Birth story

I'd been having contractions for weeks... but not enough to get me in the hospital.

I had an appointment scheduled to see the doctor and talk about inducing on August 17^th… but I didn’t have to go. Finally! Four days after my due date at 7:50am... my water broke! I was so excited I was laughing... and every time I laughed my water would gush... and I'd laugh harder :) I had to sit on a towel to get to the hospital but we made it!

There were a lot of babies being born that day so we had to stay in triage for a little while. (That is the top picture.) They checked me and I wasn’t very far along but they weren’t going to send me home since my water had broken! YAY! To me, that was a victory! I didn't mind sitting there on the monitors - my baby was on her way!

When it was time to get me into a room it was 10:30 a.m. and the only one available was a Jacuzzi room! Exactly what I was hoping for! My nurse was Terry – she was at the beginning of her shift and she was wonderful. (My favorite thing was that she didn’t make me get my blood pressure taken EVERY hour! That cuff hurt – too tight!)

Through the day my contractions were progressing slowly - not getting much closer together but definitely more intense! Bobby made me laugh through some contractions and those ones hurt the worst!

Around 5:30 p.m. they started me on pitocin. Even though I’d been walking the halls my labor wasn’t progressing much and the contractions were slowing a little. As soon as they started it my contractions definitely started back up again! Into the evening they would increase the amount I was getting and the contractions would get harder and closer! I tried sitting on the birthing ball – it really did help.

After a little while on the ball and a few times losing Eliana’s heartbeat because the monitor would move on my belly or she would move away… her heart rate dropped into the low 60s. Four nurses came running into my room to find out why. When they stood me up and moved the monitor and then settled me back into bed her heart rate came back up. (Thank you nurses!)

After that episode I had to stay in bed for a little while. At 9:30 p.m. the doctor came in to check me… I had progressed a little but not as far as they had hoped. I had to have an internal monitor placed to watch my contractions. It took two people multiple tries to get it placed – they had to get it between her head and my cervix. That was more painful than all the contractions up to that point!

Terry reminded me that I hadn’t tried the Jacuzzi yet so that was next. It was nice but I was very thankful that Geoff and Terry were there to help me in – I remember that I had a contraction with one foot in and one foot out of the tub! It was nice to be in there relaxing… my shoulders hurt later because I had my elbows up out of the water and every contraction I’d tense my arm muscles and pick myself up a little. While in the tub we were talking about other options and I decided to try Stadol.

It was close to or past midnight by now and Terry had finished her shift… Heather came next, I didn’t care for her. She sure wasn’t helpful with getting out of the tub and back into bed!

Once Geoff got me back into bed, I stayed put until I was headed to recovery!

Stadol was very helpful for me – I got to SLEEP! I remember that they checked me after my first dose and I was still only 5-6 cm dilated… I decided to get another dose and I got to sleep again!

After that – my memory is a bit blurry. I remember that the need to push started coming but I wasn’t progressed enough to push. OW! They had me get up on my hands and knees and lay on a bean bag chair – that was the most comfort that I had until they told me I could push! (Which didn’t happen for a while.) At some point they put the internal monitor in for her heartbeat, I think it was before I got the Stadol, but that didn’t hurt so I don’t really remember.

I pushed for four hours!

Two and a half hours in Dr. Walsh had to leave and Dr. Deenadayalu came in. I was so excited and was finding very odd things highly amusing! When he walked through the door he said “So, this is why you missed your appointment Tuesday!” … My reply? A very happy “My water broke!” I must have had a contraction because I don’t remember what happened between him walking in the door and when he sat down to check my progress.

As he checked me, Tina (the new nurse – loved her!) gave him the run down of my labor. As soon as he heard “no epidural” I felt like I was on a movie set! “She didn’t have an epidural? I need a local!” He then snapped his hand up waiting… I got a little relief from the stretching pain at that point!

Compared to the last 24 hours the last hour went really fast for me! I completely missed that Dr. D left the room to go deliver another baby!

My mom held my head while Geoff and Tina held my feet and knees. Every contraction I pushed at least two times… I had to keep my face and neck relaxed and concentrate my pushing to the area Dr D was pushing on. If she was going to come out I needed to focus! Tina had me lean to my left and to my right to find the position that would get her out the best… finally tipped to my right side we were making progress!

I dosed between some of my contractions, I’d been laboring all night! Finally after hours of pushing she turned and started coming out. Pushing with all my might was hard… but in the end they handed me my baby!!! J