Beware.....I'm Long Winded! :)

Edens Birth Story

I went to the Dr on Tuesday August 5th for a scheduled check up at 16 days past my due date. I was in a delima because I knew I didn’t want to be induced and that my hearts desire was to go into labor on my own but I also was REALLY done being pregnant. I went in at 2:50 to see Dr Ransom and I was 2 cm dialated just as I had been for the past month or so. This was discouraging, but she did say that she felt like if I went in and got Cervidil (a cervical ripener) that she was sure that I would not need pitocen and could still have my natural delivery and water birth. This was, of course, up to me. I could still go home and wait it out. Seeing as Ransom was confident that I just needed a kick start I chose to go in that evening for cervidal. This can take up to 12 hours and I figured I could sleep through the night while it worked and maybe things would pick up in the morning. No matter what happened though I would be leaving the hospital with a baby, there was no turning back. J Ransom called and reserved the water birth room and we were set to go! I got to the hospital about 5:45 pm and got all checked in and settled. The nurse came in at 8pm to give me the Cervidil but checked my dilation first. Turns out I was now 4cm dialated and the cervidil would not be necessary. J YAY!!! Now I just had to wait and see if I could continue to dialate. I called my support team (My doula Christie, Des and Sarah and Elizabeth…..oh wait, she moved to North Freakin Carolina…lol) and told them the situation and they could come now or whenever I felt like I was really progressing. By 11 that night everyone was there and now we were just waiting to see what my body would do. We spent the next few hours walking up and down one straight hallway in order to keep my contractions going. Of course as soon as I stopped they stopped. Grrrr! Dr Ransom eventually suggested using a breast pump to simulate nipple stimulation. This also worked great as long as I was not too relaxed. As soon as I would drift off or relax too much all contractions would stop. By 7 am I had had an hour of sleep and was exhausted and extremely frustrated!!! Ransom came in and I finally just gave her the go ahead to break my water in order to get things going. I was fairly confident that this would not only work but would have me progressing quickly. I also knew that once my water was broken that the intensity of the contractions would get MUCH worse but at this point this was my last option before pitocen. By 8am Ransom came in to break my water. Apparently even the bag was stubborn because she had a hard time breaking it. J I must have done something right cause it was very healthy. Lol! At this point I was between a 5 and 6 cm, baby was -2 and I was 80% effaced. They knew that things would start progressing now so they stated getting the tub ready etc…. It took a good hour or so before I really started feeling like I was pretty uncomfortable with contractions. I got in the tub at around 9:10 and my contractions were lasting about 75 seconds and pretty intense. At this point I was still handling the contractions okay but I was in a much more serious mood. J At 10:35 they checked me again because I felt like I was going to lose it!! I was really nauseated and didn’t feel like I could handle it anymore. J I was a 9 at this point and 20 minutes later I was fully diallated. Dr Ransom came to check me and although I was pushing and she said that the baby was right there I could tell that it was not! Something seemed really wrong with how she checked me. Everytime I pushed it LITERALLY felt like I was going to break my tailbone and so pushing into the pain did not feel natural. After pushing and not getting anywhere for 35 minutes I decided to get out of the tub to cool off for a few minutes. Although my intention was to get onto the bed it took a few contractions to get there. I ended up on the floor on my hands and knees for a while. As soon as they got everything from the bed underneath me on the floor I decided to move to the bed. Lol! I am sure that the nurses were thrilled with me at this point. I was also making a fool out of myself by cussing and screaming and then apologizing. Lol! J Once I got on the bed Dr Ransom realized why the baby was not moving down. She was posterior in a non vortex position which apparently means that she was sunny side up and presenting brow first instead of the crown of her head. Her nose was stuck on my pubic bone so my pushing wasn’t doing a whole lot of good. I was SOOOOO exhausted and at this point was ready to give up and asking for a c- section. I wasn’t getting any break from the pain because in between contractions Ransom had her hand in there trying to bring the baby down and stretch me. Good Lord it HURT!!! At some point I started asking to take a nap, lol. I laid on my side ( I think this helped move her abit) and must have drifted off for a minute or so until a contraction must have caused my body to push. I was so incoherent that I pushed through the bone splitting pain and pushed her all the way down and out. Thank God! J All I remember is them telling me to wait and that was Soooo not happening….this baby was coming out! Lol! With one more push I heard someone say “it’s a girl” which let me know that she was here and everything else was bearable! They laid her on my chest at 12:19 so that I could meet this little angel that I had waited for my whole life. Through all of that I didn’t tear at all! Dr Ransom is my HERO!!!! So although it was difficult and seemed unbearable for a little while I would do it again the same way in a heartbeat. For one, if I had had an epidural I would have ended up with a C Section and I am pretty sure if another Dr was delivering I would have had one as well but God was in Control an I am so thankful for every detail He put in place! J