Back in January on Audrey's 1st birthday, I said I would post her birth story soon. Well, "soon" turned into 8 months later!
Because today is Audrey's 20 month birthday, I thought today would be a fitting day to post it. I wrote this right after I had her so all the details were pretty fresh then. So, here it is...with tons of TMI so if you do not care to read about details of a natural, unmedicatd birth, then just click that little "x" at the top of your screen now! Don't say I didn't warn you about all of the TMI!
Thursday, January 24th, I was at school that day and taught a math lesson to a second grade class. I had 1 week left of work. That day, I felt like something might be going on because I felt a little nauseated and lightheaded a couple of times during the school day. So, I had the school "nurse" check my blood pressure and it was fine. Then that afternoon, I went to the chiropractor as usual and Evan and I ran a couple of errands together...we toured this rec center to consider joining it. We had Subway for dinner because I was not really up for cooking and Evan didn't want me to cook feeling the way I did. That night we were in the basement watching TV ( I think we were watching The Apprentice actually) and I couldn't get comfy on the couch and I was tired. So, around 9:30 I decided to go to bed. Evan came to bed not long after that. I woke up around midnight for my usual bathroom break and went back to bed. Then at 3:34 am I got up again to use the bathroom, frustrated that I had not gone into labor and thinking I was going to have to go work that day.
After I finished using the restroom and while I was still sitting down, I felt and heard a pop that sounded like a joint popping. I thought maybe it was my hip and then I thought again! I got up and noticed a trickle down my leg but wasn't sure it wasn't just urine. So, I wiped and waited and noticed a warm, wet sensation and wiped and waited and still noticed the warm wet sensation again. So, I finally walked out of the bathroom and woke Evan and told him that I thought my water had broken. He was a little disoriented at first and said "Okay!" He then got up and we started trying to gather our thoughts and decide whom to call first. So, I tried calling my doula, Corinne, and there was no answer so I called the answering service and they paged the midwife on call- Wendy. Wendy called back around 4:00 and Evan told her about my water maybe breaking. I talked to her and told her what I felt and she said "Yep, sounds like your water broke, you are going to have a baby today!" She said Margie, another midwife, would be on call for Friday. So, I called my doula, Corinne again, and talked to her and told her the news and that we would call her later when we got to the hospital. Wendy said we could take our time getting there. So, we didn't leave till around 5:00/5:15.
When we go to the hospital, they checked me in and got the antibiotics set up for the GBS...that IV really hurt going in...the first time she tried it, my vein collapsed. Blah! So, I had changed into the gown there because as much amniotic fluid as I had coming out, I was going through pads like nobody's business! Around 7 or so we called Corinne again, and told her to come up because I was having surges by then. I had a little cramping that had begun at home and I was feeling more cramping when we called her. So, when she got there, I was laying in bed on my side listening to Marie Mongan's Hypnobirthing cd on my iPod. Corinne came over and put a nice warm rice sock around my belly. Not long after that, I decided to get out of the bed and into the soaking tub. So, I put on my bikini and Corinne and Evan followed me in to the bathroom. I had a blanket and pillow by the tub too. Margie came in and she covered the light in the bathroom with my gown to give dim lighting and suggested I lay on my side. So with the pillow in the tub with me, I labored that way for a while doing all the breathing I had practiced. I also got on my knees and rocked my hips, which also helped. The whole time I visualized my uterus being made of blue ribbons that kept unwrapping (it was a visual from Hypnobirthing) and of course I kept picturing a rose. I also leaned back in the tub and labored that way. While I was doing that, Evan and Corinne massaged my back, and Evan did some light touch massage, and they both used counter pressure on my hips and back when I felt any back or hip labor. I also felt like I was going to throw up a few times so Corinne was always available with that little plastic dish but I never did get sick.
After about 1-2 hours in the tub, I wanted to move back to the bed. This was around 10:00 a.m. I laid on my side in the bed but then I felt the need to go to the bathroom. So, I sat on the toilet and heard something hit the bottom, when I looked I saw a lot of blood. At that point Margie walked back in and I showed her the blood and she said, "Looks great! Now, I don’t want you on the toilet anymore." :-) That was when I most likely lost my mucus plug. It freaked me out though because I didn't know what had fallen out! So, I moved back to the bed. She checked me and I was 9 cm and 100% effaced but the baby was still at -1 and I had some cervical lip left. So, she wanted me up leaning against the back of the bed to get the baby to move down. I labored that way a couple of times actually and Margie took 2 pics of Evan rubbing my back when I was in that position. So, then I laid on my side for a while and then ended up on my back because that seemed like the most comfortable. I soon realized that every time I changed positions, my surges came on stronger so I stopped wanting to change positions. :-) Oh, I forgot to add that while I was in the tub, the natural expulsion reflex started in my uterus. So, while I was on the bed, my uterus was doing expulsion surges and Margie told me not to push but I couldn't help it. I couldn't do anything to stop it. When I was in the tub, my surges had gotten really close but once on the bed, they started to spread out and I sort of stopped having those cramps and now it was just the uterus doing what it was supposed to do.
So, I was laying down and I knew that wasn't the best way for the baby gravity-wise. Corinne mentioned that maybe I could try squatting but Margie says that I could use the bars but I would have to hold myself up. I didn't want to do that-I was so tired! So, I stayed on my back but that meant I had to hold my legs back under my knees and pull them back to help the baby through. Evan was also holding one of my legs up and Corinne had the other. They were both so wonderful...they were both telling me how wonderful I was doing and how I was listening to my body and to relax and breathe. I had to have oxygen on though during the surges and I didn't like that-that mask was so annoying! But sometimes I would feel like I couldn't catch my breath.
Then Margie started telling me to push with my surges. The surges weren't very close together and I had breaks that were long enough that I actually dozed for a second or two between them. When the expulsion reflex would hit, I would make very gutteral sounds and just trusted my body to do its thing. So, when Margie started telling me to push-that kind of went away from Hypnobirthing but the baby was crowning and I could see her head in the mirror and I wanted her to keep moving out. Plus, they were getting me worried by talking about her heart rate going up and down which of course is so normal during birth but I got a little worried anyway and started pushing with the surges, which is not what I wanted to do. I was even told to push when there weren't surges which was even harder to do. At one point Margie asks Evan if he wants to touch the head and he does and then she asks me if I wanted to but I couldn't right then...I had no energy. But a few minutes later I reached down and felt her head, which was awesome! I kept watching the whole thing in the mirror and I got a little frustrated when I would see her head come down and then go back in. But I knew that was how labor worked. One step forward, two steps back. At one point, I thought about telling them to take the mirror away but I didn't.
So, about the last ten minutes of labor, I said twice "I can't do this anymore" which many a natural childbirthers know is the classic sign that the baby is about to be there. So, as Margie kept telling me to push through, I kept thinking that would be the push to get her out. When I actually did push her out, I didn't believe it because it was so fast! I thought I still needed to push the shoulders out. But Evan said Margie helped pull the rest of her out. (I should add that Margie kept playing with the baby's hair while she was crowning...she was twirling the hair around-ha! The baby was crowned for a little while and Corinne couldn't imagine how I could bare to keep her head in that position but I tend to do things the hard way!) Then they rubbed her a little and put her on my chest...I was in shock! I couldn't believe she was here! I didn't think that last push had done it. I had also closed my eyes during that push so I didn't see her slip out. It was so awesome feeling her little warm leg and I even felt the umbilical cord, which felt just like I imagined. So, while I was holding her, Margie had to sew me up. I had a first-degree perineal tear because Audrey came out with her hand on her face which is called a "nuchal arm". That added to the circumference of her head and had she not had her hand on her face, I probably wouldn't have torn. The needle for the anesthetic and the sewing hurt so Corinne helped me breathe through that as well. I did get that precious one-hour window to breastfeed Audrey before they gave her the Vitamin K shot. Then the nurse wanted to catheterize me because she didn't think I had urinated enough. So, Corinne was helping me breathe through that and that was really hurting so the nurse stopped and was going to try again but then she said I had peed enough. Thank goodness!! So, I went to my postpartum room after that and recuperated. That's my birth story...I know it was long. Thanks for reading all the way to the end! :-)
Here are a couple of photos-
Evan being the supportive birth partner...rubbing my back when I had to lean up against the back of the bed to get Audrey to move down and to get rid of the rest of the cervical lip-
Afterwards, holding our beautiful baby girl-
Just born! Laying on her mommy's chest-
