In my small group, there are 6 of us.. and all of us were pregnant at the same time over the past year. We are still waiting on the last girl to give birth, shes 38 weeks this week! We shared our birth stories with each other, so here is mine that I will pass along. Sorry if theres details you might not want to read!
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June 14
So I had my 41 week appt on Monday with Ellen, one of the midwives. After telling me she wasnt fond of inductions, she checked me then she was immediately on the phone trying to get me in for Monday night to start cervadil. They told me to call at 5 that night and they would give me a time to come in, most likely 7 or 9. When she checked me I was 50% effaced and my cervix was still closed. She really got in there with her fingers and caused some pain and later bleeding. I think this is what helped with the real natural contractions the next day since I had never had a natural contraction up to this point in the pregnancy. She asked me if I had ever had an operation on my cervix because of how far back it was. Not the most encouraging thing to hear! No Ive never had an operation, my baby just doesnt want to come out.
I ended up calling at 5 that night, to keep getting bumped to call back at 7, then 9 then they finally said, call back in the morning at 6 am. It was crazy busy that night, everyone and their mother having babies... except me. A little frustrating. As you can imagine it was sort of impossible to sleep. The nurse said that I will most likely come tomorrow morning and just start pitocin, skipping cervadil. I had a feeling that I didnt want to do that, I felt I needed the cervadil so I wasnt happy to hear that they were going to skip that step. I decided I would ask to see if we could still start with cervadil. if that was still an option.
June 15
I talked with the Kristy, the midwife, in the morning at 6 am. She said she thought I would greatly benefit from cervadil since Im so far posterior and not at all dilated. I was happy with that but she said I would have to call back at 5pm to go in. I was a little worried I would get pushed back again. I called at 5, they told me to call at 7. I called at 7 and was able to get the okay to come in. That day I was having real contractions they didnt hurt obviously but they were definitely contrax none the less. I walked a lot that day in hopes it would help. They were random but they were happening every 5-10 minutes.. They would taper off and be like every 20 but then go back. I tried nipple stimulation in the shower from the water. Looking back its crazy that I still had hope that this would do it! Silly me.
I got to the hospital and Kristy inserted cervadil. She checked me before she put it in and I was at 70% effaced and a fingertip dilated. So the contractions that I had that day at least helped a little. The cervadil was stronger then I thought it would be, I was uncomfortable. They gave me ambien to sleep and I got 6 straight hours.
June 16
Started pitocin at 8 am. They didnt check me from the cervadil and Kathy, the midwife, was sure to let me know that theres a chance would fail. The nurse I had that day had 4 failed inductions with every single one of her kids. Again.. not encouraging! So pitocin started and I had consistent contractions every 3-5 minutes. I was under the impression I would get hit hard right away but I was not. It was building up and they were just like period cramps. I think I even said that the cramps Ive had from my period were worse. Kathy wanted me to walk around, so we did that a lot. It was a pretty boring day. There was a point where the baby wasnt doing good so she had me lay on my side. After that, he was great so I just stayed in that position the whole time.
I asked Kathy when she does cervix checks and she said not until your uncomfortable for quite a while so that I dont get discouraged if Im not as far as I thought. Around 2 the contractions started getting stronger, I told Dan I wanted to wait till 4pm to have Kathy check me so that I would be sure to hear some good news on my progression.
I got checked at 5. Bad news.. I am at 1 cm, she wanted me to eat and stop the pitocin. She said that we would start over, cervadil tonight and pitocin tomorrow. I had a good cry, so frustrating. I was still contracting 45 minutes later, so either the pitocin hadnt worn off or I was contracting on my own. They put the cervadil in at 9. I took ambien at 11. I didnt not sleep very well at all like I had the previous night.. Im sure it was just the anticipation of another day. I didnt feel the cervadil like I had the night before.
June 17
They had a busy morning, 3 emergency csections. They woke me up at 6 am that day to shower and eat but I didnt end up getting pitocin until 11 am. Ellen, the midwife, came in and checked me, I was 80% effaced and 1-2 cm dilated. She asked me again if Ive ever had an operation done on my cervix, not what I wanted to hear. She also told me if this didnt work today, she would send me home for 2 days (I wanted to scream, "theres NO way you are sending me home after all this!")!! Then she stripped my membranes. Overall, stripping my membranes was probably the most uncomfortable Ive ever felt! It was impossible to relax and breathe through it and I was having back labor at the same time. She did this two or three times before the epidural. I know it helped me along though but WOW! She is really good at that.
Around 5 the pain was really bad and hard to manage. We had been alternating between walking around the l&d floor to Dan walking me through every contraction when I was laying in bed. He was really supportive. We tried the birthing ball and he rubbed my back like Sue, our birthing instructor, taught us. Nothing was helping by this point and contractions were every 3 minutes, 1 minute long. I had no time to recouperate from the last one to gear up for the next. This was proof the pitocin was finally working! So this is the part where I derailed from my birth plan. I knew going in that I was completely against the Nubaine because it makes you feel drunk, thus making baby feel drunk. But once I got to this point, it was too early for an epidural and that was my only option. They told me the baby would only show signs of this med if I delivered within an hour, which wasnt happening so I decided to do it. I cried a little but accepted that it was what had to be done. Asher ended up doing great while I was on it, he was moving through the whole thing. Unlike the day before when his heartrate was dropping, this day was much different and he responded quite well to everything. God was watching over us. :)
I received the nubaine intravenously. It relaxed me but not by much. I kind of went into this trance, it was weird. Everyone was whispering and the room was dark and I just laid there breathing for an hour-2 hours. I never really slept because the pain was so bad but I wasnt fighting contractions as much and for the first hour was able to get through them. Once the nubaine wore off after an hour... I started to fight every contraction. It was impossible to relax. I had Ellen check me and I was 2-3 cm now so she let me get the epidural. 2 minutes later my favorite man walked in the door! (nurse anesthetist). The epidural was amazing and it really saved the day. Ellen stripped my membranes, which I was happy I could not feel a thing. She told me to sleep and relax. I woke up a couple hours later and they checked me. I was a 4-5 cm and 100% effaced so they broke my water. I asked them initially when they would break it and they said when they can see signs of progression that the pitocin was working. After they broke my water, I knew no matter what happens I would be meeting Asher soon. I woke up at 11 and they came in. Ellen had an intern, Kris, with her who is about to get certified. She checked and let me know I was ready. I was really confused by what "ready" meant. She informed me I was 10 cm and 100% effaced. I couldnt believe what I was hearing. They said since Im a first time mom they were going to have me labor down so that I wouldnt have to push as long (ha!) and if I started having any urges or pressure down there to call them otherwise they would be back at 1 to start pushing. I had no idea what this would feel like obviously and couldnt sleep from excitement so I just laid there guessing what it would feel like since I was numb from the waist down. I had a really good epidural, it didnt numb me all the way so I was able to move my legs and toes but wasnt able to feel pain.
June 18
I called them back in at 12:40 to ask them if I was ready because I thought I was. Ellen was busy finishing up with someone else so the intern told me that we should get started without her. Elizabeth, my sister, held one of my legs and Dan held the other. I could feel when contrations were coming since my epidural didnt make me totally numb so that helped when pushing. It took me about an hour to get the hang of the breathing and pushing and everything. I was wanting to get this kid out so I wasnt taking big enough breaths. Dan helped me a lot by whispering in my ear to slow down and when to breathe. I pushed for an hour on my back and side. They asked if I wanted a break but I just wanted this to be over so I opted out. Ellen got a sheet, tied a knot in it and she pulled one side and I pulled the other. This was my favorite way to push, since she could see what was going on down there (I refused a mirror a few times lol) she was able to pull back even more when I was having a really good push. It was funny (well now it is) because when I had a really good one, Dan and Elizabeth would make a noise like, we can see him! So everytime I would get really excited. Well obviously after a while it wore off because I was still pushing and he wasnt here lol. (liars lol). Ellen asked me to feel his head at one point but I was like.. uh no thank ill pass right now. Well about an hour and half into she just grabbed my hand and put it down there to feel his head. I was in shock, it was the softest thing I had ever felt and it was finally real. It was really encouraging and I was glad she did that.
After pushing for 2.5 hours, he finally flew out. It was the most amazing moment of my life, Im glad I can still flashback to that time.
My placenta didnt want to come out (shocker! lol) and they really had to work to get it out. Once it was out, I wouldnt stop bleeding. Dan said it was shooting out like a vein would if you punctured one. He was scared but prayed. I got a shot in the leg and something inserted and I stopped bleeding. They said I didnt tear bad at all - 6 stitches, level 2 tear. I could feel them stitching me up so he came out at the right time! I made sure to breastfeed within the hour, something that I felt was important in my birth plan and I was happy I was able to do it. I also was happy I got to keep him from the point he came out until later that day when he got his bath.. they only took him from me for 10 minutes to weigh him.
Ray, the midwife, came in to check on me the next day (I think I have seen all but one midwife at this point lol) and said how amazed he was at my blood work considering the amount I lost. He also let me know that everyday that week when he would come in he would see my name on the list and sigh...he felt for me.
I am so grateful for all the people that were praying for us and supporting us. God was watching over throughout the whole process. I know I might be crazy for thinking this but I am really happy how my birth story went... it was long but I felt taken care of the whole time and didnt stress or worry one bit. I was completely at peace and felt confident that everything was going to be okay. :)
Asher James
7 lbs 15 oz
20 inches long
6/18/2010
3:38 am
