(Written by Joanne)
I know this is pretty long, but I wanted to get the details of the birth down on paper before I forgot too much of it. I was really interested in hearing other birth stories when I was getting to the end of my pregnancy.
On Sunday, March 2nd we went to bed excited that the next day we would get to see LBA – we had an ultrasound scheduled for Monday morning. Little did we know!!
At 6 am Monday morning I started getting ready. I had actually spent the night in the guest bedroom since Keith had just stained the trim around the recently-installed windows in our bedroom and we didn’t want LBA to get any fumes. I noticed something was a little different when I went to the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure what was happening. Pretty soon it became very obvious – my water broke! (I had read that it can be helpful to have some adult diapers on hand for this occasion – they weren’t kidding!) Other than that I felt fine (no contractions), so I wasn’t freaking out. I woke Keith up, got dressed, and went downstairs to have breakfast. From the tour we took of the hospital the week before I knew that once they gave me any medication they wouldn’t let me eat anything. So I sat on the toilet (still leaking!) eating cereal and was telling Keith what to pack. I had meant to pack the hospital bag that weekend, but I wasn’t in a big rush so I didn’t get around to it. I had some thoughts that I would go into labor early, but I didn’t think it would really happen!
Surprisingly, neither Keith nor I were very nervous. We had an enjoyable car ride to the hospital, (despite the 7 am traffic), making jokes and getting sentimental. I didn’t really think I was going to have the baby that day. I thought that they would stop me from going into labor. Once we arrived at the hospital I checked into triage. When they checked me in I had high blood pressure and they kept asking me if I was nervous. I was going into labor 6 weeks early, of course I’m nervous!! But actually I wasn’t that nervous, I was just kind of going with the flow. Keith was also calm and in a good mood, which helped me a lot. The nurse in triage also thought that they may keep me from going into labor, but it really was up to the doctor. It just so happened that the doctor I had seen the most at my OB/GYN was on call that day (Dr. Frausto from Today’s Women’s Health Specialists). He said that the risk of infection went up when the water breaks, so since I wasn’t extremely early, they would induce me. Wow, we’re having a baby!!
So they moved me into a Labor & Delivery room, which are actually very nice and large at Chandler Regional. At this point (about 9 am) I measured 3 cm dilated. The nurses inserted an IV of Pitocin to get the contractions started a little before 11 am. I called my Reflexologist, Robin, during the wait to see if she could visit me in the hospital. I had heard that Reflexology (the massaging of pressure points in the feet) could help move labor along – a sort of natural inducer. She was thrilled to help out, and got to the hospital about noon and worked on me for an hour or so. Between the reflexology and the Pitocin the contractions were getting stronger. Since I was hooked up to the IV I couldn’t walk around that much. Keith was in deep study to prepare for what was to come, primarily by reading The Birthing Book, which came in handy for him. The first suggestion he made was for me to use a birthing ball, which is really just an exercise ball. Sitting on the ball really helped my back. This also allowed Keith to apply counterpressure to my lower back (the book he was reading said emphatically “if you learn anything from this book, learn counterpressure”). He would push on my lower back during a contraction, which helped at first, but once the contractions got really strong I couldn’t tell if it helped or hurt.
Keith’s parents had arrived at the hospital a little after 2 pm (despite getting lost, which is another story). It was nice to visit with them, but by 2:30, the contractions were very strong, at less than two minutes apart with very little relief between them, so I wasn’t up for visitors. I really wanted to avoid an epidural, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. The nurse could see I wasn’t getting relief between contractions, so she kept lowering the dosage of Pitocin, eventually shutting it off altogether. At about 4pm they measured me at 6 cm. Only 6?!! I was hoping for a lot more than that. I really didn’t think I could take a long labor if it was this difficult, so I asked for the epidural. It seemed like it took them forever to get everything set up. They gave me the epidural around 5:30 pm, but it didn’t seem to help me at all (a nurse later told me that was probably because of my high blood pressure). It did make me vomit though, which I had read speeds up delivery. I don’t know if it was the epidural or the vomiting, but when they measured me again at 6pm, I was fully dilated at 10 cm! So the doctor and all of the support staff (a nurse to help me and 3 people to take care of the baby since he was a preemie) came in the room and I started pushing at 6:10 pm. I could still feel the contractions, but couldn’t really feel the pushing, so I had to follow their instructions. I had told Keith previously that I needed him to keep a positive attitude and encourage me along the way, and he did an awesome job of that. While I was pushing he kept saying “You’re doing great, you’re almost there!”. Even though I wasn’t actually almost there! J (Keith says: my excuse was that I was seeing the back of his head, not the top. So for about 20 minutes, the head was basically rotating out and getting bigger, so I thought she was really close. Hey, it was my first time!). I had my eyes closed during each push, but I could tell from Keith’s voice how emotional he was getting. It really kept me going to know how excited he was since I was in too much pain to fully grasp the situation.
Finally, after 45 minutes of pushing, LBA’s (he was named later) head was out at 6:55, and the rest of him was out soon thereafter. He arrived into the world at 6:56pm to a very proud Mom and Dad (who was able to cut the cord). Since he was a preemie, they had to take him to the heater in the corner of the room to check him out, which was fine with me since it gave me an opportunity to rest. The placenta came out without a problem, and then the doctor sewed me up from the episiotomy which he performed (which I didn’t feel due to the epidural). After he was checked out and wrapped up I was able to hold him. Both sets of Grandparents were then brought into the room and we got our first Aspinall family photo taken.
I would’ve liked to avoid the epidural and episiotomy, but I now realize that the details of how he came into the world don’t matter all that much – as long as Mom and baby are healthy, that’s what is important!
At 6 am Monday morning I started getting ready. I had actually spent the night in the guest bedroom since Keith had just stained the trim around the recently-installed windows in our bedroom and we didn’t want LBA to get any fumes. I noticed something was a little different when I went to the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure what was happening. Pretty soon it became very obvious – my water broke! (I had read that it can be helpful to have some adult diapers on hand for this occasion – they weren’t kidding!) Other than that I felt fine (no contractions), so I wasn’t freaking out. I woke Keith up, got dressed, and went downstairs to have breakfast. From the tour we took of the hospital the week before I knew that once they gave me any medication they wouldn’t let me eat anything. So I sat on the toilet (still leaking!) eating cereal and was telling Keith what to pack. I had meant to pack the hospital bag that weekend, but I wasn’t in a big rush so I didn’t get around to it. I had some thoughts that I would go into labor early, but I didn’t think it would really happen!
Surprisingly, neither Keith nor I were very nervous. We had an enjoyable car ride to the hospital, (despite the 7 am traffic), making jokes and getting sentimental. I didn’t really think I was going to have the baby that day. I thought that they would stop me from going into labor. Once we arrived at the hospital I checked into triage. When they checked me in I had high blood pressure and they kept asking me if I was nervous. I was going into labor 6 weeks early, of course I’m nervous!! But actually I wasn’t that nervous, I was just kind of going with the flow. Keith was also calm and in a good mood, which helped me a lot. The nurse in triage also thought that they may keep me from going into labor, but it really was up to the doctor. It just so happened that the doctor I had seen the most at my OB/GYN was on call that day (Dr. Frausto from Today’s Women’s Health Specialists). He said that the risk of infection went up when the water breaks, so since I wasn’t extremely early, they would induce me. Wow, we’re having a baby!!
So they moved me into a Labor & Delivery room, which are actually very nice and large at Chandler Regional. At this point (about 9 am) I measured 3 cm dilated. The nurses inserted an IV of Pitocin to get the contractions started a little before 11 am. I called my Reflexologist, Robin, during the wait to see if she could visit me in the hospital. I had heard that Reflexology (the massaging of pressure points in the feet) could help move labor along – a sort of natural inducer. She was thrilled to help out, and got to the hospital about noon and worked on me for an hour or so. Between the reflexology and the Pitocin the contractions were getting stronger. Since I was hooked up to the IV I couldn’t walk around that much. Keith was in deep study to prepare for what was to come, primarily by reading The Birthing Book, which came in handy for him. The first suggestion he made was for me to use a birthing ball, which is really just an exercise ball. Sitting on the ball really helped my back. This also allowed Keith to apply counterpressure to my lower back (the book he was reading said emphatically “if you learn anything from this book, learn counterpressure”). He would push on my lower back during a contraction, which helped at first, but once the contractions got really strong I couldn’t tell if it helped or hurt.
Keith’s parents had arrived at the hospital a little after 2 pm (despite getting lost, which is another story). It was nice to visit with them, but by 2:30, the contractions were very strong, at less than two minutes apart with very little relief between them, so I wasn’t up for visitors. I really wanted to avoid an epidural, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. The nurse could see I wasn’t getting relief between contractions, so she kept lowering the dosage of Pitocin, eventually shutting it off altogether. At about 4pm they measured me at 6 cm. Only 6?!! I was hoping for a lot more than that. I really didn’t think I could take a long labor if it was this difficult, so I asked for the epidural. It seemed like it took them forever to get everything set up. They gave me the epidural around 5:30 pm, but it didn’t seem to help me at all (a nurse later told me that was probably because of my high blood pressure). It did make me vomit though, which I had read speeds up delivery. I don’t know if it was the epidural or the vomiting, but when they measured me again at 6pm, I was fully dilated at 10 cm! So the doctor and all of the support staff (a nurse to help me and 3 people to take care of the baby since he was a preemie) came in the room and I started pushing at 6:10 pm. I could still feel the contractions, but couldn’t really feel the pushing, so I had to follow their instructions. I had told Keith previously that I needed him to keep a positive attitude and encourage me along the way, and he did an awesome job of that. While I was pushing he kept saying “You’re doing great, you’re almost there!”. Even though I wasn’t actually almost there! J (Keith says: my excuse was that I was seeing the back of his head, not the top. So for about 20 minutes, the head was basically rotating out and getting bigger, so I thought she was really close. Hey, it was my first time!). I had my eyes closed during each push, but I could tell from Keith’s voice how emotional he was getting. It really kept me going to know how excited he was since I was in too much pain to fully grasp the situation.
Finally, after 45 minutes of pushing, LBA’s (he was named later) head was out at 6:55, and the rest of him was out soon thereafter. He arrived into the world at 6:56pm to a very proud Mom and Dad (who was able to cut the cord). Since he was a preemie, they had to take him to the heater in the corner of the room to check him out, which was fine with me since it gave me an opportunity to rest. The placenta came out without a problem, and then the doctor sewed me up from the episiotomy which he performed (which I didn’t feel due to the epidural). After he was checked out and wrapped up I was able to hold him. Both sets of Grandparents were then brought into the room and we got our first Aspinall family photo taken.
I would’ve liked to avoid the epidural and episiotomy, but I now realize that the details of how he came into the world don’t matter all that much – as long as Mom and baby are healthy, that’s what is important!
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