Birth Story, Part I

The first thing I want to tell you is how grateful I am that my labor and delivery went so well. I really did try to be aware that things could go the exact opposite of what I planned. And things sort of started off that way. I guess one of the things I hadn't planned for was being one of those women who had no idea they were in labor...


But before I jump into the whole me being oblivious part, I need to tell you about my 38 week appointment. I almost posted about it at the time, but decided that I might have been being a little hormonal. And the fact that I would even refrain from ripping a particular Medical Assistant a new asshole on my semi-private blog, should tell you that I was probably a bit irrational as well. 


So. My 38 week appointment. Sitting in the waiting room. Medical Assistant calls me back. Weighs me (gulp). And takes me in to the room. She starts with chit-chat then dives right into talk of induction. For me. At 38 weeks. I start to explain that I wasn't interested in discussing induction at that point and she asks why. I tell her that A. it was more than NINE days before my due date and I hadn't had any complications that would necessitate an induction or even talk of one. And 2. We were planning a natural childbirth and were hoping to avoid medical intervention. I would see my acupuncturist and try all the home remedies after my due date to get things going when the time came. You ignorant meddlesome whore. I'm giving you the toned down version, but she was REALLY pushy. And it pissed me off pretty good. I made it very clear to her that I wasn't interested in scheduling anything on the induction front, and that I wouldn't be held responsible for my actions if she continued to press the issue. 


Fast forward to my 41 week appointment (I was 40 weeks, 5 days). That same damn medical assistant opens the door and calls my name. I wasn't sure she remembered me, so I rolled my eyes and did my best not to punish her for our last interaction. But the same thing happened. Weigh in. Takes me to room. Chit-chat. Blatant agenda pushing. I smile tightly and tell her that I'd be sure to discuss it with Susie (my midwife) when the time came. But she continued. Brian could see the vein in my forehead start to bulge so he jumped in to the conversation in an attempt to extinguish the blaze and save her. STILL she persisted. At this point she started to take my blood pressure. Which, thanks to her, was SKY HIGH now. 140/93. She remarked and I told her I was a little frustrated and that I wanted it taken again at the end of the appointment. 


Susie came in shortly after that and sat down to chat. We talked about where I was, and I mentioned how frustrated I was with her medical assistant. I told her I was certain that's why my BP was off the charts. She said that can be the case sometimes, told me to take some deep breathes and that they'd check it again in a bit. I mentioned that I thought I'd had a few contractions but nothing that seemed consistent or substantial. 


The night before I noticed there were points where my back would hurt a little more than normal, and I felt a few twinges near my cervix-ish that would hurt when I walked - but really sporadically. I blew it off, because I'd been having significant back pain for a while and had been fairly uncomfortable and feeling lots of pressure down there for about a week, which the OB at my 40 week appointment said was normal. 


Susie said she wanted to check me just to see if there had been any progress from the week before when I was 1 cm. I totally agreed, even though Holy CRAP do internals blow. She got to work and while I practiced my breathing techniques to cope with the proding at my cervix. Shortly thereafter she announced that I was four centimeters. WHAAAAAAA??? 


But there was problem. My bag of forewaters was bulging and the baby's head still hadn't dropped. She was concerned about my water breaking and the cord coming out, and the baby's head coming down on top of the cord. If that were to happen it would be very bad for the baby and would mean an emergency c-section for me. She said we needed to go straight to L&D and that she wanted to start me on Pitocin to get things moving and hopefully avoid any danger. I suddenly felt very aware that things could quickly spin completely out of my control. And this is sort of what I had been most afraid of - That they would be over cautious and dangle the whole "make a decision NOW, your baby is in danger" thing. Let me clarify that my baby's safety was always first and foremost the priority in my heart and mind. But I didn't want to be pushed into a decision based on fear. They took my BP again and unfortunately, it had not gone down much at all. Susie checked my urine and there weren't any proteins that suggested Pre Eclampsia, but she was still concerned. 


After discussing whether or not we could go home, get our bags and have a little more time to decide, she made it clear that she was concerned and thought we should go straight to L&D.  We left the office and sat down in the lobby of the medical building to talk about things. We were partially scared and partially feeling concerned about being pushed into using medications. We decided to call my bff Teresa, who then called her midwife to see what she thought. Teresa delivered her youngest son at home with this midwife. She has 30 years of experience and only a handful of patients under her care who required c-sections. She said they could do an ultrasound to check to see where to cord was, so they'd have a better idea of how serious things were. Based on all of that information,  Brian and I talked about it a little more and decided that we would go straight to L&D, but try to stall on the Pitocin.  


While sitting in the lobby talking about all this, and on our walk out to the car I realized that I'd had several contractions. They were manageable but definitely got my attention. On the ride across the street to the hospital we saw a slew of nurses standing on the corner picketing for a strike over benefits. Fantastic...