Friday, January 18, 2008
Short Story: Tristan Colbie was born on Monday, January 14th at 3:57 am weighing 8 lbs, 15 oz. with a length of 21 inches. And no, I didn't get the unmedicated birth that I wanted.
Long Story: I started having contractions at around 4pm on Saturday (the 12th). I went to Labor & Delivery but was only at 2cm with no progress, so they sent me home. We got home at 1 am and I got a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5am on Sunday (the 13th) with strong contractions that were about 7-8 minutes apart. I tried to rest, but couldn't, and finally got up at around 7 am. I took a bath, got dressed, and started timing the contractions. After they had been 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours, I told Brandon I thought it was time to go to the hospital. I wasn't in horrible pain, but at that point I could no longer easily walk through the contractions.
We go to the hospital at around 12:30 pm and I went to L&D triage... I was 90% effaced, and dilated to 4 cm, but barely, so my OB suggested that I walk around for an hour and get checked again. She didn't want me getting admitted prematurely. So Brandon and I walked the hospital grounds... up and down the stairs of the parking garage and all around inside. When they checked me again, I was almost to 5 cm, 100% effaced, and my bag of waters was bulging, so they decided to admit me.
We got to our room and the contractions were about 3 minutes apart, and mostly in my back, but still bearable. I tried doing my relaxation breathing, tried different positions, used my birthing ball, etc. When my OB came in to check on me, she said I looked amazing and that if I wanted to go unmed, that was fine with her. But... she decided to break my water since it was still bulging.
After that, the contractions immediately got more intense and much closer together. I was having a hard back labo and I started finding it hard to relax, but I did the best I could, because I was so intent on having an unmedicated birth. The next three or four hours are kind of a blur for me. I remember being checked and being at 6 cm. I was frustrated, but continued to breathe through the contractions. Then I started feeling a lot of pressure but was only at 7 cm. Almost two hours later, I was still at 7. My labor had stalled.
They wanted to use pitocin, but I hesitated, and kept trying to breathe through the now VERY intense contractions. I agreed to a small dosage of IV Stadol so that I could try to focus more. The Stadol only made me drowsy, and I was pretty out of it, but all of a sudden, the nurses started rushing around and I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, one of them told me that they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat and that they were going to attach the internal fetal monitor. When they did so, they checked me again and my cervix had started to swell b/c I was unable to control my strong urge to push. They now said that they pitocin was necessary in order to keep my cervix from swelling closed.
At that point, I gave in and said I would get the epidural. My labor had stopped, the baby was in danger, my body was in danger, and I was getting closer to a C-section by the minute. So at around 8pm, I got the epidural.
Admittedly, things got much better. I was finally able to be free of the horrible back pains that came with each contraction, and could relax and tell jokes with Brandon. I was also able to get a little bit of rest. By midnight, my cervix had recovered and I was fully dilated.
At 1:30am, my nurse told me to start pushing. The baby's head was still very high, and he was posterior (which was causing my back labor), plus as we had been told, he was a very large baby. At one point, I overheard a nurse say that I might need a C-Section b/c of the size of his head, but another said that I had worked too hard for too long. Thank goodness for her!! She's my angel! :) I ended up pushing for 2 1/2 hours. I got very nauseous and vomited several times. By 3:30am, my OB had came in for good and we got down to business.
At the last minute, Tristan rotated so that he was anterior and his head could fit more easily through the pelvis. He ended up being born without forceps or any other intervention. Once his head was in place, the rest was smooth sailing. Finally, at 3:57 am, almost 36 hours exactly since my first contraction, my beautiful baby boy entered the world. He had a small sore on the top of his head from my pelvis, and I got a 2nd degree tear, but otherwise we both came through just fine.
He was perfect and healthy and scored 9's on both of his Apgars. He was incredibly alert and has been ever since. And of course, he's the center of our world. :0)
All through labor, I felt like quite a failure that I was unable to get my unmed birth. But, he was posterior, and almost 9 pounds, and under the circumstances, there was just no way to go through with it. Everyone told me that I did wonderfully and had an incredibly hard job and eventually, I let myself believe it. I know I did what was best for my son, and that is truly all that matters. :)
