Colton Allen Raborn
July 14th, 2024
4:36am
7 pounds 2 ounces
19.5 inches long
So as you know, we would have loved for our baby boy to be born on July 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, or 13th because each day has extreme significance to us! The 9th would fill our family's chronological order of birth (9th for new baby, 10th for Conner even though he was born in June, 11th for Cody, and 12th for me), same would go for the 13th. If he were born on July 10th it would be the same date as Conner just different month, and of course if he were born on the 11th or 12th that would be so so special for Cody or I to share the same birthday as him. Also if he arrived on his induction day, it's Cody's brother's birthday. So neat! Almost every single family member in my family and Cody's family is born in June or July! This baby fits right in!
......................
So on my birthday, July 12th, I woke up feeling all the crampiness, and discomfort and contractions. I just knew it was time. I loaded up the car and my mom and I took Conner to gymnastics (because it was half way from the house to the hospital) and just waited. Eventually after gymnastics everything faded and I felt back to normal, just frequent Braxton hicks contractions. The next morning on the 13th, the same thing happened. I texted family it was time, and by mid afternoon, nothing. I never went into the hospital to get checked out because I knew I had to be in more pain to go and I'm glad I didn't because it stopped every time. So the evening rolled around and we ran errands and visited family and I had the occasional contraction but when we got home at 6pm I got out of the car and I felt just icky. Very yucky and crummy and crampy. Then my contractions started every 5 minutes apart. I played with Conner in the yard and we went on a walk, I took a shower (just in case this was it), and laid down (to see if it would stop the contractions) and no matter what I did, for those next 2.5 hours my contractions were every 5 minutes. They still weren't painful enough to go to the hospital but it was 8:30pm and we had to make a decision about Conner. With Cody's prompting (thank goodness), we decided to bring him over to Cody's parents house to start the evening instead of having an emergency in the middle of the night to get him over there.
We then got to the hospital at 9:30pm and I walked around the huge loop to make sure I was progressed enough for them to keep me. I felt so silly coming in to be checked because they weren't painful enough and I knew I wouldn't be much past a 3 or 4 cm. I had an office visit the day before and I was only 80% effaced and at a 2.5-3cm. So I knew I was around there but I knew I was in labor. So I felt silly that my dilation wouldn't indicate I was in labor and they wouldn't believe me and I was also worried that they would send me home and I would have a car baby. I was definitely scared. So Cody and I took the 30 minute loop around the hospital having regular contractions still and we went in to get checked afterwards. It was a little different than Conner's early labor because when I finally went in, I was in much more pain and at a 5cm.
At 10:30pm when I was in triage they checked me and I was at a 4! Just as I expected with the pain level and they said they would monitor me for an hour and a half to see where I was at. When I went to the bathroom I lost a lot of my mucus plug and I knew at that point I was staying. Right after that the contractions picked up with intensity and frequency and when they checked me again at the 1.5 hour mark around midnight and I was at a 6cm! So much for my July 13th birthday baby, the five important days had come and gone.
I immediately asked for the epidural and he came in around 1am to administer it. Well it didn't work. I informed him that I had scoliosis but he still dug around in my back for over 30 minutes trying to place it (with blood spilling down my back), and he finally got it. When he pushed the first dose, I felt nothing but numbness on my left thigh. I knew immediately what that meant for me. I was washed with absolute dread and horror. When I got my epidural with Conner I had immediate relief everywhere. I could move my legs and everything but I felt no pain. So I knew what my predicament was and at that point I knew I had to shift gears to get through this birth, there was no other option. I told Cody, I think I can do this, I just don't want to. The anesthesiologist told me that the epidural takes 15 minutes to set in but that's not true and indeed never happened. I was then 7cm.
Over the next 3.5 hours I felt every contraction every minute and the growing intensity. I begged for help from the anesthesiologist but he kept giving me doses after doses of the epidural but my left thigh just got more and more numb, nothing else was touched. At one point he asked me if I was sure I wasn't just feeling pressure and not pain, that lit me on fire. I swiftly told him I knew the difference and it felt like he never gave me an epidural, it was like a chainsaw ripping through my stomach, back, and the sides of my legs, being torn apart, and a cross between being burned alive. I never knew a pain like this could exist. Then after the 6th extra bolus of epidural he got frustrated and said, there's no way it's not working, if you didn't have the epidural you'd be screaming bloody murder down the hall. I told him, sir, I have no extra energy to do that, I'm barely getting through each contraction and each ounce of energy is going towards that. So during those 3.5 hours I closed my eyes, tried to conserve every ounce of energy I had, couldn't talk, couldn't communicate, and tried to slow my breathing and relax as much as I could through the contractions. I've read when you do that, the pelvis opens up and labor quickens. Anything for the pain to go away faster. My mom fanned me because I was drenched in sweat and Cody held my hand and encouraged me. I prayed through each contraction that God would give me the strength to get through it, I knew he wouldn't take away the pain but to be there with me through it. At 4:15am I started to feel his head with each contraction, I begged for a c section so they could just knock me out and end my suffering but they wouldn't. The contractions were back to back and lasting over a minute a piece.
At this point the anesthesiologist offered to redo it but as soon as he said that my water broke on its own. They checked me and I was at a 9.5cm. I was defeated because I needed to push but wasn't at a 10. 10 minutes after that they got my feet in the stirrups and said it was time to push. I always thought in natural unmedicated labor if you got to the pushing stage it alleviated the pain but I was wrong, it just added that much to it. I told them I couldn't push and to be honest I really didn't. Just the position of my curling over the the baby and my legs scrunched up basically did the work for me and after 10 minutes at 4:36am baby Colton was born. (I pushed for 30 minutes with Conner for reference). The pain ended almost immediately, my doctor didn't make it so the on call doctor delivered. I only had a small tear that required 1 stitch. With Conner I had an episiotomy with many stitches. (The recovery was significantly better this time even though Conner's recovery was really great too).
My left leg was completely numb for almost 24 hours after birth from all the epidural medication but I never felt any other relief. I was sure to let the head anesthesiologist know the next morning, and they informed me that I was 17 out of 40 epidurals he messed up that night. But I did it. I can't believe I did it and it brought our perfect little boy to us. Thank God for a quick labor and quick pushing. I would say the extreme pain only lasted the last 3.5 hours. I know with 100% certainty this is our last baby and I have never been more at peace with having only 2 kids and 2 boys. God always led me this whole pregnancy not to have an induction and I couldn't figure out why. Conner's was perfect because I went into labor naturally before the induction. But this time I felt a prompting to let baby come on his own and to enjoy every second of pregnancy of my last that I could get. If I had gotten induced it would've been on the 15th, the only day that would've worked for us and our doctor, and I would've had him before then anyways the way I did. Also if I had been induced the other day that would've worked, it would've been on my birthday and if the epidural hadn't worked like it didn't, AND I had pitocin contractions from the induction (because baby wasn't ready on the 12th) then I would've endured agony from that and for much longer. I wouldn't have made it. Truly. And if this had happened for my first labor instead of my second, I wouldn't have had any more kids. God had a plan for me. He protected me. He has been with me every step of my life big and small and this wasn't an exception. God is so good.
With so much love,
Kayla Raborn
7/14/24
