Out with the lights in with a life: Part II

Birth Story Part II

Disclaimer: Lack of pictures below to prevent my own embarrassment as well as yours :)

The drama of the prior nights storms was evident as we drove to triage on Saturday morning.  There were trees down(most had been cleared out of the roadways), mobile service was spotty, no stoplights were working....not even blinking yellow or red, and leaves and limbs were all over the 2 mile drive to the hospital.      I was elated to find that my preferred doc, Andrea Cobb, was on call and I think that gave me some sense that today would be the day.

Once admitted we were lead to our room which had an incredible view of the valley from the 13th(yes, you read that right) floor.  I settled onto a birthing ball and started texting friends in excitation but in relative comfort breathing through the contractions.  After about 2 hours Dr Cobb checked me again and despite things getting more intense I wasn't progressing very quickly only 1'' dilation in 2 hrs.  Knowing I shouldn't have any pitocin and wanting to get on with things we agreed she should break my water.  To quote my nurse(who actually is a trained midwife and was awesome!): "you aren't going to feel quite as comfortable now".  Boy was that an understatement!  As soon as I stood back up I had 3-4 contractions back to back that were in a different ballpark vs where I had been prior.  After about 15 minutes of that I had progressed to 7cm but couldn't use any breathing techniques to handle the pain; I called for the epidural.

Now I am not sure what side of the hospital the anithesiologist (for my Roanoke friends it wasn't one I knew) was on or if my internal clock was broken but it felt like it took him 30 mins to show up while I was writhing in pain. At the time I was disappointed with myself for not hanging in there naturally.  My midwife said it could be over in 15 mins or 4 hours so I assumed some relief was needed if it was the latter of those two options.  Honestly friends that was the best choice I made; I went into the final part of labor rested, calm, and able to enjoy birth.  Initially I was concerned about the epidural slowing down my labor and needing pitocin to get it going again which would have increased my risk for the uterine rupture...and thus a C-section.  In hindsight you have to make the right choice for you in the moment; being closed minded about how your body will react to birth is a setup for disappointment.

The epidural and IV narcotic allowed me to rest in relative comfort for about 2 hours while my body finished its job.  Dr Cobb and Tammy came in and declared me ready to have a baby at 4pm.  I was honestly shocked....really that quickly we were ready to have our little girl here??  Everyone suited up (Ed included), i pushed about 4 times and she was here.  Ed got to help Dr Cobb deliver her; he is hoping she is a Daddys girl due to his participation in her birth.

This was seconds after her birth laying on my belly; precious moments!

It really was a beautiful experience and I am so glad I was able to experience birth in this way.  It really wasn't that hard, but I can't imagine going any further than I did without the aid of drugs!  Kuddos go to Dr. Cobb and nurse Tammy.  At no point did they pressure me to do anything I did not want to do.  No one offered me drugs they only informed me of my choice while I was still sane enough to understand my choices, no one gave me a timeline for when I needed to have labor complete and they were as delighted as I was were were successful at the VBAC.

God is perfect in his timing; he knew the right moment for Evelyn to enter the world and he made sure the right staff was there to support me in a beautiful way.  I couldn't be happier friends.

On with the rest of life.....we are being discharged in minutes and I don't think we have power still.  Luckily my parents already had a extended stay hotel reserved so if things seem to rough at home with and infant and no power we have an out!  I really want my family to be all together at this exciting time but we'll roll with the punches on this one....I'll take the beautiful birth above instead :)