long, natural birth story

Luke?s Birth Story

On Thursday at my 39.5 week appt, I asked the midwife to check me.  I was 3-4 cm, 80% effaced and head was low.  The rest of the day I had cramping and spotting.  I was instructed to go to L & D to be checked due to the prolonged spotting.  When I arrived, I was hooked up, having regular contractions that I could feel, but were still mostly comfortable.  Baby looked good and I was sent home, still at 4 cm.

That night, I had regular contractions every five minutes, but only lasting 30 seconds and not really getting stronger.  I told DH to be by his phone, but that he should go to work as I was planning to as well. 

DD and I headed off to work and daycare, still having contractions five minutes apart.  I got to work and got busy for the first hour and the second hour things seemed to have slowed down a bit.  By 2:00, things were back to every five minutes so I called to be checked at the clinic.  I was at 6-7 and the midwife suggested I finish my shift if I could and then be admitted to L & D.  She was worried if I went home and my water broke I wouldn?t make it back to the hospital.

I worked until 5:15, got to see my DD before my sister took her home for the night, and DH and I were off to L &D.

We got to the desk, and I could tell the charge nurse didn?t think I would be staying.  I was still doing pretty well with the pain, and in between contractions, I was completely comfortable.

I got to the room, got hooked up to IV antibiotics and monitors.  Midwife came in and checked me and I was at 8 cm!  My nurse called the charge nurse and said ?room 4 is staying, she is at 8?.  Ha Ha charge nurse!

I started to get uncomfortable laying in bed so I was unhooked and swayed, listening to my Ipod.  I knew my DH wasn?t comfortable being my labor coach, but I really just zoned out so much during contractions that I didn?t need him.  After I was feeling more settled in, my midwife wanted to check me and break water.  I was at 9 cm and as soon as my water broke I felt like I couldn?t stay on top of the pain.

I got in the shower, which helped, but couldn?t comfort both my back and front at the same time.  After about 10 minutes I felt like I was loosing control and started moaning.  After a few contractions like that I had one last really bad one where I broke down with the ?I can?t do this anymore?  ?It hurts?  ?I want to be done?

As soon as I got in bed to start pushing the head was right there.  I pushed for 20 minutes and it hurt the whole time.  I didn?t realize the ring of fire could last that long.  I think DS got a little stuck, and so I really had to push at the end.

Once baby was out I sort of became self consumed in the moment.  I was finally done, ect.  I think it took me a few seconds to realize baby wasn?t crying.  I look down and there is a grey baby who isn?t breathing.  The cord was cut and nurses took him away into another little room.  I was told his apgar was only 1 at the time.  They did get a little cry out of him shortly after that.  I was still pretty dazed, but I remember asking if he was OK.  I figured it couldn?t be that bad because most the nurses had stayed with me instead of rushing to the baby.  Later I found out that three more nurses came in the back way to help with baby.  He recovered well, and at five minutes had much better apgar scores.  I feel so bad for DH because he could sort of see them working, suctioning, doing CPAP O2, ect.  I was still in pain due to my tears.  With having a epidural last time, I didn?t realize how much pain there is after the birth. 

After about 15 minutes of DS being monitored, he was brought to DH.  I was still pretty shaky, but I did hold him for a little bit.  He was still pretty pale.  After a few minutes, the nurses put him back under the warmer, but this time where we could see him. 

I wanted a natural childbirth so baby could go right on my chest, delayed cord cutting, ect.  Instead like DD it was more than an hour before we could nurse and DS was already pretty sleepy.  After having both an epidural birth and med free I?m not sure which I would choose again.  Really, I got best case scenario for my med free birth.  I couldn?t imagine toughing it out had my intense pain lasted much longer.

We are home now and doing well.  It took us 20 hours to decide on a name.  He just looked nothing like I had pictured, so I wanted to take some time to get to know him.  I think Luke will suit him well.