Lea's Birth Story

Warning - this is long and detailed. But I wanted to get everything down while I still remember it!

My water broke at 5 pm on the day after Christmas - I was about 38.5 weeks along. I was thinking about hitting some after-Christmas sales that evening, so I took a nap that afternoon but woke up still groggy. I went upstairs to go to bed, and as soon as I sat down on the bed, I felt like I wet my pants! So I ran into the bathroom and quickly realized that this was something else . . . definitely not stoppable :)

Me (screaming from the toilet): KYLE!!!!!! GET UP HERE!!!!
Kyle (poking his head into the bathroom and looking confused): What?
Me: my water just broke.
...pause....
Kyle: So, what does that mean?
Me: It means this baby is coming within the next 24 hours. Get me the phone and start getting everything together.

So, I called the nurse and she told me that I should go in to the hospital. I asked if I could stay home for a little while, but she said no since my water broke (which I expected - if your water breaks, the risk of infection goes up and they want you to go in right away usually). So I got in the shower while Kyle ran around the house finishing things up, putting our bags in the car, and calling Justin to come stay with Hadley while we were gone. I was a little nervous since I hadn't been having any real contractions before my water broke, but within 15 minutes I was having them every 5 minutes. They weren't really painful yet, but they were getting stronger and I had to stop and hang on to something when they came.

We got to the hospital around 6, and Kyle came around to my side of the car to help me out. Now, here is one more thing no one tells you about labor - I thought that when my water broke, it was all pretty much gone. But as soon as I stepped out of the car, about a GALLON of water dumped out of me, all over the parking lot! I just stood there and kind of panicked - I was wearing sweatpants, and I just kept saying, "What do I do? What do I do?" I waddled into the hospital like a kindergartner who just peed her pants, and I was leaving wet footprints on the ground. It was gross and now kind of hilarious - there was nothing I could do about it, really! This kind of thing kept on happening with every contraction for the next couple of hours - I just kept apologizing to every nurse we saw. I was amazed at how much water was in there!

Anyways, we got to the front desk.
Nice, calm nurse: Can I help you?
Me: I'M HAVING A BABY!!!

They got me into a room and checked me, and I was 3 cm dilated. The nurse told me I would be hitting active labor soon, and she took me up to the labor and delivery room. We called our families to let them know it was baby time, and then I shut my phone off because the contractions were getting really strong and it was difficult to focus. As soon as my water had broken earlier, I knew that my all-natural birth plan might have to change - the water acts as a cushion during contractions, and without that cushion, I knew things would be MUCH more painful. But at this point, I was still committed to the all-natural birth. I met my nurse, Pam, and the doctor who would do the delivery, and we went over the birth plan while I was trying to find a good position on my hands and knees. We talked between contractions, which were now about every 3 minutes. Then I got into the jacuzzi and tried to relax.

The problem was, nothing was working. The pain was by far much worse than anything I have ever felt before, and none of the positions I had tried seemed to make anything any more comfortable. I didn't even have time between contractions to get into a different position. I felt totally out of my mind and out of control of my body - the breathing techniques helped, because breathing was about all I could focus on. It was getting kind of scary for me - I couldn't quite catch my breath, and I couldn't imagine going on like this. I couldn't think at all. So finally I looked at Kyle and said "Screw this - give me the epidural." Except I think there were a lot more swears in there. He asked if I was sure, and I think he was probably glad that I wasn't going to go this route any more - it was probably hard to watch me writhing around in pain.

By the time the anasthesiologist got there (who was a strange, mumbling eastern European man with chest hair coming out of his scrubs - but in the end, he was awesome), I was pretty much screaming in pain and the contractions were really close together. He took one look at me and told Pam that I needed to be checked - he thought I might be too far along for an epidural. I was 6 cm by this point (it was around 9pm), so I was still good to go for the epidural. I really hadn't wanted this, but now I didn't care about that plan at all - all I wanted was some relief from all the pain. The experience of having a needle in my back was just weird, from what I remember - I tried not to think too much about how there was a needle going in my spine. But I started feeling better almost immediately, and within about 10-15 minutes I couldn't feel anything. Well, I could feel a little pressure during contractions, and my right thigh was uncomfortably numb, but other than that, it was so much better. We watched my contractions on the monitor, and they were coming every 1-2 minutes. The doctor told me I was progressing really fast, and that I could be having the baby as early as 12 or 1 am.

So we relaxed for a while - Kyle watched basketball on tv, and I kind of dozed - the meds made me kind of groggy. I know that some moms feel bad or disappointed when their all-natural plan goes awry, but I actually felt great about my decision. I knew that if I had kept going as I was, I would not have been mentally present to experience Lea's birth - I had felt like a wild animal caught in a trap. But now I felt like I was back in my body and would be able to enjoy giving birth in a way that wouldn't have been possible without the meds.

At midnight, the doctor came and checked me - fully dilated and fully effaced, and ready to push! She warned me that the baby was still pretty high, so I would have a lot of work ahead of me. I didn't care - I was ready to go. They coached me about how to push effectively, and I tried for a few contractions. Then another doctor came in and checked me, and they figured out that the baby's head was sideways - instead of facing my spine, she was facing my hip. So they told me maybe to stop pushing for a while and let my contractions do some of the work for another hour or so - my pushing wasn't doing anything at all, and Lea's heart rate was dropping every time I pushed. So for the next two hours we waited, and then they came in and talked to me about how they didn't want to order a c-section right now, but that it was becoming a real possibility - my pelvis is just a little narrow, and the doctor said she didn't think Lea's head would fit through at the angle it was at. I was so disappointed. I really didn't want surgery, but I also knew she couldn't just stay wedged in there forever. Plus I knew that I couldn't push forever - it was really hard work! They said they could try to turn her manually, and would try everything possible to avoid a c-section. But for now, the plan was to keep waiting.

So, we waited about another hour, and then I started having the most horrible pain in my side - this was the worst thing I had ever felt in my life. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the ovary. I started screaming and was really scared - I had an epidural and wasn't supposed to feel anything! They called the anaesthesiologist back in and he maxed out my meds - I'm not quite sure what they gave me but I did not care as long as the pain went away. Then I heard them talking more about the c-section, and I heard the anaest. say something like, "well, if she's having breakthrough pain, we might have to put her under for the surgery." Which made me panic - no matter what, I did NOT want to be unconscious when my baby was born! Then he told the nurse to check me one last time before getting the c-section prep underway. The nurse looked up at me with surprise and said, "She turned! Are you ready to push? Because you're going to start now!"

I got so excited - here I was, mentally trying to prepare for surgery, and all of a sudden the baby began to cooperate! There weren't even any doctors in the room yet, so the anaesthesiologist and the nurse each grabbed a leg and I started pushing. Pretty soon more doctors showed up, and I could tell by their reactions that I was making good progress. I pushed for about 40 minutes, and finally after a contraction  subsided, Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" came on. I just relaxed for a moment and said, "I love this song." The doctor looked right at me and said, "You're going to have your baby to this song."

And I did! One more huge push and I could feel her head come out, and then the rest of her. I started crying and just couldn't believe this tiny little person had just been born. She looked . . . well, gross, but I could tell she was healthy. She was really pink right away and her lungs definitely worked! They cleaned her off on my tummy and then I got to snuggle with her for a while before they weighed her and took her vitals and everything. Then Kyle got to hold her while the doctors finished with me. It was amazing to look at my husband and see him as a dad for the first time. He was so excited and happy and couldn't stop smiling. I was exhausted and overwhelmed, but the experience was the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me.

So that's the story . . . and now I have to go kiss Lea. :)