Birth Story Part 2

So I... put on my headphones and I listened to my hypnobabies sound track and then I was able to relax.  At that point my husband went to sleep. My Doula spent the rest of the night massaging my pressure points or turning me in my bed. I listened to my tapes all night and watched a simulated birth on my cell phone over and over and before I knew it morning had arrived. I remember my doula telling me, Breanne your contractions are slowing down and they are going to tell you that they want to start to give you Pitocin. Ask them for another hour and at that point your OB will be on call and we can let her make the decision. And just like my doula said, an intern for the OB who I didn’t like walked in and said she was going to give me Pitocin and I asked for another hour and she agreed.

At 7am, the hospital shifts changed and I had to say goodbye to my wonderful nurse. I was sad to see her leave because I really liked her and I understood how important your birthing nurse is to your birthing experience. I remember hating the birthing nurse I had when I gave birth to Kennedy. I even requested not to have her this time around. I didn’t remember her name but it was in my files at the hospital. Funny enough, my OB knew the nurse I was talking about even though I couldn’t remember her name. Anyways, the new nurse came on and she seemed a bit distant. So my husband and my doula started to make small talk with her and she slowly started to seem more human which helped me relax.

Around 9am, the nurse walked into my room and said your baby' heart rate is decreasing and my heart dropped. I thought this is it – here comes the C-section talk, but instead, she checked me and said you are COMPLETE!  I did it. I made it to 10 cm dilated. This was it… I could see the finish line! My nurse left to get my OB and I swear when my husband heard this he got so excited.   He buttoned his shirt and brushed his teeth. I thought to myself… hell no he was not going to look beautiful in the post pregnancy pictures and I was going look a mess. I told my doula to grab my make up bag because it’s show time. The theater major in me came back in full force.  My doula helped me brush my teeth and I had time to apply a little lipstick.

My OB came in and told me that I would need to start pushing soon, but we were going to wait for the baby to drop or something. That part is a bit vague. I remember my mother and my mother in-law coming at that point. We were all so excited.

Time to push. Pushing by far was much harder then I thought it would be, even with the epidural.  I pushed for almost 2 hours. Everyone kept telling me I was doing a good job, but it seemed to take forever. The nurse asked me if I wanted a mirror and I told her yes.  The only problem is when I pushed I would close my eyes. Apparently the baby’s head would come out while I was pushing and go back in when I stopped. So all I could see was the head going back in towards the end of my pushes.  I got very frustrated over time, but eventually I was able to see some progress. Suddenly, after some time, my doula and my OB said “this is it”…I would need to take down my nightgown if I wanted to do ‘skin to skin’, but I was in a bit of denial, so I said no… I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  In the back of my mind, I didn’t believe this was really happening. I was really about to give birth to my daughter – a vaginal birth.  Then, with that last push I began to cry because I felt her leave my body and I knew that I had done it. I did it! Per our birth plan my husband announced to the room it was a girl!!! Then they immediately put her in my arms. I’ll never forget this moment.  She smelled so good and I put her on my chest and I thought, no, I didn’t do it, we did it!  There were so many times during my pregnancy and even my labor that I doubted that this was going to happen, but my prayers were answered.  Talia had a gentle birth and she was born in a room full of love.