Birth Story Part 1

During my second trimester, I was diagnosed with Cholestasis. Because of the potential for adverse fetal outcomes, my Cholestasis treatment included medication, weekly stress test with ultra sounds and an early induction. I felt apart of the reason I had C-section with Kennedy was my body wasn’t ready for the Pitocin induction. I decided to go a more natural rout. My chiropractor gave me three natural induction sessions that included a combination of acupuncture and acupressure.  The natural methods of induction worked because with each session I became more dilated. When I went to the hospital on the night of Jan 20 for my medical induction where they were going to put a Foley catheter over night to help my cervix dilate. The OB on call told me I was already too dilated for this procedure, so there was no need for the Foley catheter. The doctor told me she was going to break my water and I was going to have my baby that night!

This news threw me into a panic because I hadn’t rested that day because  I  thought I was going to the hospital and they were going to insert the catheter and give me a sleeping pill with labor starting the next day. I also didn’t like the OB on call, but my doctor wasn’t scheduled to be at the hospital until 7AM the next morning. I felt the OB on call wasn’t comfortable with a VBAC and that she would send me into surgery for any little reason. I remember her looking at my birth plan and saying “no” to things my OB already approved. The nurse on call could tell I wasn’t comfortable with this news and she talked to the OB privately. She asked the OB to give me 2 hours to rest and told us to call our doula. This was really great of her because 2 hours meant that my water wasn’t going to be broken until 11:30pm, which increased the chances that my OB would be working by the time I was giving birth.  This also gave, my husband, my doula and me time to rest. During these two hours I played my hypnobabies birthing day affirmation tracks over and over again and I found them so relaxing and I was able to really get rest and prepare for labor.

About 11:30, the OB on call arrived to break my water. This time around she was nicer and more reassuring. Apparently, she had delivered some babies while she was away, so she wasn’t under as much pressure and she could supervise me the way she wanted too. After my water broke, my contractions came on stronger and more regular, but I really didn’t feel anything for another 30 minutes.

I just kept on feeling like I had to go the bathroom. Then finally on the way to the bathroom a painful contraction hit me.  I remember being crippled by it. I started to use my hypnobabies techniques to help calm me and I was able to relax through the contraction. Then another one hit, and another one. They were coming faster and harder. My husband tried to massage me to help alleviate the pain but it wasn’t working. He whispered beautiful words into my ears but they were just irritating me. That’s when the nurse told my husband to call the doula because I was in active labor and she could tell my husband needed back up.

My doula came about 20 min after my husband called her, but by that point, in my mind I started to want an epidural.  These contractions were different then my contractions with Kennedy. My contractions with Kennedy were in my back and my doula was able to massage them. This time around the contractions came from deep inside and I felt like I was being split in half and I knew that massages were not going to help me. My doula asked my nurse if I could go into the shower. Sitting in the bath really helped with my pain with Kennedy’s labor, so I was very excited about getting in to the tub.  My doula explained to me because of hospital policy I wouldn’t be allowed into the tub because my water was broken. Instead she asked the nurse if could I get into the shower. The nurse called the OB on call and the OB said, “NO”. The OB said, I was a VBAC and she didn’t want to take any chances. At that point, I realized because I was a VBAC they wouldn’t let me do a lot of things to help me naturally manage the pain so I asked for an epidural. In order to receive the epidural they have to fill you with so many litters of liquid via the IV before they can give you the epidural. This seemed to take forever because the contractions and the pain did not stop.

After I received the epidural, they checked my progress. I cannot remember how dilated I was at this point, but I do remember two things. One, I was dilated more then I ever was when I had Kennedy and two, I was progressing fast enough that there was no talk of Pitocin. In my first birth, soon after I received the epidural things went wrong, so I wasn’t able to totally relax right away. So I...

End of Part 1