Gabriel's Birth - Long story for a precipitous birth

sthomas1222 · May 2014

Sunday night DH & I were watching GoT & I was feeling very tired & very pregnant. I had gotten some sickness the day before & been doped up on Benadryl & sudafed & just slept a lot. I asked him how much longer he thought I'd be pregnant. It had been a long pregnancy with lots of illness & he had broken his foot at 30w & was still in a cast. We also had listed & sold our house, signed the lease for our new place, & made the arrangements for the 3.5 hour move come August. He said I had at least another week he thought, which earned him a dirty look & a couple of threats muttered under my breath. We went to bed soon after.

Around 2:45 I got up to pee. This had been my usual time, like an internal alarm clock. I wobbled into the bathroom, dozing in & out while I tried to empty my bladder. As I got back to bed I felt a little bit of what I thought was pee. It smelled like pee at least. I was irritated as I grabbed a fresh pair of undies & waddled back into the bathroom. A little fluid dribbled down my legs but I'd been sweating a lot lately so I tried not to get my hopes up. I wiped it up & stood there waiting. Nothing else came so I tried to pee again. When I stood up more dribbled out. It's clear with no smell but since I'd been sick I decided to ask DH. So I poke him til he wakes & asks if the tissue smells like pee. He's very confused & probably thinking I'm crazy & annoying. I tell him I think my water broke but can't be sure. According to him I said this with a bit too much glee. I make yet another trip to the bathroom where more fluid comes out. I grab a washcloth to put between my legs as I have no pads upstairs & head downstairs to get the card with the midwives phone number on it. The washcloth is half soaked by the time I'm back upstairs. I page the midwives & wait for the return call. I sit on the bed trying to see if I'm having contractions. I text my doula & let her know I'm waiting on a call & why. The midwife calls & she said once my contractions are 4-5 minutes apart to head on in & just call so she can meet me at the front desk. So I time my contractions & find them already 5 minutes apart though I'm not really feeling them yet. I call my doula & tell her that once our sitter gets here for DD we'll be heading in so I can get my antibiotics for GBS. I was 4cm & 70% at my appt the previous week. I'm worried about not getting the antibiotics & enduring another long stay. With DD we had a traumatic 5 day stay so we wanted to do all in our power to not give them any reason to keep us. We decide to call my mom even though I can't really trust her with DD but she's closest. SIL was my first choice but she is an hour away & has an 8 month old.

I start puttering around getting stuff together. I want to be packed & ready so we can leave ASAP. Right before my mom gets there I get my first real contraction that stops me in my tracks & I just have to stand there & breathe & moan a little. My mom arrives & I have another that requires too much concentration. We head on out but dammit no gas.Contractions in the car are horrendous! I call the midwife 2x & no answer! I have her paged again with the news we're on our way in but pretty sure the guy on the phone can't understand me from the moaning and panting. Off we go, thankfully no traffic as 95 between our house & the hospital has had multiple construction projects turning a 20 minute drive into 40+. We pull into the parking deck & I jump out before it's in park as another contraction hits. I have 2 more fairly close together as I'm getting stuff out of the car. I scare housekeeping as I have contractions on my way to the elevators. As I'm checking in I feel like I'm handling them pretty well & moaning through them with DH rubbing my low back. Then one hits that I'm just not prepared for & a low guttural scream escapes me. I try & get back in my head space quickly & not lose control. I think I scared the security guard though. I believe it was around this time I realized the nurse that was being assigned to me was at my daughter's birth & I had on many different occasions asked that she not be at this birth. She doesn't remember us & is chatting away super nice. She actually stopped to weigh me & another contraction hits me hard. We finally get to my room, I was told this was at 4:55am. I'm asked for an urine sample & told I can change into a gown if I want to. I make off for the bathroom to get away from the nurse. I unthinkingly lock the door & inevitably a contraction hits as I'm trying to sit. The cart I grab ahold of moves forward but put me in reach to unlock the door. Thankfully my doula arrives at that very moment & sees me covered in sweat & rocking forward & back with the contraction. She told me not to worry, she'd get rid of the nurse. I manage to pee & gtfo of the bathroom before another contraction hits. I don't bother with pants as the midwife is walking through the door & I know she'll want to check me. She asks why I didn't call! I explained I had & she's looking at all her phones & pagers. Oh well, I try & get on the bed so she can do her check but another contraction hits. There's a lot of pressure with these contractions & they're coming pretty close together still. That one ends & I quickly hop up on the bed & she's ready with her sterile glove. Thankfully my cervix is quick to find & I'm 5cm 100% & baby is almost at 0 station! I quickly roll off the bed as another contraction hits. I'm thankful we got there while I was still 5cm, I figured we'd have enough time for at least one dose of antibiotics. The nurse who was just supposed to be assisting is now my main nurse & trying to place my IV between contractions that must be 3 minutes apart at this point. My MW asks if I have my heart set on the tub which I most certainly am. She gives me the talk about how when she says it's time to get out there will be no arguing. She's very serious & I just nod & say of course. I'm thinking she's a bit crazy since I'm only 5cm & still a ways to go before I'm pushing. A few more contractions & my IV is finally in. All of a sudden I feel my baby drop. That's the best way I can describe it. It's like I hit 10cm & he just fell into the birth canal. I yell "oh god he's coming!" & give an involuntary push at the peak of that contraction. The midwife rushes around & my doula is trying to get me to focus. I'm still standing on the side of the bed & I'm not moving at that point. No tub, no shower. We don't have the music going, hell the lights are still on nice & bright. Each contraction brings an extraordinary amount of pressure. I need to fight the urge to push as hard & as fast as I want. I have a lot of scar tissue from my prior 3rd degree tear & there was no time for the tub or even warm compresses. So all I can do is control my pushing. The MW is telling me listen to my doula. She's trying to get me to focus & breathe. I can feel him coming down & the midwife tells me to reach & feel his head. I didn't really want to but I did & it helped me focus on letting my perineum stretch. I look at my doula & nod & mutter "yes ring of fire. Hold him there". I try smaller pushes & breathing through the beginning & end. But it becomes too much. I push his head out in 2 pushes. I reach for him with both hands. I had wrote in the detailed birth plan the midwives ask for that I wanted to pull him out. I can feel the midwife's hands checking for a nuchal cord. I was told later I was smacking her hands away! His shoulders come out & I left him up to me. I just couldn't wrap my head around him being here! I take the 2 steps to the bed & lay down. The midwife jokes & tells me to scoot over, she can't have me give birth like I did then embarrassingly fall out of the bed. DH doesn't want to cut the cord so once it stops pulsing I cut the cord myself. I did end up with a 2nd degree tear but I'll take that over a 3rd degree! Baby boy is doing good & crying hard but isn't quite pink enough so DH goes with him to the warmer. My doula holds my hand as I'm poked, prodded, numbed, & sewn up. Gabriel is brought back over. His torso pinked up & turns out from his quick descent that his face is a little bruised. He latches on immediately & nurses for the next hour & a half! While it's not the birth I had imagined it was still absolutely amazing. I could not have asked for a more supportive husband, doula, & midwife. And even though we didn't get the antibiotics in we were still allowed to leave at 36 hours.

Arinias · May 2014

Congratulations! Gkad you had a great experience and hope you're all doing well!

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

Congrats! And btw you should be an author. I felt like was experiencing that while reading it! (FTM and I had to have a C section so no experience with labor.)