Because of the pressure for multiple reasons to have him early I was busy trying all of the labor inducing tricks I heard of. From essential oils to pumping to long bumpy car rides (honestly I would say for me the the long car ride helped the most.) The day after the long bumpy car ride I started having contractions. They started around 7 on Saturday night. This was actually my due date, October 4th. They were not super strong, but they were staying about 15 minutes apart. Will was at work so I let him know what I was feeling. After they lasted for a couple hours I called our doula and let her know I didn't think I was close as all, but I did think I was in labor. For the rest of the night the contractions stated about 10 - 15 minutes and got a little stronger.
I decided that morning I needed to have my mom come and get the babies. I believe it should also be noted that our house was a disaster because 2 days prior we had learned the we had a rotted sewer pipe in the foundation on our home, so the had to jackhammer and replace the pipe in the floor of our pantry and the kid's room. Great thing to have happen two days before your due date.
So back to the story, my mom comes to pick up Penny and Ben and I continue to labor. Now on Sunday the contractions start to slow and get less painful, I even begin to question if I am actually in labor. My doula comes over and we work on some positions. She also had me doing some curb walking, which is just walking around outside one foot one the sidewalk, one foot off. This is actually much harder than it sounds. It helps get baby down. After she left labor gets back on track. So now I was sitting on my birth ball, walking, and trying to relax.
We tried to go to bed, but by that time contractions are getting worse and coming faster. So I am in and out of the shower and trying to lay down. Around 12 they are about 4 minutes apart and very strong. I found I really liked to labor in the glider in Penny and Ben's room. Will has been intouch with our doula this whole time.
Around 1 or 2 I lose all sense of time. I know my doula came over at some point and we labored at home a bit longer. During this time I thought I was pretty far along because I was shaking and even threw up, which tend to be signs of transition. So we decided to go to the hospital.
The hospital was about 30 minutes away because of the change in providers, so I somehow managed to get in the back of the van to go. I do remember that on the way over we got stopped by a train where I had never been stopped by a train before (of course.) So we get to the hospital and the ER people panicky and take me on what seemed like a very bumpy ride to the labor and delivery floor.
Once there I was hooked up to the monitor. My doula had to hold the monitor on my stomach the whole time to keep his heart beat. Those monitors do not work well for me and Judah! Then they came in to check me. I was really unhappy to hear that I was only a 3. I thought I was going to be so much further along. So Will and I talked about it, then we asked the doula what she thought. We decided I would go home and try to labor longer at home. I knew that if we stayed at the hospital I would have to have that monitor on me all the time. Meaning it would have to be held on me all the time. I was going to have internal monitoring, but my water needed to be broken for that, the Dr had a meeting and said he would not break my water until after his meeting was over around 8. So that meant for 3 hours I would not be able to move and someone would have to hold that monitor on my stomach. None of that sounded appealing to me. So I told the hospital staff we were going to head home. The Dr found us and told us that he thought that was a bad idea. I explained my choice to him. He then proceeded to tell me that his heart rate had a slight dip once (one the monitor that needed to be held on) so my baby might die if I went home. Looking back I am really angry that was said, because it isn't fair. I really don't think my babies life was in danger, I think the Dr drove to the hospitol at 4 O'Clock in the morning and didn't want it to be for nothing. Anyway, I decided to stay. It ended up not being a problem because on the walk to the room my water broke, so the monitoring issue was moot.
So I get hooked up to the monitors and settle into the hospital room and start the hard work of labor. I do a lot of side laying. I was even able to sleep between some contractions. I spent a lot of time on the birth ball. It felt really good to do hip circles and things between contractions. During this time the back labor was getting bad. I had some heat compresses and had Will or my doula apply pressure during the contractions.
I'm not sure on the timing of things, but I feel like I got to a 7 relatively quickly and 7 to 10 took a long time. During this time the back labor was almost unbearable. I actually asked my nurse when no one was around about pain medicine. She was wonderful and explained that the option I had since even then I did not was an epidural would only be able to help at a certain time and on certain contractions, so it was pretty easy to turn it down. During this time my doula encouraged me to push just a little if I felt the need, but not push too much. That helped a little. I did not want to move at this point. Everything hurt my back so much. Side laying and sitting on the edge on the bed with the bed almost straight up and with the end dropped off and the squat bar up were the only positions I wanted to be in, but my doula encouraged me to move a bit. I begrudgingly did from time to time.
Once there I was hooked up to the monitor. My doula had to hold the monitor on my stomach the whole time to keep his heart beat. Those monitors do not work well for me and Judah! Then they came in to check me. I was really unhappy to hear that I was only a 3. I thought I was going to be so much further along. So Will and I talked about it, then we asked the doula what she thought. We decided I would go home and try to labor longer at home. I knew that if we stayed at the hospital I would have to have that monitor on me all the time. Meaning it would have to be held on me all the time. I was going to have internal monitoring, but my water needed to be broken for that, the Dr had a meeting and said he would not break my water until after his meeting was over around 8. So that meant for 3 hours I would not be able to move and someone would have to hold that monitor on my stomach. None of that sounded appealing to me. So I told the hospital staff we were going to head home. The Dr found us and told us that he thought that was a bad idea. I explained my choice to him. He then proceeded to tell me that his heart rate had a slight dip once (one the monitor that needed to be held on) so my baby might die if I went home. Looking back I am really angry that was said, because it isn't fair. I really don't think my babies life was in danger, I think the Dr drove to the hospitol at 4 O'Clock in the morning and didn't want it to be for nothing. Anyway, I decided to stay. It ended up not being a problem because on the walk to the room my water broke, so the monitoring issue was moot.
So I get hooked up to the monitors and settle into the hospital room and start the hard work of labor. I do a lot of side laying. I was even able to sleep between some contractions. I spent a lot of time on the birth ball. It felt really good to do hip circles and things between contractions. During this time the back labor was getting bad. I had some heat compresses and had Will or my doula apply pressure during the contractions.
I'm not sure on the timing of things, but I feel like I got to a 7 relatively quickly and 7 to 10 took a long time. During this time the back labor was almost unbearable. I actually asked my nurse when no one was around about pain medicine. She was wonderful and explained that the option I had since even then I did not was an epidural would only be able to help at a certain time and on certain contractions, so it was pretty easy to turn it down. During this time my doula encouraged me to push just a little if I felt the need, but not push too much. That helped a little. I did not want to move at this point. Everything hurt my back so much. Side laying and sitting on the edge on the bed with the bed almost straight up and with the end dropped off and the squat bar up were the only positions I wanted to be in, but my doula encouraged me to move a bit. I begrudgingly did from time to time.
So I was checked and I got to a 10. I could now "officially" push. So I started pushing on the edge of the bed with a squat bar. This seemed to be working. My doula helped me and Will would help hold me up. We tried on all 4's on the bed. My midwife came on to check on my and also encouraged me to try other things. So I tried squatting on the floor holding onto the bed. I tried kneeling. I tried asymmetrical kneeling. I didn't seem to be getting anyway. At this time my midwife told me I should not be drinking and hooked me up to fluids.
Later the OB and my Midwife came in and told me they were concerned because I hadn't been making any progress and they were going to give me until 7 (I think, a certain amount of time anyway) to make some kind of progress or less I would need a C-section. So I tried so hard and pushed as hard as I could. Also in this time my doula needed to leave so her replacement came, who I was also very comfortable with. So she suggested I get on the floor on my back and push. This was actually the most comfortable thing for me because of the crazy intense back labor. During contractions Will would hold me up and the doula and a nurse would hold me feet and I would push. I gave it everything I had and push with all my strength. When the time had passed the OB came in and checked me. Even with all of that I still made no progress. He told me it was time to have a c-section.
I was oddly at peace with this. I had worked so hard, and I was very disappointed, but atleast I was going to meet my baby soon. I did know that I had tried everything in my power to have a good birth, and I was proud of the way it had happened up until this point. Will was more disappointed than I was. He was just as invested in this journey as I was and really wanted me to have the outcome I wanted. I would say the worst part of this was the hour or so between knowing I was going to have a c-section and having it. Those contractions were awful because I knew they were for no reason and I just had to deal with them. That sucked!
The c-section itself was just fine, then I heard Judah cry. No one can describe that feeling. At 7:48 on October 6th 2014, I gave birth to Judah Michael, a beautiful 8 lbs 5 oz 20" boy. We were able to have skin-to-skin right there in the in OR. It was not optimal, but it was important to me. I remember seeing him for the first time, I was amazed by the amount of hair he had. When we went into recovery the baby never left my side. We tried to latch him right away. We gave him his first bath and had very little intervention with the baby. We said no to the eye gunk but he did get his vitamin k injections. It was actually a very positive experience.
My recovery from this c-section was night and day from my last c-section. I was very aware and able to focus on the beautiful baby in front of me.
So if you made it through this post I think you may deserve a medal, but 48 hours of labor is a lot to write about. And this is way I can remember the wonderful day I met my baby for the first time.
Later the OB and my Midwife came in and told me they were concerned because I hadn't been making any progress and they were going to give me until 7 (I think, a certain amount of time anyway) to make some kind of progress or less I would need a C-section. So I tried so hard and pushed as hard as I could. Also in this time my doula needed to leave so her replacement came, who I was also very comfortable with. So she suggested I get on the floor on my back and push. This was actually the most comfortable thing for me because of the crazy intense back labor. During contractions Will would hold me up and the doula and a nurse would hold me feet and I would push. I gave it everything I had and push with all my strength. When the time had passed the OB came in and checked me. Even with all of that I still made no progress. He told me it was time to have a c-section.
I was oddly at peace with this. I had worked so hard, and I was very disappointed, but atleast I was going to meet my baby soon. I did know that I had tried everything in my power to have a good birth, and I was proud of the way it had happened up until this point. Will was more disappointed than I was. He was just as invested in this journey as I was and really wanted me to have the outcome I wanted. I would say the worst part of this was the hour or so between knowing I was going to have a c-section and having it. Those contractions were awful because I knew they were for no reason and I just had to deal with them. That sucked!
My recovery from this c-section was night and day from my last c-section. I was very aware and able to focus on the beautiful baby in front of me.
So if you made it through this post I think you may deserve a medal, but 48 hours of labor is a lot to write about. And this is way I can remember the wonderful day I met my baby for the first time.
What a sweet story! You are amazing! At the end of the day, you had you precious little one & that's all that matters!
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