Sprout's Birth Story!

So, Friday, April 4th I woke up at 6am with some pretty wicked contractions. I was able to use my Hypnobabies all day to cope with them.. While they were regular, they were still only about 10 minutes apart, so I took the day to just kind of relax and gave Mike a big list of last minute stuff to do around the house.

We ended up going to bed around midnight, and I woke up at 3am and wow. Yeah, there was no question I was in labor. I was having a TON of bloody show -- so much so that I honestly thought my water had broken.

So around 11 am on Saturday the 5th, I was timing the contractions at anywhere from 2-4 minutes apart lasting over a minute each. So we called L&D and they talked to my OB and he said come on in and get checked. So we call my mom to come watch James, and head on down to L&D. We get there around 12:35pm, and get all situated in a room to be checked about 30 minutes later (btw, the nurses LOVED the oatmeal cookies and the brownies that we brought them!)

So they checked me, and it turned out my water hadn’t broken at all! I was 3-4 cm dilated, and they went ahead and monitored me for 30 minutes then said since they were very regular and strong, they would admit me.

I have to give them SO much credit -- they followed my Birth Plan to the letter -- no IV, no restriction of movement, no restriction of food and drink, nothing!

So I’m starting to get uncomfortable (and the Hypnosis, while helping me to relax, was NOT giving me the “pain free childbirth” that we were aiming for lol More on that later), so they put me in the tub. It was HEAVEN. I soooo want a jaccuzi for my house!

Anyway, while in the tub, I was getting very very uncomfortable with the contractions -- as in, it was hard to focus through them.

So after 30 minutes I got out of the tub and my wonderful nurse (Lynn -- I’m SO sending her flowers when I get out of here -- she was a GODSEND!) checked me and said I was still a 4.. So she hooked me up to the monitors again (Sprout’s heart rate kept dropping and they just wanted to keep an eye on it) and I hung out in the rocking chair.

Well, by this point, my contractions were regular and YEOWCH! Just.. Seriously, they rocked my world. So much so that my hypnosis was doing NOTHING and I had to literally get Mike right in my face to remind me to breathe and tell me how wonderful I was doing and how I could do this and how I WAS doing this and so forth just to keep from throwing myself in the floor. I kept stealing a glance at the monitors and saw that these contractions, which were agonizing, were registering as a 2 or a 3 on the monitor, and I just knew, deep down, that if I was struggling that much on mild contractions, stalled at 4 cm, I was going to be too exhausted to be able to push Sprout out on my own.

So heartbroken, I asked him if he would think less of me if I got an epidural. He said he was proud of me no matter what, and his only fear was that I would blame him for not standing up for me (there’s history there -- I felt like he failed me at James’ birth, but that’s a WHOLE nother story) .. So after sobbing through about three more contractions, I had him go ask the nurse to bring in the epidural video (you have to watch this dumb video before they’ll let you get an epidural lol).

So I watched the video and the whole time I was just sobbing because I felt like such a failure. I had planned and worked SO hard to have a natural childbirth, and here I was giving up at a lousy 4 cm because of some level 2-3 contractions. Lynn came in and saw how upset I was and asked me if it was my discomfort or something else (YES! She even called it discomfort rather than pain just like my birth plan requested! I love her so much). Anyway, I tearfully told her that I was a failure and it made me really sad. So she offered to check me, even though she’d just checked me 35 minutes earlier and I had been a 4.

Um. Yeah. I was a 7.

Lol Turns out, the damned monitor wasn’t reading my contractions right due to my position, and when she readjusted them, they were registering anywhere from 7-9 on the monitor! I literally GRINNED through my next two contractions, even though I had to huff and puff through them because I was SO FREAKING HAPPY that I was at a 7! I knew that being a 7 there was really no point in an epidural, and Lynn even told me that she would do whatever I wanted but that from everything she’d learned about me in these few short hours, she really felt like I should “go for it”!

So, we did! Hypnobabies went out the window, and I had to potty, and while I was on the toilet trying to empty my bladder, I had to call Mike in there (ok how embarrassing is THAT?!) so that I could lean on him and get him to tell me I could do it. Then I yelled “I can’t do this any more!” and immediately burst out laughing and said “Yea! I must be in transition!” lol Sure enough, I was. Lynn checked me at 3:50 and I was an 8, and then I had back to back contractions until she checked me again at 4:30 and I was a 9.

I started having back labor, so she had me get on my hands and knees (and between contractions we laughed about how it’s a good thing I’m not modest -- there I was with nothing on but a tank top with my giant white bum up in the air)… Two contractions later I screamed “I HAVE TO PUSH” and God Bless her she said “honey you do whatever your body tells you to do!” so I did! AHHHHH It felt SOOOOOOO effing good to push! I was like a crazy woman. I was just….. Roaring is the only word that accurately describes it, and after one good push at 4:45 SPLASH! My water just exploded out all over everything (ew lol).

So right after that they called the doc in, and after I whined a bit about not wanting to change positions (*pout* I really wanted to deliver on my hands and knees -- it felt SOOOOO good!), I started pushing as I wanted to (NO PURPLE PUSHING!!!) and Sprout was born at 5:05 pm! The cord was wrapped around Sprout’s neck, so the APGAR was only 7 since it took a bit of work to get some crying going, but Dr. B. waited until the cord stopped pulsing to clamp it, Mike cut it, and I was able to nurse my baby within just 15 minutes of birth (I had to wait until I delivered the placenta since I requested no traction it took a few minutes). The repeat APGAR was a 9, and the pediatrician has already checked Sprout and said there doesn’t appear to have been any issues from the cord being like that.

But they didn’t even give me that routine shot of pitocin to stop the bleeding! The nurse handed the shot to Dr. B. and he gave it right back saying “No, she said she wanted to nurse right away -- that should be more than sufficient”. I tell ya, I didn’t like him AT ALL at James’ birth but he TOTALLY redeemed himself in my eyes tonight!

So, now that you’ve all probably scrolled past all that for this part, I’ll give you the goods.

Zachary Thomas Elliott Richardson was born at 5:05 on April 5, 2008, weighing in at 8lb 8oz and 19 ½ inches long. He’s PERFECT, and nursed like a champ for a good 45 minutes before they took him to do the eye goop and such (by law they have to do it within the hour here).

I’m fine. Sore, but fine. I pushed so hard I bruised my bum, but only got one stitch (for a “skid mark” as Dr. B. put it).. I do have a fever that they’re watching but they think that’s just from childbirth in general combined with the fact I didn’t get an IV.

It’s SO NICE to not be treated like I’m sick! The nurses have been just FANTASTIC here, and it’s funny -- I had four nurses come to my room just to see the girl who did it au natural!

So there it is. Hope you enjoyed the tale :D I REALLY hope the net connection gets better because I’ll likely be here until Monday..

Oh, and had Sprout been a girl, the name we chose was Alexandra Natalie Sophia :)

Jess