Christian's Beautiful Hospital Birth (long)

Sept. 11, 2012: I had an appointment with my MW. I was past my due date, so we talked about the possibility of induction and set up a NST and US for the coming Friday (Sept. 14). I was so scared. I desperately wanted to go into labor spontaneously, or at least not be chemically induced. My MW stripped my membranes, and when I left, I went to a friend's house for acupressure work. I was willing to try anything to help get this baby out asap.

Sept. 12, 2012: I took castor oil to induce labor. Everyone said it would make me sick. It really didn't. Around 9pm I had a backache, and went to soak in the tub for a while. When I got out, the pain hadn't gone away, but was less noticeable. DH and I sat down to play Magic the Gathering (a card game), and I began to notice what I thought may be contractions around 10:30. I'd been having strong pre-labor symptoms for nearly a month at this point, so I wasn't sure what was important to pay attention to. I'd feel a tightening in my uterus that peaked in a wave of discomfort in my back, and then retreated back the way it came. The descriptions of contractions being compared to actual waves are completely accurate. I started timing the contractions and realized this was it. Even though they weren't painful in the least, they were 5 minutes apart, lasting 20-30 seconds. I told DH I thought I was in labor, and he suggested I time them a bit longer.

Sept. 13, 2012: We played cards for about an hour, and then I called my doula and my MW around 12:15am to make plans as to which hospital to go to and when my doula would come to the house. Initially I told the doula to just call me back in about 30 minutes and see where I was, and told the MW I planned on staying home as long as possible. I was really enjoying myself, riding the contractions and the endorphin rush that came from them. In between, I had the most light, airy feeling, everything looking more real, everything was beautiful. I tried to clean a bit, to help pass the time, but the contractions started coming quickly, and I wanted to slow them down. They were coming every 2-3 minutes, and lasting about 45 seconds. I called my doula and told her I thought we should leave soon. I'd only been in labor for two hours. I cleaned some more to kill time, and then I got into the tub again. I was out about 15 minutes later. The heat had helped initially, but then the contractions started coming fast and hard again. I told DH around 2:00am that we needed to leave, even though our doula hadn't arrived yet. I was just going to call her and have her meet us at the hospital. At that moment, she pulled into our driveway. She came upstairs, evaluated the situation, and we left for the hospital, with her driving. At this time I realized I was having back labor. The uterine contractions didn't hurt, but the back pain was incredibly intense. Between the contractions, I still felt great, and so excited and grateful to have gone into labor spontaneously. I almost couldn?t believe it was finally happening! It was completely surreal. I don't remember much of the car ride, aside from talking and joking with DH and my doula in between contractions, and that they rubbed my shoulders, held my hands, and encouraged me through the pain. Also, DH tried to talk to me during a contraction, I don't remember what he asked, but it earned him a growled reply of "Don't f***ing talk to me!" and a quick apology after the contraction was over.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:45 am, and I was triaged quickly (though filling out paperwork while in labor is an adventure by itself) and got into the labor tub. What relief! It still hurt, but being on my hands and knees, with my doula pouring water over me and talking me through contractions while DH rubbed my shoulders and comforted me made things so much better. I felt so safe and loved, even through the pain, which at that point was pretty intense. I was making low, "oooo" sounds. It just seemed to be instinctive, the sounds and movements I was making. The low sounds and water and support were all really helping me hold it together and keeping me on top of the contractions. For a while. Then I started to lose control. I was 4 1/2 cm dilated, and having contractions that lasted 45-60 sec and were only 60-90 sec apart. At this point the uterine contractions still didn't hurt much, but that back labor had me in actual tears. I was struggling to stay on top of my contractions. I'd have a really intense, hard one, followed almost immediately by a milder one. During a contraction, I'd slam my hand against the side of the tub in time with the wave, but if it got to be too much I'd lose my rhythm and start speeding up. I was getting scared. I asked for an epidural. The nurse went to turn on the pump to drain the tub, and it wouldn't turn on. I ended up being in the tub for another 5 minutes with a bucket brigade going over me from the tub to the bathroom trying to get the water level below the door. It was hilarious! I'm probably the only woman who was ever grateful for 6 hours of unmedicated back labor, as it meant I wasn't going to have to be chemically induced.

After the epidural was administered, I was shocked at how it made me feel. I was affected from my breasts down, my arms were tingling, and my legs felt like there was an intense pressure compressing them, while experiencing a sensation not unlike a limb that has fallen asleep. I hated it, but knew that I had made the right decision for myself and my son. I had crossed the line from pain into suffering, and needed the relief to birth my baby. About an hour later my dilation was checked, and I was at 5cm. I stayed at that same measurement for 5 hours. Christian being OP (occiput posterior, aka sunny-side up) and me not being able to move much was keeping me from dilating effectively. It was suggested that they break my water. I was reluctant, but after talking it over with my birth team, and being told that it would not place a time limit on my labor, we chose to do it. It didn't help. My contractions got extremely intense, but then slowed nearly to a stop. At this point I'd already been in labor for at least 11 hours. We decided to start a low-dose, slow Pitocin drip. That got me up to 6 cm after a couple of hours. All this time my MW and nurses were flipping me from one side to the other, trying to encourage Christian to turn. He wouldn't. About 15 hours in, nearly 10 hours after my epidural, it had worn off enough for me to flip onto my hands and knees. I was told that if this didn't work, we'd have to start seriously considering a cesarean. That terrified me. I spent the next two hours on my hands and knees with DH and my doula rubbing my back, helping me stay in position, and giving me encouragement. This had to work!

I finally began to feel a sensation that I wasn't familiar with, a new kind of pressure. The MW was called back, and when she checked me, I only had a small lip of cervix left. When I was told this, I squealed with delight and started crying. I was going to have my boy vaginally, if not naturally! She had me try a push, and then started getting set up for delivery. About 10 minutes later I was pushing. I had DH on one side of me, feeding me ice chips, holding my hand and keeping the mood up, and my doula on the other side, encouraging me. We had such a great time! The mirror was set up so I could watch the birth. What great motivation it was to watch the effects of my efforts! With the first push, I felt Christian drop down into my birth canal. After the second push, my MW held me open and I could see his hair! He was moving down and out so fast! Everything felt so intense. It didn?t really hurt much, but there was just so much pressure! I felt myself reaching out and connecting with the spirit of each person in the room with me, touching and drawing strength from them. It was an amazing, comforting, safe, loving, spiritual experience. Within 30 minutes, Christian made his grand debut (without doing any damage to me, no stitches needed!), amid smiles and laughter. He was placed on my chest and just looked at me. DH and I stared at this amazing creature, and we were just awed by him. We still are.

Christian was born September 13, at 4:34 pm, on his daddy's birthday, 24 minutes after his birth-time. He weighed a healthy 7lbs. 2oz. and was 20" long.