Saturday, November 21, 2009

Birth Story, Part 2

continued from part 1

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Once we got to the hospital they check the fluid that was leaking and it is amniotic fluid. Which meant they were going to induce me. I wasn't thrilled with this idea yet I longed to the sweet baby growing inside me. So, I made myself be okay with it. What else could I do? I just had to deal with the fact that I was going to be induced.

To induce me they were going to start by giving me a pill that ripens the cervix (can't remember the name of it) Normally they insert a gel right into the cervix but because my membranes had a tear using the gel would increase the risk of infection for me. They started of by giving me 50mg (half of a pill) and told me they'd wait 4 hours and see where things were. If not much was happening then they'd give me 100mg (a whole pill!) wait another 4 hours and repeat this wait 4 hours take a pill up to 3 or 4 times depending on what my body was doing.

I wanted to cry. I didn't want to take 4 of these pills waiting 4 hours in between each pill. I thought I'd go crazy. I wasn't ready for this. I didn't have my hospital bag. I hadn't had a chance to tell Jericho what was going on. I thought they'd be sending me home after checking me tell me I was crazy and that I wasn't leaking. This wasn't how I pictured things going. I wasn't prepared at all. I needed some peace and so I prayed.

Lord, I trust you whatever happens. This isn't how I wanted things to go but you knew I was going to have to be induced. You knew how everything was going to happen. Give me peace Father. Be with Jericho, prepare her little heart to be a big sister and give her peace too. May she enjoy her time with the people caring for her. Give Seth and I strength for the night (and possibly morning, but I really hope not) ahead. Keep your hand of protection on myself and this baby as we enter into this wonderful adventure of childbirth. May everything go smoothly. Give wisdom to any doctor and nurse that enters this room. Thank you for your hand of protection Father. Thank you for your peace. Oh and I do ask that this labor goes quickly and that I don't have to take anymore of those pills. Amen!

The more I prayed the more I felt his presence. For the first time that day a peace rushed over me. Peace that only God can give. I knew everything was going to be fine. I didn't know what was going to happen or how long things were going to take but I knew God was in control and I could trust him. With a renewed spirit I settled in and prepared for what was ahead.

After giving me the first pill they told me I needed to be on the monitor for at least the first 2 hours to make sure the baby was doing good and to see if I was having any contractions and how hard my contractions were. After 4 hours I was having some contractions but they weren't hard at all they felt like braxton hicks and they weren't regular. It was now 8pm and they were getting ready to give me another pill when I
beggedasked if I could go for a walk (I was going stir crazy after being hooked up to monitors for 4 hours straight!) They gave me 10 minutes. I was hoping for a little long but at that point I was happy with anything.

Just as I got outside my room to start my 10 min walk I had a contraction that was hard enough that I gave Seth a look that said, "huh that was interesting, maybe these are starting to do something" I shrugged it off and neither one of us said anything about it as we started our walk. I was in the middle of telling Seth that I was a little bummed because I was really hoping I wouldn't have to take another pill when another contraction came. Then another. Then Seth started timing them. Every 2 minutes. Wow maybe something really was happening! I could still talk through the contractions by the end of the walk but they were much more than braxton hicks. Maybe this baby would come before morning!

We got back to the room and told the nurse. She told the doctor and they decided to hold of on the 2nd pill. They wanted to hook me back up to the monitor but only for 10 minutes this time. If my contraction stayed every 2 min and continued to get harder they'd let me continue walking. True to their word 10 min later, after seeing they were 2 min apart and getting harder, they let me continue walking. For an hour and a half or so Seth and I walked and talked. It wasn't long before I'd need to breath through contractions as we walked and once the contraction was over our conversation would pick up right where it was before the contraction. Soon after that I'd have to stop walking as I had a contraction. Before I knew it our conversation had ceased and we were both concentrating on the task at hand.

Around 9:30pm we headed back to the room where I tried to get comfortable with each contraction. At 10pm the doctor came in and decided to check me (they hadn't done this yet because of the tear in the sac but they felt labor was progressing and wanted to see how well I was doing. I was 5-6cm dilated. Even though I had a tear in my membranes my water had not completely ruptures so the doctor did that which made my contractions come even harder. He left saying he'd come check on me in a few hours. I almost told him that I'd see him sooner than that knowing how fast things went the previous 2 times after my water broke but I didn't (I'm not the joking type when I'm in labor.) Because they broke my water I had to be hooked up to the monitor for 20 min. This is like torture for me I hate laying in bed hooked up to things, especially when I'm in labor.

Praise the Lord it didn't last long. At the end of my 20 min of being on the monitor, around 10:35pm the doctor that check to see if I had a tear when I first came to the hospital (not the doctor from my dr. office) stopped by to see how I was doing. She was asking me question between contraction and checking things. While she was in the room I got the urge to push.

Now lets take a break from the story for a minute and talk about this urge to push. I know most women get epidurals now a days or use some sort of pain medication and that's cool. I'm told when you use pain medication the doctor usually tells you when your ready push. I have heard of some women who do indeed feel a little pressure when using pain medication but if they are told not to push then they don't push, no big deal. I've also talk to another group of women who choose not to use pain medication that have told me they feel every contraction but NEVER get the urge to push during labor. I am in neither one of categories. I know there has to be others in the same category as me, I just haven't met many of them. I choose not to use pain medication but I DEFINITELY get the urge to PUSH! For me, I go from hard contraction, hard contraction, to I HAVE TO PUSH NOW in a matter of seconds. When my body is ready to push there is NO stopping it. I've tried to stop I really have, with every baby I tried not to push it just doesn't work for me. I am now 3 for 3 of having needing to push during labor and doctors not being ready. I thought since I had to be induced it might be different this time but it wasn't.....back to the story

So I have the urge to push and nothing is ready. It's about 10:40pm and they are whipping out equipment from who knows where trying to get ready. My sweet little Chinese nurse had no clue what was going on. The dr that came to check on me was telling her to go get my doctor but she didn't understand that she meant NOW! All while that same doctor is telling me NOT to PUSH and I'm looking at her, shaking my head saying, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" because I can't stop pushing, my body simply would not let me. At some point she looked at me defeated and said "Go ahead push." By then I think she figured it was no use telling me not to push even though she really didn't want me to push yet. I'm pretty sure the doctor from my practice did make it in time to deliver Haven but barely. It was pretty crazy but after only minutes (or less) of pushing at 10:42pm we welcomed our precious Haven Hope into this world and that is all that mattered. She was here safe and sound in my arms.

God is so good! He gave us peace through the whole thing. I only had to take 1/2 of one pill. Once labor started everything went very quick and fairly smooth. God answered our prayers and kept everyone safe, we are so thankful!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome birth story! Soooo very glad to hear it!

And how wonderful that your prayers around Haven's conception came just the way you asked the LORD, and her birth went just as you asked as well. God is so good!

Happy 2 weeks old Haven!

Krysten said...

i've been "stalking" your blog via andrea and Susie and just had to comment! so glad you had a good birth experience even with being induced. my first was induced due to leaking fluids and it was HORRIBLE! this last time I prayed to God that I wouldn't go into the hospital until i was like 5 or 6 cm. due to baby not passing some tests they made me come in to break my water after i was 5 cm at an office visit! God is good! (Just over an our of labor and 5 mins of pushing, Thank you God!) It's crazy that he even takes care of the things like this that seem trivial but mean so much and I love that it means we can have natural births and our babies are so much better for it! Your babies are precious! God Bless!
Krysten