AW: A very VERY Belated Birth Story

Dreamingmommy4 · January 2014

Please forgive me for my procrastination, but Im only just now getting around to typing this up! Sorry it's so long! 345am Woke up feeling shaky, hot, sweaty and nauseous. I went and sat on the floor in front of the toilet and DH came in to check on me. I just felt uncomfortable and yucky so I decided a shower might help. 420am We hopped in the shower and I was having fairly consistent, non-painful contractions. I wasn't sure if this was labor or not, but with how I was feeling I kind of had a hunch it might be. After a while I decided to get out and try to go get some more sleep. While I was drying off I finally got sick and then felt better. DH joked, "Well, I guess you really are going into labor." He was so great in helping me get cleaned up and get back in bed. We ended up getting back to sleep around 5am. 620am I jerked awake and felt a warm trickle of fluid. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom and felt another gush. So I put in a pad and went and laid down in bed. As I laid there, Lyla started kicking, and all of a sudden *foosh* I completely soaked my pad. So I put in another one. I was wondering when contractions would pick up again (they had petered out after the shower and nap). All of a sudden a much more intense contraction than I had yet to experience hit me. "Wow!" DH jumped out of bed and started putting together hospital bags (we had done that a couple weeks ago but stuff had since migrated out of the bags). 8am I called the midwife and told her I was in labor and that my water had broken. She said that since I was negative for Group B strep, I could come in whenever I wanted. I decided I would be more comfortable laboring at the hospital (I was paranoid about leaking everywhere so I wasn't moving around much). 9am We headed to the hospital. The L&D nurses got us checked into a huge corner room. So nice! I got changed into a hospital gown and then hooked up to monitors in the bed. I was checked, 3cm and 90% effaced, -1 station. Once we got all settled in we called our parents and our siblings and they all quickly arrived. I wasn't expecting our families to show up, because who knew how long this could take, but they were all so excited they wanted to be there. In between intermittent monitoring, I walked the halls with SIL and DH. I labored on the birthing ball in between walks. After a while, I was checked again, 4cm and 90% effaced. The MW decided that we should strip my membranes to get things to progress more. Once that was done my contractions got more intense almost right away, but were still manageable. Then more walking to ramp things up. I went back and labored on the ball a bit; hip/pelvic pain was starting to show up with each contraction. I decided things were getting serious and it was time to kick everyone out (my ILs and our 3 brothers. My SIL, mom and DH stayed to be my support team). I asked to labor in the jacuzzi tub which was nice. I was able to relax between contractions. At this point, the contractions were getting very intense, enough so, that I was getting on all fours and vocalizing. The vocalizing was strange, I just started doing it without realizing I was. DH was with me providing counter-pressure. I only stayed in the tub for 20 min. or so, as the contractions intensified I got too uncomfortable. I got out and went and sat on the birthing ball. DH sat behind me and applied counter-pressure. SIL sat next to me and rubbed my back and talked me through each contraction. (My mom was only able to sit on the couch and cheer me on since she had just broken her ankle the week before). When the ball got too uncomfortable, the MW had me kneel on the foot of the bed; she raised the upper half of the bed up and stacked pillows on the bed and then I laid my chest and head on the pillows. It was heaven. About every 20-30 minutes I switched between these two positions. Another cervical check, I was 6cm and 100% effaced. Getting closer! I labored for two more hours and contractions were getting more intense and harder to deal with and the hip/pelvic pain was excruciating. The MW did another cervical check, still 6cm. I panicked. I had toughed it out through all that pain for nothing! It broke my resolve and I asked for drugs (I had gone in with the desire to go natural and un-medicated). The nurse put in the IV and I actually said ow. SIL looked at me like I was crazy, "Really?! You've been handling these contractions but that still makes you say ow?!" I muttered something about not liking needles and everyone laughed. SIL was amazing during this time. She helped to keep me focused and breathing when I was starting to freak out during contractions. The MW said that before I could get an epi, they had to give me IV fluids. I didn't want to wait that long so they gave me a 1/4 dose of fentynol (I'm super sensitive to meds). As soon as it was injected it made me feel dizzy and loopy and the room was spinning around. I probably wouldn't have been able to stand up, let alone walk, if I wasn't already in the bed! Good stuff! I kept laughing at how loopy it made me feel and everyone laughed at my "drunkenness". It took the edge off the contractions and I was able to relax a bit. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epi, she was so great about talking me through everything and she was done very quickly. They got me sitting back and comfortable in the bed and my feet started to get tingly and go numb. DH and I napped for about an hour and a half before the MW came in to check my progress, still 6cm. So we decided to give me a little pitocin. I couldn't go back to sleep, so SIL came back up to the room so I had someone to talk to while DH slept a little more. (She and Mom had left the room during the epi placement). The nurse got me set up with the peanut ball to hopefully help me dilate a little faster while I laid there and let the pitocin do its job. SIL and I hung out and chatted for a while. The epidural was working great, I didn't feel a thing, the contractions just felt like BH. After a bit I had SIL get rid of the peanut ball, I was getting some uncomfortable cramping in my butt, it relaxed once the ball was removed. Not long after, I started to feel that cramping again and it got stronger. I felt an increase in pressure and I actually had to breathe through it. I told SIL to get the MW. We woke DH up as the MW came in and did a cervical check, sure enough...10cm and 100% effaced! 1210am Time to push! (It had been about an hour since my nap.) SIL and DH held my legs while I pushed. My epi was perfect in the sense that I could (for the most part) feel when I needed to push. It felt good to push, knowing that I was nearing the end. Though, I still had that funny cramp in my butt. I was able to get 3-4 pushes in during each contraction. It seemed to take forever and I was getting tired. While I was pushing the MW was doing perineal massage. That was super weird! The nurse told me to pull my legs back farther to make room for her head because she was huge! (the MW had predicted LO to be about 7 1/2lbs.) I pushed hard and felt the "ring of fire", even with the epi that hurt! It took a few pushes to get her head out. She had her cord wrapped around her neck (it hadn't effected her. LO had had a baseline heart rate of 130 the entire time) which the MW quickly took care of. I paused for a second and then pushed hard and the MW helped to deliver the rest of her body. 109am Lyla Marie was born! She was laid on my chest and she was beautiful! 9lbs. 3oz., 21 inches long and 14" head. She surprised me by lifting her head off my chest and looking right at me with her dark eyes. I ended up with a small 1st degree tear. After I got stitched up I got to try nursing her. She took to it like a champ! She latched right on and started to nurse without any fuss or problems. After she finished, we got me all covered up (I had labored naked) and comfortable and wrapped Lyla up, then the rest of the family was able to come in and meet her. The staff at the hospital were wonderful and it was such an amazing experience. If I could do it all over again, I would. (I will edit with pics soon)