My Second...
My estimated due date of March 19 had come and gone, just as my due date had done with my son, Noah. I figured this one would be late but I wasn’t expecting to be faced with ANOTHER induction! But the date was set for April 1, 41 weeks and 6 days.
My estimated due date of March 19 had come and gone, just as my due date had done with my son, Noah. I figured this one would be late but I wasn’t expecting to be faced with ANOTHER induction! But the date was set for April 1, 41 weeks and 6 days.
I had gone for a membrane strip at 41 weeks, 4 days (Tuesday, March 29) and was going to have it done again two days later if the first one didn’t show any results. I had also set up an acupuncture appointment as a last ditch effort to help things along before having to be induced.
After my midwife stripped my membranes on Tuesday, I went to pick up my mom from the airport, who flew into town to stay with us for a week. Nothing much different happened that day, really. I had some slightly pink-tinged cervical fluid a couple times I went to the bathroom but that was pretty much it. I was relieved that my mom had made it into town before I went into labor, though, so that we had a 24/7 sitter available to watch Noah. That was something I had been stressing about a little bit as we are not close with many people here.
The next day, Wednesday, March 30, I felt some mild contractions moreso than what I’d been feeling in the weeks prior. These ones were actually timeable; about 10 minutes apart but then subsided, for the most part, for the rest of the afternoon while my mom and I went shopping and had lunch.
We got home in the late afternoon and I felt like I should take a nap since I was feeling tired. I was trying to be sure to take any napping opportunity I could within the last couple weeks, just in case. So I took a little hour-long nap from about 4:00-5:00. It’s a darn good thing I did!
My contractions started back up again around 6:00. They varied in intensity and were only lasting about 30 seconds, on average, but were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. I made a bold prediction that either that night or the next day could be it! I cooked dinner and put Noah to bed, as usual, and then I called my midwife at 7:45 just to let her know what was going on since my contractions had been going consistently for two hours at that point. After figuring it would be in my best interest to take a shower that night, I attempted to sleep at about 11:00. I had been using a cold compress to soothe my belly during contractions so I took that to bed with me to keep using and see if it would help me sleep. I also played some relaxing music and my Hypnobirthing audio tracks. Alas, no luck on the sleep at that point but at least I was able to relax some.
I think I did manage to get a couple minutes’ worth of sleep in between contractions while lying on the bed with my cold compress . But lying on the bed definitely made my contractions less tolerable for me.
Throughout the night, I just alternated between the bath/shower, yoga ball and leaning against furniture. I let my husband, Matt, sleep for about three hours while I labored. I eventually had to wake him up around 4:00am (Thursday, March 31) to ask him if he would go get me some applesauce; it was the only thing that sounded good to me and I was starving! I also had him grab a frozen gel pack from the freezer to, again, put over my belly during contractions. I didn’t really have any terrible back labor but it was definitely intense right over my cervix .
Matt had been timing my contractions since I woke him and they were consistently about two minutes apart (but still only about 30 seconds in duration) and pretty strong. He called my midwife at about 4:30 to give her an update and ask her what she thought we should do. We decided to keep timing contractions at home for a little while longer until they were closer to 45-60 seconds long for an hour.
At around 5:45am, my midwife texted me to ask if we wanted to head to the hospital. I decided we should. We gathered up a few last-minute items to throw in the car and made our way there. I could feel every single tiny bump in the road on the way! It was so overwhelming that I just busted out crying. Apparently, my hormones were in overdrive! I had to sit in the car for a moment when we pulled up to the women’s center so I could regain my composure. That was a tough car ride but, luckily, we only live about five minutes from the hospital and there was next to no traffic since it was so early in the morning.
I still had to sign papers and answer questions at the admissions desk but the lady was so kind and patient while waiting for me to work through contractions. She told me to just take my time. My midwife greeted us in the lobby and brought us to our room: The ONE room in the hospital that has a bathtub! I was pretty excited about that. While getting the standard 20-minute monitoring done, my midwife filled up the tub for me. I was able to just lean against the bed while getting monitored and tried the birthing ball, too, but standing was best for me. After half-jokingly saying I didn’t want to be checked and making cracks about how I was probably only 3 centimeters (that’s what I was at my appointment two days prior), my midwife checked me and informed me that I was EIGHT centimeters! What?! That was one of the highlights of my morning. :)
I stripped right down and got into the nice, hot bath after that. And that is where I remained for most of my four hours of laboring at the hospital. I used the jets for a good length of time and I had a pillow in the tub with me so I actually fell asleep between contractions while laying there with the jets running. They were so soothing that I remained completely quiet and relaxed through my contractions, so much so that my midwife couldn’t tell if or when I was having them. I honestly never felt a “transition” phase where my contractions were so intense that I felt I couldn’t do it. I was so focused and really held it together the whole time. I had been vocalizing my way through contractions, as well, and that helped tremendously, as it had when I was in labor with Noah. The nurse intermittently checked the baby’s heart rate with a doppler while I was in the bathtub. My midwife also let me go without a saline lock, which I was very grateful for considering I was in the water the whole time anyway!
After some time in the tub, my midwife told me it might be beneficial to go ahead and break the bulging bag of waters so the baby’s head would come down and likely take some time off my labor. She thought it wouldn’t be long before the second stage if she did. I agreed. She was able to break my water while I was still in the bath and it was actually bulging out of my vagina! I reached down to feel it and it was quite interesting! Matt didn’t hesitate to agree that, had he seen that at home, he might have freaked out a little. :P There was some meconium in the fluid but that posed no problems or changes in my birth plan.
I had changed positions in the bath tub before getting my water broken and decided to use the shower head on my belly. That was amazing and, again, I was dozing off between contractions. Then it wasn’t long before I felt like I was overheating… so I asked to have the water temp turned down to COLD and also for a cold compress on my face. I was sweating. My contractions were also becoming stronger and I started feeling pressure, at which point I threw all my dignity out the window and started doing “horse lips” a la Ina May. It truly did help.
The nurse came in to do another heart rate check with the doppler but couldn’t find the heartbeat after multiple attempts. My midwife was going to give me a water birth up until that point. I had to get out of the tub and head back over to the bed for the EFM. Half of me was scared and on the verge of tears and the other half of me knew that everything was fine. The EFM picked up the heartbeat right away.
I remained on the bed and took the hands-and-knees position for the second stage, the same position I used to push out my son. We decided that was just my “magical” position because Chloe Marcella was born into the world after just two contractions! We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl so when Matt shouted that we had a little girl, I was just in disbelief. I kind of had a feeling it was a girl but I’m never right about those things! That was the most incredible moment… turning around to meet and hold my little girl. :)
My midwife clamped the cord after it had stopped pulsating and then Matt cut it. My uterus was being stubborn about contracting to expel my placenta so I was given a shot of Pitocin in my thigh. After a couple of pushes, it finally came out. I ended up with a “papercut;” no stitches. I feel amazing and have almost no soreness anywhere. This was my dream birth experience and I did it.
Chloe Marcella was born at 10:08am on Thursday, March 31 weighing 8lbs, 15oz and measuring 20.5 inches long!
