Birth Story

So, I wanted to document this so I could look back on it later. WARNING: Some parts may be graphic and not what you want to hear about me.

For the last two months of my pregnancy, I would have contractions every night. I think there was only one night that I made it through that I didn't have a contraction and that was in the last week (hence why it stuck out in my mind so much). It was actually kind of odd, if I had been in bed for a couple hours and rolled over onto my left side, this was almost guaranteed to cause a contraction. Not only did it cause a contraction, but these contractions would last 4-6 minutes sometimes, though they were never really painful, just uncomfortable. Anyway, so having had these contractions so regularly and for so long, you would think they would help dilate and efface me, right? No.

My doctor checked me for the first time at 36 weeks, this was a week early, but she didn't mind checking me. I was fingertip dilated and next to nothing effaced. The next week my effacement was the same, but could actually be considered a 1. The story remained the same for the next 3 weeks. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated to be having these contractions but with no results. The night before my last doctor's appointment, I had contractions every 6-10 minutes for a 3 hour timeframe. I thought I would be seeing my doctor in a different enviornment that day, but once the day hit, all contractions stopped (I think I failed to mention that in that 2 month timeframe, only a handful of contractions would actually happen during the day). So I went to my doctor's appointment that day (July 1st) and yet again, I was only a 1, but I had effaced 50%. Additionally, I felt different. I don't know how to explain it, but I just did. My doctor and I discussed everything and scheduled the induction for Tuesday morning (since that Monday was the recognized holiday).

I was so sure I was going to go into labor naturally before then, but le sigh...the weekend came and went, surprisingly restful. All contractions seemed to go on hold. As I wanted to avoid pitocin as much as possible, my doctor and I discussed a different option called a foley catheter. Essentially the catheter tube is inserted between the bag of waters and the cervix. It is then inflated with saline solution to 3cm. The rest of the tube is then taped to the inside of your thigh and the constant pressure helps to dilate you overnight without the need of pitocin.

Although I hadn't heard of this method before, my doctor highly recommended it and if it could help me to avoid the use of pitocin, I was happy to try it. We went in on Monday to the hospital (this would normally be performed in office, but since it was the holiday, it had to be done in Triage) at 11am. The procedure was done by noon and we were on our way home. The contractions started almost immediately, but they weren't any harder than any of the ones I had experienced at night. I decided to try to take a nap while they weren't bothering me too much and managed to sleep for 2 hours. Once I woke up and got moving around, for 4.5 hours, I had contractions every 4-6 minutes, but sadly not hard and they never got any closer together, so Andy and I went to bed for the night. Once I was laying down and relaxed, they seemed to stop and my night didn't go any differently than any other I had had in the past two months.

Our induction was scheduled for 7am the next morning, so we go up fairly early and headed into the hospital. Once I was up and active again, my contractions started back up about every 20 minutes. We got to the hospital, got checked in and were assigned a nurse and room. Let me tell you how lucky we were with the nurse we got to spend our day with! Her name was Tia and she was wonderful! First thing, she got my IV going (this was one of the things I was the most scared of, but I didn't feel a thing, she was great), then tested the foley tube to see if I was dilated enough for it to come out and as soon as she tugged, it popped right out. So I was at least a 3, woo-hoo! By this point it was probably around 8. She started pitocin in my IV to try to get my contractions going regularly.

Around 8:45, Tia came back in and said, 'Look who I found' and in trailed Dr. Chasan. She said she would check me and if I was far enough along, she would break my water. She checked me and I was a 4 and 75% effaced. Before I knew it, gush. Such a strange sensation. Within 10 minutes my contractions were coming regularly at only about 3-5 minutes apart. Tia was able to stop the pitocin and said she never had it above a 1 (not sure what the measurements meant exactly, but she made us believe this was the lowest setting).

My handsome little guy was born at 1:43 that afternoon. At one point, Tia said to me, 'I can deliver babies, but I would prefer if the doctor got here instead, so can you try little pushes for me instead?' It wasn't funny to me at the time, but I laugh now.

Few things of note:

• I quickly stripped down. I hated having anything on me, but apologized to any new person to walk in about how naked I was.
• I had my bra on until I decided to get in the tub. At this point, the nurse had to wind it around the IV stand and it ended up hanging from the IV stand for the rest of the birth. After, Andy commented on the irony of how these things normally start with pieces of clothing strung carelessly, but rarely do they end the same way.
• I did get in the tub for about an hour. During this time, the contractions seemed harder to deal with, but I was able to relax so much better in between.
• I felt that I dealt with the contractions the best standing up, but that left no way for relaxing between, so that idea was quickly discarded.
• The majority of my labor was spent on my side in bed.
• Andy and Candace quickly learned not to touch me during a contraction, but I needed one of them to focus on and breathe while I gripped the bed rail.
• They also learned that I hated them smiling at me when I had a contraction as well.
• Once the nurse told me I could start pushing, it was the best thing in the world. I started laughing in between contractions and felt wonderful.
• The doctor had to hurry to make it to the delivery room in time.
• I tore a little and had to have a couple stitches.
• My butt felt bruised for two days after.
• My little man is the best thing in the world.
• Andy says that he doesn't remember a time where I was more polite and mannered. I was saying please, thank you and sorry throughout my labor.
• I never once cursed at my husband.
• I did curse a couple times though.
• I sprayed blood on Dr. Chasan's face when I delivered the placenta. I felt sooo bad. Luckily she had goggles on that caught the majority of it, but some still got on her face and in her hair. =(
• Owen peed all over the nurse when she was wiping him down. Then he proceeded to pee all over himself.
• Everyone says how much he looks like his daddy. In fact, one of the nurses turned to him and said, 'Paternity test is in and if you didn't know, you're the father.'

I may add things to this if I think of more, but for now this is what I could document. I will try to get more pictures posted tomorrow.