They say every pregnancy and birth is unique and that even your prior births don't necessarily give more than a clue as to how future ones will be. That certainly seems true for me! Ben was born in a 45 minute whirlwind with essentially no forewarning. Hadassah gave me very regular contractions for 3 weeks, then was born oh-so-gently over a 17 hour time span. Elliana...well, that is the point of this story!
I started contracting regularly-anywhere from every 2 minutes to every 8-at 34 weeks pregnant. I was scared by this a bit-really didn't want baby coming until his/her lungs were ready (we didn't find out gender ahead of time). However, given that the other 2 kids came well before their due dates I figured Tiny Baby (so dubbed by Ben) would too and went ahead and packed a bag. 35, 36, 37 weeks came and went with tons of signs of labor, some convincing enough for me to arrange care for the older kids and get checked out in triage, but no baby. My cervix remained a stubborn 1/20/-3 even as week 38 came closer. We did an ultrasound to check on baby's size, as both other kids would have been quite large had they been carried to 40 weeks. The results of the scan convinced us and our Doctor that it would not be in my best interests for Tiny Baby to be allowed to grow for tooooo much longer, so we decided to induce at 39 weeks.
Side note: I fully realize that ultrasound guesstimates of size in the 3rd trimester are exactly that-very rough estimates. I also generally believe that women's bodies are able to birth larger babies without a problem most of the time. However, I sustained a 4th degree tear during Ben's birth, and while normal vaginal tissue may stretch more than we assume, scar tissue has its definite limits. And even the low end of the weight guess easily placed Tiny Baby as my largest one, and he/she seemed determined to just keep growing in there.
As the induction day grew closer I double analyzed every symptom, tried anything I could that supposedly could start labor naturally, and questioned my body in frustration. Why was the big baby the one that was determined to stay in? Why was my cervix less dilated than with the other kids at this stage...or even an earlier one-what gives, body?? I had never been pregnant this long! And all the while I kept contracting-sometimes painfully, other times just with intense pressure. Finally I decided my MO would be, assume nothing is happening until proven otherwise. If I didn't see blood, water breaking, etc I wasn't going to be impressed or interrupt my day.
Induction day came-I tried to focus on making memories and enjoying our last day as a family of 4, but I was so uncomfortable that it was very difficult. I was halfway convinced that we would get there for the induction and they would tell me I was already in active labor. Finally the time came. We took the kids to grandmas house, then Josh and I went to get dinner at a favorite restaurant.
Upon arrival to the L&D low intervention suites I started to get excited-so many neat options to manage discomfort, and the rooms were decorated so beautifully! I still felt frustrated, as I really would have preferred that labor start on its own but I was sooo ready to meet our long awaited little one! Our awesome doctor came in and we came up with a plan. We would administer Cytotec overnight to get my cervix (which was STILL at 1/20/-3!!) to open and begin dilating. With any luck it would do this enough for us to break my water and avoid using Pitocin but we would just take it a step at a time. I let our family and our doula know to go to sleep as most likely the fun wouldn't start until morning. The Cytotec was inserted and Josh read several chapters of The Princess Bride before we went to bed.
One of the nice things about the new birthing suites is the full size comfortable beds! I think Josh appreciated not being restricted to the not so comfy couches!! I didn't sleep but that was nothing new and not the fault of the bed! After 4 hours they checked me and my cervix had gone to 2/50/-3, which they said was a great change for 1 dose and hopefully that meant just 1 more and then we could move on to the good stuff. They placed another and left.
I was checked again around 6:15 to help with decision making-3/75/-3, so for sure I wouldn't need more Cytotec! I was feeling stronger cramping so we decided to just give my body a few hours and see what it did. I send was feeling more pressure so decided to shoot my doula a text around 6:30 saying "no hurry, just whenever you are awake, I think I would like some more support."
Around 6:50 I went to the bathroom with much stronger cramping and there was bloody show! I was excited but felt like that meant things were about to pick up so I sent our doula another text saying I thought things might be happening "quickish."
Then all of a sudden I started feeling really hot and nauseous and felt like I might fall over if I stayed sitting on the birth ball, so I got on all 4s on the bed. As soon as I did, a contraction hit that I needed to moan through. I usually only make those noises at the end so that got Josh's attention! I also started shaking at this point and that got my attention! I told Josh to go find Veronica (my nurse) and tell her the contractions were starting to come on top of one another and I had a history of precipitous birth. She came in quickly and checked me at a 5; at this point it was about 7:15. Josh called Megan (doula) to make sure she was coming and in the space of that phone call I went from "we probably have some time but not much" to "oh my goodness, this has to be the end and STOP pushing on my back here and all I can do is loudly vocalize during contractions and try to breathe in between." My doctor sat on a stool talking me through my breaths, got me a cool wash rag, and told me I was doing great. She also helped get my arms better supported-my IV was in a terrible place for wanting to be on all 4s. I thought to myself, maybe we will have a baby by lunch, but I am not sure I can take too many more of these contractions as I was going from moaning to yelling to screaming during! I noticed people moving around the room getting set up and felt comforted that someone besides me thought it would be over relatively quickly.
Megan arrived at some point during all this-Dr. Hecker told her when she checked me 10 minutes prior I was at 7/90/-3.
And then, the familiar contractions on top of each other wave hit, accompanied by the sounds of a dying rhinoceros-oh, maybe that was me. I was honestly not sure where anyone was so I forced out "I am pushing" amongst the rhino sounds. Immediately Dr. Hecker was there checking and she let me know I could push if I wanted but she might slow me down once baby got to crowning (still at -3 station so I imagine she thought it would take a while).
Baby dropped all the way to crowning on the next contraction. "Whoa! Slow down!" I was told, and I did my best. When it was ok to push again, I pushed baby through the ring of fire....except not. Instead of coming on out like normal I felt baby come part way out and then slip back in. "Oh no, turtling" I thought even as I was urgently told to lean forward (still on all 4s) and felt the doctor's skillful hands pushing and pulling baby to safety. Then, a final effort, pushing with all I had...and I collapsed forward as our bodies were separated.
We both were a bit stunned I think. Initially when announcing the birth I said active labor was in the 1.5 hour range. When I went back and looked at the time stamped text conversation with my doula, there is no possible way that was true. Active labor (starting around when I felt contractions a lot more and was checked at a 5) was no more than 30-40 minutes. Despite this and the shoulder stick age, I had no soft tissue damage-amazing!
Anyway once I could finally roll over and reach for my baby, Josh checked gender and told me with excitement, "it's our Elliana Joy!" She latched right away. We are all in love! And as upset as I was about being induced, I would have been even less enthused about delivering in the car...witb 2 toddlers in the back..:and a shoulder dystocia. All in all it was an awesome experience culminating in a beautiful daughter! So grateful for the support of the members of my birth team, and use of the beautiful new labor rooms, even though I didn't have time to try most of the equipment! Oh, and she weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz, making the ultrasound guess just about dead on and she wins biggest baby (for me) by a full pound!
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