Rhys Josiah - 08.21.08 6:32PM EST 7lb 10oz 19.5 inches
Birth Story
The story starts Wednesday, Aug 20. I had an OB appointment that day, I was 3cm dilated but didn’t think much of it as with your 4th baby being 3cm doesn’t always mean anything is imminent. Wednesday evening was actually a really nice evening. We ate dinner and I even had a white wine spritzer! I was feeling pretty good all around.
Ricky cleaned up after dinner and decided to put the oven on self-clean, saying that the baby was waiting to come until we had done it!
After the younger kids were in bed Talon and I played cards for a bit, this is when the *real* contractions started. It’s funny thinking back to the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having the weeks prior to this. I thought they were kinda painful, but when you get the real thing, you know it!
They were very spaced out , but I decided to take a bath and blow-dry my hair just in case.
After my bath I had some bloody-show and was pretty convinced that the baby was coming within the next couple days because things went the same way with Kyne’s labor.
The contractions continued throughout the night, coming every 20-30 minutes - They were painful but not strong. I managed to sleep even with them until about 3AM. After that I was awake on and off. Ricky had gotten up to use the bathroom and I had a pretty strong contraction. I moaned out, but it wasn’t from the pain….my water broke at the same time. Ricky said “they are coming every 20 mins or so“, and I said “yeah, but my water just broke!” I thought it was earlier than it was (it was 5AM) and was panicking about leaving the kids. We called my midwife who advised us to come in soon being my 4th, but I wasn’t in any pain (contractions eased up a lot after water broke) and wanted to wait until the kids woke up.
We called Becky and told her to make her way over but not to rush.
I hear all the time about how pregnant women want to experience the whole water braking scene, but to be honest it is such a pain! I went through 8 pads and 3 pairs of underwear in less than an hour. My belly shrunk so much it was weird looking (I weighed myself while walking the halls of the hospital and had lost 3lbs since my OB visit the day before).
So 6AM rolls around and Becky is here but I still want to stay until the kids wake up. My water is leaking so much though and Becky says the kids will be fine, so we head on out.
We arrive at the hospital at 6.30AM get all checked in, monitors on and IV started (no meds or liquids though). At 7 I am checked and 4-5cm dilated, 80% effaced.
My contractions at this point are very different than before my water broke. They are very short but intense, about 15 minutes apart….but only last 15-20 seconds of pain.
I am taken off the monitors so we can walk or bathe as needed/wanted.
I let the nurse and my midwife know that I am not wanting an Epidural, but am open to getting it if needed. My nurse asks at what pain-point will I want it and I say a 8-9 on a scale of 1-10 - She says she will hold me to that!
Between 8-8:45AM we walk the halls and I take a Jacuzzi bath. I am checked soon after and said to be 5-6cm with the same effacement and baby is at -2 station.
We spend the day walking, resting (I was so tired) watching Friends on DVD and just talking.
At 12.45 I am checked again and 7cm (later the nurse tells me that when she checked me soon after she would have said I was more a 6 than 7).
4PM and the contractions finally pick up….and boy did they pick up! There was no gradualness to it, they just started coming harder and faster (3-4 minutes apart). I took another Jacuzzi bath which at first seemed to help, but the pain was getting very intense.
The nurse checked me and said I was still a 7 but getting a lot softer and thinned out. This of course upset me because I was in so much pain and convinced things were finally moving along.
At this point I started to tell Ricky I needed something for the pain. He helped me through so many of the contractions and convinced me I could hold out a little longer. The pain was unlike any I remember from my other labors.
My nurse kept a close eye on me and checked me again, saying I was still a 7 but definitely making changes.
It was 5PM by now and with this last news I lost it and begged for some drugs! - She said she had to talk with my midwife first to see how she wanted to progress.
I was totally regretting my decision not to get the epidural, but felt like if I could just get something to ease the pain then I could make it to the end.
The nurse said that getting some pain meds might make the contractions peter out, and I needed to think about if I really wanted anything. Well I thought about it for about 5 minutes and with another contraction that had me in tears, the decision was made! I didn’t care if the contractions petered out, I needed something and I needed it now!
My midwife must have still been at the office (which is only 2 minutes across from the hospital) because around 5.30PM another Dr from the practice comes in to see how things are going.
I am given a shot of Stadol and at this point I ask if it’s still possible to get the Epidural. After talking with the nurse and seeing the pain I am in he says to go ahead and get the IV fluids started (which takes an hour), but lets me know I might not make it. (Thinking back, I believe they all knew I wouldn’t make it but were trying to calm me down and help me psychologically get through it)
The Stadol seems to take the edge off of the first contraction I get, I am relieved and think things will be manageable if they stay like this. Unfortunately the next one is worse than before the Stadol and they continue to be thereafter.
Around 6PM my midwife arrives. She is the sweetest little lady who has a great way of calming people. She stays with us through the contractions, rubbing my arm and helping me breathe and grunt through them.
After about 15-20 minutes I feel the urge to push. It came on like a freight train, all of a sudden just like with Kyne….it’s such a powerful feeling, un-explainable.
Lucie (my midwife) quickly rushes to the foot of my bed, talking to me the whole time, she checks my cervix and says I’m about 9.5cm with a little tiny lip left, but baby is there and ready to come and with my pushes the lip will just go.
Of course the pain and intensity are scaring me so she is trying to keep me calm and tells me to listen to my body and not to be afraid of the pain. I remember her saying this so vividly.
I start to push with the contractions, in my own way with no help….I just do what my body tells me. Once he starts to crown the pain is so unbearable I scream out loud, and I mean SCREAM! The nurse tells me in a not-so-nice way to stop screaming!
I push 2 times and his head is out (I ask if he’s out because I knew ‘something‘ was….Ricky tells me it‘s his head and I know this horror is nearly over).
Then things go a little panicky….I am in so much pain that I don’t take a lot of notice until afterwards, but I hear the nurse tell Ricky to grab my leg and push it all the way back, like she is doing. They push my legs so far back into me and Lucie is telling me to push with all my might. Apparently he got stuck after his head came out so the nurses (there was another one there too trying to help) and Ricky had to help. Lucie is urging me on and trying to turn him at the same time, and with 2 last frantic pushes out he comes! Wow the relief, it was utterly amazing once again!
He is put straight onto my belly for a good long while. He looked just like Tayah did at birth, it was so surreal just laying there staring at his beautiful face. I fell in love all over again.
His apgars were 8 + 9.
Looking back over the labor and delivery the differences between this one and the others are so amazing. I always thought that with Kyne’s labor the epidural had totally worn off while I was pushing….but the pain this time with no epidural was so much worse! I realize that some of the epidural with Kyne must have still been there slightly. Nothing compares to the pain of these contractions and the pushing. I am so proud of myself for doing it naturally, totally amazed that I managed it….but would I do it again…no way! - Yeah it was empowering and I have healed wonderfully (no stitches, bleeding almost gone 7 days post-partum), but I would totally get an epidural if I ever did this again (which I will not be doing!).
