I had posted a week and a half ago about my "false labor"--a story which turns out to be such an interesting example of how no birth is like another birth...I had one of the "weirdest" labors my midwife had ever seen.
I was having really tremendous back and hip pain from Monday evening through Saturday morning--so bad that I couldn't lay down, sit down or stand (I spend a lot of time on my knees--literally.) My husband Josh was awesome--he took the time off work to help me through the waves of hip pain that the midwifery practice insisted were not contractions or labor since they were irregular. They suggested a chiropractic adjustment, a hip brace, swimming. Josh borrowed a friend's back-supporting office chair to wheel me to the toilet. It was sheer agony.
Finally, Saturday morning I was ready to die, and Josh was even in tears because he couldn't help me, so we called up the midwives, and one agreed to meet us that afternoon to give me some sleeping meds so that I would be rested for when I went into labor (since I hadn't slept in five days). I arrived at the office wearing my long plaid nightgown with the hip brace over it, black shoes and white socks, and said grumpily, "Sorry for what I'm wearing." They looked pretty surprised to see me in this state (I'm usually at least semi-put together.)
With Josh's help I got to the examining room, where the midwife repeated how what I was experiencing was not labor, but normal, pre-labor discomfort. She would give me some sleeping pills to help me sleep. I said, "They'd better really knock me out, because I can't even lay down without feeling like my hips are shattering to pieces." She said that if it was that bad, I could be put in the hospital and given MORPHINE to "sleep" me. I refused that (of course) and then had one of my episodes of back pain. "Hmm, that looked like a contraction to me," she said. Then to see, she checked my cervix and guess what? "Honey, you're 8 centimeters dialated and fully effaced, and all I feel is a bulging bag of waters."
We laughed and cried, and I got right in the tub. As soon as I knew that the pain had been labor and got into the tub, I was completely able to relax and enjoy my labor. The tub felt amazing. My family and some friends showed up and one at a time came into the room. I felt great--no more pain.
The labor went another 8 hours and except for during pushing, I NEVER had a regular pattern to the contractions. Maybe I'd have one, and then 15 minutes another, then 8 minutes another, then four, then six, then five, then ten...The midwife was really flumoxed, but Pascal's heartrate was great and I was doing great. At one point she had me get out of the tub and have some contractions on the bed, but they were absolute agony in the hips. She said, "If I break your bag of waters, this will probably go much more quickly." She was concerned that I'd run out of energy for pushing. Also she said she'd let me get back in the tub, so Josh and I conferred, and agreed to let her, although I'd wanted no interventions. She had to pry around in there with the hook for a while because the bag didn't want to break. "Strongest bag of waters I've ever seen. I don't think that ever would have broken." However, once she finally broke it, I became completely dialated.
That's when contractions stopped. I had a latent phase, but she was sort of worried when it went on for a half hour. She said if I didn't have any contractions soon, I'd need to go over to the hospital for pitocin. The thought of getting out of the tub was more than I could bear, because when I was not in the tub, I had no control of the pain. I started twiddling my nipples like mad, swaying back and forth with my eyes closed and thinking, "Baby!"
Well I had my first pushing contraction, and she said "try pushing" (I had no urge to bear down, mind you, I just did it because she said to.) From there on out, I had good strong contractions, I really used all my energy and at one point Josh, who was amazed at the noises I was making, said that my top and bottom lips were vibrating independently of one another! It was an hour of pushing, he crowned, and then the midwife said I should get my legs held to my chest, which was hard for me in the water, so I said, "Josh! Legs!"--a command he didn't exactly understand (for some reason!) and grabbed one of my legs--I lost balance and in trying to catch myself, got a major charlie horse in my other calf. "Charlie horse!" I shouted. He let go, I had one more contraction and suddenly Pascal shot out into the tub--born with his fist next to his head. I stared, shocked at him, grabbed him, and started laughing and crying. He was screaming so loudly, and I was in another world. They helped me out of the tub and onto the bed where in one painless semi-push I birthed the placenta. Two tiny tears (doubtless because of the 8 hours in the tub) to repair and we were left with this beautiful baby who looked just like Josh and not like me (Josh is a fair red-head and I am dark-skinned and haired). He nursed immediately (something was easy!) and my family brought in the birthday cake.
Welcome to the world, Pascal.
I was having really tremendous back and hip pain from Monday evening through Saturday morning--so bad that I couldn't lay down, sit down or stand (I spend a lot of time on my knees--literally.) My husband Josh was awesome--he took the time off work to help me through the waves of hip pain that the midwifery practice insisted were not contractions or labor since they were irregular. They suggested a chiropractic adjustment, a hip brace, swimming. Josh borrowed a friend's back-supporting office chair to wheel me to the toilet. It was sheer agony.
Finally, Saturday morning I was ready to die, and Josh was even in tears because he couldn't help me, so we called up the midwives, and one agreed to meet us that afternoon to give me some sleeping meds so that I would be rested for when I went into labor (since I hadn't slept in five days). I arrived at the office wearing my long plaid nightgown with the hip brace over it, black shoes and white socks, and said grumpily, "Sorry for what I'm wearing." They looked pretty surprised to see me in this state (I'm usually at least semi-put together.)
With Josh's help I got to the examining room, where the midwife repeated how what I was experiencing was not labor, but normal, pre-labor discomfort. She would give me some sleeping pills to help me sleep. I said, "They'd better really knock me out, because I can't even lay down without feeling like my hips are shattering to pieces." She said that if it was that bad, I could be put in the hospital and given MORPHINE to "sleep" me. I refused that (of course) and then had one of my episodes of back pain. "Hmm, that looked like a contraction to me," she said. Then to see, she checked my cervix and guess what? "Honey, you're 8 centimeters dialated and fully effaced, and all I feel is a bulging bag of waters."
We laughed and cried, and I got right in the tub. As soon as I knew that the pain had been labor and got into the tub, I was completely able to relax and enjoy my labor. The tub felt amazing. My family and some friends showed up and one at a time came into the room. I felt great--no more pain.
The labor went another 8 hours and except for during pushing, I NEVER had a regular pattern to the contractions. Maybe I'd have one, and then 15 minutes another, then 8 minutes another, then four, then six, then five, then ten...The midwife was really flumoxed, but Pascal's heartrate was great and I was doing great. At one point she had me get out of the tub and have some contractions on the bed, but they were absolute agony in the hips. She said, "If I break your bag of waters, this will probably go much more quickly." She was concerned that I'd run out of energy for pushing. Also she said she'd let me get back in the tub, so Josh and I conferred, and agreed to let her, although I'd wanted no interventions. She had to pry around in there with the hook for a while because the bag didn't want to break. "Strongest bag of waters I've ever seen. I don't think that ever would have broken." However, once she finally broke it, I became completely dialated.
That's when contractions stopped. I had a latent phase, but she was sort of worried when it went on for a half hour. She said if I didn't have any contractions soon, I'd need to go over to the hospital for pitocin. The thought of getting out of the tub was more than I could bear, because when I was not in the tub, I had no control of the pain. I started twiddling my nipples like mad, swaying back and forth with my eyes closed and thinking, "Baby!"
Well I had my first pushing contraction, and she said "try pushing" (I had no urge to bear down, mind you, I just did it because she said to.) From there on out, I had good strong contractions, I really used all my energy and at one point Josh, who was amazed at the noises I was making, said that my top and bottom lips were vibrating independently of one another! It was an hour of pushing, he crowned, and then the midwife said I should get my legs held to my chest, which was hard for me in the water, so I said, "Josh! Legs!"--a command he didn't exactly understand (for some reason!) and grabbed one of my legs--I lost balance and in trying to catch myself, got a major charlie horse in my other calf. "Charlie horse!" I shouted. He let go, I had one more contraction and suddenly Pascal shot out into the tub--born with his fist next to his head. I stared, shocked at him, grabbed him, and started laughing and crying. He was screaming so loudly, and I was in another world. They helped me out of the tub and onto the bed where in one painless semi-push I birthed the placenta. Two tiny tears (doubtless because of the 8 hours in the tub) to repair and we were left with this beautiful baby who looked just like Josh and not like me (Josh is a fair red-head and I am dark-skinned and haired). He nursed immediately (something was easy!) and my family brought in the birthday cake.
Welcome to the world, Pascal.
