I woke up feeling a cramping type sensation on Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 at 5:00 a.m (40w5d). I didn’t think much of them and I went back to sleep, about ten minutes later, I was woke up by the pain again. Again, I say oh its nothing and fall back asleep. This went on for about an hour before I decided to time them to see if they were coming regularly. They were coming about every 7 minutes. I tried to go back to sleep but they kept coming. So around 7:30 a.m. I decided to get into a warm bath to see if they stop, to see if they were the real deal or just Braxton hicks. In the tub they continued to come about every 10 minutes. I had a doctors appt already scheduled at 10:30 a.m. which meant we would need to leave home at 9:30 to make the appointment. At the appt, we got an ultrasound done to check to make sure the fluid levels were still okay and all looked well. The tech guessed Miracle’s weight to be about 7lbs 13 ounces. My doc did an internal check and said that my cervix has finally come to the front, that Miracle is very low and I’m about a fingertip dilated. She told me that she doubts I would make it to Sunday but if I did, that I needed to be at the hospital Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. to start the Cervadil to get induced. By this time what I thought were contractions were no longer coming regularly so I figured it was just a false alarm. However around 2:00, they started coming on again and strong enough to notice.
I start time and they are coming about every 7 minutes. They start to get painful enough that I need to stand up and sway to make it through the contractions. During this time I’ve been in contact with the doula who was ready to come over and help me through the early stages whenever I gave her the word. I told her I didn’t want her to come and it is a false alarm, but that I was getting uncomfortable and would really love some back pressure. She said that she would come and if they started to space out that she would just go back home and it would not be a problem. She came over and gave me a back rub which felt great. Applied lower back pressure through the contractions which were still coming about every 7 minutes. She gave me a foot massage hitting some of the acupressure points which were making contractions come as well. Around 6:00 p.m. she suggested that hubby and I walk around the block. We had to stop quite a few times for me to breathe through contractions. We come back and the doula had the lights out with candles lit and soft music playing. Made the atmosphere feel really nice and soothing. We would spend about 20 minutes in a position and switch up, so we were going from the yoga ball, to some time in the squatting position and different positions and just working through the contractions.
Around 7:00 p.m. she suggests that we walk again. I was getting some pretty strong contractions that seemed to be coming closer together but we hadn’t been timing them for quite a while. Because of the contractions we decided not to walk around the block but rather walk up and down our street to be closer to home. We come back and we do a few different positions again, but now they are timing the contractions and they are coming about every 2-3 minutes. We have an hour ride to the hospital so we were told to head that way when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. But it seems I skipped 5 minutes and went to two minutes. Doula suggested that I get in the shower and the contractions were coming every 2 minutes strong. Doula then said its time to head to the hospital and this was around 9-9:30 p.m. Hubby was running around seeming frazzled and saying that we should have been left. I was still calm through all of this and able to easily manage the contractions. We were about 5 minutes into our hour car ride and my water broke. The gush took me by surprise and I was like my water just broke. Hubby was like WHAT? Are you serious and started panicking. I was reassuring him after contractions that everything was okay and we had plenty of time because I felt good afterwards, but beating the car door in the midst of contractions.
My pain seemed to have gone from a 3 to a 15 once the water broke. DH started driving like a crazy man and we made it to the hospital in record time in like 30 minutes. Once in labor and delivery I used the bathroom and saw that when my water broke it had meconium in it. I knew when I saw it that my water birth would not happen. I didn’t mention it to the nurse at the time and kind of hoped they wouldn’t notice. They then wanted to get a strip on me for 15 minutes so they wanted me to lie in bed while they monitored the contractions and Miracle’s heartbeat. They checked me at this time and I was 3cm dilated. The pain was hard and intense at this time and all I was thinking is I can’t do this. This hurts too bad. After the strip is done which seems like the longest 15 minutes of my life, they got the IV hooked up since I was + for the Group B and started antibiotics, but I was able to move around with the pole. When I got up from the bed the nurse noticed that my water was still leaking and that it had meconium in it and she confirmed what I already knew, I would not be able to get in the water, would not be able to labor in the water at all. At this time, mentally and physically I lost it. I no longer had the focus and determination to do a natural birth. I know that meconium in the water means that the baby has been under stress at some point. This was going through my mind, along with the pain and I mentally gave in. I asked for the epidural.
Hubby and doula were both trying to talk me out of it, saying that I could do it and that I was doing great. I was not hearing it. I wanted the epidural and I wanted it now. I tried standing in the shower and the water would not get hot enough to comfort me, I begged again for the epidural. I asked hubby if he would be mad if I got it and he was like no, if its what you want. He said would you not get it if I said yeah I would be mad, I told him no, I would still get it. LOL! He asked me the code word for epidural to know that I really wanted it and was not just talking out of pain. My code word was broccoli. I hate broccoli so if I said I want broccoli that meant I really wanted the epidural and knew exactly what I was asking for. They told me the anesthesiologist was on the way and I was so relieved to hear this. They wanted to do one more check before the epi to make sure I still wanted it, I was 4cm dilated at this time and said without hesitation, yes! I want it! The epidural hurt a little bit but nothing like the pain I was in. I had a few more hard contractions before the epidural kicked in. It never fully took effect on my left side, but it did on the right side. They had me lying on my side and gave my oxygen which they later told me was because my blood pressure had dropped. My doula told me after Miracle was here that her heart was doing funky things during this time as well which is why they were monitoring me so closely. The epi was lovely.
I was checked about 2 hours later and I was at 6 cm and checked again about an hour after that and I was complete. They called the midwife and we waited for her to arrive. I started pushing around 5:00 a.m. (I believe….I forgot to look at the clock). I was able to feel a lot of what was going on since the left side never really took the epi. I was having some really good pushes so Miracle was coming down great. The midwife said she has a head full of hair and I was like WooHOO she has hair! (I was bald headed until I was one so I was excited about that!) They set up a mirror so I could see what was going on. Doula was holding my right leg and hubby was holding my left leg and mom was behind me helping to push me forward while pushing. MIL was taking pictures and videotaping. My dad and hubby’s dad was in the room but back by the door, able to hear what was going on but not able to see anything. The head crowning was painful….a pain hard to explain. I hear myself on the video and remember the pain all over again. It was amazing though. Her head came out and my tears started to flow. Next came her shoulders and arms and the midwife stopped and allowed me to pull her the rest of the way out and onto my chest. That I thought was the most amazing thing to ever experience. I’m looking at this little baby on my stomach saying OMG she came out of me and she looked up at me with her bright beautiful eyes. And she left out the most beautiful cry I’ve ever heard and I just broke down crying. Because of the meconium in her water they had to take her to the side to make sure they suctioned her out and she was breathing good, so they hurried hubby to cut the cord and they took her to exam her. Within a few minutes she was back on my chest looking at me with bright beautiful eyes. Miracle Ayana entered the world on December 24, 2009 at 6:08 a.m. weighing 7lbs and 10 ounces, 19 ¾ inches long and I was surrounded by all of my loved ones. The birth was great, I had no tears at all and I was feeling great overall. I was in no pain afterwards and haven’t needed anything since. Although it wasn’t the birth I envisioned and planned on having it was the most amazing and surreal thing to experience. 25 total hours of labor, 17 hours at home, and 8 hours at the hospital. To be able to feel her pass from my body into this world, even with the pain was the most wonderful experience ever! She is the most beautiful precious being I’ve ever seen in all my life.
