Wow!! She is finally here. And she came out looking beautiful!! No squashed head or anything!! We fell in love with her as soon as we saw her and she continues to be just as much of a miracle to us as she was that first minute.
I went into labor at 2:11pm on Thursday, the 23rd of August. Chris came home at 4:30 and, after a shower, a snack and a blow dry (I didn't want my hair to be all over the place...HA!) I was still having mild contractions. So we got excited and began that work!
We had a ton of things around to help us out. A crock pot with damp, warm towels in it, an iPod with a play list for labor and one for the baby (Even a "push" list just in case I needed a little something.) We felt incredibly prepared from reading all of the Bradley books and attending a few classes and some good practice.
SO, we labored. and we labored. At around 8pm we timed some contractions. They were uneven in length and about 6 min. apart. By midnight, they felt much stronger but I could still talk up to the point of the peak and then again right after. They felt like I had to go to the bathroom really bad but like I had a cork preventing me. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but not "painful". The peaks were intense and some of them were painful, but on the whole, the contractions felt just like what they are. Incredibly intense muscular contractions...like I had just done a few hundred sit-ups. By midnight, the contractions had still not evened out in length. They were all over the place- 25 seconds and 7.5min apart, then 18 seconds and 9 min apart. We had no idea what was happening because usually, they get evened out. You know- the 1-5-5 rule.
Well, we decided to try to get some sleep, after a small snack of frozen cherries. (Those were great!) I was not comfortable at ALL lying down and that made the contractions come a lot faster so I sort of tried to sleep sitting up. That lasted about three hours while Chris actually DID sleep. I woke him up again and asked him to help me time some more contractions and get into the bath. By this time, the contractions started in my lower back. It was not intense, but very achey. So we tried to apply a warm towel- that made it worse. The contractions were 26 seconds long and about 6 minutes apart. sigh...
We waited...and I labored. At 5 am they were 18 seconds long. What the....so we continued waiting.
By now, with each contraction, I really felt like I had to poop but still couldn't. It was incredibly uncomfortable and I was feeling more pain with the contractions as well. I was getting on my knees on the couch and, when the contractions would peak, I would lay my head on the arm of the couch and Chris or my mother in law would rub my lower back for me. We were still waiting for the timing to even out, when I started to doubt that it would ever happen. I said something about people doing this without painkiller and Chris' mother looked at me like she knew something. Chris came in and she said, "I think you should go. "
The timing was still off so Chris said, "Let's see if we can walk a bit". So we went to walk outside. Every three steps I had a contraction that doubled me over to the point where Chris would have to hold me by my under arms with my head at his tummy. About three of these within 8 steps and we both said "We should go" at the same time.
I had a hard time sitting up in the seat of the car,but we made it and Chris (holding me by the under arms because I was having contractions right on top of each other) sort of walked backwards while leading me into admitting.
The admitting nurse was great- fast and efficient. I was laying my head on her desk and groaning with each peak to let out some "steam" and she said, " Are we having contractions?" and I said," Yes. This is the fourth one since I have been in this chair."
She stood up and said, " When you are ready to move, I will be in the hall holding the door!" And she RAN around to the door.
She led us to triage where her door card would not unlock the door to let us in. She pounded and ran in shoving my paperwork before her. "She needs to be examined."
The triage nurses took their time debating which bed to put me in while the other nurse gave me a cup to pee in. Chris led me into the bathroom and helped me pee into the cup because I was at a point where I did not care about anything but getting through each contraction. They were coming every 45 seconds or so...some sooner and they were around 45 seconds long. They felt longer. They were still feeling like the most intense urge to poop that I have ever had- but still like I was constipated at the same time.
We made it to the bed and the nurses tried to put an I.V. in and Chris stepped up and became a great advocate. He refused everything that we had decided against. Even the hep-lock as long as we allowed them to document it. I could not have made it through that labor and delivery in the hospital without him. The nurse came to examine me and looked up at me and said," You're complete!" then ran out shouting, "She's complete! +1!"
It took them about 5 minutes to wheel me into the delivery room where we met another fantastic nurse named Cindy. She had everything set up pretty quick and got all my signatures on the paperwork and immediately started me to pushing. She was so supportive which helped a lot. She kept telling me I would feel better later if I pushed now. Then she told over and over what a great pusher I was. Chris was right there re-iterating everything she said in his own words. I never felt like I HAD to push, I was only doing what the nurse said to do. She called the Dr and broke my water (Which she effectively kept from hitting her while it sprayed to the left and landed all over Chris).
The Dr came and things really got moving. They did perineal massage so that I wouldn't tear too much. About five minutes later, they saw about a quarter size portion of the head.
The minute Chris said "quarter size" I lost resolve. I thought," You all told me that I would feel better if I kept pushing and I don;t feel a dang thing! I ain't pushing anymore!" I was thinking this- but not saying it. All I said when they told me to push again was, "I can't" to Chris. He looked at me and said," You're the strongest person in here! I can't believe everything you've done already! Yes you can!" So, I pushed one more time and got most of the head out. This only served to prove to me that I had been sent on a fool's errand. Having the head halfway out made me feel like I had a rock the size of a basketball stuck in my pelvic area. This only made me want to get it out, however, so I pushed again and had the head out. Then I laid back and Chris immediately said, "Heather, she's almost here!"
I gave one last Ben Hur type push with and had the rest of her out! What a moment that was! All of the sudden I felt great. I was done and there was no more discomfort. The Dr. immediately started sewing things up.
The experience was exactly what I thought labor would be until the last few hours. The dramatic change of intensity was surprising to me and it made me understand how so many women can break down and ask for pain killer or give in to it when it is offered. I am glad that we got there right when I was ready to deliver. I don;t know how I would have been after having to spend even a few hours in the hospital being checked and examined every two hours and everything else. I was so glad that Chris was there and supportive with everything he had learned. Even if we had not been successful with the Bradley method, the knowledge of what was happening to y body alleviated all fear of what was to come. Chris was more able to support me calmly because he knew what was happening and he knew that the discomfort and pain were useful to the end goal.
We are overwhelmed with awe at the fact that we made it through 21 hours together and had this beautiful baby!
8 lbs, 20" with a 9.9 on the APGAR tells us that it was worth it all.
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