Fair warning, this is super long story of a natural labor. It was helpful to me to read other people's labor stories before going through it, especially positive ones. I hope this can help someone else or just bring insight to what a natural birth was like for one woman. I also wanted to record it for my own memory.
The week after my baby shower I started to feel really yucky. I was getting a strange taste in my mouth after everything I ate, peeing every 20 minutes during the day and every hour at night, felt like I had done the splits, and very tired. I could tell a huge change from week 36 to week 38. Everyone kept reassuring me that the end of pregnancy is just like that. I wondererd if there was more to it though and really felt like my hormones were changing.
On Thursday of this week Justin and I headed to the doctor. The previous week (37 weeks gestation) I was dialated to a 1 1/2 and 50% effaced. I was really hoping to be at a 3 this week. My sisters all dialated quite a lot and quite early. I told the nurse that we would be going for a long hike that weekend to help get things going.
The doctor checked me and I was at a 2 and 75% effaced. Progress, but nothing to say that I wasn't going to be pregnant for another two weeks. I was happy with the progress, but was not as excited about feeling yucky for the next two weeks. We went to Burgerville afterwards to celebrate and I didn't want to cook. This is an Oregon only fast food hamburger place. It is really yummy and higher quality fast food than any where else I have eaten.
The next day was Friday March 8. It had been a nice end to the week because Justin had been in town for the last couple of days and had been home each night by 5 p.m. We ate dinner, watched something (I can't remember what it was), and made plans to go to the beach the next day (Saturday) because we had nothing else to do. Both being pretty tired, we retired to bed about 9.
At 10:40 I woke up and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, which was certainly not abnormal for me at this point. As I headed down the hall I realized my pants felt a little wet. "How embarrasing I thought, I now can't even make it to the bathroom on time."
I then realized that perhaps my water had broke. I didn't get to excited, until I went to the bathroom and it was clear I had not wet myself. Back to the bedroom I walked, pretty excited. I checked the sheets and my body pillow and saw those were both wet as well. My adrenaline began pumping. I woke Justin up and told him that I thought my water had just broke. He took a couple of pokes to really wake up.
Later he told me he thought I was referring to something in the bathroom that had broken and wanted to say, "We will fix it in the morning." He came to and discoverd this couldn't be fixed in the morning. He got up and was pretty excited too. We both asked each other what we should do. He went and found our birth book from our class and followed the advice to call the hospital if your water breaks. They told us we could come in then or wait a while, whichever we felt like we wanted to do.
I opted to stay at home for a while. I wasn't yet having contractions and knew that to have fewer interventions during the birth process it was best to labor as long as you could at home. We packed our bags and ate some food. Many people had told me how one of the things about labor was how hungry they had been because you aren't allowed to eat during it. I quickly remembered this and wasn't going to go into this without any food, knowing we had a long night ahead of us.
Contractions started happening at about 11:30 p.m. They were quite consistent and at about 12:30 we were at the 1 every 5 minutes. Justin wanted to head to the hospital. I knew I could do more at home and we stayed put for another 45 minutes. Justin watched television while I tried to rest between contractions. We decided to head to the hospital at 1:15 a.m. on March 9.
We got into the Birthing Center, which is locked at night and you have to ask permission to enter over an intercom. The nurses took me right to a room and had me change, get hooked up to a fetal monitor and they checked me. I was at a 3 1/2 and 90% effaced. The contractions were steady, strong and consistent. This was hard for me because I had to lay in the bed while the monitor was on and I could not get comfortable. After about 30 minutes, and a bad contraction I demanded I get out of the bed. The nurse let me get off of the monitors and move around.
When the nurse was hooking me up to the monitors she asked me what my birthing plan was. I told her the following:
- Wanted to do it naturally
- Knew it was going to be hard
- Would probably be begging for the epidural at the end, but don't let me get it.
- Transition and Delivery usually go fast and you just need encouragement to make it through, so please help me through this part
She said ok and the night continued.
She brought me a birthing ball to work with while she filled up the jetted tub. The first ball felt too short for me and I asked if they had a larger one. The only one bigger looked liked this.
Yep, it looks rediculous, but it was taller and worked better for my long legs. I straddled it and was able to rock on it during contractions. After about 10 minutes I was able to get in the tub and spent the next hour and a half in there. I could definitely feel the contractions but they were bearable. I just kept focused during them with a rhytm and breathing pattern. Justin helped keep me on track with my breathing, stay hydrated and timed them.
I didn't really want to get out of the tub, but knowing that different positions help you progress faster, we decided I should probably try something else. My nurse, Anne Marie was awesome and helped me get out of the tub and back to the birthing ball. While I spent somet ime here again she put in my IV line. As she finished up with that, the contractions took a noticeable turn up in intensity. I began to feel a bit nauseous and like I wanted to cry.
Back to the tub I went hoping the water would help me once again. I was having back labor prior to this point, but like I had said before, it was totally manageable. After a few more contractions in the tub, this back labor was getting pretty tough to endure. This is the point I started thinking, there is no way I can keep doing this. I asked for the epidural. Anne Marie said she was going to need to check me to see if this was a posibility.
I got out of the tub and headed to the wall. I had used the wall at home to brace myself against and sway back and forth. The rythm of the sway and pushing against the wall had helped me. My instincts told me to try it again. Also, there was no way I was getting back in that bed with how badly it hurt before to lay there with my back labor. Anne Marie check me and I was at a 7. She said I didn't have time for the epidural because I still had to get a whole bag of IV fluid in and that would take at least half an hour. I likely would be fully dialated by then.
The contractions were incredibly intense and long and I didn't know what to do. We decided to go ahead with the bag of fluid because atleast that would help hydrate me. The hardest part at this point was I couldn't find a rhytm again and the contractions felt like they were over powering me. I let out a panick call of "Please help me."
Anne Marie got Justin to start pressing on my back and this helped me regain focus. At this point I began moaning like a crazy woman during contractions. It helped me to feel like I was releasing some of the pressure in my body. I started feeling like I needed to push and I was checked again, I was almost to a 9. I began working on my pushing.
Anne Marie kept trying to coax me back to the bed, knowing that I was going to have to be there to deliverr. I kept refusing. I knew they wanted me there so I asked them to put the squatting bar on the end, because that was the only way I could stand it. I was not laying in that bed, No way! I was still begging for an epidural and not moving towards the bed. Anne Marie said maybe they could give me some systemic meds through my IV to take the edge off. However, she was going to need me back at the bed so she could check me. Tricky tricky nurse. I would do anything that could help relieve some of the pain.
They had put the squat bar up and I got back on the bed. I was still at a 9 and Anne Marie had gone to ask the Meds nurse if she could give me anything. It was too late. The meds would have affected the babies heart rate. She checked me again and I was fully dialated. I was already pushing. Justin was still pushing on my back. Anne Marie began counting to 10 three times during each contraction. I was supposed to push for those counts of 10. This counting gave me something to focus on instead of just what I was feeling and really was my light of hope during this time. The next shift nurse came in and Anne Marie stopped counting to brief this nurse on what was going on. Bad moment for me, because her counting had been my focus. Justin quickly saw this and was able to take over the counting, pulling me back to a focal point.
We were around 6 a.m. at this point. The nurses really wanted me to lie back in the bed. I still was refusing because of the back labor. Finally I agreed to lay on my side because Justin could keep pushing on my back this way. The doctor came in shortly after this. Contractions were not nearly as intense at this time, but a different feeling of pushing the baby out came. It did hurt like crazy, but was a little more bearable.
The doctor who delivered Natalie was not the same who I had been seeing, but I am glad it was her. She had a strong energy about her and gave me the pep talk and encouragement I needed to get my baby out. There were three nurses helping the last 30 minutes and they were really positive and helpful as well. They held my shaking legs up so I could use my energy to push. Somehow, I still am not sure how, at 6:50 a.m. my beautiful baby girl came out with a final push. It is so strange to go from such severe pain and struggle to nothing at all. The nurses had to tell me to open my eyes to see my baby. She cried out and I cried out in relief and love as they placed her on my chest. After the cord stopped pulsing Justin was able to cut it. We both just sat there for the next hour with Natalie, amazed at what just had happened.
For me, choosing to go natural was the best decision I could have made. It was also the hardest thing I have ever physically and emotionally done. I could not have done it without the great support of my husband and the awesome nurses at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical center. I am so grateful for a healthy baby and a healthy strong body that was able to give birth in the way I had planned and prepared for.
Justin and Ruth Blazzard
