[Imachickadee75]

Part Two:

When we got into our room, I was a little put off by our nurse. She was new to Labor and Delivery and had never attended a non-med birth. However, looking back, she pretty much stayed out of the room all night and left me alone which was great. I quickly found that the contractions were very uncomfortable if I was laying down but definitely manageable if I stood up. It was quickly established that I would lean my head on DH’s chest as he squatted down a little to rub my lower back and we would kind of sway back and forth through the contractions. It is hard to describe the sensation –for me it was one more of intense pressure than pain. While I had had period like cramps before it was nothing like that. The sensation would wrap around my hips and made my pelvis ache. I would breathe in and out first to a count of four and then as things got harder a count of three throughout. DH would remind me to relax and sometimes helped me count. It really helped a lot to not tense up in anticipation or during the contraction. After every contraction I would ask myself, “am I okay, do I need meds?” And every time the answer was no. This went on throughout the night. My doc ordered that I was to be put on the fetal monitor for 10 minutes each hour and at first the nurse kept putting me in bed. That was torture. Finally I got smart and got her to let me just stand by the monitor while hooked up. That worked well for everybody. We got into a rhythm where I would labor for an hour, get monitored, have a cervical check and go pee. I dilated about a centimeter an hour and did really well. At one point during the night, DH left to get some coffee and my Mom went back to the house to check on the dogs so I was alone and still did okay.
About 5am or so, transition hit and this was the hardest part for me. I remember asking my Mom if things were going to get worse because I wasn’t sure I could handle it. Meanwhile the baby was laying off to one side, not straight up and down and they made me lay down in bed on my side. It was NOT COOL. Thankfully, shortly after that, everything stopped and I got about 20 minutes of sleep. My doc stopped in and told me I could push at anytime. He had no sooner stepped out that my whole body lifted off the bed, pushing on its own. It was game on.
They had me lay on my back and raised the back of the bed. My doctor is at least 6’9” and chooses not to break down the bottom of the bed. We got to laughing because the part that is supposed to come off is only rated for 70lbs and he’s A LOT more than that. He told me that if it broke to just keep pushing. They had my mom and DH hold my upper thighs up towards my chest while I pushed. I hated this part. I hated feeling pinned down like that. This is also where pooping comes in. That’s how good pushing was described to me –like having a bowel movement. I’m pretty sure I did poop some but they just kind of wiped me off with the disposable pad I was laying on and moved on like nothing happened. At that point I was pretty busy so while it sticks out in my mind it doesn’t really bother me.
Pushing was not at all painful. However, it turned out that my water had not broken. The amniotic sac soon started to bulge out like a water balloon. There were lots of jokes like “Look out, she’s going to BLOW!” DH said it was awesome though because he could look inside the sac and see DH’s hair swirling in the fluid. Finally, it broke up high inside me with only a small trickle instead of the bursting we were all expecting. My doc tore off a piece and was examining it in the light. He commented, “This is the bag of steel!” We all got a laugh about “hefty, hefty, hefty-garbage bags”. Anyway, I wasn’t very effective pushing and DS got caught up between my tailbone and pubic bone. We finally got that resolved and I don’t really remember feeling the “ring of fire” a lot of women describe as your skin stretches around the head. Once he crowned my doc asked if I wanted to feel the head and for some reason I said no. I guess I just wanted to get him out. Thankfully, my doc grabbed my hand and pulled it down to feel. He was all wet and wrinkly is what I remember.
Jason was born at 7:34am at 7lbs 4oz and put on my belly head down the same way he’d been inside for the last six weeks or so. I giggled because I finally saw the razor edge that was the side of his foot that had been poking out so much. We were so astonished to find that he had RED hair (three generations back) that we forgot to ask if he was a boy or girl for a minute or two. The doc had me hold the umbilical cord (it felt like those metal electrical cords that flex) until it stopped pulsing. I remember saying “Hi baby” since that is what we’d been calling him right along (we didn’t know the sex).
This is where all heck turns loose. After the cord was cut, DS starting “retracting”. This means instead of dropping his diaphragm down to draw air into his lungs he was drawing his abdomen in –basically trying to breathe backwards. They gave him some oxygen and the Neonatal staff had to come down. He wound up under oxygen and I didn’t get him back until 1030am. Meanwhile, probably partially because he didn’t get to nurse right away which causes hormones to release that make your uterus clamp down and stop bleeding, I wouldn’t stop bleeding. I had two tiny little tears up high in my labia (the lips of your crotch so to speak) that just wouldn’t stop bleeding nor would my uterus. I wound up getting at least one drug to stop the uterine bleeding and maybe pitocin too I don’t remember. Meanwhile, my OB had his hands in my crotch putting pressure on the little tears. He held them for over 20 min because I remember him saying he was going to give them another 10. Then he had to stitch them. I don’t know if he forgot that I hadn’t had any meds or if he thought the local would be more painful than the stitches but he didn’t give me anything. That was worse than anything else I’d been through –and one of the stitches BROKE and he had to do it again! Yikes. I’ll never forget that image of the needle and thread. I was ouching and moaning when I noticed he looked very upset. I reached up, put my hand on his arm and told him I was really okay. He looked down at me and said fiercely, “It’s just not right! It’s just not fair! Here you are, you’ve done everything right and look! Your baby’s under oxygen and I’m sewing you up! It’s just not FAIR!” He was so cute. I wasn’t upset at all. I was on a super high anyway and while a little worried about DS I had been very much reassured he was going to be okay.
I was taken to my own room after an hour or so, and checked out by my recovery nurse. She helped me pee (ouch!) and checked me for hemorrhoids –none thank goodness! Then she told me to sleep until DS could come to me. He finally was able to come from 1030 until 11, then taken back to the warmer until 2 or so when I got him back for good.
If anything, I’d say the aftermath was harder to deal with than the labor and delivery itself. I remember being surprised at the discomfort of the contractions that pushed out the placenta because I wasn’t breathing and relaxing for them. Then, when the baby would nurse, I’d have uterine cramping –again to clamp down on the blood vessels. Not to mention the “road rash” so to speak of the stretched and bruised skin and the stitches in my crotch. I guess I was fully prepared for the labor but not the pain following. I remember before I went home they came and took out my IV and it burned. Then not 10 min later someone else came in to draw blood. I had this great image of chasing the poor woman out of the room with her own needle. My tolerance for things hurting me was pretty low by then! Breast engorgement a few days later wasn’t all that great either, nor were the night sweats. But all were manageable, compared to my fears about labor.
This time around, I hope everything goes the same for labor, only I’ve told the doc I want to push in a different position and if possible catch the baby myself. He was very supportive and told me I could hang from the ceiling fan if that was what I wanted. I think he’s just excited to have someone interested in a non med birth.
I'm not saying nonmed is for everyone, but I think its important to put positive stories out there to combat all the scary ones. It IS more than possible if it is something you want to do.

Jackie