My first son, Dylan, was born by c-section on 12/20/2008. His was a planned birth center birth turned hospital transfer and eventual c-section after a 5 hour pushing phase in which he never moved past 0 station. I had many theories about why his birth ended the way it did: pushing without an urge, stress about being transferred because of going post dates, etc., but I was also left with a lot of uncertainty about my pelvis size since I pushed for so long, and because of my small stature (I am just under 5 feet tall, I wear a size 4 shoe, and my husband is 6' 2" with a big head, hah).
I found an excellent midwife this time, who was totally willing to wait until whenever this baby was ready. On December 22nd, 2 days after my first son's 2nd birthday, I was 42 weeks, 5 days. I decided to go ahead and try castor oil to see if that helped start things, feeling that if the baby really wasn't ready it wouldn't work and I would just keep waiting. I took a 2oz dose at 10am, and was planning on taking another 2oz three hours later. The castor oil never did have the laxative effect, it just made me nauseous for a while. Within an hour of taking it, I was having not very painful contractions about 5 minutes apart. I didn't quite believe it was real though, and figured it would probably stop when the castor oil wore off. At noon I gave my midwife a heads up just in case though. Neither one of us thought I would have a precipitous birth, and she went out to lunch with her daughters who were visiting for the holidays. At 1pm the contractions were feeling a bit more intense, but I could still talk through them. I called my doula and let her know we would probably be calling her to come over sometime soon. I called my midwife and updated her again, and she proceeded with her lunch plans since it seemed like I would still probably have a while to go. Well, 15 minutes later the contractions felt so intense that I had to jump into my bathtub and let the warm water run on my lower back. I had my husband call my doula and tell her to go ahead and come now, and we called the midwife and told her the same. Fortunately the midwife had decided to go ahead and come see me, and was only 5 minutes away.
When she arrived I was moaning through contractions, and she hurried to set up all the birth supplies which my husband was having a hard time finding. I would hear them searching for something and I would have to shout out to them where they were between contractions. My husband was also having to take care of our two year old during this time. Soon the doula showed up, and she was able to give me some support while my husband took care of Dylan who was in and out of the bathroom checking on me.
Within an hour of everyone arriving I was bearing down and my midwife wanted to check to make sure I was actually dilated completely since I had a cervical lip that the midwives pushed out of the way last time. We went to my bed and when she checked, she said "Oh Coral Jean, you are going to have this baby soon!" I was already past 0 station where I had gotten with Dylan! (This was the only vaginal exam I received all pregnancy, by the way!) The pushing phase was really hard. I really had to work for every centimeter I moved the baby down. We changed positions a lot and that seemed to help make progress. The birth assistant and the birthing stool arrived while I was pushing, and we decided to go ahead and try that. I was able to make a lot of progress on the birthing stool. There was a great moment just before crowning when suddenly all of the pain disappeared and I was able to just enjoy the experience. I was laughing and I was able to see my baby's head in the mirror. My doula was behind me and my husband and son were next to me on a little couch in our bedroom. Before the baby was even completely out Dylan said "Milo!" which was the name we had picked out, and everyone laughed. Milo came out and the midwife helped me to bring him up to my chest. He was just perfect. I had bled a little extra, so they helped me to lay down on the bed, and since Dylan is still nursing he was able to nurse which helped stop the bleeding. Dylan reached out to baby Milo and touched him very affectionately while nursing which was a very special moment.
Milo was born at 5:13 pm on 12/22/2010 and weighed 8lbs 1oz, had a 14 3/4 inch head and was 20.5 inches long: exactly the same size as Dylan was! On top of that, he was born with a nuchal arm, which is why the pushing was so hard and lasted two hours. My midwife said without that arm it probably would have been a precipitous birth which we didn't think I would have! She said there was plenty of room in my pelvis. So much for the OB that had told me, years before I even had children, that I would always need c-sections! The midwife doesn't think the castor oil did anything since I went into labor so quickly, and it never did have a laxative effect on me. I couldn't be more please with the way things went! I hope that my story can be inspiring to others who have been told that they have a small pelvis as well. If I can do it, so can you!
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- coraljean
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