I started having semi-regular contractions that weekend and thought I would surely go into labor at anytime. The weekend came and left with no hospital trips. Every night the contractions would come, but never stayed or escalated much after a couple hours. On Monday I went in for the non-stress tests and found his heart rate indicated that he was doing great, but the ultrasound was showing his amniotic fluid levels at an 8 (I'm not sure was unit of measurement they used). Doctors generally like the levels no lower than 5, but my midwife likes the levels at 10 or higher. Oh, and I was still just barely dialated to 1 cm. Tyler and I sat in the room while the Midwife and OB discussed my induction. They mentioned inducing me that day, but decided to wait until Wednesday. I was really hoping the thunderstorms and full moon would work their magic on Tuesday to help get things going. Fingers and toes were crossed this time. But, nothing happened. We picked up my Mom Monday night and waded through Tuesday and more temporary contractions. Wednesday, we walked into the hospital at our scheduled time, 5:30 pm to be induced.
We were prepared with snacks and games, thinking that we would start the cervix ripener that night and need something to kill the time when we weren't sleeping. Wrong.
They started the Cervidil around 6 pm. I was already having contractions 3-4 minutes apart when we came in. Before I knew it, the painless contractions I had been having started getting intense. They were taking my breath away. Then I had to really start focusing on relaxing and getting through each one. I hated the monitors that were tethering me to a 5 ft radius around my bed. And I hated that the Cervidil warranted the monitors be on 50 minutes of every hour. I was only suppose to go to the bathroom on my 10 minute monitor-free break, but it was getting really intense and I snuck into the jacuzzi tub for a bit. I guess that was bad. Something about diluting the drug... My mom and Jill came around 9 - I think - and around 11 the contraction monitor looked like I was in transition. I felt so crampy, yucky, and in pain that even though the thought of having a baby that fast was scary, it felt right that all the pain and discomfort had to be doing something to get my baby here. The nurse came in to check me at 12. I was at 1 cm. Still. I cried and forced myself to recoup.
Mom and Jill left around 1 am and the nurse gave me Ambien to try and help me sleep through the night. It didn't help. I couldn't help but have thoughts along the lines of, "Will I even make it to morning?" After a very long, uncomfortable, sleepless night, the Cervidil was removed. That was around 5:30 am, and the pitocin started immediately after. I was dialated to 2 cm. Life was good again. The contractions were just as they had been before. Tight, but not painful. My mom came back to the hospital and Tyler and I took a nap.
This is where it starts getting hazy: I remember waking up from the nap because the contractions were getting too intense to just sleep through and I remember my mom had turned on the shower which I was so grateful for because I had spent a lot of time listening to the shower at home when I practiced relaxing. The contractions were getting more intense, but no where near as bad as they had been the night before. The Midwife came in and broke my water, and I think that was around 9 am. I started walking around my bed more, bouncing on my exercise ball, and leaning on Tyler while swaying. Jill came to the hospital somewhere in there. We said something to the nurse about how it would be so nice to use the jacuzzi tub, as we were given the impression from the previous nurse that I couldn't get in with the monitors on my belly. She said the monitors were waterproof and then proceeded to move the whole monitoring unit and IV pole into the bathroom so I could get in the tub. That was heaven. The contractions really started building and I was so glad I had an incredible support team. In the little space remaining in that bathroom, Tyler massaged my head, and Jill and my Mom took turns stroking my arms to help me relax while I basked in the hot water and shooting jets. I vaguely remember Jill reading a relaxation script at one point. I have no idea what she said, but I do remember enjoying the relaxing sound of her voice. By the time I got out of the tub, the contractions had built to a point that not even the water, jets, and my relaxation team could distract me from them. The nurse came to check me and replace the external monitors with internal monitors on my cervix and Thayne's head. As she started, she announced I was at 5-6 cm, and that was a little discouraging as contractions were getting really intense. I remember thinking, "Ok, 5-6. We can do this, We can do this." The nurse then attempted to place the monitors between contractions. As she tried, I remember her saying something to the effect of, "Oh, it's moving. She's dilated to a 7." A short pause... "She's still dialating and she's about an 8... it's a 9! We need to get the midwife in here now!" My next thought- "YES!!!"
My eyes were pretty much closed from the second I got out of the tub until Thayne was born. I was just trying to focus on relaxing. I remember hearing the Midwife's voice as she came in and shortly thereafter came the urge to push. I guess I wasn't fully dialated on one side and the Midwife coached me through different positions to help get things fully dialated and Thayne's head in the right position. All during this time Jill, my mom, and Tyler were all at their stations. Tyler massaged my head and did the heavy breathing with me as I tried not to push. My mom and Jill were stoking my arms or legs, and pushing on my back when I would point to a spot in need of pressure. Everyone gave lots of "you're doing great Ali!" and other words of encouragement. Between pushing contractions, it was beautiful. For what felt like the first time since labor began, my body would completely relax and it really felt like I could recoup from the last contraction and prep for the next. Finally, my cervix was fully dialted on both sides and the midwife told me I just needed to listen to my body and I could push when I needed to. They got the squatting bar for me which came up from the lower half of the bed and gave me something to hold onto and kind of hang from as I tried the squatting position to push. I guess Thayne's heart was dropping quite a bit in that position (we later learned the cord was wrapped around his neck,which is probably why squatting didn't work so well) so the midwife had me go back to my side and push. That worked pretty well. I heard lots of "We see his head!" "You're almost there!" "You're doing SO good!" and that was really exciting and helped me keep going. I do clearly remember the moment when I realized that unlike the hours of labor leading up to that point, pushing was not going to be involuntary. His head felt like a bowling ball and I needed to push it out. There was an episiotomy, which I was vaguely aware of, but didn't have time to dwell on. And after half an hour of pushing, at 1:07 pm, he came out in a rush and this large (but small) baby body was plopped on my belly. I was in shock as I realized that it was over and that that body really did come out of me. I watched Tyler cut the cord and then they took him to the warming table just feet away as they checked him over and I heard him cry for the first time. My placenta took some coaxing to come out, but come out it did, with pushes far milder than needed to get Thayne out. I felt awesome and just couldn't believe that I did it. They handed Thayne back to me all bundled in a blanket and I loved being able to finally look at his little face. There was quite a bit of bleeding and a very mild fever, so they gave me some sort of drug (I can't remember the name) and kept me on the pitocin until the following morning. I was shivery cold for a while, and though I was never puffy and swollen in pregnancy, I was very much so afterward. I felt amazing, but kept up on the Ibuprofen and finally crashed from exhaustion that evening. We came home from the hospital the following evening.
Giving birth was an incredible experience. Every person involved was more than incredible and so so appreciated. I guess this is one of those things that I don't think I could ever find the right words to convey how I feel about the experience and about the people there. One of those experiences where you know people are amazing beforehand, but you feel like you never really knew how amazing they were until you went through this experience together. I think it was because of their support and selflessness that I never had a moment where I questioned whether or not I could do it.
Thayne weighed 8 lbs 4 oz at birth and measured 21.5 inches long. At his two week appointment he weighed 9 lbs, and measured 22 inches. He coos and rolls onto his side already. I don't know how he rolls over. All I know is that I put him in his cradle at night on his back and when I look at him moments later he is on his side. We absolutely love this little guy and he has been worth every second it took to get him here.
