I called my midwife group at 3:30 with surges every three minutes lasting for approx. 60 seconds. I was joking, laughing and pretty excited and not at all uncomfortable, I was just going by the “timing” and length of my contractions. My instructions were to come in when you get too uncomfortable to get through them. We had to drop our children off at SIL’s house 30 minutes away and then drive another 20-30 minutes to the hospital. So I decided to leave the house at 7:30 pm although I was still fairly comfortable through the surges, they were just getting a lot closer together and lasting about a minute and a half now. I put in my “Hypnobabies” Birth Guide CD and off we went….
We arrived at the hospital at 8:30pm checked in and the admitting nurse was amazed that I was dilated 5cm with a bulging bag of waters and cracking jokes with her. I still was not feeling any real pain just the pressure of the surges. About an hour later one of my midwives came in and wanted to check again to make sure…she admitted later I was too “comfortable” and wanted to double check the nurse. She couldn’t feel ANY cervix, thought I might be at 10 already but with the bulging bag of waters filling my entire vagina, couldn’t really tell. I didn’t want them to break my water so I got in the Jacuzzi for the next two hours and slept between contractions. The midwife told me when I feel my waters release to get out PDQ because she didn’t want me to deliver in the water. Well, my water never broke. So she talked me into getting out (had to talk a lot, I was sooo comfy!) She still couldn’t get a good feel of my cervix, I was so comfortable she wanted to know if I was progressing or not…so I let her break my water. It didn’t hurt at all and the surges got just a little more intense but still didn’t “hurt”. She was finally able to get a good feel of my cervix and I was at 7cm at about 11:00pm.
This is when the intensity kicked in. NOT pain, just intense pressure. It took from then until about 1:00 am to get dilated to 9. The surges were intense (again, NOT painful) but I hummed through them (loudly) and when one started I would say out loud or to myself different “hypnobabies” phrases like “release”, “peace”, “relax”, “peace and anesthesia”, and “choose to use your hypnosis”. I never told the nurse OR my midwife I was using hypnosis for childbirth. It was funny to see the looks on their faces when it finally dawned on then how I could stay so calm and comfortable during all this. My nurse kept calling me her “hero”, which made me feel intensely good about what I was doing and how I was handling everything. She could not believe I was walking around dilated at 9 cm! Between 1:00am and 7:00am, I had NO progress at all. I tried EVERYTHING naturally I could think of walking, nipple stimulation, etc. to no avail. This was also the time (I am fuzzy at this point) I started vomiting violently and got so dehydrated that it took four different nurses, 6 attempts and one hour to get an IV started. I needed it badly as I was not passing out but I was falling asleep between contractions and couldn’t change positions or “help” myself in any way to get dilated further. I knew this IV could be a “gateway” to other interventions, but at this point I could barely walk let alone continue to “deal with” my birthing time. So I gave in as I knew this was best for me and babe, I WAS EXHAUSTED!
After six hours at 9cm, my midwife said your contractions just aren’t bringing this baby down (although I had felt the urge to push for MANY hours by now) so I want to add just a little pit to get these a tad bit stronger. I was thinking “STRONGER? ARE YOU FREAKING NUTS? After trying everything and careful consideration DH and I decided to give the ok for pit. In just a little over an hour, I was finally ready to start pushing.
Babe was posterior and I pushed for an hour and a half using various techniques as in a squatting bar, on hands and knees, standing up against the bed and who knows what else J. After an hour and a half my midwife called her OB backup for help in turning the baby using forceps. YIKES!! That’s when I said “screw this” and got seriously busy! I was able to get him far enough down that the midwife was able to reach her hand up and physically turn the baby herself….no forceps!!! In just a few more pushes, out came his head. As I passed his body, he let out the biggest poop ever and then decided he would pee all over everybody!! I immediately grabbed him and put him on my chest. While I snuggled him, my midwife waited for the cord to stop pulsating and as soon it stopped, the placenta just “fell” out. We stayed snuggled up together for several hours (refusing all routine newborn stuff), we nursed and got to know each other……………………