75+ hour marathon birth

Mama Angelina · August 2009

Our sweet little Owen Daniel was born on August 11th at 6:50am. He was 7lbs 1oz and 20.5". I began getting contractions on Thursday night, August 6th. They were consistently 10-15 minutes apart but mild. Sometime Friday they increased to 5-10 minutes and I had my first of three bloody shows. At that point it became difficult to sleep through the night as the contractions felt like strong cramps. For the next two days we alternated walking and attempting to rest, with the contractions coming between 3-7 minutes apart. On Sunday we called the doctor when they had been 2-3 mins apart for a few hours and a little more intense; he told us to head to the hospital. I wasn't able to talk through the contractions but just stopping to breathe through them brought a lot of relief. When we arrived, they slowed to 5 mins. The doctor said I was 3 cm and could stay, but we decided it was too early and we opted to go home and try to rest, eat, and walk. That night was my third sleepless night and I was feeling really ragged by the next morning. Monday we walked around the mall and tried to keep busy, but I was starting to feel frustrated. Then my contractions got more intense sometime mid-afternoon and I finally felt a sense of urgency so we headed back to the hospital at 7:30. I was a bit disappointed as my beloved OB had taken the day off due to working so much for all the full-moon babies in the previous days, and therefore I had an on-call OB who I'd never met, but by then I really just wanted my labor to end and longed to meet my little one.

After 75+ hours of labor since Friday night, I was 4cm and 70% effaced when we arrived and we were taken to a 5'x8' curtained-off area where C-sections are performed since the L&D unit was full that day. I labored there for a couple hours, often switching from side-lying position to standing and swaying. I also walked the halls. The nurse during that time was anything but helpful. We were transferred to a real delivery room and were relieved to have a more supportive nurse around 10:00. I continued to labor there and had much more freedom to move around, but I began to notice I was having back labor. We had known the baby was in posterior presentation but the pain in my back hadn't gotten too intense until then. We tried pelvic rocking, heating pads, tennis balls in a sock, and counter-pressure on my back. I prayed aloud the whole time and DH was the most helpful he could have been, giving me water and constantly reminding me to relax each part of my body, doing visualization, massage, everything we'd practiced. I felt very supported throughout the entire birth experience. I got checked around 12 and was 7cm and fully effaced. The nurse estimated I would still be in active labor for 4 or 5 more hours before starting to push. I was feeling weak as I had been vomiting and had developed a fever of 101.9, and I was so exhausted already from lack of sleep that I feared I wouldn't have the energy to push my baby out when that time came. DH and I talked in between contractions and we decided it was more important for me to rest in order to avoid potential interventions--forceps/vacuum--that might be needed to get the baby out if I was too tired. So we asked for a light epidural and within half an hour I could still feel the contractions but my back labor subsided and I rested quietly for the next 3 hours.

At that point I was checked again and was 10cm. My bag of waters was bulging and they burst it to allow the baby to descend more. I asked them to turn down the epidural more and in a little while the contractions got stronger and I felt the intense pressure to push. I pushed for an hour and a half in many different positions--squatting, side-lying, leaning on DH, curling around my belly, and just as the morning sun came streaming through the window my little boy was born! I had a small tear (barely second degree) and needed a few internal stitches.

While we were a little disappointed that we couldn't make it just a few more hours to have the natural birth we'd hoped for, we never anticipated I'd be exhausted by such a prolonged early labor. In the end, we were glad to be able to make informed decisions to avoid unnecessary interventions, and the joy we feel for our little guy made every bit of effort worth while.

kbs0929 · August 2009

congratulations! love the name owen daniel.

GypsyEsq · August 2009

Congratulations! Owen is adorable.

april_lynn_08 · August 2009

Congratulations on your baby boy! I love the name Owen!

NatPhoto09 · August 2009

OMG...I thought I had it bad, mine was 44 hours or so. I can so relate with the exhaustion. You are a braver woman than me. I got my epidural and rested for 6-7 hours. Those last hours were heaven. Your LO is adorable congrats!

cagreeran · August 2009

Wow, amazing. Congrats to you, and your family! Seeing your LO's pic makes me soo excited and happy to meet my own!!

lilbit923 · August 2009

What a happy and contented looking little man! Good for you and congratulations on your delivery.

I sort of feel cheated that I didn't get to push my son out (he's 8) when my delivery came. My cervical cancer damaged my cervix too much to be able to safely deliver him and my son was also transverse and had no room to turn around. So my doctor took him by c-section and almost didn't get him out he was so wedged in my hips. Poor guy. He had been through so much but when I saw him I was instantly in love. He's my favorite guy in the world and knows it. We're both lucky to have had such a great doctor who looked out for both of us in a situation that was out of my control.

Congrats again, he is beautiful!