I found out in December of 2008 that I was pregnant after taking two pregnancy tests, mainly because I didn’t believe the first one. When I went to the Dr’s office to confirm the pregnancy they were concerned because I was having a stabbing pain in my left side. When they did a sonogram they didn’t seen anything growing in the uterus so they were concerned it was an etopic pregnancy but nothing showed up in the tubes at that time either. A few weeks and a couple of sonograms later we finally were able to hear the heartbeat on New Years Eve. Other than being a little nauseous and very exhausted in the 2nd month the rest of the 1st and 2nd trimester couldn’t have been more perfect. I loved watching my growing stomach and feeling my active baby boy inside of me.
I had always been interested in having a natural birth and liked the positive things I had heard about midwives, doulas and homebirths but after touring several hospitals and a birth center, reading as much as we could about the subject and talking it over I decided to switch doctors around 18 weeks and have our baby at a different hospital. In the 3rd trimester things got a little more complicated. I had a very high sugar reading during my glucose test at 28 weeks and refused to take the second test which meant I had to have twice a week non stress tests and check my blood sugar four times a day. After this diagnosis I was afraid I was not going to be able to have as natural a birth as I wanted. As time got closer to the due date even though I had been controlling my blood sugar on my own with diet and exercise the doctor begin telling me that having gestational diabetes tended to make the baby too big and he had a higher chance of being stillborn. She said she would probably have to induce me because of it. I was afraid my desire to have a natural birth was not going to be an option.
I had given up the idea of having a doula and figured I would just have to be induced anyways so I might as well get an epidural. At around 35 weeks I decided to use the free massage coupon I had won at a materni-tea event. The massage was great and was given to me by Nadah who had many years of experience as a doula and who eased my doubts of not being able to have a natural birth. She also had some suggestions to help start labor instead of being induced and gave me some tea to help regulate my blood sugar and prepare my body for labor. I went home and talked to my husband about all we had discussed and decided we wanted to ask Nadah to attend our birth.
As we got into the last few weeks my doctor wanted to set up an induction a week before my due date. Things were going smoothly with the diabetes so we decided to ask for more time for my body to go into labor on its own. She agreed to let me go until my due date but said she was not going to let me go any longer than that under her care.
On Mon Aug 3rd, we had an appointment with Nadah to help us with some natural ways to encourage labor. When I went to see my OB that Wed my cervix was dilated 1-2 cm, I was 90% effaced & little dude was at a 1 station. My doctor said she had the feeling she would be seeing me that weekend.
Friday evening my husband and I stopped by Cabelas on the way to dinner with our family. That was the first time I had a contraction that felt much stronger than the “practice contractions” I had been having on and off. After a delicious dinner of spicy mexican food I had another strong contraction in the car. Since they were so spaced out I didn’t really think much of it at the time but through the night I would awaken to a contraction every couple of hours and by morning the were coming a little closer together. I had an NST(non-stress test) scheduled to go to at 11:00 Saturday morning and on the drive there I realized the contractions had picked up to coming about every ten minutes. Sitting in the car through them made my eyes water. I had been having light contractions during my tests in the previous weeks but the nurse that morning didn’t think I was dilated more than 2 cm so they released me. I was so relieved because I was afraid I would be stuck at the hospital for hours instead of being able to go through early labor in the comfort of my own home. I called my doula to let her know what was going on and she offered to come whenever I was ready for her but I was doing ok on my own so she promised to keep in touch throughout the day.
When I got back home my husband helped me time my contractions as I worked on relaxing and rocking my hips during the contractions. By this time it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. I couldn’t lay down or sit during a contraction so I would lay on a cushion he brought downstairs for me to try to get whatever rest I could. The contractions had picked up to being every 3-5min apart & 45-60 sec long. They were intense but not unbearable. I thought “this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be” I think you get so nervous about it because of what everyone tells you. That evening I started bleeding so after talking to our doctor and doula we decided it would be a good time to head to the hospital to get settled in before I was in transition.
Once we were at the hospital they checked my progression and announced I was already at 6cm! I was so happy I said “yay, I’m almost there!” At this point I was still laughing and talking. The nurse seemed amazed that I felt so good. Nadah made sure I stayed well hydrated and in as comfortable a position as possible to help ease the labor pains. My husband was there supporting me and making sure I was being given the best care. I was progressing very well and so at about 1:00am when I was at 8 cm the nurse said she thought I only had a couple more hours to go. We hadn’t called our families yet so DH called to let them know we were at the hospital and that we didn’t think it would be too much longer. If only we had known!
After spending some time in the Jacuzzi I got out so the nurse could check me. I seemed to have gotten stuck at 8 cm so we decided to have the doctor break my water to see if it would help things pick up again. By this time I was all things serious and finally began feeling the urge to push at about 5:00am. I was almost fully dilated except for one area of the cervix. The urge to push began to get so strong and I was so exhausted by this point that I allowed it to take over even though the nurse was working to try to get the rest of the cervix back over the baby’s head before she encouraged me to push. After doing this for an hour or so the doctor came in to check me. That’s when she realized that the baby was sunny side up which meant his head was not hitting the cervix in the right spot to help it come down as easily. This was a surprise because I had had absolutely no back labor which is common in most babies facing this way. Time had been passing in a blur at this point but somehow in all the commotion and exhaustion I noticed the sun coming in through the windows. At this point I realized that I had been doing this for quite a long time and didn’t seem to be making any progress. Later DH told me he had tried to get the blinds closed because he knew if I realized how long I’d been pushing I would get discouraged but he only got one window closed before he was needed again. I had begun feeling almost in and out of consciousness because when I would lay back between pushes I was so exhausted I would doze off. I didn’t seem to be making any progress and it had been about 2 1/2 hours of pushing by this point. I felt I just couldn’t do it anymore so I told the doctor in a desperate, teary voice “I need help” The doctor knew my hopes of having a natural birth but also knew I was about at my limit. She said she could try the vacuum but thought because of his position it probably wouldn’t work and if she tried twice with no luck she would have to take me for a c-section. That was the last thing I wanted so she suggested bringing in a doctor who was very good with forceps but that I would need to have a quick epidural/spinal block. I said “ok, I’m done”
While waiting for the other OB and the anesthesiologist they started me on oxygen because my breathing was becoming shallow and the baby’s heart rate was dropping. It felt so good to have pure oxygen filling my lungs. The epidural took almost immediately. I found it humorous that they said I would feel a little pressure because I felt a huge sense of relief at that point and even chuckled about it. The doctor placed the forceps to wait for the next contraction to turn and pull him out but as his heart rate dropped again she said never mind and tugged with all her body weight. Out came the most beautiful baby boy I had ever seen in my life! He was perfect 🙂 I was a disappointed that I couldn’t nurse him right away as I had hoped but was glad that he was finally here and doing ok.
Our firstborn was born 8/9/09 at 7:40am, 7lbs 8.4 oz, 19 3/4in long after 20+ hours of active labor. I thank God everyday for the ultimate expression of our love He’s given us! It may have not turned out exactly as I had planned but I’m glad I was able to experience natural labor. My husband was a wonderful support and encouragement throughout the whole process and I’m glad we were able to experience such a life changing event together that we will never forget!
