Birth Story and photos!!!

Okay, finally, our birth story… (grab a large glass of orange juice to sip on before you start. Going to be a long one.)

At 12:45 am, Saturday  morning (7.14.12), my water broke while I was sleeping. My husband was still up because we were watching a movie and I, as always, never can seem to make it to the end of a movie. All I can recall was while sleeping, I woke up to a puddle and I totally thought I peed in the bed and then realized, that’s “NOT POSSIBLE”. I got up to go to the restroom and realized I was just leaking uncontrollably. I told my husband who was concerned, and I grabbed a maxi and said lets just go back to sleep for now since I wasn’t experiencing any labor pains.

Of course, going back to sleep was impossible for me as a million and one thoughts ran thru my mind, I went downstairs and started doing research because I wasn’t experiencing labor pains up until 3 am. Took a quick nap and then around 7am, we started to go down a list of things we learned in our Bradley Method class to kick start labor. Went for a 2 mile walk, then came home and tried a stimulation technique using the breast pump. Still nothing!!! By 11 AM, we decided to go ahead and call the doc. I clearly procrastinated doing this because I know once I tell them the exact time my water broke, they would start my “clock” (have 24 hours to get baby out before they take evasive measures such as a c-section).

Going to the hospital was not going to help me kick start labor, actually could potentially cause more stress. So, after taking a shower, going to grab snacks for hospital stay, and grabbing lunch (which by the way, did not know this either, but make sure you EAT good before you go in. They will not allow you to eat until after the baby arrives. I have no idea so I had to starve because they would not allow me to eat once admitted). So, once we got checked in, doc came in to make sure it was indeed amniotic fluid using a color swab (blue indicated yes). Definitely was amniotic fluids because by the time we got there, I had changed my maxi at least 6 times.

Doctor asked me to be honest about the exact time, I didn’t want to tell her but once she lectured me about the importance of knowing, then I gave in and told her 12:45 am (instead of 5am-I wanted to buy myself more time). She immediately said, I had to get pitocin (oxytocin) to kick start my labor because I only was 1-2cms dilated at that point, with 12 hours to go (according to their time clock). I immediately started crying like a baby. I told her my concerns about pitocin (From what we learned in the Bradley class). Majority of the women who used pitocin had to get an epidural. Pitocin speeds labor and intensifies it by x10 whereas an epidural does the opposite (So its like tug of war). So, since I was running out of time, I also just ultimately feared a c-section.

I tell you, you have no idea how strong you really are until you just go all in on a situation and just see if u survive at the end. Well, I SURVIVED!

I say this because I said, I still do not want an epidural, lets do the pitocin since I have no choice. Its 4pm at this point and still no contractions. I really did not feel my first contraction until 5:30pm. It wasn’t anything impressive so I didn’t know what I was feeling. We just observed it on the chart. Just felt like normal pressure I felt during the pregnancy like her pushing my stomach as if she was trying to burst out. That’s all I felt for about 1 hr. Then, all of a sudden, I went from a 2 to a 4 (on a scale of 1 to 10 for describing pain). We began doing the various labor positions we learned in class to expedite the labor process (which I highly recommend!!!). Just change positions every 15 mins. Laying on your back makes things slower. We were mainly standing, slow dancing to move my pelvic bone, squatting, or leaning over the side of bed, or using the birth ball. The goal is just to change positions every 15mins to gradually open up your pelvic bone.

Family were just getting into town. In fact, my husbands family walked in the labor room to say hi/give hugs at 7:30pm and that very moment (no lie I went from a 4 to a 10. Just like that!!! I had one huge contraction that just made me say “ OMG! I cant do this!” as I started balling crying. Immediately my nurse knew what time it was and kicked out everyone in the room except my husband and douhla (my sister in law). My contractions were soooo close/so intense. I was still standing and said “I have to go. I have to push!” The team had like approx 2mins to transform my room/ bed because it all happened fast. In fact, I heard my doc had to run so fast all the way from the other side of the hospital. All I remember was my nurse literally thru me in the bed because I was not moving I really felt the urge to push. Its true, that’s what they kept saying in class. I had crowned by the time I got into bed. This baby was coming out whether they were ready or not. They said hold on, I said I cant!!! I wasn’t controlling the pushing it just happened! Maybe about 10 minutes later baby was here!!!

I've been asked multiple times, would I do it all over again, the same exact way- the answer is YES!!! (*Just give me a 2-3 year break before baby #2 LOL). Studies have proven and shown that natural births are safer, faster, and healthier for mommy and baby. Also, the reward in the end, made it absolutely worth it! Being able to hold our baby was soooooooo amazing, words cannot express the emotions we were feeling.