Birth Story

We're just settling in, but I know you're all curious to know how it went, so here's the scoop:
My water broke at 11pm on Thursday, May 20th. After having sporadic contractions all night, my labor 'stalled' in the morning and I had very few contractions during the day on Friday. I kept in touch with the midwives, started taking a cohosh tincture, and working on the labor and delivery pressure points of the body, but still nothing much was happening. We assumed that my body was sort of waiting for my mother's arrival from Colorado, which can happen. She had to get her ticket changed and jumped the earliest flight out of Denver, arriving here at around 1pm with the aid of Jo Ann and Colie, Russell's mom and brother.
At that point we called the midwives again, and they decided to have us come in just to check on things. Orion's heart rate was absolutely perfect and he didn't look at all like he was under stress. While hooked to the monitor, I even had a couple of contractions, which was interesting to see on the feed out. Since I wasn't having regular contractions and things were looking fine, they sent us home to wait it out. According to their protocols, we had 72 hours from the time the water broke before we had to go to the hospital to be induced, so long as his heart rate was good and my temperature was stable. On the way home, we even stopped at Cameron's in the U Mall to get some nice candles, which I really wanted for the birthing.
We spent the evening at home, had a wonderful dinner with Jo Ann, who was kind enough to bring some food over, and continued to wait it out. The contractions started coming more regularly and more intensely, but were still very spaced out, coming around 10-15 minutes apart. We weren't going to head back to the birthing center until we met the 4-1-1 rule, which is 1 minute contractions 4 minutes apart for an hour. Since mine were very spaced out and even seemed to be slowing down again, we decided to go to bed and try to get some sleep, resting up for the work ahead. For a few hours we dozed in between contractions, which got frustrating to me after a while, as they were quite painful and I was tired of getting up and down. They were getting closer together, around 10 minutes apart, but I really didn't want to spend another night like the one before. I finally decided to just get up and start pacing, hoping that might get things moving a bit, and boy was I right. The contractions went from about 10-15 minutes apart to 1-3 minutes apart immediately, and they were quite intense. After 20 minutes of that, we decided to call the birthing center. It was about 1:30 in the morning by then, and no one was at the center because the midwife on call was finishing up a birth at UNC hospital and hadn't returned. They paged her and she called us back after about another 20 minutes, during which I'd had about 10 more contractions. Kate suggested taking a shower to (hopefully) help slow things down a bit, since it got so intense so quickly. The shower seemed to speed things up, and was a tough place to be while having contractions, as I didn't really have anything to hold on to. We heard from another midwife, Sara, who was the back-up on call, and she was on her way to the BC to open up for us and wait on Kate to get back from the hospital. We woke my mom up and headed over to the BC at around 2:30 in the morning. By then I was having some real contractions, having to breath and howl through them - which was NOT comfortable in the car. Fortunately the BC is close by!
We got there and got settled in, and with some help from the midwives we got settled in. From that point out, things got pretty intense and involved, and I don't necessarily even remember a lot of it! I had no frame of reference for labor, so I wasn't really sure if what I was feeling was in the 'normal' range of intensity or pain. Apparently the midwives were somewhat concerned because I was having a hard time with the contractions, getting very tense and using a lot of energy to get through them. We tried getting me into the tub, which was nice because in between contractions I was able to relax completely and sort of slept. However, I kept feeling like I needed to use the bathroom and was getting in and out of the tub enough that it was sort of a pain. By then I was very tired, and really wanted to just lie down and sleep, but the contractions were right on top of one another and I didn't really have the option.
I had learned about the phases of labor, but wasn't really aware of being in one phase or another once we got to the birthing center. I know I went from early labor to active labor pretty rapidly in the night, but have no idea when transition started.
After I got out of the tub finally, Kate wanted me to get the hook-up for the IV in, just in case I needed it at some point. This was difficult, as I was having contractions fast enough that there wasn't really a good time to do it. I didn't watch them do it, but something went a bit wrong while I was mid-contraction and I bled all over the place before they managed to get it set.
Kate wanted me to get on the bed for a while and rest as much as I could, because she was concerned about how much energy I had used and how tired I already was. I needed to save some energy for the final phase, pushing, and the tension I was experiencing made it seem like I was going to be a while in actually delivering Orion. I did my best to focus and rest while on the bed, but lying down was really not a good position for me to be in and I was in even more pain that way. This made it very hard to focus and I wasn't using my breath very well, though I did managed to sleep a bit in between the contractions. I started feeling a lot of downward pressure by then, but was getting to the point where communicating clearly was a bit beyond me. Kate recommended that I try to pee, as a full bladder can cause unhelpful pressure, so they got me on the toilet backwards, with a pillow on the tank for me to rest on. That felt immediately better, and I tried and tried to a while to void my bladder with no luck. However, I was comfortable there and felt like things were more productive, so I stayed like that for a good long time.
While that was happening, Kate went to rest since she had already delivered two babies in her 24-hour shift and I was her third mamma-in-progress (and not being an easy one to deal with, either!) Someone had asked me if I was feeling the urge to push yet in between contractions, which I wasn't. Maybe I had misheard them, because I couldn't help but push during contractions and was much further along than anyone realized, even myself. But the contractions were becoming wildly intense, with a huge amount of downward pressure, and I could feel myself opening up. I was still in my animal/instinct-brain and wasn't able to communicate well, but finally just reached down and discovered that I could feel the top of Orion's head. My mom came in right about then to ask me a few questions, and I told her he was coming. She asked how I knew, and I said I could feel him. She went out to get Kate, who popped right up and came in ready to go. It took a couple of people to get me to the bed, and then we got down to the business of delivering our little man.
I was so tired, and this part was hard, but we managed to crown him gradually, so although I tore a bit I got through it without too much damage. Despite how tired I was, we got him out pretty easily and much more quickly than anyone expected. At 8am the midwives and nurses changed over, and we had a fresh support team come in to catch Orion, who was born at 8:17am.
It was amazing to see him and have him on my chest after all that pain and effort, but all I could do was stare, as my brain wasn't processing anything very clearly. Russell and my mom were right there, and Russell's mom was outside waiting with some food for everyone. I was not quite done yet, though, as I still had to deliver the placenta and get some stitches. I had to have a shot of pitocin at that point, too, to help the uterus contract in spite of the fibroids and hopefully stop any hemorrhaging. I think that made it harder to get the placenta out, though, so I didn't have as easy a time with that as most people do. I also started shaking all over, which was making things difficult for everyone to get anything done. It took a team of folks to get me moved to the end of the bed so that I could get some stitches, and I couldn't get away from feeling super-sensitive, making it hard for them to even identify where the tears were. Finally they decided that a shot of morphine was in order, and that managed to calm me down a lot. Russell did a great job distracting me by asking me good leading questions about Burning Man while I was getting stitched. I told him about when I first met our good friend Crash, and we talked about the Fire of Fires temple burn from this last year.
Actually, I have been remiss in mentioning Russell's roll in our birth. He was an absolutely amazing birth partner and coach. He didn't leave my side, he was always helpful and encouraging, and really helped me accomplish birthing our boy. I was really amazed and proud of him afterward! He's a wonderful partner and has been an equally great daddy.
Once I was cleaned up and covered, Jo Ann came in with some food and we settled down to eat, including Orion, who had his first nursing session. He was a hungry boy! And a very mellow baby. He was relaxed and quiet pretty much the whole time, unlike a new baby who arrived very soon after ours next door, who was very vocal!
After some time napping and a few check-ups, we finished the requisite paperwork and got to go home around 2:30pm. It was very good to get back in our own space and settle down.
And now we're new parents, with a sweet and beautiful little boy!