It was in the very early morning hours on Monday June 23
that I woke up with contraction. It
wasn’t the first time that I had woken from sleeping to feel my womb
tightening. I relaxed and dismissed the
contraction as a practice. Several hours
later I acknowledged the fact that I was getting a terrible night sleep because
of being woken every 15-20 minutes by a contraction. I thought to myself “hmmm…. Ok. Maybe this will turn into something!” Since this was my fifth time to give birth, I
stayed in bed and continued to rest.
With baby #1 when this happened I hopped out of bed and got excited. I turned all energizer bunny and did dishes
and cleaned the house. With baby #5 I
knew that getting as much rest as possible was imperative. Time would tell if this was labor or not, but
I needed rest either way!
Morning rolled around and I got out of bed to take care of
the kids. Over the next hour I took note
of the fact that contractions never stopped.
They stayed about the same regardless of what I was doing or not doing.
During the weeks before Carissa’s birth, Ryan was still
working nights (10pm-8am) for his previous employer as well as working during
the day to get paperwork in order and projects started with his current venture. One of my prayer requests was that by some
miracle, both Ryan and I would be rested going into the birth. The Lord was good to us. Ryan had been off the night of the 22, so we
had both slept. Ryan was scheduled to
work the night of the 23, but once he heard what was going on, he chose to
speak with his supervisors about starting his paternity leave that night.
We continued to hang around at home that Monday
morning. By mid-morning when
contractions had continued and were at about 10-15 minutes apart, Ryan was
getting everything ready for our trip to Watertown where I was planning to
deliver. Ryan’s parents came to pick up
the kids so that we could get some rest and get to Watertown when we thought
the time was right. I took a nap and ate
lunch. Nothing was feeling too intense,
but it was feeling consistent. My last
birth with Tyler had been like this, then kicked into gear and we had a baby in
our arms about 3 hours later. With a 1.5
hour drive ahead of us, we decided that it would be best to head to Watertown
around 2pm on Monday the 23.
As a side note, I delivered in Watertown because of my plan
to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cessarian).
I had a C Section with my Aidan, my second child, because of his breach
presentation. I had previously delivered
babies number 3 and 4 via VBAC, but once a VBAC always a VBAC so we had to find
a practice and hospital that would agree to my birth plan. I saw John Barrett at A Woman’s Perspective throughout
my pregnancy and delivered at Samaritan Medical Center.
As we arrived in Watertown that Monday afternoon, we decided
to head to the mall. Nothing was really
different. Contractions continued but
they were only mild-moderate and they were still 10-15 minutes apart. We walked through the mall and did some
window shopping, but in the end it seemed like, if anything, the contractions
were becoming more spaced out. My
overwhelmingly wise husband suggested that we check into a hotel so that I
could get some rest. He knew that I was
worn out from being up a lot the night before.
That night continued the same as the night before. I was resting, but not actually sleeping
because of contractions. I got snatches
of 20-30 minutes here and there and definitely was able to rest. Ryan is an old pro at labor at this point,
and knew my love for sitting in water while laboring. He managed to find a room with a Jacuzzi
tub. That thing was such a dream. During
my last weeks of pregnancy I was having significant hip and back pain. The pressure of the baby descending made the
discomfort worse, so the water was my best friend!
Tuesday morning arrived and I was a bit stumped about what
we should do. I definitely didn’t feel
like birth was imminent but at the same time, I didn’t know if suggesting that
we head the 1.5 hours home was wise.
After a call in to my Doctor’s practice, one of the midwives suggested
that I come in to the office to be checked and discuss our plan. I was 3cm, 80% effaced with the baby “very
low” when I was checked around 11am that morning. Carissa looked great on the NST and the
midwife very clearly said that she didn’t know how to advise us, but this could
very well just be “practice” and we could choose whether to continue to stay in
Watertown or to head home. Since I was
38 weeks, 5 days (not yet 39) and my membranes were not yet ruptured, I wasn’t
a candidate to be augmented.
After leaving the doctor’s office we went to lunch and
discussed the big question: What do we do.
I was feeling exhausted and down about the fact that this process was
taking so long. I was desperate to
either deliver the baby or get some solid sleep. Ryan suggested that we stay in Watertown
until either the baby arrived or contractions actually stopped. So we checked back into a hotel for night
#2. When I had packed our “hospital bag”
I was ready for ONE night away. Here we
were at night 2 and the baby hadn’t even arrived yet! The mental and emotional struggle was getting
to be more than I had anticipated.
I took a nap and spent time relaxing in the Jacuzzi tub in
our hotel room again. I was battling
discouragement big time during the afternoon and early evening. I was so very thankful for family who sent me
text like “You’re one contraction closer than you were!” and “You’ve got this!”
and dear friends cheering me on through text and also praying for me.
Around 8pm on Tuesday I noticed that my contractions seemed
to be increasing a bit in intensity.
They were about 8-10 minutes apart at this point. We went out to get a few items and walking
through Target was definitely more uncomfortable than it had been previously. Previously I would slow my walking through a
contraction. At this point, I was
completely stopping and standing still through a contraction. I’m sure that looked amusing to other shoppers. I was the huge lady stopping and standing
still in the middle of the isle with her husband just waiting patiently next to
her.
Around 11pm, contractions were requiring much more focus
than previously. At 12:30 am after
getting out of the Jacuzzi yet again, I told Ryan that I thought the baby would
be born sometime during this day, but I wasn’t sure how long it would
take.
Around 1 I text some of my support people that I needed
prayer. I was exhausted physically and
emotionally not sure how I was going to continue. I could be working at this process for
another 24 hours yet. There was no
knowing at this point. Contractions
were still 8-10 minutes apart but becoming very intense. I was no longer ok with working through a
contraction without Ryan nearby. Even if
I was just grabbing his hand, I felt like I needed that connection. The fact that contractions were still so far
apart had me definitely questioning how much longer this process would
take. At 1:30am Ryan began to get
everything in the room pulled together and in the truck. I told Ryan that I wasn’t sure if we should
head to the hospital yet. He responded
with “I have seen you make that face before and you’re going to have a baby
soon.” I agreed to head to the hospital,
but first I needed to take a shower and wash my hair. A girl has to have priorities. Not having greasy hair while delivering a
baby was apparently one of mine!
After a quick shower between contractions, we relaxed while
I contacted the on call doctor to let him know that we would be heading to the
hospital. At a previous appointment I
had found out that Dr. Barrett was going to be out of the country during this
time. My practice regularly shares
hospital on call with another doctor.
When my page was returned by Dr. Cohen, I knew that I had managed to get
a day that was not covered by one of my doctors or midwives. I can honestly say that this didn’t cause me
any concern. With Tyler, my delivery was
also handled by a doctor that I had not yet met. I remember being concerned going into it. In hind sight I realized that the Lord had
covered even that detail. Ultimately,
this delivery was in the Lord’s hands, not a physician’s. While speaking with Dr. Cohen he asked the
normal questions “how far apart are contractions” etc. When I got to the “this is my fifth baby and
contractions have significantly changed in nature” part, he said “you need to
come in right away”. We had already
decided to do that so it was nice to be on the same page.
We left our hotel at 2 am.
The desk clerk certainly had huge eyes when he saw us leaving in the
middle of the night with me in obvious discomfort. Watertown was in the middle of a significant
thunder and lightning storm with a LOT of rain when we left. It was only a few miles to the hospital, but
it took us about twice as long as normal between low visibility and my husband
kindly avoiding potholes and easing over rough patches of road. When we arrived at the hospital, Ryan was
able to park pretty close to the emergency entrance so I assured him that I
thought I wanted to walk from the truck inside. First I wanted to wait for a contraction to
hit so that I didn’t end up contracting in the middle of the pouring rain. We had a good laugh when I took the long way
“around” a puddle and ended up stepping right IN a bigger one!
As we entered the emergency department, the desk clerk
looked at us and said “WOW! What is in the air?
It’s like a train up to maternity tonight!” An aid came and pushed me in a wheelchair
up. I was thankful for that since
contractions were very intense at this point and it was a fairly long walk from
the ER up to Maternity. It felt like a
contraction would hit and it was a wave that I had to completely surrender
to. I once again found it very helpful
to visualize what was literally taking place: bands of muscle pushing my baby
lower and my body opening to prepare for her delivery. I found it helpful to grab Ryan’s hand, close
my eyes, visualize my baby descending and let out a low long moan through a
contraction. I kind of wondered what the
aid thought of this as she pushed me up to maternity, but I was really past
caring what anyone else thought.
Upon my arrival to maternity, I was greeted by several
cheerful, calm nurses. I felt like
things were well organized and one nurse jumped in right away to get me checked
in and settled in a bed. She apologized
multiple times about the fact that they were completely full and I was getting
the smallest room. I told her that I
didn’t care since things were so intense and I wasn’t planning on moving around
too much.
Dr. Cohen came in to check me. I was 5cm, fully effaced. I don’t know exactly what time this was but I
think between 2:30-2:45am. He suggested
breaking my membranes and I wholeheartedly agreed. I was ready to finish this labor and deliver
a baby. Since he didn’t know my history,
he told me that he would go look at my history while the nurse got my iv
started and a look at the baby’s heartbeat through several contractions.
Contractions continued to be very intense. In between I could talk, but when they hit every 5 minutes or so, it would take
every ounce of my focus to work through them.
The Doctor returned just minutes after leaving the room. Due to the thunder storm and a power outage,
all access to digital files was temporarily down so he sat in the room and in
between contractions he asked questions about my history and we did a quick
informal interview about my previous births.
Thankfully, he didn’t bat an eyelash at me performing a VBAC.
He still hadn’t broken my water and he began to get all of
his tools for delivery set up. I must
have looked at him questioningly because he responded by saying “I have a
feeling that you are going to be a slash and dash. I will slash your membranes and we will dash
to deliver a baby.” That sounded fine to
me!
Around 3:15, he checked me again as he broke my
membranes. I was 8cm. I don’t remember baby’s station at that
point, but I do remember him saying “you’re right. The baby’s head is RIGHT there.”
The next moments were intense in a whole new way. My low moaning was louder now through
contractions. They still stayed about
3-5 minutes apart. At one point, I
remember praying quite loudly “Dear Jesus HELP ME!” and then very soon saying
“I HAVE to push!” The Doctor checked me
again and told me he wanted me to ride out one more contraction then I could
push. On that second contraction, I
pushed but at the end looked at the Doctor and said “I feel like I’m not
pushing right.” He kind of chuckled and
said “That’s because you aren’t”. It
turns out that even though this was my 5th baby, I still needed a
little coaching! At that point, I looked
at the Doctor and said “ok. Talk me
through this.” He was really amazing. Carissa was completely delivered during the
next contraction, but because of his coaching about when to push hard, when to
ease off, when to pant and when to give a gentle push, I was able to avoid
tearing at all. My recovery was
amazingly better because of this fact!
Carissa Ann was delivered at 3:32am. She was 8lbs, 2oz of pure sweetness. As her wiggling, wet body was placed on my
stomach I remember saying “oh my goodness.
She’s here! We did it. She is here! I can’t believe she’s in my arms. She’s beautiful and she’s here! Honey, I’m DONE with that labor! She’s HERE!”
That long labor really did play with me mentally!
The hour after she was born was perfect. The hospital staff did their initial checks
on Carissa while I delivered the placenta and was checked. Since we were both stable, they let us take
an hour or so to just bond. There was
very little interruption and Ryan and I were able to just sit and stare at this
little miracle in our arms. Everything
was calm and peaceful as we took her in.
This was SO much better than when Tyler was taken to the newborn nursery
for 3 hours after his birth. Carissa
nursed and stared back at us with big beautiful blue eyes. We took pictures and text fiends and family
that she was finally here!
We spent the next day and night in the hospital. I felt amazingly well at this point. In hindsight, I realized that it was day two
after she was born that the true soreness really hit me. I was home at that point and needed to really
reassess and pull back from how much I wanted to do. Each and every one of my pregnancies, births
and recoveries has been different. If
there is one thing that I have learned, it’s that I need to be flexible and
listen to what my body is telling me it needs.
Our little Rissa is almost two months old now. It seems hard to believe that so much time
has already gone by, but I feel like we have really made the most of the time
and savored each and every day with this new little blessing.
