Her Birth Story

Well here we are two weeks postpartum and I’m finally getting around to sitting down and writing the obligatory birth story of our daughter.  Due to anonymity for this blog, I can’t tell you her name but on here she will go by a name that was on our list of possibilities at one point.  On October 20th, 2015 at 9:23 pm we welcomed a 7lb 4oz baby girl you shall know as Cora.

Like you, I’ve read a million birth stories.  Most of them scared the crap out of me and half of them I didn’t read to the end out of fear.  It seems some mothers want to out do the next mother on how horrible their birth experience was.  I can’t say mine was horrible.  I would do that day over and over again instead of the 9 months of pregnancy.  There, I said it.  In fact, I think we had a great experience.  Here is the nice long story.  How is there no way to shorten these things?:)

Due to the fact that we spent my whole pregnancy worried about Cora’s size, I was scheduled to be induced on my due date of October 20th.  I was more than ready and at that moment I was sitting at 3cm and 80% effaced but still had yet to have any contractions.  I couldn’t sleep the night before, not that I had been anyways, and got up at 11:45 to stuff my face full of food as I was not supposed to have anything after midnight.  I was seriously more worried about this no food situation than anything else.

By 5am we were on the road and heading in to the hospital with our bags that had been packed for weeks.  It was a bit surreal as I had been worried about this drive and whether or not my husband would be around or if I would be laboring in the truck or whatever else my brain could come up with.  Instead we were just taking a trip into the hospital, him stopping at the gas station for a few energy drinks, and then us taking a selfie in the hospital parking lot.  We went to the second floor, where we were escorted by what would be our first nurse, into my room.   I proceeded with the strip down to the hospital gear, answered a million questions, signed a bunch of legal jumbo, and turned on the morning news.  A Pitocin drip was started by 7am and we were set free to roam the hallways with a rolling IV stand.  So hallway walking we did.  We roamed with the other couples, giving the full laboring ones space.  We took a picture of the sunrise in front of the window and I waited for something magical to start.  It did not.  My nurse eventually fetched us so my doctor could come break my water around 9:30am.

Let me just say, the breaking of the water, gross.  Flood.

After 20 minutes, I was free to roam the halls again.  That is where the contractions started and my brain went to what I know best, yoga breathing.  We walked, I stopped for contractions, breathed, we walked.  Eventually, the walking became too much as I didn’t have much of a break, if any, in between contractions, so we went back to my room.  I was fine standing and laboring for quite some time.  I heard the nurses whispering with my husband but I was so focused, I didn’t know what they were talking about.  At one point I was told I could sit in the recliner which sounded nice but proved awful and I suddenly realized I just couldn’t keep up with my contractions.  I wasn’t getting a break it seemed and therefore, I couldn’t catch my breath at all.  Someone finally said I could get my epidural, the lovely man was in the room next door and I said yes.  The 15 minutes waiting for that amazing man to walk into my room was the worst 15 minutes of my entire labor.  Come to find out, that whispering everyone was doing, was because I was having rolling contractions with no break in between and it was wearing me down fast.  Also, not normal.

So the great drug man came in and unfortunately my husband and the nurse had to hold me down, as you aren’t suppose to move for this damn epidural business and my contractions were intense.  There was some cussing and my husband would later tell me how huge the needle was but I didn’t care.  I wanted all the drugs and maybe some rum too.  10 minutes later I was in heaven and wondering why everyone doesn’t just have themselves an epidural a day!

At that moment I was 6 cm and we settled in with a new nurse for the afternoon.

This is where I sound like a dork but we seriously had a really lovely afternoon.  We watched a Sex and the City marathon, took naps, ate jello and drank more Sierra Mist than I ever have in my life.  This is where the baby started to have problems and wasn’t digging the whole labor portion of this.  Her heart rate would decline and a million other doctors and nurses would come flying in to help my nurse out.  I was moved from one side to the other and sometimes to all fours, which is a treat when you can’t feel your legs.  Sometimes I got a lovely oxygen mask to match.  Her heart rate would always come back up and honestly, I never panicked.  Our hospital team was so amazing.  Turns out the whole reason she wasn’t tolerating a lot was how her cord was wrapped around her chest.

My doctor was in and out most of the day to chat and check my progress.  She finally came back in about 7:00pm and decided I could start pushing.  Yay!

I pushed for a little over two hours with just my nurse, doctor and husband with me.  In between contractions we talked about our fur babies, wine, the upcoming Holiday’s, and everything in between.  It made things stay that much calmer in the room and helped me keep my energy level up for pushing.  (Pushing is no joke, it is a damn workout!)  Eventually my doctor broke down the bed and said we were about to have our baby here.  She called for a baby nurse to come in but there were 7 other women pushing at the same time on the floor and we were told one would be sent shortly.  However, one would not make it in time.  The last ten minutes of pushing I just let my body do what felt right and the next thing I know she was put up on my chest, wide eyed and flailing.  A baby nurse walked in a few minutes later wondering what happened so fast.

There were a lot of tears as this stranger, who looked nothing like what I anticipated, sat squirming away.  Eventually she had to be passed to my husband while they cleaned up my business. (Second degree tear apparently.)  I got to watch for the first time as he held a baby and gave her a bottle.  They both settled right in and for the first time in 9 months he really got to understand what I have been feeling.

It was all love at first sight.

Eventually we let in our parents, my Grandmother and sister to see the baby for a quick moment.  After we kicked them out I had some problems with feeling dizzy and nauseous so it wasn’t until 1am  before they took us to our room.  It was the oddest feeling to have the nurse finally close the door behind her and then there we were, me, my husband and a baby, in the dark and quiet room.  She was here.  Finally.  Just like that.  And since then, it has been nothing but perfect.