This post is mostly for the benefit of my sisters, as we delight in sharing our stories and our bond as women. I will try and spare too many gory details, but if you are squeamish--or male--you may want to skip this post entirely.
These belly shots were taken a couple of hours before heading to the hospital. 
My birth experience with Trenton had been very positive (except for being 4 days overdue), so I was hoping to kind of replicate that one. (Same hospital, midwife group, birthing techniques, etc.) But this was just a different experience. That started when the midwife told me at 37 weeks that I might be ready to have this baby at anytime. With Trenton, on my due date they told me I wasn’t even close. I think I mistakenly assume that the more I do this the easier it will be. Especially since my body did so much work before hand, I thought the birthing process would be a piece of cake.
About the Saturday before she was due, I started having contractions that would develop into a pattern (15 mins. apart for an hour or so) and then stop or subside. Some of these contractions would be really strong. This went on for the next several days. I already wrote about Tuesday (my due date) getting sent to the hospital. That was a discouraging fiasco that just made me nervous about going to the hospital when it was time, and running into the same Nazi nurses that I dealt with that day.
Wednesday night at bedtime contractions were about 5 mins. apart for 40 mins. or so. I was sure this was it, but we needed some rest, so I put on the hypnobirthing CD and figured I would be woken up when it was time to go to the hospital. We slept through the night.
I woke up with strong contractions early Friday morning (actually around midnight) but they were 15 or so minutes apart. I was pretty sure this was the beginning of the end, but since they weren’t very close together, I let Barry sleep so he would be able to help me later. I got out of bed by 1:30 and went to sit on the birthing ball and deal with contractions. They kept coming, but never got closer together. So I tried to get a little more sleep (not more than 2 hrs. the whole night).
Barry stayed home from work and Shanda helped me deal with contractions all morning. They seemed to stay at about 12 mins. apart when they were strong. If they got closer together, they would feel less productive. This started to get frustrating because, I figured that by my third child, I would know definitively when to go to the hospital. I was getting too worked up analyzing the contractions, so Shanda offered to play Boggle with me. Shanda doesn’t like to play boggle with me because she usually gets five or six 3-letter words, to my 30 or so 4 and 5-letter words. I think she was just being nice, but even in labor, I still beat her soundly.
We decided to take a short walk to the mailbox, and that seemed to do the trick to get the contractions closer together. We finally decided to head to the hospital, but had the plan that if the contractions lessened during the drive, we would head to the mall and walk instead. We didn’t end up needing to do that.
The good news is that everyone we dealt with at the hospital this time was very nice and supportive! The bad news is that when we arrived, they didn’t have a single bed available—not in the labor and deliver rooms, and not in the triage station. We had to labor in the hallway. It wasn’t the calm quiet hypnobirthing environment I had envisioned. So many people around coming and going. Thank heavens, Shanda worked with us on the counter-pressure techniques, because that is how we managed through the couple of hours in the hall.
Finally they were able to get us into triage. For some reason, as soon as we got on the monitors, my body froze and stopped having contractions. For the 15 mins. or so that we were on the monitor, I had one contraction. They didn’t talk about sending me home, since I was nearly at a 5, 3 days past due, and had visibly been laboring, but I still felt anxious. I went for a little walk, and came back to triage to labor on the birthing ball. Contractions started coming close together. We were promised the best room in the hospital in just a few minutes. Unfortunately a woman came into triage that was dilated to a 9, so they decided she had better have the room instead. They put me back on the monitor. This time the contractions were strong and like clockwork--about 2 ½ minutes apart. Barry kept applying the counter-pressure on my hip bones, until I thought he was about to rearrange my pelvis permanently, so they let us off the table and back to the ball.
It seemed like an eternity until we were able to get into the beautiful labor and delivery room, and into the Jacuzzi tub that I had been craving. AT this point I was at a good 7, but the contractions were strong enough that the water alone wasn’t enough for coping. We tried to come up with some creative ways for Barry to apply counter-pressure in the tub, but it was a challenge and I was afraid he was going to be as sore as me the next day from the positions he had to use. I asked for the midwife to check on the baby’s position, since we had been concerned about her being posterior and frankly I had expected labor to go much faster than this—especially at this intensity. She did say that her head was at a bit of an angle and had me prop up on one hip for a couple of contractions. After that and a new position to labor, it wasn’t long before I felt the pushing urges, and I was, in fact, complete.
I don’t’ know how some women can push for hours and hours. When those urges come, I almost can’t not push. I wanted to be slow and controlled, but that wasn’t happening. I thought I had delivered her head, but instead it was the bag of waters that ruptured like Niagra Falls, causing the nurse and midwife to leap out of its’ projectile path. Barry was still trying to tell me to relax (as a gripped the sides of the bed and tried to gain some control of my pushing action), but at the same time, the midwife was encouraging me to push her out as the baby’s heart rate was dropping. Barry announced when the head was delivered that she was a brunette and not a red head. (He and Shanda had a bet going and he lost). The whole pushing experience probably lasted about 5 minutes and she was out. Here! At 8:31pm, Friday, October 19.
We looked at her and loved on her and then let her try to nurse which she took to immediately. All of my children have been born hungry! I think that first nursing session lasted around an hour and a half. Barry and the midwife (as she stitched me up) tried to guess size. He thought about 8 lbs., she said 7lbs. 11oz. Remember, several people, including the midwife, thought she might be small. When we finally got her on the scales, she weighed in at 8lbs. 6.9oz.—two ounces larger than Kira—and 21 ¾ inches long—just shy of Trenton’s 22 inches.
We enjoyed our time bonding in the labor and delivery room. But instead of being moved to one of the nice recovery rooms on the same floor, we were told that we would be in the older wing of the hospital in what the nurse lovingly referred to as the dungeon. The good news about this is that if we had had any complications, they wouldn’t have put us there. The day before, there had been lots of c-sections, and the nice rooms were full. Instead of nice paintings on the wall, all I had to look at was a poster with a pain chart.
Sleepy Mommy and proud Daddy
My birth experience with Trenton had been very positive (except for being 4 days overdue), so I was hoping to kind of replicate that one. (Same hospital, midwife group, birthing techniques, etc.) But this was just a different experience. That started when the midwife told me at 37 weeks that I might be ready to have this baby at anytime. With Trenton, on my due date they told me I wasn’t even close. I think I mistakenly assume that the more I do this the easier it will be. Especially since my body did so much work before hand, I thought the birthing process would be a piece of cake.
About the Saturday before she was due, I started having contractions that would develop into a pattern (15 mins. apart for an hour or so) and then stop or subside. Some of these contractions would be really strong. This went on for the next several days. I already wrote about Tuesday (my due date) getting sent to the hospital. That was a discouraging fiasco that just made me nervous about going to the hospital when it was time, and running into the same Nazi nurses that I dealt with that day.
Wednesday night at bedtime contractions were about 5 mins. apart for 40 mins. or so. I was sure this was it, but we needed some rest, so I put on the hypnobirthing CD and figured I would be woken up when it was time to go to the hospital. We slept through the night.
I woke up with strong contractions early Friday morning (actually around midnight) but they were 15 or so minutes apart. I was pretty sure this was the beginning of the end, but since they weren’t very close together, I let Barry sleep so he would be able to help me later. I got out of bed by 1:30 and went to sit on the birthing ball and deal with contractions. They kept coming, but never got closer together. So I tried to get a little more sleep (not more than 2 hrs. the whole night).
Barry stayed home from work and Shanda helped me deal with contractions all morning. They seemed to stay at about 12 mins. apart when they were strong. If they got closer together, they would feel less productive. This started to get frustrating because, I figured that by my third child, I would know definitively when to go to the hospital. I was getting too worked up analyzing the contractions, so Shanda offered to play Boggle with me. Shanda doesn’t like to play boggle with me because she usually gets five or six 3-letter words, to my 30 or so 4 and 5-letter words. I think she was just being nice, but even in labor, I still beat her soundly.
We decided to take a short walk to the mailbox, and that seemed to do the trick to get the contractions closer together. We finally decided to head to the hospital, but had the plan that if the contractions lessened during the drive, we would head to the mall and walk instead. We didn’t end up needing to do that.
The good news is that everyone we dealt with at the hospital this time was very nice and supportive! The bad news is that when we arrived, they didn’t have a single bed available—not in the labor and deliver rooms, and not in the triage station. We had to labor in the hallway. It wasn’t the calm quiet hypnobirthing environment I had envisioned. So many people around coming and going. Thank heavens, Shanda worked with us on the counter-pressure techniques, because that is how we managed through the couple of hours in the hall.
Finally they were able to get us into triage. For some reason, as soon as we got on the monitors, my body froze and stopped having contractions. For the 15 mins. or so that we were on the monitor, I had one contraction. They didn’t talk about sending me home, since I was nearly at a 5, 3 days past due, and had visibly been laboring, but I still felt anxious. I went for a little walk, and came back to triage to labor on the birthing ball. Contractions started coming close together. We were promised the best room in the hospital in just a few minutes. Unfortunately a woman came into triage that was dilated to a 9, so they decided she had better have the room instead. They put me back on the monitor. This time the contractions were strong and like clockwork--about 2 ½ minutes apart. Barry kept applying the counter-pressure on my hip bones, until I thought he was about to rearrange my pelvis permanently, so they let us off the table and back to the ball.
It seemed like an eternity until we were able to get into the beautiful labor and delivery room, and into the Jacuzzi tub that I had been craving. AT this point I was at a good 7, but the contractions were strong enough that the water alone wasn’t enough for coping. We tried to come up with some creative ways for Barry to apply counter-pressure in the tub, but it was a challenge and I was afraid he was going to be as sore as me the next day from the positions he had to use. I asked for the midwife to check on the baby’s position, since we had been concerned about her being posterior and frankly I had expected labor to go much faster than this—especially at this intensity. She did say that her head was at a bit of an angle and had me prop up on one hip for a couple of contractions. After that and a new position to labor, it wasn’t long before I felt the pushing urges, and I was, in fact, complete.
I don’t’ know how some women can push for hours and hours. When those urges come, I almost can’t not push. I wanted to be slow and controlled, but that wasn’t happening. I thought I had delivered her head, but instead it was the bag of waters that ruptured like Niagra Falls, causing the nurse and midwife to leap out of its’ projectile path. Barry was still trying to tell me to relax (as a gripped the sides of the bed and tried to gain some control of my pushing action), but at the same time, the midwife was encouraging me to push her out as the baby’s heart rate was dropping. Barry announced when the head was delivered that she was a brunette and not a red head. (He and Shanda had a bet going and he lost). The whole pushing experience probably lasted about 5 minutes and she was out. Here! At 8:31pm, Friday, October 19.
We looked at her and loved on her and then let her try to nurse which she took to immediately. All of my children have been born hungry! I think that first nursing session lasted around an hour and a half. Barry and the midwife (as she stitched me up) tried to guess size. He thought about 8 lbs., she said 7lbs. 11oz. Remember, several people, including the midwife, thought she might be small. When we finally got her on the scales, she weighed in at 8lbs. 6.9oz.—two ounces larger than Kira—and 21 ¾ inches long—just shy of Trenton’s 22 inches.
We enjoyed our time bonding in the labor and delivery room. But instead of being moved to one of the nice recovery rooms on the same floor, we were told that we would be in the older wing of the hospital in what the nurse lovingly referred to as the dungeon. The good news about this is that if we had had any complications, they wouldn’t have put us there. The day before, there had been lots of c-sections, and the nice rooms were full. Instead of nice paintings on the wall, all I had to look at was a poster with a pain chart.
Sleepy Mommy and proud DaddyThey agreed to discharge us Saturday night, after Tessa was 24hrs. old and could have some of her tests completed. Unfortunately, they were so understaffed that we didn’t leave the hospital until midnight.
It was so nice to come home. Shanda had managed to have the house quite clean (despite spending all day getting the kids ready for and taking them to the Ward Halloween party), and my parents had arrived and were there waiting and ready to spoil me with things like breakfast in bed for the next several days.
So while this could have been a much more difficult and complicated labor, I'm still after that elusive "pain-free" childbirth experience they talk about in hypnobirthing book. I am very grateful to Shanda and Marenda (who acted as long distance doulas) for their coaching and help. If I had intended to just get an epidural, this would have been a very difficult labor, because I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to, until I had already been dealing with strong contractions for a long while. I'm glad I had their techniques in this situation! Maybe next time (assuming there is one), I'll take a class, and hope to labor in calm comfortable place, instead of a hallway.
5 comments:
Thanks for posting Kendra...I've been wondering how things went. I'd give anything to have that birthing story...I'm so proud of you! Can't wait to see you guys and get my hands on that precious little girl!
I am so glad you posted. It was great to hear how things went. From the 2 pictures you posted, Tessa so far seems to look more like you then either Kira or Trenton. When Shanda called all she had was the basic info so I am glad to get the details. After we have recovered from our trip, I'll call you sometime next week.
Marenda
yea! Thanks for the story, I'm glad you recorded the details and that she is here safe and sound. It sounds like she's getting lots of love at home!
Maybe next time will be your "pain-free" delivery. If not, you can always just keep having kids until you get the perfect birth experience, right? :-) Although, the perfect delivery stories are probably not nearly as fun to re-tell as the laboring-in-the-hallway stories. Hope you all are doing great.
--Trina
I love birthing stories. I usually prefer the no-med process, but each time Shawn has insisted I get an IV. I have never had an epideral, thank goodness, but if we do have another one, I hope to convince Shawn not to have me be medicated. I love the adventure in your story. Every birth needs it's own special touch so you can differentiate your childrens' characters soon! I love that. I think all my birthing stories match my childrens' personalities.
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