40 weeks – The story – Part 2
29 Jan 2010 3 Comments
January 13, 2010, 1:30 a.m. – My nurse comes in to check on me and the first thing she asks is “Can you feel those contractions?” “No,” I answered. She checks my blood pressure and temperature, tells me to buzz her if I get uncomfortable, and heads out so I can go back to sleep. I lay down expecting to fall right back to sleep. Thanks to the back pain, though, that didn’t happen. I woke Pete and asked him to rub my lower back. He did and then went back to sleep on the fold out couch. As I laid there listening to him sleeping I realized that the back pain was… intermittent. Hey wait! I know something else that’s intermittent – contractions! Hmm, guess I was feeling them after all. I woke Pete and told him that I thought I was having contractions. We got out the birth ball and I perched myself on it while Pete rubbed my back. I buzzed the nurse to let her know that I was getting uncomfortable. She wasn’t surprised since, as it turns out, I had been having contractions every 4 – 6 minutes with some 2 – 3 minutes apart. What?! Well, okay then! I guess this is it!
We called the doula to let her know what was going on and left it that we would call her back when we wanted her to come up. About 20 minutes later, as the contractions were picking up steam, I asked Pete to call her back and to ask her to come. That was a little before 4 a.m. and she arrived a little after 5. In the meantime, we had discovered a few things. First, the best way to get through the contractions was to have Pete provide counterpressure on my sacrum. Apparently, the little guy’s head was pressing on it from the inside. Second, I really wanted to have contact between the contractions. This meant that I wanted Pete to have a hand on me at all times. Third, all the relaxation practice we did during the Bradley classes really paid off. In between the contractions I was able to let my body fully relax and breathe slowly and deeply. It made a huge difference! Finally, I am one of the 50% +/- of women that will throw up during labor. Fun!
At 6:30 the nurse took out the medication to soften my cervix so I no longer had to be on the fetal monitor. That gave me more freedom to move around. Over the next few hours Pete and Ellen, our doula, helped me through the contractions with counterpressure, suggestions about positions to try, reminders to keep my breathing slow, encouragement, and so much more. We even tried the jacuzzi tub for about an hour. Unfortunately, it was hard to be comfortable there because I needed someone pushing on my sacrum for every. single. contraction. The contractions were coming hard and fast too. As it turns out, my body prefers double contractions to single ones. In other words, rather than having a 60 second contraction with a rest time immediately thereafter. I would have a 60 second contraction, it would taper off ever so slightly, and then I would have another 60 second contraction immediately thereafter. Thankfully, though, I would usually get at least a full minute – sometimes more - between contractions to rest.
Between 2 a.m. and about 8:45 a.m. I dilated from 1+ cm to 5 cm. Starting at around 8:15 or so I found myself thinking only one thing at the height of the contractions… “stadol!” Stadol is a narcotic given to women in labor to help manage pain and to help them relax a bit. If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know that we were dedicated to having a natural birth. Because of that, I really struggled with the decision about whether or not to ask for the medication. However, when the midwife came in to check me closer to 9 I went for it and asked for stadol. I was in a lot of pain but, more importantly, I was having a hard time getting myself back to the state of relaxation between contractions that I needed. In the childbirth classes we learned about the difference between pain and suffering. One is a normal part of the childbirth process, the other does not have to be. I realized that, at that point, I was suffering. The stadol worked wonders for me! I was still feeling the contractions but I was so relaxed I slept between them. I also don’t remember much about that time, including the contractions. Apparently I was talking but I don’t remember much of that.
When I started to come out from under the stadol, someone told me I’d been asleep for an hour and a half. It was now 10:30 a.m. Holy cow! I had no idea it had been that long. However, I was rested, refreshed and ready for the rest of the process. It’s a good thing I was, too, because the midwife checked me and I was 8 cm and headed into transition. I’d dilated 3 cm in an hour and a half. Hmm, I think I’m glad I was asleep for that!
Between 10:30 and 12:45, when the midwife told me I could start pushing, the contractions were intense. Pete and Ellen were phenomenal in keeping me calm and getting me through them. Around 12:45 the midwife told me I could start pushing. For the next 3 hours we tried lots of different positions – on the toilet, on my hands and knees, on my back, squatting over the squat bar, etc. After about 2 hours, the midwife decided to give me a little pitocin to help things along. After all, my uterus was doing a lot of work and was getting a little tired! I didn’t love the idea of it but, by that point, I was so exhausted I didn’t fight her. This is why we chose her – because we trust her judgment and the fact that she would help us have as natural a birth as possible.
To be honest, the next hour was rough. I didn’t notice the difference in the contractions with the pitocin. It was rough because I was t.i.r.e.d. I was asking for help to get him out – vacuum, forceps, whatever. I’m glad the midwife ignored these requests but I’m also glad that she listened to me. In that hour I found more energy that I didn’t know I had BUT I also felt the end of my resources coming up fast. I’ll save you the gory details but the reader’s digest version is that the midwife’s way of helping me was an episiotomy, for which I was grateful. There was also some other damage on the way out. At 3:47 p.m. Nathan James was born and his size shocked everyone in the room. I couldn’t tell right away but by the looks on the faces of everyone in the room, I knew that they were surprised. They put Nathan on my chest and my first thought was “wow, he’s heavy!” They let him stay on my chest a while before taking him to clean him off, weigh him and all that. That’s when we learned that he was 10 pounds, 10 ounces – yikes! No wonder it took 3 hours of pushing to bring him into the world!
I can’t say enough wonderful things about the hospital staff, the midwife, and our doula. I really felt like it was a team effort to bring Nathan into the world. I felt so loved and supported during the process; it was really wonderful. People don’t usually talk about their labor & birth process as something they want to remember. The message is usually “you’ll forget the pain and just appreciate the result (the baby).” However, I want to remember the labor and birth process. One of the results of this process has been a tremendous sense of empowerment. Without sounding too pompous, I’m really proud of what Pete and I did during the process. I found a reserve of energy that I didn’t know was there. I also saw a strength in Pete that I didn’t know that was there, which is saying a lot since I speak so highly of him! 
When Ellen asked me how I would describe the birth process the answer came easily … “phenomenal.” And I still stand by that.
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