Lighthearted Living: My (Long) Birth Story

Here is my birth story for Sean. It involves details, if you don't want details, skip to hte pictures at the bottom!

I went in to the doctor to get my membranes stripped at 11am Thursday morning. We knew it was a long shot, but it had worked for Elaina. We weren’t in any real hurry to get baby out, but our doctor was on call that day and Hannah had two days of vacation (making it much easier for grandparents to not have to deal with school!) so we figured it was worth a try.

We went to the cafeteria after that to enjoy a family outing. The girls love eating at the cafeteria, they just think it is awesome. We even splurged and let them get one of the fancy desserts the cafeteria has.

I was feeling crampy and generally uncomfortable, but from what I’d read that is fairly common and doesn’t always mean labor is impending. I laid down for a nap when I got home and hoped maybe something would be happening by the time I woke up…nothing was so we decided to go for a walk. By the time we got back from our walk around 6pm or so (which was actually quite long considering how pregnant I was and how difficult it was to walk!) I was starting to feel some contractions.

Contractions went on throughout the evening. We ran a few errands and got the girls to bed. I took my shower and tried to pay attention to whether they were regular, increasing in intensity, etc. I’m not good at gauging those things!! Finally Eric and I decided to lay down and watch a movie so I could concentrate on timing the contractions and decide whether or not we needed to head into the hospital. I called my parents to put them on “alert” and then we started tracking.

It was almost 9 by this point and the contractions were 7 minutes apart and only 40 seconds long so I wasn’t very concerned that we needed to move quickly. We relaxed and watched our movie and I kept tracking…it didn’t take long to realize that they were quickly getting closer together and longer…At almost 10 we called my parents again to tell them we were definitely having this baby and that they needed to come.

Eric and I started to gather last minute things and put our bags in the car. We were still hoping that my parents would make it before we had to head into the hospital, but it was quickly becoming apparent that it wasn't going to happen. I wasn’t officially timing contractions anymore, but I could tell that they were now closer than 5 minutes apart and were increasing in intensity. We called our neighbor and by 10:45 we were on our way to the hospital.

Walking into the hospital was difficult since the contractions were coming so frequently. This was so unusual to me since in my experience with Elaina (the only non-induced comparison I have) the labor was leisurely next to my previous ones (12+ hours compared to 7 and 5). I had half expected this labor to be the same.

We finally made it up to the L&D and were admitted. I was only dilated to 5cm and contractions were still coming in at every 4 minutes or so. Seeing that I again relaxed and decided that despite the intensity, surely we had a little while before baby would actually be born.

The difference between this labor and my previous ones is that we had decided to do it with no drugs. We practiced all the breathing exercises and were as prepared as we could be. I’m very thankful that we did the work because that was the only thing that got me through.

We started walking as soon as we were allowed to, probably around 11:30 by the time they monitored the baby for awhile. It didn’t take long to realize this walk was going to take awhile since I would go about four steps and have to stop for a contraction. We made it one loop and decided to try a bath. I’d heard that water could help with labor pain…I think we were in there maybe 15 minutes when I realized that things were progressing fast. I was feeling a lot of pressure and since I didn’t really want a water birth we got out and the nurse put me back on the monitor to track progress. At this point I started to shake, which I thought meant I was in transition.

Eric was such a good coach. Half the time he was literally holding me up through a contraction and he helped me remember my breathing. Nothing worked the way we thought it would, all the techniques we had in mind went right out the window in the face of pain. It hurt to be touched so even something as soothing as massage was unbearable for me.

It was now that the nurse told me I was already dilated to 8cm, in the space of an hour. She put the call into the doctor. We were all concerned that the doctor wouldn’t make it. 10 minutes later I was dilated to 9cm. I was having a horrible time not pushing and each contraction was worse than the last. My doctor made it when I was 9.5cm. My water had still not broken, so she did that and I quickly dilated the last half cm.

I started pushing about 12:30 and Sean David arrived at 12:48 weighing at 7lbs 11 oz and 20" long. We were shocked that it was a boy! I’m glad that I did it without an epidural. It was a decision we made because we think that Sean will be our last baby and I knew it was my last chance to do it. I don’t regret it, but it was certainly a different experience. Everything was that much more intense and the biggest thing I did not like was that when Sean was being cleaned up and cared for, I was still in so much pain I could barely focus on him. We missed some of the “first moment” pictures because I’d freaked Eric out so much he was afraid to leave my side!

The girls are settling in great! They adore their new brother. We didn’t doubt that they would, but it is so endearing to see them sitting beside him, just staring or stroking his hair. They are so precious and we are so blessed!!