Claire Harper's birth story (long)

Claire?s birth story.

The short version: Claire Harper Glassman was born on February 25^th, 2012 in Seattle WA (1 week past her due date). She was born exactly at 8:00am and weighed 6lbs 14 oz. I labored for a total of 26 hours (half of those at home and half at the hospital) and naturally with no epidural.

The long version: Friday morning I woke up about 6am with some mild contractions, went to the bathroom and had ?bloody show?. Since I was already at 41 weeks I was really hoping this was the start of labor and the real thing. I starting timing my contractions and they were about 10 minutes apart, so I let my husband know (assuming he might still go to work that day since it could be awhile and his work is not that far away), but he insisted on staying home. We knew I had a Doctor appointment that day anyways, so figured we would stay at home and try to relax through the early labor until my appointment at 2pm and see what they thought once we got there.

The contractions stayed pretty consistent, and slowly started getting closer together, but mostly about 6-10 minutes apart. So we decided to run a couple errands and get lunch. It was really nice to spend the day with my husband and stay distracted through things.  Once we got to the Doctors they were running behind schedule, so they didn?t end up seeing me until almost 3:30pm. We spent a half hour doing an NST (non-stress test?) to make sure the baby was doing fine since I was well past my due date (and my doctor was planning to let me go to 42 weeks before inducing me unless I went into labor on my own).  Everything with the NST looked fine, and so after a half hour of that I finally saw my doctor at 4pm. She did an internal exam and happily I was at 3cm! I had been at 1 ? cm for the last 2 weeks so it was great to hear that the contractions were moving things along. She thought based on my contractions I might be coming back to the hospital that night or the next day.. but we would just wait till they were stronger and closer together.

As soon as we left the doctors and got into traffic to head home (of course) the contractions started feeling a bit stronger and closer together, I was timing them though and they were still 5-6 minutes apart. By the time we got home I knew it would only be a few hours and we would be driving back to the hospital.

At 8:30 they were painful to the point I felt we should go in, and we called the Dr. to let her know. Once we got to the Labor & Delivery triage they hooked me up to monitors for a while (monitoring the baby, my contractions and blood pressure). The contractions were still coming consistently and my blood pressure was up quite a bit (for the first time in my entire pregnancy) ? so they did another internal exam and since I had progressed to 4 cm they admitted me at about 9:30pm and I was so relieved.

They asked what my pain management plan was, and I let them know I was open to an epidural or pain meds, but that I wanted to wait a while and hopefully walk around some first and see how long I could comfortably go without pain meds. They seemed really happy about this and were really encouraging (my Dr. is very laid back and does not like to do interventions/inductions/etc. unless totally necessary and that is one of the reasons I loved having her).

I labored for what felt like forever in my room, just breathing through each contractions and closing my eyes which seemed to help. My husband was a great support and my mom finally arrived around 11pm as well.  One of the most exhausting parts during the first hours I remember was just that I was so tired with it being the middle of the night and I wanted to sleep so bad!

By 1am my Doctor came back to check me and I had progressed to 6 cm, so she said she?d be back again in another couple hours around 3am to check again. We watched late night TV and continued to work through contractions. I didn?t  think to ask for pain meds as things were really painful? but I just kept thinking ?I can do this? if it gets to bad I?ll get meds? but I can do this?.  

At 3:30-4am I was checked again and had progressed to 8 cm. They offered to break my water as that might help baby push down farther (I guess it was bulging a bit at the bottom?), but they also said I was progressing fine and if I wanted to wait on that I could. I decided to wait since things were still manageable, and I had in my head that once the water was broken it would hurt more.

By around 6:30am I remember things getting more painful, and I asked that they finally break my water at the next check.  They checked and I was at about 9cm, and it was the weirdest feeling to have my water break and to feel such a gush of fluids!  After a while they had me lay on my left side since the baby seemed to tolerate that side better (than laying on my back). I remember thinking the pressure was so much worse after the water was broken, and they kept asking me if I felt like I needed to push. I would say ?I think so?? and they would laugh and say ?ok, well you will know for sure?.

At the very end the pain was getting unbearable and I asked for some drugs. They quickly got me something they injected in my IV, and said it could make me a bit foggy, but I don?t really remember it ever taking the edge off at that point at all.  Around 7:15 I said I needed to push, and the nurse showed me how and had my husband and mom help hold my legs during each contraction. Everyone said pushing was such a relief so I was expecting that I guess, but I hated it and just wanted to breathe through the contractions! Haha. It was the worse feeling ever, and they had warned me that for first time moms it could take 2 hours. I was pushing with all my strength though since I just wanted to be done and meet my daughter (and since I hated the pushing so much!).

My Dr. came in one last time since they had shift changes at 8am and said the other Dr. (who I also knew and had met) would likely be delivering unless anything changed in the next 2 minutes. She was really nice about it though and I think expected me to go for another hour. She left the room, and as I was pushing with all my might I remember my nurse all of a sudden getting on the intercom and pretty much screaming all of a sudden for the Dr. to come back and then paging another Dr & nurse also ASAP.

My baby was coming out and her whole head was out already! It was the most pain I?ve ever experienced and I remember being so scared also as the baby was halfway out and people were rushing into the room! I was moaning like crazy and remember at that point saying ?I can?t do this!? (as if that was an option at that point, ha!). The first doctor to arrive was a Resident and I think my nurse pretty much coached him through it. Within seconds the other doctors and nurses were all there and the baby was out, it was the most relief I have ever felt.

I don?t remember this since I think I was still in such a blur from the pain, but the cord was wrapped around Claire?s neck and she was a bit blue. Instead of skin to skin right away they whisked her away and got her breathing and she was fine very quickly.  They laid her on my chest within a minute or two of her being born, and it was so amazing and overwhelming at the same time.

After that I had to have some stitches (2^nd degree tear, likely since she came out so quickly at the very end), which was maybe just as bad as the pushing. I had my husband take the baby and hold her since the numbing wasn?t working and getting the stitches put in was almost unbearable. It was over before I knew it though?. And without planning it I had an almost all natural birth and a beautiful daughter who was worth every second of it. She is the love of our lives.