She's Here! A Birth Story

I love reading birth stories, and I figure a blog is the perfect place to put one! Mom and I went off to my doctor's appointment Tuesday morning at 9:30. I was uncertain of what all would happen, but at least I wasn't feeling constipated! LOL! The office is actually connected to the hospital. When the doctor examined me, I was already almost 5 cm dilated, so she really wanted me admitted. She nicked my amniotic sac a little, just enough to make it trickle, and Mom and I went next door to the hospital. Bob went into work really early (5:00), so he had already worked his half-day by 10:00 and was on his way over. My labor nurse was prior Air Force, and she had delivered her first baby at the USAFA hospital, just like me! Small world! I got admitted and answered all the OB questions, and my doctor came back over around 11:30. This time she really broke my water with the hook, and then we discovered there was meconium in the fluid. I was pretty concerned, since Luke also passed meconium in utero, and he aspirated some during delivery. He had to stay several extra days in the hospital with a zillion tubes in him, and he had to be on oxygen for 3 weeks after we went home. I really didn't want all that to happen again, so we called people to ask them to be praying. They started an "amnio wash" on me, which I had never heard of before. Basically, it is a tube inserted into the uterus that puts saline solution in there to hopefully flush all the meconium out.

Sometime around the same time, the doctor started me on a little pitocin, since I wasn't having really strong contractions. Of course, that's a little deceptive, since I hadn't had really any strong contractions at home, and yet somehow I was already 5 cm dilated! In between my doctor's appointment and being admitted to the hospital, Mom and I walked out to the car to get my bags. There I drank my strong solution of raspberry tea, like I always do when I am in labor. I drink the tea during pregnancy to promote a healthy pregnancy, but for labor, I use 1 oz. tea in 1 pint of water, steeped for 30 minutes. This is supposed to help your uterus contract efficiently and help with the pain. It works for me, evidently. I never felt like the contractions were all that strong, until after 2:15 or so. The nurse asked me how far I thought I was, and I told her I thought I was at least 7, since I was starting to feel really flushed with each contraction, and I was a little shaky. So I was pretty sure I was in transition. She told me to tell her when I felt the urge to bear down, and then she would call the doctor to come over. Well, of course the feeling of rectal pressure was getting stronger, but I really like being left alone, and I didn't want to call the doctor over too early, so I probably waited a little too long to tell the nurse I was getting close. At about 2:45, I was laying on my left side, and I knew I was almost ready to push. The nurse had just called the doctor, who wanted her to examine me to see how dilated I was. I was over 9 cm, with just a small lip of cervix left on my right side. The nurse wanted me to turn over on my other side to get that lip away, but I knew there wouldn't be time for that. The next contraction I really had to push, so I panted through it. The doctor was on her way, and they wanted me to keep panting until she got there, but you know, what can you do. It's a strong urge! Plus, when I was in labor with Jonathan, I was laying on my side and felt a tremendous urge to push, and then I sat up (my choice actually--they would have let me push on my side but I didn't think I'd be comfortable with that, for some reason), and I never had such a strong urge again. And I felt like it was really hard to get him under my pelvic bone, and in retrospect, being on my side would have been better. So with all that in mind, I gave little pushes on my side while sort of panting while they took the bed apart, etc. I sat up and gave a big push, and she was already almost crowning, so my strategy worked! LOL! The doctor wanted me to scoot down to the end of the bed more, but again, there was no time for that, as the baby's head was pretty much right there. I pushed through another contraction or two, and the head came out. The doctor suctioned for awhile, then I gave a big push (I don't think I even had a contraction), and the rest of the body came out, and she was born at 3:09 PM. I will say that I think not being constipated made it so much easier, since obviously it is easier to push if there is more room and your rectum is not full! So no embarrassment on the delivery table, Pam! : ) I was glad to hear the doctor say that the baby actually was a girl!

The neonatalogist was there because of the meconium, and she whisked the baby over to the warmer to work on her. I was glad to hear the baby start crying, and the doctor say that it didn't look like she had aspirated anything. Praise the Lord for that! In the meantime, the doctor looked me over. I didn't tear or even abrade at all, so not much to do there. She and the nurse both told me that they wished everyone delivered like me! : ) My way of dealing with labor pain is absolute calmness, like some zen discipline thing, and I like being left alone, so I guess that makes the nurse's job easier. Bob was great about putting some counterpressure on my back while I was laying on my side, but that's pretty much all I want. I bought a new "Baby Blues" comic book to read during labor--nothing too deep and stressful, you know--and it was a nice distraction. So it was a pretty quick labor, and the Lord protected both me and the baby. Anna Claire was 8 pounds, 11 ounces, over half a pound smaller than Caleb and Jonathan! She was 20.5 inches long, and she has the same really long fingers and toes (and skinny feet!) that Luke has. Most people would consider her pretty bald, but for one of our babies, she has a surprising amount of hair! And she has a little fringe around the back that is somewhat long, making her look like a little old balding man when she's hunched over! She's a cutie, though. We'll try to post a picture sometime soon, although you know how good we are at posting those! LOL! Well, time to nurse again. More later, if I think of anything else!