Esther Lorraine Labor and Delivery

Esther decided to come a couple days early which suprised mom more than dad. I had figured that I would be around on time or maybe a little late. Because of this I went into work on Wednesday 8/22 feeling fine and planning on using my days off Thurs and Fri for some errands and misc things like haircuts, etc.

At about 11AM I started feeling kinda crummy not awful just not real great either, I knew that this could be a sign of early stage labor (and kind of figured it was) but since this stage can also last for days I didn't think much of it. At my Dr's appt the day before I had been about 70% effaced and barely measurably dialated. As the day progressed I continued to feel crummy and my pants kept feeling tight so I decided that I was going to go home early (I usually work 10a-8:30p) around 4pm. I called a friend to see if they would be able to meet me and drive me home since I had driven into work. Between 1-2pm I could feel the contractions beginning though they were not regular or very long in duration. By 4pm when I was leaving I was fairly sure that this was not going to last a few days (at least I hoped it wouldn't).

Matt had left work a bit before I did and met me at home, he immediately got the car seat placed in the car and we both packed out bags. I took a shower which definitely helped ease the pain of contractions, we tried to eat a little dinner and called the Dr to check for an opinion on the timing of the contractions. By about 6 they were spaced about 2:30 mins apart and lasting around 30 secs.

At 7:30pm we headed into the hospital, when we arrived we were placed into a triage room of the labor and delivery floor to see what the status of our labor was and how we were progressing. At 8pm I was 100% effaced and 1cm dialated, this was very discouraging because the contractions were down to about 2 mins apart and lasting 45 secs. We started bracing for a long labor. The nurse set-us up to be able to walk and use a birthing ball for an hour so they could see how fast labor was moving along, we all figured since I am/was a first time mom this would be quite a while (probably not on her shift).

At 9pm I was hooked back up to a moniter for the contractions and baby's heart rate and checked to see how things were progressing. I was dialated 3cms and the contractions were significantly more intense than they had been before. This sent us into a labor and delivery room (which is also the post-partum room) so Matt unloaded the car and I got into the shower to try to relax through the contractions. We were monitored a bit more and the nurse began to fill the tub for labor.

Matt and I had decided that we wanted to use the "spa rooms" that Manchester has, they have 2 rooms with large whirlpool tubs in them that can be used for either labor and/or delivery. This was a part of the reason that we chose Manchester for our hospital. As mentioned in a previous post about our birthing classes the more we heard about the tubs the more we knew that we at least wanted to use them for labor to help manage the pain and we would want to deliver in them if able.

At about 11pm we went into the spa roomand I got into the tub, at this point I was just under 5cms dialated. I wanted to be sure that I was in active labor before getting into the tub because if you get in too early (usually less than 4cms) the tub can slow labor. If you are in active labor (over 4cms) the tub usually moves labor along faster (the nurse assured me that since things had progressed at the speed they had the tub would not slow anything down) so in I went. I was mid-contraction when I got into the water and immediately felt some pain relief. For the next hour I would alternate positions and float a little depending on the contraction. I felt as though I could manage the pain and work though each contraction while letting the water relax me so the contraction could move labor along as it is intended.

After about 1 hour in the tub the Dr came in to talk to us about how the labor was progressing and how we liked the tub, etc. We would be allowed to stay in the tub 3 hours then we would have to get out be monitored for a few minutes and the tub adjusted to maintain the temperature needed (102 degrees). A few minutes later the nurse checked me and I was just shy of 7cms dialated. The contractions at this point were almost on top of one another and it was getting very difficult for me to talk or communicate. We decided that I would stay in the tub for a little longer and then move back to my room and most likely have an epidural. At this point I thought that labor would be several hours longer and having worked during the day, not having eaten much (most of what I ate I threw-up during an earlier stage of labor) I was exhausted and concerned about having the energy to push when the time came. Knowing an epidural would give some ability to relax and rest by taking the edge off the contractions I opted to have an epidural.

Or so I thought...

Over the next 30 minutes (this is between midnight and 12:30 Thurs AM) I was experiencing a state of constant contraction, believing this to be a higher level of "active" labor I was convinced that I wanted an epidural because there was no way I would be able to labor another 2-3 hours like that and have any energy to push the baby out.

Around 12:30 the nurse was checking on me and saying that they would page anesthesiology when I said that I felt like I needed to get out and use the bathroom. She said no problem I could use the bathroom in the spa room and return to the tub for a few more minutes. On the very next contraction I looked at Matt and said "I don't need to go to the bathroom, I need to push." the nurse said "OK. Blow it out and I'll check you... [small time passes] yes you are fully dialated. But don't push just yet we need to break your water and get the Dr."

So she left the room quickly and in the maybe 1-2 minutes that she was gone I got hit with 2 more contractions that just screamed "push this baby out". For those who have gone through labor you know that not pushing during this moment is much like putting food in front of a grizzley bear and expecting it not to eat the food. I kept blowing out the urge to push like we had learned in birth class on the second or third contraction while Michelle (our nurse) was out of the room I told Matt to pull the cord on the wall because I NEEDED to push. In comes half of the night staff and Michelle and our Dr. all scrambling to get their baby catching gear on (it was really quite comical because any time you need to do something fast it never goes as fast as you need) they were asking what the status was and I said "Oh, I really need to push..." The Dr checked to see if the membrane had broken and there was nothing there so I was given the green light to push.

At this point it seemed like the contractions spaced themselves further apart and I felt as though we were waiting more. It was very surreal though because I went from feeling almost constant contractions during transitional labor to feeling really quite good and able to relax between the urges to push, it really felt like I was not in labor (between contractions that is). In about 2 contractions the Dr, nurses and Matt could see Esther's head and hair and in about 4 (maybe 5) contractions she was actually being born. Once Esther was born she was placed on my chest and Matt cut the umbilical cord. After the cord was cut a nurse asked if it was a boy or girl and we realized that we had not checked yet... It's a girl!!

So that is Esther's labor and delivery story. I could not have asked for a better first-time labor and delivery than we had. We wanted to deliver without drug and in the tub and we were able to (even thgouh I thought we would not). Matt was a superb coach and held me in the tub to help me float he reminded me to relax as we had learned and he just did an AMAZING job at coaching.

A Few add'l thoughts:
As for the tub, we cannot recommend it highly enough, especially if oyu want to avoid having an epidural or drugs for pain. Post-partum I feel great and have had no recovery problems. One thing I am glad we did was to go into labor with an open mind, having never gone through this I did not know what to expect so we decided to set-up our "birth plan" as almost a wish list... Here's how I want labor to go... knowing that once we experienced it we had the freedom to change our plan and not feel as though we let ourselves down. Knowing Matt and my limits to pain and exhaustion were key. I mention Matt a lot in this because it is not only the mom that does the work, Matt was sore post delivery because of holding me in the tub (the side was pressing into his sternum) and he was maybe not quite as tired as I was but almost.
Lastly, we chose to donate Esther's cord blood (the stem cells found in her umbilical cord) these will be used either for someone who is a match for her stem cell type (it can be used to combat cancer in children and adults and several other diseases) or it could be used in research. This took a small amount of leg work on our part during the pregnancy and on the Dr's part post delivery, but it was not more complicated than a blood donation and could help save a life, for info go to: http://www.marrow.org/ the National Marrow Donor Program has information on Cord Blood donation on their web site.