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January 27, 2003
In honor of Kimmi's 4th Birthday ~ I decided to post her birth story.
This was time was going to be different. With Lexi's birth I had my water broken, an internal monitor, a catheter, bedridden, etc. While she was born healthy and that's what truly mattered, I wanted a different type of birth this time around.
So with that in mind, Jeremy and I took a Bradley Method birthing class. It was really interesting and we learned a lot. We knew what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it, more importantly, we knew what we didn't want and how to avoid it. We spent weeks agonizing over a birth plan, met with the head Dr. at our OB clinic, reviewed it and actually had it signed so that no one could fight over it with us later. We made several copies of the birth plan to hand out to all "the" people on the big day and knew just what to expect this time. HA!!!
This time there would be no intervention at all. This time we knew what we were doing. This time it was going to be how we wanted. This time there would be no wires or IV's, pain meds. or monitors. This time it would be different and it certainly was!!
Kimberleigh (although at the time we didn't know if we were having a girl or boy) was due on January 24, 1999. I was feeling great, tired, ready etc., but still good enough to go to work everyday, so I did. On Tuesday the 19th of January, I went to work and came home at the regular time, picked up Lexi, started a load of laundry and made dinner. Just as we were done eating, I stood up to carry my plate to the sink and I heard a pop (yes ~ it really makes a sound) my water had broke. At first I was scared, but that immediately turned to excitement, I mean after all, this time around we knew what we were doing right?!
Germ and I finished cleaning up, gave Lexi a bath, read her a story and put her to bed, all the while thinking that this would be the last night that she was an only child. It was an awesome feeling, knowing that our long awaited healthy second child would be born shortly. We packed the remaining items that we knew we would need, made the phone calls to the proper people and tried to lay down and relax to conserve our energy. We ended up laying in bed talking about what our hopes and expectations were, how our family dynamics were going to change, what sex we thought the baby was, what we were most looking forward to, what we were most afraid of etc. To put it mildly, we weren't exactly resting and relaxing.
It was now almost 4 hours after my water had broken and I had not had a single contraction. Not a twinge, a tweak or a braxton hicks, nada ~ zilch ~ nothing. We tried to do several things to get the ball rolling. Since my bag had ruptured, I knew that I could not take a bath, so I tried the shower ~ didn't help. We walked around, performed nipple stimulation, did some squats, swayed, danced and tried to convince the baby it was time to vacate the premises. Again nada ~ zilch ~ nothing!! We again laid down and tried to relax and uh....tried some non-invasive manual manipulation (too much info??). Nothing was working, obviously this baby needed to be evicted and I was beginning to get worried. It was now nearing midnight and my water broke at about six hours before. Here's where things get a little bit more complicated.
Nothing was happening, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but to a woman who has already lost two babies, panic was beginning to set in. I knew all the right things to do, but the confidence to them was flying out the window quickly. Before I became a complete mess, Germ stepped in and said that he was taking me to the hospital. We would get checked out, make sure that everything was fine and then decide what to do. That sounded fair to me and since the Bradley Method was about Husband coached child birth, he was doing his job!! LOL!!
We arrive at the hospital and were shown to a room. I refused to let them check me and so they took some of the water still escaping from my vagina and did the ferning test. It was positive (of course), so they strapped the monitor around me to see how the baby was. Everything was fine so I made them take me off the monitor. In the 30 minutes that they ran a strip on me, I had not had a single contraction. Since my bag had ruptured, they could not make me go home and since we live roughly 45 minutes away from the hospital and it was snowing, we decided to stay. It was more a peace of mind thing for me to be there than at home. Since everything looked so great, Germ and I decided to walk. We walked up and down and all over the hospital, stopping and doing squats and when we were alone, more nipple stimulation. The only thing happening was that my nipples were getting sore ~ she was not budging!!!
At around 4 a.m. we head back to the room and allowed them to monitor me some more. Once again everything was fine, but once again, not a single contraction. We decided to stay in the room and try to get some rest. At about 8:00 a.m., they moved us to a labor and delivery room and I took a shower. After my shower I got dressed and we decided to walk some more. Before we made it out of the room, the doctor came in and asked me what time my water broke, I lied through my teeth and said 11:00 p.m. "They" have a rule that 12 hours from the time that your water breaks until they require and induction. I knew that my baby was fine which was the only thing that mattered to me and therefore did not feel like I fell under their requirement. While I tend to panic about the unknown, I know that I don't need unnecessary measures at that point.
At about 11:15 a.m., the Dr. came in and said that we needed to have a game plan. My temperature had started to rise and they were concerned about infection. This is what I had been dreading, after all, this time I was prepared, I was ready, why won't my body do what it's supposed to??? So, I put her off, I told her that Jeremy and I needed to discuss everything, that we were not going to rush into anything and we would certainly not make any decisions while she was in the room. She respected what I had to say (or at least pretended to) and left us alone to deliberate. It was not an easy choice!!! I did not want an induction again, I wanted to be able to labor freely and do what felt right for me, which was not being attached to anything. We talked and talked and then talked some more.
Finally at about 11:40 the Dr. came back and asked if we had made a decision. We had. We agreed to an induction. Once we finally made the decision I felt free. When Lexi was born, I agreed to their measures on their time table because I knew no better. That was my fault and I completely accepted that, this time I did. I knew what I was getting into and the reasons for it and I was okay with that.
It was five minutes to Noon on Wednesday January the 20th. The room suddenly became full of activity and it was exciting, I knew that my baby would be born that day and that's what became important to me. The first thing they did was perform a vaginal exam, my first since arriving at the hospital about 11 hours before. I was dilated to 4 and 80% effaced, this was good news, but I still had not had a single contraction ~ frustrating!!! Since I had Pitocin with Lexi, I knew that the contractions would start hard and fast with no buildup or time to prepare myself. As I had been awake for well over 30 hours with nothing more than a catnap on a bad hospital bed, I asked for an epidural before the Pitocin was turned on and they agreed. I requested that the epidural be "light" as I still wanted the ability to move about, but wanted the relief to be able to rest. I was hooked up to everything known to man in a short period of time and ready to go, the time was 12:17 p.m. The nurse shut the blinds, turned off the lights and closed the door, telling me to rest on her way out. Germ pulled up a chair and sat beside me, holding my hand and talking low in one of those best intimate moment voices. We were able to relax and enjoy the sound of our baby's heartbeat coming through the monitor.
About an hour later Germ got up to use the bathroom, as he came back in the room and sat down, he hit the lever on the side of the chair and shot towards the floor. I started laughing and in a shocked voice said you better get the nurse because this baby is about to be born. Germ ran into the hall and grabbed our nurse, who came in, checked me and paged everyone who was supposed to be there. She asked me to push once and then said don't do it again!! The resident and Dr. arrived, put on their fancy birthing duds and asked me to push, I pushed once. At the end of my first push, the Dr. told me to push again, but nice and slow, I took another deep breath and with the slow exhalation of my second breath and push, her head crowned. The Dr. told me to reach down between my legs and with her guidance, I was able to grab beneath Kimmi's arms and pull her from my body. I pulled her up and onto my chest, they cleaned her up and Germ cut her cord. They left her on my chest and the nurse continued to rub her, the nurse turned her over and Germ announced that she was a GIRL. It was awesome!! The nurse asked me if I planned to nurse (of course!!) and as I turned Kimmi toward my body, she opened her mouth and latched right on. We made jokes as she was nursing about how she must have refused to come out because she was reading the Le Leche manual ~ she was a PRO. At her first "feeding" she nursed from both sides and then promptly fell asleep in my arms. I was in love!!
Kimberleigh Lauren was born at exactly 1:30 p.m. on January 20, 1999 weighing in at 8 lbs 8 ozs and 21 inches long. Exactly one hour and 13 minutes after the induction of my labor and two pushes. It was certainly different this time.
I love you Kimmi ~ Happy Birthday!!!
Till next time,
Stephanie
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