Bluma's Birth

*Disclaimer*
The following is an account of my labor. If this topic does not interest you, please feel free to disregard this entry.

 
As any long pause in a pregnant woman’s blog suggests, I have had my baby. I am no longer pregnant! This is wonderful news.

Here’s how it all went down:

On Wednesday, October 19^th, Arna and I went to a reading for Wells Tower at his university. I was feeling pretty good that afternoon, despite having had a pretty painful contraction. I hadn’t intended to go to the reading with Arna but I had this sudden urge to once I saw him dressed up in some nice fitting jeans and a very handsome sweater :-) Part of me thought, “Who knows when we’ll be able to get out again next? It could be any day.”

So, I quickly fixed my hair and makeup and went to the reading. Most people who saw me talked about the baby and the impending birth. I could tell I was a walking time bomb in their eyes.

During the reading I had a few what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, so I paid them no attention. One of the pieces that Mr. Tower read from was actually about pregnancy, oddly enough.

When the reading was over, I decided to go home and Arna went to the reception. He was hesitant to go but I assured him that I was fine…just tired.

Around 11pm, while I was trying to fall asleep, I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my back and stomach. It was keeping me awake, so I went out to lie on the couch and try and watch television. On my way to the couch, I felt the strongest contraction yet. It wasn’t too bad, but it was enough to put me on high alert. I started trying to get a hold of Arna. Unfortunately, his iPhone’s texting wasn’t working so he didn’t get my first couple of messages.

When I had another strong contraction, I went ahead and called him and he immediately came home. I didn’t think I was in labor, but part of me felt very vulnerable and like I needed him. I guess it was instincts.

Arna came home a few minutes later and I tried to lie down in bed again. He offered to rub my feet after I had another strong contraction that made my eyes tear up. I graciously accepted his offer and when I shifted in the bed, I felt a small rush of fluid. I was sure it couldn’t be my water because NO BODY’S water breaks after two or three small contractions. That’s what happens in movies.

I went to the restroom and sure enough, more fluid. I think at this point I said, “Oh god…” and Arna came rushing to the door asking if everything was ok.

“Did your water break?” He asked.

“I uh…yeah…I think it did…I don’t know…oh god.” Was my response.

I walked back to our bedroom and felt even more fluid so any doubts I still had were extinguished. We immediately went into action. Luckily, we had all of our bags packed and mine already in the car. All we had to do was take care of the cat and grab any last minute items.

I called the hospital and told them we were on our way. In the car, I had one or two more contractions but nothing too terrible. Mostly, my whole body just felt tight and tense.

We walked from the parking garage to the labor and delivery unit and they hooked me up to the monitor and had me checked for progress. It was immediately apparent that I was in labor, and after being in triage for 15 or 20 minutes, the contractions began to pick up.

While we were waiting for my labor room to be ready, I walked the halls and we called our parents. It didn’t take long before I could no longer talk through the contractions. Then, I could no longer walk through them.

By the time we made it back to my room, I could barely stand through the contractions. They were about 1-2 minutes apart and they were lasting for what felt like 5 minutes though I’m not sure exactly.

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about pain medication. Up until this point, I’d wanted a natural birth. I had expected a slower labor, thinking I could put myself into the right mental space as the pain gradually increased.

However, my labor was anything but gradual. After three hours of contractions that made me scream and scared the daylights out of Arna, I asked for some pain medication. They first tried to give me Nubaine through an IV but it had no effect.

I asked for an epidural. As anyone who’s been in labor knows, if you ask for an epidural the time it takes for it to be inserted and begin to take effect feels like a lifetime. I was having intense contractions that felt like my body was being slowly crushed by a semi and I had to hold still for 10 minutes while they attempted to insert the needle. Holding still through that was basically impossible. I did my best though.

Unfortunately, the numbing medicine for the epidural needle, took its time to work as well which meant that the anesthesiologist had to insert it a little until I felt the pain and then stop, and then insert a little more, and so on until it was finally in.

He stayed in the room and monitored me while the medicine took effect. He was astonished when I kept saying that I could still feel the contractions. After about 15 minutes, the pain from the contractions was finally gone, though I could still feel them.

A resident came in to check my progress and I was 7-8 centimeters dilated. This apparently, was impressive to him and the nurses. He said to let them know when I felt an increase in pressure. In the meantime, Arna and I were to try and rest.

It took about an hour before I could feel her head pushing out. I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but it felt like exactly what it was – her head beginning to sneak out of me. I rang for the nurse and let her know. They checked my progress and sure enough, I was at a 10 but they wanted to wait a little while longer to give my body the opportunity to do most of the work of pushing her out.

We ran into a shift change of doctors, so I ended up waiting until 8:30am to push. The doctors made their rounds and when one of them checked me again, her eyes got wide and said, “Oh yeah…it’s time to push!”

They prepared me to push for 2-4 hours as that is how long it takes most first time moms, especially those with epidurals. They asked for me to do one practice push while they were setting up. I focused all of my energy and gave the biggest push I could muster and immediately was told to stop. Her head was crowning! Arna was brave enough to look and when I opened my eyes to see his reaction I was surprised to see not a bit of queasiness but instead, joy and awe.

I had to wait for another contraction before I could push again. It seemed like it took forever for another one to start. Once it did, I again closed my eyes and pushed with every ounce of strength that was in my body. And then did it again…and again. I felt her begin to emerge and they again asked me to stop while they checked to make sure the cord wasn’t around her neck.

Once I was given the all clear, I gave one final push and she was out. She cried instantly. Arna said it was because she knew how worried he was to hear her first cries that she let him know as soon as possible that she was ok. They brought her to my chest and our eyes immediately locked. She was so soft and warm and curled into my arms like she knew she belonged there. It only took a few minutes for her to calm down and we just stared at each other.

She was born at 8:49AM weighing 7lbs 12 oz and 19.5 inches long. Her apgar score was a 9 both times they tested her. She is absolutely perfect.