My Birth Story

Childbirth is truly an amazing process and experience. After going through it myelf, I realized that it was NOT layed out the wayI had heard of and just like my pregnancy as a whole, I didn't get the textbook signs that birth was approaching. I had no bloody show, didn't loose my plug, wasn't dilating regularly, and I never experience the lightnening feeling. Here's my story.

I woke up at a little after midnight on the 21st because I had a little trickle. I immediately woke Todd and told him that today may be our big day. An hour passed and nothing much else had happened so I told Todd to go on back to sleep and that I'd wake him if anything else came about. I was not having any major contractions to time and was in no pain at all. I got up and had a small breakfast, got some last minute things done for work, and a few light chores around the house.

4:20a rolled around and still not much progress so I decided to lay back down. Almost immediately after laying down, I had a HUGE gush and my water had officially broken. Early on in the pregnancy, I had decided NOT to rush to the hospital until needed (ie. contractions pick up and timeable), so I woke Todd once again and we got ready and just waited..... and waited and waited. And knowing that I wasn't going to be able to eat the the hospital, I ate breakfast again (although I know I wasn't supposed to per the dr's). 5:30a rolled around and still pretty much nothing. Then 6:30 and 7:30 and 8:30a. I was starting to worry a little by then because I STILL wasn't having a lot of contractions and my water had been broken for 4 hours so after making one more stop for food, we arrived at the hospital around 9:30am.

It was confirmed that my water had broke and we were officially admitted around 10:30a. We made our phone calls and I was ready and looking forward to having Elijah here late that night. Boy, was I wrong!!

I was checked as soon as I was admitted and I hadn't progressed any since my appt.the prior week; I was still only a fingertip dilated. A little before midnight rolled around and still not much progress. I think I was around a 4 by then. Unfortunately, my Dr wasn't on call yet and when I met the one that was, he was not what he seemed to be when I met him at the office. He was extremely negative and was really pushing an induction. He explained that I could likely need a c- section as well because of the risk of infection setting in since my water had broken. Well, I had done my research prior, and I refused the induction but agreed to have them regularly temp me to catch a temp spike signaling a problem. He said I couldn't be up out of bed either. At that point, I was very disappointed because it seemed that so many things that I had wanting in my birth plan were going down hill. ( I had the IV instead of the heplock I wanted, I couldn't move out of bed, and he was already talking c- section and/ or induction). Luckily, I was VERY fortunate to have a great nurse that reviewed my birth plan and really advocated for me and was able to get me up and at least allow me to work on the birth ball. She agreed to not even mention the "e" word (epidural) to me and check me only intermitently as I requested.

Hours passed and still not much progress. I was only dilating maybe 1 cm every 2 hours if that. 3 am rolled around and I was a 6-7 dilated and there was mention again of an induction, but again, refused it. My thought was if baby is fine, why rush him when he's not ready? I think it was around this time that contractions began picking up and becoming a little more painful. I was able to sleep between and even through some contractions and used my birth ball as well. It really seemed to help in the beginning, but after being awake for so long, I just got to the point where I just wanted to stay in bed. With Elijah being as active as he is, he was still moving a lot and they couldn't keep him on the monitor so they had to place one on his head internally around 6 am.

Noon rolled around and I was finally a 10 and ready to push!! I was so exhausted from being up so long, I had a really hard time pushing and was to the point where I wanted a c-section or them to use forceps or the vacuum. Todd especially, as well as Tess (our doula) and my Mom were great at keeping me focused and reminding me of what I really wanted; a completely natural childbirth with very limited interventions, esp. forceps and vacuum. God had it all planned out to allow it that way as well; Elijah wasn't low enough to use them even if they were needed at the time so I really HAD no choice and had to do it. After pushing for quite a while, it was thought that he was face down instead of face up and that was making things harder for me. His heart rate was also dipping with contractions so I was given oxygen. I continued to push for over 3 hours when my Dr recommended a low level of Pitocin because she said I just wasn't getting the close contractions needed. I agreed and it was administered minutes later, but at 3:44 pm, before it had time to fully flow through and take much of an effect, Elijah made his grand appearance! Everyone says that he opened his eyes before he was even entirely out! Todd cut the cord and the room was filled with tears and excitement. It was the best feeling in the world!

The monitor that was on his head left a little scar, but it isn't very noticeable and will be even less so as his hair grows. His head was also angled as he tried to make his entrance so it was a little bruised as well. He was very alert and is just prefect. He was 6 lbs 13.7 oz, 20 in long, and scored an 8 and 10 on his apgars. He was 6 lbs. 9oz when we were discharged.

Jaundice set in the day we were discharged, but it wasn't bad enough to keep him. Instead, he was on a billy blanket all weekend and had daily blood draws to check labels. As always ,the Lord was looking after him and he was cleared of it the monday following his birth.

So, in a nutshell, I had a 35+ hour , pain med free birth and a perfect little angel to show for it!!
I wouldn't change anything about the entire experience! With Todd and everyone present during delivery, everything went great! Although there were a few things that couldn't be followed on our birth plan, all of the most important points were met and I was able to have the birth that I wanted. Natural birth was all in God's great plan and I'm so glad that he gave me the strength and support to get through.