The Birth of Samual Luca Isaiah!

The Birth of Samual Luca Isaiah

On Friday March 10th,2006, I took the girls to the playground with a bunch of our friends. One friend commented on how grumpy I was & said I must be getting close to birth. I had been drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea throughout my pregnancy to strengthen & tone my uterus & that day had made a pretty strong brew & drank a pint of it. By the late afternoon I was feeling a bit crampy & heavy, but decided that it was just from being a day away from my EDD & being on my feet all day.

Our official "due date" was March 12th, a day after Dp's birthday. Both of the girls were born on one of his brothers' birthdays, so he thought it would be pretty amazing if his son was born on his.

I made the girls & I some pasta for dinner & we headed to bed around 9pm because I was exhausted. I was having a dream that I was driving to the hospital with the girls in the van when something woke me up, a small cramp or twinge. I looked at the clock & it was 10:55pm. I got up expecting to see some bloody show like I did with both girls, but nothing. I walked downstairs & my mom looked at me suspiciously & I said, "I think it might just be gas." You'd think after 2 kids, I'd know for sure! I think I actually knew it was labor, but I really did not want to go to the hospital. I called Dp at about 11:15pm & he said, "Are you surprising me?" He was at work, about 40 minutes away & I was afraid he might not make it in time.

By this point I knew I was in labor, I had had one big contraction at 11:30pm & now had the shakes. I took some Rescue Remedy & relaxed a little bit. My mom kept staring at me suspiciously, saying that we should just go now. I was hesitant & said that I just wanted to go upstairs & get in the shower. After she asked if I wanted her to call 911, I agreed to go with her to the hospital instead of waiting for Dp.

I called the answering service & said I was in labor & asked who was on call. My heart sank when they said it was Dr. Bonehead, one of the few male OBs at the new practice I had been going to. I avoided the male doctors throughout my pregnancy knowing that I'd never be comfortable with them since I had only ever seen my midwife who delivered Dd1 & Dd2 before going there. Dr. Bonehead called back right away & asked what pregnancy this was for me & how far dilated I was at my last appointment (4cm.) He said to go to the hospital.

As we were getting into the car, I called Dp & he said he was here & pulled up just then. I can't believe he didn't get pulled over, he must have driven like a maniac. By now I was having one contraction on top of another & a lot of pressure. I could not get into the car & tried to go back into the house with plans of jumping in the shower & birthing this baby alone. Dp & my mom were shouting at me to get in the car & I tried & immediately jumped back out. I ended up riding on my knees, facing the back of the car, holding onto my bottom during contractions. The ride to the hospital was about 10 minutes during which I had about 5 or 6 contractions with increasing pressure each time.

We pulled up to the ER entrance & I walked in holding my belly way down low & said I was in labor & that I had babies really quickly. A doctor from the ER came out right away & asked if I wanted to walk up to the maternity floor or ride in a chair, I chose to walk since I couldn't manage to sit anywhere. Once on the elevator, the doctor (possibly a student) asked if this was my first labor & I said no. He asked how long my last labor was & I said, "an hour" & he then asked how long I had been in labor & I said, "an hour." You should have seen his face! He then told me that he had delivered a baby in an elevator once - that would have been a great story!

I got to the LDR room & a nurse came in & handed me a gown. I turned off all of the lights with the exception of one dim one & proceeded to change into my gown.
Dp came in a few minutes later & I asked him to press on my back but I couldn't stop walking & he was having a hard time following me & pressing on my back at the same time.

Then all hell broke loose. The nurse came back in & asked me to get on the bed. I said that there was no way I was going to labor on a bed. She said that they needed to strap on the monitor, start an IV & check my dilation. I said that they would have to get a hand held doppler because I didn't want continual fetal monitoring or an IV & nobody was checking for dilation. She said that they couldn't call the doctor until they knew how far dilated I was. I said I was about 8cm, maybe more. She brought in another nurse & said that they didn't want to deliver the baby, they wanted to call the doctor. By now I could feel my bag of water bulging out of me. It was such an amazing feeling, I walked over to Dp & asked him to feel it. It freaked him out & rather than backing me up, he asked me why I wouldn't get on the bed.

Dr. Bonehead walked in & already looked ticked off. He said that they needed to monitor the baby's heart rate & by not allowing it, I was endangering the baby's life. He said the same thing when I wouldn't allow him to check my dilation. I told him that my water hadn't broken yet & he said that he could break it. I didn't want that but I did want the baby to come out soon. Labor had been just about 2 hours & I was wondering what was taking so long. I thought that maybe if I put my one knee up on the bed that I would allow the baby to descend a bit more & cause my bag of water to break. As soon as my knee hit the bed I had a contraction & a gush of fluid - it worked!

From my previous birthing experiences, I expected to feel a sudden urge to push, but it didn't come. The doctor asked again to check my dilation & since most of the pressure subsided when my water broke, I consented. He said I was completely dilated & that I needed to push. I told him that I didn't feel the urge to push & that I would let him know when I did. He asked if I'd try pushing through one contraction & since the thought of the baby actually being born was appealing, I pushed through the next one.
Dp said he could see the head coming down as I pushed but I just didn't feel the urge & said that I couldn't make myself push when I didn't feel the urge. The doctor left the room at that point. The two nurses encouraged me to push & after a couple of contractions passed, I tried pushing again. I still didn't feel like it, but Roberto kept saying that the baby was coming down so much with each push. The nurse called the doctor back in & the baby began to crown with the next push. I reminded him that I didn't want an episiotomy & that I did not want him to clamp or cut the cord until it stopped pulsing. I gave one final, gentle push & the head was out, soon after the rest of the baby slid out.

At 1:22am on Saturday March 11th, 2006, Samual Luca Isaiah was born on his Daddy's birthday! He weighed 8 lbs, 4.5 oz & was 22" long. He was nursing like a champ within seconds of making his appearance. Despite his size, I escaped without any tears.

The doctor immediately clamped the cord & I asked him to unclamp it. He insisted that it had already stopped pulsing & I asked again that he remove the clamp. He said that if he did, the baby would bleed out - how that was possible if the cord had already "stopped pulsing" was beyond me. He then proceeded to cut the cord. As I was nursing, I noticed that he was pulling on the cord to get the placenta to come out. Before I could stop him, it slid out. Of course, I began to bleed so he called for an IV with pitocin. I had never had an IV or pitocin & had never heard good things about it. As soon as the pitocin was flowing, I bled some more, the nurse called it a "pit bleed," then the bleeding slowed down. I asked to see the placenta & he said it was already in the trash - why I didn't kick him in the head is a mystery to me. Needless to say, I missed my midwife.

In the end, we were blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby boy & natural birth. We are all hopelessly in love with him!