The 'not exactly as planned' birth story

First off: Be warned - this is a semi-(?)-long one. May want to make sure you have a cuppa if you're planning on reading it all. Or, jump to the bottom for the CliffsNotes version.

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I had a couple titles for this one up my sleeve, in expectation:

Conceived under the northern lights, born under the midnight sun
Little miss Eleventh Hour

But alas, neither of them came to fruition.

The first would have been a stretch anyhow, because there's so much light pollution where we currently live that I can't be certain she was conceived under the northern lights. Then there's the fact she was born in the afternoon - but it would've been a romantic title in any event, no?

The second title is one that emerged towards the very end of the pregnancy. I figured maybe since she was already an eleventh hour child, that it was just 'her thing', and that she would decide to come naturally the night before our scheduled induction.

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After all the preparations for a homebirth, coming up on 41 weeks was a slight disappointment, but not fatal as we still had a week to get going. We ended up going to two overtime-checks (and a third unofficial one with my homebirth midwife who was on shift the Sunday evening after our second OT-check...she had wanted me to come in just to be safe, as she felt going 4 days without a check so late in the pregnancy was too long), where the second one was on Thursday June 13th. Since we were under 'threat' of induction the next day I was all game for an internal check and stripping of my membranes, two things I had politely declined when offered the Monday before.

The doctor was SUPER surprised when she found I was about 3cm dialated and practically fully effaced, and was sure I would go into labor naturally that day or at least over the weekend, and so without me even having to ask for an extension, she scheduled me for induction on Monday the 17th, completely going against hospital procedures of 'baby must be out by 42+2' (based on their calculations Monday put me at 42+3). Yay for experienced and optimistic doctors!

I myself was quite happy to hear there was dilation and effacement, but sat thinking to myself later that I could have been this dilated and effaced for the past few weeks for all we know, because these stats don't say much about when labor will actually start in the least. But hey, an extension is an extension, and perhaps exactly what we needed to get our natural homebirth.

[Judge and I had also discussed with the homebirth midwives our options if we really decided we didn't want to get an induction, and knew that if we so chose, we could request to come in for ultrasounds and CTGs daily until labor started naturally or until there was a problem, but knowing what and how the risks increase the longer you go past 42 weeks, we felt comfortable with a scheduled induction at 42+3].

With a heavy heart I woke on Monday morning, with no contractions and a super disappointed feeling deep in the pit of my heart. My dream of a homebirth, and more importantly a natural birth, were gone. And I have to admit, I have some fears when it comes to induction...you know, the whole downward spiral where one intervention leads to the next. Though I know some inductions go great and smoothly and you just need a small nudge, the interventions still scare me.

I took some time to try to really get back in the mindframe of my body just needing that little nudge of the waters being broken manually and that then everything would be kick-started and continue as though it was all natural, and off we headed to the hospital.

Thankfully one of our homebirth midwives is also the one who schedules the midwives' shifts at the hospital, and so she had arranged for us to have the most perfect midwife - one that had planned to have a homebirth last year, but had ended up having to come in to the hospital for an induction, and ended up with a great waterbirth instead. AND this midwife is planning on joining the team of homebirth midwives, so really she has the mindframe and heart for knowing where we're coming from and what is important to us.

A small summary:

10:30 arrive, talk to assigned midwife, do CTG check (all is well)
11:30 manual rupture of the membranes (no meconium to be seen - thank goodness!)
... while waiting for some action Judge and I discuss breaking and other life passions, and take a few Pictures

[Last belly shot before she's born...and a view of the room - see why a hospital birth wasn't far off our comfort-radar?]

[T-shirt chosen with care for this special occasion :D]

 

... absolutely nothing happens in the birthing department

1:40 get some acupuncture to try and get things started (nothing happens)
2:00 baby girl gets an electrode stuck to her scalp and I get a belt to monitor contractions strapped on me. You got it folks - continuous fetal monitoring on the go, because:
2:40 we got a hep-lock and oxytocin drip - contractions started but not 'up to par'

The oxytocin is subsequently increased from 30 to 40, and after a while our midwife suggests we should maybe increase again. At this point I said lets go with the internal check first (doctor's orders) and then take it from there, as I had no interest in getting it increased and rather wanted it decreased because though the contractions weren't painful per se (it's all in how you perceive them...I went for intense, no pain, and used hypnobabies' anesthesia and relaxation to brainwash myself), I wasn't ready to have them stronger and closer together...felt like they were already strong enough, like the ones that measured up to 130 and more during Leona's birth, though thes were only showing as at about 50-60 on the monitor.

The internal revealed that I was already 8 cm and (still?) fully effaced, which totally aligned with me being in transition and my feeling of actually wanting to give up.

Thankfully the oxytocin was downgraded, and on the next contraction I was surprised I felt the urge to push. After moving into various positions that I felt were right for us, angling myself just a little over here, just a little over there, kneeling in the bed, then going into a more sitting position, I could feel she was heading past my talebone and then was almost right on the perinium. Felt her head with my hand...something she totally didn't like, making me totally not like it either :P

Unfortunately after a few more pushes her heart rate dropped to 70-80 and then didn't pick back up again, so the oxytocin was increased to 60 then 100 and I was guided in pushing her out on the next contraction.

And there she was, our Eliana, at 5:40pm, all 4348g and 50cm of her little beautiful self. Though basically a kilo bigger than Leona, and the oxytocin-enhanced push at the end, I ended up with just a tiny little rift, thanks to the helpful guidance of my midwife. Seriously. Love her.

A while after the umbilical cord stopped pulsing I cut it (while Judge looked away - he is seriously squeemish about this stuff), and we continued our cuddles.

Unfortunately my uterus went on strike after she was out, and no matter how high the oxytocin was set to, there were no contractions. To make it a pressing issue I had a bit of bleeding (total of 1.2 liters I believe), and so had to have concentrated pitocin that shot in the leg that I hadn't wanted to have unless medically required...and then I had to have an other shot of the stuff directly into my hep-lock. Still no contractions and continued sporadic bleeding, and by now an hour had passed since Eliana was born.

Two doctors came in to try and see if they could manually shake it loose (NOT comfortable, at all, but thankfully I had my hypnoanesthesia on full blast so was 'ok' through it). No success.

So, I was rushed up to a team of 10 or so green-clad-and-masked persons who bustled around me, but at the same time were all very communicative with me and concerned about my well-being. I was quickly put to sleep, and woke up groggy and oh-so happy I hadn't had to be awake through whatever it was they did.

Then Judge and Eliana, having completed some checks and measurements, came up to me and I was able to hold and nurse her and talk with Judge until we were taken back down to the birthing ward, where Eliana and I stayed the night. Next day I was fine as could be, and we were allowed to head home, after a visit with Leona and Judge - our first four-person-family encounter(and my first co-nurse of the girls), and a visit from my mom as well.

Needless to say the whole birthing experience wasn't what we were planning for and not at all what I had wanted, but I have to say it wasn't bad, at all, either. I am so thankful we had the midwives we had, because I know that each step along the way was the right one for us, and I can therefore not feel any regret over losing the birth we had hoped for.

[Eliana aprox 18 hours after her birth]

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CliffsNotes Version:

Eliana Owen was born 5:40pm on June 17, 2013, weighing in at 4348g and 50cm long.

The birth went fenomenally, despite it being an induced labor, with contraction-start to birth being three hours.

Only a minor complication at the end where I had to have the placenta manually removed, but after a night in the hospital so I could be under observation we were good to go home.


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