Home | Hunter's birth story: part 2

Hunter's birth story: part 2

by Heather

Before heading onto part 2, catch up on part 1 of Hunter’s birth story.

At 1am we arrived at the family birth center. I got hooked up to two monitors – one for my contractions, one for Hunter’s heart rate.

A nurse checked and indeed my water had broken — we were there to stay. When my midwife arrived she checked to see how much I’d progressed — 3 cm, almost 100% effaced and he was at zero station, meaning very low, locked and ready to go!

After 30 minutes on the monitors I was free to move as I pleased. I walked around the room a lot,  spent some time in the tub and did some hands and knees rocking. I was feeling pretty drained from the lack of sleep that I began to drift off into sleep in between contractions.

The switch

Typically things start to progress along in labor — longer and stronger contractions that get closer and closer together. Well the opposite began happening for me. They kept getting further apart, leaving me with 5-6 minutes of breaks in between each (where before they were 1-2 minutes apart). I was even able to get an hour long nap in, and apparently I had a 24 minute break from contractions at that time.

Although the relief was nice, I knew it wasn’t a good sign.

By noon on Monday my midwife decided to check me again, only because my labor didn’t seem to be going the right way. At that time I was 5-6 cm dilated. I had made progress, just slowly. We decided to give it a couple more hours to see if things picked up before talking about other options.

The nurse did some acupressure on my feet/ankles and we tried hot wash cloth nipple stimulation. Both things that can help pick up contractions. I moved around the room, did lunges, got on my hands and knees. I wanted my body to do this on its own without help.

4pm rolled around and I was check again — only 6cm dilated. Barely a change. Since my water had broken at 8pm the night before the 24 hour time clock was counting down.

I knew what my options were going to be, and I knew I didn’t really have a choice with them, but when my midwife suggested a little pitocin I broke down and cried. It’s not what we wanted or planned for.  The lack of sleep was making me pretty emotional, and at the time I felt like a failure. Why couldn’t my body do this? Did I do something wrong? This is not what we had planned.

We said okay to the pitocin. Our midwife knew what we wanted, but sometimes things change with  unexpected situations. I started off with the smallest dose of pitocin, which we hoped would kick start my body back to where it needed to be. For the next hour I got 2 tiny increments.

Things were starting to pick up. By 6pm the contractions were much much stronger. I could no longer walk them off.  I’d instantly have to get on my knees, arms on tub and Jacob putting hot compression on my back. It was the only way I could deal with them. There wasn’t talking, just walking then onto my knees during the pain.

I wanted to be checked again, hoping I’d be at the point of pushing. Pushing meant the contractions would soon end and Hunter would be here.

Only at a 9. Keep moving as much as I can. Keep things moving and getting to that 10.

Just about every 20-30 minutes I asked to be checked again and I was stuck at 9-9.5 cm. It seemed like I was stuck there forever.

Contractions were back to back and I could barely deal with them. I kept saying that I wanted to push, but they knew I wasn’t ready. I wishfully wanted to push.  That would mean it was over.

Stuck at that 9.5 I began to feel defeated. I kept telling them I couldn’t doing it any more. Jacob and my midwife would encourage me and get me through that contraction, one at a time. My breathing would start to get our of hand, then Jacob would just start doing the slow deep breathing and I’d begin to mimic him.

In my head each time I said I couldn’t do it anymore, to me that meant I needed drugs. That’s the thing about transition, you begin to say things you don’t really mean…

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9 comments

chelsey @ clean eating chelsey June 7, 2012 - 5:24 pm

You are definitely a very strong lady!!! I’m guessing that even if you wanted drugs at that point, it was too late – can’t wait to hear the rest of the birth story!

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Erica June 7, 2012 - 5:46 pm

Oh man….i cant wait for the rest!!

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Fit Mama June 8, 2012 - 9:32 am

Haha love leaving you in suspense!

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Lindsay @ Lindsay's List June 7, 2012 - 5:53 pm

I was BEGGING for a c-section, for drugs, for anything!! My midwife was great – she kept reminding me of what I wanted and we did it together.

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Nicole, RD June 7, 2012 - 10:47 pm

I can only imagine the frustration of the plan having to be reformatted while in labor. Can’t wait to hear the rest!!

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Maryea {Happy Healthy Mama} June 8, 2012 - 6:33 am

This brought me right back to my labor. Oh, honey, I could feel your pain through the words! I can’t wait to read the rest! I know it’s a happy ending, so whatever happened in between was worth it. 🙂

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Fit Mama June 8, 2012 - 9:34 am

It was a very happy ending 🙂

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Emily Butler @EmilysHomestead June 8, 2012 - 10:40 am

Yup, I think we all at least say we want drugs even if we really don’t! I was so mad they made me get an IV with my third when I was pushing, she was stuck so they had to be ready just incase! Thankfully they were able to vacuum her out and I avoided the csection, that was a close one! Can’t wait for part three!

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Zoe’s birth story | Fit Mama Real Food March 3, 2014 - 6:11 pm

[…] Hunter’s birth story: part 2 […]

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