Life with the Little Monkey...: "This Was the Stupidest Idea I Ever Had": Our Birth Story

On Monday morning, Jeremiah and I arrived to the hospital at 5 AM to prepare for an induction. It turned out that they were very busy! I was given the only available room they had. There were 5 vaginal deliveries and 2 C-sections that morning, so there wasn't a nurse to start an IV on me. Luckily, during this time, I started to realize I was having contractions. It turned out I was contracting every 5-6 minutes all on my own! One of the midwives happened to be there for a delivery, so she came by to see me. She checked me and I was 3 cm dilated. We decided to break my water instead of starting PItocin to see if that would put me into labor.

Jeremiah and I spent the day working through contractions. I would spend 30 minutes on the monitor and then could walk the hallways for 30 minutes. I have to say we walked every inch of the Labor and Delivery halls!! It was slow going. The contractions were bearable, but getting stronger towards the end of the day. Jeremiah did a great job of keeping me entertained while walking. He kept singing songs to Alex like The Beatles "They Say It's Your Birthday!" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Then he started in with tongue twisters....trying to judge how strong my contractions were by how much I could laugh with him!

My progress was slow and at 9 PM I was still only 5 cm. I also had been ruptured for many hours and was having a low grade fever. At this point, we had to decide what to do, so Courtney (our midwife) recommended starting Pitocin and we agreed. The Pitocin made the contractions much, much stronger!! I was also feeling a lot of the pain in my lower back. This is when Jeremiah really went to work...massaging my back, giving me words of encouragement, and remaining strong beside me. Courtney also helped us out by doing something called "sterile water injections". They are four injections placed right under the skin in the lower back. They burn for about 30 seconds, but then slowly the pain in the back eases up. I had never heard of this, but it was pretty amazing and definitely helpful! Here's a website with more information: http://www.birthsource.com/scripts/article.asp?articleid=135

As we continued with the Pitocin, the labor become more and more intense. I was really questioning my decision to have a natural birth. I was begging for anything!! Jeremiah's favorite line of the night was me saying, "I have had some stupid ideas in my life, but this is by far the stupidest idea I ever had!" This was during transition though and everyone says they really doubt themselves during this time.

By 11:30, I was 8 cm dilated and then by 12:15 am I was complete and ready to push. I pushed for about 45 minutes until Alex finally arrived. Courtney put him on my chest while they waited for Jeremiah to cut the cord. Our first view of Alex was absolutely amazing and he even let out several coos for us! It was the most surreal thing ever! I knew we were about to have a baby, but I had no idea the emotions we would both feel seeing him for the first time! Alex was absolutely perfect in every way and stole both of our hearts immediately. Our life will never be the same again!!

I am really proud that I was able to go through with natural childbirth. Some people think it's crazy...why go through the pain if there are drugs available?? It was an experience that I really wanted to have though. My inspiration was the strong women in Sierra Leone who had no choice but to go through childbirth naturally. I am glad that I did it, but I am not completely decided on if I would have an epidural or not next time..... we'll see!

Here are a few photos to go with our birth story:

Waiting for Alex...