Background.... Our birth plan:
We are planning a natural, drug-free birth and would like to go into labor on our own. We hope to avoid any induction or augmentation, particularly Pitocin. Jessica wishes to be free to walk around and change positions during labor, and does not wish to be asked about intravenous narcotics or an epidural for pain relief, we will ask for pain relief if needed. We would rather use breathing, position changes, birth ball, tub, massage and other coping measures. I would also prefer not to be asked to rate pain level. I intend to keep myself well hydrated and would prefer not to have IV fluids administered or be attached to an IV pole, and would prefer a hep lock if an IV is necessary. We would prefer to have fetal monitoring by handheld Doppler rather than continuous monitoring if possible.
Friday 2/12 (Induction Day):
We are planning a natural, drug-free birth and would like to go into labor on our own. We hope to avoid any induction or augmentation, particularly Pitocin. Jessica wishes to be free to walk around and change positions during labor, and does not wish to be asked about intravenous narcotics or an epidural for pain relief, we will ask for pain relief if needed. We would rather use breathing, position changes, birth ball, tub, massage and other coping measures. I would also prefer not to be asked to rate pain level. I intend to keep myself well hydrated and would prefer not to have IV fluids administered or be attached to an IV pole, and would prefer a hep lock if an IV is necessary. We would prefer to have fetal monitoring by handheld Doppler rather than continuous monitoring if possible.
Friday 2/12 (Induction Day):
My due date was Thursday the 11th, so I was one day past term... When I went in for my weekly doctors appointment at lunch time, I was dilated about 2cm, and about 60-70% effaced, but I had high blood pressure. My doctor stripped my membranes, but then told me I needed to head to L&D to be induced. I asked my doctor if I had any other options, such as waiting through the evening to see if the membrane stripping would help - but she said that my BP was high enough that we shouldn't wait. She asked me to head straight to the hospital, without even going home to get my stuff. I was really upset, as I had hired a doula and planned to labor at home as long as possible - I also felt very strongly that I didn't want Pitocin. I felt like my birth plan was falling apart from the very beginning.
Brett drove me to Swedish, walked me in, and then headed home to get our moms and finish packing my stuff. I was so sure that I wouldn't be induced that Brett had even left all of his things at work when he left for the Dr. appointment. I was admitted to L&D about 2pm. I had to be given a hep lock (didn't need an IV yet) and hooked up to the contraction and heart rate monitors.
Around 4:45pm, I was finally given Cytotec, to help with the "ripening of the cervix." I started having more noticeable contractions after that, but nothing painful. Because nothing much was happening, they hooked up my IV and started me on Pitocin around 8:45pm. They started out at a very low dose and were upping it every half hour. Contractions were about 3 to 4 minutes apart according to the monitors, and much more noticeable - but still not very painful. They felt more like period cramps than anything else. Sleeping at the hospital was pretty awful, as they were checking my blood pressure very often throughout the night.
Saturday 2/13:
My doctor was on call, so she stopped by to check my cervix around 8am before she left for the day - I was still only 2-3 cm dilated - She stripped my membranes again. She let me know that it still might be a whole day before Baby S was born, but she assumed that the doctor on call would probably rupture my membranes when she came to check me. I spent the morning doing things like bouncing on the yoga ball and walking the hallways to get things started - but I also had to be careful because of my high blood pressure. Every time they checked me and it was up, I would have to get back in the bed to make sure it went down.
Around 1pm the on call doctor came to check my cervix. She said that she was a "stingy judge" but said that I was still only 2-3 cm dilated, and 60-70% effaced. I was really frustrated that nothing was happening. She decided to break my water, so she did that during the exam. What a weird feeling.
My contractions quickly became more painful after that, and by 2:30 they were 2 to 3 minutes apart, so I knew something must be happening. Although I could still talk through contractions and had a nice break in between each one, they were extremely unpleasant, so Brett called the doula around 3:40 and asked her to start on her way, as we knew it would be a little while before she got there. We had an awesome nurse and she did everything she could to help me get through the contractions as easily as possible. I tried many positions, including being on my hands and knees, and leaning on the yoga ball. They checked my blood pressure again, and it had increased a lot - so they made me get back in bed. It was awful! I wasn't able to move through the contractions which made them feel even worse. Luckily, after a few minutes my BP went back down, so I was able to get back out of bed. My back was absolutely killing me during the contractions. I tried sitting in the rocking chair with a heat pad on my back and found that the best option I had in the room was to sit in the rocking chair and rock through the contractions. I kept getting very tense through the contractions, but our nurse kept reminding me that I needed to relax through them or they would be worse. At one point while we were waiting for the doula to arrive but when our nurse had stepped out of the room, I told Brett that I wasn't sure if I could do it with out any pain meds. My birth plan had already fallen apart, so I wasn't sure that I could keep with that too. He encouraged me to keep going, and I am glad he did.
When the doctor came back around 5:30pm to check my cervix again - she said that I was only 4 cm dilated! She told me that my cervix was not responding very favorably, and that there was a very high chance that I was going to end up with a C-Section. This was the absolute last thing that I wanted to happen, but at that point there wasn't much I could do.
Soon after that I pretty much stopped talking. My contractions felt like they were on top of each other, and I didn't feel like my body was relaxing at all in between them. My nurse suggested we try the tub, so we got that going and I got in right about the time that my doula showed up about 5:30pm. The nurse suggested that I lay back in the tub to make sure that my stomach was underwater. After one contraction this way - I knew this wasn't working. I tried sitting up in the water, and found that I could rock through the contractions when they came - and then lean back to relax in between. I was getting really exhausted.
After a few contractions in the tub, I had to get back out to go to the bathroom. I decided to get back in though, as it seemed like the best option. After another couple contractions, I had to get back out to go to the bathroom again. I got back in and then one more contraction later I had to pee again! My doula joked and said "when you say you have to poop is when we'll know something is really happening." When I got out this time to go, I all the sudden had the urge to push. I didn't say anything to anyone since it didn't seem possible, and got back in the tub. The next contraction I knew that I was feeling the need to push - so I spoke up.
At this point it was only about 6:30pm. My nurse said that it had only been an hour since the doctor checked me last, and since I was only at 4cm that time, she probably wouldn't be ready to check me again. I got out of the tub though, and as I was walking back in to the room and trying to decide whether to go to the bed or back to the rocking chair, I had another strong contraction. I had to grab my IV pole to brace myself, and couldn't help but push. This got my nurse's attention! She told me to get into the bed, and that she was calling the doctor - if the doctor didn't want to check me, she would check me herself.
At 6:50 (less than 1 1/2 hours after my last check when I was only 4cm), the doctor came back to check me again. She said "I love when people make liars out of me" - I was all the way dilated, with just a "lip" left. She said that I would be pushing within an hour - when she left the room, my nurse said that she doubted it would be that long. Fifteen minutes later at 7:10pm, after seeing my involuntary pushing, my nurse checked me again and sure enough, the lip was gone and I was ready to push, so they called the doctor back in.
I started by laying on the bed to push and within the first 20 minutes everyone started rushing around, and put me on oxygen. The baby's heart rate was dropping, and they said that I just needed to get more oxygen to the baby. Brett and I were both very scared. Someone reminded me again that I needed to use my yoga breathing through the contractions and pushing to make sure that I was taking deep enough breaths.
Because of the baby's heart rate, the doctor said that chances were high that she would need to use the forceps. She said that she didn't like to use forceps on unmedicated patients though, and basically asked if I wanted something for the pain just in case she needed to use them. Brett and my doula suggested I pass, and I am glad that I did.
Luckily the combination of the oxygen and the yoga breathing (coupled with the threat of the forceps) helped and I was able to try out the squatting bar. At a few points they had to pull out the oxygen again, but mostly I was able to get enough oxygen to baby by concentrating on my breathing.
Using the squatting bar made me feel like I was really doing something, since gravity would be helping my baby come down, but it also really hurt my legs. After a little while I switched back to laying on the bed. The doctor ended up leaving to deliver another baby, and I just kept pushing. I got really exhausted and wanted to lie back down on the bed, but as I leaned back I realized it just wasn't happening. The baby was too low for me to even be able to lean back.
I pushed for a LONG time. My nurse's shift ended at 7:30pm, and a new nurse came in, but the previous nurse wanted to stay for my delivery. Finally, sometime after 8pm she realized that Baby S just wasn't coming quickly enough and she had to head out.
As the baby came down lower, I had to go back to squatting position for comfort. Finally, they were able to start seeing the baby. They told me this, and I didn't believe it - I felt like I was doing so much pushing and nothing at all was happening. Originally I hadn't wanted to use a mirror, but after pushing for so long without seeing a result, they offered to get the mirror. It was amazing to see that there really was a head on the way.
Having the mirror there, helped with the pushing, as I could see the progress being made. During the pushing, they turned the Pitocin off - so contractions were much less painful at this point, but I think it also slowed things down.
After almost three hours of pushing, it was finally time to call the doctor back in! The nurse had the doctor paged, and found that she was delivering another baby... There was a little bit of confusion as they were deciding if they should contact another doctor. Luckily, the other mom delivered right at that moment, so the doctor was able to come back in to us.
I had to get back on my back for delivery, and then it was probably about another 15 minutes of pushing after the doctor came back in (although, I really had no sense of time after about 4pm), but everyone had their scrubs on so I knew that we were getting really close. Finally, Baby S was out! And I managed with only a small tear.
They put the baby right up to my chest to clean off, but he wasn't crying and something seemed a little off. They suctioned him a few times, but ended up having to take him away from me and use a tube to actually suction out his stomach. Turns out that after 3 hours of pushing he had swallowed a LOT of fluid. He also had some raw spots on his head from rubbing against my pelvis. Poor little guy! Seems like he wasn't quite ready to make his appearance!
After this, I finally got to hold him again - and all of the pain and pushing was the furthest thing from my mind. Who knew that I could love someone so much?
Around 1pm the on call doctor came to check my cervix. She said that she was a "stingy judge" but said that I was still only 2-3 cm dilated, and 60-70% effaced. I was really frustrated that nothing was happening. She decided to break my water, so she did that during the exam. What a weird feeling.
My contractions quickly became more painful after that, and by 2:30 they were 2 to 3 minutes apart, so I knew something must be happening. Although I could still talk through contractions and had a nice break in between each one, they were extremely unpleasant, so Brett called the doula around 3:40 and asked her to start on her way, as we knew it would be a little while before she got there. We had an awesome nurse and she did everything she could to help me get through the contractions as easily as possible. I tried many positions, including being on my hands and knees, and leaning on the yoga ball. They checked my blood pressure again, and it had increased a lot - so they made me get back in bed. It was awful! I wasn't able to move through the contractions which made them feel even worse. Luckily, after a few minutes my BP went back down, so I was able to get back out of bed. My back was absolutely killing me during the contractions. I tried sitting in the rocking chair with a heat pad on my back and found that the best option I had in the room was to sit in the rocking chair and rock through the contractions. I kept getting very tense through the contractions, but our nurse kept reminding me that I needed to relax through them or they would be worse. At one point while we were waiting for the doula to arrive but when our nurse had stepped out of the room, I told Brett that I wasn't sure if I could do it with out any pain meds. My birth plan had already fallen apart, so I wasn't sure that I could keep with that too. He encouraged me to keep going, and I am glad he did.
When the doctor came back around 5:30pm to check my cervix again - she said that I was only 4 cm dilated! She told me that my cervix was not responding very favorably, and that there was a very high chance that I was going to end up with a C-Section. This was the absolute last thing that I wanted to happen, but at that point there wasn't much I could do.
Soon after that I pretty much stopped talking. My contractions felt like they were on top of each other, and I didn't feel like my body was relaxing at all in between them. My nurse suggested we try the tub, so we got that going and I got in right about the time that my doula showed up about 5:30pm. The nurse suggested that I lay back in the tub to make sure that my stomach was underwater. After one contraction this way - I knew this wasn't working. I tried sitting up in the water, and found that I could rock through the contractions when they came - and then lean back to relax in between. I was getting really exhausted.
After a few contractions in the tub, I had to get back out to go to the bathroom. I decided to get back in though, as it seemed like the best option. After another couple contractions, I had to get back out to go to the bathroom again. I got back in and then one more contraction later I had to pee again! My doula joked and said "when you say you have to poop is when we'll know something is really happening." When I got out this time to go, I all the sudden had the urge to push. I didn't say anything to anyone since it didn't seem possible, and got back in the tub. The next contraction I knew that I was feeling the need to push - so I spoke up.
At this point it was only about 6:30pm. My nurse said that it had only been an hour since the doctor checked me last, and since I was only at 4cm that time, she probably wouldn't be ready to check me again. I got out of the tub though, and as I was walking back in to the room and trying to decide whether to go to the bed or back to the rocking chair, I had another strong contraction. I had to grab my IV pole to brace myself, and couldn't help but push. This got my nurse's attention! She told me to get into the bed, and that she was calling the doctor - if the doctor didn't want to check me, she would check me herself.
At 6:50 (less than 1 1/2 hours after my last check when I was only 4cm), the doctor came back to check me again. She said "I love when people make liars out of me" - I was all the way dilated, with just a "lip" left. She said that I would be pushing within an hour - when she left the room, my nurse said that she doubted it would be that long. Fifteen minutes later at 7:10pm, after seeing my involuntary pushing, my nurse checked me again and sure enough, the lip was gone and I was ready to push, so they called the doctor back in.
I started by laying on the bed to push and within the first 20 minutes everyone started rushing around, and put me on oxygen. The baby's heart rate was dropping, and they said that I just needed to get more oxygen to the baby. Brett and I were both very scared. Someone reminded me again that I needed to use my yoga breathing through the contractions and pushing to make sure that I was taking deep enough breaths.
Because of the baby's heart rate, the doctor said that chances were high that she would need to use the forceps. She said that she didn't like to use forceps on unmedicated patients though, and basically asked if I wanted something for the pain just in case she needed to use them. Brett and my doula suggested I pass, and I am glad that I did.
Luckily the combination of the oxygen and the yoga breathing (coupled with the threat of the forceps) helped and I was able to try out the squatting bar. At a few points they had to pull out the oxygen again, but mostly I was able to get enough oxygen to baby by concentrating on my breathing.
Using the squatting bar made me feel like I was really doing something, since gravity would be helping my baby come down, but it also really hurt my legs. After a little while I switched back to laying on the bed. The doctor ended up leaving to deliver another baby, and I just kept pushing. I got really exhausted and wanted to lie back down on the bed, but as I leaned back I realized it just wasn't happening. The baby was too low for me to even be able to lean back.
I pushed for a LONG time. My nurse's shift ended at 7:30pm, and a new nurse came in, but the previous nurse wanted to stay for my delivery. Finally, sometime after 8pm she realized that Baby S just wasn't coming quickly enough and she had to head out.
As the baby came down lower, I had to go back to squatting position for comfort. Finally, they were able to start seeing the baby. They told me this, and I didn't believe it - I felt like I was doing so much pushing and nothing at all was happening. Originally I hadn't wanted to use a mirror, but after pushing for so long without seeing a result, they offered to get the mirror. It was amazing to see that there really was a head on the way.
Having the mirror there, helped with the pushing, as I could see the progress being made. During the pushing, they turned the Pitocin off - so contractions were much less painful at this point, but I think it also slowed things down.
After almost three hours of pushing, it was finally time to call the doctor back in! The nurse had the doctor paged, and found that she was delivering another baby... There was a little bit of confusion as they were deciding if they should contact another doctor. Luckily, the other mom delivered right at that moment, so the doctor was able to come back in to us.
I had to get back on my back for delivery, and then it was probably about another 15 minutes of pushing after the doctor came back in (although, I really had no sense of time after about 4pm), but everyone had their scrubs on so I knew that we were getting really close. Finally, Baby S was out! And I managed with only a small tear.
They put the baby right up to my chest to clean off, but he wasn't crying and something seemed a little off. They suctioned him a few times, but ended up having to take him away from me and use a tube to actually suction out his stomach. Turns out that after 3 hours of pushing he had swallowed a LOT of fluid. He also had some raw spots on his head from rubbing against my pelvis. Poor little guy! Seems like he wasn't quite ready to make his appearance!
After this, I finally got to hold him again - and all of the pain and pushing was the furthest thing from my mind. Who knew that I could love someone so much?
Overall, even though things didn't necessarily go according to my plan, I wouldn't change anything. I am very happy with how things turned out, and am very happy with my support team. I know that I couldn't have made it through the day without Brett :)
Finley Michael
7lbs 12oz, 21 inches
2/13/2010 at 10:06pm
Love your story and again, I'm so proud of you for going without any pain med's! Good job!
ReplyDeleteYou rock woman! You're birth plan is exactly like I would want mine, but it sounds like you handled it like a champ when things didn't exactly go your way. All that matters is he's here and you did an amazing job! Congrats to the whole family!
ReplyDeleteThis made me tear up. You are amazing. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDelete~Sarah G-K