The Story of Sarah's Birth

Told by Mom

          On the way home, I got another contraction.  I have no idea how long it had been, but decided to just keep telling myself throughout the day, "I am going into labor today."  Keeping that in my head, I went through the rest of the day.  Pete left for work about 3:00 and Owen (my son, 19 months old) and I laid down to take a nap.  I woke up before he did, and watched a little bit of TV.  A couple more contractions, with every one I kept telling myself, "Today is the day."

          About 7:00 I started making dinner, and noticed the same contractions seemed to keep coming.  I finished making dinner, and Owen and I ate. ( London Broil, Baked potatoes, and Spinach.  In hindsight, I probably should not have had the spinach with dinner if I even thought today was the day, since I knew throwing up was a big possibility.)  About 10 minutes after dinner, still having the same contractions, I had a loose bowel movement.  Hmmmmm...labor sign?  Or just upset stomach? I guess only time will tell.

The same contractions kept coming, so I decided I would time a couple.  15 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes.  Maybe I should let Pete know something was going on.  I called him at work and let him know I thought something might be going on, but that he didn’t need to leave work quite yet, because I wasn’t sure, and the contractions were still very tolerable.  It was about 9:00.  He suggested that I also give Amanda (our doula) a call to let her know I thought something might be going on.  I also called my sister Heidi, who would be coming to the birth from Orlando, and my parents.  Dad would be watching Owen, and mom would be attending the birth.  I put Owen in the tub and let him play while I made phone calls.  I was hoping he would go to bed early so I could concentrate on what was happening. 

While I was watching Owen in the tub, the contractions seemed to be coming closer together.  So, I looked at my watch and they were only 8 minutes apart.  Tonight is the night. I called Pete back at work, and he wasn't at the desk.  The guy who answered asked me if he needed to come home, and I just told him Yes.  Pete called back a few minutes later, and I told him the situation. He was on his way.  Owen was still not asleep by the time Pete got home so I tried to lay down with him, but he must have sensed my anxiety, because he just didn't want to go to sleep for me.  Pete agreed to lay down with him, and I went into our bedroom to see if I could get a little rest before things really started moving.  It was about 11:00pm. 

I wasn't in bed 2 minutes before I got a really strong contraction.  I hopped out of bed and got into the shower.  I remembered Amanda telling me that a shower is great for early labor.  The contractions weren't as noticeable in the shower, so I stayed in a while, enjoying the warm water running over my belly.  When I got out, they were 3 minutes apart, about 30-45 seconds long,  and getting stronger.  I called Amanda, paged the birth center, called my parents to tell them to get in the car, and called my sister to tell her we were having a baby tonight.  Dawn, the midwife, called back and I talked to her through a contraction, and told her we would be on our way as soon as my parents got here. 

Pete had finally gotten Owen to sleep, so he was running around making sure we had everything packed in the car and ready to go. He put on a pot of water to boil to make a strong red raspberry tea.  I was on my knees on the couch leaning over the side breathing through contractions, with a hot rice sock under my belly.  The heat right where the pain was seemed to be my saving grace.  Pete would periodically come to my side to see how I was doing, ask if I needed anything, and try to rub my back.  Surprisingly, my back didn't hurt at all through any of the contractions, and any rubbing or massaging at that point only annoyed me.  I felt bad for Pete because he was just trying to help, and I just kept telling him to stop, but I knew he understood.  He brought me Gatorade, and made sure I was drinking.  He finished packing the car and sat with me.

It seemed like it had been forever since I got out of the shower. Where are my parents?" I had him call my mom on her cell phone to find out where they were.  4 miles away. They'll be here soon.  THANK GOD.   I looked at my watch to see how long the contraction was, since when I talked to Dawn, she said they were really looking for them to last a minute or longer.  When it was a minute long, I stopped timing it.

Once my parents drove up, I waited until the next contraction was over, and made a bee-line for the car.  Mom and Dad were trying to talk to me on my way by, and all I could tell them was that I didn't have much time to get comfortable before the next one started.  I situated myself with pillows in the front seat, and waited for Pete to come.  We were on our way.  Since I knew he couldn't do anything about the bumps and curves in the road, I decided not to complain about them.  When the next contraction came, I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. 1:00 exactly.  When I got another, I looked again. 1:05. Then 1:08 and 1:11.  After that I stopped looking and just concentrated on letting my body do what it needed to do.  I was moaning through them, and vocalizing really seemed to help me relax.  Before I knew it, Pete told me we were only 10 miles from the exit.  I thought it would be the longest car ride of my life, but it really wasn't too bad!  When I heard him turn the blinker on for the exit, I asked him to please brake slowly, I was about to get another contraction.  He assured me he would, and he did.

When we got to the birth center, I waited for the next contraction, then went in and went straight to the bathroom.  All the drinking I had been doing, I really had to pee!  It was 1:40.  Not bad time considering we live 57 miles away.  Pete followed me in, and kneeled down in front of the toilet so I could lean on him through a contraction.  After I was done, I went back into the birth room and leaned on the bed, while Pete helped me through some more contractions.  Dawn came in and told me whenever I was ready, she would check me, so to make my way up on the bed, and let her know when I was in between contractions.  When she checked, I was 6-7 and 100% effaced, with a bulging bag.  Amanda and Dawn both remarked at how well I seemed to be laboring, and that they couldn’t believe they were looking at a woman about to enter transition!  The only thing I said was "This means I can get in the tub, right?" YES IT DID, so Amanda started filling the tub for me.  Once it was full enough- I got in and it was heaven!  I stayed in the tub, laboring and drinking water.  Once I remembered that we still had the tea in the car, I had Pete bring that in and I drank it as fast as I could.  I was nauseous on and off, and Amanda had some peppermint oil and a cold rag that seemed to stave it off for a while.  I was in and out of the tub a lot to use the bathroom.  I would make sure one contraction was over, make my way to the toilet, have a contraction there, then go back to the tub.  That system seemed to work well for me.  Between contractions were virtually painless, so I could move around, walk, and talk normally.

I was in between contractions in the tub.  Then, all of a sudden, before I had time to tell Pete it was coming, there was dinner.  I threw up a few times, and it wouldn't have mattered if they had gotten me the basin anyway, because it still would have been all over. (It was a pretty big dinner)  Since I was in the tub, it was now a real mess.  So, I had to get out while they cleaned it up.  I got out of the tub, and sat on a towel on the floor, leaning on Pete, with my rice sock hot and under my belly again.

When Pete got up to go to the bathroom, Amanda took his place.  When the tub was full again, I got back in, and could totally relax again.  When I would feel the contraction coming, I would let my arms float up and just release every muscle.  In between contractions, I was still talking and smiling.  I was just so happy that I was going to meet my baby tonight.  I labored for a little while longer, and noticed the contractions were getting a lot closer together.  Of course this is when I need to pee again, so back to the toilet I go. A couple contractions on the toilet, and I was back in the tub.  I told Pete it was time for him to get in with me.

He changed into his shorts, and got in the tub where I could lean against him.

There were a few more, and at the end of one, I felt a big pop.  I looked at Dawn, sitting on the couch with mom, and told her I thought my water just broke. 

The very next contraction, Anne Marie (the birth assistant) was checking the baby with the Doppler.  I was breathing through it like all the others, but  halfway through, my body started pushing.  With Owen, I thought there was an uncontrollable urge to push, but that was NOTHING.  My body was pushing whether I liked it or not.  They went to get Dawn, and told her I was getting pushy.  She wanted to check me before I did any hard pushing so she had me blow through the next contraction.  Easier said than done, but I did my best.  We moved so our heads were facing the other end of the tub, so Dawn could get a better reach.  She checked and said I had a small lip, but I could push.  AHHHHH.  The next contraction, I pushed, and my body pushed.  Dawn said "She's right there." I was thinking, "There's no way" because  I pushed for 2 hours with Owen.  The next contraction, I gave a good hard push and could feel her head turn. WOW, she IS right there. Then I started to lose control. I had planned on squatting to push, but the water wasn't deep enough for the to be comfortable for me.  I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I was crying and moving around.  I finally settled, leaning back into Pete the way I had been before.  They told me the next push and her head would be out.  BIG PUSH, and it was.  The next push I didn't really give everything I had, expecting the shoulders to slide out, but they didn't.  Another push and they were still stuck, I was starting to get a little worried, and I think I said something to the effect of  "Just get her out!" Dawn told me to pull my leg way back and push.  I gave it my all, and Amanda leaned over the tub to give some pressure to the pubic bone, and finally, we got her shoulders out.

As soon as she was all the way out, she was up on my chest.  My baby girl was here.  It was 3:35 am.  My water had only been broken 17 minutes.   

She needed some suctioning, so Dawn suctioned while we met our little Sarah.  We drained the tub, so we could save the cord blood. After a couple minutes, Dawn had us check the cord to make sure it had stopped pulsing, and Pete cut the cord. The water was almost all the way out, when I could feel the placenta coming.  It popped out and shot right across the tub with a big splat.  It shocked Dawn, she had never seen one "fly out" like that before.  Pete got out of the tub and held Sarah.  Once Dawn took care of the placenta, they decided Sarah's face was still a little blue so they would give her some oxygen to try to pink her up.  Her body and hands and feet were very pink, just her face was blue.  She suctioned some more, and gave her some oxygen, and her face was pinking up. Her heart rate was fine, and she seemed to be breathing okay.  After they decided she was fine, when we looked closer, her face was actually pretty bruised up from her fast trip down the birth canal.  

I was feeling pretty nauseous still, and getting some crazy after-pains (Nobody warned me about those! Bleck!)  I was also bleeding pretty heavily, so first they gave me a shot of Pitocin, and after a little while and I would still feel gushes of blood, they gave me a shot of Methergen, and that seemed to stop it.  After my bleeding was controlled, they weighed her.  Squirming on the scale, she was 8 pounds 9 ounces. I didn't tear when her head was born, but I did tear getting her shoulders out.  It took Dawn quite a while to stitch me up.  Later during the newborn exam, we would measure her to be 21"long, although she didn't want to straighten her leg out all the way for that measurement. 

Our little girl was here.  It was such an amazing experience, and I was so glad for it.  Our family was complete now.  Mom and Dad, Owen and Sarah.  We are so happy to have her home!