Birth Story

I went in to work on 5/14, knowing it would be my last day before our daughter’s arrival, I simply couldn’t do the crosstown commute one more time, and I was feeling beyond exhausted and ready to be a mommy.

The previous day was my weekly OB follow up and I was happy to learn that I had already made some progress, being dilated to 3cm and 75% effaced. My OB’s parting words were, “I don’t think you’ll be seeing me next week, in fact, I’ll be surprised if you make it through the weekend.” I was obviously excited by her words but after two long bouts of false labor, in the previous weeks, wasn’t going to hold my breath.

So back to Friday at work. I remember feeling a little anxious that day, and relieved. Around lunchtime I was a little worried at Zion’s lack of regular movement in my belly, so I decided I would try to get her moving. I went to the bathroom and after doing my business, got up to wash my hands, and was surprised to feel like I had just peed my pants. My water broke, at work, luckily while I was in the bathroom, and so it began, the clock ticking, baby Zion would be in my arms within 24 hours. Or so I thought.

I called my OB’s office, and let them know the news, they agreed to let me go home to labor for a while and requested I come back in 4 hours or so. When the water breaks before labor starts, medically speaking, observation and monitoring are necessary…especially because it only happens in about 11% of all pregnant women, and the physicians prefer to deliver the baby within 24 hours to prevent any risks of infection to the momma and baby.

So the clock was set, and here I go with my first labor experience. I had practiced and prepared as best as possible with Jerry to deliver all natural. I had discussed my wishes to attempt a natural – drug free labor experience with my OB, who was supportive. I had even been blessed with a Doula, Sarah, an amazingly sweet friend from church. I felt confident that I could do this, and with God on my side, I was sure it was going to go off without a hitch.

I left work around 1pm, and Jerry met me at home. We got our things ready, and began going through our little checklist of things to do in early labor. The contractions became very regular around 2pm, already consistent at 5 minutes apart and 1 minute in duration. I was still breathing through them, trying to keep myself relaxed and at ease as much as possible. By the time my Doula got to us, (She had been in Pennsylvania caring for her husband who underwent surgery a day or two before), it was around 3:30/4pm and I was still breathing through the contractions easily, but they were definitely increasing in discomfort. We left for the hospital around 4:45pm and arrived at 5pm, just 4 hours after my water had broken.

I was surprised at how quickly the contractions were coming and how strong they were getting. We got registered relatively quickly and headed into triage where I was assessed. Unfortunately all of the birthing suites were in use when we arrived and we spent over three hours in triage waiting for a room to open. During this time, I continue to manage the pain with breathing and focal points. I switched positions frequently and remained optimistic that things were going as they should.

We finally were moved to our birthing suite around 9pm, and I was hooked up to the monitors. Contractions began getting much stronger and closer, about 2-3 minutes apart lasting 1-2 minutes. They decided to put off examining me for as long as possible to prevent any increased risk of infection (due to the water breaking). The pain was increasing and I was getting very tired, around midnight I asked my Doula to let me lay down for a little bit to get some rest, I started to struggle as the contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes and lasting up to 2 minutes.

The monitor was showing the contractions to be much smaller than the pain that I was experiencing, and I began to sense that something was off, the pain was much greater than it should be. So we decided now was the time to check on progress. The OB on service came in finally and checked me, and to the shock of every one in the room, husband, nurse and doula, I had only progressed to 4cm and 90% effaced. This was the most disheartening thing to hear, in fact, I became very discouraged.

I knew that with the current level of pain and severity of the contractions that I was not going to be able to continue for another 10 hours in that manner. I decided that it was time to decide on an epidural, hoping it would give me a chance to rest and regroup, and hopefully speed things along. Jerry knew that I had strongly desired to go drug free so it took about an hour for us to make up our minds about the epidural. He tried to reason with me, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to continue at that point. He finally agreed with me and the epidural was placed soon after.

For a little while I began to feel relief and was able to relax and rest. But it was short lived, the breakthrough pain I began to experience was indescribable. Several hours passed and I was struggling again even with the epidural to breath through the contractions. At my next check, there was hope, I had progressed to 6 or 7cm dilated. I continued to fight through each contraction, having the anesthesiologist paged frequently. I began to feel instinctively that Zion was somehow not fitting in my pelvis correctly, because the pain I was feeling was in my back and hips.

A few hours later I was checked again, this time measuring at 8cm dilated. We were getting close to only a few hours left before the 24 hour mark, so I felt happy that I should be entering into transition. I began to lay off the epidural so that I would be able to push soon. Usually transition lasts only 1-2 hours and you dilate quickly from 8 to 10cm. I expected this to happen. 4 hours later the OB returned to check me and I was sure she would tell me that it was time to push. Then she dropped the bomb…4 hours and no progress, none, at all. I broke down in tears, I had been giving myself even less pain relief for 4 hours for nothing!!

At this point we were at the 24 hour mark, and the dreaded word I never wanted or expected to have said during my visualized labor and delivery experience was spoken “Pitocin.” I knew at this point the baby had to be in a bad position, it just didn’t add up that things would be going this way. I can’t even tell you how stressed, and upset Jerry was at this point. He didn’t know what to do and felt completely broken for me. I knew that things were about to get from bad to much worse as the Pitocin would amplify and exaggerate my contractions, which were already unbearable to a whole new level.

A few hours later and many tears and broken cries in pain and frustration later, I was checked again, 9.5cm with a small anterior lip…almost pushing time. An hour later, Jerry couldn’t take it anymore and went to get the doctor to have me start pushing. At this final exam it was confirmed, 10cm, 100% dilated, but baby still high up and confirmed persistent occiput posterior. Translation—often the most difficult position for a natural labor, referred to as back labor—the pressure of the back of the baby’s skull pressing on the lower back bones and pelvis causing severe back pain.

We were finally ready to push, but the chances of getting her to move into my pelvis and out of the birth canal were beginning to look dismal. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours, agonizing through each contraction. Our OB came back in one last time and said, “the baby is not fitting well, you are coming down with a fever and we are showing some fetal distress…you can push for another half hour or we can do a c-section now.”

Jerry and I decided it was time to get little Zion out of mommy for both of our sakes, and at approximately 4:30pm, 28 hours later…I was brought to the OR and prepped for the surgery. At 5:19pm on 5/15/10, I heard the most beautiful cries of our little baby girl…and my tears flowed like buckets from my eyes. In the end, I immediately felt it was all worth it, and we ended up with a healthy mommy and baby.

Some people have wondered if I still want 7 children after such an event, and my words within hours after this delivery were, “Yes, of course I do. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
Courtney

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