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Rex's beautiful birth
Rex’s Story
Getting pregnant with Rex was no easy feat. After 4 IUIs, 3 surgeries and 2 IVFs we finally found ourselves expecting a child. It took so much medical technology and intervention to create Rex and yet, it took absolutely no medical intervention to give birth to Rex.
I went to bed at 40 weeks and 5 days wondering when my baby would arrive. I woke up the following morning at 4 am to use the bathroom. I noticed a fair amount of mucousy discharge and at first thought my EPO suppository hadn’t absorbed and I was a bit miffed. I got back into bed and fell asleep. Shortly afterward I woke and realized I was having sensations in my lower abdomen and lower back. I started to measure the length of each sensation by counting – I didn't want to start obsessing over the length and spacing of contractions too early in the game. They were about 20-25 seconds long and seemed close together. I got out of bed at 5 am to time how far apart the contractions were – about 4 minutes. I started to drink a lot of water thinking that I must be dehydrated and that getting hydrated would space out the contractions. By 9 am my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. I needed to focus on my breathing through each one. I called my midwife and she thought I was in early labor and suggested going for a walk. She thought the contractions would space out. I really did not think a walk would be a good idea. I thought I could have a long day ahead of me and I hadn't even showered yet.
Jeremy went to work to clean up his desk and planned to be home for noon. I got in the shower at 9:30. The shower felt good, but the contractions began to feel more intense and instead of just breathing through them I found that I was moaning through them. I often needed to lean against the wall as well. My showering and dressing activities lasted 45 minutes and during that time I spent at least 3 contractions on the bathroom floor. I heard the phone ring, but knew I couldn't get to it before voicemail picked up so I just let it ring. I realized that I needed to prioritize my tasks and that I would need to complete them on my own schedule. I called Jeremy at 10:30 and told him he needed to come home. I got on our bed and alternated between being on my elbows and knees during a contraction and on my side during my rest period. When J got home at 11:00 he began to apply counterpressure to my lower back during each contraction, which was very helpful, and he timed the contractions for about an hour. In between contractions he finished packing my bag for the birth center.
A little after noon Jeremy called the midwife and told her how I was doing. Seeing as I was GBS positive we decided to L&D for my first dose of antibiotics, be evaluated and potentially be sent home to labor some more before being admitted to the birth center. Jeremy packed the car and called our doula, Cynthia, to explain our plan. We decided to pick up Cynthia on the way to the hospital. By this point I was kneeling at the side of the bed on a pillow and stretching out my back during each contraction.
The car ride was very challenging. I sat huddled over in the backseat and moaned through every contraction. When Cynthia got in the car she started timing my contractions. They were between 45 seconds and a minute and a half long and 3-4 minutes apart. She called our midwife and relayed her observations of me to her. They decided that I should go straight to the birth center as I probably would not be going home.
We arrived at the hospital at 1pm. Jeremy parked the car and Cynthia escorted me to the birth center. In the elevator I told her that I wasn’t getting the breaks I was promised. She said that fast labors weren’t necessarily easy. We got to our room and started the IV antibiotics at 1:30 pm. I also had some IV fluids as I was getting dehydrated. Eating and drinking hadn’t appealed to me since about 8 am.
At 2:30 Sylvie, my midwife, did an internal and found that I was 8 cm dilated. I was amazed to be so close to 10 cm. The contractions were quite intense and I thought I’d try laboring in the tub for a little while. The water felt great, but my lower back pain was difficult to deal with as no one could really apply counterpressure. Jeremy, Cynthia, Sylvie and the RN were all incredibly supportive of me. In the tub I must have gone into transition because I started to have a lot of shaking during each contraction. I began to feel a lot of pressure and started to push a little during contractions. As I got out of the tub I experienced a lot of shaking. Cynthia wrapped me in a huge warm towel and positioned herself so I could lean on her until the shaking stopped.
I got back on the bed around 3:30 and alternated between side-lying and elbows and knees to get through each contraction. By 4:30 I said that I felt like I wanted to push and Sylvie encouraged me to go ahead. She thought I was fully dilated and an internal about 20-30 minutes later confirmed that. Some time during the pushing my water broke. Around 4:30 Sylvie and the RN discussed the timing of my next round of antibiotics. The RN said I could have them at 5 pm. I pushed on my side from 4:30 until Rex was born at 5:35 pm. As he crowned I reached down and felt his head. The pushing phase was very intense for me and I am very thankful for the support of everyone there.
When Rex was born he was laid on my chest and he looked amazing. J and I were immediately in awe of our son. During this time J cut the cord once it stopped pulsing and then Sylvie told me I was having a lot of bleeding and she needed to figure out where it was coming from. She discovered that I had a partial third degree tear and that she would require help from an OB to stitch it up. The OB came quickly and gave me quite a bit of local anesthetic and performed the stitching that he needed to do and Sylvie finished the rest.
Sylvie and Cynthia told me how well I did during the labor. They both mentioned how calm and focused I remained throughout the labor. Cynthia even asked if I had practiced hypno-birthing. I think all of my yoga experiences, my incredibly supportive labor team who constantly told me that my body knew exactly what to do and the reading I did to prepare for a natural birth allowed me to remain calm and focused. In all honesty, it never occurred to me that I had a choice to be anything other than focused.
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