Our birth story begins well before David’s actual arrival.
At 36 weeks, my OB performed an internal exam for the first time. We were delighted to hear that I was already 2 cm dilated! We had been feeling that our baby would arrive early, so we were pleased by this news.
At 37 weeks, my internal exam revealed that I was 3 cm dilated! My boss decided to hire a temp to cover my maternity leave beginning that week and I started to train her in case I delivered early.
At 38 weeks, I was 4 cm dilated. At this point, my OB recommended that we take our hospital bags to work with us each day, just in case.
At 39 weeks, I was 5 cm dilated. My OB gave Chris instructions for emergency delivery, just in case we couldn’t make it to the hospital in time. He thought she was joking, but she wasn’t.
At 40 weeks, I skipped the internal exam because I didn’t want to endure another night of Braxton-Hicks contractions for no reason. We saw our OB on a Friday and she told us that we would schedule an induction for Monday morning, but she was very confident that we would go into labor over the weekend.
At 41 weeks, we scheduled the induction for Monday morning at 6:00am.
We spent the weekend grocery shopping, cleaning and sleeping. We went on one last date again for the fourth time in a month. Sunday night we went to bed at 8:00pm so we could wake up at 4:00am to get ready to go to the hospital. I slept like a baby but Chris was a wreck. Even though we woke up on time, we were still late getting to the hospital. We checked in at 6:20am. We didn’t get a room until 7:00am, and we got the last room available in L&D that day. As soon as we got settled, a nurse hooked me up to the electronic fetal monitor (EFM) and another nurse tried to give me an IV. I explained to the nurse that I didn’t plan to have an IV because we would have a natural birth. She laughed at me and proceeded to get the IV ready. I started to panic at this point because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to have a natural delivery if I had to fight every nurse and doctor every step of the way, but I told the nurse that I would NOT have an IV. I reasoned that accident victims don’t have IVs ready when an ambulance arrives and that doesn’t stop them from receiving treatment, so how long could it possibly take the nurse to put in an IV if I became dehydrated? I compromised and got a Heparin Drip instead. The nurse seemed agitated with me, but luckily, it was the end of her shift and I was the last person she harassed before she left for the day.
Our doula, Nancy, arrived soon after the IV battle and we were happy to see her. Our OB came in a short while later and got the show started. When she checked me, I was 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She used an amnio hook to break my water. I really didn’t feel anything other than the internal exam. The nurse gave me a gigantic diaper to wear in my fancy hospital-issued mesh panties and then everyone left. Nothing happened right away and my water was only trickling, so Nancy suggested that we take a walk through the halls. It was a nice diversion to walk around and watch all the other pregnant ladies wandering through the halls and checking-in at the front desk. There wasn’t much space to walk since there were only a couple of halls on the floor and we couldn’t leave the floor. My contractions started about 30 minutes after my water broke and they were 90 seconds apart. I was very comfortable at this point and figured this would be a piece of cake. As we walked the halls, I remember hearing a woman screaming in agony. This was the first time that I ever felt scared about what lay ahead. A few minutes later, we heard a baby crying, and that was the moment when I realized that the next time I got on the elevator, I would be holding my baby. I started to cry.
We walked around for about 30 minutes, but then I started to feel a little less comfortable, so I asked to go back to the room. Nancy got me some white grape juice, which I drank throughout labor. At this point, I began having back labor. During every contraction, I would stop walking or speaking and lean on Chris. I would bury my face in his shoulder and totally relax my body. During each contraction, he gently reminded me, “breathe through your tummy.” I remember thinking that “tummy” was a childish sounding word to be using because my stomach was the size of a watermelon, but his encouragement helped me to focus on my breathing and took my mind off the pain. During every contraction, Nancy applied counter pressure on my back. Throughout labor, my back pain hurt more than the actual contractions.
I was able to avoid electronic fetal monitor during labor. My nurse came in periodically, listened to my belly with the stethoscope, told me that the baby sounded wonderful, cheerfully exclaimed that I was doing a great job, and left. Although our nurse was a great cheerleader, I’m glad we didn’t rely on her for labor support, because she wasn’t around very much.
Throughout labor, I sat up in bed, walked around the room, and stood in the shower. I also spent some time laboring on my hands and knees to relieve some of the pressure on my back, but I found it very hard to relax while supporting all of my weight on my hands and knees. When I was pregnant, I loved my exercise ball and I planned to use a birth ball during labor. I was surprised to find that I didn’t like sitting on it during labor because balancing required too much concentration and I couldn’t relax and keep myself on the ball at the same time.
At one point during labor, I was sitting up in bed and my contractions were 45 seconds apart. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep between contractions and I was actually snoring!! After my nap, I decided to take a shower because the back pain was getting more intense. My contractions were about 30 seconds apart at this point. I wasn’t able to use the shower bench because the seat was broken, but it was much more relaxing to lean against the shower wall and let the water pound my back. Chris stayed with me just outside the shower stall the entire time.
After the shower, I didn’t even bother to get dressed, I just wrapped myself up in a warm, fuzzy blanket. I had heard that most women lose their sense of modesty at some point in labor, but never thought it would happen to me! My doula noticed this and guessed that I might be close to transition, but she didn’t mention it aloud to me. I used the toilet one last time and went back to bed. My OB came in and checked me. I was 10 cm dilated and just had a slight lip of cervix that kept me from being ready to push. She instructed me to lie on my right side for the next 15 minutes and resist the urge to push so I could become completely dilated.
That was the longest 15 minutes of my life! After the internal exam, the urge to push came immediately and it took control of my entire body. I could NOT resist the urge to push and it felt like it was completely out of my control. I grabbed Chris’ shirt and clung to him. His soothing words were the only thing that kept me focused during this difficult time. I will always remember that 15 minutes as the most painful part of my birth experience.
After what felt like an eternity, my OB came in and told me that we were ready to have a baby. I was so excited to push! I started pushing with the very next contraction. I remember a lot of commotion around me suddenly as the nurses and interns crowded into the room. My OB suggested that I use a squat bar to push. We had requested this option in our birth plan, but I was very hesitant to move out of the position I was in and it took coaxing from Chris and Nancy and the nurses to get me to try it. Once I pulled myself up to that squat bar, I felt like there was no stopping me. I pushed with every single contraction and felt a surge of energy. At one point, my OB forced me to lay back between contractions and I was later told that my legs had turned purple from squatting for so long. Chris sat behind me and I leaned my entire weight on him as I rested between contractions.
It was amazing to feel the baby’s head descending. At one point, Nancy asked if I could touch the baby’s head and my OB helped me find it and feel it. It was not at all what I expected and it felt soft, warm, and wet. That didn’t inspire me as much as feeling the baby’s head move down with each contraction.
After I pushed for a while, I felt the “ring of fire,” but it was not painful. Descriptions I had read made it sound agonizing, but it really was only a small discomfort. Once the baby’s head was born, I felt relieved. The baby’s body came out in one large push and all pain was instantly gone. My OB put the baby on my stomach and said, “Congratulations, you have a son.” I was in such a state of shock and disbelief that I asked everyone if that meant that the baby was a boy. I always thought I would cry tears of joy upon first seeing my baby, but I was so overwhelmed with joy that I just smiled and stared at my little man.
David was very alert immediately following his birth. He lifted his head to look at me and Chris when we talked to him. Chris was able to cut David’s umbilical cord and they let us bond with the baby before they cleaned him up. David was 8 pounds exactly and 19 ½ inches long. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9.
I had a second-degree tear that needed stitches and I had some difficulty delivering the placenta. My OB gave me pitocin to aid in the delivery of the afterbirth, and I didn’t care at this point because my baby was already safe and sound. I barely felt anything that was done to me after my son was born because I felt so astonishingly good. I felt so energetic that I could have jumped out of bed and ran a marathon. I remember being very hungry afterward and I couldn’t wait to eat.
I was in labor for 5 hours and pushed for 25 minutes. David was born at 2:24pm on Monday, March 5, 2007.
It was a fantastic experience!
At 36 weeks, my OB performed an internal exam for the first time. We were delighted to hear that I was already 2 cm dilated! We had been feeling that our baby would arrive early, so we were pleased by this news.
At 37 weeks, my internal exam revealed that I was 3 cm dilated! My boss decided to hire a temp to cover my maternity leave beginning that week and I started to train her in case I delivered early.
At 38 weeks, I was 4 cm dilated. At this point, my OB recommended that we take our hospital bags to work with us each day, just in case.
At 39 weeks, I was 5 cm dilated. My OB gave Chris instructions for emergency delivery, just in case we couldn’t make it to the hospital in time. He thought she was joking, but she wasn’t.
At 40 weeks, I skipped the internal exam because I didn’t want to endure another night of Braxton-Hicks contractions for no reason. We saw our OB on a Friday and she told us that we would schedule an induction for Monday morning, but she was very confident that we would go into labor over the weekend.
At 41 weeks, we scheduled the induction for Monday morning at 6:00am.
We spent the weekend grocery shopping, cleaning and sleeping. We went on one last date again for the fourth time in a month. Sunday night we went to bed at 8:00pm so we could wake up at 4:00am to get ready to go to the hospital. I slept like a baby but Chris was a wreck. Even though we woke up on time, we were still late getting to the hospital. We checked in at 6:20am. We didn’t get a room until 7:00am, and we got the last room available in L&D that day. As soon as we got settled, a nurse hooked me up to the electronic fetal monitor (EFM) and another nurse tried to give me an IV. I explained to the nurse that I didn’t plan to have an IV because we would have a natural birth. She laughed at me and proceeded to get the IV ready. I started to panic at this point because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to have a natural delivery if I had to fight every nurse and doctor every step of the way, but I told the nurse that I would NOT have an IV. I reasoned that accident victims don’t have IVs ready when an ambulance arrives and that doesn’t stop them from receiving treatment, so how long could it possibly take the nurse to put in an IV if I became dehydrated? I compromised and got a Heparin Drip instead. The nurse seemed agitated with me, but luckily, it was the end of her shift and I was the last person she harassed before she left for the day.
Our doula, Nancy, arrived soon after the IV battle and we were happy to see her. Our OB came in a short while later and got the show started. When she checked me, I was 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She used an amnio hook to break my water. I really didn’t feel anything other than the internal exam. The nurse gave me a gigantic diaper to wear in my fancy hospital-issued mesh panties and then everyone left. Nothing happened right away and my water was only trickling, so Nancy suggested that we take a walk through the halls. It was a nice diversion to walk around and watch all the other pregnant ladies wandering through the halls and checking-in at the front desk. There wasn’t much space to walk since there were only a couple of halls on the floor and we couldn’t leave the floor. My contractions started about 30 minutes after my water broke and they were 90 seconds apart. I was very comfortable at this point and figured this would be a piece of cake. As we walked the halls, I remember hearing a woman screaming in agony. This was the first time that I ever felt scared about what lay ahead. A few minutes later, we heard a baby crying, and that was the moment when I realized that the next time I got on the elevator, I would be holding my baby. I started to cry.
We walked around for about 30 minutes, but then I started to feel a little less comfortable, so I asked to go back to the room. Nancy got me some white grape juice, which I drank throughout labor. At this point, I began having back labor. During every contraction, I would stop walking or speaking and lean on Chris. I would bury my face in his shoulder and totally relax my body. During each contraction, he gently reminded me, “breathe through your tummy.” I remember thinking that “tummy” was a childish sounding word to be using because my stomach was the size of a watermelon, but his encouragement helped me to focus on my breathing and took my mind off the pain. During every contraction, Nancy applied counter pressure on my back. Throughout labor, my back pain hurt more than the actual contractions.
I was able to avoid electronic fetal monitor during labor. My nurse came in periodically, listened to my belly with the stethoscope, told me that the baby sounded wonderful, cheerfully exclaimed that I was doing a great job, and left. Although our nurse was a great cheerleader, I’m glad we didn’t rely on her for labor support, because she wasn’t around very much.
Throughout labor, I sat up in bed, walked around the room, and stood in the shower. I also spent some time laboring on my hands and knees to relieve some of the pressure on my back, but I found it very hard to relax while supporting all of my weight on my hands and knees. When I was pregnant, I loved my exercise ball and I planned to use a birth ball during labor. I was surprised to find that I didn’t like sitting on it during labor because balancing required too much concentration and I couldn’t relax and keep myself on the ball at the same time.
At one point during labor, I was sitting up in bed and my contractions were 45 seconds apart. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep between contractions and I was actually snoring!! After my nap, I decided to take a shower because the back pain was getting more intense. My contractions were about 30 seconds apart at this point. I wasn’t able to use the shower bench because the seat was broken, but it was much more relaxing to lean against the shower wall and let the water pound my back. Chris stayed with me just outside the shower stall the entire time.
After the shower, I didn’t even bother to get dressed, I just wrapped myself up in a warm, fuzzy blanket. I had heard that most women lose their sense of modesty at some point in labor, but never thought it would happen to me! My doula noticed this and guessed that I might be close to transition, but she didn’t mention it aloud to me. I used the toilet one last time and went back to bed. My OB came in and checked me. I was 10 cm dilated and just had a slight lip of cervix that kept me from being ready to push. She instructed me to lie on my right side for the next 15 minutes and resist the urge to push so I could become completely dilated.
That was the longest 15 minutes of my life! After the internal exam, the urge to push came immediately and it took control of my entire body. I could NOT resist the urge to push and it felt like it was completely out of my control. I grabbed Chris’ shirt and clung to him. His soothing words were the only thing that kept me focused during this difficult time. I will always remember that 15 minutes as the most painful part of my birth experience.
After what felt like an eternity, my OB came in and told me that we were ready to have a baby. I was so excited to push! I started pushing with the very next contraction. I remember a lot of commotion around me suddenly as the nurses and interns crowded into the room. My OB suggested that I use a squat bar to push. We had requested this option in our birth plan, but I was very hesitant to move out of the position I was in and it took coaxing from Chris and Nancy and the nurses to get me to try it. Once I pulled myself up to that squat bar, I felt like there was no stopping me. I pushed with every single contraction and felt a surge of energy. At one point, my OB forced me to lay back between contractions and I was later told that my legs had turned purple from squatting for so long. Chris sat behind me and I leaned my entire weight on him as I rested between contractions.
It was amazing to feel the baby’s head descending. At one point, Nancy asked if I could touch the baby’s head and my OB helped me find it and feel it. It was not at all what I expected and it felt soft, warm, and wet. That didn’t inspire me as much as feeling the baby’s head move down with each contraction.
After I pushed for a while, I felt the “ring of fire,” but it was not painful. Descriptions I had read made it sound agonizing, but it really was only a small discomfort. Once the baby’s head was born, I felt relieved. The baby’s body came out in one large push and all pain was instantly gone. My OB put the baby on my stomach and said, “Congratulations, you have a son.” I was in such a state of shock and disbelief that I asked everyone if that meant that the baby was a boy. I always thought I would cry tears of joy upon first seeing my baby, but I was so overwhelmed with joy that I just smiled and stared at my little man.
David was very alert immediately following his birth. He lifted his head to look at me and Chris when we talked to him. Chris was able to cut David’s umbilical cord and they let us bond with the baby before they cleaned him up. David was 8 pounds exactly and 19 ½ inches long. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9.
I had a second-degree tear that needed stitches and I had some difficulty delivering the placenta. My OB gave me pitocin to aid in the delivery of the afterbirth, and I didn’t care at this point because my baby was already safe and sound. I barely felt anything that was done to me after my son was born because I felt so astonishingly good. I felt so energetic that I could have jumped out of bed and ran a marathon. I remember being very hungry afterward and I couldn’t wait to eat.
I was in labor for 5 hours and pushed for 25 minutes. David was born at 2:24pm on Monday, March 5, 2007.
It was a fantastic experience!
