Birth Story Part 2

Here is part 2 of my birth story. Warning - it is long with lots of photos.

By the time Amy and Jesse left at 8:30, some contractions were pretty intense and I kept feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom. We decided to go ahead and take Katherine to Madi’s house so that I could relax without worrying about her and if this were the real deal she would already be taken care of. We were so glad we took care of that early in the evening.

At about 9 I started calling my birth team and family. I told them that I *thought* I was in labor. I started timing contractions at about 8:45 and at that point they were all over the place. They were anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes long and they were coming anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes apart. I then decided to take a bath to see if the contractions would increase or decrease. I needed to be able to relax and do my hypnobabies as well. I thought that a bath would slow things down or at least allow me to relax. It was excruciating and I was in a lot of pain. The contractions were coming strong and frequently enough that I was not able to concentrate on my hypnobabies or relax at all.

At about 9:30, while still taking a bath, I threw up. I knew I was truly in labor. I moved to our room and labored between our bedroom and bathroom as I was trying to finish packing up our stuff. I had imagined this long drawn out labor with lots of time between contractions at the beginning so it was a bit of a rush to finish getting toiletries and stuff packed up.

At 10 I still did not have a consistent pattern to my contractions but I decided it was time to call my midwife, Lindsay to let her know what was going on. I had called everyone but her because I knew she would have to tell the OB and then I would officially be on the clock and pressured to come in. My plan had been to labor at home as long as possible. Little did I know how short of a time that would be. She had just finished another birth and since my pattern of contractions was still not regular she was going to go home for a little while to rest. She told me to call when I was ready to go to the hospital.

I continued to labor at home, never being able to relax enough to do my hypnobabies and never finding a comfortable position. I tried the birth ball but it literally felt like I was sitting on the baby’s head. I tried all fours and sitting on the toilet. That was actually the most comfortable. In hindsight, it was because I was already in transition and the baby’s head really was right there. At 11 I threw up again and told Sam that it was time to go to the hospital. We called Lindsay to tell her to meet us there. When I told her I threw up again, I asked her if that meant I was in transition. She said that it could happen at any time so it is hard to know where I was in my labor. I told Sam that I felt like I needed to push. He said he was scared that I was right and we were not going to make it and skeptical that I was wrong and would be disappointed when we got there. The last contraction that was at home I remember thinking that if I was not at least dilated to 7cm that I was going to get an epidural ASAP because I could not imagine it getting worse.

In the car I had 3-4 big contractions. For all of them I knew that I felt the head and felt like I needed to push. We have a friend in our community group who works in ER at the hospital and lives in our neighborhood. I remember thinking that I wish we had called him to ride with us to the hospital in case I had to deliver by the side of the road. Little did I know how close we were to that happening.

I felt like we were going to the hospital so slowly and would never get there. I tried to listen to my hypnobabies scripts but after about 5 minutes I decided that it was the most annoying thing I had ever heard and took off my headphones. When we arrived at the hospital (probably in only 15-20 minutes) I was having a contraction and had to stay in the car. We realized that I had no shoes. I told Sam to get them and he thought he heard me say I put them on. So, I walked into L&D “barefoot and pregnant”. I had another contraction in the foyer of the building on the way to L&D (only about 30 feet away from the car). I dropped to all fours because that was the most comfortable position. I told Sam to go ahead and run to the desk to tell them we were here. When the nurse came with the wheel chair I think she was a little surprised by what she saw. It was obvious that I was truly in labor so I got to skip the observation stage. She wheeled me straight to a delivery room. The wheelchair was so uncomfortable and at this point contractions were right on top of one another with almost no break between.

Because I was a VBAC and tested positive for Group B Strep, they wanted to hook me up to an IV to start antibiotic treatments. They also wanted to put the monitors on my to chart my contractions and the baby’s heartbeat. This usually takes at least 20 minutes. The nurse told me to go to the bathroom since it would be my last chance for a while and to put on the gown while I was there. When in the bathroom I knew there was no way I could put on the gown or the clothes I had brought to labor in either. That is why I am seen laboring in my A&M Football shirt. It is not that I am a big fan; it was one of the t-shirts that was still big enough to fit and what I had on when I left for the hospital. I told the nurse that I could not change and that I wanted them to check me because I felt ready to push. She looked at me with surprise and told me to get on the bed.

I was checked and the nurse told me that I was complete with no cervix and 2 station. This means that I was in fact ready to deliver a baby and start pushing. Because I was ready there was no need to give me the IV for antibiotics. They did hook up the fetal monitors but that was no big deal. She told me to try to wait until Lindsay arrived, as she was still about 5 minutes away. We arrived at the hospital at 11:45. At this point no one else on my birth team had arrived. They also did not have any of my pre-admittance on file so Sam had to fill out papers and give them information so that I could be in the system before I gave birth. Sundee, my photographer was the first to arrive followed by Lindsey who arrived shortly after midnight.

Faces of Labor

Lindsey checked me at 12:15 and my water had not broken yet so we decided to break it at the next contraction. At this point my contractions were every 1-3 minutes and were 30-60 seconds long. Lindsey said that as soon as she arrived she could tell that I was doing hypnobabies pushing which is a different style of pushing than most moms do during labor. So, when I asked her how long I pushed it was hard to define. It really helped me to relax through the contractions and move her down without actually “pushing”. At 12:35 my OB arrived, shortly after that my sister-in-law Shannon. Lindsay finally told me that she was crowning and I could really start to push. It is funny that one thing I was looking forward to was being able to push in any position I wanted. I imagined squatting or being on all fours. When it came to it, the contractions were so intense and close that there was no way I could imagine changing positions so I pushed and delivered in the classic OB friendly position of being on my back with my legs up. At least they were not in stirrups. They brought in a mirror so I could see her head. I had been “hypnobabies exhale pushing” but this is when I really started pushing in the traditional sense. I pushed through 4 very intense contractions and she was born! The time of birth was 12:42 am, just 42 minutes after her official due date.

She was immediately brought to my chest and was placed there skin to skin. She cried pretty well but was very purple at first. We rubbed her down to get her color pinker and they put an oxygen mask on for a few minutes. Her Apgar scores were 8 and 9 due to her color. The cord quit pulsing pretty quickly and Sam cut the cord.

It was such a different experience from Katherine’s birth where they showed her to me quickly and then took her out of sight for evaluation. The placenta was delivered pretty quickly and easily. We were all interested in it so Lindsey spent about 5 minutes showing us all of the characteristics of the placenta. It is pretty amazing how God designed our bodies to support the life of our baby in the womb. After a few minutes I thought to ask if anyone had actually checked that the baby was a girl. No one had so we checked and sure enough, we had a baby girl. She nursed pretty quickly and easily, which was fun.

I did not have an episiotomy but I had a second-degree natural tear. This is the depth of if they had done an episiotomy but since it was a natural tear it should heal better and quicker. After I was stitched up, my parents came in and then we announced the name, Caroline Marie. Both are family names. Caroline is the name of Sam’s great grandmother and Marie is my middle name, my grandmother’s middle name and my great grandmother’s first name.

So, from the first sign of labor until the time of delivery was exactly 12 hours. I had about 4 hours of active labor and 15 minutes of active pushing. This was surprising that my labor was so fast because even though I have another child, in the medical sense I was a first time mom since I did not labor at all with Katherine. There is actually a term for those with such quick labors – precipitous labor. A fast labor may be over quickly but it is very intense as you make the same amount to progress in a shorter amount of time. Luckily I had no idea that was what was happening and I have a pretty high pain threshold.

This delivery was everything I had hoped for in a VBAC. I was able to labor at home for as long as possible. I had a natural, drug free birth. Caroline was able to be on my chest immediately to nurse and bond. There were no antibiotics or IV’s required due to the speed. I had no unnecessary interventions. I was able to labor and deliver in any position.

Everyone on my birth team was present though my doula arrived right as Caroline was born. After delivery I commented to those there that I cannot believe that I could have easily signed up for a repeat c-section when it was such a non-event to have a vaginal delivery. After things calmed down and people went home, we were in the recovery room for quite awhile. They measured Caroline. She weighed 7 pounds and was 19 inches long, one pound heavier and ½ inch longer than her sister was. They had to take blood from her to test for Group B Strep since I was not able to have any of the antibiotics. If she were positive she would have antibiotics. If she were negative then we would do nothing. The blood draw was horrible. They could not get a vein and it took quite awhile. We were pretty sure she would not have it since my water did not break until about 30 minutes before delivery and she was only being pushed for 3-4 contractions.

It took forever for us to get into our room that night. Due to the fact that they had not processed my pre-admission (even though I turned it in last February) we had to fill out all kinds of papers after the fact. It is pretty humorous to fill out consent forms for the risks of a VBAC when you are holding your 3-hour-old baby on your chest. At about 4am the nurse told us that we had a flat tire. On the way to the hospital we both remember hitting something. Apparently over time it caused our tire to be flat. Luckily it had not been a blow out or I really would have delivered by the side of the road.

Birth Story - Part One

The birth of Caroline Marie was absolutely amazing. After Katherine was born via c-section due to being breech, I knew I wanted to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section) if at all possible. In my case I felt that a c-section was truly necessary, but I did not feel that it meant I would automatically have to repeat the experience. My OB from my pregnancy with Katherine said that if other babies were not breech I was an excellent candidate for a VBAC, he just does not do them. So, this entire pregnancy I did what I could to prepare for that. I did all kinds of research, switched from the previous OB to a midwife and I saw a chiropractor weekly, which specializes in maternity care.

Knowing that babies are full term at 37 weeks but often go to 42 weeks with no problem presents a frustrating dilemma for pregnant women – When will this baby arrive?!?! I am a planner and by nature not a very patient person so this was driving me crazy. I have been very blessed with both pregnancies to have a fairly easy time. I do not get very sick at the beginning, gain much weight by the end or have too many of the horrible pregnancy symptoms that can make life miserable. At the end though, heartburn flared up and I was not sleeping well. Add that to the exhaustion of taking care of Katherine and I was ready to give birth.

A week before my due date Katherine got sick with a stomach bug and I got a little bit of it as well. This was frustrating because I was so ready to have this baby but knew that this was not an ideal situation to labor so I actually prayed that I would not go into labor. After we were both well by Wednesday I was very anxious and ready to deliver as my due date was approaching.

Tuesday I had an appointment with my midwife, Lindsay. Everything looked great. Squeak was in perfect position with her head down, back to my front and engaged very deeply. I was dilated to 2 cm and 80% effaced. This was great news. I told Lindsay that after checking the call schedule, I decided that I wanted to go into labor on Friday since that was when both she and my OB were on call. I told her that I was praying for that day and trying to visualize my birth happening on that day. As I left, she said, “See you Friday Christy” and we laughed.

With Katherine we took a Bradley Method childbirth preparation class to prepare for a natural, unmedicated childbirth. This time I did not take another class but did additional preparation using Hypnobabies, which is hypnosis for childbirth. I had a friend who used it and my chiropractor is using it for her upcoming birth as well. Every day I would listen to Hypnobabies tracks on my ipod and practice my relaxation exercises to prepare. There were many people in the Hypnobabies yahoo group who had experienced totally pain free childbirth. I was skeptical about having this great of an experience but was hoping that it would really help me to be able to relax during labor and delivery and to cope with the pain of childbirth.

One thing that Hypnobabies includes is a “fear release” session. This is helpful to release any fears that you have relating to the delivery. I realized that my main fear was that I would not go into labor and I would end up with a c-section. I was trying to do everything I could to start labor. I even went as far to schedule a massage that is supposed to trigger contractions and labor. It was scheduled for Saturday so I never had it. As I was going through the fear release exercises, I realized that what I really needed to do was spend some serious time in prayer. I was trying to control the process when it is really God who is in control. I had to give up the timing to Him. I did pray very specifically and when I was done I felt so much more at peace about the timing of labor and my desire to control it. One verse that came to mind though I could not place the passage at the time was the idea that our days are numbered by God. We typically think of that in relation to the end of our life but our days are numbered from the beginning and He is in control of when life begins. I found the verse in Job 14:5. It says, “Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by you.”

On Friday I had appointment with my chiropractor Dr. Cindy. Squeak was still in perfect position. After our appointment, Katherine and I went to George and Shannon’s house for lunch and to play with the cousins. At about 1 when I went to the bathroom I had “bloody show” and lost my mucous plug. Shannon said for her that meant going into labor in the next 2 days. I was hopeful that it would mean the same for me. At the time I felt more crampy and had some feelings that I thought could be contractions. But since I did not have labor with Katherine I was not sure.

The rest of the afternoon was not eventful. I planned to come home and take a nap and then eat a healthy dinner. I thought that if I was going into labor I wanted to be as well rested as possible and I needed to have a good meal to prepare for the physical challenge of a long labor. I did take a nap and at 4:50 I was woken up by a contraction. It was really the first one that was uncomfortable and different than contractions I had previously experienced. While I was taking the nap, I was listening to one of my Hypnobabies CD's called "Baby Come Out" so maybe it was working.

Earlier in the day we had invited Jesse and Amy and their kids over for dinner. We figured that if we were not having a baby then we might as well have a fun evening with friends. By the time they came over at 6, I was pretty sure I was having labor contractions. They were uncomfortable but not painful and nothing that I could not continue to talk through. Luckily they are close friends so it was not too odd that I was beginning labor while they were here. I was not able to eat much because I felt pretty sick to my stomach. I felt bad that we were not able to really have great conversation but of course they understood. I was not able to time contractions or begin my hypnobabies practice.

To Be Continued . . .

A week ago...

At this time last week I was in pretty much pain, in the throes of labor, about to leave for the hospital. My project for the week has been to write out my birth story. It has taken longer than I thought to process the event and write it out. I promise it will be posted by the end of the weekend. I almost have it written and now I am going through photos. Sundee took 512 photos at the hospital and has been busy editing and uploading all week. I now have 225 of the best to sort through and decide what to post on the blog. They are all so precious to me but I know that some are more of me than many of you will want to see plus only a few of you would want to look through all of them.

Since I have so many photos and such a long birth story, I thought I would post a "cliff notes" highlight version tonight. Later this weekend I will post the full story with pictures.

Looking pretty miserable during a contraction.

Friday July 18th - my due date
1:00 pm - My first sign of labor being in the near future was losing my mucous plug and having "bloody show" (sorry if that is TMI)
4:50 pm - First contraction that was strong, painful, and obviously not Braxton Hicks in nature. It woke me up from a nap.
6:00 - 8:30 pm - Jesse, Amy and kids came over for dinner. During this time the contractions got stronger. I was still able to be social but decreasingly so as the evening went on.
8:30-9:15 pm - I began timing contractions with no pattern established. I called my birth team to alert them that I was pretty sure I was in labor.
9:15 pm - I took a bath to try to see if labor would slow down. Instead it increased and I threw up.
9:45-11 pm - I labored in our bedroom and bathroom while trying to finish packing hospital bags. Still no steady pattern as far as length of contractions or time between them. I could not get comfortable in any position and felt like the head was very low. I called my midwife at 10.
11 pm - I threw up again. I start to feel the urge to push and tell Sam that we really need to go to the hospital. We pack up the car, make calls and drive to the hospital.
11:45 pm - Arrive at the hospital. Have one contraction on all fours in the foyer of the hospital. I am sure that looked pretty funny, especially since I forgot to put on shoes when we left the house.
11:50 pm - I am checked by the nurse and found to be complete - 10 cm dilated, 100% effaced, 2 station. They tell me to wait to push if possible so that my midwife can arrive.
Saturday, July 19th
12:04 am - My midwife arrives.
12:18 am - They break my water.
12:35 am - My OB arrives followed by my sister in law.
I push through 3-4 contractions.
12:42 am - Caroline is born.
12:44 am - My doula arrives.

Feeling much better, holding Caroline!

So, from the first sign of possible labor to the birth was almost exactly 12 hours. From first contraction to birth was 8 hours. What I would call "active" labor was about 4 hours and I pushed only 3-4 times. Not technically defined as "precipitous labor" but almost. Pretty quick for someone who was considered a first time mom by the medical community due to my first birth being a c-section with no labor.

Because it was so fast, I had none of the interventions that I was trying to avoid. I had no IV antibiotics, not even a Hep Lock. I had no drugs at all. I am so glad that I decided not to have a repeat c-section but to have a VBAC. The experience was so different and the recovery has been so easy compared to last time.