Hi. First, let me start by prefacing I could have had this written out and posted much sooner but ain’t no hood like motherhood. This blog has been pretty quiet lately, between finishing the 2023-24 school year, going out on maternity leave, and ultimately delivering a beautifully healthy son. These last few months have been an absolute whirlwind. The days blend into nights and back into days again. My world revolves around breastfeeding, wake windows, naptimes, and changing diapers. Now that we’ve somewhat fallen into a routine, I finally had a minute to document our baby boy’s birth story.
Lows of Labor
DAY 01: Imagine the disappointment of being told you’re 0 centimeters dilated at 39 weeks pregnant. To say I was discouraged was an understatement. I was so sick of curb walking, so sick of dates, so sick of evening primrose oil. If you know, you know. I sat on the edge of the exam room table with tears forming.
My OBGYN could see the frustration. We scheduled an induction for June 2nd. Come what may, I’d deliver our little Gemini baby well before my mother’s birthday, my husband’s birthday, and Father’s Day. I really just wanted our son to have his own day. On the advice of my OBGYN, I tried using my breast pump to see if I might get things going naturally. I pumped some colostrum around 3 PM, and, no joke, by 7 PM I began feeling some light contractions. I got excited. Pretty soon, we’d have our boy!
True or False: Lulls in Laboring
The contractions felt like dull period cramps, hardly painful compared to my endometriosis. I could feel our baby boy moving like crazy with every pulsing surge. That night, I barely slept through the excitement of eminent labor. Come morning, however, I was again met with disappointment. Contractions that had persisted throughout the night became sporadic by day. Contractions that regularly surged every 8 minutes or so now stalled and came inconsistently.
DAY 02: My doula warned that labor could be long, and she was right. At night, the hormones that increase the contracting nature of the uterus โ estrogens and prostandins โ predominate. Oxytocin and melatonin hit their peak at night, too, resulting in a more rhythmic (read: predictable) pattern. During the day, that rhythm got disrupted and threw me for a loop. As the day faded into night, my contractions intensified and became even more sporadic. I started to second-guess myself. Was this true labor or prodromal (false) labor? It was then I realized I had stopped feeling baby boyโs movements as clearly, which only added to my anxious mental state. My doula suggested the Miles Circuit to help move things along; it helped some, but not much.
Down to Deliver
DAY 03: By the following morning, I was utterly exhausted from laboring two nights without proper sleep. Concerned about decreased fetal movement, we headed to the hospital for evaluation. Hearing our baby’s heartbeat brought immense relief. After being monitored, we were admitted for an induction around 11 AM. Why induce? As my OB said: I was full-term at this point. To keep our baby boy cooking for another week or so was silly.
Once we settled into the labor and delivery unit, there was still a long way to go. I was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. To get things going, we started with cytotec and a single-balloon catheter to help me dilate to 4 cm, which took about 4 hours. Afterward, staff broke my waters, which was NOT like you imagine. In movies, you always see this gush of fluid. I guess the resident had seen one too many movies because she expected this huge leaky mess. When she didn’t get one, it caused her to go more forceful with her rupture approach. (We didn’t know it at the time, but her poking around led to some minor lacerations on the baby boy’s head. All is well; he healed fine without scarring.)
All this time, I labored unmedicated. We began pitocin around 5:30 PM, which significantly increased my pain. Nevertheless, I persisted. Matt applied counterpressure to my lower back. I rocked on an exercise ball, walking between contractions to use the bathroom. Staff then increased my pitocin and I tapped out. By 7:30 PM, after an hour of intensified contractions, I received an epidural, transforming my entire labor experience and allowing me to finally rest before the main event: pushing!
Meeting Baby Boy!
DAY 04: With the increased pitocin pumping and my epidural in place, labor progressed quickly. By 1 AM, I was 6 cm dilated, and, at 2 AM, I had reached 8 cm. We were well into the active stage of labor; I was in the homestretch! It was around this time I began to experience right hip pain. Even with the epidural, I could feel the increased pressure and pain. My OB concluded it was probably due to the baby’s positioning, so rotating me every half hour like a rotisserie chicken was the remedy. Low and behold, it worked. The pressure and pain subsided, and our baby boy had further descended in the birth canal.
By 3:30 AM, I was 9 cm dilated and the baby had moved into a positive station. Excitement grew as we neared the grand finale. My OB almost didn’t make it! At 5:47 AM, after just 20 minutes of pushing, our son was born, weighing a healthy 6 pounds, 13 ounces. His delivery was ridiculously smooth, with no signs of tears or vaginal trauma. Everyone was in absolute awe; my body birthed a baby the best way she could! I think I was the most shocked when I went to the bathroom and didn’t need a peribottle washing. If you know, you know! I literally walked myself (under nurse supervision) to the postpartum department mere hours after birth. We were blessed with the rest!
