Our Birth Story

It has taken me so long to get this post going that I've feared that I would forget our birth story. Then I realized that the experience of delivering your child into this world does not fade easily. 30 years from now, when my little girl is a beautiful woman, maybe with a husband and children of her own, I may have forgotten the details, but I will never forget the feeling of having her laid on my stomach for the first time.

Everything started for me at almost exactly 4 a.m. on Friday, August 12. I woke up in bed with a start, felt a twinge of pain shoot through my body. I got up, thinking it was more Braxton Hicks contractions and ate a bowl of cereal. At that point, my contractions were 7 minutes apart. As the hour drew to a close, however, they had sped up to 4 minutes apart and were growing in intensity. I woke MM up and told hm to get ready to load up, IT WAS TIME.

We arrived at the hospital a little after 5 a.m. I was quickly checked in and hooked up to monitoring devices. All indications were that, yes, this was labor. MM made a quick call to my parents to tell them that it was time and that we would keep them updated. My parents, unbeknownst to me, immediately started making preparations to leave home and head here.

My contractions progressed quickly and were getting more and more painful. I wasn't ready to throw in the towel, but was really doubting whether or not I was going to make it without pain intervention. My birth plan dictated that I was going to be allowed to cope with pain through walking around and other methods, but the nursing staff could not let me out of bed until lab work came back confirming that everything was okay.

It was not. Protein in my urine and high blood pressure indicated I had pre-eclampsia. A fairly common and unpreventable condition, it can be very serious and lead to some scary things like seizures and etc. I was on the edge of the upper limit, so I wasn't being treated, but I was chained to the bed and had to be monitored constantly. We were NOT HAPPY. MM was especially frustrated because he knew I was in pain and was not being allowed to move around in an attempt to alleviate it. It was explained to us, though, that it just wasn't safe for us to not be monitored constantly.

Dr. H. showed up around 8 am to check in on us. By that time, I had dilated only 2 centimeters and was really having a hard time coping. She explained to us more about pre-eclampsia and explained that the situation required I deliver by a certain time to avoid c-section, just due to the severity of it all.

While she was there, I came to the conclusion that I was ready for an epidural. I was already getting tired, I was in a lot of pain, I wasn't able to move at all, and I was VERY grouchy towards everyone except MM. I knew that I didn't want to bring Bunny into the world with that attitude, so I asked for the epidural.

I endured the pain quite well for another 2 1/2 hours until the anesthesiologist finally came in to perform the procedure. Getting the epidural was HARD. My short height and being overweight made it very hard to place the catheter. I had to sit still through more contractions than I could count and I had to hold on to a nurse who was nice enough, but just not as comforting as MM could be, but those are the rules.

After getting the epidural, I was so relaxed and feeling so good. I still felt the pressure of each contraction, but there was no pain. Dr. H came in again after lunch to check on me and I had only progressed to 4 cm. I was really frustrated...I was ready to get things going! She decided to go ahead and break my water to move things along. 30 minutes later I was dilated to 6 cm. and 45 minutes after that I was at 10!! We were getting ready to push!

During the final check, Dr. H discovered that Bunny wasn't in prime condition for an unassisted delivery. They started me on Pitocin to strengthen my contractions which would hopefully urge Bunny to turn, but told us to be prepared for a vacuum, forceps, or even c-section if Bunny didn't turn her head on her own. I got scared then, but was determined we were going to deliver her vaginally still.

Dr. H left at that point to finish her appointments for the day and told our wonderful nurse, Sheila, that she could start pushing with me to see how things go. Unfortunately, even in our tiny town, in our tiny hospital with only two delivery rooms, there was another baby that was in a competition with Bunny to see who would be born first...and only one nurse to attend to both! I pushed with our nurse for about 2 hours, but she had to leave to assist with the delivery next door. Thankfully, Dr. H came in about then to deliver Bunny, so she took over from there.

Sheila delivered our next door neighbor, got her settled in, and ran into our room to assist with the final pushing phase. She was on my left, MM was on my right, and Dr. H was prepped and ready to go. After a while, they told me Bunny's head was sticking out about an inch and we took a break for a minute. Dr. H asked if I wanted her to cut me and I decided to go for it, since it would get Bunny here faster.

I felt a ton of pressure and we just kept pushing and pushing. In the end, I only actively pushed for 30 minutes or so before MM's eyes got big, Dr. H started yelling "PUSH!" and I felt so much pressure that I couldn't stop pushing even after the contraction ended. Before I knew it, Bunny slid out and was placed on my tummy. I saw her and immediately looked in shock at MM. I was astonished that she was here already!!

Bunny entered this world a squirmy, screaming little miracle at 5:44 p.m. that evening. It was the hardest but most rewarding thing I've ever done and MM was my partner and coach through the whole ordeal. He was by my side and extremely supportive the entire time. I felt so blessed having him there.

I will never forget how in awe I was at her arrival. She was amazing and we were so excited that she was finally here!!