Sarah's Birth Story

Hopefully I remember the details well enough to tell a coherent "story" for you all.  But first, some pictures!

Here I am, fairly swollen and ready to go the day before giving birth.

Caleb checks out his baby sister.

Caleb is so proud to hold little Sarah.  He wants so badly to pick her up.

Let's assume I'm swollen.  

As of today, I'm down almost 20 pounds, so let's hope at least 10 of them came from my thighs :-)

At 5lbs 10oz, Sarah was so tiny that she required lots of extra support at discharge time.

Now, for the scoop.  

Two weeks ago, at my July 28 appointment, Dr. Rister scheduled me for an induction.  That day I was dilated to 4 cm, but had not been experiencing labor pains, only uterus contractions that felt like mild pressure. At my August 4th appointment, I was still measuring 4 cm and I still had not had any labor pains, but was getting nervous about the possibility of going into labor on my own.  I was mostly nervous because Jadie was still working during the day and I didn't want to be at home alone with Caleb when the moment came.  I offset this fear by convincing Kristin to spend time with me nearly every day.

We walked through the doors of the Women's and Children's Center at Hillcrest Hospital at 6am on Friday the 7th.  The paperwork and arm bracelets took about 10 minutes and then we were off to the Labor & Delivery Room that had been prepared for us.  The first hour in the L& D room was spent signing more paperwork, answering 100 questions, checking my vitals (which revealed even higher blood pressure) and getting the IV in.   

I was set up and ready to get the pitocin flowing around 7:15 am.  Emily, my nurse, started me on the lowest dose of pitocin since Dr. Rister would be in surgery from 7:40 am to 8:30 am.  At 7:25 am Dr. Rister came in to break my water and check dilation.  At that point, I was dilated to 5 cm.  He said he thought we'd have a baby before lunch.

The nurse and I discussed when to get the epidural.  I was 90% sure I wanted it, but was unsure of how soon to get it since I didn't know how long the labor would last and I didn't want the medication to wear off before the worst part was over.  I decided to wait until after Dr. Rister's surgery (the anesthesiologist would be in the surgery and unavailable during that time).  It took about 20 minutes for me to begin to feel any contractions at all, but by 8 am, I was asking for alternate pain control options.  I knew I only had to wait 20 more minutes for the anesthesiologist, but I was feeling what I thought were intolerable contractions.  I kept telling Emily (the nurse) that I must be a wimp to think my contractions were unbearable only 30 minutes into my induction.  Jadie was my hero, getting right in my face to help me breathe and stay calm.

At about 8:15 am, I began to feel panicky because I was pretty sure I felt the pressure of Sarah beginning to push her way out of the birth canal.  I felt my body beginning to push without being able to control myself.  I was quickly losing any shred of calm I had left.  Emily said she'd check my dilation (she seemed to be trying to appease me, to calm me down).  She seemed surprised as she told us that I was already dilated to 9 cm.  She left the room for a few minutes.

When Emily returned with a second nurse, I was frantic.  I told her I was pretty sure that the baby was already crowning.  I had unknowingly already began spreading my legs and holding one of them in the air.  Again, she seemed to have trouble believing me.  The other nurse took a peek and said, "I can see some hair!"  She told me to stop pushing the baby out.  I told her that I wasn't able to control myself, my body was doing the involuntarily.  Seriously, I had lost control.  She told me to pant like a dog, which I thought was dumb, but it actually worked and I was able to stop pushing for a few moments.  Dr. Rister came in quickly (apparently leaving his surgery a little early) and was shocked to see Sarah's head crowning.  Once he had on his gear, I stopped panting and my body kicked in again and her head was out in no time.  Dr. Rister also told me to stop pushing (which wasn't going to happen), that he could finish delivering Sarah on his own.  I still kept pushing and she was out at 8:21 am!  

That was some seriously crazy 56 minute labor.  I still cannot believe it.  Both Emily and Dr. Rister said that they had never had an induction lead to delivery in under an hour.  Whew.  It was traumatic, but it was over before I knew what had hit me.  Not having the epidural was excruciating, but I actually have memory of the delivery this time.  With the epidural and then the blood pressure medicine I had with Caleb's delivery, I can hardly remember a thing.  This time everything was so different.

Hopefully I didn't leave out anything important, but if I did I correct it later since the main reason for recording this is for my own personal reflection and future reading.  Thanks for joining me in my journey!