Our little lady, Rory, was born Nov. 27 @ 7:12 am, just 3 days past her due date. Weighing in at 6 lb. 12 oz and 20” long.
I went in on Monday evening, 11/22, to be induced due to gestational hypertension diagnosed the Friday before. By Tuesday morning the hospital was understaffed and I had not made much progress, so I was sent home. I was scheduled to come back Friday at noon. I did everything I could (besides castor oil) to get her to come out but to no avail. On Friday we went in. I still hadn’t made much progress, so they put in a foley bulb/balloon and started me on low Pitocin. I took a bath and bounced as the contractions got more intense. Things started progressing:
Foley ball finally came out after a few hours.
Slept a couple hours.
Had some back labor.
Got into the tub and listened to rainbow relaxation – I think this is what really set my labor into motion.
After the tub I tried to do anything to get my back labor to subside. It’s 5 am at this point, and I wake Michael up and tell him it’s pretty intense and I am going to have the nurse check me and just ask about an epidural.
She checks and I am at 7 cm and says just tell me if you want an epidural. I said no… just asking. They never asked me again about the epidural knowing my birth plan and how much I wanted an unmedicated birth. I ask about the nitrous and they wheel it in. That didn’t help! Haha.
It was too hard to control my breathing and moaning with it so they took it away. They called active labor at 6 am, took me off Pitocin and I went into hands and knees position with rocking my hips back and forth. That did the trick for my back labor and got Rory to turn.
I took full advantage of the breaks in between contractions to rest and breathe calmly. During the contractions it was best for me to breathe moan through them and when I felt her coming, it was easier if I moaned as low as possible.
My Dr. finally came in 5-10 min before Rory was born. They had me turn and flip on my back because it hurt too much on my side.
4 more contractions and she came flying out right into Michael’s hands. Whole body!
The nurses said they have not seen someone be so in touch with their body and breathing, or someone so coherent. I never went into a state of being able to dismiss everything around me. I was talking through the whole thing and asking questions. I think that’s just the type of person I am.
We did have a bit of a scare after but I don’t want to scare any of you since her birth was so amazing and exactly what we hoped for. Short story: I had placenta accreta, which is pretty rare. All is good now.
I am so glad we took this class. I would not have been prepared or informed enough to know I could do this unmedicated. Thank you, Kadie, for all your help and guidance. And thank you to all the other couples for sharing everything you were/are going through.
