The Birth Story

I don't know that I've written or shared any of my birth stories before, somehow I'm compelled to this time.  Maybe because it will probably be the last one...or because it went so vastly different than I expected or hoped it would.  In any case, here it is.

First...some of my preconceived ideas of how it would go...

Luke was born via c-section nine years ago.  And due to the fact that the labor began 5 days prior to 40 weeks when the doctor accidentally broke my water in her office when checking for dilation, I've always automatically discounted that birth as being a normal one for me.  First clue: don't discount anything!  It's all relevant!

Second...for months I've been reading and planning and hoping to have an unmedicated birth this time.  Honestly, as time drew nearer, my resolution waned, and I became more amenable to the idea of an epidural.  Good thing!!

Well, Cade's birth was unmedicated...or rather, I should say that it was epidural-free.  I did have a shot of Nubain at one point, but otherwise, no drugs.  I swore I would NEVER do that again.  And so when Elsa was on the way, an epidural was in the plan from the very start.  And her birth was by far the easiest.  I even commented to Stephen afterwards, "Hmm, I could do that again."

But somehow this time I got it in my head that it would just be better - for me and baby - to go without the epidural, and I wanted to try it again.  See, I've always had LOOOONG pushing stages, but I was hoping that given this was a fourth baby, she might just pop out (like Luke and Leia on the Lego Star Wars video game, you know? POP! POP!).

So....here's the story, start to finish...

I fully expected to go 40 weeks since both Cade and Elsa - my normal births - were 40 weeks plus one or two days.  And it was no surprise when my due date came and went and there was no baby.  

I also fully expected to have a long labor at home before heading to the hospital as that's what happened with Cade and Elsa...12+ hours of labor at home and then another 6-8 hours of harder labor at the hospital.  

I'd been having contractions all week, some harder and some not so hard.  But on Friday evening around the time we finished eating dinner (the day after my "due date"), I announced that I was having what felt like real contractions because I was feeling them in my back as opposed to just having a tight tummy.  We didn't get too excited yet, but I had a feeling that we'd be meeting the baby next day.

When we put the kids to bed at 9pm, we let the boys know that there was a possibility that we might not be there in the morning when they woke up, but one of our trusted neighbors would be with them if we had to leave.  It was lights out for us at 10pm, and I did get some sleep for about 2 hours.

Then Elsa woke up crying at midnight.  She didn't feel well and ended up puking in the bathroom.  After that, she felt fine and went right back to bed.  

So did I, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep because the baby was moving around SO MUCH.  It felt like she never stopped moving during those two hours.  And I could hardly even tell if the contractions were still happening because of her constant movement.  I began to wonder if I were dreaming all of it.

But shortly after 2am, I needed to get up to go to the bathroom - again - and on my way into the bathroom, there was a flood.  I wasn't sure if I had wet my pants or if my water had broken.  I called for Stephen and woke him up.  It wasn't long until the contractions began in earnest (hard and just a few minutes apart), and we decided there was no time to waste.

He called our neighbor across the street to ask her to come over to stay with the kids, but there was no answer (they were out of town for the night).  He decided to try a different neighbor instead, and she came over quickly.

I had a nice, long list of food items to grab at the last minute, including a turkey sandwich in case we had another late night birth and the cafeteria was closed.  We didn't bring any of them in our haste to depart.

Our drive to the hospital is typically about 45 or 50 minutes - during non-rush-hour traffic.  But at 2:40am, we were blessed to hit all the green lights and find that all of the police cars were traveling faster than we were!  We made it in a record 30-ish minutes.  At one point, the contractions were coming so hard and fast (3 mins apart) that I was afraid that we might not make it there before it was TIME.  

Thankfully, we did.  Then, we were slowed down by the check-in process - even though I had already pre-registered with the hospital.  I had thought we would just sail in and be placed in a room, but it took a bit longer than I had hoped.  

Although the intensity of the contractions didn't diminish once we reached our room, it seemed as though things slowed down.  I had been thinking it was close to time to push, but it turned out that I was only 8cm.  I knew things would get more intense as I entered transition, and that was the point when I decided that an epidural would be a really good thing!  Stephen knew that I had waffled on an unmedicated vs. a medicated birth, so he made certain that I was sure of this decision.  I was sure!  

And it's a good thing.  What we hoped would be a quick and uncomplicated birth turned out to be a bit different from our expectations.  Baby Caroline had been posterior (aka "sunny-side-up") for quite a while, and we expected that flipping her over for birth would require longer pushing.  But we didn't guess that she wouldn't flip after an hour and a half of pushing.

The midwife called for the doctor's opinion...and her extra-long fingers for an attempt to flip the baby manually (sorry about TMI!).  The doctor did her thing (and at that point I was REALLY glad for the epidural!), and the baby flipped.  But then she flipped right back over.  

They had me stop pushing and hang out on my hands and knees for an hour in hopes that gravity would turn her over.  No success.  So more pushing - an hour more.  

By then the doctor and midwife had changed shifts, so the new doc came in to give her assessment.  She explained that it was up to us ultimately, and I could continue to push for longer if I wanted to, but the baby had made little to no progress, and she didn't expect her to move down any further.  She recommended a c-section.

We talked about it briefly, and I shed a few tears.  It hadn't occurred to me that another c-section was really a possibility since I had successfully done two VBACs.  I was concerned about needing extra help during recovery, but Stephen reassured me that I would have whatever help I need.  So we decided to go ahead with it, albeit reluctantly.

Stephen, ready for the OR

And it was the right decision.  Up to that point, the doctors thought that this baby was in the low-to-mid 7 pound range.  Turns out she was 9lb. 3oz.  The doctor who delivered her later said that had she realized how big the baby was, she wouldn't have let me push for so long.  

But the big kicker was the full knot in the umbilical cord.  The doctors thought that perhaps due to the knot, Caroline couldn't turn over comfortably.  And when she was turned by the doctor, she immediately turned herself back because it pulled the cord too far.  

It makes me weep with thankfulness when I think about it.  God is so kind to us in sparing her life.  Sure, I wouldn't have chosen a c-section or the longer recovery time.  But mostly I'm just overwhelmed with the joy of a safe birth for Caroline.

Safely born into Dr. Cunningham's arms

Daddy's arms - even better!