On Friday morning Jan 20, I got out of bed at 8:30 am and
felt a tiny trickle of fluid. Baby had been putting pressure down low so I
thought that maybe I peed my self a little. I walked into my kitchen with my
underwear in my hands to tell Jason about it when more fluid trickled out. I
still wasn’t convinced so I lay down for 30 min with a pad on to see if anymore
came out – nothing. I called my midwife’s office and let them know and they
said to just monitor it throughout the day as I had an BPP (biophysical
profile) at 3pm that day with my OB. I had another small trickle but nothing
that made me really believe it was my water. At my OB’s office, she called the
lab for a special test to be certain, as I am GBS+ so I waited for that to
arrive until about 4pm. She did the test and then sent it off and proceeded to
do the BPP. I had plenty of amniotic fluid at that point. Just as she finished
up she got the call from the lab saying it was in fact amniotic fluid – she
looked at me and said you are having a baby! - head to the hospital to get
started on antibiotics. She also said that she wanted me to take cytotec so
help soften my cervix. She didn’t want to check me until I had a dose of
antibiotics on board but she did visualize my cervix when she swabbed it and
said that it was MAYBE 2cm. I asked if I could go home and get my bag and she
said no. So I called Jason and he didn’t answer (he was at the hospital working
so I knew I could find someone to find him). I called my Hypnobabies doula and
by about 5pm I was in a room with Jason and my doula.
At this point, I felt VERY anxious. My water had been broken
for 8 hrs but I wasn’t having any contractions or even any cramping. The nurses
hadn’t started the antibiotics and I was very hesitant to take the cytotec. My
midwife was out of town but I knew she was with some friends of mine so I
called them and asked her to call me. She reassured me that she would also
recommend that I take the cytotec. (Just a little back story – I switched to my
midwife because I wanted a water birth and my OB said I couldn’t have one but
the midwife said I could. I absolutely LOVE my OB and was so thankful she was
the one that was on call for my midwife). Feeling so unsettled without bags, I
sent Jason home to get the bags and pick me up a cheeseburger and fries. At
about 7:30 Dr. B (OB) comes into the room and I tell her I have yet to have
antiobotics… she flips out and gets it going ASAP. I also get my first dose of
cytotec. My doula heads home and tells us which hypnobabies tracks to listen to
and to call her once things get going. Most importantly she says – get some
sleep!
I toss and turn until 11:30ish (Jason actually sleeps) and they give me
my next dose of antiobotics and cytotec. Still NOTHING is happening so I take a
benadryl that Dr. B ordered in hopes of sleeping. About 15 min later I am
roused with my first contraction. I try and sleep though them and use my
hypnobabies techniques until around 2am when I wake Jason and let him know I
need to get into the tub. I labor in the tub for about an hour and Jason times
my contractions – they were about 2-3 min apart. At 3am I tell Jason to call my
doula and I get out of the tub (I was SO HOT). Miranda (my doula) shows up at
3:20 am and as she is walking in I am saying I CAN’T do this! I had my “bloody
show” while peeing and then Miranda gets us focused and set up on the birth
ball fully supported with a mountain of pillows. Over the next 2 hrs my water
proceeds to gush several times followed by one big gush while Jason was
pressing on my back.
I don’t think that I had back labor but I wanted counter
pressure on my back during each contraction. At 5:30 I look at Miranda and say –
I think I need to push. She says – ok, push. I was like – what? Shouldn’t I be
checked or the doctor be here or something? Shortly after the nurse came in and
asked if I wanted to be checked. I said no because I was afraid of feeling the
way I was and not being very dilated. At about 6:15am I asked to be checked and
the nurse said you are complete and ready to have a baby!
Dr. B shows up maybe 10 minutes later and we got the foot of the bed dropped so I was in a squatting position with the bar on the bed. The sun was rising so we opened the blinds and we were having a snowstorm! It looked like we were in a snow globe. So amazing. My contractions spread out a bit and I was able to rest in between. We did mother directed pushing so I pushed when I felt like it and as long as I felt like. Dr. B was there the whole time and was such a wonderful support – telling me that I was doing this perfect. She was the perfect person to witness my baby's birth. I was able to reach down and feel her head just inside - then I was at a point where my body said it was time for the baby to come out and I pushed and out came her head and Dr. B unwrapped the cord and then the rest of her came out. She was placed on my chest immediately and got checked out. Shortly after she started nursing and continued to do so for about 1.5 hrs. My placenta was birthed about 15 min after Hazel was born. I tore so Dr. B stitched me up and gave my vagina a spa experience with warm water. After about 2.5 hrs they took her to weigh and measure her and she weighed 6lbs 13oz and was 20.5 inches long and was officially born at 7:59 am as millions of women marched for women’s rights. Such a perfect day to bring my fierce little one into this world.
Jason, in all his excitement accidentally called vernix (the white stuff) meconium (poop). Ha!
