Labor

I’ll start the story at my 36 week appointment. At 36 weeks, they begin doing cervical checks to see if your progressing. I was so excited for my cervical checks because I just wanted to know what was happening or if anything was happening. It's important to note that I was also very insistent that my daughter would be born before the end of the year for insurance purposes. The due date was December 30th so I was worried that I was going to be cutting it close. At my 36 week appointment, my doctor does my cervical check and just looks at me wide eyed. She said "you are not a normal first time mom. You are 2 cm and 40% effaced." I was ecstatic that I was already progressing on my own. She continued by asking if I wanted to go into labor on my own or... and I stopped her explaining that I want her born before the end of the year. My doctor laughed and said "oh honey, you’re not making it to the end of the year." For some people, I can understand how that might be a scary thing to hear, but it was music to my ears. So I leave the office on a high, so proud of my body progressing on its own already.

I show up for my 37 week appointment expecting to hear some more good news. When she did my cervical check, she made a face like I’m sorry. Trying to be generous she said. "you’re like a stretchy 2, not quite a 3." So basically I hadn’t really progressed since the week before which wasn’t a big deal but I was a little bit bummed. We discussed my options at that point. My doctor said to wait another week so her lungs could keep developing and at my 38 week appointment she would be comfortable doing a membrane sweep to see if it would trigger labor. So I left a little sad but knowing that it’s also a good thing that she was not coming too early. It also made me feel good that my doctor was doing what was best for my daughter while listening to my wishes and explaining my options.

That weekend I remember going to the bathroom and seeing just a tiny bit of mucus with an even tinier amount of blood in it. I was beyond excited because to me that meant I was progressing some. I never saw like a full mucous plug, but I just saw that tiny bit. At some point, I had read that you typically lose your mucous plug at 3 cm which meant to me that I was progressing.

The next Monday afternoon, I was noticing that I was having a lot of contractions that day. I had been feeling Braxton Hicks my entire third trimester so the feeling wasn’t weird to me, but the frequency was. I began tracking them that afternoon and they were anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes apart. They were not getting more intense or consistent which meant I was in early labor. You can be in early labor for a long time so I didn’t bother to call my doctor because I had an appointment the next day. I tracked the contractions all night and then eventually went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, the contractions were the same. Before my appointment, I made sure that my hospital bag was all put together with a pile of my daily stuff beside it.

My appointment was at 1:25 PM. I get called back by the nurse on time, they do the normal routine of weighing me, having me pee on a stick, and asking the questions "any contractions or any swelling?" I responded, "I finished having a contraction when you called me from the waiting room and I had one 6 minutes before that." She grinned and said okay as she typed it into the computer. Then I go in the exam room to wait for my doctor. I explained to her about the last 24 hours and she confirms that I am in early labor. We do a cervical check, and she says" you are 4cm and 100% effaced." My excitement is through the roof. She did the membrane sweep as we discussed which did not hurt at all. It basically felt like a slightly longer cervical check. She said my membranes were already separating so it was super easy to do, which is why it didn’t hurt. She smiled and explained that I would be in the hospital within 24 to 48 hours. We leave the office and go back home.

I decided to take one more bath before I knew I wasn’t going to be able to for a while after having her. As I am sitting in my bath, I had a contraction that I felt come from my back and around to my belly. I had heard people describe what active labor contractions were like so in that moment, I knew that was the start of active labor. This was less than an hour after leaving my appointment. Then I make myself some mac & cheese because it is my comfort food. I continue to track my contractions which got intense and close quickly. In case you did not know, I’m a little bit hardheaded. I had plans to go see Christmas lights that night with some friends and I was looking forward to it. I was sitting in bed struggling to speak through my contractions and closing my eyes breathing through them. My husband looks at me and asks "is it time to go to the hospital?" To be clear, it had been time to go to the hospital. Due to my plans, I was attempting to convince myself to delay it so I was like "I don’t know. I think I can wait a little longer." They say to follow the 5-1-1 rule to know when to go to the hospital. Contractions are five minutes or less apart, lasting for at least one minute, and be consistent for at least one hour. At this point, I had been contracting in that pattern for almost 2 hours. And my contractions were around 2 to 3 minutes apart. Within a couple more contractions, I finally admitted that it was time to go to the hospital.

My husband quickly gets the dogs settled making sure they have enough food and water. I am attempting to make sure everything is gathered as I stop every couple minutes. My husband loaded everything into the car. As I’m slowly walking to the car, he says "I’m going to heat up some food really quickly." I said that was fine, and then was a little mad in the car as I had each contraction haha. We made our way to the hospital in 5pm traffic. My husband offered to drop me off at the front door of the hospital while he parked the car. Again, my hardheadedness comes in to play here. I said "no, I will walk from the parking garage."

Hear me out, I had reasons for this. The first thing is that movement is really good for labor so I decided to utilize that walk. The second thing was that I’m not good about sitting still for long periods of time and I knew once I got the epidural, I wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere. It was quite a slow walk from the parking garage across the street and up to the 4th floor where labor and delivery is. We then sit in the admission office as I sign forms while having contractions. They bring me back to a room at 6pm. Right as I got changed into my gown, a nurse came in to do a cervical check to see if I was going to be admitted. I knew I was going to be admitted or I don't think I would have convinced myself to go to the hospital haha.

At this point, I was at 6 cm. The nurse was shocked that at 38 1/2 weeks, I got to 6 cm on my own with my first baby. The nurse asked what my pain was on a scale of 1 to 10, in the middle of a contraction. My response was an 8 and he asked if I would like my epidural, which I quickly responded with yes. The nurse then stuck his head out in the hallway and said "she won’t be long." We gathered my things and walked down to the delivery room as they called for my epidural to get there as soon as they could. It didn’t take long for them to get there.

Before they arrived, as the nurses were getting me set up, I saw my husband on the couch, looking at something on his phone. I asked him what he was doing. He responded with "I’m watching a video on how to change a diaper. I figured it was a good time to learn." It was a good laugh at the time since I was in pain and a little bit of nerves were starting to set in. I hadn't been nervous my entire pregnancy about labor but it started to hit at this point. Not bad, just kind of a shock that I'm at the point that I've been thinking about for 9 months. I shared with my husband that I was starting to get a little nervous and he said a prayer over us.

The anesthesiologist arrived and they told my husband that he needed to step out for about 30 minutes while they did the epidural which I understand, but was not ideal. Now I don’t quite know how to describe what it’s like to get an epidural, but I’ll attempt. In the room, it was me, the anesthesiologist, and a nurse. I sat crisscrossed sideways on the bed, holding a pillow in my lap and hugging it tightly. The anesthesiologist is behind me while the nurse is in front of me helping. I was told to hunch my back over and kind of tuck my hips in and hold the pillow tightly through my contractions to keep from moving. The anesthesiologist was absolutely wonderful and made me feel so comfortable in the process. She explained each thing that she was doing and why she was doing it. She said just to let her know if I felt any pinching and if it was on the left or right side. There were a couple of pinches I felt on my left side so she numbed me a little more and then it was no problem. When the catheter goes into your spinal space, it’s not painful but feels a little weird. I remember just feeling the catheter go down my back. Like I said not painful, but I just knew it was there. Once she was done and taped up my WHOLE back so that it would not move, I basically forgot it was there after that.

I was laid down and they inserted my catheter. At this point, my husband could come back in the room. Side note: I was really excited to get the catheter after the epidural. I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but here’s the context. I was SO tired of thinking about and going to the bathroom so often for months and months. I was just thrilled that I didn’t have to think about going to the bathroom or feel pressure on my bladder for a while. It didn’t take long for the epidural to start working and before long I couldn’t even feel my contractions.

I already have low blood pressure and soon after the epidural, I felt it dropping. The nurse asked how I was feeling which was lightheaded and a little out of it. We checked what it was and it is VERY low. They quickly got some medicine to help raise my blood pressure. It took a few doses into my IV but then I started to feel better.

I also got the shakes. Just uncontrollable shaking. Honestly, it was just really annoying so I did what I could to distract myself from them. Family came in to visit while I was just sitting and waiting. At first, I didn't want anybody at the hospital while I was in labor but it turned out the be the best distraction and uplifting at the time.

Now, it was just time for me to wait. I had already learned that my doctor would not be delivering. This was upsetting because you choose your doctor for a reason but I was comfortable with the doctor on call. The doctor came in and gave me my options. I was offered Pitocin and for them to break my water. Pitocin seemed unnecessary because I was progressing well on my own. I was fine with them breaking my water and we decided to give it a little bit to see if it would break on its own first.

He had a couple of C-sections to do before I delivered. I remember him saying "don't have a baby while I'm gone". After the C-sections, they broke my water which was quick and easy. I was at about 7cm at this point. The nurses laid me down and used the peanut ball to help me dilate. Oh. My. Word. That peanut ball gets the job DONE. It didn't take long before I started feeling some intense pressure that would not go away. I know it sounds weird but it is what it is. The pressure was in my butt and did not feel like what I thought it would. I hit the call button and the nurse checks me. I was at 9cm and just had a little more to go on the other side. We flipped me over with the peanut ball and they said in 15 minutes, they would check again. Within 5 minutes, I'm sure I was at 10cm. My hard head decided to just wait until they came back at 15 minutes as I'm gripping the side of the bed as tight as I could muttering. They confirmed I was at 10cm but the baby's head was still at 0 station.

In case you don't know what station is, I'll explain. Station refers to the position of the baby's head in your pelvis. It can measure from -5 to +5. If the baby's head has not entered the pelvis and is still high, they are at a -5 station. When the baby is crowning, they are at a +5 station. At 0 station, the baby's head is aligned with the ischial spines. This is where my baby was.

I was given 2 options. They could sit me up, like I had been at one point before, or I could try to push and see if she would move down. I was tired of laying around and wanted to do something so I chose to push. This part was a little more challenging than I expected for a couple reasons. First, if you've never pushed a baby out of your body, it can take a little bit to figure out what muscles to engage. This is particularly difficult when you are numb and can't feel very much. I could still feel pressure though which leads me to the other reason it was challenging. One of the nurses was doing perineal massages as I pushed. She was massaging HARD. That pressure was distracting and confusing me during pushes. It was helpful when she told me to push against her fingers. Thankfully, she was moving down with me pushing as we tried a few different positions.

Turns out the nurse was doing perineal massages so hard because my outer band was "too tight". The doctor had come in at this point and I was given another option. There was no doubt that I was going to tear (which I expected). The decision was up to me to let it tear however and wherever it wants OR they could do an episiotomy and control the tear. I had recently listened to a podcast and learned the different ways that could go. After thinking for a minute, I decided to go with the episiotomy. It was quick but I did feel it which was not pleasant to say the least. On the bright side, it is quick and done in the middle of a push which is way better because you are focused on pushing. Ironically, that was the LAST thing I wanted to happen. During my pregnancy, I would say there was no way that I would have that done but it was different in the moment. I stand by that being the best decision for me.

After 45 minutes of pushing, my baby girl was here at 1:38am! The umbilical cord was short so she didn't quite make it to my chest. My husband had to go down there to cut the cord and she could move up onto my chest. I was just in a state of shock seeing her for the first time, not on an ultrasound. I also remember thinking "how did she come out of there?" My husband will tell you that he know how because he watched it all haha. 3 minutes after she was born, my placenta was delivered and I didn't have to do a thing for that. I was just taking it all in and focused on my girl who was healthy and beautiful.

We'll continue in the next post about that 1st hour after birth and the hospital stay. Stay tuned!