XP - My Birth Story: Sunnyside Up Baby Long
I can hardly believe that it has been 11 days since my baby was born! I always love reading the birth experiences of other women so I thought I would add in mine!
On January 18th I was watching a movie with my husband, enjoying a nice quiet evening. Around 8:30 I went upstairs to go to the bathroom and when I got to the top of the stairs I heard a slight pop. I didn't really think anything of it as my body had been making weird noise the entire time I was pregnant so I just shrugged it off. I made it to the bathroom and that's when I felt and saw the water! I was absolutely shocked that my water had broken. I had to sit on the toilet because it just kept flowing. I called my husband and he came running upstairs (he said he could tell something was up by the tone of my voice!). The water was tinged pink with blood so we called the midwife to ensure everything was okay (I'm Rh negative so we were told to call at any sign of blood).
She ensured us that everything was okay and that we should wait for the 5-1-1 rule to come into effect (GBS negative as well). My husband had to plan his lessons for the following day and I finished packing my hospital bag. We called my parents so that they could come and pick up the dogs and let them know that they would have a granddaughter soon. Around 10:30, he went to bed and I tried to finish the movie since the contractions weren't that bad yet. By 11:45, my contractions were strong and close together. We started measuring them using our iPod app and found them to be 1.5 minutes long and about 3-4 minutes apart. We went to the hospital and made our way up to triage.
In triage, they assessed me and found I was about 3 cm dialated. The midwife came and admitted us and we made our way to our fabulous birthing room. At about 3:00, the contractions were getting really intense and close together. To help avoid pain medications, my midwife suggested the Jacuzzi tub. What a difference that made. It took about 2hours off the labour instantly. I felt much better and was able to handle the contractions (I highly recommend water if you have the opportunity to use it!!). I laboured in the tub for about 2 hours but by the end the contractions were getting unbearable and were accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to push. Unfortunately for me, I was only 7cm at this point so the pushing urge was causing my cervix to become inflamed and was actually slowing my progress. The midwife basically told me I was getting an epidural since a vaginal delivery of a sunnyside up baby the first time around was extremely difficult.
We went back to the room and ordered the epidural. I felt a mixture of relief and failure as I had really wanted to go naturally. Thirty minutes later, the doctor arrived and attempted to insert the epidural. It took 3 tries and another 30 minutes before it was in. The needle itself didn't really hurt but I can't say it was comfortable either. After the epidural was in, the midwife checked my progress and I was finally at 10cm. I also had the lightest epidural ever and was in complete control of my legs and could feel the contractions still. We used this to our advantage and tried pushing in a number of different positions (squatting, hands and knees, on my side).
After about an hour of pushing, I was told that my baby was stuck on my pubic bone and that was why I wasn't making any progress. I got a shot of pitocin to help strengthen the contractions just enough to get her through the pelvis. After 3 hours of pushing, my baby, Isla Jeannette, was finally born at 8:55 am on January 19th, sunnyside up, eyes open and extremely alert! She was placed directly on my chest and I was overcome by emotion! I was so happy and relieved to have her and to know that she was healthy. Because she was a bit blue, they took her after about 15 minutes to warm her up and give her a bit of oxygen, she was also weighed and measured (7lbs 1oz, 20.5"). She was then returned to me and I was able to breastfeed her right away.
While breastfeeding, the midwife massaged my belly to help with the delivery of the placenta. After the placenta was delivered, the midwife decided to give my a couple stitches internally to help with some of the second degree tearing that had occured. By this time the epidural was long gone and the stitching was pretty uncomfortable. I have complete respect for anyone who has had a third or fourth degree tear! You women are troopers!
I was able to shower almost right away and my parents were at the hospital by 11:30. It was definitely a whirlwind experience. His parents arrived around dinner time and we had some cousins visit after that. We were happy to have guests as we were still pretty high on adrenaline and couldn't sleep anyway. We decided to stay one night in the hospital because I was still pretty sore from the tear and the hemorrhoids (probably the worst part). We were discharged at 11am and home shortly after.
It was an incredible experience and we have an incredible
daughter. Hope to add pictures soon! Wish you all the best labours and
deliveries!
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