Sam’s Birth Story
The story below is my account of the birth of my son, Josh. I’ll start by saying that I had a fairly straightforward and healthy pregnancy. I wanted to share my personal experience to help other women understand what to expect. At the same time, each one of us is different and our pregnancies are different. This is not meant to be some kind of a benchmark or guide. It’s only my personal story.
I was induced at 38+6 (38 weeks, 6 days) because my placenta was ageing. During an ultrasound, it was found to contain higher than normal levels of calcium. This was not good news on its own and definitely stressed me out. However, I was pretty over being pregnant and was glad to get labour going. Also, knowing when it was going to happen in advance enabled me to feel a bit more in control, old placenta and all. Due to the fact that I was delivering where I work, I was lucky enough to have a few of my good friends as my nurses. And because I was scheduled for an induction, my doctor was on-call as well.
The day started with my husband and I taking an Uber to the hospital and getting admitted. After a short wait, we were escorted to the room I’d labour and deliver our baby. The induction started with my OB performing a vaginal exam. Since I was already 3 cm dilated (meaning that labour was likely to happen soon anyway regardless of the induction), she proceeded to break my waters. This was a weird and gross feeling but surprisingly pain free. Unlike the movies, there was no big intense painful contractions right after. It felt like a gush of fluid with more trickling out.
I was then started on a contraction inducing medication called oxytocin. Shortly after, labour pain started. At first it was similar to menstrual cramps, but then increased to pain that had peaks and valleys. During the peaks it was quite strong. I walked around my labour room, used a big inflatable birthing ball (yoga ball), and had my nurse and husband apply counter pressure and massage my back and hips. The pain was intense. I was breathing through each contraction, coached by my nurse. She encouraged me to take slow deep breaths and try to relax my shoulders. To be honest by the time I asked for my epidural each contraction felt like my spine was being twisted.
The epidural was always part of my plan to cope with labour pain. I never felt that I had to prove anything by going unmedicated, and I felt that the risks of the procedure were acceptable to me. Even though I wanted one from the start, I wanted to be in a good labour pattern (contracting frequently and painfully) before asking for the epidural. The procedure itself was quick and smooth. After the epidural I felt pressure with each contraction which at times was uncomfortable, but I was mostly pain free. I laboured in the labour bed changing positions and using a peanut ball (peanut shaped yoga ball) between my legs whenever my labour nurse instructed me to do so. Since I had lost some feeling to my legs and lower body, I had a catheter inserted into my bladder to keep it empty. The insertion was another weird and uncomfortable experience, but also not painful. Several hours of labour had passed and even though I developed a fever which made me nervous, I was finally fully dilated.
At fully dilated my team decided it was time for me to start pushing. But, with that first push my baby’s heart rate dropped. In that moment my OB decided a vacuum might be needed and called the team to set it up. I was worried and very stressed, but my baby’s heart rate came back up after a few minutes and I continued pushing with my nurses for around an hour, thankfully without the need for the vacuum. With my whole team assembled, and at exactly 9:17 PM I finally pushed out my baby. This was an enormous physical relief as the pressure I was feeling finally eased. I was also emotionally relieved and very excited. My husband and I agreed that we did not want to find out the sex of the baby before the birth, and it was his job (and only job) to announce that we had a boy. Finding out was one of the most joyous moments of my life. My son was placed on my chest right after the delivery for skin-to-skin. He was having some trouble breathing on his own, so the respiratory therapist who was on standby in the room brought him over to the baby warmer in the corner of the room to administer mouth suctioning. After a few tense minutes he was brought right back to me, breathing well, for some more skin-to-skin. A short while after, my placenta came out and I began the postpartum process.
Reflecting back, I had a lovely birth experience. Other than wanting an epidural, I went into it with no specific birth plan. My goal was to have a healthy baby by whatever means necessary. I did not want the vacuum but would have accepted it if it meant the safe delivery of my baby. I feel that the fact that I trusted my health care team helped me immensely. I am very fortunate to know them so well, as they are my colleagues and feel like family. Despite the few bumps in the road. I could not have asked for smoother and safer delivery.