Looking back on the day my daughter was born, it was both the hardest and the best day of my life. How is that possible? Well, anyone who has had a baby will probably understand. At the time I was going through pregnancy and labor I didn't want to share any details with hardly anyone - it was just too personal. But now that it's in the past, I feel more comfortable with it. So I decided to post a "cleaned up" version of my story. I left out many of the more graphic details, but I still caution you - if you're uncomfortable with birth stories, obviously you should skip reading this post.
My Daughter's Birth Story
Saturday, October 19th
I worked my full 9-hour day on Friday, but wrapped up
everything I had going on at work, hoping that it would be my last day in the
office. I was feeling pretty good, so I told my co-workers that I was planning
not to be back the next week, but if I still felt this good, I might come in on
Monday and Tuesday. I had an appointment on Wednesday, so I was planning not to
work that day or from that point on.
I was having contractions throughout the day on Saturday,
but they were not painful, so I thought they were still just pre-labor contractions
like I had been having off and on for weeks. These were a little stronger
though, and were accompanied sometimes by cramps, which was new. I was feeling
so poorly by the evening that we weren’t sure if we would make it to church on
Sunday.
Sunday, October 20th
I woke up in the morning around 1:30am with stronger
contractions than I had felt before. And the crampy feelings were getting very
painful. I watched the clock as I lay in bed, and after about 40 minutes I
realized that I couldn’t sleep through these, and they were coming only five
minutes apart or so. They weren’t consistent, but the longest interval in that
time frame was seven minutes. I woke up Jonathan and told him what was going
on. After we timed them for another half hour or so, he convinced me to call my
doctor and ask about them, since they had been coming five minutes apart for
over an hour. I called the exchange, and they connected me with my OB, who was
fortunately on call. She said to keep timing them, and if they got stronger and
were consistent for a while longer, I could go to the hospital. We tried to
sleep some more, but I couldn’t sleep through them at all, and they were
getting more painful. I got in the shower and they sped up to two to three
minutes apart and continued to get more painful. We ended up going to the
hospital around 6am.
When we got to the hospital we went to triaging and they
monitored the baby for a while. She was doing really well, and when I was
checked I was three centimeters dilated and 90% effaced. They told me I could
walk around for an hour and they would re-check me at 7:30. We walked around
between contractions, with me leaning on the wall and waiting for each one to
pass while Jonathan rubbed my back. I was feeling them in my lower back the
entire time. When they re-checked me, they said I was four centimeters, and
they admitted us and moved us to a Labor and Delivery room.
While in the triaging room I found out that I had tested
positive for GBS. My doctor must have forgotten to mention that to me, and I
must have forgotten to ask about it, because I didn’t know until the nurse said
that it was in my chart. That meant that I would have to have antibiotics
during labor, which had to be administered through an IV. I had really hoped to
avoid an IV, so I was very disappointed, and also frustrated with myself for
forgetting to follow up and ask about the results to that test. Fortunately,
because of my penicillin allergy, they had to give me a different drug than the
one usually administered, and the one they gave me only had to be given every eight
hours during labor, as opposed to every four hours with the standard drug. They
allowed me to do intermittent monitoring and administered the antibiotic during
the first round of monitoring so that I would be able to disconnect the IV and
move around as soon as it was administered.
While getting my IV, the anesthesiologist stopped in to see
me. I was planning to go all natural, but he came anyway to talk about options
just in case I changed my mind. As a young teenager I had back surgery to correct Scoliosis, and I have a long spinal fusion and rods in my back. I showed the anesthesiologist my x-rays and after looking at
them for a few minutes he said that he would not give me an epidural. With how
low my rods extended and all the scar tissue that was there, he thought it very likely that it would not work, or that there
would be complications. He said that if I ended up needing an emergency C-section, he
would attempt to do a spinal, but if that didn’t work it would have to be
general anesthesia. At this point it didn’t bother me too much to know that I
couldn’t have an epidural, because I had been planning to go without anyway.
We alternated between walking around the hospital and using
the exercise ball for hours as the contractions kept coming. They were still
coming around 3 minutes or so apart at this point and were very consistent.
Around 1pm my doctor arrived and checked me. She said I was still only four
centimeters. She wanted to start pitocin to help get things going, but I told
her that I would not be able to have an epidural and was therefore afraid of
the stronger, more painful contractions that I heard accompany pitocin. She
agreed that in that case she would not recommend that route, and said that my
other option was to go home. She said the contractions were not strong or
painful enough to dilate all the way and that they might peter off or they
might get stronger, but at this point they weren't strong enough for me to stay
in the hospital if I wasn't progressing.
I went home. We got home around 2:30pm and I laid down with a
heating pad and tried to take a nap. I may have gotten an hour or two of sleep
in between the contractions. They slowed down to every 20 minutes or so, but
never went away. I didn't know if our baby girl would still be born soon, or if
the contractions would stop and I’d have to wait for days longer. It was stressful,
and on top of that my doctor had told me that the contractions would have to be
much, much more painful, which was scary since I was already in so much pain
with each one.
Jonathan and I tried to go to bed Sunday night, but by
11:30pm the contractions were coming every 5 minutes again and I knew for sure
that this was different. They were so much more painful than they had been
earlier that day that I couldn't keep from crying out with each one. I tried
getting in the shower, but they were so painful and coming so close together
that the shower did nothing to alleviate the pain. I could barely stand up through them anymore.
Jonathan quickly re-packed the car and we went back to the
hospital. We were admitted again just a few minutes after midnight.
Monday, October 21st
When we were admitted I was five centimeters dilated and
100% effaced. I spent the next two or three hours on a birthing ball, with my
head resting on the bed between contractions. I was so tired I could hardly think, and
the contractions were so much more painful than they had been earlier in the
day. They were coming so close together that I felt like I didn’t get much of a
break between each one. Jonathan sat
there behind me the whole time rubbing my back and saying encouraging things. I
didn’t have energy to acknowledge him, but having him there was very
comforting. My water broke sometime around 2am. Around 3am or so my nurse
checked me again and I was seven centimeters. I was glad to be making progress,
but I didn’t know how I could possibly survive at this rate until we got to ten.
I don’t know what would have happened if an epidural had been an option for me
– I might very well have asked for one at some point. I hope I would have resisted the temptation, but I can't say that I would have with any confidence. They did offer to give me
other pain medication through an IV, but I asked if there were side effects for
the baby, and they said it would make her sleepy. I said I would see if I could
go without, and I’m glad I didn’t give in, but I seriously considered it.
At this point my nurse suggested I get in the shower. I’m so
glad she was there to make me do it, because it helped a lot. It didn’t really
help with the pain, but I went from seven to ten in about an hour and a half or
so in the shower. At that point I felt the urge to push, so I got out of the
shower and went back to the bed. The nurse never told me not to push, she said
I could go right ahead and she got on the phone and got everyone in the room as
fast as she could. Thankfully, I only had to push for 45 minutes or so. My
doctor got there about five to ten minutes before our daughter was born.
Those 5½ hours from midnight to 5:30am were easily the
hardest hours of my life. Jonathan and my nurse kept reassuring me that I was
doing really well, that my daughter would be here any minute, and that they
could see her head, etc. I don’t think I processed any of that. I hardly knew
what I was doing. But Jonathan tells me that the second that she was born it
was like a switch was flipped – my face changed from one expressing sheer pain
to the happiest he’d ever seen me. I think my first joyful thought on seeing
her was she’s out; that means I’m not in
labor anymore! Thank God, I’m done! But instantly following that thought I really
saw her, and she was so beautiful, so perfect, even all slimy and messy. They
wiped her off quickly and gave her to me and I was able to hold her for the
next hour and a half or so. I hardly noticed what happened next, because I had
my beautiful daughter in my arms. She had so much dark hair, and she looked so
much like Jonathan! We were both in love instantly.
After they were done stitching me up, the nurse helped me
get her into position and start breastfeeding. She did very well at that, and I
fed her for 30 minutes or so. They let me hold her while they gave her her shot
and eye ointment, and she did so well with all of that. Eventually they took
her and gave her a bath, but I could still see her from my bed and watched. One
of the most amazing things was that while she was crying during the bath, if
Jonathan or I talked to her she calmed down right away. It was so obvious that
she knew our voices.
Our daughter was born at 5:36am, 6lbs, 1oz, and absolutely beautiful after over 27 hours of completely natural, medication-free labor. I can't take credit for any of that, though. She is a beautiful, miraculous gift from God, and the fact that I made it through those 27 hours on only a few hours of sleep - I can only thank God that I survived that as well.
I also have to be thankful in a strange way for my back surgery and for the anesthesiologist who refused to give me an epidural. Having that option off the table helped me resist the temptation to take the pitocin when my doctor suggested it. Clearly I didn't need it, as I gave birth all on my own about 14 hours after it was offered. I really did want to go all-natural, and considering how very hard it was, I'm glad that it was really my only option because I very well might have had a much different, more complicated story otherwise. God really does know what He is doing!
Our daughter was born at 5:36am, 6lbs, 1oz, and absolutely beautiful after over 27 hours of completely natural, medication-free labor. I can't take credit for any of that, though. She is a beautiful, miraculous gift from God, and the fact that I made it through those 27 hours on only a few hours of sleep - I can only thank God that I survived that as well.
I also have to be thankful in a strange way for my back surgery and for the anesthesiologist who refused to give me an epidural. Having that option off the table helped me resist the temptation to take the pitocin when my doctor suggested it. Clearly I didn't need it, as I gave birth all on my own about 14 hours after it was offered. I really did want to go all-natural, and considering how very hard it was, I'm glad that it was really my only option because I very well might have had a much different, more complicated story otherwise. God really does know what He is doing!
Thank you for sharing Christa! What a joy it was for your mom and me to meet our granddaughter the very day she was born! She is so sweet and such a cutie! We thank and praise God for this miracle in your life. Enjoy your journey of motherhood!
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