(no subject)
Our beautiful son Joseph Ivan arrived on Wednesday August 24th at 4:55 PM PST. He weighed 8 lbs, 2.5 oz and was just a hair shy of 20” long. My labor was the longest 40 (yes, 40!) hours of my life and definitely the most challenging.
My EDD, 8/21, came and went without fanfare. On Monday 8/22 I had a doctor’s appointment and allowed my first cervical check. I was 2 cm dilated, about 20% effaced and the baby was at the starting gate. My doula thought I’d probably last ‘til the weekend but a little after midnight I woke up and felt my first contractions. From the beginning the contractions were roughly five minutes apart and the pain was in my lower back and what felt like my perineum. I tried to go back to sleep but was too excited so I rested, rocked on my birth ball and listened to several Hypnobabies cds.
I’d previously decided to bake cookies for the nurses and got up around five to start since I didn’t know how much time I’d have. This is when I discovered I didn’t have any brown sugar. My mom was staying with us and she got up with me and went to the grocery store for supplies. Unfortunately nothing opened ‘til six so the trip was a waste, though I guess now I can say I DROVE while I was having contractions! My husband got up a few hours later and went back out for the sugar and I baked a few dozen chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I wish I would have saved some of that energy because I really coulda used it later!
I labored at home throughout the day. The contractions got longer and more painful and around four PM we left for the hospital. I was checked in triage and was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced so the nurses sent me to walk the grounds. I came back about an hour and a half later and was officially admitted, moved into a labor room and dosed with my first (and what I hoped would be last) dose of antibiotics (ha!). Our doula arrived around ten and things seemed to be right on track. Then my labor stalled. And stalled and stalled and stalled. My contractions became more intense but they periodically spaced out. We tried pressure points to get things progressing, and contractions would pick up temporarily but then would slow down again. The nurse who’d been with me since I was admitted checked me before she left at three AM and we discovered that I was still only 4 cm dilated. If it hadn’t been for my Hypnobabies cds and our doula I think I would have lost it.
Around 9 AM my OB came by on her rounds and I was horrified to discover that I was STILL only 4 cm dilated. She urged me to consider Pitocin or AROM and said if something hadn’t happened by the time she came back at noon I’d need to consent to one of those two things or she’d send me home until things picked up. I was getting desperate at this point. I didn’t want to start a cascade of interventions. I didn’t want to go home after having endured hours of hell being stuck by the IV and forced to wear the fetal monitor for 10-20 minutes every hour. We redoubled our efforts with pressure points and walking but nothing worked. When the OB came back at noon she agreed to try stripping the membranes, which also didn’t work. So I decided to go home. Before I left she wanted to check my amniotic fluid via a quick ultrasound. My fluid was borderline low, and she said it would probably be best for me to stay after all. I agreed to AROM and I bawled as my water came gushing out.
Once my water was broken my contractions came on like gangbusters. I went from 4 cm to 7 cm in one hour. I spent most of transition standing up, rocking and moaning through my contractions. Our doula dubbed the rhythmic moaning my “labor song” and helped keep me in the moment. Around 2:30 I was fully dilated and ready to push. I was determined not to push on my back but I was so exhausted by this time that I had great difficulty using the squat bar as I’d planned. Sitting on the bed was out of the question as I had horrible pain in my butt. I was crafty enough to realize that I wouldn’t be allowed to go labor on the toilet but would be allowed to go to the bathroom so that’s what I did. And then I refused to go back to the bed. The nurses fought with me about it a little but when it became clear that I wasn’t budging they brought a doppler in to check the baby periodically. I spent at least an hour on the toilet. Our doula sat beside me and others wandered in an out, including a random OB who told me that she’d labored the same way. Did I mention that I was buck naked by this point and completely without shame?!!
When it was clear that birth was (relatively) imminent I was finally corraled back to the bed and being too tired to squat I ended up on my back. I tried to sit up for each push but only made it about halfway there. My OB was called away for an emergency c-section and the attending physican turned out to be an older dude I’d never seen in my life. I was told he was scissor happy but by then everyone in the room knew I didn’t want to be cut and I wasn’t. Once I felt the baby’s head I went crazy though and did end up with a third degree tear, which has been relatively painless. My son came out screaming heartily and was put on my chest for bonding while I was stitched up.
Looking back I realize that I went to the hospital too soon and wasted a lot of the energy I had early way before the real work started. My son’s birth was definitely not the way I pictured it but overall I feel pretty good about the way I handled things and really, really good about that fact that it’s over and we have a gorgeous, healthy son.