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Wren's Natural Birth - Bradley Method (long)
My birth story starts a few days before the actual birth. On Friday, January 29th we had a checkup with our OB, Dr. Jenna Murray. I was 38 weeks, 4 days. Dr. Murray told us that my cervix was still totally closed but soft. She told us that in her best guess I would at least reach my due date and most likely go over around a week. This was a-ok with us because 1) We still had lots of stuff to do to get ready (not major but little stuff that a nesting mom wants done?nothing like the last minute) and 2) This is totally what we were expecting. I felt absolutely confident that I was nowhere near giving birth and Shane had been saying all along that baby was going to be coming on February 13th;)So we continued about our business. I made a huge list of things I wanted to get accomplished in the coming week: errands to run, cleaning, a pedicure so that my toes would look good in labor;) On Sunday, Shane arranged a little day out so that we could enjoy some last minute time as a couple before baby arrived. We had a lazy Sunday, did some shopping and then Shane took me to my big surprise, a massage at Zenana spa. It was amazing. During the last few minutes of the massage I felt sort of a stabbing pain where my cervix would be and then some pressure. I thought for a nano second??Is that a contraction or something?? but totally wrote it off. Shane then took me for a bite to eat (ok we actually ate dessert for dinner?..a huge ?clair w/ ice cream and fudge). Then we went to see a movie. We saw ?It?s complicated and laughed our asses off for a couple of hours). On the way home, I remember feeling really emotional and BADLY not wanting Shane to go to work the next day. I chalked this up to pregnancy emotions but I think my body must have known something was going on. When we got home and got ready for bed I said to Shane, ?Isn?t it crazy that this could be our last child free weekend?? We laughed because the idea was crazy but we ?knew? that we weren?t going to have a baby for a couple of weeks?.3 ? hours later?..I woke up at 2:30am to a gush of water. I got up and ran to the bathroom. I knew what was happening but could NOT believe it. I called for Shane and told him that my water just broke. I kept trying to make up something else it could be but there was no denying that it was indeed my waters breaking as liquid continued to pour out. (Thank God that I had put waterproof pads down under my sheets weeks earlier just in case or we would need to do some mattress shopping.)We were both in absolute shock. I kept saying ?this is not the way this was suppose to happen!? I was not having contractions yet and so I was so scared that this would mean all sorts of interventions. ?Oh no, their going to have to give me pitocin? I told Shane and I will never make it through that!? Shane was VERY calm as always and told me that everything would be fine. He convinced me to come back to bed and wait for things to start. Sure enough, within 15 minutes or so contractions started. They were really mild but started off about 10 minutes apart?with outliers here and there.We stayed in bed until around 7 but I only managed to drift in and out of sleep?.somewhat due to the contractions but probably mostly due to the excitement. By the time we decided to get up, contractions were spuratic but around 7 minutes apart although they would range anywhere from 5 ? to 15 minutes apart. As I mentioned, I had a huge list of things to do that week so I got up and started doing laundry and cleaning the house! Shane got the car loaded, packed his bag and installed the carseat (I told you we REALLY thought we had two more weeks)! Shane even went out and bought a last minute camcorder.By around noon, contractions were pretty consistently around 5 minutes apart. This was our designated time to go to the hospital but I didn?t ?feel? like I could have possibly made much progress yet. I decided to wait a little while longer as I was still feeling pretty good and the contractions seemed really very manageable. At around 1pm I was talking to my best friend on the phone and had a couple of contractions that were 3ish minutes apart. Shane said 2 more like that and we are going. He went outside to finish the carseat and I had one more in 3 minutes and the next one came at 2 minutes and 30 seconds! I opened the door and told Shane we need to go!I got uncomfortable pretty quickly in the car. By the time we got there the contractions were getting really strong and closer and closer together. I had planned on walking in but when we parked and I got up and tried to walk I realized that was not going to happen. We pulled up to the front of the hospital and Shane wheeled me in.As soon as I got in to the room they hooked me up to the EFM for the mandatory 20 minutes. That was torture to have to lie in one spot. Shane didn?t want me to get checked right away but I knew I needed to know where I was at. I ended up being on the EFM for more like 30 or 40 minutes and as soon as I was done I knew that I wanted to be checked and then get in the tub ASAP.Our nurse Shannon, came in to check me. As she was checking she made kind of a shocked face and I thought, ?oh God, I am only going to be like 1 or 2cm.? To my amazment, she told me that I was 6! I was in serious, serious pain at this point and having to lie in one position was starting to make me lose it. I had Shane go in to turn on the tub for me.As soon as I got in I felt immediate relief. I remember Shane asking how it felt and I replied, ?Like heaven.? I stayed in the tub for about an hour. By about the half hour mark my pain started to increase to a brand new level. This was my transition period and also my ?freak out? moment. I felt like I couldn?t get on top of the pain. I also started feeling a lot of rectal pressure at this point and sort of like I was having a pushing urge. I started to feel a fight or flight response kick in and I literally felt like I wanted to run away. I told Shane that I could not, would not do this any more. I told him to go and get me an epidural. He did a great job of talking me through it. He reminded me why I wanted this experience and encouraged me to try something different and then see how I felt. I wasn?t hearing any of it. I couldn?t even think.When I got out of the tub I was in the absolute depths of the transition and I needed something to change. I was convinced I needed the epidural. My friend Angela had arrived before I got into the tub and she came into play at this point too. They both convinced me to be checked before we decided anything else. I remember saying that unless I was at 10, I was getting the epidural. Shannon came back in to check me. This time she said I was at 8cm but most of the cervix that was left was all on one side.?I can not do this.? I told her. She told me that I was almost done and that if I really wanted the epi I could have it but that I was SO close. She offered Fentanyl at this point. She had it all drawn up and everything it was like the most seductive thing ever being dangled right in front of my face. She told me that it might help me get a little break so that I could make it through. Shane and I had already decided that we would not do any narcotic like the Fentanyl or Stadol because of the affects they could have on the baby. We had decided that if I really needed the pain relief that I would just go straight to the epidural. I knew deep down that I didn?t want this but I felt so helpless and I couldn?t think straight. I looked straight in to Shane?s eyes and asked ?can I have it?? If he would have caved, I think I would have taken the Fentanyl and I am so glad that he was able to stay strong and talk me through it. ?Remember we didn?t want this, remember the baby?if you really can?t do it, let?s just get the epidural.? This was my moment of truth. I felt like I was at the top of a roller coaster ready to take the longest and scariest fall. I felt some sort of divine intervention at this moment. I looked inside myself and somehow decided I was going to do it.Shannon had already called Dr. Murray. She told me that she was hurrying over because she had a feeling I was going to go really fast. Soon she came running in to the room out of breath. I was laboring in hands and knees at this point with Shane and Angela pushing on my lower back for counter pressure during each contraction. Dr. Murray asked me how I felt and I told her I felt like pushing. She never checked me again but said that it was time to listen to my body. As soon as she said that I began to push a bit tentatively at first.Once I started pushing something shifted and I knew that I was going to make it. I kept asking over and over how much more time. She never gave me an exact answer but told me I was close. She recommended that we get out the squat bar. I had always thought that I really wouldn?t like the squat bar but she seemed to think it would be good and I was willing to try anything to speed up the process.Once I got on the squat bar things really started to move. In between contractions I would either rest on the squat bar or lie back on the bed. I would pull myself up and use the squat bar to push for each contraction. Dr. Murray was so calm during this period, she just sat back and watched and told me how beautiful the pushes were looking. As baby was getting ready to crown, I leaned back into the bed in a kind of half sit, half squat position. Dr. Murray warned me that the next part could be really scary. ?I just want you to know that everything is absolutely normal, you are opening up beautifully but this next part will feel really scary, it?s a sensation you have never felt before.? I thought, ?Why is she telling me this?? but in a few minutes I was glad for the warning.I decided to stay in that semi-reclined position for a few minutes and ended up staying in that position the rest of the time. Shane and Angela held my legs back as I pushed through the next few contractions. As baby began to crown, I felt the ?ring of fire? we learned about. Dr. Murray had me feel the baby?s head which was beyond surreal. She did perineal massage and used mineral oil throughout this part. Finally I gave the push that would bring the baby?s head out and this was the point that I felt grateful for Dr. Murray?s warning. I felt like I was tearing serverely. I had the sensation that I was tearing upwards but Dr. Murray continued to tell me everything looked great. Baby?s head was out and I expected her body would shoot right out after that but I still had to give a big push to get her out. Shane said that he actually saw the liquid spill out of her mouth during the next contraction like on the video we watched in class.And then, Wren was born! I have NEVER ever felt such extacy in all my life. Dr. Murray turned her little bottom to me and asked ?What do you have?? I yelled ?A girl!? I couldn?t believe it! They laid her on my chest and she was absolutely perfect. She came out SO clean?she was bright pink and had no blood or go on her at all! That all went out the window in a minute when she pooped everywhere! All over me but I didn?t even care. I went from feeling some of the most intense pain of my life to feeling absolutely the best I have ever felt. Way better than any drug could ever be. I was high, high as a kite. I kept saying ?I can?t believe it? over and over again. I couldn?t believe that she was here, that she was so absolutely perfect, that I actually did it.? Angela told me later that I said ?I am in love with the whole world!? And I was?Dr. Murray worked on me to deliver the placenta which I guess could have been little complicated because my cord connected to my membranes and not to my placenta. She said that this was kind of rare but not dangerous. I was able to push it out without much trouble and all was well. She told me I had a very, very minor tear that she threw two stiches in. She said that Wren came out with her hand by her chin and if not for that, she didn?t think I would have torn at all.Dr. Murray stayed and let the cord pulse for what seemed like forever. She kept checking it and didn?t clamp until she felt it totally stop. Then Shane cut the cord.They left us alone with her and didn?t weigh her or anything for over an hour. This was such an amazing bonding time and I am so thankful that they just let us be. When we were finally ready, Shane left to announce the news to our friends and family who were waiting in the waiting room?all 19 of them! We let my parents in first and they were there while Wren was weighed and got her vitamin K shot. Then everyone else came to see! We were surrounded with love in that very full room.I was able to get right up, use the restroom and felt amazingly good. The biggest pain I had was honestly muscle soreness from all the work of pulling myself up on the squat bar. The rest of the recovery, was SO much easier than I was expecting.We feel so lucky to have gotten every single wish on our birth plan. Things that I was expecting a fight over were no big deal at all. I didn?t even have to decline an IV?.they never even asked me to put one in! We were so happy with the nurses and our doctor and really felt like they were a part of our team.Wren breastfed like an absolute champ from the beginning. She latched right on and never hesitated?.she new exactly what she was doing. Everything else is going SO well. We are so, so madly in love with her. She is such a mellow easy baby so far?I know this may change so I am knocking on wood. Labor was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be but it was worth every minute. I am so happy with our experience. It was painful, it was intense but it was also amazing and beautiful and life altering?.seriously something to cross of the bucket list 
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Re: Wren's Natural Birth - Bradley Method (long)