Birth Story!

Tuesday, September 29th, I had an induction scheduled for 9:30am. I woke up that morning cramping, and having some bloody show!! When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors, to check the baby's heart rate, and see if I was having any contractions. By this time, I was feeling some mild contractions, and the monitor was picking them up! So they monitored me for about half and hour, and everything was good. Then we just had to wait for the doctor to come and insert the catheter!

At 11:00am, the doctor finally got there. She checked me, and I was a finger tip dilated, about 50% effaced, and quite soft. She inserted the catheter. For anyone who doesn't know, what they do, is they insert a catheter into your cervix that is closed at one end. They fill it with saline, creating a balloon which starts to put pressure on your cervix, hopefully releasing your own natural hormones, which cause you to start dilating. When you reach 3cm, the catheter will either fall out when you stand, or it will come out easily if they tug on it gently. This can take SEVERAL hours, it depends on how ripe you are, and how ready your body is to go into labour. Because I was already starting early labour, they were quite confident that it wouldn't take too long.

At about 11:30am, they transferred me to antipardom, since like I said, it can take a long time, so they didn't want me taking up space in labour and delivery. They monitored me for half an hour again, and I was noticing my contractions getting stronger and more frequent. At noon they took me off the monitors, and said that they would come back in 2 hours to monitor me again. So we sat and waited.

At 2:00pm, I was on the monitors again, and I was definitely noticing my contractions getting closer, about 3 - 6 minutes apart, and stronger - to the point that I was starting to concentrate and breath through them. So at 2:30pm, when the nurse came back, she gave a little tug on the catheter, and it easily came out! So they transferred me to Labour and Delivery!!

When I got to labour and delivery, they started an IV, and got me on the monitors again. They said that because I was VBAC, they had to monitor me for most of my labour. At 3:40pm, the doctor came in and checked me. I was at 3cm! Then she broke my water, and said that things should start moving right along!

My contractions were getting quite strong, and I was really having to concentrate and breath through them. They hadn't checked me in quite a while, so when they finally did at 6:20pm, I was REALLY hoping for some good progress, like AT LEAST 5cm. I was only 4cm. That discouraged me, but the nurse explained that from 3 - 4cm can take the longest, but since I was now at 4cm, I was in "active labour" and things should start picking up!

I had told them that with Jade I transitioned really fast. I was stuck at 7cm for quite a few hours, but they figured that her head was in a weird position, and once she shifted, I went from 7cm, to she was out, in 13 minutes. Because of this, my nurse was quite confident that I would transition fast with this labour too. She figured that I would have the baby before her shift was over at 11pm. I wasn't quite so convinced, but was hoping she was right!

They checked me again at 7:45pm, and I was 4 - 5cm. Again, I was really hoping that I would be farther along! I was starting to get even more discouraged. My contractions were getting more and more painful, and I was REALLY hoping for a drug-free delivery, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could go for! The nurse kept on trying to get me to try different positions, saying that changing positions would help speed things up, but the most comfortable position for me was reclining in bed. I was mainly feeling pain in my lower uterus, and the tops of my legs, so I wanted to take any excess pressure off of those areas. I was so tired, that I was almost falling asleep between contractions, and they were only a couple of minutes apart! With each contraction I would squeeze Gairod's hand, breath, and try to concentrate on seeing my baby. As each contraction let up, I would let go of Gairod's hand, and just relax every muscle in my body. At this point I had my eyes closed almost all the time. I felt somewhat disoriented, and was really struggling to keep my thoughts positive.

At 9:00pm, they checked me again. I was 5 - 6cm. By this time I had been tossing around the idea of getting an epidural for a few hours already, and I decided I really wanted to get one. I had no idea how much longer this was going to take, so far I was gaining less than 1cm an hour. So theoretically, we could easily be looking at another 4 hours or more until I got to 10cm, and then who knows how long of pushing!! I was totally exhausted, and in so much pain! I decided that I didn't need to "prove" myself to anyone, and no one really cared if I got an epidural but me. So Gairod told the nurse, and she called the anesthesiologist.

It didn't take long for the anesthesiologist to come, and start getting his stuff ready. I had to sit on the bed, hunched over, which was one of the MOST uncomfortable positions for me! I just kept on telling myself that after a few more contractions, the pain would be gone, and I could enjoy the rest of my labour and delivery! So he started trying to find a spot to put it, and had a hard time finding a good epidural space in my back. He finally found a spot (after SEVERAL painful contractions) and threaded the catheter in. He hit a blood vessel. He said that that happens about 10% of the time. So he had to try and pull it back a bit, to get it out of the blood vessel, without pulling it all the way out of my back. After several more contractions, that were getting even more painful, he thought he had it out of the blood vessel, but wanted to try giving me a bit of the epidural before he finished it all, to see if it was going to work. So I had to wait a few more contractions, still sitting up hunched over, to see if it was going to take effect. By this time my contractions were almost one on top of the other, and I was feeling quite a bit of pressure with them, and almost feeling like I needed to push. The epidural, wasn't working, so the anesthesiologist said he would have to pull it all out, and start all over again, this time with me lying on my side, to see if he could find a better epidural space. This was about 45 minutes after he started the whole process!

I was debating whether or not to let him try again, and the nurse wanted to check me before he did anything else. So I was finally able to lay down again, and with my next contraction I could feel my body starting to push! It was 9:57pm, and the nurse checked me, and I was at 7cm. The doctor was just outside the room and heard me pushing with my last contraction, so she came in to check me as well. She checked me while I was having my next contraction, and said "Your body is ready to push. You are at a 7, but you are just going to push the rest of the cervix away, so you go ahead and push!!" At 10:02pm, only 5 minutes after I was 7cm, I was at 10cm. They had to get me to slow down my pushing while the baby was crowning, so I wouldn't tear too badly. After a few more pushes, my baby girl was born, at 10:06pm!! I beat my old record by going from 7cm to baby out in 9 minutes!!!

Sage Autumn Begg, was born Tuesday September 29th, 2009, at 10:06pm. She was 8lbs 4ozs, and 20 inches long.

I was SOOO shocked that she was a girl!!! I never really had a feeling of what the baby was throughout my pregnancy, but I guess I really was expecting a boy! lol! But I am SOO glad that she is a girl, because in all honesty, that is what I was really hoping for! <3