My Labor & Delivery story

As a friend said of her Labor and Delivery, "I could not have written a better one if I tried." Here is my story: I awoke Saturday morning, 10/16/10, with a pre-labor symptom, spotting, which lasted all weekend. This is a big sign that labor is imminent.

Monday morning, 10/18/10, at 5:30AM, my water broke (small to medium gush) and awakened me from a dream I was having about one of the on-call obgyns who was not calling me back about labor. Around 6AM, once I was sure what was going on, (did you know that your water gushing/leaking is continual during labor and delivery?!?) and starting to feel labor contractions, I awoke my husband and called the doctor. Coincidentally, that same obgyn was on-call that morning!! Thankfully, the nurse did get back to me after consulting with him. :) Contractions seemed to come regularly at 3-4 minutes. They asked us to come to the hospital, but no rush. Labor contractions are definitely different from Braxton Hicks, they are low and in the front, and at that time felt like continuous menstrual pains, whereas BH are high and up top, and usually painless or mildly uncomfortable.


Going to the hospital to have our baby!

We arrived to the hospital around 8AM, and the contractions had become quite painful and distinct on the car ride there. I was admitted into a spacious, beautiful, and well-equipped labor and delivery suite. Baby and me were hooked up to monitors to measure her heart rate and my contractions, which were now coming every 2 minutes. At 9AM they did an internal check, and I was already dilated 4cm, 100% effaced, and head in a -1 station. My pain levels were probably 5-6/10 at that point. I could have freaked myself out by thinking, if it hurts this much now, how much will it hurt later, and psyched myself out to get pain meds. But I refused to think that way. Instead I thought, this is a normal process and what is necessary to get the baby out, I'm okay. I stayed out of the hospital bed as much as possible and labored in a rocking chair, on the birthing ball, standing up, moving around, etc. If I layed down on my side, it temporarily eased the pain, so I only did that when I needed a quick break or had to be monitored on the machines again. But honestly, sitting still and laying down was just too painful to bear for very long. We used about half the things in my labor bag: preggo pops (not as helpful), thermacare heating pads for lower back and lower belly (somewhat helpful), put my sweater on (comforting), tennis balls were particularly helpful in massaging my lower back during a contraction, rolling pin not as helpful, we brought several pillows for me to lay against and put on the floor when I was on my knees and leaning over birthing ball or husband's lap (helpful and comforting). We kept the TV on the morning shows, which was a helpful distraction. The majority of the time I was not paying any attention to it, although my eyes were on it. We never used all the relaxing CD's I brought, the ice pack, massage oil, paper fan, books/magazine/playing cards.






The nurse was to check me again at 11 AM, and the doctor had said I would definitely have the baby that day, probably that afternoon. By 10:30 AM, I was in increasing pain, 7-8/10, it was beginning to become unmanageable, and I felt if that continued very long I would have to request an epidural. I could have rated the pain a 9/10 but that would have freaked me out, so I underestimated it a little. I urgently demanded to be checked at 10:30, the nurse was happy to oblige. I was 8cm dilated, and the head was starting to descend in a +1 position. The nurse said I could start pushing very soon. Knowing I was in the Transition period of labor (most intense and also the shortest), and that we would be pushing imminently got me through the pain. It seems that pain management is a very psychological thing, it is your perception on things.

We did a few test pushes to see if we were ready, and by 11:12 AM we started pushing! Pushing was the most challenging part of labor. The contractions were painful, but I wanted to resist pushing, because it just brought on more pain. The nurse was a great coach, counting through the pushes, and directing me on how to push, she was also stretching me to help prevent tearing. The nurse would ask if I wanted to do one more push during a contraction, and sometimes I told her no. There was a large mirror so I could see my progress and her head, which motivates you to keep going. Around the time of crowning I yelled, "Get her out!!" I was yelling or making some kind of noise during these pushes, it got very intense in the room, and the main way I was able to handle it was to think, "if I push through the pain and get her out, then all this pain will be over, we'll be on the other side of things." I started to get angry and used that energy to our advantage. Most of these lines of thinking were mentioned in our childbirth classes or noted by the labor and delivery nurse. The doctor saw that I was going to tear and put a local numbing and antiseptic agent on the area. As baby was crowning and coming out the nurse asked if I wanted to look into the mirror again. I had always wanted to see this part, but honestly, I was in too much pain to even try to look. I said no and she pushed the mirror away. I don't think I felt the tear, but it's good I didn't look because all the blood and tearing could have psyched me out of pushing like I needed to. I'm very impressed with DH, who had wanted to be a North of the Border kind of guy, but he was very involved with the whole labor and delivery process. He was standing at my side, helping to hold my leg back, and he did not pass out when watching things.

When her head came out, we heard a little peep from her, that's when it hit my husband she is real and alive. The umbilical cord was around her neck so the doctor cut it immediately. Once she was out it was a HUGE relief. The doctor put her on me and commented she is big around 7 pounds. Seeing her for the first time was the best thing ever, euphoric, that's when it hit me that she is real and alive. She was beautiful from the start. Elena Rose was born on 10/18/10, at 11:54 AM. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz, and was 20 inches long. They asked my permission for anything they did with her, like if they could take her to clean her up, etc. The doctor stitched up my second degree tear while they cleaned her up. Her APGAR score was 9/10! yay! It felt like it only took 5-10 minutes to deliver the placenta, but the doctor seemed like it was taking awhile. There was a lobe in the placenta and so there were a few parts that needed to detach from me. The placenta was BIG!

Baby and I did skin to skin and she breastfed at 12:30PM for a long time. DH and I ordered lunch and ate around 1:15 PM. We were in our post-partum room by 2:15PM. What an amazing and wonderful day. And thankfully labor went quickly!