WInston's Birth Story: Part 1

So this is part 1 of 2.  I know it's crazy long and detailed, but it was something that I wanted to record just for me.  But feel free to read (skim!?!) ... it's pretty G-rated ... only a couple of gory details here and there :).  Part 2 coming soon!

For those of you who don’t know Elliott’s birth story, the brief summary is that it wasn’t pretty.  So needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive coming into my second birth experience.  I knew I wanted everything to be different (except the getting a healthy baby part), so this pregnancy we switched OB’s and hospitals with the hope of a new and different experience. 

Everything about this pregnancy has been different and better.  I was equally as sick, but blessed Zofran saved me many hours over the toilet :).  I love my new OB Dr. Fakinos ~ he has an old-school single practice where he is the only doctor.  Which means he has returned my phone calls, seen me at all of my appointments, and he was the one to deliver Winston.  It was a much better fit for me than the mega-sized practice I used the first time around.  I would love to refer him if any OC friends are looking for an OB!

The worst part of Elliott’s birth was the FAILED epidural, so I knew I wanted to look more into natural options with this birth in case it didn’t work again and because honestly … doing it all the way without meds couldn’t be worse than last time around.

Luckily my amazing friend Melissa is a doula and helped point me in the right direction, not to mention what an amazing encouragement she was during the labor process via text and phone all the way from Alabama.  Thank you sweet friend!!  I checked out 2 birth books from our library and started reading about the Bradley method, doula techniques, etc..   The more I read, the more I was kicking myself for not having prepared more before Elliott’s birth.  In just a few short chapters, I already was feeling more educated and prepared (emotionally, physically, etc.) for labor.  I went into my final weeks feeling like going without drugs was a possibility, but hesitant to fully commit due to my history of long pregnancies and long labors!  Dr. F was fully supportive of whatever I chose, and we left it as a “decide once we get there”.  He agreed in advance to letting me labor without the IV, limited monitoring, etc. so that I could have the freedom to move throughout the laboring process as much as I chose.

With Elliott, I was induced a week past my due date, and had barely dilated to 1, so I was feeling really pessimistic about my ability to go into labor on my own.  I tried to think positively, but in the back of my mind I was pretty convinced that I would get induced.  We even had an induction date scheduled since I was so convinced I would go the maximum amount of time that Dr. F felt it was medically safe.

Around week 35, I started having a few sporadic contractions but nothing significant.  I tried to remain up-beat after each weekly appointment … 36, 37, 38 … when I would be hardly dilated or effaced.  I had hoped that my dr could “strip my membranes” to help progress labor more naturally starting around 37 weeks but my cervix was never even forward enough for him to be able to.

After my 39 week appointment, I had a mini-melt down of disappointment, feeling like my body was doing NOTHING like it was supposed to and I was resigned to my fate of upcoming induction.  I was also much more skeptical about being able to endure pitocin contractions, so it felt like giving up my hopes of a natural delivery as well.  It actually was a good low point for me to get to, and Adam was able to help re-focus my expectations and perspective.  We have SO much to be thankful for ~ I am able to get pregnant, I am able to carry babies full-term, I am able to deliver without C-sections, etc.  It was good for me to have a perspective-adjustment and realize how much I had to be thankful for, even if some parts of it weren't going as I’d hoped.

My actual due date was Saturday, March 31.  My mom had a flight scheduled in on the Tuesday before that, so we were making plans for shopping, eating out, etc. to help pass the time.  Mom ran a few errands (read: Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, etc.) on Wednesday, and we all went to bed Wed night anticipating a busy day Thursday ~ Adam had an important meeting in LA that morning and my 40 wk appointment was that afternoon.  We even joked several times about how ironic it would be if I went into labor on the only day that Adam had somewhere super important to be!

So …. I woke up that night around 3:30am to go to the bathroom and had a contraction.  I immediately knew that this was different, and then came another and another.  Luckily Adam had put a contraction timer app on my phone which I assumed I would never really use, so I quietly laid in bed and started timing to see if there was any pattern and they were consistently every 10 minutes.  Hooray for iPhones during labor! :)  Having a button to push each time I started a contraction was a nice distraction and place to focus my attention.

They were hurting pretty decently, but I was practically giddy laying in bed and realizing that this was really happening!!  On my own!!  No induction!!  I started thinking that the baby could even come by mid-afternoon if the pace steadily increased throughout the day.  And despite the fact that I was ruining Adam’s meeting, we might be having our baby!  Today!!

I stayed in bed just breathing through each contraction until Adam’s alarm went off around 6am, knowing at least one of us needed to rest while we could.  I rolled over with the news:  “I think I’m in labor … no, not kidding.”  I had been watching the pace of my contractions and we were still consistently at 10 minutes, with only a few that were closer together.  We weren’t sure if Adam should go or stay.  It would have been a huge bummer for him to miss his meeting if this wasn’t real, but it also would stink if he missed that whole "birth of your son" thing too :).  Tricky.   We waited until the last possible minute, but since my pace didn’t seem to be increasing, we sent him on to LA with his hospital bag in the car and his phone on "loud" in case he had to be summoned back quickly!

Thankfully mom was there to take care of Elliott all morning as I cat-napped, labored, and timed contractions through the morning.  Finally by mid-day, they started to slow to 12-ish minutes apart, and then finally to just a couple per hour.  I went on to see Dr.F as scheduled, anxious to see what he thought and what progress I had made with these real contractions!

Unfortunately I was “just shy of 2”, but my cervix had moved enough to where he was able to strip my membranes.  He sent me home saying he didn’t think I would make it to my induction the following week, but that either way the next time we saw each other would be in a delivery room!  Woohoo!

In the car on the way home, things started picking up again.  I got home, went to the bathroom, and immediately lost my mucous plug :).  Told you there were gory details :).  Adam got home from LA, and we all decided to go to dinner just to stay busy and get out of the house.  As we pulled into the Claim Jumper parking lot, the contractions were coming again more regularly.  We had a pretty normal dinner considering that we were timing contractions the whole time, and I had several minutes of eyes squeezed shut, concentrating/breathing through contractions over my Cobb Salad.  I’m sure our neighboring diners were either concerned that the baby was about to pop out, or that I was super-spiritual and saying long extensive prayers every few minutes!  We were still consistently in the 8-10 range but I was definitely hurting and unable to talk/walk through the contractions.

By bedtime, nothing had changed.  Still contracting regularly, still really hurting, but still 8-10 minutes.  We went to bed with hopes of as much sleep as possible for Adam and/or I.  No dice for me … I may have dozed a few minutes here and there but the intensity of the contractions was too much for sleep.  I took turns laboring on my left side, on my right side, sitting on the birthing ball and leaning on the bed, back into bed, etc.  It was a long night, and the pain level was definitely much more intense than the night before.  Adam was sweet to stay with me for a few intervals, though I felt like he needed to sleep when he could.

We made it through all of Thursday night with no change.  Friday started, and we got up and tried to have a normal-ish day, though nothing was changing.  Still 8-10 minutes, still contractions about 1.5 minutes long, still too painful to walk/talk through.  Mom once again kept Elliott busy so I could focus on working through contractions ... I don't know what we would have done without her!  We passed the day trying to stay distracted ~ work, watching tv, texting with friends, etc.

As we started to approach Friday night, I started getting really weary and wondering how many hours and sleepless nights of this contraction pattern I could endure.  I decided to call Dr. F just to let him know what was going on and to see what my options were if I got to the point over the weekend that I felt like I was out of gas … a point that seemed to be getting closer and closer as the hours went on!!  I left him a message around 3:30 on Friday afternoon, and Adam and I decided to go for a couple of laps around the neighborhood just to get me out of the house, change of scenery, new motion, etc.  It felt great to move once I got going … we bumped into Courtney and Kyle, got some fresh air, etc.  We should have done that first thing Friday morning, I just was so exhausted already that all that sounded good was trying to sit or lay down!

We came home, worked on dinner, and Dr. F called back around 6:30pm to talk about options.  He recommended seeing how the night went and planning to come in to the hospital the next morning to check vitals for me and baby to see how our bodies were handling the extended labor.  Or, if I was just over it at any point before then, just to call him and I could go on to the hospital and get a smaller dose of pitocin to augment the labor that was already happening.  It was encouraging to feel like there was some relief in the near future!  I knew I could do it at least one more night with an end in sight soon after.

I sat and ate dinner on the birthing ball and was really hurting … but that was nothing new.  We were still watching the timer, and mom decided to take Elliott out for a walk to get him out of the house.  I was going to shower, and just as I was getting in, Adam started looking at the timer app and realized that I was finally speeding up … 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes!, 6 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.   We were supposed to head to the hospital when my contractions were 5 minutes apart, so Adam started getting stuff together.  I wasn’t totally convinced that it was time yet, but I was so exhausted and too tired to question him so when he said, “we’re going,” … I just followed orders!  I called Dr. F back around 7:15pm to which he answered “Well, that didn’t take long!”  I explained that I didn’t throw in the towel that quickly, but that suddenly my contractions had finally picked up!  Hooray!

Adam loaded the car, and went to find mom and Elliott on their walk to tell them there had been a sudden change of plans and we were heading to the hospital then!   On the way my contractions were 3 minutes, 4 minutes, etc. so I felt good about our decision to go on.  We parked and entered at the ER since it was technically after hours.  I was in a lot of pain but was still laughing a little in my head as the waiting room full of patients who were all staring with wide eyes at the super pregnant girl who was quite obviously in active labor.  :)  I’m sure I was a site!!

We made our way up to L&D (with quite a few pit-stops for contraction swaying/moaning) and checked in.  I liked my nurse from the beginning ~ don’t good nurses make ALL the difference? ~ so I was SUPER thankful for someone I felt confidant about and that was a good personality match for me.  My doctor let them know in advance that I was uncertain about getting the epidural, so they matched me with a nurse who had lots of experience in natural birthing, and we got the big fancy corner room so I could have room to be as active as I wanted.  Hooray for people who care about the details like that … I was SUPER grateful.
  
Part 2 coming soon ... and there are lots of pictures with that one!!  Spoiler alert: here's a preview of what happens at the end ... he's super cute!!