First of all, the blogging world must be mostly for women, because I can't imagine a man seeing the title of this post and wanting to read it. But some of us girls out there like to read about birthing...like myself. So here is the story of my little Nathan's birth.
I was completely planning on having Nathan the way I had David--no medication, quick labor, quick delivery. In fact, a lot of people say that the second time you give birth the labor goes faster. I labored for roughly 12 hours with David and pushed him out in a couple of contractions. So my mindset was that this time round it would be the same only faster and maybe more intense pain because things wouldn't take as long. I was SO wrong!
So a few days before I started feeling contractions Brian and I had been practicing deep, relaxed breathing. We felt confident that things would work out well for our natural birth. We called the hospital and discovered they had a nice big spa tub that you could get in to control the pain. We made sure our doctor was on board and that she knew of our plans.
Nathan was born Monday morning. The Friday before that day, early in the morning I started feeling labor pains. The contractions were deep and intense and I knew they were more than Braxton Hicks. I timed them while I lay in bed. They were coming every ten minutes apart. I woke Brian up and told him that we would probably have the baby that day. I started feeling contractions early in the morning with David and had him by 8:00 that night. So I thought I would have my baby by nightfall that day!
So Brian and I got up and packed our bags. As we got moving I noticed my contractions were getting further apart. They were still very painful when they hit, but they were very infrequent. I knew I needed to labor at home as long as possible because I wanted to avoid medication at the hospital. Our plan was to wait until the contractions got closer together to go to the hospital. We went on with our day, and to my surprise the contractions kept getting further apart, until they were happening maybe once an hour.
Fast forward to Friday evening. My contractions picked up again. It seemed that especially when I laid down on my side they would get more intense and frequent. I had been experiencing really deep back pain with every contraction which made me think he must have been posterior (facing the wrong way). All through the night I labored, but contractions were still a good ten minutes apart. Early Saturday morning, after a hard night of not sleeping and contracting, I called the doctor's office. Sadly, my doctor was not on call that weekend. The doctor that was on call told us to wait until the contractions were five minutes apart and lasted 30-45 seconds. Well I already knew that and wasn't about to go to the hospital to be sent home. The doctor did say that if we were worried we could go to the hospital and they could see how dilated I was.
Saturday was pretty miserable because my contractions weren't very frequent but persisted all day. Finally that night we called Brian's mom to come stay with David. We decided we needed to go to the hospital. At this point I was totally exhausted and hoping that they would strip my membranes or break my water to get things going. It was about midnight when we got to the hospital. They let us know that I was dilated 4 cm. That was about how far I was when they admitted me with David so I thought I would be admitted. They watched the monitor for about an hour. Before going in my contractions were a steady 8 minutes apart and of course the one hour they monitored me I had maybe three contractions. The doctor on call said to send us home. They didn't even tell us to walk around! I asked why they couldn't break my water or something (I was so miserable!) and they said that the doctor on call would not do anything to put me in to aggressive labor because she wasn't my actual doctor. Grrr. So, even though I thought I would never be the person that gets sent home from the hospital, we were sent home! At this point it was early morning. That made for our second sleepless night. Sunday morning we had David go to church with Brian's parents and we tried to get some much needed rest. Again I felt horrible during the day but managed the pain fairly well (thanks to some coaching on Brian's part). At this point I was sure the baby was posterior because of how much back pain I had, and because labor was going so slowly. Every time I laid down on my side I could feel him moving and my contractions got closer together.
Sunday night was difficult. I took a few hot baths and tried to relax. We went on a walk at a very, very slow pace. We put David to bed. I decided to call the doctor again. I told her I was in so much pain and was so exhausted. Again she asked how far apart the contractions were. I told her sometimes six minutes, sometimes 15 minutes. She pretty much said the same thing as last time. I just couldn't convince her to let them break my water! I knew my doctor would be back on shift at 7:00 Monday morning. At this point it was about midnight so I told myself just to wait a few more hours and I could get my doctor to help my labor progress more rapidly. I was so sure if I could just get my water broke my body would have the baby quickly.
Well I didn't get far in to the night on Sunday before I told Brian that enough was enough. We were going back to the hospital and I didn't care how far apart my contractions were. I was in so much pain I was beginning to shake really bad. Again we phoned Brian's mom and had her come over. We got to the hospital at about 1:00 in the morning. They checked me and I was dilated 6 cm. It didn't matter how far apart my contractions were, at this far dilated they had to admit me. I was so relieved. My contractions were still not very consistent. I wanted to make sure the baby's heart rate was looking normal just because of how long I had been in labor. The monitor read that he was handling them very well.
So we were going in to our third night of no sleep. I was so exhausted and was shaking really badly at this point. I asked if the epidural always included pitocin. They said no not at all, only if labor stops. I asked if they use a shot of local anesthesia before putting the epidural catheter in. They said that they do. Then they asked if I wanted one. It was a hard decision for about half a second. I knew I needed help. My labor had been way to long. I was too exhausted to finish it out on my own will power. So I went for it!
The anesthesiologist came in at about 2 in the morning. I stayed calm. They told Brian to leave. They instructed me on what to do. I listened closely and did what they told me. It was a breeze. It really was. Not that painful. I thought it would hurt worse then it did. I remember before the epidural I was feeling very cold and was shaking pretty violently. About ten minutes of having it put in, I felt warm and stopped shaking completely. I also thought I wouldn't be able to move at all with the epidural in. Turns out you can move quite well, or at least enough to move on to your side, etc. I laid down on my side and shut my eyes. Brian also tried to get some sleep. And sure enough, after that epidural got put in, my contractions started coming regularly.
They gave me the button to push during my labor to keep my bottom half numb. I knew right away that I wouldn't be pushing the button. I wasn't feeling anything and I thought that even if all the epidural did was take the edge of I was fine with it. So I disregarded the button and was actually hoping that when it came time to push I would feel some pain to help with the whole process.
By about 5:00 in the morning I was completely dilated. I felt like I was ready to push and was feeling a little pressure. Again I didn't push the button and was glad the epidural seemed to be losing its strength.
Remember my doctor would be on shift at 7:00. The nurse made a comment that went something like "I wish we could get your doctor here for you but I don't think you'll wait that long." I agreed. I didn't think I could wait that long. So the nurse said she would call the doctor on call and let her know I was ready. Well after the nurse left we waited. And waited. And waited. I was getting pretty frustrated. She came back in at about 5:30 to announce that they were going to try and get my doctor there after all. Okay. So more waiting. My guess is the doctor on call didn't want to deliver me when she was in the final hour of her on-call shift. My doctor agreed to try and get there ASAP to deliver me. Again we were left alone. I turned to Brian and told him that I could have had the baby out already! We tried to stay and calm and relax. I thought that if I had chosen to go naturally there would be no stopping my pushing. But I guess when you get an epidural the nurses feel more comfortable just letting you lay there ready to push. I was pretty peeved. Oh and I was also right in the middle of the nurse shift change too which contributed to the delay.
Finally my doctor arrived. I can't remember when she got there but boy was I glad to see her! I remember another thing that bothered me is before my doctor arrived I asked the nurse if I could move on to my back or my other side. She laughed and said "I don't want you having a baby on me. Hold still until your doctor comes." So the whole staff knew that I had pushed David out in a few contractions so they thought it would be really easy to get this little guy out.
Nobody had yet to break my water even though I was about to push the baby out. My doctor was well aware of this and broke my water just before telling me to push. When I had David they broke it around 5 or 6 cm so this was a whole different experience. They put me in to a sitting/squat position and told me to start pushing. I'll quickly add that the baby had pooped in the womb just like David did. Small price to pay for having babies that are jaundice free. This meant that there were several nurses and doctors in the room. The docs had to make sure that Nathan didn't inhale his poop. They were all waiting for the baby to come. I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Nothing was happening! I was scared and started to think that I was in big trouble. In fact, my contractions had gone back to about 8 minutes apart. So everyone cleared out of the room except for one nurse who would notify them when she could actually feel the baby descending.
I felt like it would help to lay on my side again. I even asked if I could try pushing on my side. The nurse consented and my contractions became regular again. I was starting to tell when I had each contraction. I also was really feeling the urge to push, which was weird because I thought you couldn't feel that with the epidural. Brian helped stabilize my legs and I asked the one nurse in the room if I could push. She said "Go ahead and push if you feel like you need to." Okay. So I pushed some more. Well it didn't take long before that baby was crowing! And of course there were no doctors in the room! The nurse told me to wait (sound familiar?) while she got the doctor. Then the doctor had to get the other doctor because of the baby poop. By the time everyone got situated for the birth of my baby I was screaming. I was in so much pain holding that baby in. I remember yelling "THE EPIDURAL IS NOT WORKING!!!" Hahaha. Funny that with David I hardly felt any pain pushing him out. Anyway I couldn't hold him in any longer and the doctor knew it. There was no time for any other preparations. I remember the doctor asking if there were any towels. They didn't even have towels ready for when the baby came out! After all that time waiting! Sheesh. But I was just happy to have the baby out.
Long story short (or not short...is anyone actually reading this?) baby Nathan finally was born, after much pain and laboring.
Now this is what is weird. I didn't tear even though I was in so much pain pushing him. I was up and walking around within three hours of giving birth...another thing that surprised me because I had the epidural. With David I was in bed much longer than I was with this one. With David I had stitches. After having David I was EXTREMELY sore from head to toe. I wasn't sore at all with this one. Essentially, my recovery has been much easier with Nathan (aside from a bad case of mastitis) than it was with David. That surprises me because again I thought the epidural would make things harder around the board.
One more thing I forgot to add about my experience. I was tested for Group B Strep and the results came back negative. I had the test done a little late in my pregnancy so the results weren't in my initial paperwork. Because of this the nurses said they would have to treat me for it anyway. I tried to give them my word that I tested negative but they said they needed it in writing from a doctor. They gave me antibiotics and I was pretty upset about that because I didn't need them. But in the end that was a pretty minor part of the whole process and really wasn't that big of a deal.
So do I have an epidural or do I go naturally with my next one? A lot of it will depend on the labor! If I have a fast labor like David, I would love to go without medication, but it is more work than I can handle doing it naturally after laboring for three days. Phew. I'm glad this baby is here!
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