Having a baby: A labor story

On Sunday, October 23rd, 2016, I woke up and called my midwife as I had been asked to do. For the past week,  my blood pressure had been running higher than they liked. I was told to call in and set up a time to get a NST (non stress test) and a blood pressure check. Zach and I had planned on going in as early as we could and then come back home to a breakfast of pancakes and a day of lounging around. When we got to the triage unit at Valley Medical, they put me in a room and hooked me up to a monitor to check on Finn and checked my blood pressure. Finn was okay, but my blood pressure was much higher than usual. I told them I have “white coat syndrome" and it’s typically higher when I first get there, but it usually lowers. They kept me hooked up to the monitor for 15 minutes and in that 15 minutes my bp was taken three times. All three times my blood pressure remained high. I knew what that meant. 

Induction.

My midwife came in and let me know I’d be 39 weeks the next day and the safest bet was to induce me right then before Finn became stressed from the constant high bp and contractions I was having. As scared as Zach and I were, we agreed with the midwife and checked ourselves into the birth center where we would stay until we had a babe in our arms.

My midwife at the time, Angie, checked my cervix and let me know I was dilated around 2 cm on the outside but I was completely closed up on the inside. Basically, it was a funnel and Finn was in no way ready to come out. They would start me on prostaglandins and then pitocen once my contractions settled down. They started me on an IV bolus to hydrate me and said they would check back in a while. My contractions never settled and her checking my cervix sent me into active labor. I no longer needed the prostaglandins as my body was doing the work for itself. BODIES ARE AMAZING. I labored all day and when my sweet midwife came to check me in the evening, I had dilated to an actual two but nothing else had happened. Isn’t that sweet? Thanks body! My midwife let me know the best bet was to insert a foley bulb which would dilate me (hopefully) to 4cm overnight and she would take it out in 12 hours if it didn’t do its job. Zach and I both agreed if it would progress this labor, it would be the best thing for me. Angie offered me pain meds as she said the process is uncomfortable. In my birth plan, I stated I wanted to go as far as I could without drugs. I wanted my body to do what it was made to do, and if need be, I would accept some. So I rejected the drugs and had the foley bulb inserted. 

I pooped, peed, and threw up, all at once. The pain was so intense my body shook violently as I wretched out of every area I could wretch from. This sent my body into intense contractions and I was miserable for hours. 

I lucked out and my nurse for the night, Kelly, only had me as a patient. She stuck by my side as Zach slept and prepared to go to work in the morning if nothing had changed. Kelly gave me an ambien and helped me into the bath tub and watched me for 2 hours to make sure I didn’t drown. I will never forget her. She rubbed my back, walked me around the halls and hospital until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and talked to me about her life. She did a great job distracting me from the pain. In the morning Kelly had me tug on the foley bulb to see if it fell out. If it fell out, it meant I was dilated to 4cm and we could start pitocen. To my dismay, it did not fall out and I was crushed. About an hour later, I went to the bathroom and it fell out! I panicked and pulled the emergency cord (I WAS THAT PATIENT) and Kelly came rushing in. She helped me clean up and told me this was good news and she would call my midwife. Olivia, the new on call midwife started me on pitocen. I labored intensely all day. I walked the hallways until my footprints were permanently imprinted in the floors. Zach had to go to work for half a day and when he came back, he helped me walk the hallways and kept me calm for the rest of the day. Around 6pm, Olivia came in and checked me. I had dilated to a WHOLE FREAKING 5-6. Congratulations cervix for not doing your job. Olivia let me know she could break my water but it could cause infection. Zach and I agreed it was time to get this process moving, so she broke my water an hour later, at around 6:30PM.  

After that, I remember very little. 

I remember the pain was terrible. I remember the amount of fluid that came out of me was really weird and creepy feeling. I remember asking for a pain killer. They gave me the pain killer and I was in my own little world. I told Zach that this was his opportunity to go grab food, and my famous last words to him were, "it's not like I'll go zero to sixty while you're gone."

BOY. WAS. I. WRONG. 

After he left, I felt sick and nauseous. My sweet nurse, Katie, helped me to the bathroom where I again peed, pooped, and puked all at once. She held the bag for me, sweet woman, and helped me get to the yoga ball where I attempted to relieve pain. That didn't work. She helped me lean on the bed where I attempted to flip my child who had decided to cause back labor. That didn't work. She then helped me on the bed to get in a child’s pose. That didn't work. I was miserable and it was only getting worse. 

I remember Zach getting back. He put his food in the fridge and helped me wretch from all areas wretchable, again. At one point they inserted an internal monitor to monitor contractions from my insides and they also lost Finn’s heartbeat, so they also inserted an internal fetal monitor which connected to Finn’s head. This way they wouldn’t lose him again. I finally said the magic words, “I need an epidural”. To my luck, the sweet epidural man was in the hallway and said he would come to me next. At this point I was blacking out. He came in and they sat me on the edge of the bed. My whole body was shaking, I saw sweat drip down past my eyebrows over my eyes. It was like I was behind a waterfall. I was shaking my toes so fast I think I created a windstorm in the room. Olivia was in my face telling me to breathe. Zach was holding my hand, probably ready to puke, but supporting me. The epidural man told me to hold as still as I could, so I continued to wiggle my toes and squeeze the pillow. I remember having to sign a paper that was probably letting me know I could become a paraplegic if something went wrong. They put the pin in my hand and I squiggled a line across it. Epidural man let me know I may have to sit still for 20 minutes. I continued to wiggle my toes and breathe. Epidural man got the catheter placed in about 7 minutes, THANK YOU SIR. 

After that, I was placed on my back, and I let them know I had to poop. Olivia checked me and told me I was about a 9 but not ready to push. I laid on the bed, with my eyes closed, as Zach ate his dinner, and focused on not pooping. 

Then, I HAD TO POOP. 

(I hope you know by needing to poop, I needed to poop out my baby). 

I informed Zach that I was going to start pushing and as I did, my IV alarm started ringing. Zach ran outside, probably white as a sheet and with a terrified look on his face.  A random nurse found him, probably because he looked horrified, and he said "an alarm is going off and my wife needs to push." She came into the room and turned the ringing off and peeked her head under the sheet and informed us that she would “GO FIND YOUR MIDWIFE RIGHT NOW” because I’m sure she saw little Finn’s head poking out. Olivia came in and immediately took her sweater off and put on her gown and let me know I was having a baby. 

When his head came out, Zach managed to look and not pass out, so kudos to him. I felt Finn’s head and I’ll never forget how squishy and weird it was to be feeling a baby coming out of me. 

I pushed for a whole 15 minutes. There was no time to drop the bed (the ends come off for the baby to plop out), and there was really no time for the epidural to do it’s thing, so sweet Olivia calls my birth an unmedicated birth, as she should. 

Finn came out. I rejoiced. I held him for about two seconds until they realized he wasn't crying. They called in the NICU nurse who had to CPAP my grunting child. Zach describes this moment as “the most helpless 15 minutes” of his life. I received a pump of epidural and lidocaine so Olivia could stitch my 2nd degree tear up. I kept asking questions about Finn, asking if he was ok. 

Turns out, I pushed him out so fast that his lungs didn’t have a chance to compress and get rid of all the amniotic fluid he’d been gulping down for the past few months. He finally was able to breathe and I was finally able to do the skin-on-skin session I so desired to have with my child. 

Finn was born at 9:31pm on October 24th. He weighed a whopping 8 lbs 4.5 oz, and was 20.5 inches long. 

He is a dream. I still can’t believe I created a human. I still can’t believe I BIRTHED a human. Zach and I are over the moon. When it will wear off, I don't know, but I will continue to enjoy this feeling until it does.