On Thursday May 29, 2014 I had my 40 week checkup with my
midwife. My cervix looked good and was 3-4cm dilated and was about 75%
effaced. I was so excited. I had discussed with the midwife the week
before stripping my membranes at this appointment to try and get things
moving on their own. I really didn’t want an invasive labor and
delivery. She stripped my membranes and then went to look at my chart.
My bp was high for me 143/94 and I had a lot of protein in my urine. My
midwife looked at me and said, we have to induce you tonight.
I was scared. Before labor even started I knew that my labor with Bear wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to. But at the same time I was optimistic. I kept telling myself that as long as the boy is healthy in the end than I’d be happy. I went into to work and told only my direct boss that I was going to finish up a couple things for him and then head home. I needed time to try and get my labor going. I was home by 12:30 and headed out on a hike with the dogs and my MIL.
Around 2:00 the hospital called me to say that my induction would start at 2am. Once back home from my hike I started using my breast pump, anything I could do to get contractions going I was going to try. I used it once an hour for 15 minutes at a time all afternoon long.
I sent a text to my doula, Abby, and let her know what was going on. She told me to continue on with what I was doing and to make sure my H and I had sex when he got home and to let her know when we were settled into the hospital. By 6:00 I knew I needed to bring my dogs over to my IL’s so that they could watch them while we were in the hospital. I was so sad saying goodbye. I felt sad for how their lives were going to change, coming home to a house with a baby that would take up soo much of my time. But I dropped them off and went home to rest.
H finally got home from work at about 8:30 that night. We ate some dinner, spicy creamy taco mac. We crawled in bed, did the deed, and I went to sleep. 1:00am came too quickly. I couldn’t believe I had actually fallen asleep, but I did. I ate a bowl of cereal since I knew it could be a while before I ate again, and we got ready to head out the door.
We arrived at labor and delivery at 2:05 am. They got me set up in a room, hooked up and IV and monitors, and started the pitocin. It was about 3:30 by the time all of this was done. I sent Abby a text to let her know what was going on, she was just getting out of the shower and was going to head to the hospital. She arrived at about 5:30. they started the pitocin at 2 ml and were increasing it very slowly for me, but by 6:00 the pitocin had been upped to 8 ml. I sat on the birth ball for several hours and rolled around.
At 8:30 my midwife arrived and I was measuring 3cm. she also told me my bp was totally normal and I didn’t have any protein in my urine. I was so mad, but what could I do? My midwife said maybe they checked the wrong urine….but the induction was underway and I couldn’t change that. She broke my water in the hopes that it would get things moving and they continued to up the pitocin.
I had requested to be able to walk around. The nurse rolled her eyes at me but I continued to ask and they finally brought me a monitor that would hang off my iv/pitocin stand so that I could move. I walked and walked and walked…but my area of range with the monitor was limited so I walked the same area over and over again. This is where things get a little fuzzy. While I was walking the monitor kept falling off my belly so they had a hard time watching the baby’s heart rate, so they asked me to lay in bed for a little while. Once in bed the contractions felt stronger. They continued to up the pitocin and I really had to concentrate through them. We listened to music for a while, Ben and Abby gave me a foot rub with some massage oils and I just took it one contraction a time.
Once the pitocin was turned up to 18ml the contractions were coming about a minute apart and were strong. I labored like this for about 3 hours. I stood and rocked through the contractions, labored in bed for a while, and also labored on the toilet for about an hour and a half. I asked repeatedly to be able to get in the shower but they wouldn’t allow it since I was getting pitocin and needed to have the IV in.
For some reason decided that I needed to get back into bed. This is where the contractions became completely unbearable. I’m not sure if it was my position but I just couldn’t take the pain and consistency of the contractions any more. I decided I wanted the epidural. They checked me before they would order it and I was dilated to 8 cm. We requested that they turn down the pitocin so I could continue to labor without the epidural but they wouldn’t do it. I had handled the contractions with the pitocin at 16ml really well and we thought that might help and I could avoid the epidural.
So it was about 6:00 that I got the epidural. Abby stayed in the room with me and Ben took a walk for this part. He was really struggling to see me in so much pain. Having a doula there turned out to be an amazing thing.
The epidural felt awesome. About an hour after getting it my midwife came in with the nurse to inform me that the baby’s heart rate had dropped really low. She checked me and found that there was still more water that needed to come out so she moved the baby a bit and I felt another gush. While she was doing that she rubbed the baby’s head and his heart rate went back up to normal. She said, oh this baby likes head tickles…which was hilarious because my husband asks me every night for a head tickle. I was like, oh hell no I’m not going to have 2 people asking for head rubs every night haha! They decided to give me more fluids to see if that helped things and it did. From this point until the actual birth I was given about 5 bags of fluids.
I rested and snuck some peanuts and m&m’s into my belly. I wasn’t checked again until about 8:30. I had progressed to 9cm but the baby wasn’t descending and there was still a lip on the right side of my cervix. They decided to just let me labor down.
At 11:00 my midwife came in to say she was leaving. She introduced me to the doctor that would take over, Kelly, and was on her way. Kelly let me know that she was going to be back in about 1.5 hours to check me and then we would discuss the next step. At this point I started feeling a lot of pressure. The epidural was wearing off and I was hopeful that the pressure meant Bear was coming soon. When Kelly came back at 12:30 I hadn’t progressed at all. Bear hadn’t moved down and I still had that lip on the right side of my cervix. She looked me in the eyes and told me that it was almost impossible I could give birth vaginally and that I would need a c-section. I insisted that I was strong and wanted a vaginal birth and said she would give me 1 more hour to labor and then we were going to have to have a serious discussion. We did a couple of practice pushes at this point to see if I could push Bear’s head past the lip. Unfortunately every time I pushed he’d move past the lip and then he’d regress. I was so frustrated, but knew I needed the time to see what my body could do. During this pushing Kelly also realized that Bear wasn’t positioned correctly to come out. He was turned on his side, and we really needed him face down. Kelly manually tried to turn him but wasn’t successful.
The nurse rolled me onto my side and I put my leg up in the stirrup and I stayed like that for an hour letting my body labor down. I was upset and crying because I didn’t want the c-section. I was quiet for a while and then Abby asked me to open my eyes and looked at her. She said, Andrea I just have this feeling that if you put your hand on your belly and talk to Bear we can get through this without the c-section. So the boy and I chatted. At this point the epidural had completely worn off and I was exhausted. I was getting the urge to push and I did because what could it hurt? If Kelly came back and I hadn’t progressed at all they were sending me in for the c-section. Ben was at the end of his rope. He wanted it all to be over and he was in agony watching me in pain, he thought we should seriously consider the c-section. He and Abby stayed by my side though. They talked me though each contraction and rubbed my legs and the pain away. I was really surprised through my labor how I was handling the contractions. I was quiet and very internal. I breathed through them and didn’t talk at all, there was a silence in the room that I honestly think made Ben even more nervous.
When Kelly came back Bear had moved down!! It was truly a miracle. She made me open my eyes and look at her and she explained that she was willing to let me try pushing because Bear was handling the contractions really well but that I could be pushing for several hours. I told her I had continued to do RIPPED and Zumba until 36 weeks pregnant and I knew I was strong enough to get him out. My eyes were closed so I didn’t see how she responded to my comment, but thinking back on it now she probably thought I was crazy:)
And so I pushed. And pushed. I had a contraction every minute for an hour and 45 minutes and finally my little boy entered the world at 5:25 am on May 31st 2014. I seriously thought at one point there was no way that Bear was coming out. But he did. Giving birth is the hardest and most gratifying thing I have ever done. I am beyond in love with Bear and seeing my husband become a father and fall in love with our son brings tears to my eyes. So if you read all of this you deserve a cookie or something….
I was scared. Before labor even started I knew that my labor with Bear wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to. But at the same time I was optimistic. I kept telling myself that as long as the boy is healthy in the end than I’d be happy. I went into to work and told only my direct boss that I was going to finish up a couple things for him and then head home. I needed time to try and get my labor going. I was home by 12:30 and headed out on a hike with the dogs and my MIL.
Around 2:00 the hospital called me to say that my induction would start at 2am. Once back home from my hike I started using my breast pump, anything I could do to get contractions going I was going to try. I used it once an hour for 15 minutes at a time all afternoon long.
I sent a text to my doula, Abby, and let her know what was going on. She told me to continue on with what I was doing and to make sure my H and I had sex when he got home and to let her know when we were settled into the hospital. By 6:00 I knew I needed to bring my dogs over to my IL’s so that they could watch them while we were in the hospital. I was so sad saying goodbye. I felt sad for how their lives were going to change, coming home to a house with a baby that would take up soo much of my time. But I dropped them off and went home to rest.
H finally got home from work at about 8:30 that night. We ate some dinner, spicy creamy taco mac. We crawled in bed, did the deed, and I went to sleep. 1:00am came too quickly. I couldn’t believe I had actually fallen asleep, but I did. I ate a bowl of cereal since I knew it could be a while before I ate again, and we got ready to head out the door.
We arrived at labor and delivery at 2:05 am. They got me set up in a room, hooked up and IV and monitors, and started the pitocin. It was about 3:30 by the time all of this was done. I sent Abby a text to let her know what was going on, she was just getting out of the shower and was going to head to the hospital. She arrived at about 5:30. they started the pitocin at 2 ml and were increasing it very slowly for me, but by 6:00 the pitocin had been upped to 8 ml. I sat on the birth ball for several hours and rolled around.
At 8:30 my midwife arrived and I was measuring 3cm. she also told me my bp was totally normal and I didn’t have any protein in my urine. I was so mad, but what could I do? My midwife said maybe they checked the wrong urine….but the induction was underway and I couldn’t change that. She broke my water in the hopes that it would get things moving and they continued to up the pitocin.
I had requested to be able to walk around. The nurse rolled her eyes at me but I continued to ask and they finally brought me a monitor that would hang off my iv/pitocin stand so that I could move. I walked and walked and walked…but my area of range with the monitor was limited so I walked the same area over and over again. This is where things get a little fuzzy. While I was walking the monitor kept falling off my belly so they had a hard time watching the baby’s heart rate, so they asked me to lay in bed for a little while. Once in bed the contractions felt stronger. They continued to up the pitocin and I really had to concentrate through them. We listened to music for a while, Ben and Abby gave me a foot rub with some massage oils and I just took it one contraction a time.
Once the pitocin was turned up to 18ml the contractions were coming about a minute apart and were strong. I labored like this for about 3 hours. I stood and rocked through the contractions, labored in bed for a while, and also labored on the toilet for about an hour and a half. I asked repeatedly to be able to get in the shower but they wouldn’t allow it since I was getting pitocin and needed to have the IV in.
For some reason decided that I needed to get back into bed. This is where the contractions became completely unbearable. I’m not sure if it was my position but I just couldn’t take the pain and consistency of the contractions any more. I decided I wanted the epidural. They checked me before they would order it and I was dilated to 8 cm. We requested that they turn down the pitocin so I could continue to labor without the epidural but they wouldn’t do it. I had handled the contractions with the pitocin at 16ml really well and we thought that might help and I could avoid the epidural.
So it was about 6:00 that I got the epidural. Abby stayed in the room with me and Ben took a walk for this part. He was really struggling to see me in so much pain. Having a doula there turned out to be an amazing thing.
The epidural felt awesome. About an hour after getting it my midwife came in with the nurse to inform me that the baby’s heart rate had dropped really low. She checked me and found that there was still more water that needed to come out so she moved the baby a bit and I felt another gush. While she was doing that she rubbed the baby’s head and his heart rate went back up to normal. She said, oh this baby likes head tickles…which was hilarious because my husband asks me every night for a head tickle. I was like, oh hell no I’m not going to have 2 people asking for head rubs every night haha! They decided to give me more fluids to see if that helped things and it did. From this point until the actual birth I was given about 5 bags of fluids.
I rested and snuck some peanuts and m&m’s into my belly. I wasn’t checked again until about 8:30. I had progressed to 9cm but the baby wasn’t descending and there was still a lip on the right side of my cervix. They decided to just let me labor down.
At 11:00 my midwife came in to say she was leaving. She introduced me to the doctor that would take over, Kelly, and was on her way. Kelly let me know that she was going to be back in about 1.5 hours to check me and then we would discuss the next step. At this point I started feeling a lot of pressure. The epidural was wearing off and I was hopeful that the pressure meant Bear was coming soon. When Kelly came back at 12:30 I hadn’t progressed at all. Bear hadn’t moved down and I still had that lip on the right side of my cervix. She looked me in the eyes and told me that it was almost impossible I could give birth vaginally and that I would need a c-section. I insisted that I was strong and wanted a vaginal birth and said she would give me 1 more hour to labor and then we were going to have to have a serious discussion. We did a couple of practice pushes at this point to see if I could push Bear’s head past the lip. Unfortunately every time I pushed he’d move past the lip and then he’d regress. I was so frustrated, but knew I needed the time to see what my body could do. During this pushing Kelly also realized that Bear wasn’t positioned correctly to come out. He was turned on his side, and we really needed him face down. Kelly manually tried to turn him but wasn’t successful.
The nurse rolled me onto my side and I put my leg up in the stirrup and I stayed like that for an hour letting my body labor down. I was upset and crying because I didn’t want the c-section. I was quiet for a while and then Abby asked me to open my eyes and looked at her. She said, Andrea I just have this feeling that if you put your hand on your belly and talk to Bear we can get through this without the c-section. So the boy and I chatted. At this point the epidural had completely worn off and I was exhausted. I was getting the urge to push and I did because what could it hurt? If Kelly came back and I hadn’t progressed at all they were sending me in for the c-section. Ben was at the end of his rope. He wanted it all to be over and he was in agony watching me in pain, he thought we should seriously consider the c-section. He and Abby stayed by my side though. They talked me though each contraction and rubbed my legs and the pain away. I was really surprised through my labor how I was handling the contractions. I was quiet and very internal. I breathed through them and didn’t talk at all, there was a silence in the room that I honestly think made Ben even more nervous.
When Kelly came back Bear had moved down!! It was truly a miracle. She made me open my eyes and look at her and she explained that she was willing to let me try pushing because Bear was handling the contractions really well but that I could be pushing for several hours. I told her I had continued to do RIPPED and Zumba until 36 weeks pregnant and I knew I was strong enough to get him out. My eyes were closed so I didn’t see how she responded to my comment, but thinking back on it now she probably thought I was crazy:)
And so I pushed. And pushed. I had a contraction every minute for an hour and 45 minutes and finally my little boy entered the world at 5:25 am on May 31st 2014. I seriously thought at one point there was no way that Bear was coming out. But he did. Giving birth is the hardest and most gratifying thing I have ever done. I am beyond in love with Bear and seeing my husband become a father and fall in love with our son brings tears to my eyes. So if you read all of this you deserve a cookie or something….
That is an awesome birth story!! Congrats to you guys!! You are one strong momma!! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats again and so happy for you that you were able to avoid a c-section!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Glad your birth went well and I hope that you are adjusting well to motherhood!
ReplyDelete