Our First Joy Filled Birth

On Sunday morning, near the end of my 36th week, I woke up at 5:00am and things just didn’t seem ‘normal.’ I wondered…. Could this be it? After tossing and turning, I realized I just needed to go to the bathroom (again). I went to the bathroom and out of curiosity turned on the light to look in, thinking perhaps I’d lost my mucus plug. There was a tinge of blood. I called out to Jon, my husband, “Do you remember anything in the Bradley class about what the water looks like? Does it have blood in it?” A strange feeling welled inside of me, wondering…could this be it?

At this point, we were both awake so we pulled out our birthing books and began investigating – what do those waters look like? Jon wanted me to rest but I was restless (he later told me that all of Saturday I’d been restless and fidgety and he thought our birth was approaching). I sat on the birth ball, both of us flipping through books investigating the water…at one point, I leaned over and I said ‘This is it.” Jon quite confused, looking down at a page describing third stage labor thought, this isn’t it. “No, not that, this is the water, get a towel, QUICK!” We still laugh when thinking back about him rushing for towels – needless to say, when the waters break – YOU KNOW IT!

Not wanting to rush things, I thought we should finish packing our hospital things, have breakfast, shower and then see how things were progressing. The fact that I could think that rationally signaled to both of us that the delivery was a long way off. After several hours we decided to contact our OB and let him know how things were going. We both expected him to agree with our plan to continue laboring at home until things progressed. Unfortunately, our call was met with the news that our OB (who is a solo practitioner) was off and we’d be working with the on-call doctor. The on call doctor wanted us to come to the hospital immediately. This first action was a premonition of our relationship with him through our birth story. We decided to continue laboring at home until contractions seemed to increase in intensity and we thought we might be moving into first stage.

We arrived at the hospital around 10:00am. Upon exam, I was only 2cm dilated, the baby was at -1 station and my cervix was very thin. Because my membranes had ruptured prematurely the doctor immediately began discussing the need for pitocin and a speedy delivery to prevent infection. My husband and I both reiterated that we planned for an unmedicated birth and didn’t want pitocin unless it was absolutely necessary. Reluctantly he agreed to let us labor for an hour and then follow-up with us. To our surprise, the doctor didn’t come back for almost two hours. Unfortunately, my contractions had all but subsided (which is fairly common due to the adrenalin rush in relocating during labor). The doctor again reiterated the risk of infection and the 24 hour requirement for delivery and very reluctantly we agreed to the pitocin. As you typically hear with pitocin, the next ½ hour my labor was all over the place: multi-peak contractions, discomfort and then the determination that the pitocin wasn’t doing well and they discontinued it. By this time my labor had begun to naturally progress and I was able to get up and move around again.

5pm marked the shift change at the hospital and also a major change in my labor’s progress. A new nurse arrived (who chose us because the nurses’ board noted that we were a Bradley Couple). She was very positive about our labor. Upon examination I was 4cm dilated, which was really discouraging. The nurse encouraged us to move around and try alternative positions. I spent about an hour in the shower (the most relaxing part of my labor,) sat on the birth ball, rocked in a rocker and tried just about every alternative position she could offer. Around 6:30pm I felt overwhelmingly nauseous and vomited. I still have no idea how Jon managed to be one step ahead of me, tossing a pan under my mouth and somehow pulling the cord for the nurse all in the same moment. [Now I realize that like most women, I spent transition on the toilet.] The nurse thought this whole episode was a good sign as to my labor’s progression and wanted to have another vaginal exam to measure my progress. I was 7cm but it was only minutes later I was telling her I needed to push. When she checked again I had in fact progressed only to 8cm but had an overwhelming urge to push. I never imagined how strong your urge to push really was and how difficult (practically impossible) it is to resist. I could not push at 8cm for risk of my cervix and Jon had to really help me not push. He even got into the bed beside me and was breathing in my ear to help me stay focused. After what seemed like forever they were willing to check me again and I was 10cm – ready to deliver.

Pushing was more difficult than I expected; I didn’t really know when to push and it took a long time before I developed any sort of rhythm to effectively push. The real struggle was that my urge to push wasn’t as strong as it was when I had only been 8cm. The nurse provided great labor support and called the doctor in only as Noah was beginning to crown. Jon was thankful I hadn’t seen the doctor (or his instrument tray) enter the room. The doctor settled in and after another 15 mins of pushing the doctor told us that my perineum wasn’t fully stretching and I needed an episiotomy. In spite of our intentions not to have an episiotomy, 2 hours of pushing had weakened our resolve. Jon agreed but asked that the doctor perform a pressure episiotomy. Within seconds of the procedure our son was born.

The joy of seeing Noah for the first time was the most indescribable moment in my life. The complete satisfaction in knowing that we had done everything possible to ensure his health and safety through pregnancy, labor and delivery gave us a wonderful sense of accomplishment. The whole birth gave me immense respect and admiration for my husband (and wonderful birth coach) who with knowledge, strength, and wisdom advocated for our birth plan from start to finish. It was truly a Joy Filled Birth!