Birth Story

Our birth story starts back on Saturday, October4, 2008. Our doctor had been sending me to do non-stress tests twice a week since I was past my due date. Until then, all of the tests had gone well, but that day, the nurse had to measure our amniotic fluid level twice because it was so low. Fortunately, it was only in the "borderline" level, so they did not have to admit me to the hospital, but the level had fallen by almost half in only 3 days. Two days later, on Monday, October 6, we went to the doctor and th level had dropped even more and there was only 1 pocket of amniotic fluid left. The doctor insisted she induce us the next day. We were afraid that would happen and had discussed it prior to seeing the doctor, and requested she try induction by breaking my water instead of the routine administration of Pitocin. She agreed. As upset as I was that I had to be induced (and frustrated with my body for not going into labor on its own), we took solace in the fact that induction was necessary for the health and safety of our baby.

The next day, after checking in and getting settled at the hospital (no, I did not go into labor on my own), my water was broken at 2:45 p.m. Contractions started pretty shortly thereafter and by about 4-5 p.m.ish, I was having some pretty serious contractions about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. The nurse checked me around 5 and said I was 3 cm. dilated, which was great news to us because we were afraid that I wouldn't dilate once induced (which is what happened to my mom, who, as a result, had to have a c-section). My contractions got very intense after that and were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting well over a minute. When they put me on the fetal monitor, the intensity of my contractions were peaking off the scale, which just reinforced the pain I was feeling. My body also went back and forth between violent shaking chills and hot sweats in the matter of a split second. By the time Darwin would put a blanket on me for the chills, I was sweating again and telling him "hot!" (No full sentences at that point).

The most comfortable position for me was actually sitting on the toilet-the only problem was that the time in between the contractions was pretty uncomfortable/borderline painful, so I didn't feel like I was resting in between the contractions. To rest, I would lie on the bed for a little bit, but the lying on my side made the contractions more intense. The contractions felt like they were coming right on top of each other and I could barely get one word answers out to Darwin-I seriously thought I was in transition, but the nurses didn't want to check me for dilation too often since my water was already broken (due to the risk of infection). At around 7:30-I told Darwin I couldn't do it anymore and I needed some drugs to deal with the pain. Darwin's training kicked in and he implemented the 30 minute rule-we used the bathroom, and changed positions. Thirty minutes later, I felt the same, and although he tried to talk me out of it, I insisted that we discuss pain medication options.

The nurse checked me for dilation and I was only 4 cm! At that point, I did not think I could handle 6 more cm. of that type of intensity (had I actually been in transition, I would have waited it out), so I (rather, Darwin, since I couldn't spit out coherent sentences), asked the nurse for our pain medication options. She gave us two options-a narcotic through an IV drip which was supposed to lessen the intensity of the contractions and reduce the pain in between the contractions so I could rest. The other was an epidural. We elected to try the IV drip. She hooked up the IV and administered the medication. She said I should start feeling relief in 10-15 minutes. A half an hour later, my contractions were still as intense as before (and still felt like they were right on top of each other), so I again asked the nurse for my options. She said that if it hadn't given me relief yet, another dose wouldn' t be any different, so my only other option wad the epidural. As much as I was trying to avoid the epidural, I was not handling the pain. So, I asked for the epidural (Darwin tried to talk me out of it, but there was no stopping me at that point). Ironically, because I refused an IV when I was first admitted to the hospital, I had to wait for an entire bag of IV to be dripped into my veins before the anesthesiologist could administer the epidural, so I had to wait even longer! I finally received the epidural around 10 p.m. and had been in active labor for about six hours at that point.

The epidural took effect within 10 minutes, and although I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, I could not feel the pain. This allowed me (and Darwin) to rest for a while. At around 12:30 a.m., I was fully dilated and the baby had dropped. The nurse told us we were ready to push. Darwin looked at me and said, "this is it; let's bring our baby into the world."

For some reason, at that point, I could not feel the pressure of the contractions, so we had to rely on the fetal monitor for pushing. We pushed for about an hour, and then the nurse called the doctor. I was making progress, but not as much as they had hoped; so the doctor asked the anesthesiologist to come back to lower the epidural dosage. After he did so, the pushing went so fast! Before we knew it, the doctor was being called again, but this time, to come in to deliver the baby! Darwin was able to help the doctor catch the baby. I'll never forget when the doctor held her up and announced that it was a girl (We did not know what we were having) and when she was placed in my arms for the first time and we made eye contact.

Virginia was born pretty clean and was a nice pink crying baby. Despite the drugs, she got an APGAR score of 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. She was born at 2:44 a.m. on October 8, 2008. She weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. In total, we pushed for about 2 hours and the entire labor (from when they broke my water until Virginia was born) was exactly 12 hours.

Amazingly, I, who cries at everything, did not cry at the second major event in my life (I also did not cry at our wedding). For those of you who are curious, Darwin did not cry either (although I would have bet money that he would).