This is the story of the day (or, in my case, days) my little man came into this world.

It is a story of things not going to plan.

It is not a pretty story. And, it is a LONG story.

So, I’ll understand if you just want to jump to the end to see pictures and read the synopsis of how things went.

After 36 (or so) hours of labor and one dose of antibiotics I sat in the hospital and cried when I heard my midwife say that I was only dilated to 5.5 cm. Everything so far had been to plan. I labored most of my early stage of labor at home, I had no pain medication, I wore my own clothes and I even felt like I looked pretty. But, I was also extremely tired. My hand was sore from the IV used for antibiotics. My son’s heartbeat was hard to find so I was restricted to the bed several times throughout this process. I hated lying down during contractions… it was so painful! But, it was one of the only positions that they could keep a monitor on me to hear my son’s heart rate.
Five and a half cm was disappointing to say the least.

My midwife told me that I could choose to go home to continue labor (as I stipulated I wanted to do in my birth plan) or I could consider a therapeutic rest. I had stipulated that I didn’t want to be offered drugs unless it was deemed necessary. My midwife and nurses had been great with following my wishes, so I was surprised when she talked to me about the therapeutic rest. She felt that my body could not actually handle laboring much longer without rest and she was concerned about my son’s low heart rate. She said that I might consider a small dose of morphine and a antihistamine to help me rest. Otherwise I was still allowed to try to continue laboring at home and that maybe being in my familiar surroundings may help me rest enough to make some real progress.

After laboring for 30 + hours at home and not being able to sleep I knew that there was no way I’d be able to sleep at home. I didn’t want to have them take out my IV just so I could get it put back in later. I was extremely tired. I was scared about my son’s low heart rate. So, I went ahead and got the morphine and antihistamine. The dosage was low enough that I still felt the contractions, but they were much less painful. When the antihistamine kicked in and coupled up with my extreme exhaustion I was actually able to fall asleep in between contractions. I was also able to lay on my side and not be as uncomfortable as I had previously been. It was exactly what my body needed. In those four hours I was able to rest and I dilated from a 5 to an 8.

That is when things got GROSS.

 

I knew things were finally happening when my contractions went from being painful to being gross and painful. I threw up and my nurse jumped for joy. I started heavy bleeding and she gave me a high-five. I screamed a guttural scream and my midwife and a team of nurses came running in swearing to me that it must be time.

Prior to this I had been laboring in the rocking chair, leaning against my husband, laying in the bed, and squatting. After I hit 8 cm I started laboring on the birthing ball, my hands and knees, on the toilet (sounds gross, but totally useful spot), and in the shower. The shower was AMAZING. When my back hurt my husband could put the water on my back. When it was my stomach that is where the water would go. I refused to leave the shower at one point when my contractions were super close together.

After many hours of laboring my midwife checked me again and I was only dilated to 9 cm. One cm in HOURS of very hard labor. At this point my water still hadn’t broken. I had stipulated in my birth plan that I didn’t want my water broken. But, at this point I was so tired that I just wanted everything to be over. So, when my midwife said that normally at this time they would suggest breaking the water. I said, “Do it.” She did it… but, there was no gush. There was hardly any water coming out at all. My son’s head was so far down that breaking the water didn’t really help things. It did however make labor ten times more painful. This is when I started shaking. But, I kept with it. After another hour my midwife checked me and found that I had actually swollen shut some and was now a 7.

If ever in my life I feel disappointment I hope that I remember what that moment felt like and realize that things could be worse. This was a bad moment.After countless hours of labor, my midwife ordered an epidural. She said I didn’t have a choice because my son’s heart rate was slower than they’d like and because my body was going to physically give out soon. She said I would end up having a C-section if I didn’t have the baby soon. And, I rejoiced. Waiting for the epidural was the longest wait I’ve ever had. I kept saying, “where is it?” My contractions were happening every minute and lasting for a minute.The anesthesiologist arrived saying, “I heard you were trying to do this without me.”

Synopsis:

After 30 or so hours of labor I had a therapeutic rest that included a small dose of morphine and an antihistamine. It relaxed my body enough to let me sleep and let my labor progress. Then, after many more hours of labor, I finally reached 9 cm. My water water was broken by my midwife with hopes of making things go faster. It didn’t work. So, two days after going into labor my midwife decided I had to have an epidural or I would risk my body not being able to handle the delivery.

**While my hopes were for a completely natural delivery I was not disappointed in myself because I felt that I did what I could. I believe that child birth is an extremely natural event… but, I also know that before some of our medical discoveries have come about child birth also had more risk of death and infant death. I believe that these medical advances are often overused, but if used correctly they can save lives. I was in pain. But, I could handle the pain. It was the exhaustion that did me in. I could feel my body giving up, the contractions were not actually progressing my labor, and my son’s heart rate was getting slower the longer I was in labor. So, I’m not in anyway disappointed with not being able to have a drug-free delivery. **

The story continues…

Check out the final part of X’s Birth Story: Pushing Through and Meeting My Little Man

 

1. Avoid C-Section (if possible)

2. No pain medication—I wanted to give birth to my little guy as naturally as possible

3. No Induction—I would be pregnant as long as needed to have him come on his own time

I, of course, knew that things didn’t always go as planned in delivery rooms, but I had my plan nonetheless. I kept reading wonderful birth stories where things go just as planned and I hoped my story would have that same happy ending. I prepared a detailed, clear, and concise birth plan and did my homework on pain management.

But, just to warn you in case your avoiding these types of stories— things didn’t go as planned.

Part One: Laboring the Day Away

I’ve split my birth story into three parts. These are long posts…if you aren’t into reading them all then jump to the end for pictures and quick synopsis! Part one is all about early labor!
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X was due mid-August. I had hopes that he would come a little early because my mom was flying in from Oklahoma and I really wanted her to have as much time with her grandson as possible.

Brian and I had been taking walks every night for the last part of my pregnancy. I started having regular contractions (not too painful) on our evening walk about a week before X was due. They were about 8-10 minutes apart and painful enough that I had to stop walking during them. But, certainly not painful enough for me to think that it was time yet. I had one scare a few weeks earlier with really painful contractions, so these seemed fairly easy to me.

I was told that if I tried relaxing in the tub and the contractions ended then it wasn’t “time.” So, I gave it a shot. And, after a long relaxing bath the contractions slowed to around 15 minutes apart, but they still continued. They continued all night long at regular intervals, but they never got closer than 8 minutes apart. They weren’t too terrible, but they did keep me from sleeping all night. I labored most of the evening in the bath, in the nursery, and the living room so that my husband could sleep. We didn’t want him missing work if he didn’t need to and things seemed to be going pretty slow on my end. Brian went to work on the 8th and my contractions were about 15-20 minutes apart and extremely tolerable, though I’d been having them for two days already! I was thankfully able to get in a few naps.

The next day I went about my day as regularly as possible. I made Spaghetti with Meatballs and had a few friends stop by for lunch. I saved some for the freezer. I cleaned house. I finished sewing together my “hospital gown.” I went to our pool with another friend. All the while I was having a contraction every 20 minutes. They were still regular when my husband got home around six p.m. We ate dinner and went for our nightly walk. Around mile two of our three mile walk my contractions jumped from 20 minutes apart to 8 minutes apart and much more painful. It was a long walk home.

The contractions slowly continued to come closer together. But, they still weren’t at the 5 minutes apart lasting a minute for one hour stage. So, that evening around 10 we tried going to bed. I couldn’t lay down. The contractions were WAY too intense when lying down and they were happening about every 7 minutes. So, I let my husband (try) to sleep and I went into the other room. I bounced on my birthing ball, folded laundry and read Harry Potter. Around 2 a.m. my contractions were around 5 minutes apart and painful enough that I began to think I needed to go to the hospital. I woke up Brian and we ate breakfast, showered, and called the hospital to tell them what was going on.

At four a.m. we entered the hospital and my contractions were at 4 minutes apart. At this point in time I had been laboring for approximately 32 hours. I hadn’t slept more than 4 hours during this time. I was exhausted, but also excited because it was finally TIME. Well, that was until the nurse checked me and told me that I was only dilated to 4 CM.  They admitted me because I was GBS positive and was needing to have two doses of antibiotics before birth. But, my midwife warned me that after the first dose of antibiotics they wanted to see see a pretty big change for my cervix or I might be needing to head home to continue the early stage of labor. (She said this because I had written in my birth plan that I would rather labor at home than the hospital if I didn’t need to be there.)

Synopsis: After 32 (or so) hours of labor I was admitted into the hospital with a dilation of 4 CM. My water had not broken. I was being hooked up with antibiotics to protect my baby from Group B Strep. But, my midwife warned me that they were looking for a big change in my cervix within the next four hours or they’d send me home to continue early labor. ( I had put that I preferred this to augmentation in my birth plan and knew that hospital stays tend to slow the labor process.)

The Story Continues:

 

Part Two: Tired & Gross, I Love Him the Most

Part Three: Pushing Through and Meeting My Little Man