Some day I'm going to get more caught up on my blog. But right now I have 5 kids, and one is an infant, and one is two, and trying to accomplish anything is a bit ridiculous. Bridget just turned 3 months old, so I figured it was probably time to finish this...
The weeks leading up to Bridget’s birth were full of intensity. My blood pressure was high enough that I was mostly staying down the last several weeks, and at my 36 week appt they said the new recommendation was to induce at 37 week. The OB in my midwife practice is great, and he was fine putting it off until 37.5 weeks since we were monitoring it at home as well. I really wanted him to be the OB on call, so if it did get to the point where I needed a repeat c-section, (remember, Shawn was a c-section due to being breech and refusing to turn) he would be the one helping to make the decision and performing it. I just knew if he was on, I wouldn’t stress much about that happening if it needed to. Also, my doula didn’t have childcare once the weekend started, since her husband worked weekends and her little boy was trying to recover from something contagious, so we were hoping to work around her schedule too if we were going to kick start things ourselves.
Of course, the night before my scheduled induction the hospital was super busy, between a full moon and a big storm, and was completely full. I didn’t even get to call at 7 AM Wednesday morning, when I was scheduled. They called me at 6:45 and said it was a no-go. It didn’t end up happening until Friday. Those two days, constantly waiting for a call and hoping it would happen (but not really wanting to start the process at bedtime or midnight or something else crazy), were so hard! I’m such a planner, and not very good at going with the flow, especially when spur-of-the-moment childcare might be required, and when lots of uncertainty and discomfort for me are involved.
David and Nicole were visiting, and it worked out that they needed to get to Pima, but didn’t have a car, and we had a car that fit 8 people (the four of them plus our four kids) and grandmas willing to watch our kids for a few days. Friday mid-morning David came over and loaded up the kids and their bags, and left to go load up his own family. I had called early that morning and they still didn’t have room, but were hoping to get me in soon. They had been saying that for two days though, so I had no idea what to think. Jeremy had one patient he was running into the office for, and then we planned to go to lunch and go see the new Star Trek movie. We were pretty excited about our kid-free afternoon. So, of course, they called me as soon as Jeremy went back with his patient.
As a side note, there were several things that showed us the delayed timing was a bit of a blessing. The main one was that my mom was planning to come down as soon as they said to come in, and she was going to watch the kids. But it was good that it didn’t happen, because Thursday (the day after I was originally scheduled) she found out she had strep. That could have been awful for everyone involved. That’s the last thing we needed to deal with, especially since none of my kids have every officially had strep, and I’ve always worried about some of them maybe being allergic to penicillin, since we have some allergies on both sides of the family. I can’t remember the other thing I thought was probably good timing,. but it was really nice to have to kids taken care of beforehand and not have to scramble to find someone to watch them. (Harder with 4 than with 1 or 2). End side note.
From the start it wasn't the natural birth we always hope for and never quite get, but at least my inductions have all worked, and things have gone mostly well. I really worked on practicing hypnobirthing breathing this time around, and listened to the tracks a lot, and it really did help me, especially since I mostly had to be in bed because of my blood pressure and all the VBAC monitoring. (That part was nothing new though, I’ve always mostly been in bed because of the blood pressure…)
We got to the hospital (Mercy Gilbert, so about 30 minutes from Jeremy’s office) at about 12:30, I think, after a quick stop at Jamba Juice (for me) and Pei Wei (for Jeremy). We needed to fuel up a bit for the work ahead of us. Out of the three hospitals I’ve delivered at, I definitely prefer Mercy Gilbert, and it’s been totally worth the drive. I really like my midwife group (MomDoc midwives – Gilbert, if anyone’s in the market) and trusted any of them to be on the same page as us as far as keeping things as natural as possible with my risk factors (high BP and prior c-section). The midwife on duty at first (Robyn) was nice, and I had seen her a few times, but I didn’t really know her that well. I don’t think she was around very long, before the shift changed though. The next midwife to come on with Patricia, and I had met her exactly once. (Which is exactly what happened with Katy’s birth 6 years ago. I met the midwife that helped deliver her the day before in the office.) Oh, well. :-) Familiarity wasn’t nearly as important to me as trust in the general mindset, and personalities being compatible.
Our first nurse was nice, but didn’t click completely with us, and I really loved the one that ended up working with us through most of the labor. (
here’s where all the birth over-sharing starts, fyi: ) I was about 75% effaced and somewhere between a 1 and 2 dilated, so they did a cook's catheter (inserted into my cervix then inflated with saline) and a low dose of pitocin to try to get me dilated more and see if my body would start kicking in. I didn’t really want Pitocin, but she said they had a higher success rate using the two together, and I really wanted success at that point, and knew I might need a little help. I had never started an induction quite that un-dilated, and was only 37w6d. Getting -that- put in definitely took some careful breathing (which thankfully I remembered when the nurse asked me to try to slow my breathing). That was about 2 pm, and after plenty of contracting (and lots of breathing/relaxing/support from Jeremy, who is amazing,) it finally came out. (Which meant I was more dilated and hopefully ready for active labor. I don’t remember how long that first part took, but I’m thinking about 4 hours. They had stretched me to almost a 3 when they put the catheter in, and when it came out I was a 3.5 and completely effaced.
There was no point waiting around, since with my history, labor hasn’t ever really kicked in until they broke my water (which is all we had to do to induce Katy – she was born drug-free, not even pitocin, 3.5 hours later!), so she broke it at that point, and it was no big deal, when it’s been pretty painful in the past. After getting the catheter in, I’m guessing some of that was perspective. ;-) They had slowly turned the pitocin up to a 5 by now, and I was doing okay breathing through the contractions as they picked up to where they needed to be. But baby girl didn’t like the contractions any more, and her heart rate would decelerate (but recover) every time I contracted. It was enough of a decel that the nurse was coming in about every 20-30 minutes, it seems, helping me to move around a try a different position she might do better with. She wasn’t impressed with any of them. This went on for several hours, and it was very hard work. Jeremy was all alone supporting me, because Savannah, my doula didn’t have childcare and couldn’t get there yet. He was awesome, and I was hanging in there, though nervous about the decels and if they might ultimately lead to a repeat c-section.
At about 7 or 8 o’clock, Savannah was finally able to come, and on her way she picked up dinner that Jeremy called in to Joe’s Farm Grill. He was very grateful, both for the food, and to have a little help in supporting me. It had been a long day already! We decided to check on the progress, (I had been feeling a little shaky, and was hoping transition was coming soon) but found I was barely at a 4.5. This was probably the low point of this labor. I was so disheartened, and there were tears, and I didn’t know if I could keep doing this or if baby would even continue to tolerate it. At that point (when I felt like there was no progress) I almost wished she –wouldn’t- tolerate it and that they would decide on another c-section. At least then I could stop worrying about her, and stop dealing with the pain and discomfort involved in this whole shebang. But I knew that I’d be trading all that for a much harder recovery, and I had worked so hard to set myself up for a VBAC if possible. It was just a very frustrating, emotionally intense time. The contractions were rough, but in between them I was also having a lot of IT band pain from the tensing up I was doing during contractions, even though I was trying hard to relax everything as I breathed. Savannah was very helpful with this part, trying to massage and rub my legs in between.
Baby’s heart rate still wasn’t responding well during contractions, and my midwife said it might be a good idea to do an amnioinfusion, which was putting more fluid (saline) up inside to maybe help cushion the cord a little bit from whatever was probably pushing on it. There didn’t seem to be many downsides to trying it, other than slightly higher risk of infection, of course, so we went for it.
We continued to try some different positions, and baby’s heart rate was doing a little better with the infusion, so we just continued on. It gets pretty blurry in my head after that. I do remember trying the ball next to the bed (maybe just because I have a picture?) and she didn’t like it, but her heart rate stayed decent if I was standing next to the bed, (leaning on Jeremy’s shoulders during contractions) so we did that for a while. The midwife came to check progress, and I remember contracting in the bed at that point was NOT fun. It was about 11 PM and I was at a 7. We continued laboring next to the bed, and transition came on before too long. I was calmer than I had been with Katy (my other unmedicated birth… though my epidurals didn’t really work much with my first two, so…) but it was still super hard, and I wanted to be anywhere but there. I think I succeeded in yelling less this time. Jeremy said I was doing a good job with my pressure point work on his shoulders. :)
During the process, I am always surprised how quickly I can go from a 7 to a baby, though I know it happens often. But after a few contractions of feeling a lot of pressure, I mentioned it to the nurse and she really wanted to check me. I did NOT want to be on the bed, but I knew she was trying to make sure we didn’t have a baby pop out on the floor or something. I think she actually ended up checking me on my side, because there was no way I was laying on my back at that point. I think she said there was just a lip left (maybe?) and told me to please not get back out of bed. I later heard she ran downstairs to the cafeteria where my midwife was trying to grab a quick sandwich, and they both came rushing back.
All my hopes of breathing slowing through the “pushing” phase and avoiding tearing this time (I’m 4 for 5 now, but only because my c-section doesn’t count) went out the window as baby was coming fast and furious all on her own. I may have pushed with a contraction or two, but not for more than a minute or two, if that. When she came out (at 11:47 pm – she almost made it to a 7/23 birthday) they said she was tiny, and I hear someone wonder if she was even 6 lbs. Random memory. :) Within just 10-20 seconds or so she was crying, and they helped me turn over (I had delivered on my hands and knees, like I did with my other two girls) and put her on my stomach. Her cord was a little short, so we waited a few minutes before cutting the cord, and then they moved her up onto my chest. Somewhere after that the placenta was delivered.
Haha – now came the rough part. Anesthesia in general hasn’t ever been super effective for me during the stitching part, whether local or what my epidural was supposed to be doing, and I yelled (and apologized) more during that part than I had during any of the labor or birth! The local anesthesia helped a little bit, and I okayed them giving me some fentanyl through my IV at that point, which also helped dull things a little, but it was rough. After the fact, though, totally worth it. It was only a second degree tear, and this recovery was one of my easier ones. And after having a c-section last time (and a very long recovery for some reason) it was amazing to be able to move myself around for the most part and come home mostly just taking Advil. Within a week I was still sore, but was otherwise feeling pretty good.
Mercy Gilbert is great, and after they got me finished up and everything seemed fine, they left us alone with our baby to bond and nurse for about an hour. I think she nursed for almost 45 minutes straight! After that they came back in to take her stats and do footprints and other fun stuff and we got ready to move to our recovery room.
Our sweet little Bridget Lorraine weighed more than they thought – 7 lbs 3 oz. My second smallest baby, after Jaina, who was 6 lbs 12 oz. She was some normal length. Probably 19.5 inches – I think they’ve said that about all my babies. :) She was healthy, and fine, and we were so glad to finally get her safely here after all the craziness of this pregnancy.
