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Haley's birth story Haley was a VBAC - vaginal birth after c-section. . Here's my story ~ it may be long, but the real thing was even longer! I never heard of prodromal labor until it happened to a friend of mine a few weeks before Haley was born. This is where the contractions are real - early labor has started but for some reason, it just won't progress to active labor. For me, this stage lasted 5 miserable days. On Friday, my contractions were 10 to 20 minutes apart all day. Saturday and Sunday they were was 5 to 15 minutes all day. Monday they were 5 to 10 minutes all day and quite painful. I actually went to the hospital thinking it might be real labor. I was very disappointed to find I was 60% effaced but not yet dilated. Tuesday was miserable ~ 4 to 8 minutes all day. I tried everything I could to get things going - walking, rocking on hands and knees, pelvic tilts . . .
Wednesday morning, I went to my scheduled
midwife appointment at 10:15 and found out I was 4-5 cm dilated and 100%
effaced. The MW told us to just go straight to the hospital and the MW
on call (Jackie) would meet us there.
By the time Jackie got to check me, about
12:00, I was 5 or 6 cm. I can't recall all the details. My
friend who is a doula (Robin) met us there. My sister (Sarah) also had
to meet us there because we had Quincy with us. And she brought a
few things that we had left at home. We knew it would take a while so
Jamie, Sarah and Quincy went out for lunch and to a park for a while.
I took a shower and soaked in the tub a few times. Robin stayed
with me to remind me to breathe slow and deep. Jamie came back at
some point.
Robin and Jamie walked with me through the halls and I felt fine (but tired) between contractions and I leaned against the shelves by patient rooms during contractions and did my best to breathe deep and moan instead of scream.
The contractions were getting stronger
and Jackie checked again and I was 7-8 cm. She said if
she broke the water, it could speed things up. I had told her before
that I didn't want her to do that until 8 cm so between 7 and 8 was fine.
It did speed things up and about an hour later I got to 8 cm.
I was so tired though. All I could
think of was sleep. My body and mind were both wearing down. The
contractions were slowing down and getting weak.
Jackie decided I should have a glucose IV
to give my body some much needed energy. I was too nauseous to eat
so I agreed. That did help a little with the frequency of the
contractions but they were still too weak to do anything. I took another shower which felt good and helped ease the pain during
contractions a little. But the pain was still very intense.
A nurse had asked earlier if I would mind
having a student stand in just to observe. I didn't care. It
turned out to be 2 nursing students and one was actually the husband of a
friend and is a massage therapist!! My lucky day!! I had tired of
the bed and the walking and the shower so we decided to try the ball.
Jamie was in front of me to support me (mentally and physically) during
contractions. The massage therapist worked on my back. That was
really awesome!!
A couple hours after having my water
broken, I was still at 8 cm.
What I really needed was to just rest. But the pain was still so intense
that rest was not happening. Jackie said she had 2 options for me to
consider. She respected my wishes to avoid any unnecessary medications
but she offered pitocin which could increase the intensity of the contractions
or an epidural which could let me rest long enough to get things going.
I certainly didn't want to go with more intense contractions right as my first
choice because the pain was already intense.
So I got the epidural. I suddenly felt so good and relaxed. Of course then the contractions slowed down so we went ahead with a low dose of pitocin. My blood pressure dropped so Jackie stopped the pitocin and I got a shot of epinephrine and then waited for my blood pressure to stay up for a while. Then she started the pitocin again. That was enough to get things going. I rested for a couple hours while the pitocin did the work for me and I felt nothing but the warmth of amniotic fluid draining out every now and then.
Robin was kind enough to explain to me
what was going to happen next - how the epidural was going to wear off
soon, the urge to push, the "ring of fire" pain as the head
came out, etc. I'm so glad she told me because I did not know that the
epidural was only for a couple hours of pain relief!
After a while, I started feeling pain and
pressure in my sacrum. The baby was headed down and the epidural
was wearing off. Jackie said we would wait another half hour to let the
pitocin bring the baby down further but I couldn't resist the urge to push a
little with each contraction. When she came back and said it was time to
start pushing, the nurse asked if I wasted a mirror. I can't
believe I forgot to ask for one! Of course I wanted to see!!
Pushing was the hard part.
(duh) I had wanted to try hands and knees or squatting but since I was
too weak to even stand up by myself, that was not happening. So I was on
my back with my legs up ~ Robin had my left leg and Jamie had the right leg
up for each contraction while I curled up to push and scream and
pant (then hear them remind me to breathe slowly and moan instead of scream). Jackie
kept saying she could see the head but all I could see was a small bit of
head. I knew that was nothing compared to what was to come. The
worst part was between contractions the head would go back in a little which
meant I would have to push even more. Finally her head was
there. Jackie kept rubbing lubricant around the head to minimize
tearing. I thought that head would never come out. It took
several pushes to get it out . Then the huge sumo wrestler looking
purple cheeks popped out. OMG!! That head was so huge!
I have watched deliveries in TV and seen photos on books but there's
nothing like seeing a giant head sticking out between your own legs!!
I was ready to stop because she looked like a monster coming out of me and I wanted her to just go back in. But of course the rest of her body had to come out. I pushed and got one shoulder out. The other one didn't want to come. I think it took 3 or 4 contractions of pushing with Jacking telling me to push harder and me yelling I can't and her telling me to stop the short the high pitched noises and push her out!! Finally little (LOL) Haley spun in a full circle and got her other shoulder out. One more push and she was completely out and placed on my chest. That was so nice.
I had asked to delay cutting the
cord. And I wanted to cut it myself. Jackie waited about 8 minutes
and the placenta was breaking loose so she clamped the cord and I cut it. Then
I sat up a little to push the placenta out. It was so big it didn't even
fit in the bowl. A little while later they wiped Haley off a little right there in the room with
me, then took her measurements . . . 11 pounds, 0.2 ounces, 23 inches long, 14" head
circumference.
Jackie had to give me a 3 stitches. I can't believe I only had a tiny little tear! Good thing Jackie doesn't do episiotomies!!
Thursday afternoon, Sarah brought Quincy
to meet his baby sister. He was in love right away. He wanted to
hold her and hug her and kiss her. And when her hat fell off, he put it
right back on her (with a little help). He has been so sweet to her.
Haley is a perfect little angel. It
took a few times for me to get her latched on deep enough but she is a super
nurser. The nurses were all really great about checking her position to
make sure she was doing it right. Since she was over 9 pounds, they had
to monitor her blood sugar for 24 hours but it stayed high. Since she
was born at night, ewe had to wait until the nest day for discharge, so we
came home 36 hours after her birth.
Click
to see Haley's huge placenta |
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