My First Birth Story and Reflection

Hi everyone, this week I thought I would come on here to tell my first birth story. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but I did get a beautiful baby girl out of the whole mess. I will also reflect on what I wish I had done differently towards the end.

Looking back on my pregnancy, I realize I flew through it blissfully unaware of what to expect and woefully unprepared. However, I did have a general idea of what to expect that I gathered from the birth course my OB clinic offered.

My daughter was born the summer after covid became a thing so I was already struggling with anxieties and concerns regarding hospital policy, germs and such during pregnancy.

Just for a little imagery, picture a short little pregnant lady, 8 months along in the Arizona heat, climbing 2 flights of stairs while a mask is plastered to her face. Yeah, that was me.

As far as my birth plan went, I knew I didn’t want the epidural (big needle in my back? No thanks) so I had to come up with another plan for pain management. The hospital did have nitrous oxide capabilities and a big labor tub. I wrote those on my list along with massage, essential oils, and breathing.

The night before her birth my hubby and I were sat on the couch, watching Tiger King (of all things). We had cooked a Tombstone pizza from the freezer section for dinner.

I remember feeling kinda sick to my stomach a few bites into my first slice. That kinda set off the alarm bells in my head as we still didn’t have our bags packed.

Hearing that new moms typically go overdue, I didn’t really think I’d go into labor soon. I was just shy of 38 weeks, but we put our bags together and installed the car seat that night just in case.

We went to bed around 10pm and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. That is, before my bladder woke me at 1am. Used the bathroom, got back in bed, closed my eyes and then……POP

I both heard and felt what seemed like a knuckle being cracked in my stomach.

My eyes shot open and I thought “Surely that wasn’t…..” On my way back to the toilet it seemed as if I was peeing myself ever so slowly.

Hubby still sleeping, I called the after-hours number for the clinic to speak with the nurse midwife working that night. She said I could safely wait up to 12 hours for contractions to start before heading to the hospital.

Side note: In most cases it is safe to wait up to 24 hours for contractions to ramp up once your water breaks, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

There was no way I was going back to bed. I was too excited and nervous! So I turned on the TV and bounced on my birth ball. I began texting family members that stuff was happening and timing the very minor contractions I was having.

I woke my husband at 6am and he nearly fell out of bed. I remember he asked why I didn’t wake him to go to the hospital sooner. He was under the impression that once your water breaks it’s go-time immediately.

Ladies, make sure your partner takes the birthing course with you so they know what to expect, too. Don’t just take notes for them to read later like I did.

Anywho.. things were extremely slow to progress. I was pacing the floor, questioning whether what I was feeling was intense enough to go to the hospital or not. We decided to go for a walk outside before it got too hot, but that didn’t change anything.

11am rolled around and we got in the car because I was tired of waiting at home and thought maybe I was further progressed than I felt. Ha!

Waiting in the triage bed I started to feel a lot more crampy. I was only dilated 1cm, 0% effaced and they confirmed that my water had indeed broken. Since 12 hours had gone by since then, they wanted to give me fluids and a pill called Cytotec.

I didn’t know the FDA actually warns against using Cytotec to induce labor as it can cause a lot of harm. For me, the medicine caused overly frequent uterine contractions. I barely got a break in-between each surge.

Let me tell ya, being “tied” to a bed during labor while receiving IV drip is so uncomfortable. My body was urging me to get up and move around. There was still an hour of saline drip to go! Unfortunately, my request for nitrous was denied because of covid restrictions. My options were dwindling and fast.

My nurse began setting up the labor tub, but she was not paying any attention to the water temperature. Not to mention, the faucet didn’t have hot and cold settings, either.

I was already starting to loudly voice my pain at that point. Finally I was allowed to get in the water.

Almost instantly I began sweating like a pig and my husband knew something seemed off. He felt the water and tried to ask questions on my behalf.

My confidence to continue without pain meds plummeted. Any plans to use my breath went out the window! I completely lost all focus. I used our code word we had established to let my husband know I was serious about wanting the epidural.

They tried to convince me I was doing just fine. I was at 8cm in just under 2 hours, so my giving up was probably due to transition. My hubby had to step in and advocate for me and we were taken to a different room. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural and I became numb from the belly down.

We were left to rest for at least 4 hours. Baby was probably ready to come out much sooner, but I couldn’t feel a thing so I didn’t know. I tried to sleep, but couldn’t from how much I was shaking.

The nurse returned to check on me after 9pm and said “Oh! Her head is right there! It’s go time.”

Thankfully, they didn’t make me push while lying on my back or we’d have been there much longer. I pushed for 6 minutes, tore a bit, and then baby was out.

At 9:52pm I had a beautiful baby girl lying on my chest, staring straight into my eyes.

Unbeknownst to my husband, the placenta was due next. Distracted by our cute little baby, we weren’t prepared for the sound that will forever live in our minds.

I was told to push a few times, but I pushed too hard. The placenta came flying out of me and hit the bed like a heavy, wet towel smacking concrete.

My poor hubby, if you’re reading this, I am so sorry you had to see that!

Now, if I could go back and do a few things differently in labor, I would:

– Prioritize rest, food and water
– Labor at home much longer and trust my gut to know when to go to the hospital
– Do my research about all the possible medicines they could give me and the risks for all
– Know I have the right to deny any intervention if not medically necessary

I’d love to hear your birth stories and/or things you’d do differently in the comments below.

That is all for now! You can read about my challenges with breastfeeding here.