birth story
It started weeks before I gave birth--my body and my son randomly decided to start the birth process and stop. The final episode started June 30th at around 3 a.m. My husband and I decided to do baby inducing exercises the night before, and I woke up with a pain at that time.
I got back to sleep because it wasn't the first time I'd been roused by pain that seemed like a contraction. I got to sleep and woke back up at around 4:30 with another contraction. Sometime around 6, they started with some regularity--around 8 minutes or so, but occasionally more time. We called the doctor who recommended that we come in to get checked out. When we got to the office at ten, I hadn't had a contraction for over an hour.
The nurse said we were in no danger of having a need for an induction even though at that point I was about a week and a half overdue. She told us to stop doing anything that would help us progress because we had been up for so much of the night already. The doctor came in and seemed considerably more concerned about my condition, seeing that at that point I was STILL only 1 cm dilated. He asked if I wanted my membranes stripped, and even though I knew it was going to be uncomfortable I agreed. Little did I know it would be that uncomfortable, I screamed the whole time. But I was also ready to not be pregnant anymore and meet our son.
I went home and felt nothing for awhile, but early on in the afternoon I used the bathroom and noticed I had a few spots of blood. I got a nap in that afternoon, and the contractions started again around 2:30 that afternoon, and started going around 8 minutes apart again. Alex wanted me to call the doctor, but after being told a few times to "wait an hour and see what happens", I decided against it until around 5 in the afternoon. Then we called, and again were told to "wait an hour". They never got any closer together, although they were somewhat more intense. A little after 7 p.m., I decided to take a shower because it had all been too much, and I regretted waiting so long, because I barely felt the contraction I had while I was in there. I stepped out of the shower around 7:15 and woosh, my water had broken.
My mom had taken Alyssa (my 5 year old) out during this time, and I told Alex my water broke and he called the doctor. I was in the process of cleaning up when the doctor returned our call and wanted to talk to me directly. The contractions at that point were relatively hard and lasting a lot longer.
I had a few that were bearable, but not that many. It was incredible to believe that when the doctor got there he checked me out and I was only at 4 centimeters. The pain was like nothing I had felt with my first, even at that point. The contractions had shortly jumped to 3 minutes apart, and lasted about a minute and a half each time. I wanted to get back in the shower, but found that just about every time I got up from sitting or started walking, another contraction would hit. It was very different from my first birth, where I was very active and it was relatively painless.
I did hear Dr. Elvove talking to Pat on his cell phone, and that made me happy. I asked how I would be so lucky to have Pat out for the birth, and he said that they had just been incredibly busy that week and she was the only one available. Mind you, I had only had her help me twice in the whole pregnancy, but I had seemed like she was the one I connected with--more than the other two nurses who attended the homebirths.
Both Alex and I seemed pretty annoyed when we noticed our doctor doing things like sitting at our kitchen table writing things out and watching cartoons. Alex had said something to him, at which he commented it would be awhile...
Pat came in not too much longer, and I told her it had been awhile since I'd been checked, and she checked. I was up to 7 cm then, and it was probably around 8:30 at this point. It was fast, but the pain was beyond description and my own belief at that point. Every piece of research I had done on epidurals and hospital births and home births didn't matter. I wanted it over. I didn't want to feel anything, and I didn't care what got me there either.
I can honestly say that well before this point, if I had been in a hospital, I would have had an epidural. There is absolutely no question in my mind that I would have caved in.
I went back to the bathroom and had a horrible contraction, and Pat made me look at her and told me to loosen my face and jaw muscles, that I would tighten up all over if I kept on that way. Alex had been with me the whole time, and in the bathroom we began dancing to loosen the muscles a little, but it did very little for the pain relief when an actual contraction came on.
I was probably and FINALLY allowed to push a few minutes before 10 (p.m.). Pat said a few things to me. One was that she wanted me to work really hard to push since she and Dr. Elvove had a bet going, and the other was that she had just gotten in from getting strawberries in Bristol for 10 minutes when she left to do our delivery. I was propped up on our bed with two pillows against the wall, and when it was time to push, Pat had my left leg and Alex had my right, and they were pushed up to my chest.
What I didn't realize for some time is that everytime I pushed, I was having a bowel movement. I didn't have this with Alyssa, because I hadn't eaten for 12 hours prior to giving birth and I had a bowel movement before the pushing started. I had eaten at 5 this time, so it was quite gross when I realized it, to say the least.
Dr. Elvove had instructed me that the only way to get through the pain was to keep pushing. This was not as big of a relief to me as I'd anticipated. I had to keep from screaming since it would make the pushing less effective, and to push for a full ten seconds seemed like torture.
I had the "indian burn" thing going on that I didn't remember from having Alyssa. While the baby was crowning, there was a massive burning feeling all around the outer edge of the perineum. It lasted for two or three pushes before the baby came out.
When Daschel was born, I asked if he was beautiful, and my husband got to see him first. I looked at my husband and he was crying. The baby peed right away, which may have made our nine pounder weigh in at 8 lb 15oz. He was perfect and beautiful.
Pat asked if I needed any stitches, and the doctor said no.
I'd love to do it all over again, but not anytime soon, or at least that's what I say now.