** NOTE – This is the DETAILED birth story, so beware, especially any men – you probably don’t care to read! It’s really long too!**
I can’t believe that we’re now a week out from the beginnings of our baby’s birth story! Last Tuesday, April 14th, I called in to my OB’s office to see if I could change my appt. for last Friday. There are two doctors at this practice that I’m not really fond of, mainly because it’s obvious that they aren’t fond of their patients.
I was shocked to hear that my favorite OB in the group wasn’t on vacation like I had been told before, but he was on call that day! To make things better, my OB was on call the next day. Okay, so now I knew that this baby HAD to come between that Tuesday morning and up until 6:59 AM on Thursday – I wanted a doctor I liked.
I googled all sorts of natural inductions, trying some of them during the day, such as massage/ pressure points. My Facebook friends offered their suggestions, and off we went trying to prod our little one along.
Just in case something might work, I straightened up the living room before bedtime, and the kiddos all had a bath. I have no idea what time we finally got to bed, but I wasn’t having contractions – not even one!
I woke up around 12:30 AM or so for my first potty break – no contractions. Alright, I was content that this baby had decided to camp out permanently in my tummy. 
I believe the next time I woke up was around 2:15 to 2:30 AM- again, for a potty trip. I remember noticing a few contractions, but nothing to keep me awake or be concerned about. I was back asleep in no time.
3:40 AM - Again, potty break. But this time was different, this time my tummy was hurting. FYI first time moms, you’re tummy will begin to clean itself in preparation for a baby. This is when the contractions got my attention.
I wasn’t sure if it was contractions, or if my stomach was just cramping – but they were strong cramps for sure. I decided to camp out on the couch for a little while, just to be able to pay attention to what was going on. I’ve learned through the many weeks of contractions that I can have tons of contractions while lying in bed, only to have them stop when I move to the couch and become upright.
I was probably on the couch for 15 to 20 minutes when it was clear that these were contractions, and then I realized that they were consistent. I wasn’t sure, but they seemed to be coming every 3 to 5 minutes – though still not too painful, just strong and intense. Yeah, intense is a good word.
(My last visit I was around 3.5 cm, 25% effaced. All of my past pregnancies I was at least 4 cm on my last visit, and each labor – induced or not – were all around 4 hours start to finish. Of course, part of that is due to being 4 to 6 cm when I started – LOL. Anyway, I figured we had at least 2 or 3 hours from here.)
I made my way back to the bedroom, and I guess my stirring around was waking DH up. I didn’t want to wake him up fully, in case it was false labor. It was now about 4:05 AM, and I knew he’d have to be up for work in less than 2 hours, so I just asked where the stopwatch was – if he knew.
It was in the bathroom drawer, but the batteries were dead. Well, now back in the bathroom, my tummy was upset again. Yep, this is it – you normally just don’t go potty that much, especially in the middle of the night. And that normally doesn’t cause contractions to get more intense.
So, 4:11 AM, I’m waking him up telling him I’m pretty sure I’m in labor. My next step is to call the hospital and let them know that I think I’m in labor. I told them contractions were now 2 to 3 minutes apart, and we might be showing up in 30 minutes or so at the earliest if they kept up. They said yes, to come on in.
I wanted to prepare them, since I have fast babies – they would have time to read over my birth plan and maybe alert the doctor (yeah right… they insist on checking to be sure you are in labor before they even call the OB, like I wouldn’t know… I don’t know that they even looked at it at all.)
Back to the story – DH is getting up really quick, and since contractions are only 2 to 3 minutes, I tell him that I don’t think I have time at this point to get a shower. Next thing I know – he’s IN THE SHOWER! Hello! If I don’t have time, he doesn’t have time! (He later told me he thought I meant a shower, dry and fix my hair, etc… No, I meant I didn’t even have time for a shower!)
4:15 AM – I’m sure enough that it’s happening now that I call my parents to wake them. I tell them it would probably be 30 minutes or so before we got ready and left, but if they could be ready to meet us at the hospital to get the kids.
After that call is made, I begin trying to fix my hair where it won’t look too dirty in pictures, wash my face and begin putting on makeup. Hey, pictures aren’t forgiving!
At one point, I began to think it all stopped – I thought it seemed to be a few minutes without a contraction. Kinda disappointed, but that didn’t last long. Before I knew it, back they were, and now only 1 to 2 minutes apart.
One of my friends, Missi, is all for natural childbirth and homebirths. I remembered reading something she had wrote about standing and rocking through contractions – or dancing with your husband. At the time, I thought it sounded crazy.
Hospitals have you flat on your back to labor. With my first, I was brave and tried the hands and knees positions. Just seconds into my next contraction I discovered that was NOT the position I wanted to be in, and after it was over, I quickly went back to my back. So in my mind, on your back was the way to go, like they do at the hospital.
Well, this time I thought I’d try it Missi’s way. So each time a contraction would come on, I would lean over wherever I was (at the footboard of the bed, or at the bathroom counter) and begin swaying back and forth. To my amazement, it felt wonderful!
So I just kept rocking each time a contraction came. By 4:25 or 4:30 AM, I was rocking an awful lot, and contractions were getting a lot stronger. It was kinda hard to get ready at this point, since I had to keep stopping every minute.
DH was now getting the kids up and dressed, and I was once again going potty. Only this time it was different – it felt like the baby was coming out! I began getting a little frightened at this point, afraid to even sit down since it might come out.
There was so much pressure, that I quickly just dropped my drawers and rushed to the potty. There I was, straddling the toilet – a sight to see. Actually, DH did come to the door and I had to scream him away. But what really scared me was at this point I began bleeding. I’ve never done that, and even having 3 children before, I didn’t realize that you bled BEFORE having a baby.
Let’s just say I was VERY panicked at this point. It felt like the baby was coming out right there, and now I was bleeding. I called L & D to ask them what to do. The nurse was trying to be calm, but that only made me more tense.
She began asking me if the head was right there, to which I finally ended up screaming at her that I didn’t know, I was just hurting real bad and was bleeding. When in pain, and fear on top of that, I’ll scream and not think much of it except that I’m right in doing so.
She could tell that she wasn’t getting anywhere with me, so she kept asking for me to put DH on the phone. Well, considering he wasn’t in the bathroom and I was having contractions almost continally now… well, I wasn’t going to hunt him down.
He came to the door and took the phone from me, at which point it became a little humorous. She asked him if he could see the head, and can you guess what he did??!! He actually got down in the floor and was trying to look! NO!!! (Yep, I’m screaming at him now – ha ha!!)
She’s trying to get him to have my lie on the bed, which I’m yelling back NO to. Yeah, been there – it hurts. He’s beginning to panic at my rocking, wanting me to stop doing that.
Well, I manage to get pants back on and get to the living room before the next contraction. I thought I’d try the lying on my back thing since I was in the middle of the room and had no where to go except the couch.
I threw myself down and back – and yes, I was right, on your back is no fun! And let’s just add this to – thinking you might really have your baby at home isn’t too fun either when you don’t know what you’re doing!
I have mentioned a lot this pregnancy and last that I really would like a home birth, but at that moment, I just wanted to snap my fingers and be somewhere where someone knew what to do.
The nurse had mentioned calling an ambulance, but I knew from my kidney stone that those guys really don’t know much about pregnant women. Plus, I knew this baby was coming NOW, and I didn’t want to have it in the back of an ambulance with strange men with my husband and children behind us in the van.
So, we prepped my clothes and the van (not that it wouldn’t been enough if my water were to break, but it was something), and loaded up. The last time I recall on my clock was 4:41 AM (I’ve been awake an hour now). Of course, we had to sit a minute in the driveway because another contraction came on and I couldn’t even close my door!
I do remember looking back to the kiddos as I was getting in. They were all 3 VERY awake at 4:41 AM in the morning! DD was SO excited, and talked our ears off – asking lots of questions. I wasn’t exactly in the talking mood, I was just trying not to have a baby in front of my children!
For the past 10 mintues or so at that point, I had begun to push against the contractions. While in the bathroom, I would have to stand up on my tiptoes during them. In the van, I was pushing down as hard as I could against the armrest and door – along with pushing up on my feet.
Of course, we came to redlights – but again, a laboring woman cares little for what’s right – so I’m telling DH just to run them. We make it to the interstate ramp, and get behind someone going grandpa speed…. NO!!!
Once on the interstate, we speed around him, and quickly take the fast lane. I guess we went 80 or so with flashers on. I was beginning to calm down a little now, feeling in control of the contractions. They really weren’t so bad pain wise, it was just the intense pressure to push at this point.
I remember once we hit the interchange thinking I was going to have to get DH to pull off on the ramp for me to have the baby. But somehow I managed to get through each contraction, only giving in a couple seconds at a time to push.
I wasn’t trying to push, or wanting to, but the urge was really getting strong now. We made it to the exit, again having to run a redlight. This had to be done carefully, since there were more people there. And what in the world would we see, but a roadworker SLOWLY walking across the traffic lane just minutes before 5 AM!
He got out of the way, then we had no more problems until a transfer truck pulled out in front of us just before we reached the ER entrance. BTW – I dying at this point, fighting off contractions and pushing, though the pain still managable since my water was still intact.
We pull up to the ER right just a few mintues before 5 AM, and my parents come out – my dad with a wheelchair. I’m having a contraction, so it takes a minute to get out. My parents begin asking what they need to do, and I can’t think, so I just tell them to wait there at the hospital.
The nurse begins pushing me, but really, I could’ve walked quicker! She was taking her sweet little time – HELLO!! I’m having a baby – NOW!
I ask if she can walk faster, to which she replies – no, she can’t in case she were to fall or something. So I come back with ”well can he push me?” (DH). Nope again. Well, we had to comply – we didn’t know where to go!
I remember having a contraction just after this, and I had to put my feet down to stop and push against it again. I didn’t think that one would ever end, nor did they – DH and the nurse kept telling me to put my feet up so we could get to the room. They needed to let me get through that contraction without having a baby in the hall!
Well, there wasn’t a foot rest on the chair, and I knew I couldn’t hold my feet up. Thankfully, another nurse met us in the hallway and I switched to her chair. At the time, I was thinking that she might not want to give me her chair, but looking back, she was probably a labor nurse coming to meet me anyway.
The funniest thing of all was when we went to get on the elevator. There was an eldery black gentleman getting off, and his reaction when he realized I was in labor was hilarious!! His eyes bulged out, he jumped and hopped out of the way. I believe he exclaimed something, but wouldn’t have a clue what – it was just really funny.
We got to labor and delivery, and nurses came pouring in the room after us. I felt bad, all the noise I was making in the hallways, but couldn’t really help it (nor really cared at that time). The nurse said something about getting on the bed so they could check me.
Umm.. not exactly what I wanted to hear – that hurts when you’re in labor! Well, there really wasn’t any need to be concerned. Another contraction came on and I lunged onto the bed, kicking my legs and nurses tried to get my pants off.
The next thing I remember them saying was that my water was right there and was what I was feeling. The nurse pushed the baby monitor against my stomach – but didn’t have time to buckle it on. This was 5:07 AM.
The next contraction came on, and despite knowing that you aren’t supposed to push until they say (in case you’re not fully dilated and would tear), I couldn’t help but push – even without the doc there. They began calling for someone to get the resident on call in there.
I didn’t tell them I pushed, until they said I could push on the next one – then I told them I had pushed on the last one. Here it came, and of course, I was pushing again, but it seemed something was lodged. All I knew was it was the water sack.
I thought it was stuck, but DH told me later it wasn’t - he kept looking and seeing it get bigger, even bigger than the baby’s head at the end.
The doc came in, and I’m able to whisper in pain “It hurts, pop it”. The head nurse hands over some metal thing as the doc is gloving up and they are putting her smock thing on. I’m still pushing. She pops it, and next thing I know they are saying something about suctioning.
“It’s head is out?”, I’m asking. Wow – I never even knew it! I kinda felt jipped, not hearing ‘here comes the head’. I guess when the water sac was popped, either his head was right there or got flushed out. Either way, it was relief when she popped it.
I heard something about the cord being around his neck (it was around his neck twice), and the shoulders. DH thinks she pulled the baby out from there, but it was so fast – who knows. 5:10 AM our baby boy was born! It took a minute for me to realize that no one had told me what the gender was, and I had to ask!
In hindsight, I realized that this was the first birth I ‘missed’. I was able to see each child be born with a mirror before, but didn’t really have time to think about it this time. Start to finish – 2:30 AM to 5:10 AM. In hospital room, less than 5 minutes.
I laugh that God must’ve known He had to help me have a natural birth, making it that quick so I couldn’t give in to meds. Really, it was all very managable. The last 3 to 5 minutes were rough, with the water coming out and stretching to the max. That was mainly a very tight, burning feeling.
The cord only was attached for 5 to 8 minutes probably. They said that something was detached and it wouldn’t pump blood to the baby anymore, but instead pull blood out of him. I really don’t think they knew what they were talking about, but they kept arguing and insisting, so DH told me just to trust them and let them cut it.
Since they were saying something about me still bleeding and being concerned about that, I agreed. Plus they said the cord had a knot in it, so I wasn’t sure if much blood could even get to him. In the emergency rush they made us feel we were in, the doc cut the cord – something DH has always gotten to do.
I realized this later, and feel bad for DH. I think he was disappointed, but he doesn’t like to think or dwell on things that he can’t change or fix. (Very unlike me, why do I think I can change things in the past?)
I was able to have him placed skin to skin on my stomach right away, and wonder if him being elevated like that was part of the reason they said the cord would pull tight and draw away blood?
We also forgot to snap a picture with the doc, actually, I don’t even recall her saying goodbye… Really, it was complete chaos!
After he was born, the nurses were great about leaving us alone. It was wonderful to be in a quiet room, no wires or machines hooked up, able to hold and nurse the baby for as long as I wanted. They came in occassionally to check him temp, and just as I thought – he was perfect!
My last baby had his temp drop, but they wouldn’t put him skin to skin – this time we did and it was great! I called my parents back, and they brought our children to meet their new brother around 5:45 AM. The reaction was so sweet! DD’s face was all lit up.
The comment was made that ‘someone’ wanted it to be a girl, like a baby patter-in, but they were happy with their brother.
Well, aside from one nurse insisting on giving me a shot of something (starts with M) for bleeding which I really didn’t think I needed, the rest of my care went pretty good. DH was okay with that, not wanting me to bleed too much, and was willing to chance the drugs.
Overall, I’m amazed at how I can go from start to finish in LESS than 3 hours!! I knew it would be a night baby, and was surprised it was a boy. Mainly because his pregnancy was so high and caused little to no pain/ pressure on my pelvic floor or legs. But he was all in front, so that did have me somewhat thinking it was a boy.
We opened the envelope on Saturday once we remembered it, and the sonogram tech was right “It’s A Boy!”. We are so glad he is, and have been loving every minute we’ve had to love and kiss on him!
Thanks for reading his story, and we’d love to hear a comment from you! I’m very curious at who all of my visitors are – I can see numbers, but that still leaves you a stranger. So please, could you drop a quick comment, maybe even letting us know how you found us? Thanks so much!
“Little Mommy”
PS – It’s true, natural labor DOES give you a much quicker recovery time. This was my 1st all natural. I’ve had two inductions (pictocin and water breaking), and my 2nd child was a natural start with some pain meds in my IV about 45 minutes before she was born. I’m not sure that they helped with pain, but sure made me dizzy!
As long as you focus on contractions, know that they are doing something and shouldn’t be fought against (unless you are in the van!!), you can easily work through them. Your body knows what to do if you listen to it.
I was pretty much on my own this time. I had nurses at the end, but really don’t know much of what they were saying, I was doing what I knew my body needed me to. I didn’t even tear this time!
In case you missed it, he was 7 lbs. and 6 oz., 20 inches long. Okay, NOW I’m saying goodnight – it’s taken about an hour to type this all up!
To my dear son, I love you more than words can describe, and have so loved stroking your head, having your hold my fingers, and kissing your precious little self time and time again! You are a true blessing from God – HIS creation – and we’re so blessed that HE decided to create you for our family! We Love You!
