Monday, November 15, 2010

'THE' Birth Story

Okay, I'm finally sitting down to do this, I'll probably be lucky to get it done all at once, but we'll see!


Now before I go into the whole labor and birth part of this story please indulge me and listen to me talk about how miserable I was those last few weeks and why there are no pregnancy photos of me past like week 37. I SWELLED! Not just any swelling, pitting edema! It was horrible on my feet and legs, I couldn't remember what they looked like normally and I had a pocket of swelling at the bottom of my belly and yes, I had pitting edema there too. I could lightly put my hand on my stomach and leave an indention for a half hour. I gained 70lbs. by the end of my pregnancy, I gained 10lbs literally overnight by eating 2 pieces of pizza, and then at another appointment I , literally (again), gained 8lbs. overnight by eating lean pockets. My blood pressure was slowly rising over the last couple months so my midwife kept checking my urine for protein to see if I had pre-eclampsia, and all those other things that could pop up last minute, but everything kept coming back negative, so I had to majorly watch my sodium intake, because apparently my body hates sodium while I'm pregnant. Then to top all that off I was a week late. I couldn't stand or sit for more than about 5 min. at a time because the swelling became so painful, I could only lay on my left side with my feet elevated, I felt like a whale....which is why I tried to induce labor with castor oil.

So I was due on October 14th. On October 18th I decided to heed everyone's caution about castor oil (well, kinda) instead of taking none at all I decided I would take a half dose. I figured, what the heck, diarrhea can be miserable but so has 9 months of constipation, so what the heck! So I took it, went to the bathroom once and that was it...nothing else. So then October 19th I took a full dose at 1:30pm,
by 2:30 the pooping began, but nothing crazy or really crampy
around 2:30 or 3ish I also started having braxton hicks and they seemed really strong.
3pm I lost a large brown glob, mucus plug I'm assuming (sorry, but you gotta kinda expect this kinda stuff if you sit down to read something entitled "birth story").
Started having TONS of BH until 11:30 that night, they were getting really intense but no pain.
11:30pm-4am Nothing
4:18 am I woke up to go to the bathroom and lost the rest of my mucus plug from earlier. Went back to bed and started having contractions every 10-12min.
Got up again at 5am to pee and had my 'bloody show' which lasted like 2 full days (kinda freaky)
6am I got up to eat breakfast cause I couldn't sleep anymore and the contractions were more painful when I was laying down.
So around 7am they were still about 7-10min. apart so I was like, 'this is it!' so I decided to get a shower and get dressed so I'd be all pretty to push my baby out (haha...did I mention that I was planning on doing this all natural, in a tub?!?!)
So I took a shower and everything stopped- false labor, what a let down!
Then there was nothing until 9:30pm that night.
From 9:30pm that night and all through the night a next day I began having very low painful contractions and the pain was all concentrated in my pelvic floor, cervix area. So needless to say I didn't sleep. All I knew to do to cope with the pain was to jump out of bed, hold the dresser and do half squats til the pain left, ALL. Night. LONG! But the nice thing was that they were 30-45min. apart. I never woke Erik because I figured it was probably false labor because they were so far apart and I didn't think they were real contractions because everything we were taught is that they start in your low back then wrap around to your front and mine were in one tiny area, and that was it.
So now we're at the 21st, I already had a 41 week appointment scheduled for that day at 2:30pm, so Erik took me in cause I could no longer drive. My midwifes assistant took my blood pressure and then informed me that she wasn't going to tell me what it was and to lay down and she'd come check it again. So I rest, and they go ahead a check me and tell me I'm dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. Then at the end of my appointment they take my blood pressure again and it's gone down, and they then inform me that the previous #'s were so bad that if they didn't come down they were about to transfer me to the hospital. So my midwife (and Erik) insist that I have a shot of nubane (sp?) a painkiller that lasts about 3 or 4 hrs. so I can relax and try to get some sleep, because I hadn't slept in a night and a half and the contractions were making me tense and not helping my blood pressure.
So I took the shot at 3pm and went home and was in a deep sleep for about an hour and a half, when i woke up to some really intense contractions I could feel over the painkiller.
Erik sat in the bedroom with me for the next couple hours with his laptop and everytime I could feel a contraction coming on I'd moan or wave him down and he'd come push on my hips til it left. My contractions were still 30-45min. apart at this point.
At about 7pm we decided to go back to the birthing center to get checked again before my midwife left for the night. She checked me at 7:30pm and I was 7cm and 100% effaced at 0 station and she said my bag of waters was bulging and about to break! I was shocked cause my contractions were so far apart. So we (or, Erik) called everyone and told them to get there.
I had my mom, sister, Erik, and friend Christina in the room and my dad was in the living room. We all just kinda sat around talking and making jokes in between contractions for about an hour or 2.....oh ya and when we got to the birthing center my contraction went from 30-45 min. apart to about 12min, then 6 or 7, and then about 3-5min. my first hour or 2 I was there. So after about an hour I decided to get into the tub. I was at and 8 somewhere around 10pm-ish and as she was telling me this she broke my water, which was a little unexpected. I then went into panic mode, because I was scared the contractions would really start hurting, and BOY was I right!
From about 10- 11:30 they came HARD and with no breaks. When they say it's the worst pain you will have probably ever felt in your life, they aren't kidding! I guess I thought they were.
By around 11:30 (I'm guessing the time here because everything was a painful blur at this point) I was told I was at a 10 and I could start pushing whenever I felt the urge. I guess I was terrified because I was fighting it, and I think I kept saying I didn't know how to push. So Erik and my midwife grabbed my feet and told me to push. So I pushed, and I yelled for someone to just pull her out, I grunted and screamed, I think I said something about just wanting to go to sleep and something else about being hungry. And I got no breaks between contractions cause she was coming so fast and I felt like someone was trying to rip my body in half from my hips, I kept complaining about how bad my hips hurt. My mom was frantic listening to me scream and left the room a few times and was trying to get the midwife to let me change positions....that would have been a miracle, I couldn't move I was hurting so bad! Then after 20 min. of pushing I gave it one more with all I had and her head came out at the same time I felt a "POP" throughout my whole body that I may never forget. And I think I announced that I tore, and then I just went into auto pilot and gave it one more push and Erik grabbed Zion and lay her on my chest. She was blue as all get out and not breathing real good and everyone was panicking but me. I twas such a God thing cause I never realized how blue she was til I saw pictures later. SO they rub her and spanked her and put a pump thing over her mouth and she let out a big scream. It was so awesome to hear. After her umbilical cord stopped pumping  my sister got to cut it, and then Erik took her and cleaned her up while I got out of the tub.

The whole thing was so amazing and emotional looking back. And it's funny, that night I was thinking there's no way I'm ever doing this again without drugs, but 2 days later I knew I could never birth any other way. It also took about 2 days for the emotion of everything to catch up with me. I had felt guilty that I was emotional when Zion was born, I couldn't even fake cry, and all I could think about was this massive tear I could feel. Then 2 days later I was a mess of tears that went on for about 2 weeks just so in love with my little girl, and releasing all the guilt I felt. Erik was so amazing during my breakdown too and had such a great explanation. He said that my body was probably in shock from everything that had happened and had just gone into 'survival' mode to cope with the pain and everything happening all at once. It made me feel so much better. I also don't think I changed one diaper for those first 2 or 3 days. Erik brought me all my food helped me in and out of bed, Brought me Zion for all her feedings, everything. Everything was just so incredible, and I've fallen in love with my husband all over again and in all new ways, and with or gorgeous little girl.


 And that's my story!

1 comment:

  1. Even though I had heard it all first hand from you- reading it again made me tear up!! I am just so happy for you. I am looking forward to getting to know more of Lacey- The Mommy. =)
    hugs

    ReplyDelete