Catching up

I never told my birth story....or a million other stories since. Here we go.

I went back and read my pre-birth posts. You may want to read my October posts to refresh, as well.

We made plans to induce on Thurs Oct 22. I had been having contractions since Sat. On Wed, they were serious. I ran all over town running errands with a stop watch on my arm. The contractions were never more than 13 min apart and were usually 8 min apart. At one point I was in the grocery store hanging onto the meat counter while breathing through a contraction. My nephew was with me and he was afraid they were going to ask us to leave the store! The contractions subsided as night fell. I could have slept if I hadn't been so excited. This was bigger than Christmas and a trip to Disney all in one!

As I'd hoped, when we got to the hospital on Thurs am, I was 5 cm dilated. My nurse, who I love, started me at only 2 mls per hour of pitocin. That is the minimum dosage. The maximum dosage is 20 mls per hour. I got myself all set up with my music playlist going on my computer. My DH and my doula were on their respective computers. I warned them both ahead of time that I would probably go to a place inside myself. I did. I didn't need them for quite some time. They were able to just hang out and do whatever. My dr (the one in my group that I'd hoped to have at my delivery) came in to talk. She mentioned breaking my water, but asked if I wanted an epidural. When I told her that I'd really like to get through without one, she said that she would wait to see if my water would break on its own. In hindsight, I LOVE her for that. Her not pushing me to have my water broken probably made it possible for me to have a drug-free birth.

At some point, my nurse increased the pitocin to 6 mls per hour. I don't have a very good idea of time, but the whole process went very quickly. She started the drip at 7:30 and the baby came at 1:04 pm. I lay on my side breathing and focusing on my music. At some point I opened my eyes and looke at DH and doula. She said that hte contractions were 3 min apart. I was really shocked. I was thinking much more than that. I'm so glad that I didn't focus on the clock. In fact, one reason I kept my eyes closed all day is that I didn't want to know what time it ws and there was a clock in front of me. I also didn't let them give me any updates on my cervix. I was afraid if I knew the progress or time that I may get discouraged. It was such hard work. I had to focus solely on the work at hand and not how long it was taking.

Probably around 10 to 10:30 am the contractions got serious enough that I asked my doula to do some visualization/imagery with me. I think around 11:00 my water broke. That was the most amazing experience I've ever had. I'm so very glad that I was able to experience it. It was like there was a rubber band in my belly and it snapped. I don't know if the baby gave a big kick at the same moment, but it felt as if she did. You should have seen the look on my face. My eyes were huge and a look of wonderment must have come over me. I looked at my doula. I think I said something about fluid and she just smiled and said my water just broke. Almost immediately, I started having the urge to have a bowel movement. My doula didn't believe it. She thought the urge was just the baby pushing down and that I was misinterpreting it. I hate to sound petty, but I was very satisfied when I actually pooped! I showed her that I know my body!!! While I was on the toilet, the contractions became so intense. I began having to grunt my way through each one and continued to have to do that until the baby came. My husband says that the sound was like that of a bench presser. I was very comfortable on the toilet and not very well able to do everything that I needed to do. TMI alert! That means cleaning myself. I also found some relief in that position and didn't want to go back to the bed. I hung on to the grab bar and sat with my legs spread out. Eventually, I was able to go back to the bed. I wanted to lean over a birthing ball, but the hospital didn't have them. Instead, I rolled up my pillow and my body pillow and leaned over them at the foot of the bed. Later when they told me I had to turn around I had a bit of trouble finding a comfortable position, but finally settled in in a squatting position.

BBL for more...stay tuned.