My Birth Story

Here it is...finally!


My Birth Story

On Thursday, March 1, I worked all day until my water broke in my friend, Kim’s, cubicle at 4:15 p.m. I wasn’t sure that it was by water breaking, after all, it wasn’t a big gush of fluid…it just kind of felt like I had peed my pants. Actually, my exact words to Kim were, “Either my water just broke or I’m peeing uncontrollably.” Kim’s response…”You didn’t even sneeze, though.” (I’d had a little problem with bladder control at the end of the pregnancy and Kim knew that it was tough for me to hold it in when I sneezed.)

Just then, another gush of fluid…this time it was more and it was running down my legs and into my “hooker boots.” Ugh. Bummer. So, after the initial shock, I decided I better get my butt in gear. One of my co-workers went out to my car and grabbed my “in case my water breaks at work” bag of clothes. (Thank God I had this packed!!!) Teri, another co-worker ran to get my cell phone and dialed Carl’s number. When I told him that my water had broken, he was in shock and didn’t quite believe me. I reminded him that this was not something I would joke about. With that, he hung up and was on his way!

Kim and I went to the bathroom to try to clean me up a bit. The men that were around just kind of stood and observed, but everyone was great and really encouraging. This was it! Labor had begun and it started in a dramatic fashion…at work with about five people standing around…just like I had secretly hoped!

Carl arrived to pick me up within 15 minutes. I had changed my clothes, called my parents to tell them to get on the road, called my doctor and my doula and was ready to head to the hospital. On the way, I was still loosing fluid (which is an odd feeling), but we were excited! We had been waiting so long for this day to come!

We arrived and checked in (I had pre-registered, so it went really quickly) and I was taken to an exam room so they could make sure that my water had, indeed, broke. (DUH, I think I would know…but whatever…if you want to make SURE!) Well, the nurse came in and I had made a mess on the floor and the bed with more fluid and she decided, without an exam, that I was in labor and she moved us to our room. It was a huge room at the end of the hall, which was nice and quiet. (This came in handy later when Carl slept on the couch, Dad on the floor and Mom in the recliner…and there was still room for the nurses, my doula and all my monitors and machines.)

So, the first 8 hours of labor was pretty simple. In fact, it was going so slowly that they put me on a pitocin drip. (A drug that makes your contractions stronger.) I also got in the shower/tub to try to speed labor up. Well, the pitocin worked! In fact, it worked so well that that stopped my drip because they thought I would progress fast enough on my own at that point. But after they stopped the drip, labor pretty much stopped to so that had to kick it back on. (I guess I just respond really well to drugs.)

My parents arrived around 12:45 a.m. and my contractions were getting a whole lot stronger at this point. I chatted with them for a little while, but had to focus on breathing and getting through the contractions because they weren’t the walk in the park that they were at 8 p.m. Carl was AWESOME through the contractions! He watched the monitors and was right there holding my hand through every single one. In between, we’d talk a little to try to get my mind off thinking about them.

Fast forward to 4 a.m. The contractions were really starting to suck now. I was moaning and groaning through them and kicking my legs and wanting to cry, but couldn’t get the tears out. (I had no energy for that!) This is when I finally asked for some medication. The nurse tried to talk me into an epidural, but I stayed strong and resisted. I knew I didn’t want one and that was that! However, let me just say, that I LOVED the medication that I did get. Yay for Nubain! (I highly recommend it!) After they gave me that shot in my IV, I could have danced a jig (except that I was too high to do that…I could barely open my eyes and form a sentence.) This gave me a chance to “sleep” in between contractions and catch up on some rest that I so desperately needed. I knew I needed to save some energy for pushing. When that started to wear off, I asked for another dose immediately. This second dose didn’t have the same effect at all, but I’m sure it really helped me through those final contractions and through pushing. I can’t even imagine what it would have felt like without those two shots.

So it’s now about 7 or 7:30 a.m. I was still only 90% effaced and 8 cm dilated. Carl, Mom and Dad decided to head down to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast and Char, my doula, stayed with me. The nurses were sure I wasn’t going to start pushing for a couple more hours because I was progressing so slowly and evenly. Of course, 10 minutes after they all left, I started to feel differently. Contractions were picking up and I told my doula that I was feeling the urge to push. She told me not to do anything until the nurses and doctor had a chance to get there. So, my nurse came in and helped thin out my cervix so I was 100% and once she did that, I literally could not stop my body from beginning to push.

This last hour went by so fast that it’s kind of a big blur, but one of the nurses ran down to the cafeteria to grab Carl and my parents while I tried to keep myself from pushing. Too bad I couldn’t stop myself and started anyway. The doctor was paged, but didn’t show up for about 20 minutes, but I was fine without her because I had Carl, Char and my nurses there to support me.

I ended up pushing for about 40 or 45 minutes and out Carter Matthew came at 8:30 a.m. on the dot. I have to be honest, he was a bit “purple” for my taste right after he came out, but after they cleaned him up and put him under the warming lights for a couple of minutes, he looked beautiful. We were so lucky to have such a healthy and handsome baby boy.

It was the best 16 hours of my life. I love you, Carter!