You can read part 1 of Meghan’s birth story here.
After being told I’d likely be sent home, there was an air of disappointment in the Triage Room. Was it false labor? Had I endured contractions for the last 12 hours for merely practice? Or was this just the beginning of a very long labor?
A few minutes later a nurse returned to tell me she’d spoken to my doctor. “He told us you lived 30 minutes away. He thinks you’re progressing enough and wants you to stay.” Deep breath. Ah, thank you, doctor.
Instead of being admitted to a room, however, I was asked to walk around the hospital to help my progression. So we walked. And walked. And walked. We made our way around the big square loop, stopping every few minutes for me to put my hands on my knees while I had a contraction.
Tim was there, holding my hand when I needed it, coaching me through the pain as he learned about during our birthing classes. I can’t remember exactly how long I had to walk before being checked again. 1 hour? 2 hours?
When I was checked again, I was dilated another centimeter to 4, so they finally admitted me to a room. Right away a nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural. My answer was no, not yet.
I had every intention of getting an epidural. I have a low tolerance for pain and was petrified of the pain of child birth. How can a woman not be scared after all the horror stories that circulate among females from a young age?
At that point, however, the pain wasn’t what I expected. Yes, the contractions hurt, but they weren’t that bad. I wasn’t ready to be numb; I wanted to keep experiencing the birth process.
Tim and I hung out in the room for a little while before I took a bath. Getting in the tub was a perfect way to relax through the pain, if relaxing through pain is even possible.
I’d arrived at the hospital around 12:30 and by the time I got out of the tub it was probably after 4 o’clock. The nurse informed me that she’d talked with my doctor again and he’d like to start Pitocin. Huh? What?
I had never talked to my doctor about Pitocin, but I knew what it was from friends and family members who had been induced. It’s the drug they use to start labor. I didn’t know they used it when labor had already started.
Totally put on the spot, I looked at Tim for helped. He shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what we should do. I didn’t know much about Pitocin, other than what it was. I had so many questions, but in the moment didn’t know how to get them answered. I told the nurse I wasn’t sure I wanted to use the drug.
She came back a few minutes later and said that my doctor was highly recommending we start Pitocin. She explained that it would help speed up my progression and overall help my laboring process. Still unsure, I agreed.
I now know that there was really no reason to use Pitocin in my labor, other than to ensure my baby arrived sooner rather than later. Apparently my doctor preferred I didn’t wait until the middle of the night to give birth, which is likely when it would have happened without the drug. I had no idea about the possible side effects and dangers of Pitocin at the time.
It was clear that the drug was working as shortly after they started the drip I was experiencing much stronger contractions that were increasingly close together. This is when the nurse told me I needed to get my epidural because the anesthesiologist had a surgery to attend to soon and after that I may miss my window of opportunity.
Again, I was torn. I knew I wanted to have an epidural, but I wished I could wait until I was screaming in pain and couldn’t take it anymore. At that point, the pain was totally bearable and I wondered if I could possibly do the whole thing without an epidural. Fear gripped me, though, and I agreed to get the epidural.
Once I had the epidural, it was strange to watch my contractions happening on the machine monitoring me, but not feel a thing. Soon, I fell asleep. It was much needed rest after being up all night the previous evening. It was sometime around 6 o’clock (total guess–I don’t remember the exact times things happened, but I know the general time frame.)
I woke up to a gush of water spilling between my legs. “Water!” I shouted through my groggy state.
Tim quickly handed me a drink, thinking I was asking to quench my thirst. I explained to him that my water broke and the bed was all wet. It must have been close to 8 o’clock by now.
The nurse checked me and said I was dilated 9 centimeters and she was going to call the doctor to let him know. She told me to tell her when I started to feel pressure as that meant it was time to push.
It wasn’t long after that when I started to feel pressure. It was very uncomfortable, but I was happy I could feel something. I’d heard of women not being able to feel a thing the whole time after getting their epidural.
The doctor arrived and was getting ready when I knew I had to start pushing. He quickly got into position. It was 9 o’clock.
Pushing is best described as an athletic event. They told me to do 10 breaths in a row and I remember thinking it was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. I was a 400 meter dash runner in college, considered the most grueling race, and this left those memories in the dust.
I definitely felt pain as I was pushing. I’m not sure if I didn’t have a strong epidural or it was wearing off, but I could feel pain. It likely was much less intense than it would have been without the epidural, but I’m grateful I could feel it.
At some point the nurse put an oxygen mask on me, telling me that the baby’s oxygen was getting low. Most likely this was because of the Pitocin, but I had no idea that day. I wanted to rip that mask off most of the time as it just hindered me, but of course I couldn’t.
Very soon I was on my last push and Meghan came into the world. It was 9:25; I’d pushed for 25 minutes. I’ll tell you that I was determined once pushing started to get it done. I can’t imagine how some women push for an hour or two. It was the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done.
Despite a few changes I would make upon looking back, I am grateful that Meghan was born healthy and her birth was relatively uneventful. It’s hard to have regrets when this is the face you get to see at the end.
Three years have gone by, but the memory of the day Meghan was born will be with me every day of my life.
It’s good her birth was uneventful (lol) but it sounds to me the doctors are always pushing drugs when it’s not always needed. It’s great your more informed this time. : )
Yes, I agree. I wish I’d known more my first time around.
If you want a positive birth day (natural birth) story, here is mine: http://annajfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/birth-day-story.html
What helped me go natural was all the Bradley Method classes we took, a supportive Doula who had attended over 300 births (we could run things by her if we didn’t know what was going on), and knowing that after you hit 7 cm, the pain doesn’t get worse (we learned that in the Bradley class). Also, getting pitocin makes the pain much worse so just think that your natural contractions are a lot less painful and farther apart than pitocin contractions (we learned that in our Bradley Class too). I kept it in my mind that if I got an epidural, things would slow down and I wanted to get the delivery over with as quickly as possible. It also helped that I stayed home until I was at about 9cm (but we only lived 15 minutes from the hospital). You can do it! My mom kept reminding me that they all did it natural back then (I was born in 1976).
I’m going to check out your story now. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for sharing the second part!
I´m glad Meghan was born healthy, but it makes me sooo angry to hear doctors/nurses pushing the birth just for their convenience (I know there are exceptions) and what makes me even more angry is the fact that they scared you! No woman, I think, should feel fear while giving birth! Also I believe it´s horrible for the baby, just to be made to enter the world, without being ready. Meghan clearly wasn´t ready yet.
I hope I don´t offend anyone, but I know from my mum (a midwife, she is only doing natural homebirths) that there is a different way of doing it, even it that means she stays with the family for more than 24 hours, because they rang her “too early” and that she gets zero sleep. For her, despite making sure mother and baby are safe, her goal is to care for the mother believing in her own strenght and power, as she thinks giving birth is a spiritual and holy process.
Of course, in the end, the most important thing everyone is healthy and sometimes a natural birth doesn´t happen, but at least doctors, nurses, midwives, mothers and dads should try.
I really hope you will have the birth you are aiming for, Maryea and I really hope you won´t feel offended.
I just caught up on your birth stories! I’m so curious to see how this next birth will go for you. My sister just had her second child Tuesday (I did a post on it) and it didn’t go as planned for her!
When I have children I definitely want to go as natural as possible, but I’m not against the epidural! Good luck with everything!
You can just never count on a birth going exactly as you plan. Which is why I think it’s better to have hopes but not definite plans that you are counting on. I’m definitely still open to the epidural. We’ll see how this one goes!
Thanks for sharing. It is encouragement for me to get my stories down. I hope this delivery goes much smoother.
All three of my deliveries were different. I was induced (6 hours after they broke my waters, 3 of which were spent pushing due to his posterior position, my oldest was born, he was a sick baby, showed sign of infection, he spent 22 days in hospital). My second delivery went much smoother. I did not realize I was in labor. Had a couple bowel movements in a row and since I have miscarried, I knew this was a potential sign. Called my doctor, since I was 40 weeks said I should head to hospital. Arrived to hospital, they were about to hook up the monitors in triage but when the doctor checked me I was 6cm and 10 minutes later when put in my room I was 7cm. By the time pushing came, one push and he was out. Poor doctor had use her gown to catch him since she did not have it on and was not expecting him to come on first push. Within 45 minutes of arriving to the hospital I had our second son and it only felt like I had soreness from the flu. Third pregnancy I was induced since I was gbs positive and my first was really sick and my second delivery gave me no indications that I was in active labor. I had my third son within a few hours of being induced. Once again no epidural. I was at 7 cm when I requested and it took the anesthesiologist 7 minutes to get there. Nurse asked if I was pushing when they were prepping me and I said “perhaps”, since I knew I should not be pushing. She had never heard that one before. They had to check me again, this time I was 10cm and again 1 push he was out. I am thankful for not having the epidural my last two deliveries. I felt much better in the end. Well, I guess I dealt with numerous complications my first delivery. Now to sit down and write out the details. Thanks for the encouragement:-)
Wow! That’s crazy that you didn’t have any signs you were in active labor. I’m glad I encouraged you to write your birth stories down. I wish I wouldn’t have taken 3 years to write down Meghan’s so the memories would have been more vivid. Next time I’ll do it sooner!
Love your story and the newborn pics, you are REALLY making me want another baby! I tried to hold off as long as I could, after 10 days past my due date my doctor forced me to have an induced labor. I was very high risk though due to an accident I had while pregnant. But I sure tried with all my might to steer clear from the pitocin and epidural. In the end I had to have both.
But like you said, I was so happy once he was born.
That’s all we can really hope for! (A healthy baby)
I was induced and had to take all the drugs to get my little one delivered. On top of that because of gestational diabetes, I couldn’t eat anything for almost 36 hours.. boy I was hungry during pushing. But after 36 hours.. when I saw the little face, it was so worth it. The pain didn’t matter.
I guess regardless of the journey one take to enter the world, as long as the baby is healthy – that’s all that matters!
Ooh no eating for 36 hours would have almost killed me. You are a super star!
Meghan totally looks the same now as she did when she was born but older.
I bet it is great to get her birth story down in writing, it is a true miracle! I imagine most women anre completely clueless the first time they give birth, I mean- it’s not like they’ve ever experienced anything like it before! It is a true first! …..Hope that your labor is uneventful for Baby Bean and all goes as planned!
Thanks for sharing!
I know that someday I’m going to be reading your story, too, Julie. Thank you for reading mine; I’m sure it’s not easy to read birth stories when you are experiencing what you are. I’m praying for you!
Aw, what a pretty baby she was(and adorable still, of course :D). They put an oxygen mask on me too while I was pushing with my first and I didn’t have pitocin or an epidural or anything. I still wonder why they did that because no one told me anything. It makes me angry how many things they do that are unnecessary and how rushed things are. I really believe we’d all be better off if it wasn’t like that, but in the end sometimes interventions are necessary(and in those cases I’m so thankful they’re available!) and in the end you still have a beautiful, amazing baby despite everything 🙂
Yes, I agree. I’m thankful that the interventions are available. I just wish they wouldn’t use them during a perfectly normal labor! It’s my own fault for not being more informed though. I’m just so thankful we had a happy ending! 🙂
I was so naive during all of my birthing stories. I wish I had only known then what I know now.
But as you pointed out….could it get any better than that little lump of preciousness at the end of it all? Meghan was an adorable newborn.
When my doctor told me she wanted to break my water I told her no. When she wanted to start pitocin I told her no again. And when she recommended I get an epidural… no no no. At the end of it all, I had a healthy girl born at 3 am (much to the doctors inconvenience!) but so so many “interventions” are so unnecessary!
That’s wonderful, Colleen! I’d love to hear more about how giving birth was without an epidural. I’d love to do it, but admit I’m still scared.
I love reading others’ birth stories. I never understand the pitocin as a go-to standard drug these days even after a woman is already in labor. How crazy you were still able to feel with the epidural. That’s pretty neat. I was one of those crazy numb epidurals.