Greta's pain-med free birth

HammyD · July 2010

Greta Elizabeth was born at 1:24am on Wednesday July 21st. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21" inches long.

I had my 38w4d appointment on Monday, July 20th, and was 1cm dilated, 70% effaced. My water broke at 3:30 on Tuesday morning (and Craig, my husband, was planning on going to NYC overnight for work at 7am!). We go to the hospital for 11am and I am 3cm dilated, 80% effaced. My midwife says the baby has a lot of hair which makes me excited and happy! Contractions are about 5 minutes apart and manageable. My midwife told me she might want to give me pitocin at 3pm if I hadn't made more progress. At 3pm, I was still 3cm but totally effaced. She gave me until 6pm to get to 5cm. At 6pm I was 4cm so in went the IV and pitocin. I was hoping to avoid all of that, but I made peace with it. Standing up and walking was the most comfort I could get. Contractions were now very intense but not more so with the pitocin, I thought. I only got 4 drips/hour out of a possible 20. From 7-11pm the labor was very tough and I was telling Craig I didn't know if I could do it without drugs. I didn't want them but labor is hard! He was incredible and reminded me how great I was doing and just to breathe through each one- one at a time. I was picturing a wall and was keeping the wall down with each breath. At 11pm, I was feeling more pressure and my nurse checked me- 7cm- hooray! I felt new resolve and that I wasn't too far away now. At midnight, I was feeling a lot pressure and got the shakes at one point. I thought I read that was a sign of transition. So, my nurse checked me again- 10 cm. I said "Thank you, Jesus! That is the best thing I have ever heard!" But then I remembered I still had to push her out and got nervous but we had already come so far! The contractions were so intense but never right on top of each other so I had some "relief." The nurse called my midwife and told her I was fully dilated and Anne, my midwife, said "okay, call me in an hour and tell me how she's doing." An hour?! I couldn't believe it. My nurse told me pushing could take three hours but I knew in my head there was no way it was going to take that long. By 12:45 my body was starting to push on it's own and they called Anne and told her to get there NOW!
I was told to try not to push and I tried but my body was doing was it is meant to do all on it's own. I stayed in control for the most part but lost it twice and let out big screams. I told my nurse that she should just catch the baby and we didn't need Anne. She said she hasn't had to do that yet and Anne would kill her. I said "I"m going to kill Anne!" But then Anne was there and Craig said the surprise on her face when she checked me and Greta was right there was priceless. Everyone rushed around getting ready and I was finally able to push. I couldn't feel Greta coming down- just SO much pressure. I never felt the ring of fire when she was crowning either. Craig said while she was crowned and we were waiting for another contraction, Anne was twirling all of Greta's hair with her finger. Haha! She was out in about four contractions and it was instant relief. I felt amazing! She was put right on my chest and I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I felt so proud and accomplished. Anne said she hadn't seen a cookie as tough as me in a while and that made me so happy. I had a small tear and Anne gave me three or four stitches. I am still sore but it's getting better every day. Greta is a true joy and makes me want to be the best me I can, for her. Motherhood is truly incredible.