The "Gory Details" of a Natural Birth

With all the scare of Paige being admitted to the NICU I skipped over writing a post about how Paige came into the world. Dave promised the "gory details" but I'll try and leave out all but the most interesting parts. But be warned, this is labor we're talking about, so if you read you may get more information than you want.

10pm Monday August 17th I took my Heparin injection and went

to bed.

12:30 am (2 1/2 hours later) I awoke to my water breaking (luckily I had gone to sleep with a towel under me.)

1:30 we were in the labor and delivery room and my contractions were between 1 - 5

minutes

apart.

"I want an epidural!"

"No, we've tested your blood and you still have too much heparin (blood thinning medication) in your system. We'll do another blood test in a couple of hours."

Heparin has a half-life of 12 hours, and it had to be out of my system before I received an epidural or else I could bleed to death or have other complications with the spinal injection.

They gave me a pain killer called Nubane to help take off the edge for awhile, and it worked for two hours while I dilated from a 3 to a 5, then it wore off and never worked again.

While on the nubane there wasn't much Dave could do to help me so I told him to sleep. I didn't want to wake him so I just lay in my bed silently thrashing my head back and forth struggling through the contractions (my hair was a rats nest!)

When the nubane wore off the pain became too intense and I slipped into a self-induced

hypnosis. It became obvious to Dave how much pain I was in, regardless of my semi-silence (plenty of moans and groans escaped my lips.) He couldn't stand by any more and do nothing, and I couldn't handle the pain alone anymore. Dave went to work massaging my back as hard as he could - and as hard as I demanded. We hadn't planned on a natural birth so I hadn't

practiced any breathing or other relaxation exercises. Without realizing it, my mind went into a sort of hypnosis that shut out everything around me except the fists kneading into my back. I was vaguely aware of people coming and going, talking to me, sticking needles in me, but my mind refused to acknowledge them. I didn't make a noise except to direct Dave's hands, and I never even opened my eyes; I was completely in my own world. I think if I had snapped out of it the reality of the crushing pain would have been too much. In fact I do remember thinking "I can't do this! Oh my gosh, I can't do this!" Over and over again. And then I would try doubly hard to focus only on Dave.

Anyway, after awhile I broke out of my mind enough to request the jacuzzi. The water may have helped a little, but really it was only Dave's fists as he leaned over the edge that gave me any relief. While in the water I felt the urge to push. When I was able to communicate with the nurse she said "Oh no, don't push!" Ok. That was easier said than done. I tried very very hard not to. When I moaned again that I wanted to push another nurse said she'd check my dilation while I was in the water. "Oh! Honey, you're a 10!" Out of the water we went and back on the bed. This time, however, I positioned myself on my hands and knees with my torso

inclined and my head facing the headboard with my arms wrapped around a pillow. This gave Dave perfect access to my back. Ug, back labor! They did give me a local anesthetic to numb the skin around the birth area, so maybe I can't say it was totally natural, but I sure didn't have anything to ease the contractions.

The nurse told me that since I hadn't had an epidural there was no need to wait for anything and I should just push when I wanted and listen to my body. So that's what I did, I listened to my body, but I forgot to inform the nurse. Because of this two things happened:

One: I was able to gradually experiment with pushing and test out how hard I could push and how it felt. I was timid with it at first, but gradually I realized it actually felt good to

push. I mean, there came with it a sense of satisfaction. With each contraction I silently became more bold until the second thing happened:

Two: Because I wasn't making any noise the nurse (and everyone else) assumed I wasn't pushing. I heard her tell a few people that I wasn't pushing. I swear I replied I was, but Dave later told me I never said a

word. I guess the words never left my mouth. Anyway, I heard her say to an assistant nurse

"She's not really pushing so we'll be here for awhile. I've got some paperwork to do, would you keep an eye on her?"

I tried to tell her I was pushing, but guess I was just listening to my body too much to talk. Either way, two minutes later the assistant nurse gasped, "Oh! There's a head!

Oh...!" She caught the baby. There was no doctor in the room, my nurse was over at a table, and the assistant nurse caught Paige! I delivered on my hands and knees so they didn't see the baby crowing until the head was already out! By the time the doctor got there the cord was cut and the baby in my arms. I remember thinking to myself

"I was too pushing."

p.s. She was born at 8:24am; almost exactly 8 hours after my water broke.