Carter's Birth Day

My pregnancy was certainly a long journey and one filled with anxiety.  It was a journey in patience and hope. And despite the worries and stresses that arose over 9 months, the journey ended perfectly with the arrival of a healthy little boy.  This is the story of Carter's birth day accompanied by a  slideshow of photographs which beautifully captured his arrival.

 

Carter's Birth Day Slideshow

While I thought I would certainly have Carter early or on time, he had other plans.  After weeks of prelabor contractions and so many signs of possibly going into labor, he decided to take his time.  At 10 days overdue I scheduled an induction and because I was only dilated 1.5 cm at my 41 week appointment, they scheduled me for a foley blub catheter induction on Thursday night, the night before our induction.  I was able to have it inserted at my drs office and come home with it and wait for it to dilate me to a 3. I was anxious to see how well it would work and thrilled it was a natural alternative.  

It was inserted at 3pm and while a bit uncomfortable, not painful at all.  They did a non-stress test after it was inserted and by the time I left the office I was having light contractions.  I knew it could cause contractions since it was manually helping to dilate me to a 3, but told it rarely puts people into full blown labor.  I hoped that because I was already having light contractions off and on for weeks, this would be the help I needed to push me into real labor.

By 9pm the bulb had fallen out. So after 6 hours of having it in, I assumed I was dilated to a 3.  We went to bed around 11pm to try to get some sleep before the 5am induction.  I was having contractions, but was able to get some sleep.  I had a few more painful contractions early in the morning, but we got up around 4am anyways to head to the hospital.  

We loaded the car up with our bag, Carter’s bag, birth ball and pillows and made the drive to the hospital.  I wasn’t nervous, just ready to meet him and excited that I was finally having painful contractions on my own.  We got to the hospital and annoyingly had to wait in the empty waiting room to check in and be escorted to our delivery room.  We got settled in around 5:45am and the nurse came in to start my IV and check vitals.  I was still having contractions and they were getting strong enough to have to stop my conversation during each one.  The dr on call came in around 6:45am, right before the shift change to check me and see where I was.  To my surprise I was already at 6.5 cm and my cervix was about 85% effaced.  He was still high up at a -2 and would continue to stay high the entire labor.   

My contractions continued to get more painful and stayed about 2-3 minutes apart.  I surprisingly didn’t have as much back labor this time and it was strange to feel all of the contractions low in my uterus. I still had a lot of pain and pressure in my hips and Scott did a great job pushing down on my hips during each contraction.  It was also much nicer to not have to be hooked up to the IVs as I did with Natalie. They did intermittent monitoring every 30 minutes to check on Carter.  So I had to be in the bed for them to get a read of his heartbeat. It seemed far more manageable then my labor with Natalie.  I think having a natural labor vs. a pitocin induced labor also made it much more natural feeling.  Less synthetic.

At about 9am, Lisa came in and we discussed what the plan of action was going to be.  She saw that I was contracting on my own and said that we wouldn’t need to start any pitocin.  We discussed possibly breaking my water to move things along but she decided to check me first and saw I was already at 8 cm.  At this rate she said we wouldn’t have to do anything and that we should just let labor progress on its own.  I was so excited to be making progress on my own and was hopeful I wouldn’t be in labor all day and night.

Scott and I walked the halls many times at a slow pace stopping with each contraction.  We had down a good rhythm of rocking and Scott pushing on my hips.  I walked each lap practically with my eyes close to save energy and just remain focused on getting through the pain of each contraction.  Scott was a great support again throughout this labor and was constantly encouraging me to try different positions and would be sure to help me relax after every contraction.  The hours passed and the contractions remained steady.  I spent some time on the birth ball with Scott behind me rubbing my back and pushing on my hips, but I actually spent the majority of the labor on my side in the bed.  It helped to have the leverage of the sides of the bed to grab on to during every contraction.  I’m surprised I didn’t rip off the side bars as I pulled down on them during each contraction.  I certainly used every muscle in my upper body as I was sore the entire next day from my back, neck to even my jaw.  

At around 11am, my water broke.  Another thing I never really experienced with Natalie as I must have had a small leak early in my labor because I never had the large gush of water.  I continued to leak a lot of fluid throughout the labor.  From 11am to noon my contractions were starting to slow down.  It was nice to get the break in between contractions but I knew this wasn’t going to help progress my labor.  Lisa came in to check me and I was still at an 8 and he was still at a -2.  It was frustrating to hear I hadn't progressed in a few hours and she suggested starting a little bit of pitocin to get things moving.  I agreed that I would rather move things along then potentially be stuck at an 8 for hours longer.  At 1pm they started pitocin and it would be increased every 30 minutes.  

After it was started the contractions picked back up and then got insanely more painful.  I must have had a second bag of waters break, because I had another huge gush of fluid.  The contractions were now each lasting 1.5 minutes and coming every 2 minutes.  They didn’t have a natural peak, but rather an over arching line that made the pain last much longer through each contraction.  Again the difficulty of more synthetic contractions vs. natural ones became very apparent.  I had the urge to push around 1:30, but found out I was only at a 9 and he was still at a -2. I was getting so close, but the contractions were so much more painful then with Natalie that I really wasn’t sure if I would make it to the end.  I felt like this had to be transition with the urge to push and the insanely intense contractions, but he was still so high and I was only at a 9 that I was confused at where I was in my labor. I think a bit of fear was setting in at this point because I felt like I could barely breath and make it through each contraction.  I just didn’t know how to focus through these long contractions.  Like with Natalie, the moaning/humming was getting me through each contraction, but at 1.5 minutes long I could barely get through with enough breath.  His heart rate was also dipping a little during each contraction, so they were reminding me to breathe during each contraction to help him get enough oxygen. Trying to take deep breathes, relax and cope through a 1.5 minute long contraction is not an easy feat. I was pushing at the end of each contraction because it was such a relief and I was working so hard to try to push him down a bit to at least get him to a 0 station.   

At a little after 2pm, Lisa came in and saw that I was grunting through the end of the contractions and appeared to want to start pushing.  At about 2:15 she checked me and told me I only had a small lip of cervix left and that I could probably push past it.  She held my leg up as I was on my side and told me to push and see what type of progress I could make.  So the pushing began and it was so much more intense and painful than with Natalie.  

When I got to a 10 with Natalie, I all of a sudden was ready to push and the contractions were not painful, but just overwhelming intense to help push the baby out.  I felt like I was just along for the ride, as the contractions were doing most of the work.  With Carter, the contractions were still very painful and while the pushing felt better, it was a mix of pain and pressure.  With Natalie, I felt like I was more in control of my body and would push when I wanted to and made good but slower progress to gently push my baby out.  With Carter, I felt less in control and certainly was much more vocal about the pain and discomfort. I’m sure I scared the poor women in near by rooms and pretty much solidified in their minds why having a natural birth is crazy.

While there was so much more pain in the pushing process, I also was much more focused despite my inability to quietly work through the contractions and managed to push him out in about 15 minutes as he was born at 2:31pm.  It was so intense I spent the last few pushes, pushing beyond each contraction just to get him out. It was at that time I found out he was well over 10 lbs, which probably had something to do with the extra pain and intensity of the final pushing stage. I'm happy I delivered him naturally as I think I easily could have ended up with a vacuum assisted delivery due to his size and how high up he was at the end. 

Like with Natalie, Lisa told me to reach down and pull up my baby and it was that magical moment that made all of the pain of labor and pushing completely disappear.  He was beautiful and perfectly amazing.  I was amazed that he had been residing within my body for all these months and was really finally here.  My healthy and perfect little boy.  His body laid against mine and was warm and soft and I could finally touch his little face, fingers and toes.  He let out a cry and just stayed on my chest while Scott and I stared in amazement at his little body.  He stayed skin to skin for awhile and was then taken to be weighed and measured.  

He weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz and was 22 inches.  I delivered the healthy looking placenta despite being 1.5 weeks overdue and surprisingly only needed a single stitch. We spent the next hour calling family and staring at our little boy.  

It was certainly a long journey and the pregnancy was not without anxiety and stress.  I had so many doubts and worries throughout the pregnancy that I feared I would never get that happy ending.  The one where my healthy little boy emerges and is placed on my chest.  Safe in his mothers arms to be loved and cherished forever.  A day filled with happiness and tears of joy in the arrival of a healthy baby. This dream was dreamt every day getting me through the anxiety felt over 9 months and to my amazement it finally came true.  A little boy was born, more perfect then I could have ever imagined. He was mine and here to be loved.  I got my happy ending and that was all that matters.

I hope you enjoy the beautiful photos captured by Michele of Pinkle Toes:   

Carter's Birth Day Slideshow