Birth Story

Pre hospital

Monday morning, April 27, I woke up with major lower back pain and a little blood flow. This was odd since I hadn’t really had lower back pain my entire pregnancy. Due to the pain, I opted to lay on my back most of the day instead of washing the baby’s clothes. It wasn’t until 3 PM that a fire was lit under my butt to get a move on washing clothes and such. What changed? I began to feel contractions every three minutes. I called my doctor to find out what I should do. The nurse told me to wait until they are five minutes apart and I can’t talk or walk during contractions. I proceeded to call my husband to let him know I was having contractions but I didn’t think the baby would come that night; so he should still plan on going to his client meeting after work. I’d call him if things changed. I was obviously not going to have the baby that night since most first born babies arrive late and this was the first time I had any contractions.
Around 7 PM my contractions were two minutes apart, but I could still talk and walk during them. When I informed my mother of the change, she freaked out. I wasn’t able to calm her nerves even a little bit until I told her I would call the hospital and ask what to do. The nurse at the hospital told me the same thing the other nurse told me except she added one thing. She said, “If someone were to offer you a winning Power Ball ticket and you’d turn it down due to the pain then you should come in.” Joseph arrived home shortly after that phone call. That helped relieve some of my mother’s concerns, just some 

Too many of my friends and family went to the hospital only to be turned away, telling them to come another day. I was in no rush to have that happen to me. However, around 11 PM I asked my husband if we could try to sleep in our brand new bed that he just finished putting together. He was completely exhausted from that huge project and quickly agreed. We no less laid down when I informed my husband that sleeping was no longer an option. We needed to start getting ready for the hospital. My bag was packed a few hours ago, but my husband didn’t have his packed. So he proceeded to do that, while I made sure I had all the paperwork I needed. Of course, this was all done in one minute spurts since both of us were focusing on my contractions and pain every other minute.

The Hospital

We arrived at the hospital just after midnight. I really wanted to wait until then, because I told everyone I wasn’t going to have the baby the previous day/night. Walking to the door was a venture in itself. We stopped many times during my contractions. One person saw us and told somebody else to get me a wheel chair; however I made it to the maternity check-in without the wheelchair. They soon brought me into an examination room and hooked me up to monitors to check baby’s heart rate and my blood pressure. Only one person was allowed in the room with me at a time, so my husband, Joseph, and fun mom, Tracey, took turns. Joseph was glad he didn’t have to stay the entire time. All was good until they checked my cervix. With all those contractions, my cervix was still closed! They were about to release me when the baby’s heart rate dropped to 70 or 80. They figured it wouldn’t drop again but weren’t going to chance it, so they admitted me into the hospital.

Labor and Delivery

I chose to walk to the labor and delivery floor. Once there, the contractions became much worse. Joseph was called over to massage my lower back using a little massaging ball I brought us, and Tracey would come and talk to me to try to calm me down and remind me to breathe. This was done every other minute for a minute. Every once in a while, a nurse would come in and check me. Finally around 6 am my cervix had opened up to a one. I was totally effaced but my cervix just wouldn’t follow suit. My doctor, Dr. Allen Sawyer, came in around that time and examined me. He told me that he would like to break my water and have the baby today. I said that I was good with having the baby today. I didn’t like the fact of breaking the water but kept my mouth shut about it. I didn’t want to be having these horrible contractions for days. During his next examination, he broke my water. Now that was an experience. Many people told me it was like warm water flowing, and they were right. The contractions were still intense but my cervix still weren’t working with the rest of my body 

Medicine

Dr. Sawyer talked to me about getting an epidural. He wasn’t trying to pressure me but wanted me to think about it since I’d been having contractions for so long and my cervix was still only measuring one centimeter in diameter. He left, and I discussed it with Joseph. Joseph told me he would have already gotten the epidural. I looked at my two helpers. Thank God for them. Joseph was exhausted, falling asleep even during the massages, and Tracey was worn out too. Those two facts and the fact that I had already been having contractions 2-3 minutes apart for about 16 hours straight with my cervix dilating only to a one, I chose to get the epidural. I couldn’t imagine enduring 16 hours for every centimeter. Of course I wasn’t in my right mind. The baby would have come out one way or another within 24 hours of my water breaking. But I didn’t realize that at the time. So I got the epidural which broke my heart. I was consoled by the thought that the stress that my body was undergoing during the contractions and the epidural were probably about the same level of stress to my baby.

At 7 AM I received an epidural. Most of the medicine went to my right side. So they had me laying on my left side for the medicine to drain to that side. Joseph was much happier not having to get up and massage my back every minute. Having the epidural definitely calmed the nerves in the room. Soon after the epidural was given to me, they started giving me Pitocin. That helped my cervix dilate to 3 after a few short hours. During that time my nurse Denise, who was wonderful, switched with Chrissy, who was equally wonderful just in different ways  Chrissy’s first duty was to put a catheter in me. I wasn’t told anything about a catheter when they mentioned the epidural, but it made sense. I mean, it’s not like I’d be able to stand up and walk to the bathroom since I wasn’t supposed to feel anything really from the waist down.

Waiting

Chrissy did make me feel better. She told me when she gave birth to her two year old, she went natural until she was eight centimeters. Then she had an epidural. This way she could tell her patients what it was like both ways. If I had gone eight centimeters, I think I would have pushed through and not gotten the epidural. But we’re all different. It turns out there was another mother who came in about the same time as me in the room next door. So Chrissy said we were going to have a race to see who would deliver first. Soon after, the other mother was being prepped for surgery. She was having a c-section, but Chrissy and I decided that didn’t count as a win  Chrissy really wanted me to have this baby before her shift ended. But just in case she wasn’t there, she told me to send in a picture of the little one.

Betsy arrived around 1 PM and helped take some of the pressure off my other two amazing helpers  She helped me through the contractions I could feel when the epidural was wearing off, which happened quite often. They kept pumping me with more drugs, but to not much avail. Even with laying on my left side, I could still feel a lot of pain on that side. I let Betsy know that I was only allowed to have three people in the delivery room with me and since my mom couldn’t be here due to a viral infection, I wondered if she would like to be there. She quickly agreed.

The Report

About 6 PM my cervix was finally dilated to a 6. Three hours later, it was still a six. During this time Chrissy was replaced with another nurse whose name escapes me. They continued checking me and telling me that they felt the baby’s head who had a lot of hair. I even saw on the monitor that the baby calmed down when the nurse rubbed his head. That was pretty cool. Some time between 6 PM and 8 PM they noticed I had a fever. This concerned them thinking there might be an infection in the placenta. They put me on some antibiotics, I think. But the fever continued.
The nurse came in and told me that the doctor would be coming in shortly to talk to me about a c-section. That one word alone made me burst into tears. I didn’t want a c-section. I had known the epidural was a possibility, but a c-section was even an option to me. She tried to calm me down and said that I could talk to the doctor about it when he arrived but she wanted me to be aware of the upcoming topic. She left with the other doctors/nurses that came in with her. Then I talked to everyone in the room about the possible c-section. They calmed me down and let me know there may be some other options before a c-section is needed. My hopes were raised a bit, but I also knew my doctor. If I want one thing and he doesn’t think it’s a wise choice, he is able to say just the right things to make me change my mind. But at least there were some other people who were behind me on this one.

The Decision

My doctor had arrived. He talked to me about the c-section, but I remained strong and asked if there was anything else that could be done. The response was not what I was looking for, so I asked how long I had before a c-section was absolutely necessary. Again, the response was not favorable. I then burst into tears saying I didn’t want a c-section. I asked him to check me again. He did and nothing had changed. As I was crying, I looked around the room at all the faces and saw the sadness in their eyes. They felt badly that none of this was in my birth plan. I decided right then and there I needed to make everyone laugh. I told them that I was at least getting one thing from my birth plan. My doctor stopped and with concern in his voice asked, “What?” I responded, “I’m not getting an episiotomy.” Laughter was heard around the room. I asked if the three would be able to be there. He said only one could be there. Joseph was ready and willing to pass the torch, but I wasn’t having that. He would be the one in there with me. I braved one more question. With hope in my voice I asked, “May I watch.” Finally, I got a favorable response.

To be continued…