Birth Story Part 2 (Yep. Long)

applecider · January 2009

Baby was due the previous Sunday

Wednesday around 6pm: Fierce cramps. About 7 minutes apart. Went to Monkey Bridge in Ballard for Vietnamese Pho and a little walk. Crummy back contractions about 10-14 minutes apart all night long. I made DH sleep rump to rump with me and the heat and pressure helped a little. I kinda sorta got a minute of sleep here and there between contractions. I also got up and walked around and crawled around on hands and knees in the middle of the night to see if I could speed up or stop the contractions.

Tuesday: Got up. The contractions sped back up when I walked around but slowed down when I layed down to nap between contractions. I was so miserable and I wasn't making any progress! I posted on The Bump and took your advice to go for a walk.

I finally managed to get the contractions down to 4 minutes by 3pm, when we had a scheduled US. The contractions slowed back down to 10 minutes by the time we were doing the US. I was kind of a back-labored mess by this point. I was so relieved I practically cried when the nurse told us to head on over to the hospital to L&D. We walked around the block for good measure, ate a hearty snack and checked into L&D.

Tuesday around 6pm: I was 4cm dilated, 90% effaced when we checked in. (I couldn't believe I'd been having lower back contractions I couldn't talk through for 24 hours and had only made that much progress.) The nurse could feel the amniotic sac and the head resting on my cervix so baby was ready to go.

6pm-9pm: Walked up and down the hallway and had DH press his hands or hips (doggy style) on my lower back. These things would work for a few hours and then we had to find new stuff. Bastard back labor contractions still about 6 minutes apart.

9pm: I never made a written birth plan but I didn't think I would need an epidural. But, by this point I was considering it so I could get some sleep and last another 12 hours if needed. (Epidurals can slow labor down).

The nurse suggested the jacuzzi as a way to get another hour of labor out of my body. It was much nicer to half-float and labor on my side. And instead of being relaxed and slowing down, my contractions sped up. By midnight they were 3 minutes apart, I was 7 cm and 100% effaced. Baby's head was *right there* and heart rate were fantastic (and had been the whole time).

Midnight-5am: Got the epidural. Joked with the anesthesiologist about my scoliosis. It took him three tries to get the needle in, but it was worth it. (I guess DH thought I was going to be permanently paralyzed). While I snoozed, my body kept progressing on it's own (which I still think it amazing). Water broke about 2 am, contractions on the monitor got longer, stronger and closer together and by 5 am I started feeling this peculiar pressure on my rectum.

5am-6am: I felt so refreshed. Pushed for about an hour. My nurse was a great pushing coach. The bossy head nurse was annoying. I could actually feel the baby kick off my ribs a few times and DH said the little head was turning back and forth. My OB showed up at the end and delivered the baby.

When the baby was crowning, I felt the pressure and everyone oohed and awed so I asked, "Is that the ring of fire?" The doctor and nurses laughed and said, "If you have to ask, that's a good epidural block." I did get a 2nd degree tear, not from the head but maybe from the shoulders? It seems so unfair, goshdarnit I only noticed that I was being stitched up afterwards.

And then the baby was there. It was a little boy (surprise! DH and I were both wrong) all naked and crying on my chest, it was overwhelming and DH and I were weeping. And I think all the rest is pretty routine.

I would not have done anything differently. I always imagined that I would labor at home for 10-20 hours and waltz into L&D to deliver naturally a few hours later, no big deal.

I think Swedish had a good balance of minimal routine medical intervention (limited internal exams, intermittant doppler fetal monitoring, let amniotic sac break on it's own, didn't push epidural or pitocin) but plenty of medical technology if I wanted it

Connor Michael is big and healthy. Big Smile