Birth Story for V

I started this blog almost two years ago to share a birth story. Then my target audience was a unique and creative group of friends that we lived by while T was in college.  Since then my understanding of blogs and readership has expanded.  So I've been mulling the right way to share this birth story.  I still want to share it.  I understand that this might not be the most interesting subject for some people.  So if that's you, just skip to the next blog.  I have learned so much and been inspired by birth stories shared by other women.  I hope that by sharing this story I can pass that on and inspire others.

To preface this birth story I will say that V was the most active baby I've ever carried.  J was pretty active.  We called him the bubbling pot.  He was always practicing bicycle kicks.  But V had a lot more tricks than that.  She was like those videos you see on YouTube where the belly does a wave.  During prenatal checkups she would often kick at the fetal monitor.  Once she kicked it off!  And she is the only child that has awaken me from a dead sleep because she was so active.

I mostly enjoyed all her activity.  It made her seem so much more present even though we couldn't see her yet.  I often said we need to name this baby, she is so active.  I began to get a little worried though when I went in for a checkup at 38 weeks and she was transverse.  Her back was up with her head at my right side.  ( I didn't feel so good that day.)  She moved head down again on my way out to the parking lot after the appointment.  Still, that is a lot of movement so late in the pregnancy.   My understanding of childbirth is this:  It is the mothers job to dilate and it is the baby's job to rotate (into position for birth).  How was she ever going to rotate?  She was too busy playing!

I started having contractions at 39 weeks, light "stage one" contractions.  They continued for a whole day then stopped for a whole day, then started again the next day.  By the second afternoon they were starting to get uncomfortable and pretty regular.  I called T at work, put our support people on alert for a possible night time trip to the hospital and started packing the hospital bag.  By the time I finished all that I realized that the contractions had stopped again.  False alarm.  :(

I was sort of down the next day.  I felt like the boy who cried wolf.  After all this is my fifth pregnancy.  I ought to know if it was real labor or not.  I threw myself into a storm of cooking.  It cheered me up a lot.  I love cooking!  And we had some really yummy things to take to the church social that night.

At 40 weeks I was still waiting for more contractions.   At my appointment I was at a three but closed.  An ultrasound confirmed that her head was down.  We could even see her wiggling her fingers up by her face.  The next evening I started having contractions again.  They were fairly strong, but figured we could wait till morning to alert people.  By the next morning contractions were strong and about 15 minutes apart.  I keep T home from work and we called our support people again.  After I got up and started moving contractions slowed down.  They were still strong, but only coming once or twice an hour. 

Many books I've read about birth say that if you are up and moving gravity is on your side and you labor will be shorter.  So we went out to run errands to see if we could get things going.  We even stopped at the puppy store in the mall for the first time.  Puppies are so cute!  Soon it was evening and I still wasn't feeling ready to go into the hospital. 

My doctor called to see how things were going.  I was pretty confused at this point.  I knew all those long, strong contractions had to be doing something.  I was worried that I might go from hour apart contractions to transition and not have enough time to get to the hospital, a 30 minute journey.

It was the eve of the big New Moon primer.  My friends were having a big party and then going to the movie.  I had planned on going to the party if I was still pregnant.  But contractions were pretty strong, so I opted to get some rest instead.

By 4 AM I started to feel a little bit pushy.  I wanted to take a warm bath, but decided we'd better get the kids dropped off and head to the hospital.  At 5:30 AM charity never faileth.  Our neighbor, who went to the New Moon primer, got home at 3 AM and was up with her own kids after that, opened her door to my four children.  Thanks Trish!!!!

We got to the hospital at 6 AM.  Once again as I got up and moving, my contractions slowed.  (I didn't really connect that fact until afterward.  Up and moving = slowed contractions.)  The hospital was all ready for a rapid birth.  I had two children within minutes of arrival.  But this time my contractions weren't racing, I once again felt a little sheepish.  The doctor checked me at a 5 with the head right there.  Definately progress from the last check.  I've delivered within minutes of a 7.  I knew that if my water broke this would all be over very soon.  One or two big contractions would be enough. 

They strapped on the monitors, put in an IV and let me go walk the halls. . . not much.  I tried the birthing ball. . . no result.  I was having contractions all along, just not the ones I was looking for.  At some point the doctor came to see how things were progressing - 6.  Finally I decided I'd take a warm shower.  I went in, but I was just too tired to shower.  I climbed in the bed and rested.   I realized that I was fighting contractions a little.  I tried visualization and relaxation.  I just let the contractions wash over me.  It was pretty easy to do because I was completely spent.  I decided it might be a good idea to break my water and get this over with.  There was just no energy left.  I asked for some broth.  It was wonderful! 

Around lunchtime the doctor came to check my progress again.  I tried to sit up so we could get a progress report.  When I did I had three very strong contractions right together and I started pushing.  She was coming out.  I struggled to get into position and my water broke - myconium.  Not so good.   I could feel her coming .  I still wasn't in the C position, but I was so ready to be done I pushed anyway.  She was born at 12:39 PM.  She weighed 8 lbs, 5.5 oz and was 20.4 inches long.  The nurses said she was a ham because she was so strong and wiggly.

The doctor said there was a slight bit of shoulder distocia.  Her hand was crossed over by her face, so her shoulder got caught a little bit.  Still she was healthy and happy.  Yet I think the asymmetrical presentation could explain a lot of the slow labor.

I tore as usual.  I also retained membranes which is sort of rare.  So the doctor cleaned those out.  With all of that I lost a lot of blood.  The doctors were very deliberate in explaining that I had lost a lot of blood and needed to take good care of myself.  But overall, my recovery has been much quicker than usual.  I've had basically no back pain and much *much* less postpartum bleeding.  It makes me wonder if perhaps I had retained membranes in the past that weren't noticed, especially after #3.  #3 was like a 7 month recovery.  I still cringe.

Thanks to my husband!  This was the first birth I didn't have anyone come but him.  He did a great job! And he said I didn't make him feel like I was mad at him. Yay!  He is also doing *so* much to support me so I can recover.

Thanks to my doctor.  He's a great guy we go to church with.  I'll post a picture in case any of you know him.  I hope he doesn't mind.   His wife is an awesome nursery leader so we get to see them at church often.  She told me early on that he is in the field because he wants to help friends and family.  She also told me he's a really good doctor.  They almost got moved halfway through my pregnancy, but I'm glad they didn't.  The Tech told I was lucky because I got a *really* good doctor.   I completely agree, he is a really good doctor!  Lucky, lucky me.

Thanks to my mother-in-law who is hosting my husband and four oldest kids right now.  And thanks to my mom who agreed to come out next week and help out.  We really appreciate you guys.  It's truly a blessing to have so much support!

Little j's Birth Story

Since I started this blog with e's birth story I thought it would be nice to add all the birth stories. (Thanks for the good idea Doreen.) I almost posted it with his birthday post, but I decided it might have a slightly different audience. I wrote up a version of what I remembered, but I decided to go with an edited version (names and places mostly) of my journal entry. SO. . . if you're not big on birth stories, beware.



Week 39 I was so sure I would have the baby before my doctor’s appointment this week. I had contractions last Saturday, I felt crampy all day on Sunday, then I started feeling great again and had a pretty good week. Then this Saturday I started having contractions again. Oddly enough contractions stopped last Saturday at about 3 A.M. and they started about 3:30 A.M. this Saturday. Then they stopped again around 5. Sunday morning I expelled a lot of mucus. (note: I’ve had basically no leucorrhea with this baby.) I felt pretty good most of the day and had some contractions Sunday night and they continued through Monday morning , about once an hour or so. I went to my doctor’s appointment at 8:15 A.M. The doctor said I was 3 cm dilated, 70% effaced and the babies head was at -1 position. The baby’s back was rotated to the right (my left) just pasted the centerline and his heartbeat was detected low (in the bottom quarter) at about 140 bpm. And fundus height was about 37 or 38 cm. I lost a pound this week to round out my weight at 168 lbs (I’ve gained 38 lbs).
Grandpa W came to visit this evening. I was having contractions about twice an hour by then. He had a load in Boise and was headed back home Friday. I told him to come back by on his way. By about 7 PM Tyler was convinced that we are having the baby tonight. He called all our support people to put them on alert. I guess he got me going too because I finally got the hospital bag together.
There’s a girl I visit teach that was due a month after me and she had her baby yesterday. We went by to visit her tonight and took her some diapers as a gift. She was asleep and her baby doesn’t come home until tomorrow. But I felt like if I didn’t go right away that I might not get to go at all.
One other note: A few weeks ago the baby was right down on my pelvic bone. It was weird. It sort of hurt and made it hard to walk and move my legs up and down (like getting into bed or climbing stairs). I was thinking this poor baby will have a huge ridge because he’ll ride on the bone for weeks before he is born. Fortunately he moved off my bone and I’ve felt better and enjoyed more free movement the last few weeks.

***

Little j was born 2:31 A.M on the 7th of March 2006. He was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 21 inches long. Even thought he was born one day before his due date he had many symptoms of a post-term baby including a calcified placenta, no vernix, his skin was starting to peel and his fingernails were so long many of them we breaking off. He also had a suck blister on his wrist. Yes, j likes to suck on things. He is our first child that takes a pacifier. He really likes it and even moves his hands up to hold it in his mouth.
Labor: I had labor start and stop three times. Saturday, Feb 25th, Saturday March 4th, and Sunday, March 5th. T's dad, Grandpa W, came to visit the evening of Monday, March 6th. I was having contractions again, mild, pre-labor type contractions. I didn’t think much of it because of all the other episodes, some of which were real breath-through-it contractions. He took us to dinner at a Chinese buffet. They had gyozas and I ate at least half a dozen. (That’s significant because we went to a Gyozas party with our friends the night before t was born. Maybe it’s the gyozas that put me at easy and help me go into active labor.) Grandpa left after dinner, around 6 P.M. I started telling T every time I had a contraction.. . I just realized I’m repeating myself. We called our angel-sitter (our beloved cousin-in-law) at about 11:00. She came over to stay with our kids for the night. I talked with her for a while, at least an hour. Then we decided we both should try to get some sleep. I layed down for a while. It seemed like only a few minutes. I felt a huge dilation, like a flower opening. Then I started trembling. It was 1:11 A.M. I figured I might be starting into transition so we should go to the hospital. T called our wonderful and talented birth assistant, D, and off we went. They put us in a birthing room and gave me a gown to put on. It seemed like a long time before they came back to us after that. They had me lay down and put a fetal monitor on. Then the nurse brought in the I.V. T and D both said no, ask the doctor first. The doctor said she’s GBS+, put in an I.V. and antibiotics. I was okay with that. I thought I might actually get an hours worth of antibiotics before I delivered. Anyhow, I remember D asking me if I could feel the baby move down during contractions. I thought: no, not really. Then it seemed like the next contraction I really felt him move down. T and D were watching the monitor. It must have registered really big because they made a lot of encouraging comments. After that they let me stand by the bed. Within a few minutes I had the urge to push. I did a little and my water broke in a big swoosh clear, slightly foamy fluid all over the floor. I’m glad it wasn’t the bed. The doctor appeared they were getting me onto the bed. The nurse didn’t seem to understand I was crowning. She kept waiting for the baby’s heart rate to change so she could take the monitor off. The doctor finally told the nurse what was going on. He said she’s complete and plus three or four. I went hands and knees and the doctor told the nurse it’s okay, we talked about it. After that it was all pushing and sounding. D kept reminding me to use low tones, which I finally found a voice for..


There are more details I still remember. I remember when I felt my stomach was about to make a violent upheaval shortly before my water broke. The nurse offered a banana-shaped bed pan, but D saved me by grabbing the 15 gallon garbage can just in time. I remember how baby j hummed through the night that first night. At first I was surprised by the noise then I realized it was coming from the baby. And how he would lay on his back and kick, good naturedly, with both feet. (That's just what he always did in the womb.) He continued to kick like that until he was about two years old. I remember when our angel-sitters brought the two younger kids to meet j they had made him cards and Little a wanted to name him Paper and was so upset that we wouldn't consider it. I remember how Uncle D and Aunt S were so sweet to watch as they held him on his blessing day. They had hoped to have a baby of their own that spring. Their Little M came two years later.

Thank you again everyone who helped with the birth. Also thank you to those who provided moral support from far away places. As I look back I am touched by how we were truly blessed by the support of good friends and family. I don't know if I can really truly express the gratitude I feel. And a special note: Thanks mom for always being there, every time. You have given me so much. I hope I can pass on your good example to my children.

My Birth Story

I had a rather different experience with this birth, so I wanted to share my story.

L offered to come up and help me with the birth this time. It was a great comfort to have someone there who understood where I was coming from. I was concerned that the three hour drive from Chicago might be too long and she would miss the birth. On Wednesday night (January 2) I started having contractions around 9:30 P.M. By 10:30 they were in a were in a regular pattern and coming closer together. We called a sitter and L. We told L when she was ready to go straight to the hospital just in case. She got there way before us so we had her come back to our place and we all slept for a few hours. By 3:30 AM my contractions were 5 minutes apart and coming stronger. The hospital is a 30 minute drive and I was GBS positive again so we decided to go in. I figured we'd have a baby by breakfast time.

We went to the hospital got checked in and waited. My contractions had slowed and I figured it was because of the traveling. We walked the halls then lay down to try and relax. Nothing worked. By 7 AM my contractions had all but stopped. My labor was stalled. “T” had an interview he couldn't miss in Milwaukee. He had to leave by 9 AM. I decided I should check out. Partly so “T” wouldn’t be tempted to skip his interview and partly so I could go eat and see if we could get things going again.

My doctor was okay with me leaving if the baby passed an NST (non-stress test) conducted by ultrasound. The baby passed the test. The ultrasound technician was super nice and even printed out some pictures for us. The doctor cleared us to go. It was really weird to leave the hospital knowing I was still in labor. I was really confused.

L and I went and got breakfast and walked the mall. All the while I was completely puzzled why my labor had stalled. I kept thinking of Karin's story about concerns she had about the baby stalling “Buggy’s” birth. I thought maybe it was because I knew “T” had to leave and wouldn't be back until after lunch. I felt confident that it was the right time for the baby to be born. The due date was Dec 24th. We thought it was a girl and A was born on her Uncle Tr's birthday. January 3rd is Uncle Jer's birthday. Jer and Tr are birds of a feather, they even work together.

After lunch and a little more shopping we went home. Something I had been hesitant to do for two reasons. One, my kids were there and they didn’t understand labor and why mommy wouldn’t bend over and no talk to them every five minutes. Two, because I knew as soon as I hit transition it wouldn’t take long. We could get regular contractions, but nothing more than we'd had the night before. I didn't want to go back to the hospital and have labor stall again. This time I was waiting to see signs of transition.

When we got home we started thinking about the baby's position. In the release NST the baby was facing my left side. The baby had previously always been facing my right side. Either way, not the ideal birth position. I logged on to Doreen’s website and clicked the spinning babies link. There I learned that it is difficult for the baby to rotate if the chin is not tucked. I pulled out the photos given to me by the ultrasound tech. They clearly showed the baby’s chin was up. So we got out the birthing ball and tried hula hoops. Then I got in the shower and did pelvic rocks until the tub filled with water.

I decided to try rotating the baby manually. I was a little nervous about rotating the baby with my hands. But at this point I figured I had few options. Surely they would induce me if I went back to the hospital. They baby would certainly be born one way or another in the next 12 hours. I checked to make sure the baby was still moving. And then gentle tried to move the baby. I was surprised at how different it felt in the water. Submerged I was easily able to rotate the baby. It seemed like the baby’s shoulder was caught on my right hip bone. I could feel the contractions radiating from there to my back. I worked that area for a bit and the tension seemed to free.

I finished up and went to my room. I asked my husband for a blessing. Then I lay down to listen to my body. I was unsure if I had been successful in rotating the baby. It was about 7 PM and my husband was taking the other kids to his brother’s house to spend the night. Before he even left I noticed strong swift contractions and started getting the feeling we should go to the hospital again. He told me to go rest and call his brother’s house if we decided to go the hospital. I lay down again for about 5 minutes, but now I knew it was time to go.

L and I called and got in the car and left the house around 7:30. Contractions were now coming fast and furious. I took a large garbage bag to sit on and a bed pan just in case. We checked into the hospital around 8 PM. This time I opted for the wheelchair. I asked them to call the doctor. The nurses wanted me to change and check me etc. before they called the doctor. They checked me and said I was at a 5 or 6 but everything was really loose. I’m sure the bag of water was bulging and I was already starting to tone. Luckily they told the doctor to come. Not to long later my water broke and I was ready to push. I looked at the two nurses in the room and wondered which one was going to deliver the baby. Fortunately the doctor arrived moments later. And a beautiful baby girl was born at 9:05 PM.

Warning: gory details ahead. Probably for experienced moms only.

I went with side lying position this time. It was a little awkward because they wanted me to hold my leg way up in the air. And of course I still tore, but Emma does have fewer stork bites (birthmarks) than my other kids. So far I think I prefer the supported C birth position. I will probably go with that if there’s a next time. I guess that’s just the scientist in me, I always want to try something new in hopes of finding a better way.

Two other funny things. Doreen told me to try touching the baby’s head when it crowns. I didn’t with J, but I tried it this time. Only the baby hadn’t completely crowned yet. It was more like a fold of skin. I thought I was touching the cord instead of the head. And I had a moment of unnecessary concern. “Oh no, the cord is prolapsed.” But of course it was not.

The other funny thing was after the birth they were kneading my stomach to make sure the uterus was contracting and I wasn’t hemorrhaging. (Everyone’s least favorite part.) A large heart-shaped blood clot shot out and “T” was standing right there. He had a moment of shock before he realized that it couldn’t actually be my heart. He is still making jokes about it though.

Your probably wondering about the GBS. They weren’t as crazy about it here as they were in Logan. There I was on antibiotics for officially one hour before the birth. They marked GBS + on baby’s bassinet and they kept me 48 hours. Here they didn’t even get and IV in before the baby was born, so we were really not following regulations (I tried.) They kept us for 48 hours (well the nurses let me go after 6 PM but the doctor’s official orders were after 9 PM). And the scheduled a one week check-up and told me to keep an eye on the baby and her temperature. So far she is doing great.