Birth Story

or how I went from this

to this

As you all know my doctor wanted to induce me on Saturday night. I wrestled with the decision before deciding I wouldn't go through with it. Or the doctor would have to show me some solid proof that it needed to happen ASAP or I was going to pass.

We dutifully went to the hospital for monitoring and told them I didn't want to induce. I sat on the monitors for 1 1/2 hours and the baby looked good,  so I was allowed to go home. Yay!!!

Sunday morning I woke up at 7am to cramping and my water had broken (or at least leaked significantly). My gut instinct was right. I just needed a few more hours.

I got up, ate breakfast, took a shower, and John and I went for a walk. I was trying to get my contractions stronger, but I could tell it wasn't working. Oh well, headed to the hospital hoping a little more time would help.

But it didn't. My contractions never got strong enough on their own and I knew by giving birth in the hospital I was on a timeline since my water had broken. So when I was told I would go on Pitocin I was okay with it.

Looking back I'm pretty sure the Pitocin pumped up my own contractions and they got intense pretty quickly. Pretty soon they were coming every 2 minutes. But the stupid monitor wouldn't pick up their strength. It looked like I was having some light discomfort when in reality I was getting rocked regularly. Thankfully my nurse could hear me laboring and believed me rather than the monitor.  Pretty soon they were lowering the Pitocin.

At around 3pm the rest of my water broke and oh wow so did the contractions. In-freakin-tense. That was when I was hitting my wall. I started contemplating drugs and asked to be checked so I could make a decision. I was only 4-5cm. My nurse Maureen was pretty awesome though. She had a lot of faith in my abilities. She recommended rather than going for the epidural that I try a dose on Fentanyl. I did and an hour later I'd progressed all to 7-8cm. She was totally right, I was able to relax just that little bit to help me progress.

The rest of labor is a bit of a blur. All I know was that little more than 2 hours after using the Fentanyl I was already fully dilated. Again Maureen just let me go with how I was feeling and started calling in the team for delivery.

When I was ready to push, I pushed how I wanted. During delivery I briefly remember my doctor doing that whole count to 10 while pushing thing, but I'm pretty sure he abandoned that quickly. Because in only 11 minutes of pushing Lucy Anne was here.

My sister said I looked completely shocked when they put her on my stomach. I think I was just so surprised that she came tumbling out in one big push. My Mom said the doctor was so surprised at how quickly she came that he just kind of caught her and tossed her up on me.

Going into labor I didn't really have a plan. I wanted to try natural, but fully knew it might not happen that way. I was amazed at how the hospital staff handled me. I thought I'd be pushed around, but I really wasn't. Both of my nurses trusted me to judge how I was progressing rather than the machine. And they mostly let me just do my thing. Maureen would directly me a little bit when I got a it frantic and it helped. Mostly I just tried to tell myself the logical thoughts. You are nauseous and a bit panicked. You are in transition. It will be over soon.

And it was. I'm so sore now, especially in the lady bits, but it was all worth it to have my little Lucy Anne.

And to add a touch of humor to the story...

While pushing I was not quiet. Oh no. But the funniest thing I did was growl 'Ring of fu*king fire' as baby was coming out. I'm glad I wasn't paying attention because apparently everyone laughed. It is pretty funny.