Labor: expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory

Before I had Carter, I loved hearing/reading other Birth Stories. I wanted to know all I could, just to have some semblance of what it would be like. I read so many blogs, and I just figured I would share my Labor/Birth Story with Carter. I have had a hard time finding time, or feeling in the mood to write my own story. A few days after I had Carter I wrote down every detail. Pages upon pages. But the blog...it just hasn't felt "right". Today, for some reason, it does. Here it goes. Hopefully I can find the right balance of story, detail, and emotion.

Let me start by saying this: My labor experience was nothing how I expected it to be. nothing.

My due date was July 2nd. I hoped to go naturally...as in go into labor naturally, and birth naturally. If I didn't go naturally induction was scheduled for Monday, July 12th, in the evening--7:30pm. I would go in and take medication to soften my cervix and start pitocin in the morning. My Dr. said maybe the medicine would just jump start me into labor and I wouldn't need pitocin and I could go naturally the rest of the way...you know a little push. So that was the overdue, no baby yet plan.

 

[Me...one week over due]

The 12th was such a...normal? uneventful? day? Shawn and I went out to lunch at the Olive Garden, the waiter asked if we had any fun plans. I said, "Have a baby". He was incredulous. Couldn't believe we'd be going in to have a baby later that day. We went home and did final prep-finished packing bags, etc. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed I would have to be induced. I was. But I was already a week and a half overdue. Shawn gave me a blessing. It was such a beautiful blessing. It calmed my heart and soul.

Shawn had a final that night...so we went to Salt Lake early. I wandered campus while he took his test. I read a book in the library. I sat by the water fountain. I read words of encouragement. I called the hospital...still ok for 7:30 check in. Shawn finished early--we went to Jason's Deli for dinner...I had a baked potato of all things.

We got to the hospital. I got the room with the tub (not the view), in the hopes that I'd be able to use it. I got put on the medicine, and had to have constant monitoring (not what I wanted, but rules are rules). The nurse commented that I was really calm for someone about to have a baby. How else was I supposed to feel?

[Right after I got to the hospital & hooked up to the monitors]

Shawn and I were too excited to sleep. Contractions were starting--finally our baby would be here! We kept talking and joking and looking at the monitor. We read Harry Potter. Around 2am we decided we should probably get some sleep. I would need it. I slept for about 2-2/12 hours before a strong contraction woke me up. That was the end of sleep. Contractions were different than I expected. I mean, you can't really know what to expect...and they are really difficult to explain. And although I still don't like the word pain, because it is different than the normal definition of pain. It was an all encompassing painful phenomenon. I was having a hard time adjusting-and Shawn, my "Coach" was asleep. I tried waking him up...but I wasn't loud enough and I couldn't reach him. Around 5:30am a nurse came in and checked me. I was dilated to 3 cm, so I wouldn't need another dose of the medicine and then in a few hours when my Dr came in they could start pitocin. She asked how I was and I started crying. It was harder than I expected...and I didn't want pitocin...and Shawn was asleep. I felt so alone.

Shawn woke up and I felt better almost instantly. Just having him present gave me courage. The nurse came back in, said she read my birth plan, and that I didn't want pitocin. She said we could check with my Dr and break my water to try to help the labor progress naturally. That sounded good to me. My Dr came in around 8am and broke my water (weirdest sensation ever!) Because I was now in the "natural labor realm" my Dr said I could get off the monitors, go for a walk, have something light to eat, maybe get in the tub. I'd just have to have get checked by the monitors ever 30 minutes. Hooray!! This was the best I felt during labor. I had some crackers and Shawn and I walked around. My contractions were the easiest to handle at this point. A nurse went and got me a birth ball in case I wanted it. Things were starting to look up.

Thirty minutes later the baby's heart monitor gets put on (standard procedure). The nurse notices a "decel" in the baby's heart rate. She needs to see if it corresponds with my contractions. It does--his heart rate is dropping after I have a contraction. The monitors have to stay on and I have to lay on my left side to see if it helps. It's not great, but it's better than any other position we try. For the next few hours I can't do anything by lay on my left side, trying to breathe through the contractions...because everything else I practiced and planned on trying...I can't do.

Enter my nurse Kim. Up to this point I seriously had a different nurse almost every hour, but mid morning Kim got assigned to me...and hands down she was awesome. She helped me try different positions, but nothing helped the baby. It only made things worse. So I had to stay on my left side, as far off of my back as possible. They put me on oxygen. It helped the baby a little. After 2+ hours of being stuck on my left side I looked at Shawn with tears in my eyes and said, "I want an epidural." I gave him the code word to signal I meant it and he told the nurses. Then I had to wait for the anesthesiologist. The epidural took perfectly. I could still feel and even move my legs. Just felt pressure, but not really pain. Shawn said I completely changed-like I was a whole new person. I felt...relieved.

[Stuck on my left side, with oxygen]

At this point I was progressing quite well...about a centimeter an hour. Around 1pm I was 7cm and 100% effaced. And then around 1:30 my Dr came in. She was worried about the baby and the sporadic decels. I had stopped progressing and was starting to go backwards (I didn't know that was possible). My cervix was swelling from the contractions, but they weren't strong enough to dilate me any more. They would need to give me pitocin to help the labor, but she didn't think the baby could handle it. She thought a c-section would be necessary. She tested the baby...he barely passed. Because he passed, we could choose to get the pitocin and try for a vaginal delivery, but it would most likely end in an emergency c-section. We discussed everything we could think of with her. Shawn told her we would give her a decision in 10 minutes. It was 2pm.

We said a prayer. We decided we would watch the monitor for 10 minutes, and if the baby looked ok, we would try the pitocin in hopes of a vaginal delivery. Shawn noticed when I would breathe deeply, the baby would decel. We tried a different type of fast breathing. It was so hard for me Shawn would have to count and breath with me. But it was working. Shawn also notice when I laughed the baby's heartrate would jump. This was a good thing. So Shawn was doing all that he could to make me laugh. At the end of 10 minutes, Kim came in and asked what we decided. She reviewed the monitor, said she saw some good things. We said, "We want to try pitocin". She started it right then.

They gave me the lowest possible dose of pitocin. Within an hour I had dilated to 10cm. My Dr came back in. She was excited, but it could still end up in an emergency c-section if the baby's heartrate dropped. I had an hour to rest and bear down. Then I would start pushing.

I started pushing around 445pm. Because of the potential decels, I had to stay on my left side to push. Shawn held my left leg, and Kim held my right. My Dr and a Med student were watching the baby's progress. Pushing was hard. Everyone had a role in that room and I couldn't have done it with out each voice. Shawn was counting to 10. The Med student was yelling "Push, push, push, push" non-stop. My Dr was telling me the progress and directing me. And Kim, Kim would look me in the eye, tell me I could do it. I lived to hear Shawn reach the number 10. At the end, Carter's head got stuck. My Dr said I just had to push (without a contraction). I have never worked that hard. When his head came out he started to cry. I was so relieved I stopped pushing. Then my Dr yelled, "You've still got to push the rest of his body out--PUSH!"


Then he was out. He was placed screaming on my belly. I touched his head and cried.

  [Carter getting weighed just after he was born]

 [Carter being held by Shawn for the first time]

Carter was born at 5:37pm. He was 7 pound 12 ounces and 22 inches long. Oh how we love him so. Our lives will never. ever. be the same.

 

[First family photo]

Labor & Delivery was such an incredible experience. It truly is hard to describe. Holding that new baby in your arms is totally and completely worth all of the effort. I love being a mom, more than I ever thought possible. Carter is such a wonderful baby. I feel so blessed to be his Mom.