Saturday, August 3, 2013

Eisley Mae's Birth Story: Part 2- Welcome to the World, beautiful.

Warning: This is a long one!

Andrew packed up our bags with some last minute things as I layed over the recliner in the living room breathing through the contractions. Because our carseat was set up in the middle of the backseat in the car, I knew I was going to have to ride in the front seat and wasn't too excited about it. Because the contractions were coming so close together I would try and get up and get to the car but the second a contraction would start back up and I'd be back on the floor in front of the recliner. Finally, Andrew got me into the car. I remember I told him to bring the garbage bag in case I got sick, and I remember getting in the car and he had  brought the entire garbage can, leaving my giant pregnant self little room to sit. He was getting flustered because he couldn't fit it over the car seat into the back and eventually threw it onto the deck out of frustration so we could leave. I remember wanting to laugh but I was working through a contraction, so the humor of it quickly disipated.

The entire way to the hospital, I remember being surprisingly relaxed for being in the car because Andrew was playing the relaxation music we always used during 'relaxation time' during my pregnancy ( for anyone interested, it was Relax: A Liquid Mind Experience) . The contractions were coming two at a time but I remember feeling really relaxed and almost falling asleep between them while we were in the car. When we finally got to the hospital Andrew sped in and parked. Andrew later told me was really proud of himself because he got 'an awesome parking spot'. We only grabbed my purse and the diaper bag (which carried the birth plan) because I didn't want to wait for Andrew to grab the rest of our things and ran into the hospital. I remember getting a contraction in the elevator and pacing back and forth because it seemed to be the only thing I could do to help with the pain.

We got up to the third floor and Kim and a bunch of the nurses were sitting at the desk and when Kim she saw me she immediately mentioned that I looked like I was pretty far along. She mentioned that i could use the chair to get through the contraction and  that I could stop in the hall as we walked if I needed to and I remember saying that I wanted to keep moving and that moving was making it feel better. I remember Kim telling me that I was doing great. That my body was made to birth this baby & that I could do this. They let us skip triage since she could tell I was obviously in labor and fairly far along and took us to a birthing room right away.

She had me lay down so she could check out far I was dilated and I remember that being the first time I was so uncomfortable that I actually cried out a little. She checked me and I was 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced which she said was great. She told me that I could get out of bed because my back was in so much pain and that they needed to get some heart tones from baby and then I could get in the tub. They put the monitor on my belly and let me stand and sway through the contractions and made sure I was able to move as much as I wanted and that I wasn't uncomfortable & a nurse started to fill up the tub for me. Once they got the tones they needed and were sure that baby and I were doing alright, they let me get in the tub. I got on my knees and layed my body over the edge of the tub and Andrew poured water on my back. I remember being so uncomfortably hot, but the heat of the water was one of the only thing that helped the pain in my back. I was also digging my nail into Andrews hand & at one point apparently tried to bite him. He was a trooper about it though, and escaped with only a few nail marks on his hand. We had a wonderful nurse named Gina who sat in the dark bathroom with us and fanned me with the room service menu because they couldn't get a fan for us.  I remember Andrew knew I was in transition because there was a point in the tub were the contractions were coming three at a time & I looked at Andrew & our nurse and said I didn't know if I could do it. They both looked at me and told me that I didn't need anything & I could do it on my own.  It was wonderful to have my awesome husband as well as my midwife and all of our nurses being so supportive of me birthing naturally and using as few interventions as possible. Every single person who was a part of our birth was cheering me on the entire time. It may sound cheesy but it was very empowering to have all of that support surrounding not just me but Andrew as well (he definitely did his fair share of work!).

While I was still in the tub, I felt a release of pressure. Andrew checked the tub and there was blood in the water. Andrew accidentally pushed the emergency nurse call instead of the regular one and about 5 nurses rushed to our room & Andrew realized right away he made an oopsie. We asked the nurse, Gina, and she said it was probably the rest of my bloody show. She had me get out of the tub because I was really hot and so she could check where I was at. I had been in the tub for about an hour and a half and I was now dilated to a 9 and my water had broken. Andrew & I decided to go back into the room and try some different positions. The pain in my back was getting worse and worse. We tried the birthing ball and the second my contraction started the pain in my back was so intense I jumped right off the ball. I stood with my arms around Andrews neck trying to get through the contractions. I then got on my hands and knees and Andrew helped me through the contractions. It had been about 20 minutes since the nurse had checked me. I told my midwife that I was feeling lots of pressure. She checked me and I was at a 10. There was a small lip, but she held it as I had a contraction and it moved out of the way & she told me I could start pushing if I wanted to.

I got on the bed and couldn't seem to find any comfortable positions. Kim suggested the squatting bar & that seemed to be most comfortable. We pushed for a while in this position. I could tell that the baby was moving down because the pressure was getting more and more intense. I kept getting to the point where the baby was about to crown and I would push and push and wasn't getting anywhere. Kim realized that the baby was sunny-side up. I was starting to feel really exausted and tired and was losing momentum. I hadn't wanted an IV but because I had thrown up all the food and water I had drank other than a little Sierra mist & ice chips that I had gotten since being in the hospital I was so weak that the nurse asked if I would be okay with trying IV fluids to help give me a little bit of energy. At this point I looked to Andrew and we decided that it was a good idea. We both knew I needed the energy to keep going.

Since I was so worn down & the fluids were just starting to work their way into my system, Kim asked if I wanted to try side lying. I was a little hesitent because I was so comfortable in the squatting position but it was getting harder and harder to keep myself held up during pushing so I moved into the side lying position. We kept pushing and pushing and I still felt like I was getting nowhere. I was starting to get frustrated at this point because we had been pushing for a couple of hours and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. We decided to try semi-sitting. I seemed to be getting further with the semi-sitting, but she'd still only get so far and I would continue to push and push and push with all my might and I just felt like she was wedged and not going any further. The time I was pushing seemed to fly by. I don't remember much of what was going on around me because I put myself into 'the zone' but I do remember Andrew telling me over and over again that she had lots of dark hair. We were coming up on 3 and a half hours of pushing. Kim told me that she could say that I had only been using directed pushing since 7:30am, but after a while of pushing if the baby didn't come, the hospital would force us to have a c-section. That was not something I was going to let happen. We decided to discuss the use of forceps or the vacuum if we kept pushing as long as we could and the baby still hadn't come.

We continued pushing and our little one was still only going so far. The nurse and Kim got ahold of the doctor on call, Dr. Onuigbo so he could come in and see if we were good canidates for the use of the vacuum. He came in and said that we were but that he would sit with Kim & watch me go through a few contractions. I was contracting and pushing and him and Kim tried to manually help out, but I kept getting to the same point & the baby wouldn't come farther. Everyone was cheering us on, including the doctor. He really wanted us to be able to get her out without the vac if necessary. He even stayed in the room through my contractions and pushing and when he was already late to a c-section. Eventually we realized the vac was necessary. So when my next contraction came I pushed with all of my might and when she came out he attached the vac and I pushed as hard as I could and I felt her head come out. They suctioned her nose and mouth and I pushed one more time and after over 4 hours of pushing, our baby girl finally made her way into the world!

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They said they couldn't delay the cord clamping for too long because she was in so a lot of stress not only from being in the birth canal for so long, but also because of the vac. However when I looked over the cord was already done pulsating & so they let  Andrew cut the cord and they took her to the table for a second because she was kind of wimpering and not actually crying. It turned out that the reason we had such a difficult time getting her out while pushing was because she was sunny-side up and kind of tilted. Because of it she was less responsive on the left side of her body for the first day, but she was perfectly fine after that. Andrew went over with her and took pictures and video and after a couple of minutes, they brought her over and set her on my chest. She was calm and beautiful. She had lots of hair and it was wavy and stuck to her little coned head. Andrew kissed her and her little lip quivered. It was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen.
We giggled because we sang Happy Birthday to her & she began crying.
"Apparently, she doesn't like our singing voices!" I told Andrew.
 I kissed her over and over again. I couldn't believe this perfect little girl was ours. A perfect combination of Andrew & me. I know that people say this all the time, but now I know why. I seriously ever knew I could love someone so much.


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5 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to do almost a fully natural birth, even though there were a few things that needed to be done to help! Such a great story and so encouraging to read as I get closer to delivering!

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    1. We're so happy with how everything went and how supportive everyone was! The most important part is that we have a beautiful snuggley perfect little baby girl! <3

      (I always post as a comment and forget to post as a reply :P)

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  3. What an amazing birth story! She's absolutely beautiful, congratulations!

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    1. Thanks so much! It was crazy and painful but I'd do it a million times over. I definitely plan on going natural again. I did talk to my midwife and the chances of having another sunnyside up baby that doesn't flip on the way out is low because of my hips widening and the chances that we would need a vac again are even lower, thank goodness!

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xoxo
Nic