Hey all, Sandy here. In order to remember how our little Oscar came into the world, I wrote down his birth story and I decided I would share, mostly because I know that many of you are curious. And I'm a proud mama.
I tried to be as detailed as possible for my own sake, so some of this may be TMI for some people and may not be for the faint of heart… you have been warned!
12/17/15:
The day of his birth started out like any other Monday morning. Unfortunately, I had not slept that well the night before (like most nights my last week of pregnancy) but I was noticeably more restless than usual. I had a little bit of bleeding the night before so I was thinking that I had passed my mucous plug so I knew that labor was looming near. Despite this, I still got myself up at around 6 am to go for my morning walk. I dressed in my workout clothes (freshly washed the day before, mind you!), and sat on the couch to work on getting my shoes on. At this point, it took major effort to get socks and shoes on! As soon as I finished tying my second shoe, I felt a gush of liquid come out from between my legs. It was almost like I was peeing my pants but I had no control over it, and it got everywhere! Luckily I happened to be sitting on a blanket, not directly on the couch. I immediately stood up and I literally said out loud, “uh oh”. I went to the bathroom, and it was pretty obvious that I was now leaking amniotic fluid. I went to wake Ben up, which I felt bad because he had just come to bed about an hour before. I paged the midwife at Tripler because I couldn’t remember if I should come in to labor and delivery since I hadn’t had any contractions yet. The midwife on call told me to come on in to L&D triage, but take my time…take a shower and eat breakfast. I also needed to finish packing for the hospital! (hellooooo procrastinator!)
We ended up getting to the hospital around 9:00am, and we had to park super far away because all the stork pass spots were taken and 9am is a terrible time to find a spot anywhere at Tripler. I was slow to walk, because all the fluid had drained from my uterus so there was no cushioning between me and Oscar. It was pretty uncomfortable! And of course we got lost trying to find the department. Someone saw us wandering around and helped us out, and we finally made it up to L&D. There was a girl who I recognized from our Centering class in the waiting room having contractions, and another woman who was calmly waiting like me with her husband. They took me back to a triage room and hooked me up to monitors. Little did I know I would be attached to those damn things for the entire day! They tested the fluid coming out (it was still coming out, basically I was making a mess of anything I sat on) and determined officially that it was amniotic fluid. I was officially going to have a baby today!
The midwife working that day was the same one that I had seen exactly a week prior at my 38 week appointment, which I was glad. She was no-nonsense and told it how it was. She came in and gave me the run down…they were going to have to jumpstart my contractions since my water broke first (apparently that’s not normal). She said that my uterus would probably start contracting on its own eventually, but there was no telling how long it would take, and Oscar was at a much higher risk of infection without the sac intact so they really needed to get things going. I was a little scared at first, because I wanted to have a completely natural delivery without any medication at all. But my body wasn’t cooperating. It wasn’t a complete induction, since my body was in some sort of labor already (water breaking) but it was enough to make me anxious. The plan was to put this bulb thing in my cervix to help dilation, and then, if needed, give me pitosin (sometimes the bulb will make the uterus start contracting naturally). I was extremely apprehensive to the plan, but I knew that Oscar was at risk without any fluid in my uterus to protect him. So I agreed to the plan. Everyone was extremely understanding of my anxiety, and they all made me feel at ease. They admitted me, put an IV port in my hand (um, the nurse that did it was terrible at it, ugh), and we made our way to the delivery room where Oscar would eventually come into the world!
The first thing that happened was the bulb placement. Oyyy that sucked sooooo bad. They warned me (she said straight up, this is going to hurt), but it was still awful…the midwife had to basically sweep away the membranes (it felt like she shoved her entire arm up there) first and then put an inflatable bulb inside my cervix, which was already dilated about a cm (I think?). That thing sucks so badly! It was like having period cramps x1000. All I could do was lie there and breathe through the pain (and eat ice chips). Little did I know that it wasn’t even close to how contractions ended up feeling! Poor Ben had to watch me go through this. I’m not sure how long I had the stupid bulb in, but finally the nurse came in and took it out after I had dilated enough. Ahhhh relief! I immediately felt better! I was even able to eat a little lunch. I should say “eat” because I was restricted to clear liquids only. So chicken broth, jello, and some kool-aid type drink was the meal of the day. After about an hour (I think? My perception of time was pretty jacked up at this point) I started to feel cramps again. Aaaand I was back to laying on my side, trying to get through the pain. They started the pitosin mid afternoon, and that’s when things started to get serious. Oh boy! So you know how contractions are supposed to start far apart from eachother? Yeah, not for me. So instead of contractions happening at large intervals, they immediately started about 1-2 minutes apart and only got more intense each time. I felt like I couldn’t get a break! It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Scratch that, it WAS the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Finally, the nurse asked if I wanted something for the pain. I was nearing the point of desperation, but I really didn’t want an epidural, so she suggested this IV medication that would make me sleepy. It was a little risky because it would affect Oscar also, but I agreed to the IV, and soon I was falling asleep. It was certainly not pain free, I still felt the contractions, but I was able to relax better in between. According to Ben, I slept through some contractions and woke up for others. A lot more time passed than I realized…a few hours.
Before the IV meds, I had only dilated to about 3 cm, and according to the nurse (I overheard Ben asking her while I was laying in bed) I still had several hours to go. After they gave me the IV meds, they put an internal monitor in to keep track of the contractions. Well, lucky for me, she was wrong! The medication made my body relax so much that I went from 3cm to fully dilated in only a couple hours! All of the sudden (according to Ben) I woke up with the overwhelming urge to push. Like, I had no choice, my body was pushing this baby out whether we were ready or not! If you’ve ever given birth, you know what I’m talking about! Ben called the nurse, and they checked my dilation and I heard them say, it’s time to have a baby! I ended up having a doctor deliver me, because the midwife was in with another girl who started pushing at the same time I did! They basically yanked the monitor out of my hoo ha (I’m sure they didn’t, but it felt like it!) and put me in a good position to deliver. I was still all drugged up (the medication was supposed to wear off for me and Oscar by the time I was ready to push, which was supposed to be a few hours later, haha) so things are a little foggy. Pushing was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life. According to Ben, I pushed for about an hour and a half. I remember how I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I am so thankful for Ben, he was right there coaching me on, counting through my contractions. I could not have done it without him.
Poor little Oscar ended up getting stuck a little right as his head was coming out, and it felt like I just couldn’t get him over the edge. It was so frustrating and it hurt soooooo bad down there! I was holding the nurse’s hand so hard during each push/contraction that I actually bruised my thumb! I wonder if I did anything to her…I feel bad! He was stretching the skin down there like crazy, and tearing the skin a little. Then all of the sudden, shortly before 8 pm, they were taking off the monitors that were strapped to my belly and then he was on my chest! I literally said “oh my god” because I couldn’t believe how big he was! Unfortunately, he did not stay there for very long. Apparently, because of the sleepy drugs that I was on (that were supposed to wear off before he came out!) and the fact that he got a little stuck on the way out, he entered the world a little stunned, and his breathing and heart rate were dangerously low. All of the sudden, I saw him being taken away so that the pediatrician could take a look at him. I had no idea what was going on.
Fortunately, I was still sleepy so I immediately closed my eyes and went into a sleepy place. I didn’t go to real sleep, because I was still relatively aware of what was going on around me, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’m glad I wasn’t awake enough worry about him! That would have been so stressful. He ended up being fine, and after about 30 minutes the staff returned him to me for our skin to skin time. He latched on to my boobie without any problem too. He is a breastfeeding pro! I am so lucky.
I am so proud of myself for delivering Oscar without having an epidural. The whole concept of having my entire lower half of my body numb and unable to move was disconcerting to me. Plus I got the benefit of being able to get up and walk right away (as much as it hurt, haha) which was nice. Giving birth to Oscar was by far THE hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but also the most rewarding. I look at him and I can’t believe that Ben and I made him! It’s quite an amazing feeling. I am also thankful that my labor was so short...from the time my water broke to when he was born was less than 14 hours! And only a few hours of active labor. Also, I have been always awkward with babies and small children, so I was surprised at how natural he felt to me. People have always said to me that it’s different when it’s your own kid, and they are so right! Makes me believe that I can do this.