In the Motherhood

Henry's Birth Story -

I think of some many things I want to write but haven't done it lately. I have to write this down before I forget parts.

As many know, I was counting the days down until I was due. No one really expected me to go into labor on my due date. Of course, I was praying to God it would be that day or earlier. I wasn't sleeping much leading up to my due date. That morning, Friday, March 13, I woke up very early with contractions. I was so excited. They got to be pretty consistent but pretty far apart. Then I went to sleep and they disappeared. I had an appointment with my midwife around 11 a.m.. I told her about the contractions. She said she thought that I would be there some time that weekend to give birth. I was really excited for several reasons - one being I really liked her and wanted her to deliver Henry. I had one contraction while I was there and she thought there was a very slight possibility I might even come in later that night. Then she checked how far I was dialated and it was barely a centimeter. My hopes started to fade at that point. I met my mom and grandmother in Rockport and we ate some Mexican food (I listened Mishelle). I started to get random contractions very far apart but I wasn't sure if they were braxton hicks or not. Mid afternoon I told Dave I thought I was going to go into labor and we would be going to the hospital later so pack his stuff. (He didn't think I was serious). We were watching Barefoot Contessa in our bedroom when I realized I was in early labor. It was after 5 p.m. and the contractions were consistent but far apart. I was getting really excited. I remember thinking if that was how bad contractions were then labor was going to be a breeze (ha-ha). I sat on my exercise ball. I took a bath. I talked on the phone. Life was good. I was very excited. We called the midwife and she said we should come in when the contractions were around 4 minutes apart. I think we started driving to Damariscotta around 8 p.m.. Things got worse on the ride. The contractions were painful and they were only 2 minutes apart. We got to the hospital, by-passed the registration and got into a room. I was the only one in labor that night. The nurses hooked me up to a machine to see how far apart my contractions were and how long they lasted. They were lasting up to 90 seconds (which is long!) and were only 1 to 2 minutes apart. The nurses started to get nervous because the midwife was on call and she wasn't there yet (if it had only happened that quickly :)). The nurses each tried to check my dialation and neither said they could tell and one thought my water had already broken. They started to panic because they thought maybe I was fully dialated. I was thinking, "Wow, this is so awesome. I going to have my baby right away and my labor is going to be so easy." Wishful thinking again. The pain was getting more and more intense. My room was right across the hall from the water birthing suite. I paced back and forth waiting for the midwife to get there. They didn't want me to get into the tub until she had checked me. It seemed like FOREVER before she got there. She checked me and I was only 3-4 centimeters dialated. What??! Why were my contractions so close together? I guess because I wasn't dialated at all before I went into labor and my body was doing double time to get me ready. The other MAJOR letdown was that my water hadn't broken. I kept pacing. My water broke in the water birth room. I don't remember the sound, just fluid running down my leg - a lot of fluid. I walked into the hall and told them my water broke. My mom and Dave were having lovely chats in my hospital room at the time. I was glad because I didn't want anyone talking to me or touching me. The nurses had me get into the shower. My contractions hurt SO bad at that point. I really didn't know how I was going to make it through. I took a long hot shower. So long and so hot that I raised my body temperature and caused Henry's heart rate to sky rocket. Not good. I asked if I could go into the birthing tub. I got in with monitors attached for Henry. As I cooled down, his heart rate went down thank God. The midwife and nurse were like two angels. They were so nice. I didn't really talk or scream. I just kept thinking and wondering how I was going to make it through. I kept thinking God really did curse Eve in child bearing. I kept trying to think of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to make it through the contractions. The midwife kept saying, "Just make it through this one; don't think about the next". How can you not think about the next? Impossible. I hated it. I wanted to quit. You can't stop labor and I wasn't going to have a c-section. I asked for drugs. The midwife didn't think I was serious. I really wanted something to take the edge off. I got out of the tub and was freezing to the point of shivering. The lab was supposed to come up and take my blood and they told me I had to wait until after they came. They checked me again and I was only 5 centimeters and it had been hours or it seemed that way. Finally the lab came and took my blood. Usually I am a total wimp about needles and nudity but I didn't really care at that point. They gave me some nubane (?spelling) and I kept asking after when it was going to kick in. Angela, the midwife, told me it was only supposed to take the edge off. I felt like the edge it was taking off was very miniscule. It did help me dialate. I went to 9 centimeters in a flash. I got in the tub and started pushing. I had been pushing for a while when Angela told me that there was too much miconium in my fluid to safely deliver in the tub. I got out and started pushing in the bed. Dave was beside me and my mom was behind the curtain in the same room. I pushed for over an hour but it seemed like nothing. His little hand was up by his head when he came out, so I tore a little bit. He was born at 4:36 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Precious baby boy with no name. They handed him to me and it was all surreal and a blur. I really couldn't believe I just had a baby and he was in my arms. A doctor was there to check him. He weighed 6 pounds and 13 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. So precious. The next hurdle before I got to enjoy my little boy was that the placenta was not coming out. It had been an hour (which seemed like 5 minutes to me). They hooked me up to morphine and told me that might have to operate to get it out. They paged the OB Doctor on call. Two hours after birth I finally pushed the placenta out with the OB Dr.. It hurt. During all of this we decided to name our precious boy Henry. They stitched and cleaned me up and we were in our room before 8 a.m.. To be continued....