I found out I was pregnant on Friday March 9,
2001. We saw our baby for the #1 time on Thursday April 24, at 11 weeks
gestation. The 22-week ultrasound on Saturday June 30 showed us that we were
having a girl. Seven weeks later, on Wednesday August 22, we looked at our
29-week-old. I had a textbook pregnancy, no worries, no complications, baby and
I were doing fine.
My due date of November 5 came and went, my
midwife sent me to the hospital for non-stress-test, ultrasound and an
OB-check-up. My blood pressure was low, my baby was sky high, I wasn't dilated,
my cervix wasn't ripe, there were no signs of labor. For the next 12 days I went
back and forth to the hospital for tests, my mandatory induction date was set on
November 19, when 42 weeks were over. I didn't want to get induced, I did want
to go natural; I wanted to avoid any risks and didn't want any unnecessary
chemicals in our bodies after taking real good care of myself (and so of the
baby) for 9 months. I really wanted to have the baby, I tried every natural
inducer in the book, had my membranes stripped on 4 different occasions (all
after 40 weeks), but nothing worked.
Friday November 16, 2001
at night, contractions started all by themselves. every 12 minutes, not very
painful, but enough to not let me sleep all night.
Saturday November 17, 2001 All
morning and afternoon same story, every 12 minutes. I'm getting tired, but my
back hurts too much to lie down. 07.30 Pm every 8 minutes, active labor started,
I have to stop doing other things and concentrate. this is not sooo bad, I can
do this..... 10.00 PM every 5 minutes, pain is intense! But manageable. the best
way for me to cope is to be standing up, and have 'daddy' rub my back, I have
all back labor. 11.45 PM husband called the midwife; she was to come to our
house to check dilation before going to the hospital, in order top avoid going
there too soon, and maybe be sent back.
Sunday November 18, 2001
00.10 AM midwife arrived at our house, checked me and I'm 5 cm.! After 26 hours
of labor! I could cry from pain, frustration, tiredness. Off to the hospital,
those 5 miles felt like 500 miles. I walked into the labor and delivery room,
she followed me with a wheelchair. 00.30 AM settled in in L&D room, she breaks
my water; in minutes I go to 8cm. A true avalanche of contractions start: every
30 seconds a contraction lasting almost 2 minutes. Did I mention I had back
labor!? The pain I felt till 5 cm was nothing, meaningless to the pain I felt
now. I have to breathe through the contractions, one on top of the other, no
rest, no breaks! I felt the baby move down the birth canal, and now that I'm
standing up again (I laid down for her to break my water) I feel a lot of
pressure and a lot of pain. 01.00 AM I cannot take this anymore! General
anesthesia is looking good right now! Off to the shower; daddy held the shower
head on my back, I breathe through the contractions, I lost all track of time,
the only thing that mattered was doing this. I was very tempted to get an
epidural, but I knew I'd be so disappointed with myself had I given in to pain
relieve. So I didn't. Any pain meds would do nothing at this point and would
drug the baby too much. So I didn't get anything. I was never hooked up to an
IV, no fetal monitor, nothing, I was free to move about and drink. My midwife
followed me about with a doppler to check baby's heartbeat. 02.45 AM
contractions start to feel different, back to the bed: she checked me and I'm
9.5 cm. 03.15 10 cm.! pushing started, after a transition that lasted almost 3
hours. Pushing felt good, I pushed through the pain. After the #2 push, baby's
heartbeat dropped fast all of a sudden, and didn't recuperate! Under 60 already
and dropping....I'm told to stop pushing and lie on my side. That's nearly
impossible to do. the OB got called in and checked the heartbeat, then said the
baby had to be out now! He decided to use forceps, there wasn't any time! The
foot-stirrups were put in place, I got a catheter (didn't hurt), a 4th-degree
episiotomy (no anesthetics, it hurt for a moment), he put in the forceps (no
anesthetics either, so yes, that hurt a lot!) and pulled our daughter into this
world! 03.25 AM Gina was born! After a 42-week pregnancy and a 30-hour labor.
She was fine! 9 lbs, 20", head circ.15", Apgars 8&9, blue eyes and a full head
of dark hair. She came out screaming!
Daddy cut the cord, I delivered the placenta,
the OB explained it to us, on our request to do so. I got local anesthetics for
the stitches, which took about 45 minutes. then they left us alone with coffee,
cake and a phone. 05.15 AM I took a shower. 05.45 settled in in my room, Gina
went to the nursery, husband went home.
Monday November 19, 2001
We all went home.
Labor was hard and long, but it was all worth it. I'd do it again in the exact
same way if I had to. I felt very disappointed about the forceps, but I knew
there's nothing I could have done differently to avoid it.
More Pregnancy
All
morning and afternoon same story, every 12 minutes. I'm getting tired, but my
back hurts too much to lie down. 07.30 Pm every 8 minutes, active labor started,
I have to stop doing other things and concentrate. this is not sooo bad, I can
do this..... 10.00 PM every 5 minutes, pain is intense! But manageable. the best
way for me to cope is to be standing up, and have 'daddy' rub my back, I have
all back labor. 11.45 PM husband called the midwife; she was to come to our
house to check dilation before going to the hospital, in order top avoid going
there too soon, and maybe be sent back.
