Anders' Birth Story

It's been two months and I finally have some time to write out Anders' Birth Story....

First off, I began having contractions at 34 weeks. They would be regular, like 3 minutes apart, for a few hours then quit. Needless to say, I was pretty used to the feeling. We also had two times, once at 36 weeks, and once at 39 weeks, that we called the midwives after hours of regular contractions. Both times we decided to wait it out and try napping at home before heading into the hospital and both times the contractions quit.

On June 3rd, 2 days after my due date, I woke up with S at 4:30am and noticed I was having contractions. I timed a few and they were about 6 minutes apart so I figured it was yet another round of "practice" contractions and started getting ready for the day. After showering, playing with the pups and doing my normal morning routine I went out to my weekly coffee date with my friend Alicia and her 3.5 month old little boy, Adam. The whole time I was having contractions, but nothing remarkable.

After coffee I ran around and did a few returns at Target and then went off to meet S for our lunch time walk. We took a nice little 1.5 mile walk around the neighborhood his office is in and I remember mentioning to him that I was having contractions, again, but they were nothing major. He suggested I go home and relax, which I promised I would do.

After I left S's office I ran around for 2 more hours, wanting to get a few errands done before the weekend. Honestly, I kept forgetting about the contractions until I would sit in the car. I called my mom on my way back to our house around 2:30 and told her I was still having contractions, but that I was not hopeful at all since it felt like Baby L (we didn't know the gender) was in there for the long haul!

When I got home one of our dogs went out and rolled in the dirt, so I figured it was time to give him a bath. As I was leaning over the bathtub I started realizing that my contractions were much closer together. I figured it wouldn't hurt to sit down and time a few, so I headed downstairs with the pups to rest on the couch, watch some trashy TV, drink some water and check on the contractions. After timing them for 30 minutes and realizing they were every 2.5 minutes and lasting about 1 minute 20 seconds I decided to call our doula and let her know. She suggested calling the midwives to give them a heads up since they were coming pretty close. At that point the contractions were more of an ache than anything. I called our midwives around 3:45, and they asked me to come in and get checked because the contractions were so close together. S comes home around 4:30 most days, so I called him to give him a heads up and then got busy vacuuming, loading the dishwasher, and finishing our hospital bag. When S got home we packed the car "just in case" and headed off to the Nebraska Medical Center, only 2 miles from our house.

We got to L&D around 5:15 and were escorted into a "triage" room to be evaluated. Since they had 13 laboring moms that were all close to delivering we were hooked up to a monitor and told to hang out for a while. My contractions were 2.5 minutes apart and lasting for 1.5 minutes, but I was still able to talk through them and I was pretty comfortable. While we hung out we got to get all of our pre-registration done and chat with the nurse, who, like me, was sure we were having a girl by the way I was carrying. Around 6:30 our midwife came in to check me and I was 90% effaced, 1 cm and had a palpable bag of waters. We were sent home to labor there, but Kate, our midwife, predicted she would seeing us around 2 am when I would be about 4 cm.

We grabbed some food on the way home and got back around 7:15. I tried to relax and eat, but my stomach was starting to hurt so I decided to take a bath. I hung out in the bath until about 7:45, but I never really felt comfortable. I decided to get out and try to get some shut eye. S and I snuggled into our bed with the pups, but my contractions started picking up to the point that they were 1.5 minutes apart and lasting for 1.5 minutes, and they were starting to hurt. Around 8:30 we called our doula and she headed over to our house. While waiting I was handling the contractions by tensing up, which made them more painful, and I was starting to wonder if I would be able to have the natural delivery I wanted

Once our doula arrived she started working with me on slowing my breathing during contractions and staying relaxed. She also showed S how to tell when I was tensing up and to touch me where I was tense-my forehead, shoulders, back, etc... We tried tons of different positions, which I thought I would love, but during the contractions all I wanted was to be sitting upright on our leather ottoman. With the relaxation techniques my contractions slowed down to 2 minutes apart and 1.5 minutes long, and felt much less painful

Around 10 we called our midwife to give her a progress report. I had started getting the chills and the contractions were feeling more intense. She suggested getting into the tub and trying to relax, and if the contractions continued to get more intense to head back to L&D. I hung out in the tub for about 45 minutes, with S using our shower head to spray over my belly and massaging my shoulders. I started feeling more uncomfortable and wanted to get out and walk, and when I got out I could not stop shaking. Our doula said it was a very good thing and maybe we would want to think of heading in. I agreed, not wanting to spend the car ride over in more pain than necessary, and we left to go back to the hospital around 11:15 pm.

Once we got to the hospital we had a long walk up to L&D and I kept telling S and our doula, "I can do it, I do NOT want a wheelchair" which is a sentiment that lasted until we got into the hallway. I started walking and then doubled over with a contraction, at which point our doula asked the security guard for a wheelchair. Between contractions I felt so silly to be in a wheelchair, but when they hit it was the greatest thing ever!

Once again we were taken to triage and told it was a very busy night and that I would probably be there for 1-2 hours while a room was cleaned up. We were hooked up to the monitors and chilled until 11:45 when our midwife came in to check me, at which point I was 100% effaced, 6 cm dilated, and had a bulging bag of waters. We were immediately admitted into one of the labor suites.

Once there I wanted to get back into the tub, and from about 12:00-12:45am I labored in the tub. I started getting a bit uncomfortable and got out to move around and get back to my favorite sitting position. From 12:45-2am I labored sitting upright with S and our doula keeping me relaxed and calm. That time was a blur, but I do remember that the contractions felt "easy" and were more like period cramps. They were 1.5 minutes apart and lasting for over 2 minutes, but I was laughing and talking between them.

Around 2:15 our midwife came in to check me and I was about 10 cm and Baby L was ready to go. She suggested sitting on the toilet and pushing as I felt the urge. It seemed that as soon as I moved to the toilet the contractions got very painful. I remember asking "Isn't there something we can do?" and thinking nothing was happening and I was going to need a c-section. The pressure in my bottom was unrelenting and I was so exhausted I was feeling like I was going to pass out.

After laboring with occasional pushes for about 45 minutes my water finally broke. Upon breaking it was discovered that there were meuconium in the fluid and the NICU team was called. I wanted to move back to the bed and relax, but as soon as I got to the bed our midwife informed me it was time to have the baby. I started pushing around 3:00 am and it felt like nothing was happening. My pushes were week since I was exhausted and I was starting to give up. As Baby L started to come down our midwife could see that he was a compound presentation and had both hands over his head and arms next to his face, which made the labor feel harder and the pushing more painful. Our midwife asked if I would like to feel the baby's head, so I reached down, felt Baby L's head, which was almost out, and quickly pulled my hand back saying "Get it out, get it out!" (which S thought was hilarious) After just 2 more pushes Baby L was out and screaming at the top of his lungs! Anders Daniel L was born at 3:21 am on 6/4/10.

The NICU team rushed in, and thankfully he had not swallowed any meuconium. I remember apologizing to the midwife and our doula for swearing, which apparently I hadn't done at all, and they just started laughing. S went with Baby L, but no one had told me if we had a boy or girl. Finally, after about 3 minutes, S came back and had tears in his eyes, kissing me and saying "it's a boy!"at which point my response was "Holy Shit, it's a boy." Yep, I was 100% sure Anders was a girl up until I actually saw the boy proof.

2 minutes old

After that things got a bit hairy. I started to have uterine hemorrhaging, and it wouldn't stop. S got to spend some time with Anders, but we were all getting nervous, especially when a blood transfusion was ordered up and they were still working on stopping the bleed after 45 minutes. After multiple doses of pitocin and a strong pain killer for me, the bleeding finally stopped.

We spent 2.5 days in the hospital because of my hemorrhage, and they were long....We had a private room, but no AC, and it was a very hot weekend! Healing was going well, I was sore, but not in pain, and I escaped without any tears. The only "damage" I had was a small scratch from Anders' nails as he came out hands first. The recovery in the hospital felt quick, I was showering, walking around, hopping in and out of bed and able to entertain our first visitors, S's parents, without any discomfort. And I sure did pay for that easy recovery!

3 days after we got home something wasn't feeling right. I left the hospital peeing without any pain, and after 3 days I was hysterically crying when I would pee. I went back to our midwives and they discovered that the tiny little scratch had turned into an infection and I was sent home on antibiotics and pain killers. Sadly, getting sick killed my milk supply right after it came in (this happened again with mastitis) and it made the first 3 weeks an extreme uphill battle.

In the end, everything has worked out. I 100% plan to go all natural again for our next Baby L, which will be sometime in the next 4 years, and now that I know the feeling of Labor, I hope to be a bit more centered during the final transition. As for now...we are planning on enjoying every moment with Anders, our dogs, and discovering more about our new home state!