My memory of Camden's birth is already starting to get a little fuzzy so I'm going to try and record it the best that I can. It's going to be long and detailed because I want to remember everything about this life-changing event. It also might get a little graphic, for those of you who would rather not read the grizzly details. Here we go!
I was having contractions when I went to bed on Thursday night (March 14th). They weren't very strong or consistent so I ignored them. I had been getting contractions off and on like this for about two weeks so I figured they'd go away while I slept, like all the others. Well, Friday morning (March 15th) rolled around and my contractions were strong enough to wake me up. Luckily I had slept about 7 hours so I was still feeling good. I started timing my contractions around 9am and they were 8-10 minutes apart. At that point I had a strong feeling that this was it- I was in labor. I woke Jake up and told him that I thought we'd be having a baby that day and then told him to sleep as much as he could. Like I said, I still felt good at this point so I had some breakfast and took a shower. I was determined to labor at home for as long as possible so that's exactly what I did. Around noon my contractions were down to 5 minutes apart. I got in touch with my doula and called my doctor's office. The office was closed for a meeting so I waited an hour to call back. By then my contractions were consistently 3 1/2-4 minutes apart and I was told to head in to labor and delivery. My doula, Stefanie, met us at the house and followed us to the hospital. We left the house right around 2pm. I was still feeling pretty good at this point- active labor was really just starting. I did cry when we got out into the car and all set to go. The reality of the situation really hit me then and I was overwhelmed! I felt excited, nervous, in disbelief- a big range of emotions going on.
So we got to the hospital and l&d was really busy. We waited in the hallway for half an hour before I was even able to check in (a little frustrating considering I was pre-registered and the only one waiting who was in active labor). A nurse brought me back to a triage bed to be evaluated and Jake went with me since they would only allow one other person in the tiny room. They checked my cervix and told me I was 4-5cm dilated and they wanted me to walk around for an hour to see if I made any progress. So Jake and I roamed the halls for awhile hoping to speed my labor up a bit. This part went by pretty quickly for me- walking felt good and Stefanie taught Jake how to do counter-pressure on my hips during a contraction which was my best friend at this point (and up until the end, really). This is when things start to get a little fuzzy... I remember seeing my actual OB since she was working l&d that day. I think she checked me and said I was 6cm and she could feel my bag of water. I got my IV of penicillin for my GBS and was officially admitted. We waited a little while for an actual room but once we got in there my contractions were strong and pretty painful. My labor nurse was great, though, and got me hooked up to wireless monitors so I could still move around while they kept an eye on Camden's heart rate. I know at this point I settled into a really good rhythm for handling contractions- I would stand and rock back and forth, leaning forward on Jake while Stefanie applied counter-pressure to my hips. I got through the majority of my contractions this way. Standing felt the best for me then. After monitoring Camden for a bit and getting my penicillin I was released from the IV and monitors to get in the shower. I'll tell you what, I've never loved hot water more in my life than I did while I was in labor! It was wonderful. Jake was such a trooper and climbed in the shower with me (I'm so glad I packed him a hospital bag equipped with swim trunks!) and held me up through the contractions. He was really an amazing coach through the entire process. He would guide my breathing, encourage me, tell me when I was on the downside of a contractions, and do anything else that helped me. It was honestly incredible how in-tune he was to my pain and my needs. He amazed me! It was great to have him there to support me throughout the entire experience.
At this point, my labor stalled a little. I was in a pretty significant amount of pain and it seemed like this part lasted forever. I remember the anesthesiologist coming in and talking to me about an epidural, which I refused. I planned to have a completely drug-free, natural birth. And everyone knew that since my birth plan was in my chart. However, it's hospital protocol to have the anesthesiologist explain all the pain meds and have me sign a consent form in case there's an emergency. I was sitting down at this point and getting monitored again while I got my second round of penicillin (it has to be given every four hours and that much time had elapsed since my first dose). I remember my contractions really starting to get hard to handle at this point. I was having bad back labor which raised some concerns about Camden possibly being face up. So I labored in an all fours position for awhile because Stefanie explained to me how that can sometimes help baby turn face down. I also had a little breakdown around this time- I was feeling overwhelmed like I couldn't do this anymore. That was the one and only time I cried through my whole labor and delivery. I was checked around this time, too, and told I was 8cm dilated (we blamed transition for the water-works). After I finished my penicillin I got back in the shower. I still felt best standing up at this point, even though my feet were starting to get really sore as we rounded 8 hours of active labor. The hot water still helped a lot and Jake was awesome with helping me through this really strong contractions. After maybe 20 minutes I was feeling a lot of pressure in my bottom. Jake told the nurse and she had me get out of the shower since feeling pressure like that means we're getting really close to pushing. Now at this point the pain was basically excruciating. I actually bit Jake's shoulder during a contraction, haha. That's super funny looking back but at the time I was just in so much pain that I didn't know what to do. I didn't bite him hard, don't worry. The doctor checked my cervix again and told me I was at 9 1/2cm and was almost ready to push. My water still hadn't ruptured at this point so we elected to have them break it for me. Well, I couldn't make a decision at this point so Jake made the decision to have it broken and I'm glad he did. It was just a matter of a couple contractions after that and I felt the urge to push. I think they had me wait a couple more contractions, checked me again and I was finally 10cm and +1.
I originally wanted to push from a squatting position so the bed was set up with the bar to do so. But when I was ready to push I did NOT want to be sitting up. I did squat for a couple contractions but I just couldn't maintain that position for pushing. I tried at one point and it just wasn't happening. So I pushed from a seated position, which was much better for me. I did end up reclining progressively as I pushed since the labor nurse told me that would be best. At that point I was just going along with however I was instructed. Anyways, I started pushing at 12:01am (March 16th). I was really glad that no one was doing the obnoxious counting to ten thing while pushing. That's annoying. I pushed three times per contractions, sometimes four times. I remember being so zoned in that I really couldn't even talk. Luckily Jake was so in-tune to me that all I had to do was look at him and he knew another contraction was coming and I needed to push. He kept a cold washcloth on my head between contractions and took it off before I pushed. I don't remember a whole lot during this time besides a lot of pain and pressure and the coaching of Jake, Stefanie and my labor nurse. Before I knew it the nurse was calling in the doctors because Camden was starting to crown! Jake and I were both able to feel a little spot on his head and that was just incredible! I remember thinking "he's right there! I'm going to get him out!". I kept pushing the best I could and next thing I knew, at 1:18am, Camden's little head emerged and out slid the rest of his body! Because of the semi-reclined seated position I was in I was actually able to watch Camden be born! It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. I was in this state of total awe and disbelief. I was SO overcome with emotions and I really wanted to cry but I couldn't. It was a weird feeling. Camden was placed directly on my chest for skin-to-skin immediately after birth, which was the most important thing I wanted in my birth plan. He cried for like a minute then settled down. Man, just thinking about it makes me tear up! It was unbelievably amazing. Jake and I both just stared at him for about an hour. Amazing. So amazing. Camden was great and even began breastfeeding during our initial skin-to-skin after birth. I think this was super important in establishing breastfeeding because he has been great with it the whole time.
After our hour of skin-to-skin, the nurses took Camden to weigh him and all that good stuff. He weighed in at 6 pounds 12.6 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. His 1 & 5 minutes APGAR scores were 8 & 9 respectively. I was happy that they did all of this right in the room next to me. His temperature was a little low so they put him under the warmer for a bit. But overall he was perfect! No jaundice or anything. I wasn't paying much attention to myself at this point but I do remember the doctors being concerned that I was losing a lot of blood. They put me on a round of Pitocin to help my uterus contract and stop the bleeding. I wasn't too thrilled about having more drugs pushed through my IV but we really needed to get the bleeding under control. I also remember the nurse massaging my belly and that hurt. On a happier note this is also when I found out that I hadn't torn at all. Not gonna lie, I was really surprised by that! It hurt so bad to push but since Camden emerged rather slowly everything stretched instead of tearing. And even though I pushed for over an hour the time went by really fast for me. I didn't realize it had been that long! I was so tuned in to every contraction and completely focused that it went by fast for me.
Overall, I had a very positive birth experience. I was able to have a completely natural, drug-free birth like I wanted. I had no medical intervention, aside from the penicillin I had to have and the Pitocin to stop the bleeding after delivery. I didn't even take the Motrin I was offered when we got moved to our recovery room. My labor nurse and the two doctors who delivered Camden were great and followed my birth plan to a T. Even though my regular OB wasn't there to deliver Camden I was happy with the doctors that I had. I could go on and on about the rest of my experience at the hospital but this is already so long that I'm going to stop here. I might write another blog about my first few days postpartum, we'll see. There's just so much that I want to remember about the whole experience! It was good. And I feel really good, better than I expected. I thought I'd be in a lot more pain and just feel crappy but I don't. Even my first day after giving birth, I wasn't in much pain at all. At least not enough to take anything for it. I'm so happy that I want the natural route. I truly think that was the best for me and Camden and I'm very happy with and proud of the birthing experience that we had :]
