As we prepare to welcome our fifth sweet baby into the world, I thought it would be fun to share each of our kiddos’ birth stories. Each one is unique and perfect in its own way, and I’m thankful for the twists and turns of each! For those not looking for ALL the details, you may want to skip these posts. This is the first story in the series of four (for now), until I’m able to share our newest addition’s special story.
I went into labor with Avah at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 39 weeks. It was a rainy, gray day and I had had absolutely no signs of labor that week. Rich was in New York for work until late Tuesday night, so my only hope was that he would make it home before any labor started, and thankfully he did.
The night I went into labor was like any other day of my pregnancy. I was tired, but feeling good overall. Rich got home from work early and we decided to have some friends over for dinner. We grilled BBQ ribs and I made macaroni and cheese and we had a fun and relaxing night laughing, catching up and joking with friends. Our friends left around 9:30 p.m. and Rich and I climbed into bed at about 10:30. Immediately after lying down I felt like something wasn’t right and went to the bathroom. As soon as I sat down on the toilet, I felt a release of liquid and saw a bloody discharge in the toilet, which based on our birth classes, we knew was my mucus plug. Within five minutes of losing my mucus plug I was having contractions lasting a minute long and five minutes apart. There was no buildup to these contractions, as I literally had not felt anything different prior to them. Also, while the contractions were noticeable, I didn’t feel like they were really bad, so Rich and I got on google to see what losing the mucus plug indicated. Everything we read said that it was a sign that things were starting to progress, but that you could go into labor anytime from immediately to a week after losing your mucus plug. Needless to say, we thought that I was fine and things were just beginning, so I poured a bath and labored in there for a while, trying to relax, then climbed back in bed to try and get some sleep.
Within five minutes of climbing in bed, I realized that these contractions were too strong to take laying down. In fact, laying down was the worst position for me, as it made me really uncomfortable, especially on my side. Within the hour, the contractions were getting stronger and closer together and Rich and I got out our Bradley Method book and started looking through the phases of labor to try and determine where I was in the process. Based on the timing and strength of my contractions, we realized that I was much farther along than we had anticipated and was already in the first stage of labor. Our Bradley training really kicked in then and I proceeded to labor at home from about 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. At that time, the contractions were getting harder to get through and I was just really focused on relaxing between them and breathing through them. Unfortunately, at that time I also began feeling very nauseous, which neither Rich or I had heard of as a symptom of labor. Before either of us could really grasp the extent of the nausea, I had thrown up all over our bedroom! Poor Rich was very sweet and quickly turned the shower on for me and got me in there to continue dealing with the contractions and clean up. Meanwhile, he worked very hard to quickly cleanup the mess I’d made in our bedroom. It was after I vomited that we realized not only that we would be having the baby that day, but also that we needed to get to the hospital quickly. After I got sick, my contractions were three minutes apart and lasting a minute long. My contractions continued to pickup in intensity and shorten in time between, so Rich gathered all the belongings, pulled the truck around front and helped me down the three flights of stairs in our townhouse to the front door. Of course, there was a horrible storm that night, so the rain was pouring down and just getting from our front door to the waiting truck afforded us both enough time to get completely drenched.
After that, we were on our way to the hospital. Rich drove as quickly as he could as I continued to breathe through the contractions and tried to relax. The storm made Rich’s drive a bit harder, but it actually helped me take my mind off the contractions and pretty quickly we arrived on base at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. Rich pulled right in front and the concierge quickly grabbed a wheelchair and came out to get me. The concierge then told Rich to take me upstairs and said he would watch the truck. It was great service and I was so thankful Rich didn’t have to leave my side, as things were intense by this time.
Once I was wheeled up to labor and delivery, the triage nurse informed me that I needed to be monitored before I could be admitted. So, they wheeled me into the observation room and strapped me to the Non-Stress test machine to ensure Avah was doing well and to monitor my contractions. Protocol is to do this for 30 minutes prior to getting checked for dilation. This was absolutely the hardest part of labor for me. I was dealing with strong contractions and trying to lie still so the readings could come through. Meanwhile, I had a feeling that I was farther along than the hospital thought I was and was praying for the next 30 minutes to fly by. After about 20 minutes (that seemed like hours), a Resident came into the room to check me out. He kindly introduced himself and started talking to Rich and I about when I could be admitted. He said that I had to be 4 cm dilated and that if I wasn’t there yet, I could either go home or stay in the hospital and walk around. At this point I was sure I was past 4 cm, so I smiled and nodded (while gritting my teeth) through the speech and anxiously awaited the check. Finally, he checked my progress and it was actually funny to see his face. This Resident’s face went from confident to shocked in about ten seconds, and he very quickly called the midwife in to double check his measurements. I was 9 cm dilated and +1, so I was more than ready to birth a baby!
After that, everything happened rather quickly. They wheeled me into a delivery room and started prepping for our little girl’s grand entrance into the world. It was then that the midwife came into the room and I was so excited to see that the midwife on call that night was the one I’d seen the most during my pregnancy and already felt a great connection with. I had actually seen her the week before and gone over my birth plan with her one final time, so she was onboard with our hopes for a natural child birth. After chatting with her quickly I mentioned I felt like I had to push. I can’t describe the feeling other than saying it was an overwhelming sense of having to push. There was no denying it was time. Midwife Dugger then made a couple of suggestions about positions to labor in and asked whether we had the cord blood banking kit with us. Since we’d been in such a rush to get into the hospital, we’d left the kit in the car. Ack! At this point I was nervous for Rich to leave me since I knew I had the urge to push, but I also knew we really wanted to collect Avah’s cord blood right away, so Rich very quickly snuck out of the delivery room and ran to the car. He was probably gone for just ten minutes, but it really felt like 30. I labored for the majority of that time in the bathroom, as for some reason, that felt the most comfortable for me. When he got back, I could feel myself relax and settle into the fact that all I had to do now was deliver this baby!
I pushed for about an hour when I just started feeling like I had hit a wall. And my pushing wasn’t making progress. I went back out to the delivery room and Midwife Dugger decided to check me. As soon as she checked, she brought Rich around and asked him if he could see the top of Avah’s head. I could see the excitement in his eyes as he saw her head and that was the motivation I needed. I guess I hadn’t hit a wall after all! With the extra lift from hearing they could see her head, I really focused on bearing down during my contractions and pushing Avah out. Rich was wonderful and helped me focus on relaxing, as I was having trouble differentiating the contractions from my rest periods and was pushing through everything. I guess I was determined to get her out! After about three more pushes, Midwife Dugger and Rich said they could see almost all of Avah’s head and that the next few pushes were going to be it…so, with the next pushes, I shut my eyes and really focused hard on meeting our baby girl. Rich and my midwife coached me through several smaller pushes to ensure I didn’t tear and then finally, I felt the intense pressure of Avah’s head crowning. At that point I couldn’t control my pushes so I gave one more and felt instant relief. I also saw the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen…our baby girl emerging and letting out a loud cry to announce her entrance into the world.
They immediately placed Avah on my chest and Rich and I both just held her and cried. I couldn’t believe that warm, precious child had just come out of me! All I could do was hold her tight, kiss her and cry. It really was the most life-changing thing I’ve ever experienced. Rich and I just kept looking at each other and saying things like “She’s perfect”, and “I can’t believe she’s here!” Avah was officially born at 39 weeks on September 28th, 2012 and weighed 8lbs 6ozs and was 21 inches long.
After that, everything is kind of a blur, as I had Avah in my arms and was just cuddling her close, trying to get her to latch on as Rich cut the cord. I do remember seeing Rich with the scissors but I was so focused on Avah, that I really missed that moment for him. I do know it was a pretty special one, though. The medical team then removed the cord blood for banking and I prepared to deliver the placenta. I don’t remember much about delivering the placenta other than that it was very easy—it didn’t hurt at all and the placenta just seemed to slide out.
Shortly after that, they took Avah to wipe her off and weigh her and they addressed my needs. I had a second degree tear and did need stitches, so the head OBGYN came in and handled the stitching. It was a bit uncomfortable, but they used a local anesthesia to numb me before getting to work. Overall, the stitching took about 30 minutes and wasn’t too bad. I don’t think anything could have possibly taken away the joy I was feeling at that point. The endorphins of a natural birth were definitely doing their job and would continue to do so for the next 24 hours!
After they finished stitching me and cleaning me up, they left Rich, Avah and I to hang out and bond for a couple of hours before transferring us to the mother and baby unit on the other side of the floor.
The entire experience from the laboring at home to the service and attentiveness of the staff at the hospital could not have been any better. Literally everything went as we’d hoped and prayed it would and I am so thankful we were able to have the natural birth we’d wanted. My healing process was not bad at all and I stopped bleeding after about three weeks. The planning and preparation that went into our natural birth were absolutely worth it to have Avah in our arms after seven hours of unmedicated labor. I cannot wait to experience this miracle again! The pride I saw in Rich’s eyes for me after I delivered Avah and the feeling of empowerment my natural delivery gave me was irreplaceable. I can’t imagine bringing Avah into our family any other way, and am so thankful everything aligned in order for this experience to be everything we’d hoped for!
