Once you are pregnant, women start sharing their labor and delivery stories with you. I always asked my friends to tell me their stories, so welcoming stories about emergency c-sections and epidurals not working, is really my own fault. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful experience delivering Amelia, and since I felt like I heard more scary stories than positive ones over the last 9 months, I feel inclined to tell the world her birth story! I am eager to share because it was such a positive, enjoyable experience, and I hope it will be encouraging to other women!
I woke up around 5:30 am with what I felt like "cramps." I didn't wake up Chris until around 7:00 when I realized my water had broken, and woke him up to Google some signs of labor beginning - isn't that the most reliable way to diagnose things?
Flash back to Tuesday - At work my boss looked at me, telling me I looked ready to have a baby and she said she just knew I would have it that week. I had noticed I was retaining water moreso than before, and this was the only change that had happened recently. Also, on Tuesday night at acupuncture I was doing some visualization of how I wanted labor to happen - similar to visualization like you do in sports, to picture how something will happen just as you want it to. I was doing this and I started noticed a lot of pressure and cramps in my abdomen. So much so that it kind of scared me and I thought I was bringing on labor, so I opened my eyes and stopped. Little did I know that the next morning my labor would really be beginning!
So logically, when I realized I was in labor, I hopped in the shower and began getting ready for the big day. I fired off an email letting work know I was crampy and working from home, and would be on my already scheduled 9:00 conference call. Chris also had a 9:00 call scheduled so he made a quick breakfast run to grab me a Jamba Juice smoothie (recommendation from child birth class instructor - get protein in your system because you won't be able to eat during labor), and a burrito for himself.
By the time the call began, I was no longer experiencing "cramps" and was now feeling full on contractions. After the call, my coworker called me and said, "Are you okay? You were breathing really heavily on the call." I explained to her that I was talking through contractions and that we were getting ready to leave for the hospital. Yikes!
We left the house around 10:30 and contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart, so our plan was to head to the park and walk for a while. We were using Lamaze breathing techniques we learned in our childbirth class and I felt like they were moderately effective in managing the pain. But, after making Chris pull over 3 times to breathe thru intense contractions on the way to the park, we decided to skip the walking and head on to the hospital. Great decision! We arrived around 11:00 am and I stopped in the hospital lobby on the way in for a contraction. It's humorous the way people respond when they see you in labor! One woman with a 6 month old baby took one look at me and said, "Good luck!"
I was hooked up to monitors and checked - I was at 2 cm, 90% effaced and at a stage zero. I am convinced I was at a stage zero for months, she was always so low in my pelvis, ready to come out! The nurses were so encouraging and really helpful, supporting and cheering me on. I spent an hour or so breathing thru painful contractions and then decided since I still had so far to go with dilation, it would be best to go ahead and get an epidural. After the fact, I joked that second to marrying Chris, getting an epidural was the best decision of my life!
While waiting for the anesthesiologist I was given a narcotic for the pain and because the contractions were now at 2-3 minutes apart and so intense, but it didn't have any effect on the contractions at all. I feel like this confirmed I had made the right decision to go ahead with the epidural. Once the anesthesiologist got there, he began asking lots of medical history questions. I had a contraction start so Chris continued to answer the questions for me.
Chris' side of the story: And then Sarah slapped my arm and said "quit talking!"
Sarah's side of the story: Chris was helping me breathe thru contractions and since he was talking to the anesthesiologist, he wasn't helping me and I was frustrated, so I kindly asked him to please stop talking. HA!
The epidural had taken effect by about 1:30 pm and I was pain free, very comfortable and excited more than ever to meet our baby girl. We watched the movie Ocean's 11 and Chris went to grab some lunch. At about 2:30 I was checked again and had only dilated to 3cm, so we decided to begin pitocin to move things along.
Chris' side of the story: This was the point when Sarah looked at me and said, "Remember how we have leftover apple cake in the refrigerator? That is going to taste so good when we get home!" This was the difference between before and after the epidural.
Between 2:30 and 4:30 I went from 3cm to 10cm dilation. The doctor had stopped by at 4:30 to let us know that she was leaving to go pick up her dog from the vet but would be back shortly. She said she would check me before she left, and when she did, she said, "Oh, I will go call my husband to pick up the dog because you need to start pushing!"
The nurse came in and explained that we would do several test pushes to get the hang of things since I had an epidural. I could feel the contractions and the baby pushing her way down, but I wasn't in pain. Going into this I was scared that I would feel out of control and wouldn't be able to fully experience labor if I had an epidural, but my experience was just the opposite. It was enjoyable and memorable, and I loved that I was in complete control of my body and pushing the entire time.
We did a couple of practice pushes and then the nurse abruptly told me to stop pushing because the baby's head was starting to crown. She ran to the nurses station and paged the doctor to come back immediately, and she ran back to my room. The doctor and nurse told me to tell them when I wanted to push, so I did, and we pushed through about 3 contractions, for about 20 minutes, and Amelia was born! It was quick and easy, and we were all laughing and enjoying the special moment together. Chris said I laughed her out!
Amelia was laid on my tummy so we could touch each other for the first time, and Chris cut her umbilical cord. My favorite moment as a new mommy was when the nurses picked her up to move her over to the warmer, she was grasping my sports bra with her tiny little fingers, and as they lifted her up off my stomach, she wouldn't let go! I loved that moment, and will always remember those little fingers holding tight to her mama.
About this time, my mom came busting through the door, with her luggage and all! We knew she had booked a flight to Denver for that afternoon, but we didn't know what time she would be getting in. She sweet talked the airport gate agent to let her on an earlier flight, and arrived at the hospital just minutes after Amelia's birth. It was a very special moment to have my mom there.
The next few hours were kind of a blur of lots of happy tears, laughter, ohhing and awwing, and sharing special moments with our new little one. We joked about how efficient she was, since she got the job done during the work day, and we were really only labor from 9 am - 5 pm. Chris' parents drove from Missouri during the day and arrived late that night, so we got to see them the next morning. It was wonderful to have family there to welcome little Amelia into the world!
Overall, I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable, perfect day and we were so thankful to end the day with a happy, healthy baby girl!
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