Eloise’s Birth Story
Eloise Margeaux G****** came into this world on September 27, 2006 at 12:08 in the morning. She weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 and ½ inches long – our big girl!!! While her entrance was not anything like we had planned for, it is our story and deserves to be shared.
I would like to begin by stating that I had planned on having a natural child birth and had studied and practiced using hypnosis for child birth, specifically Hypnobabies, for several months leading up to Eloise’s birth. I truly believed that we would have a quick, easy and pain free birthing (and still believe that it is possible for most who use this method, we just had other issues in store for our birthing time), but it was not meant to be.
Things began on the morning of Friday September 22 when I awoke at approximately 5:30 AM with pressure waves/contractions beginning. (For those unfamiliar with the lingo, hypnobabies refers to contractions as pressure waves). The ironic part is that my sister in law was visiting from out of state and staying with us that evening. She is a massage therapist, and at my request agreed to work on my legs (which had incredible swelling) using some spots that are supposed to work on pressure waves/contractions. I don’t know if her work had any influence, but the timing is interesting. Anyway, I had had Braxton hicks contractions earlier in the week that really didn’t feel like anything more than a tightening, but nothing that had developed with them. On this morning, the pressure waves had a distinctly different feel to them, although I still didn’t know if this would be “our time.” The pressure waves started out about every 20 minutes apart and increased throughout the day. We called our doula that afternoon to let her know what was going on, but that we were still unsure if this was it. We took a walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon and thought that while things were progressing slowly, they were still progressing. During the walk, I would have to stop during a pressure wave, but it was still very manageable. By the evening, the intensity of the pressure waves had increased, but the timing was varying from about every 5 minutes to every 10, and I should mention that the average length of time for one at this point was about 2 minutes. We once again phoned our doula who advised me to stay hydrated, eat and try to relax….even have a glass of wine and a bath if possible, which I did. The pressure waves continued throughout the night, although the consistency of them changed at this point. The timing was going from anywhere between every 5 minutes and every 25 minutes and the intensity had increased drastically. I hate to use the word “pain” but I was feeling considerable pain for most of these pressure waves/contractions, which on average were anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes in length. I found that the hypnosis would work for the beginning of the wave, but I was not able to sustain it for the duration. I found that I needed to focus on rhythmic vocalizations and was rather loud during many of them! Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting much relief in between waves as I had considerable rectal and pelvic pressure that never went away. My doula had suggested trying things like a belly lift and getting on all fours, but these shifts caused even more discomfort (pain) for me.
So….Saturday came and the pressure waves/contractions remained the same. Very intense (painful) and coming every 5 – 15 minutes with an average duration of the pressure wave being between 2-4 minutes. We finally had our doula come over later in the evening. At this point I was becoming rather discouraged with the inconsistency of everything along with becoming extremely fatigued and tired of being in pain! I knew I had farther to go before our birthing time would be there, but late in the evening we decided to go to the hospital to get checked and to ask for something to help me get some rest. While at the hospital, contractions were monitered and when I was checked, I was 100% effaced, but not dilated. The resident who checked me had this awful expression on her face after checking me and asked if I had ever had any procedures performed on my cervix, which I had (cryosurgery and a D and C after a miscarriage), because she could feel an adhesion. When asked if she could break the adhesion, her response was “No” but that I could see if one of the doctors could do it the following day. We left with a prescription for percoset and boy was I a sight waiting in the care moaning while we waited for it to be filled. The percoset did allow me to get a little bit of sleep between pressure waves, which were occurring now approximately every 20-30 minutes. Call this prodromal labor if you like, but the fact is that these where douzy toe curler pressure waves that never went all the way away and were totally consuming, often bringing me to tears.
Sunday – Pressure waves continued with there strange timing and inability to organize themselves. By the evening I was again totally wiped out and not managing well. We decided to go back to the hospital – The evening prior they had given us the option of having morphine for some therapeutic rest, which we declined, but at this point I was considering it. While at the hospital, monitoring showed that both Eloise and me were continuing to do well. My internal still showed no dilation. We spoke to the on-call doctor about the adhesions and while examining me, he did break them causing me to dilate 1-2 centimeters. An hour or two later, I was still at 1-2 centimeters. The doctor was well aware and supportive of my birth plan and gave me the option of going home, being admitted for the morphine or taking more aggressive measures such as breaking my water…..I chose the morphine. So we spent the night in the hospital, where I continued to have pressure waves, but they had slowed down to every 45 minutes (at least that I was aware of) that evening.
Monday – I had still not dilated past 2 centimeters and was advised to go home. Due to the morphine, pressure waves continued about every 45 minutes, but were still very long and too intense. Needless to say, I was feeling very discouraged at this point. Monday night pressure waves picked up again and continued to be quite painful. The only thing that got me through the night was the knowledge that I could call the doctor when day light broke and ask for some options!
Tuesday – I called the doctor and went in to the office to be checked. At this point I had dilated to 3-4 centimeters and the doctor witnessed one of my crazy pressure waves. She decided that I was far enough along and should head over to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around noon and it was agreed that we would break my water in an effort to try and speed things up. I fully understood the potential consequences of doing this, but at that point needed things to start moving along as I couldn’t take the continued painful pressure waves anymore. So, we broke my water and I dilated to a 4 or 5 and stayed there for hours. Next, we decided to add some pitocin. Funny thing is, every one seems to talk about how difficult pitocin contractions are, however, for me they were much easier than what I had been experiencing. The pitocin added a little consistency to the ordeal, although the waves were still having double and sometimes triple peaks. If the pressure waves had been like the pitocin contractions all along, I have no doubt that I could have endured. Several hours later I still had not further dilated and the possiblitilty of a C-section was brought up. At this point I bartered for a little more time, but also asked for an epidural….not because the pain had intensified, but because I was so tired of it all. Sitting for the epidural was awful due to the increased pressure it created on my rectum – not good! Anyway, the evening continued and I still had not progressed and finally agreed to the C-section. At that point I actually felt some relief and was just so happy to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We still don’t know why things were not lining up correctly for the birth to proceed more efficiently, but Eloise arrived happy and healthy – although she did have to large bruised on her head and hematoma’s in each eye from being squeezed so tightly. I am not sure if size (hers and mine) might have played into anything, or if it was positioning, the cervix or just a bad combination of things not lining up correctly.
I have to say that all of my doctors were incredibly supportive of my birth plan throughout my very long birthing time. They really wanted to give me the chance and in no way did I feel pressured (which I know is not the norm). I felt very informed and like I made the decisions and choices that were right for me at the time. With that said, I do admit that I was disappointed that the birth turned out so differently from what I had wanted. Despite the craziness I endured, if I am to have another child, I will definitely be trying for a VBAC and will again use hypnobabies (and hope that things will be more synchronized!)