Birth Stories

Natural Birth Turned Induction ?Long!

I had my baby a few days ago and wanted to get everythingdown before I forgot. Also, I have read so many birth stories here, I feel likeI Need to post mine:) Sorry it is so long! 

On Tuesday 12/7/10 (a week ago!) I was 6 days late and mywater broke at 2:45pm after an especially ?interesting? exam with my midwife.DH and I called our doula, midwife, and buzzed around getting ready to go (IHAD to do the dishes to have some piece of mind). I was originally planning tolabor at home, but because I had GBS, I was required to go to the hospital toget antibiotics every 4 hours to prevent baby from getting an infection. 

We checked in at the hospital (5pm) My midwife came in anddiscussed my options. She basically said that my body should start contractionssoon, but if it didn?t she recommended starting pitocin at 4am. This was wickeddisappointing, but I tried to stay positive (and will contractions to happen).The first night was not restful. Intermittent monitoring, trips to the bathroomand antibiotics being administered made for very little sleep.

Early Wednesday (12/8/10) morning the night nurse came in todiscuss pitocin. I finally agreed, but insisted on putting it off until 6am soI could sleep a little longer. I thought contractions were going to come hardand fast right away and I cried when I finally agreed (I?ve read/seen to manyhorror stories that end in c-section). At 6am they started the drip and nothinghappened?for 15 hours. Our doula spent time with us, made sure I ate real food(against hospital policy but I wouldn?t have survived without it). In theevening we let our doula go home for a break/sleep. Very annoyingly, thepitocin drip had to be mostly plugged into the wall because the machinewouldn?t hold a charge. I hadn?t really thought about how this restrictedmobility until?

At 11:30pm my contractions went from not-calling-out-of-workto hrm-i-need-to-concentrate-but-this-isn?t-so-bad. We called the doula back inand she arrived a little after 12am (12/9/10). My husband was essential with myworking through the contractions. Also, I had developed a sense (real or not)that I could actually control my cervix?through reading Ina May?s childbirthbook, especially about sphincter law, doing kegels according to the Bradleymethod, and practicing relaxation breathing as instructed by my midwife. Thebirthing ball & leaning on the bed were most helpful, but I was noticingthat between contractions, back pain continued so I got in the shower at 3am (IVhad had to stay outside, but not a big deal). This is when I got in the zone ?itfelt awesome to be in the shower! Totally manageable.

My midwife came into work (5am) and encouraged me with mybreathing. She examined me and found that I was at 5cm?she massaged me to 7cmeasily (her nickname in the midwife community is the cervix whisperer). I wasfrustrated, even with this progress in a relatively short time. She let me knowwe could speed things up, but we needed to get into uncomfortable positions.Between of this suggestion and the fact that I overheard someone say the babywas posterior, I decided I needed some sort of pain relief. My birth team stuckto the plan (?we are not offering you pain relief?) but I insisted, I neededsomething to make me feel like I was also in control, as I was not going to beable to control my position.

 

I got a shot of Nubain, which effs with your perception, butdoesn?t really affect the intensity of the pain. Still, I felt good for havingtried something.  Within an hour Iwas almost at 10cm but my midwife spent another 2 hours I think trying to turnthe baby so she would emerge anterior rather than posterior. To no avail! At8am I started to get the urged to push with contractions (i.e. extremeconstipation and pressure feeling during contractions :). My midwife had JUST saidshe was going to step out to get food, but we called her back! We startedpushing and baby girl inched out and then retracted back in after everycontraction. Pushing involved curling into a ball on my back, my husband anddoula on either side pulling me into a tighter ball as I pushed. It was veryhard, involved my whole body, but did not hurt at all. It surprised me that Ididn?t want to squat? I had to completely collapse between each contraction Iwas using so much energy. I fell into REM sleep between pushes. I actuallydon?t think my urge to push was as strong as it could have been?I waited outseveral contractions instead of pushing!

 My midwife was infinitely patient, massaging my perineum toprevent tearing with every push. Two or three times she called in the nurses toprep the baby area because she thought I was 1 or 2 pushes away. She had tocancel all her morning appointments. My doula and husband were encouraging.They kept me hydrated and chapsticked up:).Thanks to this team I delivered a 9 pound 5 ounce baby girl at 10:30am on12/9/10 after 2 ? hours of pushing with only a 1st degree tear.Woohoo! I felt exhausted in a way I didn?t know possible. All the pictures showme with my eyes only half open! 11 hours of ?real? labor total.

Overall I had a great experience! Don?t feel hopeless if youneed to be induced! You can still have a natural birth (or in my case, almostnatural:)and it isn?t sentencing you to a c-section. It can be done, no matter how bigyour baby is or what position she is in! I feel like I owe EVERYthing to my birth team. Surround yourself withgood people!

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