Javan Hunter Edwards' Birth Story

It all began on February 25th, 2011 at 7 am. We arrived at the hospital to be induced. I was very nervous because earlier that  week when the dr had checked me there had still been no dilation. I was very worried about going from starting at nothing when being induced. So they got me hooked up to the baby monitors and started an IV. My dr came in around 8:30 and checked me and said I was at a 2-3 and broke my water. I was very relieved that I had already started to dilate, but he also informed us that the lab lost my test for strep b so they were going to give me the antibiotics just in case. Then they started my pitocin. Pitocin is the worst drug ever blah it makes contractions so painful. Any ways so then it was just a waiting game. We all thought I would progress fast and have Javan quickly since that's what happened with my last and this was baby #4 for me. By noon they were upping the Pitocin for the 4th time and I was in serious pain and only dilated to a 4 so I decided to get the epidural. We talked with the anesthesiologist earlier in the morning about how last time I had a reaction to something that made me itch so she left out the fentanil hoping that would help with the itching. I was glad that this time around we avoided all other pain meds so nothing would get to Javan. At this time they also realized Javan was face up instead of down and while I could still deliver him that way it was going to be harder and he'd yet to drop any. So after getting my epidural we started the fun time of flipping mommy around to flip Javan around. Every 30 min I swapped positions until I was dilated to a 10. We started off with me kneeling on the bed leading against the raised head of the bed, then on my right side with left leg  in a stirrup, then left side with right leg up in a stirrup then sitting straight up like in a straight back chair. By 1:30 I was dilated to a 5 by 3 I was dilated to a 7 by 4:30 an 8 by 5:30 9.5 but 10 with contractions at this point the dr came in and I started pushing. After  few contractions of pushing the dr realized he wasn't making it past my pelvic bone Javan would get to a certain point and just not move any further. So the dr tried vacuuming him the first one popped off and broke. He used the vacuum again through 2 more contractions and it didn't really help. At this point Javan heart rate dropped so we stopped pushing and rested for a bit and the dr ran across the hall and literally caught another baby and ran back in. Javan's heart rate had improved so we were ready to push again. I pushed like crazy which my dr informed me I pushed like a rock star and that was not the issue at one point while he had his hand up in there trying to get Javan past my pelvic bone when I push I smashed his finger between Javan's head and my pelvic bone. That gave us all a good laugh which we needed since things were getting kinda stressful. He tried the vacuum 2 more times and Javan just wouldn't move pass my pelvic bone and the dr said he was worried the cord was wrapped around something, and it was time now for a c-section. Oh and I forgot to mention around the time I was dilated to and 8 my epidural quit being so effective. I could feel everything that was going on down there and all the contractions. Ouch. My dr apologized to me and was probably more upset than I was that with my finally baby I was having to have a c-section and that we hadn't even discussed c-sections because neither he nor I thought that in a million years I'd need one! I'd already successfully birthed 3 kids with out any complications. So we were rushed into the OR at 6:40 and prepped for a c-section and I was numbed up better and let me tell you at this point I was glad about my decision to get the epidural. 1 I would have been really freaking mad to go through all that with out one only to end up with one and 2 since it was an emergency c-section I'm pretty sure they would have had to knock me out for the c-section and that would have really upset me. I was way more calm than I think most people are in this situation I didn't cry I think I knew during all the pushing and vacuuming that this was where it was all going to end. My dr made my incision nice and low according to him and the nurses who checked on it later also verified this by saying my dr must really like me because of how low and small my incision was.(I have no idea because I don't know where the incision is normally made so I just have their word to go by). At 6:59pm  Javan was born 8lbs 3oz 20 inches with the cord wrapped 2 times around his neck and a little skin missing off the top of his head from the vacuuming. So nearly 12 hrs start to finish. Out of everything that happened came a beautiful little boy that I'm just so thankful is healthy. :-)