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Natural Birth
Hospital natural birth story
I didn?t regularly participate on this board, but I avidly read every birth story you shared. Hopefully, this will encourage some of you moms-to-be the way those stories encouraged me.
A couple of notes: We took Bradley Method classes and although we didn?t end up using everything they taught, it was extremely helpful. I think that one of the biggest factors in my pain management was consciously accepting each contraction. As I felt the tightness of a contraction begin, I would unconsciously tense and dread the coming pain, making it much worse. I had to take a deep breath and welcomed the contraction, because it brought me closer to meeting my daughter. It was amazing how much the pain dissipated with the right mindset.
And now, to the good stuff:
I woke up on Wednesday, September 12th, at 40 weeks and 3 days, with a backache and the then-usual twinge of disappointment that I didn?t go into labor during the previous night. I had been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions over the past few days but felt like they were just faking me out. Just the day before, I was 1-2cm and ~70% effaced but my midwife had sounded fairly confident that I would make it to the ?41 week? appointment and non-stress test/biophysical profile on Friday. Anyway, I mentioned the backache to my mom and she eagerly asked if I thought it was back labor. I groaned inwardly and made some pessimistic comment about how I was never, ever going to go into real labor. I had a few strong BH contractions but sent DH to work since they weren?t regular. Throughout the day, the contractions kept getting stronger and painful, especially in my back. I was starting to get irritated. They felt like real contractions but ?real contractions? were supposed to start spaced out and steadily get closer together. ALL the books say so. By lunch, I found it was easiest if I closed my eyes and breathed through each one. Daisy (our lab puppy) was very attentive and offered to rub her favorite ball up and down my leg during the contractions. A slobbery racquetball on the leg is not necessarily the most effective pain management tool but it was sweet all the same. During the day, my mom ?nested?: she cleaned the bathtub and the trim on the cabinets, etc. I didn?t have energy or focus to clean but I had a profound sense of not wanting to leave the house, even for my normal walk. We ate dinner and decided to play cribbage to pass the time. My contractions were still all over the map (4-10 minutes apart).
Suddenly, at 7:45pm, the contractions got much more intense and started to hover more consistently in the 4 minute range. I tried to tell myself to stick it out: there was only 1-2 more hands until the end of the cribbage game, but I just couldn?t be bothered with it. I texted DH and told him to head home right after he finished proctoring the exam he was giving (it ended at 8pm). I moved to my bed and my mom pushed on my back with each contraction. DH arrived and ate dinner as quickly as he could. I had every intention of laboring at home for a while but I started getting the shakes and feeling nauseous. From what I remembered, that was a sign of transition and I panicked. I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. We tossed everything in the car and raced off. When we arrived, around 10 PM, we found it that it was a busy night in Labor and Delivery and they didn?t have any triage rooms available. After the nurses debated for a while, we headed off towards a gurney in the corner of the OR post-op room. I got as settled as I could in my curtained off corner while they did the exams on twins from a c-section on the other side of the room. The nurse checked me and I was only 3-4 cm. (Moral of the story #1: shakes and nausea are not a guarantee that you are at 7 cm/in transition.) We were sent off to walk the halls before we could be officially admitted. Every few steps we would stop so I could grab the handrail and DH pushed on my back until the contraction ended.
After about an hour, our nurse found us and checked me again. I was at 4-5 cm and was allowed to move to the midwifery room (with the nice big Jacuzzi tub). They started to fill the tub but my midwife encouraged holding off if possible since I still had a ways to go. I labored on hands and knees for a little while but the pressure was too much. I had been feeling constipated all day and really wanted to clear the ?pipes? before pushing the baby out. I wasn?t worried about pooping on the bed. I really was worried that if I tried to push out the mother of all poops AND a baby at the same time, I was going to explode. We headed to the bathroom and I pushed with everything I had. Kabloosh! My water broke with violence (DH later told me that a geyser came up behind me and went several feet high, but thankfully he kept that tidbit to himself at the time). We called the nurse and the midwife stopped by to see how I was doing. Pain levels were still manageable, so I sat on a birthing ball and leaned on the bed (all while having DH provide counter pressure). At some point, I moved to the bed again and laid on my side. I was tired, not certain how much more I could do, and unwilling to move because everything hurt. I was out of it enough that I didn?t recognize this was real transition. The shakes got worse and I had a few dry heaves. After a couple of contractions like this I realized that I was essentially pushing. DH called the nurse to come check me. The nurse wanted to wait for the midwife (who was delivering a baby in the room next door) but it became pretty clear that my body was pushing anyway. The midwife arrived as soon as she could and we started pushing. If I hadn?t felt so hot, sweaty, and gross, I would have felt very pampered. DH was mopping my brow with a cool washcloth, the nurses were fanning me, and my midwife spoon-fed me ice chips between contractions. In the end, I pushed for around 45 minutes. I made good progress with each push, but I couldn?t hold it between contractions. It was really discouraging to hear ?Just one more big push? when I had given everything I could and then see her head slip back further inside. (Moral of the story #2: although hard and discouraging, this gave me lots of time to stretch and I had no tearing.) Eventually, my ?one more big push? worked and she arrived. Her head emerged and immediately afterwards her hand shot out. I pulled her onto my chest and held her close but couldn?t quite wrap my mind around the fact that she was finally here. After the initial checks,, the nurses and midwife disappeared and we had almost an hour of bonding time as a family of three.
Our sweet girl, Joy, arrived at 3:13 AM on September 13 and weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz. She is absolutely perfect.
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Re: Hospital natural birth story
What a beautiful birth story, thank you for sharing! I love your daughter's name, she is stunning! Congratulations, hope you all are doing well.
Congrats and thank you for sharing!
Make a pregnancy ticker
Really beautiful story! And let me tell you, I know first hand that shakes don't mean transition. With DD, I had very sudden, horrific back labor that was causing me to tense up with every frequent contraction (we're talking 1-2 minutes apart). Of course, I hadn't prepared at all for med free pain methods so maybe that took a toll on my crazy tensing up during contractions. But I was having major shakes with every contraction when I was only 1cm!
Your baby girl is absolutely gorgeous! Congrats!!
BFP#2: 07/04/12 EDD: 03/14/13
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