Introducing Lillian Kate | A birth story

Sunday started off like every other weekend morning.  Waking up and still being pregnant.  Every night when I went to sleep I wondered if this would be the night I would be woken up with contractions starting.  Every morning I woke up and hadn’t felt anything.  I never really experienced many Braxton Hicks contractions throughout the pregnancy, so it really started to feel like nothing was going to ever happen when we watched our due date come and go.

It was hot so we walked to the pool that day.  We were in the middle of switching internet providers so we decided to lunch at Bellacino’s and bring our computers to get some work done.  We were there for about an hour and when we got ready to leave I had a strange feeling like my water might have just broke.  It wasn’t a movie-scene gushing or anything and I didn’t want to go to the hospital and be wrong. So we decided to pack up and head home to see if there was more water to come.  First I made Tom stop by someone’s house where I was suppose to buy a pair of tiny tom’s for the little miss.

We got home and started finishing up packing for the hospital.  Tom put a coat of paint on the back door and I got the car ready.  There still wasn’t a real sign of much more water but after an hour or so we decided to call the doctor.  It was an on call doctor from another office since it was the weekend. She decided to be safe, I should come in and get checked.  We are lucky to live a short drive from the hospital and the nurse seemed doubtful that I was ready to be admitted when we arrived.  Upon arriving to the hospital, there was more water so I was feeling more confident that my water had actually broken.

Another nurse greeted us and did a test to check if it was amniotic fluid.  It turns out it was and we would be admitted upstairs to the delivery room.  I didn’t have any contractions starting so I was hooked up to monitors for 15 minutes of every hour and encouraged to walk around for the next 45.  This continued all night as we were holding out from starting pitocin in hopes that contractions would start on their own.  It was 3 am when the nurse said we could wait until 7 when a new doctor came on or start now.  We decided there had been enough waiting and we would move ahead to start pitocin.  I thought this would have an immediate effect on me but really I was able to sleep and relax until contractions started getting painful around 6 am.

Once contractions started they were all in my back.  I was hoping to labor in the tub, but with the pitocin I had to be constantly hooked up to monitors.  I was allowed to get in the shower for ten minutes and that felt so good.  Contractions were about 2 minutes apart and lasting 30-45 seconds.  Tom would run to the sink and warm up a wash  cloth to hold on my back when the contractions came.  It felt so good. Around 9 am I decided to get an epidural as the nurse advised me that back labor is just so hard to do natural.  I had hopes of doing it without an epidural but looking back this was the best decision and I feel really good about it now.  It made this experience so much more positive.  It was so amazing how just seconds after getting the epidural I was in no more pain, the contractions kept coming and I felt nothing.  I still had pretty good movement in my legs and my toes felt tingly the whole time.  I do feel badly that the mom next door was also waiting on an epidural and I got mine first.  Her labor progressed very quickly and we could hear the screams as she could not get the drugs in time.  Again confirming in my mind that I had made the right decision to get the drugs.

For the next 7 hours we waiting for dilation and progression.  I couldn’t be checked that often since there was risk of infection with broken water.  I was at 3, 6, 9, and by 4 p.m. they said I was going to be ready to push soon.  Again, this felt so exciting and not very real since I was still in no pain at this point.  The doctor took a little while to get ready and come back so we began pushing by 4:45-5 and the doctors and nurses were so encouraging.  I was able to make a lot of progress with each push and by 5:31 p.m. our Lillian was born.  She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She took to nursing immediately and kept at it for almost an hour. Our hearts were just so full.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful experience with her birth and such great doctors, nurses, husband, and mom by my side through it all.