Birth Story

02/27/2014

The birth story is pretty crazy.

On Monday February 10th I was 1cm dilated and had 12 straight hours of cramps on Saturday night the 15th.  By Monday the 17th I was 1 1/2 to 2cm and my OB figured I wouldn't be in for my next appointment as the baby's head was "astronomically low".  I had cramps every night that week. I ended up finishing the week at work and on Monday February 24th I was back in his office.  Still 2cm, head still super low.  OB did a membrane strip and by Tuesday morning I lost my mucus plug and Bailey was acting very strange.  It seems like sometimes animals can sense when something is up and he would not leave my side all morning, not even to go outside.  It was very strange behaviour for him and I was sure than that was it, but Wednesday I woke up still pregnant.  At 4pm I went to the grocery store and it took me forever as I was feeling very slow and huge.  Watched the Bruins game, was disappointed they lost and by 10:30 was getting ready for bed when the nightly cramps started.  Didn't think anything of it as it had been happening for a week and a half, got into bed.  11pm the contractions started.  I got back out of bed and went and sat on the couch.  They weren't too painful at first and started out 12 minutes apart so I didn't wake Mike up as I figured I was in for a long night and he had just worked three twelve hour days.  However, by 11:40 it was getting closer to two minutes apart so by midnight I woke him up and said "this is it, lets go!".  He got up and declared he needed a shower so I told him to hurry.  By this time the contractions were getting more painful and I was having trouble getting dressed.  Fortunately I had most of my stuff in bags already.
We got to the hospital around 12:40.  I had to sign in and answer questions at a desk which was not easy at that point.  They said they were really busy and that I would have to wait in a triage hallway.
Eventually I was seen in one room where they asked me some questions, then sent me back to the hallway.  By this time I was about 40 seconds apart.  I was sitting in the chair when I felt a leak, it was the bloody show.  I managed to get to the bathroom and kind of freaked out as I did not think that was normal.  Mike went to get a nurse who just said "that's fine" and gave me a johnny.
Back to the triage hallway.  There were two girls there.  Apparently we were both Sarah's.  She was sitting there looking completely fine, I was kneeling on the floor with my head on the chair when they come out and call for Sarah.  And they meant her!  I'm the kind of girl who isn't screaming on a roller coaster, my eyes are closed and I'm just waiting for it to be over, so I'm wondering if I wasn't showing my distress enough?  Maybe I should have let out a few good screams?  (I wasn't so quiet when I started pushing though... ;))  At that point Mike went back to the desk and after a minute they finally called me back in to the exam room where the lady asked me what brought me there that night.  "I managed to say "labour, baby, pain".  She asked how far apart contractions were, Mike told her less than two minutes when we first got there and she just kept saying "so about 5 minutes apart?".  Hooked me up to a machine, finally called in a Doctor and they thought the baby was high up because they couldn't find her head.  I managed to say "two weeks ago.  Doctor said astronomically low.  Baby's head in pelvis.  Look lower".  Doctor finally did internal exam and realized I was 9cm.  This was about 1:35am.  All of a sudden people mobilize.  She says to page my OB and I'm thinking "that hasn't happened yet??" and a bunch of people start wheeling me to the elevator.  By the time we reach the labour hallway I'm pushing and they tell me not to.  I say "I can't help it!".  Saw the clock when we got into the room, it was 1:47.  I think there was about 6 or 7 sets of 3 pushes.  They told me to hold my breath and push, and were quite impressed by how long I could hold my breath.  They also asked me to hold my legs up which I couldn't, so I had a nurse on one side and Mike was on the other.  He could see everything.  I remember at one point he said "what's that?" and they replied "her hair" and at that point I was really hoping that meant I was almost done.
My water didn't break until right before the last round of pushes.  It was a huge gush, felt really weird.  I think it was in the last three pushes that I tore a bit because that round hurt a lot more than the rest, and out she came and right onto my chest.  I couldn't believe how much hair she had, and how normal she looked.  She didn't really cry, but made a lot of funny little noises for several hours.
It was 2:04am when she was born.  I'd only pushed for 17 minutes.  Mike cut the cord.
About 10 minutes after she was born my OB arrived.  He said he got there 19 minutes after he got the call and it was too late.  He got to deliver the placenta (I couldn't believe I was expected to push again!) and stitch me up.  Apparently I had a second degree tear.  That wasn't frozen enough, the last few stitches really hurt.  I was curious about the fact that the room didn't seem to be along the nurses hallway that we saw in the tour and it didn't occur to me until much later that the reason Mike had to be a stirrup was that we weren't really in the regular labour room and most certainly not a regular labour bed, I gave birth on the same "bed" (gurney?) they wheeled me up on because there simply wasn't time to switch out.
They weighed the baby, she was 6lbs 8oz and gave her a Vitamin K shot and some eye gel.
Mike talked to his brother who was up in a different time zone waiting for a plane from Hawaii where he had been working and we called my parents who came in around 3am, at which point we had been moved to a room.
We were impressed with the care after the baby was born but were a little upset by how long it took for them to realize how far along I was in triage.  When my OB came in to see me later that morning I mentioned it to him.  He said that if we had another they would have to put it in my chart that I give birth quickly and to get me in right away, that they aren't used to a first time Mom having such a quick labour.  He also said once I was somewhat dilated he might bring me into the hospital and break my water for a controlled birth.
So that is the birth...the funny thing is, the whole labour was three hours, which was four hours less than we spent in our childbirth class, and it being so quick we didn't use anything that we learned in that class.  The protein shakes I bought to keep up energy during home labour stayed in the fridge, the candies I bought to suck are unopened and all the energy I put into epidural yes or no was a non issue as we didn't have time anyways!  Not that I'm complaining in the least.  Mom's who go through long labours are superstars in my mind, I can't imagine dealing with contractions for longer than I did!