The Birth Story

Graham tells me this post needs a preface. Folks, this post is ridiculously long. But I just wanted to document everything! It isn't very graphic but consider yourself warned! And maybe go grab a snack and a cup of coffee in case you need to be refueled partway through....

The last few weeks of my pregnancy were really, really hard. I had drafted the beginnings of a post to summarize my thoughts and how I was feeling but never published it because it felt so negative. But I will include it now because it is all a part of "the story."

Written 8/28/11:
"This post is not going to be glamorous and it probably is not going to be very uplifting. I am just needing a space to vent and process the thoughts whirling in my head.

Man oh man has it been a rough few weeks over here. And for no specific or earth-shattering reasons in particular either. I blame hormones! It is nuts what they control! Beyond the obvious emotional impact, they have been wreaking havoc on the rest of my body in the form of bloody noses and bleeding gums. I can tell they are streaming through my veins at full force!

I have to be honest and admit this pregnancy has taken a toll on me and I am so ready to be done. I told Graham over breakfast this morning: "You know how they say that some people just have this amazing glow when they are pregnant? And they just do pregnancy so well? Well, I realized that I am NOT one of them!" He very sweetly reassured me that he's pretty sure when people talk about the "pregnancy glow," they aren't talking about women in their 40th week of pregnancy. It just isn't the most wonderful of times and that's the truth of the matter."

That's as far as I got. But I'll add a bit more that I'm sure would have made it in the post had I ever sat down and completed it. The month of August was near torture for me. I felt baby (I have to refer to her as "baby" rather than "Emma" when I think about my pregnancy because I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that they are one and the same!) drop early in the month which wreaked total havoc on my already-sensitive digestive system. I felt bigger than a whale, had very few shirts left that didn't leave belly hanging out, and was feeling like a horrible mother because I was just too dang tired and huge to get down on the floor and play with Isla for any length of time. I was over the recommended weight gain goal for a healthy pregnancy and I was feeling super sensitive and guilty about it and just wanted to be DONE!

I had my last scheduled OB visit on Monday, August 29th, 2 days before my due date. Earlier in the pregnancy, when I was making all my appointments, I refused to make a 41 week appointment because I did NOT think I would need it and my doctor said he was ok with that. Graham had technically started his paternity leave on August 25th because we were totally expecting an early baby (I will NOT make that mistake again--I set myself up for major disappointment). But when August 26th rolled around and we still had no baby, Graham started calling into work on a day-to-day basis to get added back onto the schedule. Of course he had to work during my appointment so I went in armed with a list of questions to prepare us for how my doctor manages the end of pregnancy (since we never really had done this before with Isla arriving 2 weeks early). I left my appointment that morning with my name on the books and paperwork in hand for an induction on Friday--totally not what I had planned!! I called Graham and immediately burst into tears. Friday would be September 2nd, and I'd only be 2 days late if we went with the ultrasound due date. What would I tell people? Certainly they would question me and wonder why on earth I was being induced so soon after my due date.
 
My doctor had checked me and said I was at a "generous 3 1/2 cm" and again said I was "so ready" he wasn't sure why I wasn't in labor at that exact moment. While he was checking me, he did a quick loosening of the membranes. I didn't ask him to and he didn't tell me he was going to do it until he was in process. It sort of cracked me up because some people would have a total cow about that kind of thing but I didn't care. I honestly think he knew it was all it would take to get things started.
 
But back to the induction thing. I merely asked the question of when he typically starts thinking of inducing and then he quickly jumped to talking about how I was "very inducible" given my current state and then mentioned possible dates and told me to get dressed and then he'd come back with his calendar. Ahhhhh! My heart started skipping beats and I was freaking out and thinking "Wait! That's not what I meant! Or at least, I don't think it was. Ahhh! I don't know what I think. I just want to do what's best for the baby."  After I got dressed, the nurse came in with a slip of paper and told me I was on the schedule to be induced on Friday. Whoa. Just like that? She also proceeded to say that my doctor told her I definitely wasn't going to need it (because he just knew my delivery was imminent), but that they'd just schedule it anyway since I didn't have another office visit on the books. I think that's why he didn't spend more time discussing it with me-he knew it would be a moot point.
 
Anyhow, I left the appointment feeling slightly put off (even though I love my doctor) and totally overwhelmed and unsure. My doctor had estimated my actual due date (given my cycle length) to be more like August 28th which would make me closer to a week overdue come September 2nd. He also said that this baby was "bigger than Isla, but not big" so I knew we didn't want to let him/her overcook too much. But I was also acutely aware that we were approaching a holiday weekend (Labor Day) and if he didn't induce me on Friday, the next best option schedule-wise would be Tuesday which was a 4 day difference. Ooooh. So annoying. The nurse also mentioned that it might actually be a good idea for me to be induced in a controlled environment so that I would be sure to receive adequate antibiotic coverage given my Group Beta Strep (GBS) positive status. With all of these arguments made, I swallowed the lump in my throat and decided to "cross the bridge when/if we got there" as to whether or not to induce. Graham and I agreed we'd reassess how we were feeling on Thursday night and go from there.
 
Almost immediately following the "loosening of my membranes," I started having dull cramping in my stomach accompanied by bleeding. I went on a nice long walk with a good friend in hopes of "getting things going" and continued to go about my day. The cramps lasted most of the day and at times seemed to be getting stronger but nothing that I would classify as an actual contraction. By late afternoon, the aches were pretty much gone altogether. Darn!
 
Of course this was the day that our Home Owner's Association decided to come out and fix our leaky outdoor faucet and they told us that we needed to be around for it since it would involve shutting our water off. I told them I'd do my best to be home but that I was very pregnant and things could happen anytime. The look on our property manager's face was priceless when he knocked on our door to start the work. He looked at me as if I was about to drop a baby out on the kitchen floor at any given moment (little did I know that I actually was!) He got to work on the faucet only to have the water pipe behind it break off in his hand (it was that weak). He informed me that this meant the 1 or 2 hour job he was anticipating would now take 5 or 6 hours. Awesome. I refrained from telling him that I was experiencing cramping as I'm sure he would have nervously run the other way.

The pipe was repaired, Graham came home from work, we ate dinner and put Isla to bed. Graham went upstairs to read and I laid on the couch to watch tv and veg out. Around 9 PM, I realized I was having contractions and that they actually seemed to be coming fairly consistently. I decided to start timing them, just for fun. After a half hour of contractions that were 5 minutes apart or less, I decided I'd better go upstairs and tell Graham we might not be sleeping much that night. Of course he'd was already totally out when I went to tell him (and he never goes to bed early!!!) so I had to wake him up to tell him something was starting. We debated whether to make a call to our friends Jeremy and Rachel and transfer Isla to them before they went to bed and just hope things continued to progress or wait until we knew for sure that this was really "it" and wake them up to drop Isla off. By this time, the contractions were getting stronger but still totally manageable and so I told Graham to go ahead and call them. Then I started to shake and this is when I knew for sure that baby was on the way. I'd experienced the same shakes due to adrenaline surges after my water broke with Isla.

We started running around and packing some last items into our hospital bags. I called Overlake to make sure they did indeed want us to come in right away given my GBS + status. They didn't sound the least bit urgent but told us "we probably should come in." I jumped in the shower to freshen up (you never know how long it will be before you get to shower again!), Rachel arrived to pick up Isla and I made Graham help me empty the dishwasher and tidy up the house (definitely can't come home to a messy house!) I was still sort of buying time to make sure my contractions were coming regularly because there were times they seemed to be spacing themselves out.

We took off for the hospital and Graham made me paranoid in the car by asking when we were halfway to the hospital "Have you even had a contraction yet while we've been in the car?" But the contractions continued to get stronger even if there were some that were spaced out a bit. Then they'd randomly pick up and start happening every 2-3 minutes.

We arrived at Overlake at about 11 PM. They took my back to triage and hooked me up to the monitors to check things out. They gathered my info (and the fact that I was 3 1/2 + cm dilated in the office that morning) and decided to check me. Our nurse, Alyson, who also happened to be the charge nurse, said I was just barely at 3 1/2 cm and only 90% effaced (my dr had said I was 100% effaced at my appt the week prior). She questioned whether I'd been having a contraction when he checked me and I said I couldn't remember. Alyson said she was going to have me walk around for a half hour and then check me again to see if anything had happened before they admitted me since I "wasn't progressing." I was totally caught off guard and reminded her that I was GBS+ and needed to make sure I got antibiotics in prior to delivery.

I was NOT feeling like walking at this point and so opted to lay on the triage bed and try to relax between contractions as I was pretty tired and awfully comfy (all things considered) in the reclined position. Of course, over the next half hour, the contractions started getting pretty gnarly, making any and every position uncomfortable. We were still really confused about why they weren't admitting me and getting the antibiotics started though.  I couldn't have been happier when my doctor popped his head in around midnight. I sort of laughed and said "Long time no see!" I totally had an "Ah hah" moment where I realized that he must have just known I was going to go into labor that night (when he was on call) after loosening my membranes in the office...

I was so thankful when he sort of sternly told my nurse that I was to be admitted and started on antibiotics. It was then that our nurse (who ++remember was also charge nurse) told us that they had no open beds. OHHHHHH! NO WONDER!!! And...wait a second...no beds??? Ummmm....

Alyson started my IV which was a total breeze (if you're recall, having an IV was my biggest fear when I was pregnant with Isla--ha--little did I know that there would be worse things like ummmm....LABOR!!)Anyway, I actually found the coolness of the IV fluid entering my arm to be quite soothing (weird? yes.) Or maybe it was just that it was a nice distraction. Antibiotics were hung and the contractions continued to worsen. Graham turned on some Jim Brickman piano music and I just laid on my side on the triage bed, trying to sleep between contractions. Anytime one would come, I would start to squirm and try to sit up or change positions and breathe only to realize that absolutely nothing made the pain any better. Meanwhile, the lady on the other side of the curtain who was sharing the triage room with me was moaning and groaning as if death was imminent. At first it wasn't so bad but after awhile, the sounds actually began to nauseate me.

After laying there for a bit, Graham started to notice that my contractions were getting further apart and so urged me to get up and walk. I begrudgingly obliged. We only made it one time around the post partum and labor and delivery loop. The staff was hustling and bustling about and wheeling patients every which way. I quickly discovered that being on my feet was extremely uncomfortable as the contractions seemed to be coming every 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Every time one would hit, I would grab the bar lining the hall and hunch over, trying to breathe but mostly trying not to scare any passersby. It seriously took us over 20 minutes to make the short loop because the contractions were coming so frequently.

I gladly returned to "my" triage bed and laid back on my side. By this time I was in a lot of pain and was beginning to second guess whether I could actually do this. I distinctly remember Alyson coming to check on me and laying a hand on me during a tough contraction and telling me I was doing so awesome. I thought that might annoy me but her quiet presence was actually quite soothing. My "roommate" was wheeled out in a wheelchair (only to subsequently deliver as soon as she got to a room as I was later told). The contractions were coming super fast and furious and it was then that I decided I did not need to try and be "the hero" and that one dose of pain meds would be ok.

We called Alyson in and told her I wanted a half dose of Nubane to start. I think it was about 1 or 1:30 AM by this time. She said she needed to check me first to make sure I wasn't at 10 and ready to push or anything and she said I was at a 6. She told me how good of a job I was doing and then sort of outlined her plan: "I think we'll give you a dose of meds, get you into a room and then have a baby in an hour."

Have a baby in an hour?! What?! Both of us were wondering how she could possibly make that prediction especially given the fact that I was only at a 6. Aren't I only supposed to dilate ~1 cm an hour? Anyway, she couldn't have been more spot on. It's like she does this for a living or something. Maybe she could tell by the strength and frequency of my contractions or by how I'd gone from 3 1/2 to 6. Whatever the case, she knew her stuff!

She gave me a 1/2 dose of the IV Nubane and it sort of did something but not much. I asked her how soon we'd be able to determine whether I should have the other 1/2 dose and she said that if I wanted it, I should probably have it now as I couldn't get it too close to delivery (which happened with Isla). I opted to go ahead and have another 1/2 dose and what a wise decision it was! I immediately started to relax. Don't get me wrong, the pain was still there (!!!) but I was sort of able to sleep/"go to my happy place" between contractions.

The contractions continued nearby on top of one another when it hit. "Uh oh!" I exclaimed. "I feel like I need to push!" Then commenced a complete flurry of activity. Poor Alyson was on the phone in seconds and cheerfully reported that a bed had just opened up 10 minutes prior. She asked me if I could get in a wheelchair but by this point the contractions were too hard for me to sit up so she opted to roll me down the hall on a stretcher. She had someone page my doctor and he later told me he had to have the nurse repeat my name 3 times because he couldn't possibly believe I could be ready to deliver already. Another nurse came into the room to help gather supplies and both her and Alyson were running around trying to get the warmer on and the cart set up for my doctor.

Meanwhile, I was really feeling the need to push so said something like "Ummm, what am I supposed to do with these urges!!?" Alyson told me I could push lightly, just enough to relieve the pressure. I did so but tried my best to hold off as I was worried baby would shoot out across the room before anyone was ready. It took about 5 minutes for my doctor to arrive but when he did, he quickly broke my water (such a weird feeling--it seems like a ridiculous amount of fluid and so warm too) and then the real pushing began.


Almost immediately, Alyson said "The head is right there!" I misinterpreted her to be saying the head was out and was thinking Holy cow that was easy! Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that easy but really I can't complain. A few more pushes later and the head really was out! And then I think only one more hard push and out came the rest of her at 2:36 AM. My first thought was that we'd had a boy and I'm not sure if that's because I saw the umbilical cord or what. Then someone announced "It's a girl!" and I made some sort of joyous remark that I don't recall. They placed her on my chest and showered me with millions of compliments about how I did such a good job. They kept saying how they couldn't believe I delivered naturally (they don't count the Nubane I guess) and with such ease. I realize that these nurses see babies born every day but they seriously made me feel like I did something amazing. They were so affirming and positive-it blew me away and made me feel like a superstar.

Alyson said I pushed for about 5 minutes total and after we weighed her and realized how big she was, she kept telling me I was "just made to birth babies!" I'm not quite sure how I fit a 9 pound, 8 ounce baby inside of me, but it sure explains why I was SO UNCOMFORTABLE those last few weeks!

After hearing her measurements, we began to discuss name options (yes, we were still undecided). The name we were going to use for a girl didn't seem to "fit" and Graham really wanted her to have a feminine name given her large birth weight. We threw around a bunch of our top names and finally he just wrote "Emma Grace" on the whiteboard and said "That's it!" Emma had been on our list at one point but was eliminated due to its supposed popularity. When we asked Alyson if she'd seen a lot of Emma's she said she hadn't and that it seemed to be more common 5 years ago. So there you have it. Emma it was.

My labor start to finish was 5 1/2 hours and we only spent 3 1/2 hours in the hospital--I'll take it! Unfortunately this meant I didn't get the antibiotics in soon enough and they had to watch Emma for 48 hours after delivery. But other than that, I'd take a quick delivery any day! Somehow I managed to only suffer a 1st degree tear this time around (I think I had a 2nd degree w/ Isla) so all around this birth was faster and "easier" I guess you could say. Although I found that even though I pushed less this time around (I think I pushed for 10 minutes with Isla), it was definitely harder and more painful. And the stitches afterwards were also more painful (maybe because the Nubane had long worn off?)


The staff later told us that a total of 11 babies had been born between the time I arrived at the hospital and the time Emma was born. Eleven babies is usually the total number they have in a day, not in a 3 1/2 hour time frame! No wonder they didn't have beds! Graham's coworker who was working on his floor that evening told him that at one point, she heard them announce over the hospital loudspeaker "Any obstetrician in the house, please report to labor and delivery immediately." CRAZY! I guess they were desperate.

All in all, it is pretty wild to compare the similarities between Isla and Emma's births. Labor started on a Monday with both and then both were born on a Tuesday. Both were born late August on days when the floor was super busy. We were assigned the charge nurse both times (who usually doesn't take patients) since they didn't have any other nurses available.

That night was a wild ride but I look back on it with pride. Nothing ever goes as expected (hello! I didn't even get a room until 10 minutes before Emma arrived!) but I was quite pleased with our experience nonetheless. I no longer feel the need to try and go completely naturally. I really like the way the Nubane works for me and I would opt to do it again in the future.

Almost immediately following Isla's birth, Graham, totally in awe, said "Let's do this 4 times!" At the moment, I couldn't even fathom the idea. But now that I have these two precious girls, I think I just might be up for the challenge!