My Birth Story

You’ll notice that I’ve written this post a bit like a journal entry.  As you may have guessed, I didn’t actually write it as it was happening!  I just found myself remembering it in this way, and I thought it might be fun to record it for myself and for Alice this way.

I’ve also included an episode that occurred 2 weeks after I gave birth because it was very much a part of the special story of how Alice got here.  Sorry for the length!

The Best Laid Plans

I would like to have as natural a labor and birth as possible in a hospital setting.  My friend, Kelly, is my doula, and she’s been working with Dan and I for months on pain management strategies.  All 3 of her children were at-home water births, so she knows what she’s doing.  She is going to help us implement a 3 positions, 3 contractions plan.  If I’m losing my cool, Dan will suggest that I try another position for 3 contractions.  We’ll do that 3 times and reassess my need for medication.  I like this plan, as it keeps me in control and prevents me from acting on impulse.  I’m also hopeful that my physical strength from continuing karate training will help me.  I’ve always been an athlete, beginning with hard core competitive swimming when I was a kid, so I know how to push my body.  I’m also told that exercise at least 4 days a week can shorten labor to 10 hours or less, so that’s a plus!  Finally, if I don’t have to have Pitocin, I think I can handle labor, that’s where our last strategy comes in.  I wish to labor at home as long as I can to avoid as much medical intervention as possible.  I think I have a good chance of making it!

Troubled Waters

I am calling the doctor because I have noticed some discharge that wasn’t there before.  Yuck.  Pregnancy isn’t glamourous.  The doctor says that I may have broken my water and that I should go ahead and get checked at the hospital.  Apparently a person can break her water without having a dramatic gush follow.  The baby’s head could be blocking the flow, causing very little release of fluid.  I don’t want to go, because if my water is broken, they’ll admit me and make me do my whole labor there.  That’s not part of the plan!

Checking Out, Checking In

Kelly convinced me to get checked out, so we reluctantly grabbed the bags and headed in.  Right up until now I thought we would be turning around and heading straight back home.  The doctors weren’t able to agree on whether or not I’d ruptured my membranes, so they’ve checked me out over and over.  The third Ob is finally affirming that the water bag is broken.  We’ll now be checking into our Labor and Delivery room which, if all goes according to plan, will be our home for the next 10 or less hours.  However, I’m concerned because my contractions are far apart and not painful at all.  Labor hasn’t really started.

Pump Up the Jam

The doctors have given me 18 hours to get labor really going before the chance of infection increases dramatically from my water being broken.  When my time is up, it’s the Pitocin for me.  Dan, Kelly, and I are now running around trying every labor-starting strategy we can think of, which is to say that Dan and I are following Kelly’s instructions!  I’ve walked up and down the hallway, bounced on a birth ball, and pumped with the hospital’s breast pump.  When Kelly suggested squats, I convinced her to do karate stances down the hall in front of the nurse’s station with me.  I think it’s working!

Lots of Pain, No Gain

I’m trying my best to hold still as the nurse checks my progress.  I started having real contractions about 8 hours ago, but I still feel like I’m handling them pretty well.  I’ve agreed to let them hook me up to a Pitocin drip because I’m starting to get tired with no sleep since yesterday afternoon’s short nap, and no food since yesterday’s lunch.  I’m 19 hours in, and even I’m starting to worry about infection.

Enough is Enough

I’m praying (loudly) through contractions as I wait for the anesthesiologist.  Before the Pitocin I was at a 2.5 (which is what I checked in at as well).  Once it kicked in my contractions went through the roof.   Kelly told me I was probably experiencing them as they would be in transition.  I was able to do 3 hours, the last of which I tried being in the tub.  Everyone said that this would help a lot, but I didn’t find it helpful at all.  I pulled myself into a squatting position through each contraction, trying to make some progress.  Finally, I had had enough.  I wanted the drugs.  They were about to check me anyway, so I said that if I was an 8 or a 9 I would keep going.  I wasn’t I was...wait for it...a 2.5.  No progress at all.  Time for a little help!

The Best Thing in the World

Whenever an epidural came up in conversation with other moms, it was always described as “the best thing in the world.”  Now I can confirm that this is an accurate description!  The process wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be, and 3 contractions later, the pain was gone.  Dan was able to lay down on the couch to catch some rest, and Kelly and I are just sitting and chatting as if I’m not lying naked in a hospital bed waiting to push a human out of my hoo-ha!  My sense of humor has returned and I’m joking around with the nurses.  Now we wait.

Push It Real Good

They told me for 5 hours that it was almost time to push.  Now it really is!  My delivery nurse, Lee, is really funny!  She says that most new mothers take about 3 hours to push, but she’s too old for that, so we’re going to do it in 2!  I have no intention of pushing for 2 hours.  All the working out didn’t help this labor go any quicker, I’m determined to use it to my advantage while pushing.  

The whole NICU team is here because there is meconium in the womb, but I’m not concerned for some reason.  I know the baby is going to be ok.  I’m a bit disappointed that they won’t be able to put her right on my belly and delay cord-clamping, but as long as she is healthy I don’t mind so much.

Moving

Lee is pushing Alice and me down the hallway to our new Mom and Baby room.  Dan is by our side.  Kelly prayed with us, then went home a few minutes ago to be with her own babies.  

I pushed for just over half an hour before my baby was delivered.  Lying on my back with my legs up didn’t feel good to me, so I had Kelly and Lee help me turn over and lean over the back of the bed in a kneeling position.  I was able to move Alice down pretty quickly that way.  Then they made me turn back over for the last few pushes to get her out.  With my nature being very low oxytocin, I worried that I wouldn’t connect right away with my baby.  But as soon as she slid out, I was Momma.  I couldn’t see her for a few minutes while they took her to the other side of the room to help her breathe, so I sent Dan to keep watch.  She hadn’t aspirated meconium, so they were able to give her back to me pretty quickly.  I cuddled her against my chest for only a few minutes before she started trying to get down to nurse.  Kelly showed us how, and she nursed for a good, long time.  

During all this, my doctor was having a terrible time.  My placenta had to be delivered in pieces, so she was up to her elbows in my uterus making sure it was all out.  I caught a glimpse of the long, thick surgical twine she used to stitch me up, but I really didn’t pay any attention.  It was just me, my husband, and my baby.  

Return to the Scene of the Crime

Here I am, back in the hospital.  I’ll be discharged later on today, but it’s been an eventful 2 weeks!

Alice and I were discharged with a clean bill of health 2 days after her birth, though we worried that we wouldn’t be, since I was running a slight fever and recording highish blood pressure.  I began my maternity leave feeling well, fully able to do the sleepless nights.  However, as I went along, I began feeling sick; it was a bit like having a mild flu.  My stitches didn’t seem to be healing either.  I had never had a baby before, so I didn’t know what was normal.  By about 10 days postpartum, however, I knew something was really wrong.  I made an appointment with my Ob-gyn and endured an excruciating internal examination.  Even just pushing on my abdomen was painful!  My doctor told me that I needed to be re-admitted immediately.  I had an infection in my uterus that she suspected was spreading to my bladder.  She was aware that I had delivered my placenta in pieces and worried that I may have placental matter left in my uterus.  She felt it was imperative that I check back in right away, but I was hesitant.

I was panicked that I would have to leave Alice!  We were still perfecting breastfeeding and I didn’t want to mess with our success.  Ergo, my doctor admitted us back into the Mom and Baby ward so that I could bring her with me.  Thank God!  Dan also accompanied me because I would have to leave my room for tests and procedures and someone would have to take care of Alice in the meantime.  

It turned out that they only required me to leave the room once, in the end, for an trans-vaginal ultrasound to check for placental matter.  I pride myself on my toughness, but tears ran down the sides of my face as the technician moved the wand around the infection.  It was not my finest half hour, but blessedly, she found nothing.  Heavy duty antibiotics would take care of me...they thought.

Sadly, they were wrong.  I had to stay an extra night because the infection had somehow caused postpartum eclampsia and they feared my high blood pressure would cause a seizure.  They prescribed a blood pressure mitigator and observed me overnight to make sure I’d be alright.  What a scary experience, but it looks like everything is alright now.  Even with this little blip, I count bringing Alice into the world one of the best experiences of my life!