Milan (pronounced like the city) Natalie was born on March 28th at 10:17 p.m. She was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches tall.
At 3:00 a.m. on the 28th I started feeling regular labor pains that felt much different than the Braxton Hicks from before. We continued to time them until about 9:00 a.m. and they were 5-6 minutes apart. We called our doctor and she told us to go to the hospital since we lived 30-40 minutes away.
We got to the hospital (St. Mary's Ozaukee) and the on-call doula (Vanessa) came soon after that. When we started walking the halls there was a slow leak in the amniotic fluid and the contractions were coming much faster. By 11:00 a.m. our doctor (Dr. Koch) had come and encouraged us to go into the birthing tub.
We spent the next seven hours in the tub with Vanessa and Dr. Koch at our side. The two of them were fantastic and extremely attentive. The nurses were annoying and seemed to only be concerned with getting the baby monitoring machine working.
Time seemed to stop while I was in the tub and Vanessa and Tony helped me concentrate on breathing and changing positions to stay comfortable. Four hours into laboring in the tub Vanessa and Dr. Koch had me start pushing, when comfortable, to break the last of the water. This wasn't working so Dr. Koch broke the rest of it. At this time I started having the need to push at every contraction. I pushed in EVERY position possible. (Squatting while in the tub is very doable and not as tiring outside of the tub!) I pushed for three hours squatting, leaning over the tub, lying on my side, floating and laying back against Tony, hands and knees, and more but she wasn't coming down the birth canal.
I remained at 7 cm the entire time. At this time Dr. Koch said the cervix was blocking her and she had me get out of the tub. In the bed I had to lie with my face and chest on the bed and butt in the air so that the baby could slip around the cervical lip. This position, as well as being outside of the tub, was extremely painful. They also were not getting a reading on the baby's heartbeat. At this time a ton of people started running into the room and Dr. Koch paged the OB doctor she works with. After consulting with the OB, she recommended a C-section. I hadn't progressed after three hours of pushing in every position possible and they were concerned they weren't getting strong enough readings on the baby's heartbeat. By this time, I was so exhausted and in so much pain, I just wanted it to end. And Tony was concerned about me and the baby.
Vanessa was with me when they took me to the operating room and Tony was allowed in soon after. I admit it was such a relief when the spinal tap kicked in. Dr. Koch assisted Dr. Gilman (the OB) and she showed Tony the baby as they pulled her out. Tony likes to brag that he saw my guts all hanging out. She announced to us that it was a girl which surprised us because, while pregnant, we and everyone around us was convinced the baby was a boy. The sad part was that they took her to clean her up and I had to look over at her while they operated on me. All I could see was a bunch of brown hair. Tony and Milan went into the room and they finished stitching me up (which is far from painless). We were so exhausted so had her sleep her first night in the nursery. She slept the entire night but I didn't; thinking about the day's events and wanting to be with her.
Jeni & Tony, Milwaukee
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