Our daughter Elena Clare was born on December 30th at 12:20 am. But our story begins on Christmas day, because Chris and I had originally decided not to do anything for the holidays but stay home. Then a few days before Christmas we decided to travel up to my brother's place in Appleton just for Christmas day. Once there, we were tempted to stay the night, but decided we better go home to be close to our hospital and doctor (I was due Jan. 7, but had a feeling she might come a little early). This turned out to be a very good idea, since we got home at about 11 pm and at 2 am I started having strong contractions. I woke up, went to the bathroom and then returned to our bedroom, where I felt a splash of water on my legs. I started getting really excited and nervous and thought "This is it...my waters just broke." I was also excited because it was my birthday and I thought it would be cool to have my baby on my birthday.
I remembered that Coral said to get a lot of rest in early labor since I would need the energy, so I got back into bed trying not to wake Chris. Then I started worrying about the whole 24 hours thing. I really didn't want to be induced, and I was having strong contractions about seven minutes apart at first, but then they started dying down. I needed my birth coach to help me think through things, so I woke up Chris.
He asked me like four times if I was sure my waters had broken, and I just told him what I had experienced and "What else would it be?" He agreed that if my waters had broken we better get labor going a little more, so I started going up and down our stairs from our second story apartment to the basement and back. This definitely caused more contractions, but it didn't seem like it was doing enough. By about 5 am, we decided to drive to the grocery store and try to buy some castor oil since we had none in the house. WE pulled into the parking lot to discover that the store that I had thought was 24 hours actually opened at 6 am. We went back home, and I think I did the stairs a few more times. I was feeling anxious. Chris thought I should call the doctor but I was really scared that he would tell me to come to the hospital and I wouldn't get to labor at all at home and I would end up being induced. I told Chris I would feel better calling Coral. To avoid being a total nuisance, I waited until 6 am since I thought that was a fairly reasonable time (I found out later Coral was in Arizona at the time so I still woke her up at 4 am I think). I told her what had happened. She asked me how much water I had lost over the past four hours, and when I told her it was basically just that splash, she said there was no way my waters had actually broken if that was all the water there was. She thought that perhaps that had just been the mucous plug. Feeling rather foolish, I thanked her for her advice and her suggestion of "Go back to bed." Thank God I didn't take the castor oil!
He asked me like four times if I was sure my waters had broken, and I just told him what I had experienced and "What else would it be?" He agreed that if my waters had broken we better get labor going a little more, so I started going up and down our stairs from our second story apartment to the basement and back. This definitely caused more contractions, but it didn't seem like it was doing enough. By about 5 am, we decided to drive to the grocery store and try to buy some castor oil since we had none in the house. WE pulled into the parking lot to discover that the store that I had thought was 24 hours actually opened at 6 am. We went back home, and I think I did the stairs a few more times. I was feeling anxious. Chris thought I should call the doctor but I was really scared that he would tell me to come to the hospital and I wouldn't get to labor at all at home and I would end up being induced. I told Chris I would feel better calling Coral. To avoid being a total nuisance, I waited until 6 am since I thought that was a fairly reasonable time (I found out later Coral was in Arizona at the time so I still woke her up at 4 am I think). I told her what had happened. She asked me how much water I had lost over the past four hours, and when I told her it was basically just that splash, she said there was no way my waters had actually broken if that was all the water there was. She thought that perhaps that had just been the mucous plug. Feeling rather foolish, I thanked her for her advice and her suggestion of "Go back to bed." Thank God I didn't take the castor oil!
The next several days were fairly uneventful. Every here and there I had a few strong contractions, but my sisters were throwing me a shower on the 28th and I wanted to be sure to get through that first. On the 29th I went to work, and during lunch I had one contraction that almost knocked me off my feet (let's just say I was glad I was already in a chair:) I didn't think too much of it. That evening, we were supposed to go out with a group of friends who were celebrating us and were giving us a little "shower" at dinner. I got home at around 5:15 and lay down to get some rest before the dinner at 6:30 pm. By 5:30 or 5:45, I was having very strong contractions about six minutes apart. When Chris got home at six, they were more like three minutes apart. The contractions were so strong that I was throwing up after every other contraction. I was also swaying back and forth between being very hot and very cold. I kept asking Chris why it already felt like I was in transition.
Looking back, I think the funniest part of our birth story is that, although Chris was really supportive and all, he kept asking what he should do about the people we were supposed to meet for dinner. After another vomiting session which included a heavy nosebleed, I looked up from the toilet and said, "Do you really think I can go in this state?"
Somehow we passed another hour or so at home, but my contractions were still like three minutes apart and were not dying down, so we thought we should go to the hospital. I didn't know how I was going to make it without vomiting all over the car, but at one point I felt a little better and we decided that was a good time to go. The car ride was very interesting. I kept thinking, "How could anyone actually be able to relax during labor?"... I had pretty much given up trying and was bracing myself on the handles on the ceiling of the care during each contraction. I only vomited once during the car trip, and it was at a stoplight so I was able to open the door and lean out.
We arrived at St. Mary's hospital at 8:15 pm, where we walked up to the door only to find out that those doors close at 8 pm and we needed to proceed to the emergency entrance. When I got in, the nurses asked me a bunch of questions while Chris parked, and I couldn't help feeling annoyed that they kept saying things like "Well, we'll get you upstairs to see if you are staying." They really wanted me to get in that wheelchair, but I refused and we walked the long trek across the hospital, pausing every three minutes for a contraction.
We got to the room and at first I was able to walk around, sit on the toilet, etc. The nurse checked my cervix and said I was 4-5 cm dilated; they didn't seem too excited about this, but decided to let me stay. I had to have an IV because I was Group B positive. At this point I was so tired that I spent the next hour in bed, even though Chris kept encouraging me to move around. After this hour, my doctor came in and reported 4-5 cm again. He suggested breaking the waters to get my labor going more. I did NOT want this, and I couldn't imagine contractions being any stronger, so I asked if we could wait a little longer. Chris got me to get up, move around a bit, and I ended back on the toilet (as suggested by our class, a very comfortable place to labor). The nurse only let me stay there for 1/2 an hour before she wanted the heart monitor on the baby again. She tried those mobile ones, but couldn't get good readings from it. Finally, she brought in a birth ball next to the monitor so that I could sit on that. I spent almost the rest of the labor on that ball, most of the time thinking "Why am I not getting an epidural? How has any women voluntarily gone through this more than once?", etc. In the end, I think the only reason I didn't get the epidural was because I was thinking of all of you.. and my pride told me I couldn't tell you [her class mates from Bradley] I had succumbed to that pain and temptation... so thanks! :) My waters broke while I was on the ball, and then things went really fast.
I had contractions that forced me to begin pushing. Just an hour after the doctor had suggested breaking my waters, just an hour after I had been 4-5 cm, and just six hours since I had realized I might be in labor, I was on the bed and pushing. About eight people rushed into the room and started yelling encouraging "PUSH!"es at me. Apparently the baby's heart rate was not doing well because they were telling me I had to push as hard as I possibly could and we had to get that baby out. Well, I REALLY didn't want to end up in a C-section and I figured tearing was a better alternative, so I pushed and pushed. After 12 minutes of pushing aided by a suction to the baby's head, she was out and we had a beautiful baby girl. I did have a minor tear, and I didn't find out about the suction until a day or two later when I wondered aloud to Chris why she had such weird lumps on her head, but I am grateful to have avoided a C-section.
We are extremely grateful to have taken the Bradley class, and are very grateful to Coral both for the class and for saving us the embarrassment of an extra trip to the on the 26th.
Mary & Chris, Milwaukee
Mary, I really enjoyed reading this, hearing the story from your perspective! thank you... and honestly, I related a LOT to your "ponderings" -- about when to go to the hospital, and about being able to get through it! Way to go Mary Clare!
ReplyDelete