My birth story (sorry I've been MIA so long)

erineileen317 · February 2012

Sorry this took so long... Our daughter, Nora Michelle, arrived Monday, January 30th at 7:40 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long.

Here's how it went...

Back up one week: I was 40 weeks 5 days on Mon, Jan 23rd when my OB offered an induction and I respectfully declined. He set me up for Nonstress Tests and Biophysical Profiles for Tuesday and Friday. Both went fine and showed the baby was thriving and doing well. The weekend came and went and DH & I had decided when we went for my check-up on Monday we would set up an induction for later that week when I would be 42 weeks. I was physically and emotionally done being pregnant and figured 42 weeks was more than enough time for her to cook.

Well, low and behold, Monday morning I started having contractions around 3:45am. The first three were about 20-25 minutes apart. I tried not to wake up Matt, but he heard me controlling my breathing and got all excited. I made him go back to sleep. Around 6am, the contractions were about 7-9 minutes apart. So DH got up then, took a shower, and took our dogs to the kennel. When he got back I took a long shower and tried to eat some breakfast, but could only stomach about 3 bites of a waffle. We decided to just go ahead to my 9am appointment and let him know I was in labor! He checked me and I was about 4cm and 100% effaced, he described me as in "hard labor" and sent me down the road to the hospital.

Once we got settled in my nurses came in, along with a student nurse, and were excellent. When my main nurse found out I wanted to go all natural she became an awesome advocate. She asked if my OB knew of my plans, which I shamefully admitted he didn't. My OB and I had had some communication issues the last few appointments and it was never discussed. When my OB did show up at the hospital my nurse forcefully informed him of what I did and did not want as per my birth plan. She continued to ask me questions and inform me of what was going on. She was very good at offering new positions and letting me do whatever worked for me. I actually found a lot of relief just sitting on the toilet (they didn't have a birthing stool). I don't remember a lot of my progression, in respect to the time, but I got to 8 cm fairly quickly, like by noon. Eventually my water broke on its own and my dialation receded just a bit with it. By 5pm, I was exhausted and I broke down and asked for something to take the edge off. I started having "rolling contractions" where I didn't get any breaks between contractions (at one point I had 4 in a row!). The nurse was able to give me a half dose of fantanol (spelling?), which allowed me to half-doze between contractions for maybe half of an hour, just enough for me to get my act together.

I spent the last bit of my labor pushing her down on all fours draped over my ball on the bed. My nurse suggested this after realizing I was having back labor, because Nora was sunny-side up. She was hoping this would flip her around, which it never did, but I found this position very useful as I could feel her coming down. At some point my temperature started going up so they did put me on IVs towards the end. Around 7pm, my nurse was supposed to clock out, she knew Nora was almost here and was so proud of me that she actually clocked out and came back in to help the rest of the way! Her replacement was actually a military nurse midwife. The doctor and midwife had me flip onto my back using the labor bar to keep my legs out and also to grab to pull myself into a curl when I pushed.

After two hours of pushing and a lot of "I can't"s, Nora came out. The cord was wrapped several times around her neck and the doc got it off her in a hurry and placed her on me. She cried for just a moment and then they whisked her away. I was so exhausted and out of it, so I just thought they were cleaning her up. DH stayed by my side and I kept telling him to go be with her. They started stitching me up which completely distracted me, I don't think there was any numbing agents used, but DH said I was losing a lot of blood fast. Turns out while I was distracted by the stitching Nora went into respiratory arrest. Everyone just kept telling me they were "clearing our her lungs" like it was no big deal, so I believed them. DH, unfortunately, understood the gravity of the situation and had to experience the 15 minutes of the NICU team that was rushed in to revive her. Turns out because she was sunny-side up, she inhaled a lot of fluid (thank God no meconium though). DH said at one point he heard someone ask "How long has she been down?" and the answer was 10 minutes. Luckily, they got her all cleared out and up-and-running. They never had to admit her to the NICU.

All three of us are doing well. I know I didn't mention much about him, but DH was great during the whole thing. He rubbed and applied counterpressure for EVERY contraction while we were at the hospital. He admitted later I started getting foggy and him and the nurse start talking and making decisions for me about changing positions and such. I was so glad he knew exactly what I wanted (and didn't want). I truly don't think I could have relaxed or handled my pain as well without him being there. He also walked Nora for about 3 hours the first night so I could get some sleep.

I have had family in town every weekend since then and my family is coming BACK this weekend for a second visit. Nora was also readmitted to the hospital last week for possible mastitis, but they decided it wasn't infected and sent us home. There's been very little time to bump! Miss you guys though!