A Watermelon is Born!

Caleb Andrew Moccari, formerly a watermelon who made himself very comfortable in my womb, was born on May 15th, 2011 at 1:55pm!!!

Read on if you're interested in the birth story :)

Caleb was due on May 2nd....May 2nd came and went, along with many, many more days! I tried hard to be patient but it was pretty tough because every day was the last day...kind of like the movie Groundhog Day!

We finally decided to schedule an induction for May 15th, but held out hope that I would go into labor without any help before the induction....as we all know, I did NOT go into labor on my own, so we went in to be induced. (One upside is that we got to spend a few last days with Mommy and Daddy in town).

We left for the hospital at 5:40am, in order to be there by 6am. After some paperwork we were admitted and taken to the labor and delivery room. I got into a glamorous gown and waited for the nurse to come in. She got me all hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor and the monitor that checks contractions (same as I had for the non stress test). When pitocin is used for induction the fetus has to be continually monitored incase it doesn't respond well. I was not too happy about being hooked up to so many things, but I accepted that because I was ready to meet my son! One cool thing we noticed was that I was actually having some little contractions on my own, so my body was FINALLY deciding that it might be time to have the baby!

Last picture of me pregnant in regular clothes!

After a shift change we got a new nurse and she checked me and started the pitocin at 7:30am. In addition to my mini contractions I was already dilated to 3cm (many inductions start with 0cm, so I was in good shape). At first things were kind of boring and we were just hanging out, waiting for something to happen.

I wasn't very happy about being all hooked up!

I slowly moved from comfortable to less and less comfortable. My OB wanted me to be checked again at 11am to make sure that I was making progress. If I wasn't, she was going to come in and break my water. Thankfully, 11am rolled around and I was already 5.5cm, so no need to break my water (pitocin was enough of an intervention!). I started to get more and more uncomfortable and I wasn't able to get into any position that made me comfortable. I also felt really restricted because I had the monitors on me and I was hooked up to a pole with the pitocin, an IV and the antibiotic (penicillin) for the Group B strep. Cameron was trying really hard to help me get comfortable, but I wasn't terribly responsive to him :/ I do remember telling him over and over again that I wanted this to be over! I was anxious with anticipation about how much worse the labor was going to get.

At this point Cameron decided to call Michelle, our doula. Since I had progressed so quickly she decided that it was time for her to come. Thank goodness! By the time she got there I was in serious active labor and really needed help staying comfortable. It was great to have Cameron to hold on to and Michelle to massage my back and use a heated rice sock to soothe some of my back pain. She also had me sit on the exercise ball and rotate my pelvis. She said that this would help to move the baby down faster. She was also great because she was telling me to listen to my body and just give into the feelings and urges, so I was able to "relax" a bit.

Things moved pretty quickly I think from this point. The nurses wanted to check me to see where I was...8cm already! Michelle told me to get on my knees and rested my head on the raised hospital bed. This was as comfortable as I was going to get! My contractions were getting stronger and I think I was really ready to push. The nurses told me not to push if I had the urge, but Michelle kept reminding me to listen to my body. Shortly after the nurse left to go call the OB to tell her that I was at 8cm and progressing quickly Michelle told Cameron to go get a nurse to come in and check me because I was pushing all the way through my contractions.

The nurse came in and checked me...well, I was 10cm already. She had to get someone to call my OB again to make sure she was going to get there in time! After a little more pushing on my knees they had me go on my right side and hold me leg up. (This is a better position than flat on my back because it helps to move some bones out of the way). Shortly after I got on my side the head was crowning (I got to feel his head once, which was kind of surreal). After I felt his head I was even more motivated. I was apparently pushing really well and every push was very productive. Everyone in the room was amazed at how quickly Caleb was born once I really started pushing. I figured I might as well push as hard as possible and use all of my air for each push...the harder you work the sooner your done!

So, after starting the pitocin at 7:30am, Caleb was born at 1:55pm--6.5 hours of labor! I could not even believe it! I was expecting a much longer labor, especially being a first time mom! So, aside from being induced and using pitocin, I was able to go through the entire labor and delivery without any other interventions or medication (aka, no epidural).

Shortly after we officially became a family of three.

There is a really no way to describe labor. I felt uncomfortable, but I never really felt a lot of PAIN. I suppose it was painful, but the feelings were strange and uncomfortable. I'll leave it at that :)

The very happy family about to leave the hospital :)