Labor Story - Needed Intervention but still happy! :)

Hi Everyone! I've been lurking and participating some on the boards the past few months and just wanted to share our labor story. Baby boy arrived Sept. 9th at 5:33am - 21 hours after my water broke! Sorry so long... seems to be par for the course with these stories!

Basically, I started having more frequent BH contractions on Thursday the 6th (his ultrasound due date), and this went on for some time. On the 7th, I felt so uncomfortable and tired, that I thought, hmmm, maaaaybe today? But nothing ever picked up. I never even bothered to call our Doula b/c it just felt like nothing was going on.

I woke up Sat. the 8th at 8:30pm feeling super comfy and snuggly in my bed and thinking, "Yeah, baby isn't coming soon... " only to have a small contraction that moment and feel a pop... thankfully, I must have good reflexes haha, becuase I FLEW out of bed and into the bathroom just in time for my water to break in the toilet, leaving DH bewildered as to what was going on.

I did NOT expect to have this happen as I knew statistically your water doesn't tend to break at home and it's never happened to any of my sisters. I knew instantly it meant no laboring at home, no bathtub, no shower, etc. We called the doula, called the OB and arrived at the hospital around 10:30am. I was immediately fearful and nervous b/c I really didn't *feel* like I was in labor still. Sure enough, I was only 1cm dilated. I was totally bummed - and uncomfortable and soaking everything.

They then hooked me up to monitors and started talking about pitocin (I so didn't want it). My OB came to see me and said he'd give me a few hours to walk around and see if my contractions picked up. He gave me 3-4 hours but I was just at 2cm. I was miserable and starting to wonder what my risks were for a c-section if I stalled out vs. the pit. I also felt pressure to get the epi with the pit... just internally wasn't sure if I could handle the pit and also family felt it wasn't smart to hold off on anesthesia. Yet here I was, 2cm with NO pain and not really wanting to get a needle in my back so soon.

 At that point there was a shift change and the nurse - who was really good - started telling me that I didn't HAVE to get an epi even with pit, that she'd make sure they started the drip low and slow, etc. We also then updated my Doula who assured me we could still try to labor naturally w/pit. I was really teary. My mom snuck in (against visitors policy) and also told me to try the pit and ask for the epi later. So I agreed to the pit.

When our Doula showed up, it got a LOT better. They started the pit and the good nurse unhooked me from the monitors. I was allowed to walk around, use the birth ball. Dh, the doula and I played a game of Uno, and they massaged and used pressure to help me through each contraction as I sat on the birth ball leaning on the bed. I felt a thousand times better this way than on the bed. My regular OB was sure the baby would be born on the 8th as I had made it to 4cm by the time his shift ended around 5pm.

For the first 5cm everything was a textbook natural labor after the pit. I felt great and with the support both me and baby boy were handling everything well. I was even acclimating to the contractions so that, in spite of the monitors showing strong ones, I didn't feel pain. The nurses and my doula kept commenting on how impressed they were and how great things were going.

Then things got crazy and out of hand. I started showing signs of transition and was begging for the epi - nausea, uncontrollable shaking, etc. Contractions were on top of each other, and I was getting no relief from the intense pressure and pain. Dh and the doula were literally shaking me trying to get my muscles to stop shaking on their own. But my doula was worried that if I was indeed having a "perfect" natural labor that intervening would only do harm, so she asked me to consider an exam to see how far along I was (I hated the cervical exams). Well, the OB on call at that point wasn't so great... let's just say he lacked compassion and did a terrible exam during the height of a contraction, and claimed that I was only 2-3cm when I was definitely farther along. It killed morale. Even tho we KNEW he was wrong, Dh, my doula and I agreed it was time for the epi b/c I wasn't in transition and the pit contractions were becoming way too much to handle with too far to go to maintain stamina. (Meanwhile, my doula predicted I was at 5cm and sure enough, just as I got the epi, they did an exam and I was 5cm).

Overall, I am very glad I got the epi, I needed it. Unfortunately, Baby Boy, who was handling labor perfectly at that point, experienced a drop in heart rate in response to the epi. So then we had a swarm of nurses elevating the foot of the bed above the head, giving me 02, flipping me over, etc. I really felt helpless and freaked out. Thankfully, his heart rate eventually came back up and crisis was averted, however all the intervention caused him to slide back to a -2 station from his previous 0 station he was at before the epi. I felt like we were taking one step forward, two steps back, and I began to pray that even if we couldn't have an intervention-free labor, I hoped we could avoid a c-section.

From there, things progressed slowly and steadily, but I was so afraid they would stall out! The 3 of us tried to sleep and wait and not let the anticipation kill us. I will say, while the epi did give pain relief, I didn't love the feeling of being numb and helpless. It wasn't the "heavenly" feeling some women seem to experience for me - just a medical necessity. Finally, at 4:30am on the 9th, I had reached 10cm and we could begin pushing. After 30 min or so, the OB wanted to hurry things along and tried to convince me to agree to a forcep delivery b/c he was in an odd position and a little stuck - but nothing that warranted a medical emergency. Thankfully, Dh insisted I get a chance to push him out, and I was able to in just another 20 minutes of trying.

Baby boy arrived - unfortunately - with a lot of meconium, so we didn't get to feed and only got minimal skin to skin contact before having him whisked off for observation for 6 hours. But by then, we were so starving and exhausted and spent, we pretty much collapsed and don't remember those 6 hours. I remember just feeling stunned that he had arrived and it was over and there was no c-section. Dh did get to cut the cord, though.

Now, we're home and enjoying time with baby boy! He is good at nursing in spite of the separation at birth... honestly, for the entire pregnancy, labor and delivery he's shown a lot of resilience... we're definitely enjoying first-time parenthood.

Good luck to all of you... one lesson I took away from all this - in spite of needing interventions, oddly, the experience proved to me that many women really CAN go without them. I was amazed at what my body was able to do with the right support. So surround yourself with people and resources who will help you every step of the way!