My Super Long Birth Story

Due Date: 

So it was Wednesday, March 10th, 2010. The great anticipated date of Evelyn's birth. I had been so dilated, effaced, and with baby at low station for many weeks and I was sure we would be having this little one before that day. When 3-10 came, we had an appointment with Nancy, our beloved midwife. It was around 10AM. I went into her house thinking that I might ask her to strip my membranes, but I was very willing to have her tell me that it wasn't a good idea. She checked me after talking at length (1 hour) about the birth process and how it might be for me. We talked about how since the baby was so far down already, I would most likely skip that early phase of labor where it takes about 12 hours to go from 0 cm dilated to 3-4. This is called early labor. I caved and told Nancy that I was anxious for the first time, regarding Evelyn's impending arrival. I told her in all honesty that I was thinking about her stripping me. She said she wanted me to be patient, but she saw the exhaustion in my eyes, I suppose. She said that if she stripped me, I would either go into labor within 48 hours or nothing would happen. Stripping only "works" if you are going to go into labor within the next few days anyway, she said. If the baby is not ready to come out, stripping the membranes won't do a darn thing besides make me cramp for a few hours. I was laying on the bed with my legs open, while she was checking and she said she could get about two fingers in my cervix. She then asked me, point blank, if I wanted her to "talk to my cervix"... it's Nancy's way of putting it. I said yes immediately so she did. It was relatively painless until the stretching caused me to have a few contractions. When she was done, there was a bit of blood, which Nancy said was a good sign that my body was getting ready to go into labor soon. Dave and I went home, excited and hopeful that this would be it. That night I finished getting the bedroom ready so Evelyn, Dave and I could all coexist in that space together. 

Early Labor: 

That night I continued cramping. The next morning, I was very groggy from not sleeping and I had just dreamed that Nala, our kitten, had knocked over a glass in the kitchen and cut herself. I'm not sure what the heck that was all about, but then I woke just in time to hear the big thud and unmistakeable sound of glass breaking. I quickly sat up and cried to Dave that I had just dreamt that Nala was hurt. Sure enough, she and Baloo had been rough-housing up on the counter. Nala had sprung up onto the breakfast bar, into the sink, knocking out many dishes, and then leaped to the floor, cutting her leg open on the broken plates. She had a big gash on her back leg. I immediately called the vet to tell them we were coming in for an emergency. When I went to the bathroom to pee, I wiped and a huge chunk of my mucus plug had come out. I immediately started having some mild contractions. I thought to myself, OH CRAP. I was beginning to go into labor and our kitten was just hurt. Off to the vet we go!! The vet wanted to keep Nala for us, but we had to explain that I was in labor, and that my parents could keep her at their house while I was giving birth and recovering. The vet quickly stitched Nala up; she was totally fine and they said it would heal fabulously in a week or so). After paying about $300 for an hour visit (I was contracting in the waiting room the entire time) we decided to go home where I would labor until I wanted to go to my parents' house. 

Active Labor at Home: 

When we got home, I opened up the contraction master app on my iPhone and started timing. I actually saved the sheet of contractions in my email! Time was fuzzy from that point on. Once we got settled and I was no longer panicked about Nala, things picked up with my labor. This was at about 6:15 pm, and my contractions were on average 4-5 mins apart. I called Nancy to tell her that I was in labor and how far apart the contractions were. I wanted to wait until they were somewhere between 2-4 to go to my parents' house and Nancy thought that I should go when I feel like things are getting a little difficult. Well, I made the smooth move of attempting to take a shower to ease my labor pains. The shower felt amazing with the intensely hot water on my back, but my contractions picked up quickly!!! Around 7:30 pm I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. I called Nancy right back and told her that they were 2-3 now. She said to get in the car ASAP and get down to the house. We finished getting packed within 20 mins and were off to mom and dad's house. 

The car ride was horrible and by the time we got there, I was already groaning in a low tone. I went straight to the bedroom and leaned over the bed, waving my hips side to side. I then went into the bathroom and got on all fours in front of the tub. Nancy and Therese arrived minutes after us. Nancy came in, greeted me, and had me lay back so she could check me. I was about 3cm dilated and more than 50% effaced. I kept laboring on all fours in the bathroom, then decided to go lay down on the bed and save some strength since I knew Evelyn's birth would be many hours away still. 

Somewhere between the bathroom and the bed, I became super nauseated and threw up. I tried to get comfy on the bed, but I was getting nauseous with each contraction. When the contraction would start to come, I would try to relax. Instantly my body would dry-heave. The only way for me to not dry-heave was to tense my stomach muscles a bit, which made the contractions even more painful. It was so awful! I tried to eat applesauce, which I threw up. I tried to eat some sherbert, but that came up, too. Peanut butter, crackers, even water would make me more nauseous. After laying in bed with some killer contractions, I asked if I could try the tub, or Nancy suggested it. I don't remember. I do remember walking into the bathroom while the tub was filling and anxiously getting in there, hoping for some pain relief and a break from the dry-heaving. My body was calm for about 5 minutes, then the nausea swept over me again. We had to have a bucket in the tub and every time I had a contraction, I would have to sit up and throw up in the bucket that was floating on the water. About 20-30 minutes into this tub time, and with Nancy sitting and supporting me next to the tub, she said "Honey, I hate to see you so sick like this." She said she was thinking that I was starting to get dehydrated and we would see how things go for a little bit longer. I had about 3 more contractions and between them I was telling Nancy how I was prepared to go to the hospital. We had talked at length about the possibility of me having hyperemesis of labor, since I had had it for almost 7 months for the pregnancy. There was no admitting defeat if I had to relocate to the hospital, and I felt strongly that I was not going to torture myself at home when it was crystal clear that I would literally not survive this birth if we stayed home. Yes, that sounds very dramatic, but it was very true. Many women can go hours being in labor without hydrating, but when you are throwing up bile, it's not a healthy situation for the mother or the baby. Eventually my muscles would not have enough strength to actually contract and help the baby down the birth canal. I don't like to think about what could have happened. Nancy sympathetically said that it was making her sick seeing me so sick and that it really was time to get proper help. She never talked me into anything. I said we should go and she agreed, very happy that I was thinking rationally. As we were getting ready to go, I took a shower to help relieve some pain. I even threw up in the shower. Dave came in to tell me that Nancy mentioned the possibility of trying an epidural to help my body relax. I knew right away that Nancy was not pushing intervention on me and what she was thinking made complete sense. I had also done a lot of research on epidurals and when it is a good idea to use one. This was one of them. I got out of the shower and told Dave to tell Nancy that I wanted an epidural as soon as we got to the hospital. 

Active Labor at Hospital:

So off to the hospital we went. Nancy had already called Dr. Fitzhugh (her back-up OB) and he would meet us there. I walked through the parking lot, through my contractions, and straight into my labor and delivery room. A nurse came in minutes later, hooked me up to a saline drip, and they gave me IV zofran to try and knock out the nausea. It worked for a short while, but I kept dry-heaving. The thing about zofran is that it will work better if you can get it in your system before you start throwing up. Once you start throwing up, it's a toss up as to whether it will actually stop the heaving. I toughened up, knowing that it would take about 20 minutes to get the epidural. It took almost every ounce of my strength to breathe slowly and stay loose. Those were the most difficult 20 minutes of my labor. I wanted so badly to throw up, and it took some incredibly focus to manage each contraction along with each wave of nausea. I will never forget that sensation of immense pain and nausea at the same time. The sounds of the anesthesia cart was like instant relief and the anxiety momentarily stopped my contractions. Dave was able to stay with me as she put the needle in my back. I have two tattoos on my back, so the pain of the needle insertion was cake! I felt almost delirious from all the pain and nausea at that point. I was about ready to pass out and I had only been laboring for about 4 hours.

The epidural started working immediately and I finally had relief. I didn't mind the pain as much as I minded the nausea. I could have dealt with the pain very well if I hadn't felt the need to throw up. Oh my gosh it was so bad. After the epidural had fully kicked in, I took a much needed rest. I don't remember much about falling asleep and waking up. I needed rest badly. I know I made small talk with Nancy and everyone else in the room for about a half hour until I went to sleep. The relief I felt from not having to throw up was so incredible. It was like waking back up again from the nightmare that was the hyperemesis I had for so many months during my pregnancy. I knew the hard part was over and I could ENJOY this birth. 

Since I had decided to have the epidural put in, I was going to need a tiny bit of pitocin to keep my labor going while I was resting. As most people know, pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin, the hormone that during birth, makes the uterus contract and push the baby down. Oxytocin also helps relieve pain, as long as the mother can stay relatively relaxed. When administered in a hospital, the range of pitocin goes from 1-20. Nancy said they would start me on two, then go up every 15 minutes as needed. I vocalized that I wanted the lowest dose possible, and then have it turned down to see if my labor would continue on its own. Nancy already knew that I wanted the least amount of intervention, so she reassured me that they would only give me enough to keep my contractions coming and not blow the baby out. After 15 minutes, I was bumped up to four, where I stayed for about 2-3 hours during my resting period. 

It was ether the nurse or Dr. Fitzhugh that came in to wake me and see if I had progressed. Sure enough, I was at about 9 cm with a tiny bit of cervix left. They immediately turned off the pitocin and started prepping for the actual birth. Throughout the time I had the epidural in, I never once pushed more pain medication via the clicker thingie. In fact, I didn't know it was even there, no one told me! Because I had rested and some of the medication had worn off, I could feel a lot of vaginal pressure as I was waking up. That got me really excited about starting to push. I could feel my left side and could actually move my leg around, but my right side was completely numb. It was a strange feeling, but I was thrilled that I could feel the baby in the birth canal. I remember telling Nancy that I could feel the baby coming down. I was happy that I had sensation but no pain. My left rib cage did hurt a bit, though, from all the vomiting and dry-heaving prior to the hospital. 

The Birth: 

As the nurses were prepping for delivery, I was unaware that the bag of waters had started bulging outside my body! Dave was saying how neat it looked and I reached down to feel it. It was super smooth and felt like a slippery water balloon. We got the mirror and it indeed looked exactly like a balloon coming out of me - so weird, but so fascinating! Nancy said that Dr. Fitzhugh might not make it to the baby's birth because I could have her any minute. Her head was right behind my bag of waters, and she was moving down pretty fast. Somewhere during this time, I started pushing a bit because I could feel the tightening sensation of my contractions. I was sort of experimenting with the feeling of trying to push without knowing if it was working or not. Dr. Fitzhugh made his appearance and I remember telling him how amazed I was at my baby balloon. I was relieved that he was there, but I knew that Nancy could have helped me birth the baby safely without him. 

(Mother-led pushing): 

After a few minutes of getting the hang of the pushing sensations, my bag of waters slowly leaked open and formed a small little pool right on the bed next to the baby's head. I made a joke about her being a true water baby and having a nice little pool to be born into. In some strange way, it felt symbolic of the water birth I had hoped for at home. We got the mirror out and I began to watch as I slowly inched baby's head out with each contraction. I am still very thankful that Nancy and Dr. Fitzhugh recognized that I was doing a great job pushing on my own. It was a very intuitive experience for me. Nancy picked up on my effective pushing, and when Dr. Fitzhugh got there, he really just sat at the end of the bed in silence. Everyone was barely whispering. I would vocalize that I was having a contraction and Nancy would encourage me through it, telling me to go nice and slow and how I was doing a great job. I could see the baby's head in the mirror, so I had a good idea of how hard or soft I had to push. Dr. Fitzhugh rubbed some lubricating gel around my vaginal opening to help glide the baby's head out and stretch the skin a bit. With each contraction, I pushed at a consistent pace, even holding the push between contractions. I was determined to get her out and not tear! So eventually her head came out and I saw her sweet little face as it turned towards the side. Nancy did encourage me to continue pushing, I think, so I could birth the rest of her body. I pushed as Dr. Fitzhugh supported her body. 

(This is my favorite part of the entire birth!!) Then Nancy told me to reach down and pick up my baby. I said "I can't!" and she said "Yes you can, just reach down!" So I reached down, hooked my hands under her armpits, pushed the rest of her body out, and lifted Evelyn Isabel to my chest at 10:38 AM. It was so unbelievably amazing. I actually birthed my own baby, even in the hospital with an epidural!! Of course, Dr. Fitzhugh did help make sure I didn't drop this super slippery baby, but I was so proud that I was able to bring her to me. I did not tear at all and had no abrasions. Yay! 

Evelyn pinked up and was gently crying as we rubbed her back to loosen up the mucus. She was never suctioned. After a few minutes of bonding, Dave cut the cord (which had stopped pulsing). We attempted to nurse for about a half hour, then the nurses quickly weighed her, swaddled her, and gave her back to me. Dave got to hold her at some point and I was in total awe of what had just happened. We were one happy lil' family!

My grandma, mom, and sister were also present at the birth and I'm glad they were able to be there. My friend Courtney was also there for a good portion of my labor to help and let my sister, Kelly, come in towards the end to hold the camera and witness the birth. Kelly had just driven 8 hours from Georgia, straight to the hospital, and into the birthing room in time to see Evelyn be born. 

I will be forever thankful for my labor support team, especially Dave, Nancy, and Dr. Fitzhugh. I feel so blessed that I was in the company of such wonderful people who supported, trusted, and cared for me during Evelyn's birth. Stay tuned for my reflection post!

~Christine