Birth story of Cecily Jane (super long version)

This is really long and a birth story, so expect a few gory details. :)


The Birth Story of Cecily Jane Merkin
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 5:06am
7 lbs. 5 oz; 20.4"

Right at midnight on Thursday, August 5th 2010, I woke up after feeling a slight gush. I went quickly to the restroom where I thought perhaps my water had broken but I couldn’t believe it. So I put on a pad and went back to bed. It promptly happened again and I had to repeat that process several times throughout the night. That was a pretty rough night for us and we didn’t get much sleep. First of all, we were excited about my water breaking but also Libby had a bad cold and did not sleep well. So we really only got about 3 hours of sleep that night. I got up about 7 and took a shower and called my midwives’ office and talked to Tanya, the midwife on duty. I told her I didn’t want to go to the hospital right away so she suggested I walk around and try to be active and then check back in around noon. After that I called my mom and several other people and told them the news. Mom had been on call since I initially realized what happened so she was almost ready to come up. Tim went to work as I wasn’t having any contractions and I started cleaning up while waiting for Libby to wake up. She finally woke up about 9:30 and was obviously still sick. Still, I loaded her and the dog, Maddie, up to head to the park to walk. I really wanted to get labor going so I was willing to walk even in the 95 degree weather! I only lasted a little more than a mile before I knew we had to head inside. I still wasn’t having any regular contractions so I was getting a bit nervous. Back at home I finished cleaning up and ran up and down the stairs a few times. About noon I called the midwives back and talked to the nurse who told me I had to come in right away. I was quite disappointed as I still wasn’t feeling any regular contractions and I was deathly afraid of being induced. I called Tim tearing up at the thought of my plans going out the window and he agreed to come right home. In the meanwhile I called our babysitter and asked her to come over to be with Libby that afternoon. Since Libby was sick I wanted to minimize the time she spent with our friends who were planning on watching her. I got in the shower and then packed the rest of my hospital bag, trying to be as positive as possible. The nurse had told me to come in immediately but I dragged my feet, not wanting to be at the hospital too early. Ellen arrived after a while and we finally left and arrived at the hospital a little after 2pm. We went up to Maternal Observation where I waited for Gloria, the midwife on duty. She talked to me a little bit and then did an internal check where low and behold I was already dilated 4 cm! She did not think I would need any kind of inducement! I was also hooked up to the monitor, which tracked several nice contractions. I had brushed those off as just Braxton-hicks contractions but had been feeling those same ones for about the past week. So I guess they really were working! The nurse came back in and asked me about a million questions before we headed over to L&D where I answered more questions and had to do more monitoring before being allowed to walk around. While on the monitor the baby’s heart rate had a few significant drops so the nurse was a little concerned. After the midwife came in and checked it out she cleared me to go walk!
So walk we did! And walk, and walk! Mom also went and got us some dinner so I enjoyed a delicious turkey wrap and some banana pudding. My contractions picked up throughout the evening and gradually become more intense. After walking and then being monitored for increments the midwife asked to check my progress again around 8pm. At this check she discovered I was still at a 4 and hadn’t made any real progress. So we talked about it and she did a little “sweep” and discovered that my water hadn’t broken completely. She asked and I gave her permission to break it the rest of the way to keep things going. After that the contractions got quite intense again and I couldn’t simply walk through them. The walking and monitoring continued, along with a few soaks in the amazing tub, for a few hours until around 2am when I was monitored yet again and I actually fell asleep for about 20 minutes. During that time the baby’s heart rate didn’t really change and I didn’t have any contractions! It was amazing. It really seemed like my body just needed a bit of a break. But the midwife was concerned with the seeming lack of progress so she wanted to check me again. I was a little worried but didn’t have any need to be because I had progressed to 8 cm!! She was relieved and so was I because I wanted to avoid any kind of chemical induction. Her checking me and breaking my water was about as far as I wanted to push things. She wanted me to walk again to try to really keep things going and by this time that got very, very difficult. No longer were we power walking through the entire hospital. Now I was limping along next to Tim in just the L&D wing, stopping when a contraction hit so that I could lean on him and hum my way through it. During contractions I found it helpful to moan and “ohm” my way through them. I also repeated to myself, “I welcome the pain, with each contraction I am closer to meeting my baby”. And it really seemed to help! About 3 or 3:30 I got back into the tub and the contractions really hit hard! The warm water helped immensely and mom and Tim stayed by my side giving me ice and wiping my face with a cool cloth. After a while in the tub it became obvious I was getting close. I could feel the baby descending and the midwife came in. I started to feel the urge to push and did so for a while in the tub. I was having trouble getting into a good position and the baby wasn’t moving down. Unfortunately I had to move to the bed at that time. So incredibly difficult! They had to practically carry me to the bed but after a little while I was able to finally push her out! The whole pushing stage took about 45 minutes, which was quite a bit shorter than Libby’s but it was still pretty difficult. As soon as I pushed her out they handed her straight to me where I discovered we had another little girl! She started crying and rooting around and latched on almost immediately. The cord had been wrapped around her neck but the midwife was able to easily remove it before she came out all the way. Gloria said that the blip in the monitoring at the beginning of my labor might have been related to that. Thankfully the cord was nice and long and didn’t interfere with her blood or oxygen supply. The after pains were much more difficult this time around and it was a real struggle to deal with those. After a good long look my midwife proudly declared I hadn’t torn at all! Not even a “skid mark”! I was so grateful and it’s made my recovery a lot faster and easier. We rested for a few hours in the room before moving up to recovery where we were very well taken care of. Cecily didn’t leave my side the entire time we were in the hospital. Everything from the weight check to the pediatrician visit and hearing test were all done in our room. It was really wonderful to have her with me the whole time. I think that helped my milk come in the day after she was born. We had a great experience at Harris Methodist and will gladly use them again in the future!
I’m so grateful that my mid-wife was patient with me and never even suggested any kind of induction. I got to have everything I wanted: I wore my own clothes, ate the entire time, moved around when and how I wanted, and didn’t even have to have an IV! I had the baby with me the entire time and the nurses were very respectful of our wishes. I will definitely use that group and hospital again!