who knew exactly what she was doing (thankfully).  Her name was Susan and she had just moved from the mainland (extra bonus!).  She got me all set up and then checked me.  Sure enough, I was dilated about 4-5 cm, so I was going to stay.  Based on what I told her (my third kid, how quickly Ho'ea came, etc), she said she thought I'd be having this baby before she got off her shift (at 7am). It was about 11:30pm at the time.  I also told her that we were coming in early, even though the contractions weren't super painful because I was not going to take any chances, I did NOT want to give birth naturally and wanted to have pain medication (epidural).

So she had the anesthesiologist come in (as she was fortunately right there ---it was a busy night in the Labor & Delivery section that evening) and I was given both an intrathecal and epidural.  I remember thinking, wow, this was so quick!!!  I wasn't even that sore yet and still had yet to really do breathing techniques (by that point, I had only had to breathe to distract myself from the pain once or twice).  But then I was also terrified at having to give birth naturally, because I can still remember how painful it was to go through that last half an hour without medication!!!  So, on with the epidural I went.  The nurse also said that they were going to break my waterbag to speed things along, and I was all for that.  After my water bag was broken, we settled in, with the lights dimmed and tried to get some rest.  Nurse Susan said that I should call her when I felt pressure.

I am very happy that I got the pain medication.  The downfall was that it gave me unbelievable shakes/shivers.  I remember having that sensation after giving birth with both boys, but this time, I was shivering before giving birth.  It helped when I relaxed and I remember telling the nurse that when she would press on my arm, it felt calming, and therefore helped me to relax and stop shaking.  I also asked my DH to massage my neck and shoulders, which also calmed me.

So we waited, and DH was able to catch some on and off z's.  At about 2:55am (or so, it's an estimation), I felt strong pressure.  I had already been feeling pressure since shortly after getting the epidural, but knowing how it feels (the pressure and feeling of wanting to push), I waited until I was sure.  And with this particular feeling of pressure, I was sure.  Baby was ready to come.  So, I called nurse Susan and she checked me and yes, I was 10 cm dilated.  She had me do a practice push (which I admit, wasn't a very strong push on my part) and because she could feel the head move, knew I was ready.  The OB doctor, Dr. Ausbeck, was called.  They got all they things ready, put my legs up, and we were ready to push.  (DH held my right leg, nurse Susan, my left).

It took just 4 or 5 pushes, and out come the baby!  A health baby boy (apgar score 9/9), born at 3:09 a.m.  He was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long.  He was the lightest of my boys (surprisingly, b/c I feel as if I was the biggest with him---probably due to older age), and his length is just about even...maybe a little longer than the boys.

With the pain medication, it was such a breeze!!  I remember feeling him in my vaginal canal and the feel of his head crowning, and the feel of the rest of his body coming out.  However, I did not really feel much pain.  It wasn't numb (like with Kaua, I remember feeling almost nothing and my legs were sooo numb), but it wasn't painful.

Doctor said I didn't tear very much at all, and that I'd need 1, maybe 2 stitches at most.

While we were in the delivery room, I opted to donate baby's cord blood to the blood bank.  (I was surprised when they had to take so many vials of my own blood too in the process.  When the lab technician came to take my blood, I was surprised, and she was a little preturbed that that hadnt been explained to me before I signed up.  But I did it anyway.)  Unfortunately however, the placenta needs to way a certain amount and mine fell short by 4 oz!!! So no donations from me.