So, I went in for my weekly check up with the midwife at 2:45 on Thursday, May 31st. My blood pressure was 140 over 90 when read by the nurse, which is officially in the pregnancy danger zone. The 1st midwife (there will be a total of 4 in this story) re-checked me to be sure, and it was 138 over 90. Although there was no protein in my urine (another sign of pre-eclampsia), she sent me to the hospital for a non-stress test and blood work to be safe. Thankfully, she advised me to eat first since she wasn't sure how long the testing would take. I had no idea in that moment that I would not be heading home that evening and definitely would not be heading to work the next day because a different kind of work was in store for me shortly.
I arrived at the PETU at Pennsylvania Hospital at 4pm. I was immediately hooked up to fetal heart monitors and a blood pressure machine that automatically checked it every 10 minutes. Both my blood and urine tests came back fine, but my blood pressure was still elevated. At 6:30pm, the 2nd midwife gave me two options: 1) go home today and complete a 24-hour urine test and come back in a day or two (probably to be induced) or 2) induce today. After talking it over with Tommy, we decided to reduce the danger to Boo and to get started on this exciting journey that we'd both been waiting so long for. Thankfully, the midwife advised me to eat before everything started, so Tommy ran down to the cafeteria before it closed and brought me a chicken salad and three sugar cookies (pickings were slim).
At 10:30pm, we were moved to a labor and delivery room, and Tommy went home to get a good night's sleep as the induction process was unlikely to produce results until the morning. After he left, Boo's heart rate dropped and the 3rd midwife explained that the chemical induction was now not advisable, so she'd be using a balloon catheter to start the dilation process. (If you want details here, I'd be happy to share but I'm sure not everyone reading shares your interest.) Literally 30 minutes after insertion, at 12:20, I was dilated to 3 centimeters, and it was time to start the pitocin. Poor Tommy got the call to come back as contractions were likely to start soon. Thank goodness he arrived quickly as a lady next door was having some serious problems with her delivery, and her screams could definitely have unsettled me had I been alone. At 5:15 I was able to sleep a bit, and although I was having contractions that were registering on the monitor, I wasn't able to feel them.
At 6:45am, the 3rd midwife confirmed that I had dilated to 4 cm (just 1 cm in the past 5 hours), and to speed up the process, she broke my water. We made it to 5 cm by 10:30, and I handled the weak contractions that started every 3 to 4 minutes by breathing deeply through them. By this point, the midwife had changed again, and ironically, my 1st midwife was on rotation at the hospital, so we worked with her throughout the day. I was actually excited to think that she would catch our baby as I had seen her often throughout the pregnancy, and she had started the whole process the day before.
As for our other birth support, as many of you know, we had arranged to have a doula assist through the active labor process. Unfortunately, it turned out that another client beat us to the punch, and she had to send us her back up. From the moment the new doula entered the room, I knew she would be a perfect labor coach for me. After introducing ourselves and discovering our similar musical tastes, we were laughing together between contractions. She arrived around 12, and I'm so glad she was there when I got the news at 1:15 that despite almost 3 hours of contractions, I was still at 5 cm dilation. Over the next 4 hours, she coached me through contractions that kept getting stronger until a check at 5:45pm revealed that I had progressed only 1 more cm. I won't lie, my resolve weakened as I realized that it would probably be a 4th midwife, coming on at 8pm, who would deliver my baby.
I don't have a great recording of what happened next because the contractions kept getting stronger and stronger. The trip from 5 cm to 8 cm was the most difficult, as fatigue started to set in and I started to doubt that I would be able to continue this process without pain medication. I sent Tommy out of the room at this point as I had no break between contractions and had to focus all my energy on breathing and trying to relax. It was during the transition phase that I came very close to giving up and really felt desperate. I had remained quietly breathing until this point, but eventually was unable to keep the screams inside as the contractions came stronger and faster and I felt myself falling behind. My doula kept me as focused as she could, though, and when the urges to push were overwhelming, I only had to wait a few minutes for the confirmation that I was indeed dilated fully and was one last stage away from seeing our baby. After laboring for most of the day, I could finally push!
We sent for Tommy at 10:42pm, and he grabbed my hands across the bed for support as I squatted and pushed and squeezed his hands HARD. The midwife caught her at 10:58pm, and passed her awkwardly up through my legs so I could put her on my chest immediately. She cried and cried at the injustice of it all, but even red and screaming and covered in vernix and blood, she was clearly the most beautiful, perfect baby that any two people have ever produced in the history of the world.
Now, after knowing her for two days, we can confirm that she is indeed the coolest, cutest baby ever.
I arrived at the PETU at Pennsylvania Hospital at 4pm. I was immediately hooked up to fetal heart monitors and a blood pressure machine that automatically checked it every 10 minutes. Both my blood and urine tests came back fine, but my blood pressure was still elevated. At 6:30pm, the 2nd midwife gave me two options: 1) go home today and complete a 24-hour urine test and come back in a day or two (probably to be induced) or 2) induce today. After talking it over with Tommy, we decided to reduce the danger to Boo and to get started on this exciting journey that we'd both been waiting so long for. Thankfully, the midwife advised me to eat before everything started, so Tommy ran down to the cafeteria before it closed and brought me a chicken salad and three sugar cookies (pickings were slim).
At 10:30pm, we were moved to a labor and delivery room, and Tommy went home to get a good night's sleep as the induction process was unlikely to produce results until the morning. After he left, Boo's heart rate dropped and the 3rd midwife explained that the chemical induction was now not advisable, so she'd be using a balloon catheter to start the dilation process. (If you want details here, I'd be happy to share but I'm sure not everyone reading shares your interest.) Literally 30 minutes after insertion, at 12:20, I was dilated to 3 centimeters, and it was time to start the pitocin. Poor Tommy got the call to come back as contractions were likely to start soon. Thank goodness he arrived quickly as a lady next door was having some serious problems with her delivery, and her screams could definitely have unsettled me had I been alone. At 5:15 I was able to sleep a bit, and although I was having contractions that were registering on the monitor, I wasn't able to feel them.
At 6:45am, the 3rd midwife confirmed that I had dilated to 4 cm (just 1 cm in the past 5 hours), and to speed up the process, she broke my water. We made it to 5 cm by 10:30, and I handled the weak contractions that started every 3 to 4 minutes by breathing deeply through them. By this point, the midwife had changed again, and ironically, my 1st midwife was on rotation at the hospital, so we worked with her throughout the day. I was actually excited to think that she would catch our baby as I had seen her often throughout the pregnancy, and she had started the whole process the day before.
As for our other birth support, as many of you know, we had arranged to have a doula assist through the active labor process. Unfortunately, it turned out that another client beat us to the punch, and she had to send us her back up. From the moment the new doula entered the room, I knew she would be a perfect labor coach for me. After introducing ourselves and discovering our similar musical tastes, we were laughing together between contractions. She arrived around 12, and I'm so glad she was there when I got the news at 1:15 that despite almost 3 hours of contractions, I was still at 5 cm dilation. Over the next 4 hours, she coached me through contractions that kept getting stronger until a check at 5:45pm revealed that I had progressed only 1 more cm. I won't lie, my resolve weakened as I realized that it would probably be a 4th midwife, coming on at 8pm, who would deliver my baby.
I don't have a great recording of what happened next because the contractions kept getting stronger and stronger. The trip from 5 cm to 8 cm was the most difficult, as fatigue started to set in and I started to doubt that I would be able to continue this process without pain medication. I sent Tommy out of the room at this point as I had no break between contractions and had to focus all my energy on breathing and trying to relax. It was during the transition phase that I came very close to giving up and really felt desperate. I had remained quietly breathing until this point, but eventually was unable to keep the screams inside as the contractions came stronger and faster and I felt myself falling behind. My doula kept me as focused as she could, though, and when the urges to push were overwhelming, I only had to wait a few minutes for the confirmation that I was indeed dilated fully and was one last stage away from seeing our baby. After laboring for most of the day, I could finally push!
We sent for Tommy at 10:42pm, and he grabbed my hands across the bed for support as I squatted and pushed and squeezed his hands HARD. The midwife caught her at 10:58pm, and passed her awkwardly up through my legs so I could put her on my chest immediately. She cried and cried at the injustice of it all, but even red and screaming and covered in vernix and blood, she was clearly the most beautiful, perfect baby that any two people have ever produced in the history of the world.
Now, after knowing her for two days, we can confirm that she is indeed the coolest, cutest baby ever.
Joanna,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing that journey. I so loved reading it and am so engaged with the dawning of your mommy-hood. I know time and miles and other things separate us, but, oh, I don't know...just I'm so very happy to share this experience that I've never had...
That's all...
Welcome to this world, Hope!
Love,
Ansdy