Congratulations Geeta! Thanks for sharing your beautiful birth story. See you in Baby and Me soon. xoxox, Leah
My mother has 3 children including me. My eldest brother was induced 2 weeks past his due date, my next elder brother induced 2 days past his due date, and I was induced 3 weeks past my due date (when they broke my mother’s water, nothing came out – her amniotic sac was completely dry, and I came out all shriveled up and peeling!). Needless to say, I had a lot of fears that I might be just like my mother and carry very late as well. As I really wanted as natural a childbirth as possible, it was important to me to avoid having to be induced. So, 3 weeks before my due date (due date was 8/15/08), I started seeing an acupuncturist once a week for treatments to get things moving in the right direction. I also diligently took the many herbs he prescribed to me, walked and did yoga as much as I could, and silently begged my baby to come out in a timely manner!
Monday night, August 11th, I woke up with fairly strong contractions. I only felt them in my uterus, however, not my back. When I got up and walked around, they would decrease in intensity, so I knew it wasn’t the real thing. The next morning I had my first signs of the “bloody show,” but it was very light. I went to yoga and excitedly mentioned that I might be in early labor, but by mid-afternoon all signs of contractions and bleeding had ceased. I talked to my doula who advised that I start getting as much rest as possible, and maybe try to get a massage and some walking in. Wednesday afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment, and they did their first vaginal exam. I was completely effaced, but not dilated. The doctor told me I could be in labor that night, or not for another week or so – not very helpful, but I already knew that anyways. Then I went for a brisk walk up and down some hills (which got some contractions going again), and shortly thereafter had a massage with Leah. My doula checked in again with me later that evening, and told me to make sure I had my hospital bag packed and got to bed early, as she had a feeling I might go into labor that night. I thought she was dead wrong, as I felt nothing at dinner time Wednesday night, and was tired of feeling anxious and excited with nothing to show for it. I didn’t get to sleep until past midnight on Wednesday, as I was too busy watching men’s gymnastics in the Olympics. Finally, I forced myself to turn off the TV and sleep.
At about 1:30 am, I was awoken with strong contractions again. This time, I felt them in my back as well, and they did not lessen in intensity when I got up and walked around. I coped for about 45 minutes by myself, but they were getting a lot stronger very fast, and by 2:15 am I woke up my husband to help me out. He sweetly lit candles all over the house and put on some soothing classical Indian music. I got into a warm bath, but after about 20 minutes the contractions seemed to be coming so fast that we decided we needed to start timing them. It turns out they were between a minute and a minute and half apart, lasting for the same! He called our doula who came right over. She spent about 15 minutes in the house with us before she decided that we needed to get to the hospital right away.
Luckily, Kaiser Sunset is only about 10 minutes from our home. We got there fast, but I remember how incredibly long the walk to Labor and Delivery seemed, especially as I had to stop every couple minutes to lean against a wall and deal with a contraction. It was 4am by the time we checked into triage, and for some reason they took a ridiculous amount of time with me in there (I think over an hour?). Finally, I was checked internally by a doctor - I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated, and my water had started leaking while there. My labor slowed down while in triage, but as soon as we were checked into our room, it sped right up again. Going from 7 cm to fully dilated was incredibly intense, I remember feeling the nearly unbearable pressure of the baby moving down, and trying so hard to breathe through contractions, and instead hearing more of a primal scream coming out! Both my doula and my husband tried massaging my back and talking to me, but I think I was on another planet by then, and while I was aware of what was happening around me, it all seemed very remote and distant. The hospital staff never once offered me pain medication (yay, they actually read and paid attention to my birth plan!), and everything happened so fast that I never thought about asking for it. I remember trying to get in the shower at one point, sitting on the toilet a few times, and trying the birthing bar, but nothing gave me much relief and in the end, I always reverted to lying on my side in the bed. At one point when I was on the toilet and telling my doula I wanted to push, she looked down and thought she saw the head coming out – she ran to get the nurse, and it turned out that the amniotic sac was coming out still in tact. It had sprung a leak up top, but had not broken from the bottom. It was 8am now, and the nurse midwife (N. Boyington, she was awesome!) was just coming onto duty. She was called in, and told me if I would allow them to puncture the sac, it might speed things up since it was blocking the baby’s head from coming down. By about 8:15am I was allowed to push – this would definitely have to be what I consider the hardest and most painful part – but after what seemed like a hundred pushes, the baby was finally out by 9:05am, Thursday, August 14th (about 7 ½ hours total of active labor).
It’s been 2 weeks now, and Satish is doing great, though breastfeeding is still a bit of a challenge and the stitches still really hurt. Sleep and accomplishing anything other than caring for my baby seem like things of the distant past, but I know it’ll get better soon. Anyway, it’s all worth it!
