My stepsister, Kim, came into town on October 1st and my mom and stepfather, Steve, came into town on October 3rd. On Tuesday, October 4th I had an appointment at my midwife’s office where I was 1cm/70%/-1, and she swept my membranes. On Friday, October 7th (at 40 weeks, 2 days) I lost my mucus plug! I was so excited to have at least one sign of impending labor since everyone was in town waiting for it to happen and I was getting impatient. I had been trying everything to get labor going naturally, and was even considering going the castor oil route if I reached 41 weeks and nothing had happened. I had been having Braxton-Hicks tightenings constantly for the last week or so, but nothing remotely painful or regular.
Sunday, October 9th (at 40 weeks, 4 days) I went to church as usual and then attended a surprise birthday party for my brother-in-law Russ which lasted until 2:30ish. When we got home, I was exhausted so I took a nap until about 5:30. (Thank you, body, for knowing something was about to happen!!) My brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner around 7pm and we all sat down to eat Pad Thai that my stepfather made. It was VERY spicy! Around 7:30pm I had my first real contraction. I looked at my mom across the table with a puzzled face and said “hmm, that kind of hurt”. I wasn’t sure at the time that it was a contraction but it definitely felt like something different. 10 minutes later, I had another one. My brother watched in horror with each regular look of discomfort I got, freaked out and decided to leave. Kim happened to be about 30 minutes away spending the night at her dad’s and I texted her and told her there was a good chance I might actually be in labor but I wasn’t sure yet. She said to keep her updated and she would come back if it was real.
After they started coming every 10 minutes for about 2 hours, I started to suspect that this could actually be something, so around 9:30pm I sent Jay to pick Kim up and bring her back. I found that standing during the contractions felt the best, and each time I had one I leaned over a half wall, put my head on my arms and swayed back and forth. I tried to sit on the exercise ball I had and hands and knees but standing felt the best. I made sure the TV was on (Sisterwives was on…I had to watch!) for a distraction. I eventually decided to take a bath and the contractions continued and started coming every 5 minutes or so, although they felt milder and shorter than they did when they were 10 minutes apart. I called the midwife on call, Mary, just to let her know that there was a chance I might be in later that night or in the morning. She didn’t seem convinced that I was in labor due to the fact that the contractions were getting milder and said to update her if anything changed. Jay and Kim got back around 10pm and I suggested that we go for a walk outside. My mom, Kim and I left the apartment and walked around campus while Jay packed the car according to my very detailed list (surprised? J). Every 3-5 minutes, I had to stop and hold onto my mom and sway during contractions. They were getting more intense and by the time we got back home around 11:30pm I decided that I wanted to call Mary back and hopefully come into the hospital. I was SO unsure about this decision because of the fact that I wanted to stay home as long as possible and felt like I might be calling/going in too early. I was nervous I would be 1-2cm and she would send me home or I would have a long, tortuous labor at the hospital. However, I decided that it was worth it to me to know where I was at and even if I was admitted in early labor, the hospital had options like the tub, shower, peanut ball, heating packs, etc that I could utilize that I didn’t have at home.
We arrived at the hospital around midnight. The car ride wasn’t as bad as I expected although my contractions continued to be regular and moderately intense. I was still able to talk normally between them but not during them. I was sent to triage and hooked up to the monitor. The nurse turned the monitor off around 10 minutes because it was already reactive, but not before I noticed the contractions were coupling-another suggestion of what I had suspected for the last couple of weeks-an OP baby. During contractions I stood up and swayed like I was doing at home. There was definitely an increase in intensity in the contractions while I was in triage, and I started to have a little bit of bloody show. Mary came in at 1:00am to check/evaluate me and I was 4-5cm/100%/+1! I was so glad that I was officially in labor, and was surprised by the station because I didn’t feel much pressure or that “bowling ball between legs” feeling whatsoever. Just after she checked me, I had an intense pain all of a sudden in my left upper quadrant-it was so weird! It was so sharp that I threw up my entire dinner! After I threw up, the pain went away.
At 1:15 my nurse came in to admit me and take me to my room. Her name was Leah and she was one of my favorite nurses that I had worked with during clinicals. She was fairly new, and was really excited about natural childbirth. I was so glad that she was my nurse!! I was informed that someone else was using the Jacuzzi tub, which I was really disappointed by. It was ironic-barely anyone uses the tub at that hospital and of course I come in the one night a month that someone is using it! Leah and Mary made up for it by getting me a huge labor room though! J
Luckily, a few weeks prior I had seen Mary in the office and we had discussed that I wanted a natural labor, so I didn’t even have to tell her or Leah what I wanted-they just knew. I totally expected to have to fight the mold and advocate for myself while at the hospital but they were so supportive of my wishes without me even expressing them! I was admitted with no IV, intermittent monitoring and no mention of pain meds, etc. After the long, painful process (because I had to be in bed which intensified the contractions) of Leah finished admitting me, getting a FHR strip, vitals, drawing my blood, etc., Mary came in and told me to “get off my ass and get in the shower”. J She was a perfect midwife match for me-she was sassy and bullied me (in a good way) a bit when I felt like I couldn’t go on, which I really needed.
Mary had shut off the lights in the bathroom and set up her specialty-Christmas lights! It was actually nice, relaxing mood lighting. I got in the shower around 2am and sat on the ball. Jay, Kim and my mom took turns spraying the warm water on my belly and back and holding counter pressure on my back during contractions. It was around this time that my back pain became completely unbearable. It was predominant during my entire labor thus far, but sometime in the shower it was so bad that I just could not control myself any longer during contractions. I was REALLY vocal-I felt like one of those women who you hear from down the hall and the other patients ask you if they’re dying or something…ha! It just felt better for some reason the louder I was. My voice was really hoarse the next day!
Once the back pain intensified so much that I couldn’t control myself anymore, I asked if Mary would check me-I just had to know where I was because if I was still 4-5cm I didn’t think I would make it any longer without drugs. I got in the bed at 2:45am on my hands and knees, and when she checked me I was 8-9cm. I was DEFINITELY in transition-the whole world around me faded, I had no idea what was going on around me and the contractions were absolutely unbearable. Mary offered me sterile water papules and I said yes immediately-internally wishing I was in student mode and not a patient because I’d been dying to see them done while in clinical! While I was on my hands and knees, at 3:50am my water broke-a copious amount of clear fluid. Jay says it looked like someone threw a water balloon at my butt. J Mary finally got the sterile water papules (she joked that she could get morphine in 5 minutes but it takes forever to track down sterile water) and inserted them at 3:52am. It is true what they say-they hurt REALLY bad for about 30 seconds when they are being inserted and then the back pain was GONE. It was the most amazing thing ever. I wish I had gotten them much sooner! There is no way I would have even been able to push through that back pain-it was the absolute worst pain I have ever experienced! Mary checked me after inserting them and I was complete. I tried a couple of pushes on my hands and knees but it was completely ineffective-the contractions were just so intense that I couldn’t hold myself up. With every contraction I said “I can’t do this” and of course everyone encouraged me by saying “Yes you can! You are doing it!” I remember saying “I know I CAN but I don’t want to!”
At 4:10am Mary brought in the birthing stool and instructed me to sit on it while holding onto the front of it with my hands and to arch my back and push during contractions. Jay was sitting behind me in a chair supporting my back. My mom and Kim sat on the floor in front of me like they were in the front row at the movies. JPushing was REALLY hard-it was so difficult to push through intense contractions which increased the pain and pressure. I knew that even though each push made the pain worse, it was the only way for it to all be over! They didn’t direct me in pushing at all (except to hold my breath and not groan each time which I didn’t really listen to…haha)-when I felt contractions I pushed right through them until the contraction was over and between them I kind of grunt pushed to keep him down. After about 20 minutes, the head was crowning and Mary told me to reach down and catch my baby. I grasped onto my johnny and said “No! I can’t do it! You do it!” And she said “No, you’re doing it!” (Again, good bullying.) So I reached down and slowly guided his head out. It was such instant relief to have his head out! He came out ROA, so he must have eventually turned from OP (thank goodness!). When his head was out, I felt his left hand right up by his face and he grabbed my finger! I thought to myself that it figured I had an OP baby AND a compound presentation! It’s a wonder I didn’t have a c-section. I gave another push and pushed his shoulders and body out. I grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him up on my chest and said “It’s a boy!!” My mom was so shocked because she was SO sure it was a girl-she said “are you sure??” He was born at 4:40am weighing 9lb 7oz and measuring 23 in long!
I can’t even describe the relief I felt when he was out!! It felt so good to be done with the intense pain. Mary did delayed cord clamping, and it was awesome because my sister (who is in med school to be an OB) had never seen delayed cord clamping done. Finally I told Mary that I was uncomfortable sitting on the stool and wanted to get into bed. My mom cut the cord because Jay didn’t want to. The placenta came easily with one push and it was pretty huge! The nurse asked Mary “Do you want IM pit?” and Mary looked at me and said “What do you think?” I asked her what my EBL was and she said “not much at all” so I said “I’ll skip it then!” It was nice to finally be able to think clearly again…I headed over to postpartum around 7am., and the rest is history! So glad he’s here. Although the birth was intense and the worst pain EVER, I am so glad that it was exactly what I wanted. No regrets!
