Everett James birth story 12/6 (long)

lcourter24 · December 2011

At my Dr. appt. on Monday I was dilated to 2 1/2, 80% effaced and -1 station. Dr. Jensen was able to strip my membranes in hopes of starting the labor process. After my appt. Neal and I walked the mall for a couple hours, I had very weak, spartatic contractions and decided to go on home and try some other techniques we learned in class. I did some side lunges on the stairs and DH and I, well, you know.

About 30 mins. later I began having time-able contractions. We decided to time them just to see if this was the real deal. After an hour of timing we realized they were coming every 2-3 min. and lasting about 30-50 sec in length. I called our doula just to touch base and let her know that tonight is probably going to be the night. She suggested I take a bath/shower to relax and try to sleep for a bit. Well I took a 45 minute shower that for sure relaxed me, but as soon as I got out my contractions took on a new level of intensity. Still about 2-3 min apart but lasting 45-100 sec. I began laboring on the bed, the ball, walking/dancing with DH. All these positions helped me get through this stage. At around 10:00 we called our doula back to let her know that things were starting to get more intense and that we might need her sooner than we thought. She arrived to our house about an hour later. She watched me labor for several contraction, telling me to relax my brow, drop my jaw through the contractions. She decided to go ahead and check me since I was Group B positive and would have to start taking my antibiotics if we were indeed progressing. When she checked me I was a stretchy 4 1/2 cm, 90% effaced and still -1 station. We decided it was time to hop in the tub, I was in there for probably hour. I was feeling pretty nauseous off and on so we were using cold wash clothes to help with that. When I got out of the tub our doula said I needed to do some exercises to bring baby lower into the pelvis. We did side lunges over the bath tub, squats, and just some sitting on the toilet. At around 2:00 am I was beginning to show signs that it was maybe time to head in to the birth-care center. My doula checked me again at that point and I was now a stretchy 6 1/2 cm. We decided since it was snowing that we could go ahead and start packing up the car. We hopped in and of course not even a minute after backing up my water broke (just a trickle).
We arrived at the birth-care center at 3:00 am., got checked in, had a few contractions in the lobby (NO FUN!) , and was sent to our room. The nurse checked me after asking her million questions and said I was only 4 1/2 cm! I WAS DEVASTATED!!! After the nurse left the room my doula reassured me that I was in fact further along than that.
-side note: I had previously had a cervical leep procedure back in 2003. My dr now thinks the reason behind me being stuck was that I had to much built up scar tissue. After he checked me and broke open the scar tissue I was able to continue to dilate.
During active labor I did a lot of walking, squatting, side lunges, and lots of just sitting on the toilet. My dr. came back in to check me at 8:00 am he confirmed then that my bag of waters was bulging so it must have broken up high originally. He then broke it, and I was a good 7-8 at that point, but baby still needed to drop down. This is when things got crazy! My doula was "forcing" me to do squats and lunges during contractions to get him to drop further. I was in the most agonizing pain but knew this is what it was going to take to get this baby OUT! At around 11:00 am I was in full transition, starting to doubt myself, talking about pain relief, and pleading to God to take me out of my misery. When in walks my doc, he checked me again, and pushed through the little bit of cervical lip that I had left and told me I was complete. It only took about 10 min. before I began to feel the urge to push. We tried several positions side laying, squatting, and settled on the modified squat. I pushed for around 50 mins. and he crowned for 30 min of that! I have to say the pushing part was probably the least painful because I could push through the pain finally. Everett finally came out screaming his head off at 12:33 pm, weighing 8 lbs 4.5 oz, 19.5 in. We did skin on skin for over an hour while dr stitched up my 2 degree tear. Then dad gave him his first bath while I soaked in the tub.
We are all home and doing well after a bout of jaundice when Everett was only a few days old. Hope everyone is doing well.