Moses was 8 days overdue and was scheduled for an induction on May 19. I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced.  I tried to talk to our doctor about getting an extension on the induction date, but she wouldn’t budge. I was very concerned about going for an induction because I had heard that it was more difficult to have a natural delivery after having an induction.  After trying everything (or so it seemed) to get labour started (stair walking, bumpy car rides, two acupuncture appointments, herbal concoctions, talking to Moses, talking to my body, talking to Spirit, etc….), I decided that the next morning, I would try the castor oil induction (which I heard could be brutal due to the diarrhea that it may cause, but I was getting desperate).

That night, I cried and was quite emotional because I was wondering if I was in some way preventing labour from starting.  Was I scared?  Was I just not ready?  I had a good cry and created a birth collage with intentions for how I wanted the birth to go.  (i.e., that I would be supported, that my body knew how to give birth, that the birth would be what it will be).  I talked to my good friend, Shelley, and she said that she would do some long-distance Reiki on me that evening.

May 17, 2006 (Moses’ birth day)

I went to bed and was up several times during the night with stomach cramps. I woke up at 5:00 am with more intense stomach cramps and noticed that I had leaked some clear fluid (I didn’t quite know at the time that it was the first sign my water had broke). DH got up at 6:00 am and I told him about my stomach cramps and that I wouldn’t be taking castor oil if these cramps continued.  DH could tell that I was not feeling myself and he decided to stay home to be with me.  After leaking more of this liquid and after consulting with the internet re: water breaking, at about 6:30 am, we finally figured that my water had broken. (Duh…)  Then we decided to time the length between the stomach cramps and found out that they were coming irregularly between 5 to 8 minutes apart!  Woohoo!!  Labour had started!  I sent out an email to my “birth angels” (friends who I had asked to hold space and say prayers during my labour and to light a candle) and we called our moms. (My mom wasn’t surprised by my call because she had a dream the night before that Moses was born). We rested in bed for a little while – trying to get more sleep, but sleep didn’t come.

We’d planned to labour as long as possible at home, but being that my water broke,  DH thought it would be a good idea to call the hospital and get their opinion.  Sure enough, they suggested that we come in for an assessment.  I didn’t want to go to the hospital so soon, but the nurse said that we would be free to leave the hospital after the assessment if all looked well.

9 am: We got our bags packed and while DH was outside packing the car, I was already doubling over on the couch in pain and crying.  I was surprised that the contractions were already so intense so early in the labour.  This scared me.

We drove to the hospital and I had about 3 contractions during the ride to the hospital.  I already needed to be quiet and go inside during the contractions.

10 am:  We arrived at the hospital and I laboured in the waiting room for about an hour.  The contractions were about 5 minutes apart.  I needed DH’s support (holding onto his hands) during the contractions.

11 am:  I was assessed and was a “stretchy 4 cm” dilated.  The doctor asked me if I wanted pitocin to really get the labour kicked in to high gear.  I declined.  She said that they would give me until around 7 pm, but would induce me with pitocin if labour didn’t really get started by then.  As a result, I had a pretty strong intention for labour to go quickly on its own.

We were still debating on whether to go home to labour further or to stay in the hospital.  We decided to stay because I didn’t want to do anymore labouring in the car and wanted to ensure that we got a hospital room. (My hesitation about staying was that I was a bit scared that my labour would stall being at the hospital – happily, this didn’t happen).  Shelley arrived at the triage room and I had lunch.

11:30 am:  I was happy to get settled in the room so that we could make the space a “safe and sacred space”. When I asked that the birthing stool be made available, I was first told that no one ever used them and they probably didn’t have them anymore. Thankfully, the nurse was able to find one, which was fortunate because I later made use of it in the shower.

By this time, my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes or so and felt quite intense to me.  I would lean over the couch and DH would hold one hand. In the other hand, I held my “birth egg” – an egg symbol that a friend has given me and that I was using to support me in labour.  I also wore a “birth” bracelet that Shelley had made for me. We also tried a hot water bottle on my belly or back, which seemed to provide some relief. While these contractions were happening, a nurse-in-training was asking me questions so that she could fill out the proper paperwork. She told me that although she hadn’t witnessed many births, she could tell that DH and I had been to prenatal classes by the way that we were handling the contractions. [We had taken Birthing from Within classes. I highly recommend both the book and the classes].

I drank A LOT of water during labour (approximately 4 L — I normally drink a lot of water, but not that much in such a short time. I’d read that it was important to stay hydrated during labour, but I guess I took it to the extreme). [The doctors later said that Moses' sodium level was low and they think all of the water that I drank during labour affected it].

1:00 pm:  I laboured in the shower for 4 hours (so I was told — I’d lost track of time by this point). [I would have tried a bath, had a bath been available in the room.] DH sat outside of the shower  and showered my back or belly depending on where I needed the warmth.  I started in the shower sitting down, which was not the most comfortable position, but was made more comfortable with the “gardening cushions” that one of the nurses brought.  The water was amazing.  It felt healing to me and I was able to go inside and be internal inside the walls of the shower.  We played a beautiful healing and meditative song, “Returning” by Jennifer Berezan over and over and over again…  ”Returning, Returning, Returning to the Mother of us All” for the entire labour except for a brief time that a “Birthing” CD was played, which had dolphin sounds.

To cope with the contractions, I was telling myself affirmations in my head (“I am being supported”.  “Spirit, please relieve some of this sensation”.)  After a while, I told DH to repeat what I was saying and for 3 hours, DH and I co-chanted the affirmations that I needed to hear.  After a while, DH continued with the affirmations on his own when I didn’t have the energy to say them anymore.

I held my birth egg the entire time and DH’s hand with the other.  Shelley was also in the room with us, doing energy work on me and making comforting “sighing” sounds.  Shelley was amazing – getting more water when I needed it and providing whatever support was necessary.

After some time, I no longer felt comfortable sitting on the floor of the shower and asked for the birthing stool, and continued to labour in the shower on the birthing stool.  I asked, “Would I know when it was time to push?”. The nurse said that I would know because I would feel like pushing.  While on the birthing stool, the nurse checked me and I was 7 cm dilated.

5:00 pm

The contractions were becoming more and more intense and at a certain point, I screamed out in pain and grabbed onto DH, coming off of the birthing stool and half out of the shower.  It felt as though labour was changing.  The nurse suggested getting me out of shower and I slowly made it out of the shower, holding onto DH in a type of “slow dance” to the bed.  Once on the bed, I instinctively went to a sidelying position.  I felt as though Moses was coming quickly and I wanted to slow down the process.

I soon felt like pushing.  This was the most excruciating part of the labour because the nurses didn’t allow me to push yet.  It felt awful not to be able to go with the feelings of my body.  I vocalized and screamed a lot during this stage.  They checked me again and I was “9.75 cm” dilated. [What does that even mean?].  During the examination, the nurse helped by manually pushing some of the uterus out of the way.

6:00 pm

I was finally 10 cm and it was time to push.  DH estimates that it took about 12 pushing contractions for Moses to be delivered.  My first few pushes were side-lying and weren’t very effective in the nurse’s opinion, so I was coached into a semi-sitting position.  I resisted going into semi-sitting because I knew that it’s not the best position to labour in, but I was quite tired at this point and was open to suggestion.  Because I was so tired, I couldn’t imagine labouring in any other position besides side-lying or semi-sitting. (Unfortunately, I felt that I didn’t have the energy to squat).  In retrospect, I think I should have stayed in a side-lying position because this was the position my body intuitively chose and suspect that some of the complications that followed (Moses’ heart beat decelerations and my episiotomy) wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed in that position.  And the labour would have been slower.  I felt a lot of pressure to push Moses out as fast as possible rather than go with my body’s timing.

I started vocalizing quite a bit during the pushing, and the nurse advised me to use my energy more for pushing and less for vocalizing.  This turned out to be good advice because my pushing was more effective when I didn’t vocalize as much.

[Warning: Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are easily grossed out -- this paragraph may contain too much information for you]. One account that I’d read about the pushing stage was that it was like “pooping out a squishy watermelon”, so I was expecting that sensation to come. What surprised me was the sensation of the “squishy watermelon” moving inside of me.  When he was crowning, it was particularly disconcerting to feel my son’s head part way out of me and then between contractions being told to “relax” (while the squishy watermelon was moving inside of me, and at the same time, his feet were kicking my ribs). I asked for warm compresses, which I felt helped soothe the ”ring of fire” between contractions.

In between one of the breaks between pushing, one of the nurses actually asked me to sign a waiver form! (@%%$###!!)

I was coached to push with the forceful pushing technique, which I suspect that combined with the semi-sitting position, is the reason that we had decelerations in Moses’ heartbeats.  They started to give me oxygen to get more oxygen to Moses. I got the feeling that I needed to push Moses out as fast as possible to ensure that he would be ok. This is when they said an episiotomy would be necessary.

7:01 pm

Moses was delivered after two more contractions after the episiotomy.  One of the most beautiful moments of the whole experience for me was that as Moses was being born, DH embraced me and cried on my shoulder with delight and relief at Alex’s birth.

Moses delivered with his hand by his face and with the cord wrapped loosely around his neck. He was grey and had a frightened look on his face. They put him on my belly for only a second or two because he was having difficulty breathing.   DH asked if he could cut the cord and he did. They then took Moses over to a side examination table and many specialists rushed in. After the placenta was delivered, I started hemorrhaging, so they hooked me up to an IV and put pressure on my uterus to stop the bleeding.  I lost 700 mL of blood in total (approx. 200 mL more than normal). Shortly after, they took Moses away to another room and Mel went with him. Shelley stayed with me. While all of this was going on, the staff was having casual conversations about their weekend plans. ($#%@@@!!!)

Despite the chaos, I remained pretty calm. I intuitively felt that Moses would be okay; I was reassured by the dream that my mom had about Moses’ birth. Shelley stayed with me, while Mel went back and forth between being with Moses and me. Shelley did some more energy work with me, which helped tremendously.

They put tubes into Moses lungs and stomach, and as a result, he needed to be transferred to the Foothills Hospital (FH) because Rockyview Hospital didn’t have a level three Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. So that I could be close to Moses, they also transferred me to the FH at 1:00 am. Our son, the little fighter, ripped the tubes out of his lungs and stomach on his way to FH. Thankfully, Moses’ condition greatly improved soon after he arrived at FH and by the next morning, he was breathing unassisted. By the afternoon, he was transferred to the Special Care Unit. They  think that he swallowed some amniotic fluid during the delivery. They kept him for 6 extra days (during which time he was hooked up to IVs and many monitoring devices, kept under lights for his jaundice, was given antibiotics and was diagnosed with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, an enzyme deficiency which makes him susceptible to hemalytic crisis, which occurred during his birth). We brought him home with us on May 23, 2006.

Janice

We got to hospital at 6.15pm, drank some juice and sat around. The contractions started coming more frequently, every 2 mins and were fairly painful. Bub gave a few good kicks and we had to wait around to be examined before they would let me go home. At this stage the braxton hicks were getting a bit bitey but I didn’t have my hopes up after only being 1cm dilated on Friday. The midwife wanted to do an internal check before I was allowed to go and said I was 3cm. Just as she was telling me the bag of waters were bulging, they popped and I was 4cm, she told me I wouldn’t be going home.

We were then carted over to labour and delivery at around 9pm. I  had a doctor come and put a bung in my hand as I tested positive for strep B and needed 2 doses of antibiotics over 8 hours. They gave me the first dose at 10pm. The contractions started picking up, so I decided to hop in the shower. I stayed there for about half an hour, then walked around in the room and hung off Matt whenever I got a contraction. My two previous labours had me stuck in bed on a syntocin and this time I was determined to be active during my labour and avoid any intervention.

At midnight, the pain started to get to me and asked for some pethadine. My lovely midwife knew that I didn’t want it as I had written in my birth plan that I wanted a drug free birth, so she said she’d give me half a dose but she wanted to check me first. I agreed as with my second child I had pethadine too close to when he was born because they didn’t check me first and he was very lethargic. She did the internal and I was 6cm. She then suggested that because I was on the bed(I was tired and dozing between contractions) that maybe I should try getting up. I decided to try the shower again and the midwife asked if I’d like a bath and perhaps have a water birth. I jumped at the idea and hopped into the shower while I waited for them to fill the bath.

5 minutes in the shower and 3 strong contractions, I felt the urge to push. Poor Matt started to panic and went looking for the midwife(lucky she hadn’t gone too far). I told her I had to push(here I am standing in the middle of the room dripping wet in the nude lol). She didn’t really believe me til the next contraction hit and I was leaning over the bed and moaning(I had barely made any noise during my labour). I was pushing. Matt and the midwife were standing behind me, but I had no idea what they were talking about. When the contraction passed I said, I really do need to push. I quickly climbed onto the bed and his head was already crowning.

4 big pushes and 10 minutes later, Owen was born. He was put onto my chest and I held him for about 1/2 an hour. I wasn’t allowed to feed him straight away because I had only had 2 hours of antibiotics in me and they had to test him for infection. Once they had done that, he latched on straight away and fed for a good 30 mins.

He weighed 4125g (about 9lbs), 49cm long and head circ of 37cm (a HUGE head!) and I managed to get away with only a tiny graze too. I’m so happy I managed to avoid any intervention and that my body was allowed to do what it was meant to do on it’s own. I’m really bummed that I never got to have that water birth (not many hospitals allow that here), but nevermind, there’s always next time.

Tracey

I’ll begin with Wednesday. I had slept about 3 hours. Up every 5 minutes to pee. Then Lizzy (2.5 yrs) woke up. No sleep. I was going to blow off my DR appt, but that little voice said go and get your iron levels checked. So I dragged myself, my 2.5 yo and my 5 yr old to my appointment.

Now, fast forward to some scenarios…

If I had not gone to my appointment, I would have been home all day. At 6 p.m. I would have taken my kids to activity night at the church by myself, just having a few contractions. By 7 p.m. I would have needed to push…and stuck at the church, someone would have called 911.

If I had not gone to church and stayed home, after realizing I needed to push and the baby NOT coming out like the others, I would have likely freaked out and transferred to the hospital.

I had not made any mental preparations that this baby would do anything EXCEPT fly out like all the others.

Anyway, I had my iron levels checked and they were lower than at the end of my last pregnancy when I hemorrhaged, I started running through scenarios in my mind … the last being if I was supposed to go to the hospital that I would be in labor at the appointment…And that’s exactly what happened.

I posted on facebook about a change in plans knowing that I did not have enough time to get my iron levels up to a point where I felt comfortable. I also felt peaceful that for whatever reason, this was supposed to be happening. I went to the store to finish up some shopping and called DH to meet me at the hospital because I had the two little girls with me and called a friend to come pick them up.

At the hospital, I was 4 cm. I got a nurse who looked at my birth plan and stated she didn’t want to lose her license and gave me to a different nurse That nurse left me alone and I napped for about 2 hours. I had three contractions in that time and told the nurse I was fine with a vag exam. I had dilated to 6 cm.

I sat at 6 cm until around 5 p.m. when I started having contractions 3 minutes apart. My dr offered to break my water; I said I didn’t care at this point…since I was actually having contractions now. My dr left to go find the on-call dr and bring him up to speed. I think he was telling him to let me do what I wanted. *evil grin*

Around 6, the on-call dr finally showed up and tried to break my water. Didn’t work. nothing happened. he left tho and said that it was a race between me and the first time mom down the hall as he thought I’d probably deliver in the next hour or so.

The contractions did start to hurt a bit. If I had been home, I still wouldn’t have been convinced it was labor, which is why I would have taken the kids to the church.

I sat around for a bit and wanted to get up and move. Nurse cranky pants came in to listen to the baby and I told her I was in transition and needed to get up and move. She said if I did that the cord would prolapse. Whatever. I got up anyway and got in the shower. I stayed there for a bit, until I felt like I needed to push with the contractions.

Told DH to let the nurses know, though I told him I was terribly tempted not to tell them at all.

I got on the bed on all fours and pushed. I felt her move down then back up again. This went on for quite some time with me trying different positions, none of which were working.

I was extremely vocal during pushing, something very uncharacteristic of me. DH called it the amazon warrior battle cry!

Finally, the idea hit me to put the back of the bed straight up and i would lean over the back of the bed and squat when I pushed. It was a bit better, but her head would just NOT come down.

I kept praying and praying to know what to do. I had been pushing for a lot longer than I have ever pushed before.

The dr said he had never delivered a baby backwards before so it would be a learning experience for him. Maybe this is why I needed to be there…to teach the staff something new?

So baby is still not coming down and now I had to pee. I asked for a bedpan. And, still hanging over the back of the bed, squatted over the bedpan to pee. That did the trick to move her down! So I pushed and pushed over a bed pan in a deep squat. I don’t think I could have done this position at home, even on the toilet. I was in a deep sumo wrestler position, roaring as I pushed.

I felt her head get past my pelvic bone finally and still, it took forever to get her out. We were starting to wonder about her size because of how long it was taking. And then she finally emerged forehead first…a position which can result in c-section. Because of the position I was pushing in, there was no way for the dr to tell until it was “too late” of her malpresentation. It was also impossible for the dr to grab her and “help her” by rotating. The dr had no choice but to let me do my birthing business without his help.

She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches.

I feel like no matter what choice I made, i was probably going to end up at the hospital. the Lord had need of me to be there. And, I’m ok with that.

We also opted, because of the bruising on Millie’s head, to get the vit K about 12 hours after she was born. She started healing much more quickly after the injection.

Meanwhile, I met some amazing nurses and gave them some stories to tell. I hope that maybe if another mother coming in is having trouble pushing and wants a natural birth, that the bed up position might be offered. I don’t know if they will ever use the bedpan squat, but it will be there in the back of their minds.

Anyway, I seriously injured myself in the pushing phase. separated my pelvis. Ouch.

A week later, I developed Bell’s Palsy. It took me three weeks to recover.

This definitely wasn’t what I wanted for my last birth experience, but I learned so much more about faith and following and trusting in God, which is ultimately what it’s all about.

Micki
http://addhousewife.blogspot.com/

After a 40 hour labor, 4 hours of pushing, and multiple attempts at vacuum extraction all with no medication, I ended up having a cesarean section. It wasn’t until they cut me open that the doctor realized that the reason she wouldn’t come out was that she was posterior and in brow position, which basically means that she had her neck cranked and was looking out the birth canal. Unfortunately the vacuum they had tried was pulling on her forehead instead of the crown of her head, and she came out with a gigantic purple bruise and a large scab in the middle of her forehead.

I was devastated, and spent the next year and a half mourning the loss of the natural childbirth I so desperately desired. When I got pregnant for the second time, less than a year later, I knew I had a lot of emotional healing to do. I was positive that I wanted to try for a VBAC, but I was actually scared to let myself believe that I could do it. I was terrified of getting my hopes too high and having my natural childbirth “stolen” from me like I felt it was the first time.

For this birth, I was lucky enough to find a team of doctors and midwives that work closely together and are highly supportive of VBAC. I was able to go with the primary care of the midwives, but still meet each of the doctors in case I would need their help. I also used hypnobirthing to help me let go of some of my biggest fears and prepare for a more positive experience.  I didn’t actually attend any hypnobirthing classes, but I found the CD’s and books extremely helpful.

At around 11 PM on March 2nd (I day past my due date), my practice contractions suddenly changed, and although they weren’t extremely intense, I could tell that I was in the early stages of labor. I made sure my husband went to bed right away, and I did the best I could to sleep that night. I was probably able to sleep about 5 hours throughout the night.

In the morning I squeezed in an appointment at the Chiropractor to help ensure that I was lined up and primed for birth. I went directly from the Chiropractor to the Midwives, who told me I was at 5 cm and 80% effaced.  She told me to go home and do lots of walking. I didn’t feel like a lot of walking was really necessary, so instead I took a nap, went on a brief stroll around the block, and made dinner for my family.

After dinner my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. Both my mom and husband were concerned and thought I should head in to the hospital. I was completely unconcerned about it because I was still able to do the dishes after dinner with brief pauses for each contraction. To appease my mom and husband, I called the midwife to get her opinion. She suggested getting in the bath and said that a warm bath would either speed up or slow down my labor depending on what my body was ready for.

After my bath and listening to some hypnobirthing, my contractions were 5 minutes apart, but much more intense. I still didn’t feel like it was time to go in, so I sat and chatted with my mom in the living room while my husband put our toddler to bed. After, I had him slowly pack up the car and get ready to go. When I finally decided I was ready to go in, we got in the car and I commented to my husband that I felt a little nauseous and shaky. My husband looked a little scared and said he was worried I was in transition already, although I claimed it was just the cereal I ate right before we left and the cold night air.

On the way to the hospital I listened to the hypnobirthing “birthing day affirmations” CD. Apparently, we hit every light green along the way and my husband never had to slow the car down. Interestingly enough, the birthing day affirmations CD ends by saying, “I am ready, I am ready, ready, ready….” It was exactly at that moment that my husband pulled into the parking spot at the hospital and turned off the car. Woah. I was in perfect control and very relaxed for the whole car ride, and for each contraction I had as I walked into the hospital. They checked me when I arrived at 10:15 and I was at 7 cm and 100% effaced.

It wasn’t until they were giving me an IV for GBS antibiotics that I started to feel a little like I was starting to lose control. The nurse that was admitting me was acting like a teenager just woken up from a long nap. I found her so obnoxious that it was hard for me to stay in a deep state of relaxation during contractions. Each one seemed longer and more painful, and I was extremely eager for her to leave the room so that I could regain control.

She finally left me and my husband alone with a birthing ball to do our own thing.  As soon as she left, I explained to my husband how I felt and told him I was worried since I “already” felt like I wanted an epidural. I was sure I had hours/days to go, just like last time. He reassured me, and also said that he didn’t think the nurse was that bad at all. However, when he looked at the monitor, he saw that my contractions really were getting more intense and lasting longer. HA! I had my proof. That nurse really DID make it impossible for me to control my contractions.

I got up to go to the bathroom, and my husband waited just outside the door for me. I wanted to go to the bathroom and then get back into my hypnobirthing groove.  While sitting on the toilet, I suddenly realized that I was about to have a bowel movement. I told my husband this, and he joked that I needed to be careful not to push a baby out too. I pushed a couple of times, which coincidentally happened to be at the same time as a contraction. I noticed that I was shaking uncontrollably as I pushed, but I was relieved and reassured when I actually DID have a bowel movement.

Part of me wondered just a little bit if this was IT. I was feeling the urge to push, but surely it was just because I was going to the bathroom, right? I couldn’t quite find the words to explain to my husband what I was thinking, but I hoped he was able to read my mind. Just to be sure that nothing else had started to come out as I had been pushing, I reached down to check. As my right hand was right below me, there was a sudden, and extremely loud popping sound, and a HUGE gush of water. My socks and my slippers were soaked. I immediately shouted out to my husband “water broke, need to push!” He must have been quick to push the button because it seemed like it was only two seconds later that my midwife was at my knees.

I definitely have a bit of a germ phobia when it comes to certain things, and I was SO embarrassed to have someone at my knees just after having a bowel movement. As she tried to ask me questions about what I was feeling, all I could do was apologize to her because I hadn’t even wiped or flushed yet! Once she realized how important that was to me, she got me some soapy wipes that I could clean up with quickly.

The next contraction happened before I could finish cleaning up all the way, and I told her I needed to push. She calmly told me not to push, or I would end up with a baby in the toilet. After that contraction ended, she and a nurse helped me off the toilet, but I quickly had to brace myself for yet another contraction as soon as I stood up. I put my hand on the frame of the door to support myself. As the nurse and midwife tried to coax me towards the bed in a calm yet frantically urgent way, all I could focus on was finding someone to clean my hand, and also the part of the door frame that I had touched. The thought of clear amniotic fluid on a doorframe that doesn’t get regularly cleaned really bothered me.

And then I felt HOT. Really, really hot. And frustrated. Why didn’t anyone understand how important it was for me to have my hair clip to get the hair out of my face? How come my husband couldn’t find it? The obnoxious nurse told me to forget about the hair clip because I was having a baby. What did she know? I wasn’t going to get on the bed like she demanded, because first I needed my hair clip. My midwife was somehow able to respectfully rip my hospital gown off of me, which immediately cooled me down.

Luckily, she was able to coax me into a good position before the next contraction, because it was really time to push. I knew I was pushing, but I also knew I had a long time to go, so I was still thinking about where my hair clip might be, and why my husband couldn’t find it. My husband was talking about how he could see our baby’s head, but I was still thinking about my hair clip. The next pushing contraction seemed to happen right on top of the first one, and I remember saying, “oh THAT’S the burn that people talk about!” The nurse responded with, “Okay, I’m just going to suck her nose out.” I didn’t really get what she was saying until I heard crying.

THAT’S when I realized what was happening. THAT’s when I realized it was a dream. Or, surely I was just “visualizing” my birth using a hypnobirthing CD. I told my husband that it wasn’t fair, that it seemed too real, that it was a dream, right? With the next push my husband reached down and caught our baby. He handed her to me immediately, and I felt a surge of love come over me. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” I repeated to this beautiful baby girl over and over. Then I looked up and said, “What just happened?”

I walked into the hospital at 10:15. The nurse left us alone around 11:00. I had a baby in my arms at 11:24. But believe me, it felt a lot faster than that!

Looking back on it now, it’s clear that I was in denial during all of the more active parts of labor. My first birth took so painfully long, that it was hard for me to imagine it any other way, even though it was obviously what I wanted.

I see now that when I was in the car and felt nauseous and chilly, it wasn’t just the cereal and the cold night air. I understand that the obnoxious nurse wasn’t making me lose control of my ability to stay on top of my contractions, but rather that they actually were getting longer and harder. And, she probably wasn’t nearly as obnoxious as I thought. The pushing feeling I had on the toilet really was IT, and it was a coincidence that I happened to have a bowel movement at the same time. Not the other way around. And, even though I was anticipating at least 4 hours of pushing that would necessitate me taking care of hair issues, I am SO grateful that that’s not what I ended up with. However, now that I know the power of my push, I’m going to try and slow it down next time so that I don’t tear. Other than that one tear though, it really was a perfect birth.

Jen

Tuesday night I told Jon that we should go out on a date to get our minds off the waiting part. I was getting pretty cranky about the whole thing after being so chill for so long. So, after our 5 billionth walk around the neighborhood we went out to get some food and then went to see “The Hangover”, where at some point during the movie someone threw a pair of 3D glasses and hit me in the head. But, the movie was funny because: Mike Tyson… singing. Do I even need to mention at this point that I was having contractions? I had been having them so often all week I was pretty much just ignoring it. They would get stronger as soon as we left the house or went on a walk but then not much else would happen.

So, we went home and went to bed. And nothing happened. Wednesday when I woke up I just couldn’t bring myself to go into work and face everyone again. It felt weird to stay home though, because what if he didn’t come until the week after? how many days could I really cut work if he wasn’t coming soon?

I took the dogs for a walk first thing when I woke up. I’m sure I looked absolutely ridiculous all pregnant and huge and walking dogs around the neighborhood. Or at least evidently I did because people kept talking to me everywhere I went. Some men in the park asked me if I was “‘pregerated and walking two dogs”, which apparently to old men in the park (who may or may not have been drunk at 9am) is really hilarious. We walked and walked. And walked. Finally I gave up and came home. I called Jon and reported that I was having contractions. If you could consider being sweaty and tired contractions, which is to say, no. And I sat down to watch tv and mope.

Mid-mope, around noon I started having contractions again. Since Monday I had worried and worried, would I know when it was finally time? I was much further dilated than I could have expected and I worried about things progressing too fast. Even though I had been having contractions all week that were long and close together these seemed different. not painful but… different. they kept going every 3-4 minutes and by 2pm I called Jon and told him to finish up work and come home. He apparently took that to mean finish up stuff before you leave and take a long time, when really what I was saying was COME HOME NOW. And by the time he finally got there I had been starting to panic while pacing around the house.

So I paced. And he timed. I hadn’t showered after my hot and sweaty walk so around 4 I got in the shower while Jon gathered up all our bags and things. He was timing on the ipod touch with the labormate, which turned out to be totally fun. Every time I had a contraction I would yell GO! from the bathroom and then STOP! so he could do the timing while I washed up. Eventually that turned into “one’s coming!” and by the end I was just saying “it’s a one” and then, “one!” which turned into our sort of strange labor code for contractions for the rest of the night.

After that we figured it was probably time to call my doctor’s office. I couldn’t decide if it was really, you know… IT. Sure, I was having tough contractions every 3 minutes for a few hours. But, that had happened before. And technically the dr had said to call if they were closer than 5 minutes apart which we totally didn’t do. But, I just wasn’t miserable. I felt… fine. Especially in between. I figured it couldn’t really be it. When I did call the office they were no help at all. They just said they would call the hospital and have them pull my charts. I was still worried, because that’s the #1 Bradley rule- don’t go to the hospital too soon! So we waited another hour, maybe longer before we finally left.

When we went out to go to the car, between contractions, there was a dead snake in our yard. Apparently Bang had done battle with a little garden snake and somehow killed it. I still can’t believe it! Go Miss Bangerang! Feisty! We know it definitely wasn’t Nico because I one time saw him stand directly on top of a hissing pissed off snake and not even notice. He is oblivious to wildlife.

Back to our story. We headed off to the hospital which is only about 8 minutes from our house, no big deal. One contraction in the car. We got there, parked, and slowly walked up to check in. The woman at the triage desk kept trying to get me to sit down in a chair and fill out paperwork but I really NEEDED to be standing or walking at that point so I scribbled down whatever and then paced up and down the hall waiting to be “checked” to make sure I was really in labor and they weren’t going to send us home (yeah that was pretty unlikely at that point). I still don’t understand what all that paperwork I filled out and pre-registered with was for if I had to fill out more forms when I got there.

While we were waiting for a triage room we enjoyed the treat of some super-redneck people coming in looking for their girlfriend/daughter/friend wearing awesome oversized t-shirts with gangsta-chuckie on them. And then a huge family came in looking for a girl that had been transferred there from another hospital and they sent them all to the waiting room. When I was in getting checked out Jon said that they lost them ALL. All the family just… went somewhere. They went to tell them the girl was all settled in her room and they were gone. Did I mention that these same people RAN INTO ME when I was pacing in the hall during a contraction?? Had I been able to speak I would have yelled at them for sure, but that was not exactly high priority at the time.

In the triage room they hooked me up to all the monitors and crap to make sure I was really in labor and then did a cervix check. I was 6cm and fully effaced and definitely in labor. the nurse was all psyched that we were going to have a natural birth and was sad that her shift was ending so she wouldn’t get to help. And they actually asked for our birth plan, and read it, and took copies and attached it to everything. She put in my heplock and then walked us over to our official birthing suite in the FANCY WING! YEAH! And briefed our nurse, Kelly, on the no drugs Bradley deal, and then… there we were:

They have two wings, the new one for uncomplicated births and the crappy side for people with complications or if the fancy side is full. We had our fingers crossed the entire time that we would end up on the nice side with the flat panel tv’s and ipod hookups and private bathrooms… score!

Kelly said we could do whatever we wanted, but I was excited and wanted to keep walking around to keep things progressing. So she got me some ice water in a big tub and we walked around the floor. We only had to come back every hour to check in on the monitors. We also found out that of course, the doctor on call from my OBGYN’s office was the ONE I HADN’T MET. Great. So for our first hour we walked. The walking made the contractions ramp up but it still really wasn’t that bad. After an hour we came back to check in and my doctor was there for our monitor session. I was immediately worried because she kept asking me over and over if I thought I was really in labor. apparently, I didn’t look like I was in enough pain for her. She just kept staring at me and asking about my pain levels. And I kept telling her, yeah, it’s intense, but it’s really not that bad. Which evidently was not a satisfactory answer. I tried to reassure her by telling her that I thought I was just a slow laborer, and she said she would come back to check on us later.

So we walked and paced and walked, and came back again to be monitored. The monitoring was the worst part. I think if I had to stay in the bed the entire time I can understand why people need pain medication. it just sucked to be in the bed and there was no way to move to get my mind off of it. But, Jude was doing fine in there so they didn’t have any worries. After that it was time for “Ghosthunters”, and thankfully the labor suites had cable. So, I bounced on the birth ball and we watched tv. I wasn’t a big fan of the ball so I switched to the rocking chair, and I ended up staying there for a few hours.

And so it went. At this point the contractions were getting pretty intense. I still wouldn’t say that they hurt but DUDE, those muscles are WORKING. Breath and rock and breath and rock. Jon sat very patiently near me and waited for “a one” and then reminded me to sit still and breath. I pretty much zoned out for a few hours while we watched roasts on comedy central. At one point Jon dashed out to get some food because he hadn’t eaten in a long time and brought back caffeine drinks and gas station snacks from around the corner.

I started to feel nauseous. And I told jon to go tell Kelly right away. She came in and told us where the towels and supplies and a tiny vomit-catching bucket were. And then, a few minutes later, oh boo, the vomit. I tried to vomit into the little cup, but I was vomiting waaaayyy too much vomit for it to contain and ended up overflowing it and continuing to throw up all over myself and the floor. And I thought to myself, I know that nausea is a sign of transition! But I doubted that I could have gone so far in so short a time. I didn’t want to get too excited. So Jon and Kelly got me into the shower. From this point on I was pretty much naked the entire time. I threw up all over my handy $10 black dress and having Kelly and the doctor see me naked was really not high on my list of concerns anymore. I was in the zone.

So I stood in the shower. And the contractions were rocking right along. I was doubting myself. I had to wear a bag over my hand so water didn’t get in my heplock. and I stood and swayed and Jon stood there and helped me.

And then my water popped in a big flood of liquid, and I told Jon to go get Kelly. By this time I had the shakes and I was freezing cold. So they got me some towels and Kelly asked if I wanted to be checked since my water broke, and I said sure. And I was 9 cm! All of a sudden! Yeah! I was relieved, but things were coming pretty fast. That was when we found out that Kelly had to go call the doctor BECAUSE SHE HAD GONE HOME. Apparently she thought my labor was so boring and not moving along so she went home. And now they had to call her back for my delivery.

I went back to the rocking chair, but during each contraction I would stand up and lean on Jon and sway back and forth, and he would remind me to relax and breath. And that went on for a long time. Another hour? More? I literally have no idea. At that point I was in my own foggy world. In between contractions I would sleep in the chair and then pop up and sway and then back down and sleep. When my doctor came back she was still totally freaked out that I wasn’t screaming and crying and whatever. So they all just watched me and let Jon and I do our own thing.

My body pretty much decided it was time to push and started pushing for me when I would stand up during contractions, and I let Kelly and Jon know. So sometimes I would push, and then rest, and then push. I was so glad that the doctor let me just do what my body wanted, so we continued by feel. No coaching and yelling and counting.

I had been fairly quiet in the beginning, like dead silent. But by this time I was vocalizing with the contractions, I just couldn’t help it. And after a while of that they suggested I try some different positions to get things going. So they got me up on the bed on all fours, and I pushed that way for a hour or so. At that point it hurt more to NOT push than it did to go ahead and push, there is no choice. So push and rest, and push and rest. And Jon was up by my head helping me breath calmly. Then they suggested side lying, so we tried pushing like that. And that felt much more productive.

They were getting all set up and my doctor could see his head. And she kept saying that he had no hair! I was sad because I thought maybe he would have hair because Jon and I both have lots of dark thick hair. So jon held my one leg and I pushed and pushed and at that point screamed and screamed. I actually thought about how funny it was that I was probably totally alarming everyone else on the floor with all my yowling. And then finally he was almost out, and it was the worst possible part, not because of the baby but because of whatever the doctor was doing down there with her hand to try to help his face come out. OUCH. And my contractions were slowing down to give me time to rest in between but I wanted to keep going and going and get it over with and it was so frustrating to wait for them to come and everything was running together.

And then we found out he was sunny side up. surprise!

And one more push and he was there.
And they lifted him up and put him on my belly.
And he was so healthy and pink and super awake.
And Jon and I held him and it was so quiet and awesome.

Born 9-3-09 at 3:33 am
8lbs, 6 oz · 20 3/4 inches

Jon cut the cord and we delivered the placenta. Apparently we had some kind of weird extra lobe on the placenta and the doctor was sad that there weren’t any medical students there to show. It was probably why early on they thought I might have had placenta previa. Jude was hungry, and I fed him, and he ate like a superstar. I had a small tear and she gave me a few stitches. So all in all it was about 15 hours. And I feel like this isn’t a very dramatic story, but well… it wasn’t really that dramatic I guess.

The doctor kept telling us she was really impressed. She said I should teach a natural birthing class because I did it like a pro. And she was amazed that he was posterior because I didn’t have any back labor and I pushed him out all on my own. I still can’t believe we made it. To be honest, I really don’t think it was that bad until the end, and by that time it was way too late for medications. The best part was afterward, how I could get up and walk around, and go to the restroom and clean up, and jude was so awake and ready to hang out. And they put me in a wheel chair and took us to recovery after about an hour of just being together. One of my favorite parts was that Jon was out by the nurses station and they have these big tv’s with the status of every patient up on them, and he said every one said either “epidural” or “pitocin” except mine, which said “NATURAL” in big letters. I’m not going to lie guys, it feels totally surreal that we made it and I feel pretty proud.

Jamie
www.grumblesandgrunts.com

Once I started cleaning, signs began to appear!  Bloody show?  Check.  Mucus plug? Check.  Nesting?  The baseboards looked great!

By around 11pm my contractions were about 10 minutes apart and felt like really strong menstrual cramps with a little bleeding.  I called my doula who told me that I was probably in early labor and that I should try to get some sleep because my baby was probably going to be born the next day.

I tried to lay down in bed to rest, but lying down made the contractions more intense and I couldn’t sleep through them, so I sat on the toilet for the first half of the night and later on my birthing ball and rested on against my bed while my husband slept.  I felt the contractions very strongly in my lower abdomen and upper legs.  Laying down was the worst, so I spent the entire night sitting on my birthing ball or the toilet.  I did that while listening to Hypnobabies “Easy First Stage” on repeat until about 5:30am, when I decided it was time to wake my hubby.  At that point my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart.

Our doula arrived at 7am and at that time my contractions had slowed to about 6-7 minutes apart (my doula told me it is not uncommon for contractions to slow in the morning).  She was there while I labored by my bed.  Taking deep breaths at the beginning of the contractions and then mooing (yes, mooing) as the contraction peaked helped the best.  I vomited a couple of times but it didn’t bother me at all–I had been drinking flavored Vitamin Water, so it didn’t taste all that bad coming up.

At 10:15a my water broke with a monster contraction – it didn’t hurt (it was intense!), but I do think I sounded like some sort of animal in the woods as it passed.  At that point our doula said it was time to head to the hospital, which we did. The drive wasn’t too bad, I think I was in that “resting” period that comes before pushing.  It was a 30 minute drive to the hospital (thanks in part to Chicago traffic) and when we arrived at check-in I had decided that humming in the waiting from was the best way to deal with my post-broken water contractions.

When they checked me I was fully dilated, so they sent me up to L&D (with one of those kits on the gurney for in case I delivered in the elevator.  I began pushing as soon as I got to the room, on my hands and knees.  The doctor wanted me to turn and lay on my back (mostly because I was not positioned well on my hands and knees–I kept straightening my legs), but I still did not want to lay down, so I told him no way and my doula and the nurse helped me get into a better hands-knees position.

I pushed with each contraction that came (2 or 3) and my son was born in 15 minutes.  I was not at all prepared for what pushing would feel like, I don’t know how to describe it – overwhelming?  Otherworldly? It didn’t hurt, no ring of fire, but, wow, to feel a baby come through my pelvis.  Weird.  I felt his head, shoulders, and then his body slid out and I was done!  Incredible.

They placed his 8 pounds, 12 oz body on my belly.  It was pretty cool.  They delayed clamping his cord and I was only separated from him while they stitched my tear (he came out so fast!) but his dad held him skin-to-skin while the doctor tended to me.  My delivery was so fast that the attending physician did not make it to the room in time, and they pulled in a resident who was on his way to another delivery in to my room to catch my baby.

As I only spent 15 minutes in the hospital before delivering, my birth was completely drug free.  I even missed the antibiotics for my GBS, but the doctors weren’t concerned because baby’s delivery was so soon after my water broke.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about delivering in the hospital, but I was really happy with the doctors and nurses who assisted me, and my doula was indispensable, my husband and I couldn’t have done it without her. (My husband was awesome, too, especially when he told the resident not to give my a cervical check–they had already determined that I was complete downstairs–my husband told him that we wanted to limit the hands in my vagina).  Also, I really liked the Hypnobabies preparation.  At the time I was convinced I wasn’t doing it “right”, but in retrospect I think it worked perfectly.

Laboring at home was key, I felt very comfortable there and suspect that if I had been at the hospital I may have been a little more on edge and progressed a little slower.  My doula said that I could have done the whole thing at home, and next time I just might!

Yay, new baby!

Danielle

This method does not work well if you want a natural childbirth in a hospital. With Hemi I arrived too early to the hospital and “failed to progress” according to their schedule. As a result of my naiveté, all my fear and self-doubt buttons were pushed. I consented to four procedures (including an epidural) before Hemi was born.

In hindsight, and after reviewing the medical literature, none of these procedures were medically necessary to producing a healthy outcome. They were just things the hospital could bill insurance for.

So with Jack I read more on natural childbirth and reviewed the medical literature before blindly accepting what doctors or nurses said. The biggest help was “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way” by Susan McCutcheon. In addition to not fighting contractions by tensing up, the most important thing you learn in this book is the emotional signposts of labor, which are far more telling than physical signposts (# centimeters dilated, position of baby, etc) of when the baby will arrive.

I had never heard of these. The first is excitement… “today’s the day!”. The second is seriousness… a woman can not be distracted, she need to full concentration to get through contractions and relax in-between. The final signpost is self-doubt… you don’t think you can do this.

My prenatal doctor is really a low-key and practical woman. Her biggest suggestion to have a natural childbirth was to stay home as long as possible, get most of the labor done at home and avoid the whole hospital scene. The plan was to go in when my contractions were about three minutes apart and at least a minute long (and in the serious emotional signpost).

On Wednesday, 23 September 2009, I was having strong but brief contractions throughout the night. When I woke in the morning, I went to work. While at work, I had more strong but brief contractions about eight minutes apart. It was not a bother.

I went home for lunch around 1:00pm. I decided not to get back to work at 1:30pm, my contractions were six minutes apart and only 30 seconds long. No sweat. I even “facebooked” that today might be the day. EMOTIONAL SIGNPOST: Excitement.

Sometime afterward I drifted into the serious emotional signpost. At 3:20 my husband called the doctor as we had to make sure there was a bed available at our preferred hospital. My contractions were 5 minutes apart and a minute long (below my threshold for going in). The doctor said we could come see her, stay home, or go to the hospital. I chose to go see her.

Before getting in the car, I had get my shoes on and stuff between contractions which had suddenly jumped to two minutes apart. I didn’t think I could do this. EMOTIONAL SIGNPOST: Self doubt. I knew I was getting wishy-washy, we called the doctor back and said we were going straight to the hospital.

The hospital is a 20 minute drive away. About 5 minutes into the ride, I began to have a pushing contraction. It was a tremendous urge… like your body wanting to push the biggest bowel movement ever out of your body. I thought I had “pooped” when the contraction was over and announced to my husband that I had… but then I felt wet everywhere and the sting of salty water.

I had pushing contractions all the way to the hospital, but I didn’t tell my husband as he would have freaked and anyway I was too busy trying to relax between contractions. I was too busy to recall what door we were supposed to go to so we pulled up to the emergency entrance. A volunteer was by the door with a wheelchair. I got in. The emergency room was on the opposite end of the hospital from the maternity ward.

All the way I was having strong pushing contractions. During one I felt my legs pull apart, I reached down and could feel a head. I announced, “I can feel a head!” as we approached the maternity ward. The nurse at the station said “She’s in Room 6.” “I don’t think we are going to make it to Room 6!” “Call a doctor!” “Doctor!” I was wheeled in to room 6, weakly stood up, pulled down my pants and pushed a 7.3 pound son out at 4:00pm! Amazing, only 3.5 hours of labor, including only 20 minutes of pushing!

Victoria

Around 7:15 the night before Easter I started having contractions, but figured they were just more braxton hicks b/c I get them ALL the time. I took my son on a walk hoping it might turn them into something more or make them go away. . . they kept building, but nothing too bad. I got my son his bath and put him to bed, got his Easter basket out, and did some laundry and dishes. I figured if I WAS in labor, I didn’t wanna come home to a stinky, dirty house.

The friend who was gonna drive me to the hospital came over, and we decided to watch a movie, but ended up leaving in the middle of it. . . I got to the hospital around 1215. My contractions weren’t regular, but they were bad enough I knew it was time to go anyways. The l&d nurses weren’t so sure, hooked me up to the monitors, and were debating whether to keep me there or send me home.

Around 2 am, they said they’d check me in about half and hour and see if i’d made any progress, then decide. After telling me that, the nurse asked if my water her broken or anything, and RIGHT THEN, as she asked, it broke. . . I wasn’t sure b/c it was just a trickle, and I’ve had times before where that happened and it turned out I’d peed myself, so I said that. She said we’d be able to tell on the next contraction, and sure enough, it all just came gushing out. There was ALOT more than I’d expected, but at least then I knew they were keeping me and I was having Scott.

They checked me and said I was at 6 cm and 80% effaced, and that I had another water bag in there! They said something about a forebag, so I assumed that’s what had broken and the main bag was still in tact and asked them not to break it.

We got a message to Jon (he was deployed at the time) to call b/c I was in labor, so I got to talk to him for a little while until I started having back labor and had to really focus to get through the contractions. That was around 3:30 or a little after, maybe. Another friend had shown up shortly after I got to the hospital, so I asked her to do some counter pressure on my lower back to relieve the pain from the contractions and it helped SO much! I’d had back labor with Trevor too, but it wasn’t that bad and I didn’t think to have anyone do any counter pressure. I wish now I had, it was a huge help in dealing with the pain.

I started to feel like I needed to push a little, but not like I COULDN’T stop it, so I asked to be checked. I was at 8 cm, but the nurse said that 2nd bag was what was making me feel the urge to push. It wasn’t terrible, so I figured it would only be an hour or so till I was fully dilated. well, 3 hours later, I was still there – they checked me and I was STILL at 8 cm. I was completely exhausted at that point, it was just after 7 am and I hadn’t gotten any sleep. They said if I let the doctor break the forebag, I’d probably be done much faster.

I realized then that i’d gotten confused at first – I thought they said my forebag had broken when really it was the main one that broke. I told them definitely go for it then, break it and get it over with. The doctor came in and broke it, and there was another huge gush – even the doctor was surprised by how much fluid was in there (explains why I was SO huge though). . . 2 contractions later, I was fully dilated and screaming for them to get the doctor back in there because I was pushing and there was no stopping it. The nurse told me not to make her deliver the baby and I told her I wasn’t making her any promises. . .

The doctor came in right about then and they let me start pushing (not that I wasn’t pushing before, I just had their permission at that point). . . He was doing counter pressure to help keep me from tearing, but it was so distracting that I couldn’t push effectively at all. I kept telling him to stop, but I think everyone though I meant to make the contractions stop because they just ignored me and kept saying “you’re almost done, just push, you’re doing great!” Finally, I kicked the doctor and said “You! Stop it!” He did, and after that, I pushed 3 times and Scott was born at 7:49 am on April 12, 2009 (Easter morning)! He weighed 7 lbs., 15.4 oz. and was 20 inches long.

The first thing the doctor said as he put him on my chest was “Congratulations, now you can eat anything you want!” (I’d had gestational diabetes) my one friend was offering me chocolate almost immediately. . .  I didn’t want it quite then, but I thought it was kinda funny.

The new baby already knew his mama though – when they took him away to weigh him and a couple other little things, he screamed his little head off, but as long as he was with me, he was a happy little boy. I was able to nurse him for about half an hour before they had to take him to the nursery, so I was over the moon about that.

I didn’t tear, but I had to get 2 small stitches b/c my skin stretched and wasn’t fitting together EXACTLY the way I was supposed to. best part though, was that I felt so much better throughout the whole thing. Even when they weren’t letting me push yet, I was able to talk and laugh and joke in between contractions like nothing was going on at all, and I did it w/out any drugs.

The l&d nurses, as well as my nurses in the maternity ward kept telling me I was a “rockstar” and asking why I didn’t have him at the birthing center (apparently that’s an option, but no one ever told me. . . I couldn’t have though; since I was on diabetes meds for my gd, I was considered high risk enough I had to be in the hospital). Anyways, within an hour after having him, I was up and walking around on my own, I felt great! by the next day, I hardly noticed any soreness, and the 2nd day, when I left the hospital, I felt more like I was 2 or 3 WEEKS postpartum, not just 2 days.

Scott nurses like a pro, although I had to use a nipple shield at first because he’s got such a narrow, high palette that I got blisters even when he latched 100% correctly. It’s helped a ton, and I was able to stop using it before he was a month old.

AND even though Jon wasn’t able to be there, he got home the following Monday (when Scott was 8 days old) – for good! Yay!

Evelyn