About

Here is my birth story, told by my Mommy.

I went to the doctors on Thursday, the 23rd, because I had been leaking fluid & thought it might be my water. As it turns out, I just had a yeast infection, and no water was to be seen. However, when the midwife checked me, she managed to push a finger through my cervix, which put me at a fingertip dilated. Needless to say, I had been hoping for a little more than that.

I had a few contractions that afternoon, but it wasn't anything new, as I have been having contractions since 32 weeks, with no change in my cervix. I went to sleep thinking I was still going to be waiting at least another 2 weeks to have Avery (I was due on the 11th).

I woke up at 6:45 Friday morning (the 24th) and when I got up off of the toilet after using the bathroom, my water really did break. Boy was that a shocker! I know people talk about gushes, but I really had no idea. So I screamed out to my boyfriend and told him what happened. We decided he would go ahead and go to work & I would call my mom to come sit at the house with me & get the rest of my things ready. Because I am Group B Strep negative, the midwives told me that I had up to six hours after my water broke to head to the hospital.

My mom & I ran some last minute errands, & went to get some breakfast, because I didn't know when I would be eating again. By the time we got done with all of that, it was about 11:00 and I was feeling some contractions. I was hopeful at this point that I would be able to go naturally, because obviously my contractions were coming, so I hoped I would need Pitocin.

We got to the hospital about 5 hours after my water broke, at about 11:30 or so. When I got there, they immediately brought me into Triage to confirm my water had broken. They monitored me for about 30 minutes and then told me that I needed to walk for about an hour and a half. At this point, they still hadn't checked for dilation.

I walked for almost 2 hours and went back. My midwife then checked me and said that I was only dilated to one. This was disappoiting, as my contractions were continually getting worse, but still nothing I couldn't breathe through. She went ahead and had the nurses admit me, and bring me back to my Labor room. After answering all of the Admit questions, I finally got into the whirlpool tub at about 3:30 or so. It was then that I realized most of my pain was in my back, and that I was having back labor.

I stayed in the tub for about an hour, talking with one of my best friends, Elizabeth. Once I got out of the tub, the contractions really started getting bad and I was really having to breathe through them. About 5:oo, I started throwing up really badly with each contraction, so the midwife got me some nausea medication, and also some Nubain. I now believe every person who says that the narcotic medications don't really make the pain go away, they just make it to where you don't care about the pain. It was actually pretty funny, because it was at this point that I started to get so tired that I was getting almost delusional. After about 45 minutes, the Nubain started to wear off & the midwife came in to check me again.

When she checked me, I was hoping to hear at least 3 centimeters. Not a chance. The midwife, Rachel, looked at me really closely & told me that I was still only at 1 1/2 centimeters. I almost started to cry at this point, because it had been about 12 hours since my water had broken, and I was having horrible contractions, and I was still barely even started dilating.

Rachel told me that she wanted to start me on the Pitocin then. She said that I was having good, strong contractions and that I was obvously in labor, but that the contractions just weren't progressing me like they should. This was the thing that I was most terrified of, because of all of the horror stories that I have heard about Pitocin. I decided that I wanted the epidural, and I told her that I wasn't going to let her start me on the Pitocin until I got my epidural, because after 8 hours of the contractions that I was having, I didn't know how long I would be able to go with the Pitocin contractions. Twenty minutes later, I had my epidural, and 10 minutes after that, the Pit was started.

I labored along for another 2 hours before Rachel came in and checked me again. We were all really pleased to discover that I had finally progressed to 5 centimeters, as she had only expected me to be at 3 or 4. I labored some more, and took a nap, and pretty much just sat around. At one point, Avery's heartbeat started to drop with the contractions, so Rachel turned down the Pit & had me breathe through the oxygen mask for a few minutes. After about 30 minutes, they started raising the Pit.

So at about 1:30 in the morning, I was at 9 with a lip. Rachel had me push through a couple contractions to try & move the lip out of the way, and then told me to wait 30 minutes and we would see about pushing. She came in at 2am and I finally really started to push. After 30 minutes, Avery's heartrate started dropping with contractions again. She put me on the oxygen, but it still wasn't really working. She finally told me that she was going to have to call the OB in because she was thinking that I would need the vaccuum to get her out quick. I started crying because I knew this meant episiotomy & maybe even C-Section, if it didn't work. I really was getting scared, but willing to do anything for a healthy baby.

I pushed for another hour while I waited for the OB to get there, and brought Avery down a little with each push. I was hoping that maybe I could get her out before the OB got there, surprising everyone, but that didn't happen. After she got there, she said that she was going to reach inside to determine what position the baby's head was in. Let me tell you, THAT HURT! We were finally able to verify that Avery was sunny-side up (back labor!). The OB then told me that she was going to attempt to turn her in the canal before we used the vaccuum. This was another hell altogether, but after about 5-7 minutes of her hands in me, she told me to push like I had never pushed in my life, and Avery's head popped out. With the next push, her shoulders & the rest of her were out. It was the most satisfying thing I have ever experienced.

She was all gooey & messy, but still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I couldn't stop crying. The nursing staff came in and washed her & weighed her and all that good stuff, and I was finally headed up to my room at about 5:30 or so.