WARNING - This is VERY long and detailed, but I wanted to write it all down so I would not forget it. Some of this might be TMI for some.
I was a week overdue. I had been having somewhat regular contractions off and on throughout the week, but not anything that was uncomfortable. So when I started having them again Thursday night (7/30), I did not think anything of them. I was due to have an ultrasound the next morning since I was a week overdue to make sure the baby was still doing fine. I had asked Jerrod’s parent’s to watch Julia for me that morning since I knew it was going to be a long appointment. They decided to just pick her up Thursday night and keep her overnight. That ended up being a REALLY good thing.
I stayed up until 11:00-11:30pm reading a book, occasionally having contractions. I did not even bother timing the contractions because I figured until they started to hurt; I did not need to worry about them. Besides, I figured they would just fizzle out once I fell asleep, like they did several other nights that week.
I was having a rough time staying asleep that night. I just could not get comfortable. I got up about 1:30am (7/31) to use the restroom and tried to go back to sleep, but I just could not get comfortable. At about 1:45am, I realized the reason I could not get comfortable was because I was having contractions that were uncomfortable! It was then I started to pay attention to them. I quickly realized that they were 5 minutes or less apart and were starting to hurt. I woke Jerrod up at 2am to tell him what was happening. The contractions continued to get stronger. At around 3am we decided that maybe we should start packing bags. By 3:30am, the contractions were really hurting and I decided to call the midwife, fill her in and discuss when we should head to the hospital. The midwife also tells me that my favorite midwife is coming on call at 7am (there are 3 midwives in the practice and the one on call delivers you) After talking to the midwife, I thought I would take a bath and see if that helped ease the pain of the contractions any. While I was in the tub, Jerrod went out to install the car seat base in the van. After about 20 minutes in the tub, I realized that it was not helping any and the contractions were just getting stronger. That is when I decided that I should probably shower so we could head to the hospital soon. While in the shower the contractions were coming faster and faster and were getting pretty intense. I also noticed that I was having a LOT of pain in my back with each contraction, something I never had with Julia. I remember thinking that back pain with contractions was a sign that the baby was sunny-side up, but did not think too much about it. After all, I had a quick ultrasound the week before to confirm that Jude was indeed still head down and they did not say anything about him facing the wrong way them.
About the time I was finishing up in the shower, Jerrod popped his head in and said that I needed to hurry up. I guess he was noticing how close together the contractions were getting and just how much pain I was having with each one. We left for the hospital about 4:30am. The contractions were about 2 minutes apart at that time.
The care ride to the hospital was rough. The sitting position made the contractions hurt worse and the bumpy roads from construction was just adding to my misery. Jerrod, in an act of just not thinking, did not drop me off at the front door, but just drove into the parking garage. I did not bother saying anything, because at this point I was dealing with the contractions okay. The walk from the parking garage to the front door was a long one. I had several contractions on the way. We had to stop with each one and I had to hold onto Jerrod to get through them. Jerrod thought we would never make it to the front door. I think this is when he realized he should have dropped me off at the front door.
We finally get to the front doors and they are LOCKED!! I guess they keep the doors locked at nighttime. So we had to push the button to call security. The call did not go through the first time. By the second call, I was in the middle of another contraction and Jerrod was trying to explain to security that they needed to open the doors and let us in. He told them that he was on his way to the maternity floor. They asked him if he was visiting someone (they are on speaker, so I can hear the conversation). He proceeds to tell them no, not visiting, trying to take his wife there. Security then asked if we had something scheduled on at the maternity center. At this point I yell to Jerrod “Tell them your wife is in labor!!”. He tells them this and instead of opening the doors, they ask if we need someone to bring a wheelchair. At this point I am getting really upset and yell “NO! Just have them open the doors!!”. Jerrod relays this to them and the doors finally open!
We make our way to the elevators and up to the maternity floor. Of course, I have a contraction in the elevator and Jerrod has to hold the door open once we get to our floor until my contraction passes enough for me to walk again.
Once on the maternity floor, we have to be buzzed into the actual maternity center. We walk up to the front counter and the nurse asks us if we are here for something scheduled. Why is it that nobody thinks that I am in labor???? I proceed to tell them that nope, nothing scheduled, I am in labor! That got a reaction out of her! She quickly sends me back to triage and I am hit with another contraction as soon as we walk in. I could see the reaction of all the nurses at the nursing station while I was going through the contraction. You could see them take notice that I really was in labor. Our triage nurse quickly comes in and luckily the midwife had called them and let them know I was coming, so they had a lot of the paperwork ready for me. I sign a few forms, they take my insurance card, etc… I proceed to have one or two contractions while all this is going on. The triage nurse says something about me sounding like I am pretty good active labor and quickly ushers us to a room. She offers me a wheelchair, which I decline. Just a few steps outside triage I am hit with another contraction and have to stop and lean on Jerrod to get through it. The nurse once again wants to get me a wheelchair. I was in too much pain to say anything at that point, but luckily Jerrod spoke up and talk her that I really wanted to walk. After the contraction passes I try to explain that sitting just makes them hurt worse.
Once we get to the room, I have two nurses working on me (I think it was a slow night there). One is trying to take vitals and hook me up to all the monitors and the other is trying to take some blood. I was also asked if I minded if some nursing students sat in and watched. I figured you don’t have much modesty at birth anyway, so why not! She then tells me that they are male students. I take a second to think about it and realize that I just don’t care. My birth experience might as well help someone else. At 5:30am I finally get checked for the first time. Unfortunately, I was only 1cm dilated. I was so disappointed. I was envisioning another 3 day labor. The contractions were so close together and so intense, I just could not believe I was only at 1 cm. The midwife did say though that I was completely thinned out. She did not seemed discouraged, so I tried not to be either. For the next hour the contractions are coming every 2 minutes, are really intense and making me seriously think about some sort of pain meds. I also was occasionally vomiting and shaking. The monitor straps were making the contractions worse, as was lying in bed. I kept asking if they could take the monitors off and if I could get into the big Jacuzzi tub. The nurse kept saying that they just needed a bit more baseline on the monitors and that I was not allowed in the tub until I was closer to 6-7cm! Grrrrr…. At 6:30am the midwife comes back to check me again, at this point I am about 5cm!! I cannot believe I dilated that much in an hour!! At that point I ask if I can have something to take the edge off the contractions some. I also ask to be taken off the monitors so I can more around, and ask to get into the tub. I do get a shot of Newbane, which apparently makes you somewhat dizzy, so they made me stay in the bed for a little bit. The Newbane did not make the contractions go away, but it did lessen them some so I could handle them better.
At this time the midwife on call, Kim, tells me that she is not going to break my water because she knows how much I really want Pam, the midwife that helped me through my miscarriages, to be there for the birth. I found out later that Pam had given orders to the other midwives that she was to be called if I went into labor while they were on call. She was going to deliver my baby regardless if she was on call. So Kim called Pam and told her that she better hurry up and get to the hospital if she wants to be there for the birth! Kim knew if she broke my water my labor would only speed up!
For the next half hour or so (time starts to get fuzzy at this point) I just try to deal with the contractions. Pam soon shows up and I am finally allowed to get into the tub. Sometime shortly after Pam arrives she starts taking about how we need to get the baby to flip over. That is when I realized that this baby was indeed sunny-side up. After about 15-20 minutes in the tub, Pam wants to check me and check the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler. I am about 7cm at this point, but they cannot find the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler, so I need to get out of the tub so they can try better. I step out of the tub and they find the heartbeat right away.
At this point the contractions were right on top of each other, I had a hard time catching my breath from them and the pain was so bad and intense that what all happened after this was a bit fuzzy. I do remember Pam having me sit on the toilet to try to get the baby to rotate. At one point right after a contraction I felt a big pain and cried out some. Everyone assumed it was just another contraction, but I told Pam that it was not a contraction, but the baby. She figured it was the baby finally flipping into the correct position. I was moved back into the bed shortly after this. The nurse was pressing the monitor on my belly so they could hear the baby’s heartbeat. I kept telling her to stop pressing so hard because it was making the contractions hurt even worse (as if that was possible).
Pam decided to break my water at this time. When she broke it, so little fluid came out that she was not even positive she even broke it. She also thought that there might be meconium in it and asked that respiratory be called. This scared me a little. She also noted that I was 8-9cm and said that the head was right there. She thought that she could actually slide the remaining cervix out of the way during the next contraction. She had me push a little with the next contraction while she moved the rest of the cervix out of the way. Now THAT was uncomfortable!
At this point the pain was getting unbearable and I was really starting to regret not getting an epidural. During the contractions I would say things like “Son of a Gun that hurts” and “Holy Freak that is painful”. I think everyone in the room was laughing at me at that point, because even though I was in some serious pain, I would not actually cuss. One or two people even told me that it really was okay just to cuss, that I was in enough pain that it was allowed. Pam said that I could start pushing and that with a couple good pushes, he would be out. Kim was also still there, so Jerrod was able to hold my hand and did not have to hold my leg up this time. They kept trying to push my legs back and trying to get me to hold the back of my legs; I kept telling (okay, maybe yelling) that it was making things hurt even worse. I remember starting to scream some because of the pain and the midwives kept telling me to stop yelling and just push. I pushed mainly because it was the only way to keep from screaming. I pushed the best I could with as much pain as I was in. At this point I was telling them that it just hurt too much and I could not do it. They said it hurt so badly because he was crowning and I just needed to push him out. After another push or two, they said to stop pushing and I could see them working down there with some tubing. I asked if they were going to use the vacuum. Pam kind of chucked and said the head was out and that they were just suctioning out the baby (since there was meconium, they needed to suction out the lungs before he took his first breath). She then had me give another push to get the shoulders and rest of the body out. Within a few seconds Jude was placed on my chest. WOW, three pushes was all it took to get him out!
Nothing ever felt so good as having that pain finally stop and having Jude on my chest. The nurses and the respiratory dr. were all working on Jude some while he laid on my chest, but most of them quickly went away. He was not really crying and his hands and feet were pretty blue and I had to ask if he was okay. They assured me that he was just fine. This is when I finally looked him over really well. His face was what I noticed first, it was covered in bruises. He had a big bruise on his cheek and another on his nose and upper lip. It was also starting to swell. I asked why he was so bruised and they said it was because he was born so fast. I have to wonder if some of it might have been from being sunny-side up until almost delivery. I also saw that his head was not cone-shaped like most babies are right after a vaginal delivery, but it was round. Once again I was told this is because he delivered so fast that his head was not in the birth canal long enough to turn into a cone head. He looked pretty bald, but what hair he did have looked blond. After looking him over, I could not believe how skinny he was. Even my midwife said how he looked much small than she was expecting. Pam asked if I wanted the cord clamped now and I told her that no, it was fine yet. Pam did a few other things and I was just looking over Jude. She finally said that the cord had stopped pulsing and clamped it off. They asked Jerrod if he wanted to cut the cord, which of course he did. Once the cord was cut the nurses asked if I wanted them to take Jude now to weigh him and such. I told them “No, I am going to be selfish for a bit and keep him”. They seemed fine with that. This is when Pam said she was going to have to press hard on my belly to help my uterus clamp down since I did not have pitocin. It was painful, but nothing I could not handle after the level of pain I just went through. The placenta was delivered shortly after that. I asked Pam if I had tore any and she said she did not think so, but once she examined me more closely, she said I had a minor tear in the exact some spot I tore with Julia. It was minor, but required a couple of stitches. It was weird because I barely felt the needle at all. I guess I was just numb to any minor pain at that point. Since I am fascinated with all things medical, I asked Pam to see the placenta when she was checking it over. It was pretty neat to see.
Shortly after this, Jerrod was getting really antsy to see how much he weighed, so I finally handed Jude off to the nurse so she could take his measurements. He weighed 9 pounds even, and was 22 inches long. Still a fairly big baby, but his long length made him look skinny.
This is about when I realize that the nursing students were still in the room. I asked them if that was more than they really wanted to see. One of them was a father and said I did a lot better and screamed a whole lot less than his wife did during labor. The other said that this was the very first birth he had ever seen and was amazed! He and his wife were trying to have a baby, so this was really special for him to see. While the other nursing student left shortly after, this one stayed all day and was constantly checking up on me making sure I had everything I needed. He even asked to interview me for a paper! You could tell that the birth experience really made an impression on him. I was really glad I agreed to let them watch. My nurse even thanked me later for allowing them to watch. According to her, I was the first person to allow them in. I guess mothers are just not comfortable with other men watching them through the labor process. Pam later confessed that she is very protective of her mothers and normally would not allow extra people in the delivery room, but since I ok’d it, she allowed them to stay.
I did apologize later to Pam for any yelling I might have done at her during delivery. She said I did just great and she was proud of me. I was still a bit embarrassed about the yelling, because she was only there to help me and it is not in my nature to yell at people. Pam also said I would have been induced that day anyway. I had so little amino fluid that the ultrasound I was scheduled for that day would have picked up on that and I would have been sent directly to the hospital to be induced!
Afterwards, Jerrod told me I about brought him to his knees in pain because I was squeezing his hand so tight during delivery. Oops! I remember holding his hand and not wanting to let go even when the midwives told me to so I could grab my legs. It was like he was the link keeping me from being completely overwhelmed by pain.
Jude nursed great right off the bat and when the lactation consultant came in later that day to see if I needed any help, she saw how well nursing was going and told me I needed to join La Leche League and show other women how to do it. She said I was a pro at it and did not need her help. I guess it helps that I had done it before.
Jude did end up getting jaundice, but they still let us go home about 26 hours after birth. The nurses were a bit surprised by this, but I really pushed for it. I knew we would all just be more comfortable at home.
Overall, even though Jude’s birth was VERY painful, because of not getting the epidural, it went fast and I was proud afterwards that I was able to do it.
