Pregnancy massage => Water breaking => Birth Story (PIP)

Well, I'm happy to announce that Audrey Rose is here!

Stats: 8 pounds 0 ounces; 21 inches -- beautiful and perfect! Thanks JaceyKay for updating everyone!

The short(er) story:

I went in for a pregnancy massage Friday evening at 5:30 (3 days past due).  Well, my water broke on the table at 5:50pm.  We took our time getting to the hospital.  That means yes, I finished my massage, then went home, took a shower, grabbed some dinner and then headed to the hospital.

I checked into the hospital around 8 or 8:30.  I told the nurse I was undecided about an epi and wanted to wait and see how things went.  Around 1 am, I was at 7cm and beginning to transition.  I decided I was ready for an epi.

By 4 am I was fully dilated and "99%" effaced.   I didn't start pushing until a little after 5am.  2 hours, 45 minutes and one level 2 episiotomy later, I had a beautiful baby girl.  She was born at 7:54am on Saturday June 11, 2011.

The full story:

Friday was my last day at work no matter what.  I was set to have an induction (which I was dreading) Monday morning.  I decided to go ahead and make an appointment for a pregnancy massage as a way to celebrate my last day and hopefully "get me through my last week end of being pregnant."

I went to my 5:30pm appointment and remember joking with the massage therapist about feeling free to use any labor inducing pressure points she knows.  About 5:50pm, after massaging my webbing (the spot in between my thumb and finger--supposedly believed to cause contractions), I got my wish and my water broke right there on the table.  I knew immediately it was my water and that I hadn't just peed myself. lol.  I decided to finish my massage with the blessing of the therapist, of course

On my way home, I called DH to tell him what happened.  Unfortunately, he had the hiccups and ruined the moment by not hearing what I said and just saying "yah" to everything he thought I said.  So, I hung up and decided to wait until I got home to tell him.  When I got home, I immediately got in the shower and asked DH to finish getting our hospital list together.  Once again, hiccup boy didn't hear me all the way and ruined my second attempt at telling him.   I finally got his proper attention, and he started freaking out.  I was as calm as could be.

After my shower (I had to be clean), we finished getting ready and headed out.  I had not eaten anything but a string cheese since lunch, so I was hungry.  I knew they wouldn't let me eat at the hospital, so I was determined to stop and eat something.  Mom thought I was crazy to stop because according to Grandma (a former L&D nurse), I could get sick.  That was the least of my worries, as I knew I would need the energy to get through the night.  So, we stopped at Which Wich, where my water decided to leak some more.  Yikes, it was time to go ahead and go.

We got to the hospital around 8pm and got checked in.  Once in my room, they double checked to make sure my water had indeed broken.  It had.    Then they checked me.  I was still about 3 cm (same as my Tuesday OB appointment).   The nurse said the doctor wanted to go ahead and start me on pitocin.  They had 2 reasons for this: I hadn't progressed since Tuesday and I was due to be induced anyway on Monday.  I questioned this.  I told them I'd rather be given a chance to see what my body can do now that I am actually having contractions (which I had not been having before my water broke), and I was glad I went into labor on my own since I didn't have to be induced now.  The nurse listened to my concerns, spoke with the doctor, and I got my wish.

Within 2 hours, I was already at 4ish cm and the nurse "got me" to 5 with her fingers.  Who would have thought that was possible?  At this point, I did not have an epi and was not ready for one.  I kept laboring another couple of hours with the support of DH, my mom, and a good friend.

Around 1am, the contractions were getting very strong!  They were close together and getting much longer.  At this point, I was done with the bed.  I was in the chair or standing.  Basically, I just needed to move.  Soon, the nurse came back in to check me.   It turns out I had made it to 7cm and was in transition.  I knew I was ready for an epidural.  From the fatigue and strength of the contractions, it was time.

The doctor came in to give me an epi.  It was perfect!  I got a little shakey, and I was finally not hot for the first time in months!  I was finally able to just lie on the bed and let my body finish doing what it needed.  I could still feel and move my legs.  I could even feel when I was contracting.  It just no longer hurt nearly as much.  After a couple of hours, I was fully dilated and almost fully effaced.  They ended up giving me a small amount of pitocin to help get all the way there.

Just after 5am, it was time to start pushing.  Apparently, although I have a nice wide pelvis, the bone in the front swerves downward making a more narrow opening.  Baby girl had to make her way down and then back up.  Due to her "rough path" and her wiggling around so much, it took me about 1 hour of pushing to get her on the down part.  I felt like we could see her head forever.  She was so close just not close enough.  I did get sick twice after pushing began.  I was so ridiculously hot, I felt very nauseous.  However, by this point, it had been a good 10 hours since I had eaten so there wasn't much food left.  I even was able to hold it in until a little bucket was grabbed for me.

The next hour, we worked on the "up" part.  Again, baby girl kept wiggling around.  The doctors were great though!  They just kept turning her and keeping her in place.  They held a mirror up so I could see what was happening.  It was amazing and I highly recommend looking!  It's definitely not the prettiest sight in the world, but it's still something else.

I always knew when I needed to push.  As I said, I had the perfect epi.  I could feel the contractions coming (they felt mild like in early labor) and I would just go ahead and pull my legs up and then everyone would start coaching me.

The last leg: 7am was shift change but the on-call doctor and the night nurse were so invested in me that they stayed.  So, I had an extra doctor and nurse in the room coaching me.  The new on-call doctor actually delivered the baby.  Both women were amazing and I wasn't saddened in the least that my OB wasn't the one delivering.  

They upped my dosage of pitocin to give me stronger contractions and help give Audrey the extra push she needed to get out.  It helped a lot, but I still had to have a level 2 episiotomy.  It was worth it as I had been pushing for so long.  They had to put me on oxygen at the end because her heart rate was a little low because she had been down in the birth canal for so long.  One episitomy and a couple of pushes later, baby girl was finally out!

She was born at 7:54am.  We all (mom, DH, and me) began crying the second we saw her.  I got my semi-delayed cord clamping (about 60 seconds) but did not get immediate skin-to-skin because they had to get her airways cleared and get some color back in her--she was extremely blue upon arrival.  No worries though.  Within a few minutes, she was crying like a champ and had some color back in her.  She was finally placed on my chest and it was love at first sight.

Here she is.  My beautiful baby girl!!!

On a side note, I must admit that I was really proud of myself.  I stuck up for myself from the beginning and the nurses knew I wasn't going to be a push over.  Although I had written a birth plan, I did not bring it.  I had the research I had done in my head and they staff were very good about checking with me on anything.  I felt this was the best of both worlds as I didn't annoy them with my "plan" but I was still educated and able to have the birth I wanted.

I will also say that I was not a loud laborer.  I was more about the quiet and just needed the support of DH or my mom.   For me, it was not at all like the movies with all the screaming and such (before or after the epi).