Late Into/Birth Story

Kjercich · January 2014

I was a lurker for most of my pregnancy. I'd post and reply once or twice. Now that I'm up every two hours nursing I find myself on this board all the time and I want to be more active. Hopefully all you lovely ladies won't mind me jumping in so late in the game. My due date was January 31st.

Birth Story

Short version:
Emerson Sophia was born on January 22nd at 11:15pm. 7lbs 12oz 20.5 inches long. 5 hours of active labor, 25 minutes of pushing.

Very long version:
I woke up at 8:20am the 22nd to my water breaking. I thought I peed my pants at first. Two very small gushes and one pop later... I had no doubt my water broke. I woke up DH and he asked if I was sure, and then I called our Doctor to let her know.

DH and I had some last minute things to get done. The Doctor called to check up on things but I still wasn't having contractions. The Doctor told me to go enjoy the day and to get something good to eat, so that's exactly what we did. It was about 2 or 3pm when we got back home and got all our things together to take to the hospital.

Hours went by and I still wasn't having contractions. I was worried with my water broken that I might need some intervention to speed things along. Which is exactly what I didn't want to happen, so DH and I went on a walk to try to get things going. I started to get a few contractions but they weren't consistent and not painful, just felt like an intense braxton hicks contractions. We headed back to the house, I needed to rest and as soon as we did the contractions stopped. After a while we went on a second walk. Yet again I had contractions, these were kind of painful but as soon as we got home they stalled out.

We just hung around the house, watched a movie and rested. At 6pm I was finally having contestant and painful contractions. They were coming every 6-5 minutes. An hour later contractions were coming every 5-4 minutes and they were painful enough I had to breathe through them. I called our Doctor to let her know and she told me I should head over to the hospital in a hour or even wait two, it was up to me. An hour and a half went by and the contractions were getting pretty painful. I couldn't lay down when they'd come on anymore. I had to stand and sway my hips back and forth. Then the contractions started coming every 4-3 minutes really quickly and I was feeling some pressure when they'd come on. So I told DH it was time to go.

When we were driving to the hospital the contractions got even more intense and started coming every 2 minutes. We got there around 9pm. I was worried we would get sent home because I hadn't progressed enough. A nurse took us to a tiny room, that I opted for because it was the only one available that had a bathroom. That room might has well been a broom closet. By this time the contractions were hurting so bad I told DH I wanted an epidural, thinking I'd have hours to until she was born.

Our Doctor happened to already be at the hospital checking on another woman. She came in my broom closet and checked me, but before she did I told her I wanted an epidural and she ignored my request. A few uncomfortable minutes later she told me, you're at an 8, you don't need an epidural. All of us were shocked. So, I didn't get one. She left to tell the nurses to get a birth room ready for us.

It was about 9:45pm when they came and got us. My hands kept getting numb but the nurse said it was normal. After getting settled in the room, they told me to let them know if I felt the urge to push and she left the room. Less than a hour later I felt the urge. The Doctor came in and checked me, I was complete. There was just a tiny bit cervix in the way but the Doctor told me to push slowly anyways.

Surprisingly it felt amazing to push, they act of pushing wasn't painful at all, it was relieving. After a little while I was allowed to really push. At one point we had a scare. Emersyn's heart rate dropped to a really scary low number. The atmosphere completely changed. The nurses rushed to put an oxygen mask on me, put an IV in to get some fluids in me and rolled me onto my left side. I knew something was really wrong, but no one was saying much. At one point our Doctor told one of the nurses to see if another Doctor was close by and if not to page them. I knew they were getting ready to rush us to an emergency c-section if Emersyn's heart rate didn't get higher real quick. Thank goodness her heart rate went back to normal, and everyone relaxed.

Emersyn started to crown. Now holly moly that hurt! As soon as her head was out all the pain went away and I didn't even feel the rest of her come out. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck three times.

The Doctor put her on my chest and she screamed for a few seconds. She is so beautiful, absolutely perfect. She was born at 38 weeks and 5 days gestation. I always wanted an unmedicated birth but never thought I could actually have one. Apparently my thresh hold for pain is a lot higher than everyone thought, including myself.

Edit: I don't know why it keeps posting under @Kjercich. I've logged out and signed back in 3 or 4 times. My user name is @Baabycakee what the heck. Oye.