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Natural Birth
NoeliaV
member
No med, hospital birth story (long, sorry!)
NoeliaV
member
11/22
We were enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at our friends? house, and I started feeling what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, but with some pain. I hung around through dinner and after dessert, I went home because I wasn?t feeling well. My sister came home with me and we sat on the sofa watching Meet the Parents. Normally, I love having my sister?s company, but this evening, I was a bit annoyed and just trying to make the supposed Braxton Hicks go away by laying on my left side on the sofa. They didn?t go away, but they didn?t get any stronger or more consistent, either. Mainly, they were just annoying and they kept me from sleeping much that night.
11/23 - 11/24
The next morning I woke up early with an urgent sense that I had better get things checked off the to-do list because Baby Girl wasn?t going to wait much longer to make her debut. DH told me to go back to bed, but there was no way I could even think about resting for one minute-- there was too much to do!
After I left the house, I went to Home Depot to get the keys copied for my sister and our friends, so that our dog could be taken care of when it was time for us to go to the hospital.
Then, I went to Target to buy a few last minute items for Baby Girl?s room (which still needed organizing), Christmas decorations, and some other things. I remember standing in the maternity clothes section, pondering a cute tunic sweater top and talking myself out of it because I ?wouldn?t need maternity clothes for too much longer.? It was about that time that I went to the restroom and thought that I had some pink discharge. I started crying because I was scared and not completely ready to meet our little girl and this new evidence reinforced my feeling that she was on her way.
On the way home I called my sister and invited her over to help me bake and cook some things for the freezer. We spent the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking and baking, while DH kept telling me to sit and rest, and my sister kept suggesting that I time my ?annoying? cramps.
After my sister went home around 9pm, I told DH that I was going to take a bath to try and make my ?cramps? go away. While in the tub, I had 3 contractions, but they seemed to be the same as the ones that I had been having the night prior, so I was mainly annoyed that it didn?t seem that I would be getting any more rest than I got the night prior.
As I headed to bed, I decided to try and track these contractions. If for no other reason, it would be good practice for when I was actually in labor.
It only took about 2 contractions before I headed downstairs and handed the phone to DH saying, ?I need your help with this. I can?t manage this tracking thing and the contractions all at the same time.? Shortly after that (like a couple contractions that had me leaning on the ottoman on my hands and knees), I went to the restroom and had quite a bit of bloody discharge. That really freaked me out and I called to DH saying ?I think I?m bleeding. I think I?m having that bloody show.?
(Oh, denial. How strong are you...)
At that point, DH went to shower, and I decided to finish packing our hospital bags and get dressed in case we would be going to the hospital that night.
As I was adding items to the bags, I had a small gush of fluid in the middle of a contraction. I found DH and said, ?I think my water broke. I?m not sure, though, it was so little...? Then, as I was leaning over our bed with another contraction, my water *definitely* broke but I was more concerned with our carpet, having just leaked fluid and a bit of blood on it. I think I said to DH at least half a dozen times, ?you need to clean the carpet. It?s going to be ruined.?
Then, I had to make the call to our OB?s office. The short version of that is me saying, ?I think my water broke. I think I?m in labor.? This is funny now, because in retrospect there was no ?think? about it. I was definitely in labor with strong, frequent contractions.
Once we got to the hospital, my doctor checked me and I was dilated to 2cm, but my contractions were quite intense already. The only way I could handle the intensity of these contractions was to stay kneeling on the bed, sort of on my hands and knees, leaning over into a towel.
I know that we checked into the hospital around 10:30pm, and I know that I measured complete (10cm) at 3:15am, but most of what happened in between there is a blur of nurses monitoring the baby and DH helping me manage through contractions.
Around 3:00am, as one of our nurses was monitoring the baby?s heart rate, my vocalizations changed to a grunt. She asked me, ?Are you pushing?? To which I answered, ?I?m not doing anything, my body is doing it.? She told us that if I felt like I had to push, then we needed to call her and the doctor to check me. On the next contraction, it was undeniable-- my body was pushing. I sat up and told DH, ?Go get them. Go get them now.?
At this time, I was still bent over, face in towel, hanging on to any shred of control that was left. DH, though, says that in an instant my doctor and several other people came running into the room with an assortment of baby-related items.
After my doctor checked me and confirmed I was complete, she told me to push on the next contraction. I cannot express how wrong it felt to push. So many birth stories talk about what a relief it was to push, but that was not my experience. Now, along with managing through the pain of a contraction, I also had to bear down and push out a human. Pushing out a human, by the way, does not feel like relief. It feels like pressure and additional pain on top of the pain and intensity of a contraction.
Still, somewhere deep in my mind, I pulled out a little saying that has helped me push (ha) through other difficult challenges: the only way out is through. I knew that the only way to be finished with this whole birthing business would be to woman up and push this baby out.
I think it was about 3 or 4 contractions before my doctor and DH said that they could see her head. Then another few contractions before her head stayed out.
Then, my doctor said ?Now you have to push her shoulders out.? To which my honest reaction was ?Oh crap.Can?t they just pull her out?? I don?t know where I got the notion that once her head was out then the rest of the baby would just slide out, but the need to push out her shoulders definitely caught me by surprise.
That said, my doctor was telling the truth and on the next contraction, Amelia Elizabeth was born. 4:07am, 6 pounds even, 20.5 inches long, a head circumference of 12 inches, and completely healthy and perfect.
We were enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at our friends? house, and I started feeling what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, but with some pain. I hung around through dinner and after dessert, I went home because I wasn?t feeling well. My sister came home with me and we sat on the sofa watching Meet the Parents. Normally, I love having my sister?s company, but this evening, I was a bit annoyed and just trying to make the supposed Braxton Hicks go away by laying on my left side on the sofa. They didn?t go away, but they didn?t get any stronger or more consistent, either. Mainly, they were just annoying and they kept me from sleeping much that night.
11/23 - 11/24
The next morning I woke up early with an urgent sense that I had better get things checked off the to-do list because Baby Girl wasn?t going to wait much longer to make her debut. DH told me to go back to bed, but there was no way I could even think about resting for one minute-- there was too much to do!
After I left the house, I went to Home Depot to get the keys copied for my sister and our friends, so that our dog could be taken care of when it was time for us to go to the hospital.
Then, I went to Target to buy a few last minute items for Baby Girl?s room (which still needed organizing), Christmas decorations, and some other things. I remember standing in the maternity clothes section, pondering a cute tunic sweater top and talking myself out of it because I ?wouldn?t need maternity clothes for too much longer.? It was about that time that I went to the restroom and thought that I had some pink discharge. I started crying because I was scared and not completely ready to meet our little girl and this new evidence reinforced my feeling that she was on her way.
On the way home I called my sister and invited her over to help me bake and cook some things for the freezer. We spent the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking and baking, while DH kept telling me to sit and rest, and my sister kept suggesting that I time my ?annoying? cramps.
After my sister went home around 9pm, I told DH that I was going to take a bath to try and make my ?cramps? go away. While in the tub, I had 3 contractions, but they seemed to be the same as the ones that I had been having the night prior, so I was mainly annoyed that it didn?t seem that I would be getting any more rest than I got the night prior.
As I headed to bed, I decided to try and track these contractions. If for no other reason, it would be good practice for when I was actually in labor.
It only took about 2 contractions before I headed downstairs and handed the phone to DH saying, ?I need your help with this. I can?t manage this tracking thing and the contractions all at the same time.? Shortly after that (like a couple contractions that had me leaning on the ottoman on my hands and knees), I went to the restroom and had quite a bit of bloody discharge. That really freaked me out and I called to DH saying ?I think I?m bleeding. I think I?m having that bloody show.?
(Oh, denial. How strong are you...)
At that point, DH went to shower, and I decided to finish packing our hospital bags and get dressed in case we would be going to the hospital that night.
As I was adding items to the bags, I had a small gush of fluid in the middle of a contraction. I found DH and said, ?I think my water broke. I?m not sure, though, it was so little...? Then, as I was leaning over our bed with another contraction, my water *definitely* broke but I was more concerned with our carpet, having just leaked fluid and a bit of blood on it. I think I said to DH at least half a dozen times, ?you need to clean the carpet. It?s going to be ruined.?
Then, I had to make the call to our OB?s office. The short version of that is me saying, ?I think my water broke. I think I?m in labor.? This is funny now, because in retrospect there was no ?think? about it. I was definitely in labor with strong, frequent contractions.
Once we got to the hospital, my doctor checked me and I was dilated to 2cm, but my contractions were quite intense already. The only way I could handle the intensity of these contractions was to stay kneeling on the bed, sort of on my hands and knees, leaning over into a towel.
I know that we checked into the hospital around 10:30pm, and I know that I measured complete (10cm) at 3:15am, but most of what happened in between there is a blur of nurses monitoring the baby and DH helping me manage through contractions.
Around 3:00am, as one of our nurses was monitoring the baby?s heart rate, my vocalizations changed to a grunt. She asked me, ?Are you pushing?? To which I answered, ?I?m not doing anything, my body is doing it.? She told us that if I felt like I had to push, then we needed to call her and the doctor to check me. On the next contraction, it was undeniable-- my body was pushing. I sat up and told DH, ?Go get them. Go get them now.?
At this time, I was still bent over, face in towel, hanging on to any shred of control that was left. DH, though, says that in an instant my doctor and several other people came running into the room with an assortment of baby-related items.
After my doctor checked me and confirmed I was complete, she told me to push on the next contraction. I cannot express how wrong it felt to push. So many birth stories talk about what a relief it was to push, but that was not my experience. Now, along with managing through the pain of a contraction, I also had to bear down and push out a human. Pushing out a human, by the way, does not feel like relief. It feels like pressure and additional pain on top of the pain and intensity of a contraction.
Still, somewhere deep in my mind, I pulled out a little saying that has helped me push (ha) through other difficult challenges: the only way out is through. I knew that the only way to be finished with this whole birthing business would be to woman up and push this baby out.
I think it was about 3 or 4 contractions before my doctor and DH said that they could see her head. Then another few contractions before her head stayed out.
Then, my doctor said ?Now you have to push her shoulders out.? To which my honest reaction was ?Oh crap.Can?t they just pull her out?? I don?t know where I got the notion that once her head was out then the rest of the baby would just slide out, but the need to push out her shoulders definitely caught me by surprise.
That said, my doctor was telling the truth and on the next contraction, Amelia Elizabeth was born. 4:07am, 6 pounds even, 20.5 inches long, a head circumference of 12 inches, and completely healthy and perfect.
BFP: 12/20/13 EDD: 08/23/14 (discovered m/c at 8w5d)
BFP: 09/22/14 EDD: 06/06/15 (hoping for our rainbow)
This discussion has been closed.
Re: No med, hospital birth story (long, sorry!)
Amazing story! Yeah, I also remember the shoulders. Once they were out, the rest was a slippery strange weirdness, because of course she was rotating. I don't know what I was expecting, but... yeah.
Congratulations!! :-)
Yeah! Congratulations!
Quite a bit of denial lol! That was well written with great detail. Thanks!
Off B.C. Jan '06, started charting Feb '08, 2% morphology and PCOS, no O with meds,
IVF w/ICSI only option to conceive.
Licensed Foster Parents 07.11
Miracle BFP 7.20.11 1st beta 6,274! EDD 3.17.12
Miracle Baby born March 5, 2012 . 6lbs 1oz, 19 3/4"
Miracle BFP #2 10.8.12 - edd 6.20.13
I loved reading the birth stories here while I was pregnant, so I wanted to share our experience for others here.