I still cannot believe that I made this beautiful tiny human and brought her into the world. Here is my birth story. {This post is pretty long, so thanks for reading.}
So it all started when I was 37 weeks pregnant and my OB told me I was already 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was pretty excited that things were already moving. She was convinced that things would progress quickly once labor started. That week I felt my first twinges of contractions. I wondered what I was feeling because I hadn’t been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions so far during the pregnancy. By the way, BH contractions SUCK. Whoever said that “most women don’t even feel them” was a big fat liar. We went to the hospital so I could get checked out and I was admitted because my contractions were coming pretty regularly. But the BH contractions eventually stopped so I went home. First false alarm! Little did I know, there would be many more. From then on, I experienced BH contractions every day but we still waited for our little one to be ready to arrive.
At 38 weeks, Paul and I were having a lunch date and I started to feel a trickle. I thought my water had broken but we continued our day to see if anything progressed. I eventually we went to the hospital to verify whether my water had or had not broken. I was still experiencing strong and regular BH contractions about 10 minutes apart but they confirmed that my water hadn’t broken. False alarm number 2! I went home with my tail between my legs because I felt silly for coming all the way in just to be sent home. Thankfully, the OBs and L&D nurses says it’s very normal for first-time mothers to come in to the hospital multiple times before actually giving birth.
When I was 39 weeks along, I was at my non-stress test and I was experiencing very strong contractions regularly about every 4 minutes. I was sweating and very uncomfortable so I went back to L&D to be checked. About an hour later, my contractions slowed down and I was sent home AGAIN. False alarm number 280,984. At this point I was feeling hopeless and frustrated. I felt like I was never going to meet my little girl and hold her.
My BH contractions kept coming day after day but I was trying to stay calm while waiting. I baked some goodies and took a lot of baths. At 40 weeks {our due date, yay!} I went to another OB check-up and had my membranes stripped. My cervix was even more effaced and it had moved into a good position. I finally had hope that our little girl would be coming very soon!
At 40 weeks and 5 days I woke up to extremely strong contractions. Throughout the day they were becoming progressively stronger and at around 3pm they started coming regularly every 8-10 minutes. However, doubt set in again because I had experienced regular and strong contractions before and I was convinced that they would dissipate eventually, just like every other time. But on some level, I knew these were different. They would take over my body and I had excruciating pain in my lower back.
Paul convinced me to call the birth center and they told to come in. By the time we reached the hospital {about 4 miles away} my contractions had become so intense, that I was screaming through each one and they were coming every 4 minutes. I went to the triage room but they didn’t even try to monitor my contractions and went straight to checking my cervix. I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced and I was finally admitted to have my baby. Holy moly! I used that new adrenaline to try to get through the pain. My contractions were coming every 3 minutes and lasting for a minute at a time. I felt like my sacrum was breaking from the inside but I was determined to labor naturally for as long as possible. Back labor was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced or could have ever conceived.
At that point, I was projectile vomiting and Paul was starting to panic seeing me in that kind of pain. At around 11 pm, I tried some fentanyl to take the edge off. It helped at first, but even with a dose every 20 minutes, I was starting to feel incredibly rigid and I wasn’t breathing through my contractions. The pain was making me convulse and I felt like I was losing it.
They checked my cervix again and I had not dilated any more since they checked me at 6 pm. I cannot even describe how hard that was to hear. I couldn’t believe I was in THAT much pain and I still had 6 more cm to go. My hopes were to have as natural a birth as possible but the pain was preventing me from breathing. With the help of Paul and my mother, I was able to see that what would be best for me and the baby. I needed to breathe and relax through the next parts of labor to get ready for the marathon of pushing. At around midnight, I got an epidural and it was one of the best decisions I had ever made. I was finally able to breathe normally and Emma’s heart rate was responding well to my more relaxed state. I was then able to rest for about 3 hours.
Paul continued to hold my hand and reassured me that baby Emma was on her way. The contractions were coming on even stronger and closer together and were lasting over a minute long but I was able to focus on breathing, relaxing my body, and resting for the next phases of labor. At around 4 am, I started to feel the contractions through the epidural and I was convulsing and vomiting again. The nurse said that it was a good sign that I was in transition and that I should be close to pushing soon. Of course, I still had doubts that things were moving but I tried to breathe through this phase. At around 4:30 am, the OB checked me again and lo and behold, I was 10 centimeters dilated and fully effaced! I would be ready to push!
