Sophie's Birth Story (yep- Sophie's)

I wrote this the day after I gave birth to Sophie:

The week leading up to labor I had been frantically trying to "get things done." At this point, though, I really thought I had more like 3 more weeks to go. I started to think about everything I really wanted to do before I had the baby. The night before I went into labor I made my belly cast, because I knew I would be disappointed if I didn't get to make it because I miraculously had the baby early. The day I went into labor I did a ton of laundry, emailed my friend a list
of people who had volunteered to make meals for me when I came home for the hospital, I ordered a big group baby present for my sister-in-law that somehow I had been in charge of, and I had my parents come up (they live 45 min away) to do a "dry run" to the hospital. I felt like it was a productive day. Keep in mind; I still thought I was 2-3 weeks away from labor. My parents stayed for dinner and we ordered take-out.

At the end of dinner, about 6:30 pm I felt a pop. I looked at my husband and asked if he heard it. He said no and everyone could tell something was weird. I said, "I think my water may have broken." My mom said, "You would know- there would be water everywhere." As soon as she said that I felt the gush. I got out of my chair and the water just kept flowing. My socks were filled and I was standing in an ever-growing puddle. I was so excited. I knew if my water broke it was baby time. No counting contractions or getting sent home from the hospital. I called the doctor and the doctor on call that night was the new doctor in the practice that had just joined- the only male, whom I had never met, and under no circumstances wanted to deliver me. But I didn't really care, it was baby time! He said he wanted me at the hospital in 1 hour since my water broke and I tested positive for group B strep. My parents went home to wait until they got the good news. I took a shower and my husband threw a couple of last-minute items into our bag and off we went.

When we got to the hospital the lady behind the registration counter was taking her sweet time. She said, "can I help you?" I said, "I'm here to have a baby." She left and came back 10 minutes later and asked what time I was scheduled for. I said, "no schedule. My water broke, I'm in labor." I guess she thought I was there for an induction. Finally they took me back to triage, confirmed that my water had broke, and monitored contractions for a while, which were about 7 minutes apart and very mild. I was dilated 2-3 and 50% effaced (same as my appointment on Friday).

At 9:00 pm they admitted me and gave me a room. Because my water had broken they wouldn't let me walk around at all because of the risk of cord prolapse. And because I was GBS+ they started a penicillin drip, thereafter administered every 4 hours until I delivered. It was pretty
painful. It felt like boiling vics vaporub shooting up my arm. My contractions weren't getting much stronger or closer together, so they started a pitocin drip, much to my dismay. But under the circumstances they thought there would be too much of a risk for infection if I took too long to labor on my own. The contractions got stronger and closer together. By midnight I wanted the epidural. At 1:00 am I finally got it. I think I was around 5 cm by this point. I had been in labor for 6.5 hours by this point and I was proud of myself for lasting that long without pain meds. The epidural was awesome for about 2 hours. Then it started to wear off. They had also been upping the pitocin every 20 min. So I was having stronger and strong contractions and less and less pain meds. I asked them what they could do for me and they gave me a redose of the epidural. It provided no relief, as there was a patch that it just didn't cover. This patch was my lower abdomen, reaching around to my right side and lower back. In other words, exactly where I was feeling the contractions. I wasn't making much progress dilation-wise, so they kept increasing the pitocin. I got 2 more redoses of the epidural over the course of labor, but that one area remained unaffected. I could not feel anything below my waist AT ALL, but I could feel every single contraction and was almost delirious from the pain.

At 7:00 am the doctor's shifts changed and I got a different doctor from my practice, thankfully. By 1:00pm on Monday (I had been in labor for 18.5 hours at this point) I was dilated a 9+, totally effaced, but the baby was still at a -2 station. The doctor started talking about a c-section. I completely lost it. A c-section was my worst nightmare, especially for my first delivery. I had been through so much crap throughout this pregnancy (threatened m/c again, bicornuate uterus, possible incompetent cervix, risk for preterm labor) and beaten all of the odds, and I'd be damned if I was going to labor miserably for 19 hours and to have it all end in a c-section. I begged the doctor not to do a c. I asked if the baby was far enough down to use vacuum
extraction (which under other circumstances I am dead-set against). She said no. I was just beside myself. My husband and I were devastated. The doctor said she'd give me 1 more hour to see what happens. Later, I found out, they used that hour to complete my paperwork for me and prep the OR. They gave me my third and last epidural redose only because they were so sure I was going into surgery.

An hour later, about 3:00pm she checked me and I was prepared to hear the worst and be wheeled into surgery. Surprised, the doctor looked at the nurse and said, "She's ready." I started pushing with the contractions, which was weird, because while I could still feel the contractions, I could not feel to push at all. But I pushed with all my might. Pushing was actually the not-so-bad part of labor. My husband was a phenomenal coach (he was totally hiding that skill in his back pocket all this time). He counted for me, encouraged me; he was my everything. I blocked everything out except for whatever he was telling me.

I pushed for an hour and a half, and at 4:35pm, Sophia Grace came into the world! Her cord was wrapped around her neck twice and had a "true knot" in it. Everyone was surprised, as there had been no indication she was in distress at all. They called all available staff into the room, which looked like the swat team and was a little scary. Everyone worked fast and within seconds Sophie was crying and doing just fine. She scored a 9 on her apgar at 5 min. My husband stayed with her the whole time while I delivered the placenta (and saw it afterwards- kind of cool), got stitched back up (I tore on my own about a 2nd degree tear), and cleaned up.

Recovery has been pretty good and Sophie is a very good baby. We are doing pretty well with breastfeeding and are just enjoying being together. I love my daughter so much!!!

[I was being polite and discreet here. Recovery was hard- I was in pain and swollen for a while and remember many a time crying in the bathroom. Nursing was tough- we both took a few days to get the hang of it, and even once we did, Sophie was the kind of baby that wants to eat every 2 hours and take an hour to nurse. We spent all evening nursing non-stop, which is technically called "cluster feeding," but what I thought of as a black hole of isolation and despair. Things did get a lot better, though, and we went on to nurse for 17 months.]

So there ya go, 2 birth stories in one day! I love reading birth stories even more than telling them, so if you have any to tell, post or email them!