A Story

This is a birth story. Read it if you like them, skip it if you don't! It is gonna be LONG.

Let's start on Sunday, just for fun. My dear sister had arrived the day before, meaning we were in full HAVE THIS BABY mode, since her trip had to be a short one. We did quite a bit of walking...I was having contractions but nothing extremely regular or exciting.

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment, also...it was my due date! I went in having high hopes but also tried to prepare myself for "no progress". I had been at a 1.5 for weeks, but they kept saying her head was just too high. Well, we got the same story at this appointment. No progress, and my doctor said he wasn't really wanting to induce since things didn't look super favorable. I really didn't want to be induced, but I was also really sad that it looked like Michelle would miss the birth. My doctor sensed my depression and said he at least wanted me to go in for a non stress test since it was my due date, just to make sure things looked good since I had reported her movement was way down in the last few days.

So Michelle and I dropped our boys off at my moms and headed to the hospital for the test. I went through all of this with Kyle, so I wasn't really expecting anything but to be hooked up to an ultrasound, monitored, and told everything is fine and keep waiting. We got to the hospital and I got hooked up and the tech immediately said "woah, have you been in a lot of pain and extremely uncomfortable?"....(Um YES! I had been so much bigger and in so much more pain than I remembered with Kyle even though I went 41 weeks with him. By 38 weeks this time I was just dying, but I assumed it was just because it was my second and that I probably just didn't remember how hard the end was). Anyways..She then explained I had more than twice the maximum normal amount of fluid. They told me normal is anywhere from 5-20, and I was measuring over 40. This also explained why the baby couldn't get her head down lower. She said no one would have noticed this on me because I didn't have extreme swelling or diabetes, which are the main indicators. She said they wanted to monitor me a little longer and then left.

Michelle and I still didn't think much of this and continued to discuss our People magazine. Then the tech came back and said they needed her to move more, so they used this little thing to make her move. Then she left again. Then after a few minutes she came back and said completely calmly, "Well I showed this to the doctor and he doesn't like how her heart is looking, and there is just too much fluid so we are sending you up to be delivered..." Ummmm what!? I was so shocked. I asked if I could go home and get some things and she said nope, head to the fifth floor they are expecting you. I started to panic a little, maybe a lot. Ryan was at work with no car, I had none of my stuff, I hadn't said bye to Kyle, my baby wasn't doing super great, and I was being induced which I SO did not want. Luckily Michelle kept me calm, called Ryan and told him to get here pronto, and we we headed up.

Once Ryan got there Michelle headed home with a list of things to get. I guess this is why you pack a hospital bag in advance? They gave me a dose or cytotec and we waited. Three hours passed, another dose. Then things got going. Contractions started suddenly and painfully. I had been hoping to go natural, but being induced was so not part of my plan I wasn't sure what would happen. A few hours later I was still at a 1.5. I was starting to feel a little defeated. They decided to start pitocin. Contractions were getting intense. I moved from the bed to the ball and that helped. Michelle and Ryan were a great team to help me. An hour later I was finally at a 4. Some progress!

They really wanted to break my water because her head was still floating high, but it was a risky situation. With as much fluid as I had, there was a huge risk when it broke the cord would come out blocking off the baby's supply. When this happens it is basically impossible to get the baby to safety in time. (SO if my water had broken on its own chance of her being ok would have been basically zero). Their first attempt to break it didn't work. And so we kept waiting. Contractions were hard but I got in the zone and was able to handle them.

It was now 10:00pm. I had been in labor for ten hours, and I was at a 5. I was getting tired, and feeling overwhelmed at the thought this would go on ten more hours or so many more. They then decided to try and break my water again, this time it worked. Wow. As the nurse put it, "we thought you had a small swimming pool in there, turns out it was a large lake!". No one there could believe the amount of fluid. They had to clean the floor twice, everything was soaked. TMI? Trust me I am sparing you some of the details. Anyways the minute my water was broken the contractions jumped to a pain I had never experienced and they were long and right on top of each other. I started to weigh my options. I had wanted to go naturally, but I also was defeated at the thought of endless hours more of this. I was shaking and cold from being soaked still, I was so out of it... I told Michelle I wanted the epidural. With no hesitation she told the nurse and they said lets check you just to make sure you aren't about there, I wasn't. So they ordered the epidural. From here on out is a total blur to me, but Ryan and Michelle have helped fill in the blanks.

From this point on there were SO many people in the delivery room. I think at least 10 or 12. The epidural came and definitely took the edge off, but it was light enough I still felt quite a bit of pain, which I liked. Then all of a sudden I felt like if I didn't push right this second I was going to die. Literally. This surprised me because so little time had gone by. They checked me and sure enough, I was ready. I had gone from a 5 to a ten in an hour. I was so out of it the rest of this I don't remember. From my memory I was just trying to stay conscious and get this baby out. I was exhausted.

When it was time to push I guess she was showing major signs of distress. Her heart rate was dropping fast. One doctor recommended a c section but my main doctor said by the time they got me into that it would take as long as if I could just push her out on my own fast. I had no idea anyone was worried about anything. Ryan's face looked intense...but given the situation I thought it was normal. Michelle and the nurse just kept telling me I was doing a good job. I pushed two times, then I heard the doctor say we have to cut her (third degree eek). I pushed again and they said we need forceps and someone literally left the room running to get them. I pushed again and she was out. She was blue and didn't cry right away, Ryan was crying which is super crazy for him. Meanwhile I still had no clue there was ever a problem. She let out a little cry, they took her away, and she started doing well.

I looked at her from across the room and just saw Kyle. She looked exactly like Kyle. I felt so overwhelmed with joy and so much relief it was over. I don't regret anything about the experience. Maybe had I known I would progress so fast I wouldn't have gotten the epidural, but at the same time it was so light I still felt as much as I wanted to, and I was able to walk right after. I'm so glad I went so long without one too, because the labor journey was really awesome for me this time, unlike Kyle. It was just that, a journey, an experience in which I was an active participant. It was truly an amazing experience.

So officially Zoe Kate was born at 11:47 pm on May 20, her due date. She was 6 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 inches long. She is perfection.

We feel really blessed in how everything happened. Had we not gone in for that test, she might not have made it. She was showing so many signs of distress, the placenta was showing signs of being old, and the blood in the cord was close to being too acidic to sustain her (which is why she was blue and had a plummeting heart rate during delivery). She needed to come out exactly when she did, and with all the fluid I never would have gone into labor on my own until it was too late. It was a crazy day and I never dreamed it would happen how it did, but I am so grateful for every part of it.