My Nurse-Maids

Today is my glucose screening test...prayer appreciated! And we are still unsure of who we'll be able to have the baby with...just a tangle of insurance stuff we have to wade through and midwife availability. They still don't make it easy to VBAC...even if you've already had one! But, God is in control!

Either way, I am in good hands...the Lord's and my faithful nurse-maids pictured below:

O's birth story: Part 2

Part 1 is here.
Part 2, Day 2.

So day one was part empowering, part discouraging. What I thought was active labor and even possibly transition had only been early labor and only the tip of the iceberg. But, after a few hours of rest thanks to a morphine shot (in between contractions) and a new day’s beginning, I was ready to keep going (and a solid 4-5cm). Oh and the new crew decided that I could indeed eat-which was a huge blessing. Early that morning a hot breakfast arrived for me and I could have kissed the nurse and midwife who ordered it.

The next few hours I went in and out of the bathtub and our new doula (a back up for our first) arrived. She took a very hands-on approach, which I found out I needed/loved. She jumped right in and seemed to anticipate my needs-making suggestions for positions to labor in, pouring water on me in the tub, refilling juice/water, making encouraging comments constantly-it was wonderful. By mid-day I had progressed to 7-8 centimeters and the midwife was predicting pushing by 3pm! I was so excited and got another second wind. If I wasn’t in the tub (which helped with contractions tremendously) I was doing the “hip sway” holding onto the bed or onto Daniel. That was the only position that didn’t make me want to jump out the window during contractions.

A few hours later (I don’t have the notes for exact times in front of me right now) I was checked and had made no progress. We started having the discussion about the hospital’s policy regarding making a certain amount of progress each couple hours for VBAC’s or TOLACS as they called them (trial of labor after caesarean). The midwife said if I wasn’t progressing in some noticeable way in a couple hours, I would have to think about trying our “options”.

Of course I started to panic at this point-thinking only of being sectioned again. I tried to tell myself that it was okay if it happened, I was so tired afterall (I was 35+ hours into labor at this point). In the back of my mind I was having a mixture of even more determination to make it happen, mixed with pre-consolation for the almost-inevitable. I thought I must just not be able to give birth vaginally. Why, I had no idea-but in my mind there was no reason it should be taking this long (and obviously the hospital wasn’t doing much to help this conclusion). We went through another nurses’ shift change.

They also mentioned I should try less time in the tub because it might be slowing progress. My only form of rest/way to comfortably get off my feet was being discouraged. I was starting to lose hope.

Another check several hours later revealed no real progress. At that point I knew that I had to try something new for three reasons. One, for my own sanity-I was utterly exhausted at this point. Two, to “buy” more time. And three, because I felt like there was something holding back labor and I needed to know I was doing everything possible. Trying an epidural was a scary thought to me. In my mind it was a primary reason that labor slowed with M. Not only that but I felt like a bit of a natural birth failure. But something inside me told me it was the right thing to do at that point-and the nurse and doula (who are both natural birth advocates) thought it was worth a try. So we did. (Part three and the end to be continued)...

Baby O's VBAC Birth Story: Part 1

On May 20th (O's due date) I got test results back from one of the group health midwives. Although my urine sample was clean, she wanted me to start bed rest asap to keep it from developing to another case of PIH. I was super uncomfortable and more than that was worried about not going into labor on my own before 42 weeks. I drank RR leaf tea, walked all around Lowes with my family (and was having some serious braxton hicks that night-but nothing real different from before). I woke up in labor before 5am on Thursday morning. I wasn't sure it was the real thing for about 4-5 hours because the contractions weren't super intense and felt more like terrible menstrual cramps. I called Daniel at his break at work at about 10:00am and asked him to come home. M was already staying with a friend so we got ready but didn't leave for the hospital until 1:15pm or so (we live over an hour away though). I was still having enough time between contractions to enjoy life but the contractions got more intense on the 1 1/2 hour ride to the hospital. In Seattle, we met our doula and walked around the neighborhoods near the hospital for 2 1/2 hours. We got some food after awhile and when the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart we headed in to get checked in. I couldn't talk or walk through them at this point.

The doula and I both thought active labor had been progressing well for a number of hours and that we'd see something (I was anticipating at least a 5-6 dilation). Getting checked was SO disappointing when we found out I was only a 3! I began to labor in the hospital and labored through most of the night. I was on my feet walking around, then leaning on the bed or on Daniel, then in the labor tub and again. Around 4am or so they checked me and I hadn't made any progress. We decided on something to help me rest and relax as I was starting to get exhausted. My husband was exhausted as well and starting to get discouraged.

The midwife suggested that we try to get some rest and that maybe morphine would allow for some sleep. I did that and did get sleep between contractions. After I woke up I was checked and had made progress to a 4-5 and was officially in active labor.

To be continued...