The Traveling Housewife: My Daughter's Birth Story

September 23 ~ 11 Days Old

Our daughter was born on September 12, 2011 at 5:13 PM. She was 6lbs, 13oz, and 20in long. It was quite an event. Birth plan? Well, not so much! But that’s ok. She is healthy and happy and so am I.

I was scheduled to be induced on Sunday evening, September 11 at around 7 PM. I had hoped to go into labor on my own before then but was beginning to doubt that it would ever happen. Finally, at about 11 AM (during the Sunday morning service) I started having regular contractions that felt a little different. We were supposed to meet with Pastor after the service to pray for the induction but when we stood up during the invitation I was in a lot of pain and asked my husband to take me home. When we got home I decided to lie down and see if the pain would go away. When that only made the contractions worse I realized that we might be in for the real thing. I decided to go back out to the couch and watch some TV to help distract me. I also decided to try to eat something because I knew it could still be a while. I labored the rest of the afternoon and by around 5 PM the contractions were getting pretty regular and more intense. We decided to call the hospital and see what we should do and the lady recommended that since I wanted to go natural, I should stay home as long as I can. My husband went about getting last minute things done and I labored some more. Around 6:30 however, I stood up and felt what to me was quite a gush. I was pretty sure my water had broken. We decided it was time to go to the hospital.

Once I got to the hospital, my husband dropped me off at the ER and went to park the car and I had 2 more gushes (in the ER lobby while someone I knew walked by!). We got upstairs and got admitted and hooked up to the IV and checked and I had finally started to dilate, so I didn’t need the Cervadil (the first step to my induction). We figured we were in for a long night. My husband and I spent the next several hours alternating watching TV, and walking the halls. The bed was not very comfortable but I was getting pretty tired as I had been up at 7 AM on Sunday morning and had not slept well. Around 4 AM my husband was so tired that I told him to take a nap and I had a playlist of “House Hunters” going on the computer that I was not paying attention to. I tried to rest and was dismayed to find that my contractions started getting less intense and less frequent. They never went completely away but they diminished a lot! It was pretty discouraging and I was so tired at this point. At 8 AM the doctors changed shifts and when the new doctor came in she decided it was time to go ahead with the induction. I knew at this point that after already being awake for 24 hours and in labor or 20 that I was not going to make it without the epidural. The good news was that I had made some progress with dilation and effacement, so we at least had that in our favor. About 9 AM Dr. Browning broke my water (not a pleasant experience) and started the Pitocin (also not very pleasant).

After that, things start to get a little blurry for me. I know that my Mom, Aunt and Dad had arrived around that time (I think before they broke my water) and they helped me as the contractions started to get intense. I felt like the nurse was in every 5 minutes bumping up the dosage. We waited until I was having contractions 5 in 10 minutes to get the epidural. I think I was around 3-4 cm. That was also an intense experience. I was really glad that I never saw what was going on because the nurse asked my husband if he needed to sit down as she thought he might faint. Looking back I wonder if I could have gone without it, but I’m honestly not sure. If I’m able to, I might try again one day to go natural (how easy the pain is forgotten!). After that things got easier. I was really glad that I could still wiggle my toes! Pretty soon, I think around 1 PM I was at 7-8 cm and not long after that I was at 9 ½! It was almost time to push. I honestly don’t ever remember having an “urge” to push though. They told me it was time but I just never felt it. I pushed for about an hour and to me, felt like we made some progress. I could feel her moving down inside me. Apparently we didn’t make enough progress though because they decided to let me “labor down” for a while, which means, I was just supposed to sit there and let the contractions do the work. That’s when things started to go downhill for me. The epidural had been giving me problems, but at this point, no matter what they did, it wasn’t working. At the apex of my delivery, I was on my own. After what seemed like forever, they came in and decided it was time for me to push again. At this point I was in the most pain I had ever been in in my life. Pushing was not a relief! It was so intense I remember thinking that I was going to burst every blood vessel in my head and that I was going to die. My husband was a great coach through it all. However, as much as I pushed, things were just not happening. Although she could have been delivered this way, she was face up and apparently I also have a very steep angle of my pelvis/tailbone, complications that could have been worked through under better circumstances, however it was at this point that our daughter's heart rate began to nosedive. They told me that we were going to push one more time and if nothing happened then they were going to have to do an emergency c-section. I pushed as hard as I could but it just wasn’t enough.

After that, things started happening very quickly and people were moving fast. I kept my eyes closed (I was scared) pretty much from there on out. I was wheeled to the operating room and prepped and they started poking my stomach with a needle and asking what I could feel. Was it sharp or just pressure? Well, unfortunately, it was sharp. My epidural was still on the fritz and the morphine wouldn’t take fast enough so they said they were going to have to put me under. The last thing I remember was someone holding a mask over my face and telling me to breathe in and that I would feel some sensation that I never felt. I woke up about 2 hours later in another room.

I remember actually having to will myself out of my stupor and wake up so that I could meet my daughter. I asked them to sit the bed up and forced my eyes to stay open. I also started asking for my husband. He came in and seemed very relieved to see me. I started asking him questions about her and was dismayed to find out that he wasn’t able to be there or even watch her birth. It had been very scary for him. I asked if her could go and get her and bring her to me. They let my mom and dad come in when he left. He came back with her and they let my mom stay and take pictures as he held her for the first time and then handed her to me. She was crying but I didn’t care. My baby was finally here! Although it was pretty rough, and recovery was not a blast, I would do it all again! It was so worth it!