Brady Birth Story Part 5

  This post will be continuing on with Brady's birth story.  You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here and Part 3 here and Part 4 here.

...

Remember my previous births — they broke my water with the twins, and they were born within an hour. They broke my water with Lee Lee and she was born within about an hour. My water broke naturally with Hunter and he was born in less than a minute. So, I really had delusions that they would break my water, around 9:00pm, and I’d be holding my baby by 9:15 or so. Really, you’d think this was my first labor by how wrong I was. 

My labor went on for hours — very similar to my birth with Lee Lee.  I remember asking the doctor to check my progress around midnight and she said I was dilated to 4cm, and I wanted to kill her.  I had no patience with this labor. I had no position that was bringing relief (even mental relief). 

Our nurse was wonderful and it turned out  that I had met her husband and we teach at the same school (one of my schools) and their last name is Miller and our last name is Miller and we have kids the same age and all our kids go to the same school… that part was great except I didn’t want to make new friends right then. I wanted to have a baby — preferably not in front of a new friend. 

After midnight, I just couldn’t believe every hour that passed. 1:00 am still no baby. 2:00am still no baby — and the doctor checked my progress again and said I was measuring at “4+cm”… that time I really could have killed her. 3:00am still no baby. 

Finally about 3:30, I asked the doctor to check again and she said I might be at 5cm now and I just pleaded with her about what to do. I was exhausted and I was not progressing (at least not as fast as I had come to expect from my body). 

I remember looking at her and saying, “Whatever you tell me to do, I will do. If you tell me to stand on my head, I will stand on my head. If you tell me to get an epidural, I will get an epidural. If you tell me to have a C-Section, I will have a C-Section. Please tell me what to do.“ 

Now, it is worth noting that I did not want a C-Section, and my doctor knew this. Also, I did not want an epidural, and my doctor knew this. 

This physician had been my primary OB for all my pregnancies and so far, all of my babies had been born naturally without an epidural and no C-Sections (INCLUDING my twins) and that was largely due to my rapport and relationship with this OB. 

She suggested I get in the bathtub. 

I had not gotten in the bathtub before this point for several specific reasons — some are valid and some are silly.

First, the hospital tub is a standard bathtub and not particularly comfortable to move around to different labor positions. I labored in the tub during my labors with Tracey, and Lee Lee, both for hours.  I knew that the water felt good, but the dimensions of the tub did not. 

Less important was the fact that I had makeup on and my hair curled and I didn’t want to ruin in appearance in the bathtub. 

I Know. STUPID!

But, in all of my first pictures with my babies, I had looked like I had had a rough day. Makeup running, hair wet, exhausted — I looked like I had a baby. All except Hunter. Hunter’s birth was so quick and no bath tub was involved, and I looked great in those pictures after he was born. I wanted that again so I was avoiding the bathtub. 

But, my OB advised getting in the tub, and I had vowed my allegiance to whatever she said. I got settled in the bathtub as comfortably as possible.  This time, I kneeled in the tub with my back to the spout and shower, facing the back of the tub, which has a little ledge where I could rest my arms.  This allowed me to kneel in the tub in between contractions, and during contractions, I could lean forward and lay my arms on the ledge of the tub which put me in a modified all-fours/hands and knees position kind of half-in/half-out of the tub.

As I got in to the tub, the doctor made sure that Chris knew where the call buttons were in the restroom, and our wonderful nurse told me she was going to use the restroom and grab a sandwich and would be back to check on us in a bit. 

As I said, our nurse was wonderful… and remains a good friend of ours to this day.

But… her telling me that she was going to use the restroom and grab a bite to eat made me so angry.

It infuriated me that my OB was going back to sleep and my nurse was getting dinner because they both thought I was going to be in labor for who knows how many more hours.  They left about 3:40. I had about 3 contractions and I kept telling Chris that I couldn’t do this anymore. I also told him that I was going to push this baby out the moment I had the chance — which he completely supported. As he saw with Hunter, when my body is ready to have the baby, I’m having the baby.  He encouraged me the entire time.

The next contraction, with Chris beside me, positioned half in/half out of the bathtub (remember, on my knees in the tub but leaving my arms over the back ledge of the tub) with no warning to my surrounding people, I began to push the baby out (approximately 3:44am).

When Chris saw what was happening, I heard him yell (with a tone of panic I’d never heard from him before) for the doctor. No, he did not use the call button she so nicely pointed out to him. 

To Be Continued...