A Birth Story

While it's fresh in my mind... here are all the details! I won't be too gross, but since it's almost all moms that read my blog, I won't be too cautious either...

I went in for my appointment on Wednesday morning and since I was full term my midwife wanted to put me on the monitors to make sure Noah's heart rate was okay. He had some great accelerations, but then some weird decelerations where his heart rate would drop down below 70. She decided to send me to the hospital to be put on their monitors for the afternoon and then she was going to check and be sure that I had enough fluid in the womb. I was on the monitors from about 10:30am until 5pm and he had maybe one or two of those decelerations. She wasn't too concerned, but did the ultrasound to check the fluid. They like the fluid levels to be above an 8, and I was at 6.5. Her concern was that he didn't have enough cushion and was pinching off his oxygen supply. If we had gone home we would have no way to know if the baby was in distress. Also, the low fluid levels indicated a failing placenta and my fluid levels would only continue to drop which would make it more and more difficult to have a vaginal birth.

It seemed like an easy decision that we would be induced. We weren't excited about having to be induced, but REALLY excited that Noah would be here soon! Also thankful that she caught the low fluid levels. She decided to have me rest in the hospital (which is impossible really) and then she was going to induce me in the morning. In the meantime she inserted an Cervidil suppository that could have set me into labor spontaneously. Sure enough, around midnight I was having regular hard contractions. I tried to deal with them on my own until about 1 am and then I woke up Chris. We fell into a good groove together, breathing through contractions and using the birthing ball by the side of the hospital bed. At this point I was about 3 cm dilated and 75 % effaced.

Throughout my pregnancy Chris and I were excited about and preparing for a natural labor. We hired a doula to assist us and did everything we thought we could to prepare. Around 4 am I decided that I could care less about natural labor and I told Chris that I NEEDED an epidural. I was coping really well with the contractions as far as he could tell, but I really felt like I could not continue. He told me that we should call our doula and wait for her to arrive so we could see if she could help us. Of course every two minutes until she arrived I was asking, "Where is she? How long is she going to be?" I felt bad for putting Chris in this position when he knew how much I wanted natural labor, but I was having such a hard time dealing with the pain.

Jenna arrived around 4:30 and the nurse (whose name is Chris but I kept wanting to call her Anne) checked me and I was about 4 cm, 100% effaced. I said, "Sorry you had to come all this way Jenna, but I can't do this anymore." and I asked the Chris/Anne for an epidural. She called Theresa and, can you believe it??, Theresa said NO! I was so frustrated with this. The problem was that Noah's heart rate dropped every time I hunched over and that is the position I have to stay in if I am going to get an epidural. Theresa lives in Idaho so I had to wait AN HOUR for her to get there. Terrible. She suggested I get in the birth tub... I opted for the shower, but that really sucked and I got way too cold so we moved to the tub.

The tub worked miracles. I got in and immediately felt relief. The baby really liked when I was in there because I relaxed so much and labor progressed VERY FAST from here. The nurse kept walking by and hearing that I was getting more and more intense so she checked me and found that I was between 7 and 8 cm. I didn't believe her and said something like, "She doesn't really know what she's talking about..." under my breath when she walked out the door and she popped back and in and said, "Let me explain..." I felt a little bad, but not too much. At this point things got very strange. I was in a strange daze in between contractions and then doing searching for my husband's hand during contractions and breathing and moaning very loudly to get through the contractions.

Theresa got there around 6:30 and checked me and I was 9 cm!! I couldn't believe it. The contractions were SO intense. We moved back to our room and she had me on all fours on the hospital bed. I was SOOO scared. I asked Chris to pray over and over again and I was begging God to make me brave to get through the pushing. It seriously hurt like my insides were going to come out. I had to start pushing and it was like nothing I've ever felt. I asked Theresa, "It feels like my colon is going to rip apart. Is that happening?" She assured me that it was not and then I felt like it was okay to push. All I really remember is shoving my face in the pillows, grabbing Chris' hand, and staring at my wet hair. I pushed and prayed and begged God for grace and I heard Chris say, "You're my hero. You're doing so great." I saw him start to cry and shake a little and it kind of made me feel better to know that he was really going through this with me (side note: I just love him so much. I need to devote a whole blog to how amazing he was through all of it. I could not have done it without God's grace and without my sweet husband). So, there I was naked, wet hair, on all fours with my butt in my midwives' face, doing an awful lot of hollering...TMI? too bad. Having a baby is over the top raw and intense.

Finally, Noah was here!! Theresa passed her up to me through my legs and I was kneeling over him on the bed. It hit me all of a sudden, "That's right, we are having a baby." Somehow, I forgot what we were doing! I flipped over and grabbed him and put him on my chest. Soooo amazing!!! Chris and I let out a huge sigh of relief and gazed at our beautiful boy. It feels like a dream! I can't believe that it all happened. I can't believe that we have a healthy baby boy and that I delivered him with no drugs.

I have a lot to share about my Lord, my husband and my precious, precious little baby boy. More to come!