The Birth Story

Here’s your TMI warning… if you just want the quick and dirty facts, skip to the announcement post.

Here’s the full blown story … I apologize in advance, it’s ridiculously long, but it is my personal recording and I wanted to remember everything.

Baby A was born at 39 weeks, 4 days (3 days early). Both Wendy & Sam came early (15 days and 9 days), so I was getting pretty impatient that “Baby Gonzo” hadn’t made his appearance yet. We found out at 36 weeks that he was breech and had been unsuccessful in getting him to turn, despite multiple visits to chiropractors, acupuncturists and spending hours on hands and knees. I had decided that I wanted to try a vaginal breech delivery and after consulting with Dr. Tchabo, decided to switch to his practice at 37 weeks. An ultrasound last Thursday at 38+ weeks confirmed he was still breech and estimated his weight to be 7lbs, give or take 14oz. Some believe size matters — and since Sam was vaginally birthed at 7lb 8oz, I hoped Baby Gonzo would be similar in size and would come sooner than later.

But A. wasn’t going to come until he was good and ready. And because we were approaching the actual due date, I was afraid we were going to have to talk about inductions, which I also wanted to avoid. So, last night (Wed), in an attempt to “speed things along”, I “seduced” (wink wink) Mike, hoping to jump start things. It must have worked, because I woke up at 2:45am with contractions.

I tried to sleep them off, but decided by 3:30 I wasn’t comfortable and sleeping wasn’t an option. I decided to go downstairs and goof off on the computer while timing them. 3:33am, 3:38, 3:44, 3:51 … they seemed to be coming 4 to 6 minutes apart and I wasn’t getting much done during them because they definitely required my concentration.

I went back upstairs at 4am and woke Mike up, saying, “This is not a drill. All systems are go.” He looked a little alarmed, but jumped right in helping me cope by finishing packing the bag and pressing on my lower back to provide pain relief. I called Mary Beth (our doula) around 4:30 and gave her the update, and requested her presence. She arrived around 5:30am and found me on all fours on the bed, breathing and moaning my way through contractions. Soon after, we called Dr. T to let him know I was in labor.

As I labored at home, MB was a great help, just by being there and comforting me. We tried using the birthing ball some, but after I stopped liking that, we moved into the shower. (Somewhere in here, before getting in the shower, I puked up the cereal I ate at 3:30am). I rested on ball with the hot water on my back and it was very helpful. My contractions seemed to slow down for a bit, and then picked up intensity again, coming a little faster, maybe 2 minutes apart. I told MB that I felt like it was time to get to the hospital. Mike called Dr. T to let him know, and Aunt Melissa arrived to collect the kids (who thankfully slept through all of this).

We arrived at the hospital around 7:30am (Delivery Room 4). Contractions were coming pretty strong and quick. A midwife checked me and found I was 9cm dilated (Hallelujah!) and my bag of water had not yet broken. She did an ultrasound and confirmed baby was still breech (which I was positive of, from the hard knot still at the top of my stomach). Contractions were not fun (understatement), but I was somehow surviving by sitting on the edge of the bed staring at a corner of the wood floor and “vocalizing” (I hope those rooms are soundproof or I prolly scared the other L&D patients…). They were hurting like a you-know-what, but I was convinced since I was already at 9, we’d hit 10 in no time. For those who don’t know, Sam’ birth followed that plan – I arrived, dilated at 9cm, and wham-bang-boom, he was out 20 minutes later. Baby A. , however, had other plans …

All this time, I still haven’t seen Dr. T. The nurse kept telling me soothingly that he was in his car, but the fact that his car was not parked in my room did little to comfort me. After all, Dr. T is the resident expert on breech, what are we going to do if he’s not here? Ironically, Dr. Caskie (the OB from my old practice whom I loved, but had switched from to Dr. T’s care) was still on her shift and was available to cover until Dr. T arrived. He finally showed at 8:40, checked me and told me he was going to break my bag of waters so that he could better feel the position of the baby. He also indicated that I was not quite fully dilated, there was a little cervical tip left. After breaking my water, he told me the baby was in a good position, frank anterior, and then promptly disappeared again.

The plan was, for me to labor in the L&D room until fully dilated, then be transferred to the OR where they would deliver me, but have the necessary tools if a emergency cesarean was required. Contractions were KILLING me by this point and I wondered to myself if there was still time to get an epidural and what the H-E-double hockey sticks was I thinking by trying to do this thing naturally. I definitely was feeling “pressure” and “pushy” in L&D, but it seemed nobody was doing much about it. Finally, they were ready to get me to the OR. All the way down the (long) hall, I felt the urge to push but they (nurses, doula, EVERYONE) kept telling me not to push. So I attempted to blow and “hee” and stick my tongue out and do all manner of ridiculous things in an effort to get my body to stop doing what it was clearly was ready to do.

We get to the OR and still no Dr. Tchabo. Plenty of other people — nurses, residents, anesthesiologists, etc. but no OB dr and more importantly, no Dr. T. I wasn’t really looking at anyone, I think I had my eyes closed and was just focusing on completing the ridiculous task of NOT pushing. I heard, more than once, “Page Dr. Tchabo, STAT!” and Mike said that everyone’s eyes were pretty wide. Somebody stepped out into the hall and spotted another doctor and called her in. So Dr. Williams was brought in, which was ironic (and a little scary) because she was one of the other OBs in my previous practice who did not want to do a vaginal breech delivery. Yikes. I was trying not to freak out, and everything was happening very fast.  Just as Dr. Williams delivered the butt,  Dr. Tchabo finally showed up and assisted with the rest of the delivery.

A. came out – butt & balls first (excuse my French), then legs, then head. At one point, after his legs were out but head still in and Dr. T told me to push. I, thinking, I had the freedom to wait until I “had the urge” said, “But I’m not ready!” He said, “PUSH … NOW!” So I pushed and out came baby. Apparently the cord was getting a little compressed. When Adam came out, he didn’t cry right away and looked a little blue. It took me a second to realize that they had cut his cord and not put him on my stomach like we discussed but he was whisked over to the peds table where the pediatric team worked on him. It seemed like it took forever, but he soon cried and MB told me he “pinked right up.”

His APGAR scores were 5, then 9. So we had a tiny bit of scariness, but it was really over before I knew what had happened. A.  came back to the room with us and nursed for a bit before being taken to the nursery for further observation. The whole experience was surreal, scary, wonderful, painful, exciting and euphoric. We are so thankful to Dr. T for giving us the opportunity to have our son safely and vaginally. But even more so, it was a great experience and opportunity to give thanks to the LORD for His goodness. Every time I started to get a little scared about the “what ifs”, it was so calming and freeing to pray and know that our son’s life was in God’s hands.

Shew, that’s the whole long birth story – thanks for taking time to read the whole dang thing.

Currently, Adam is bunking in with us … he (like Sam) has a different blood type from me and as a result has a condition called “Coombs Positive”. It basically means he is more susceptible to jaundice and may need photo light therapy if his bilirubin counts climb.  Sam’s jaundice was severe enough that he had to stay an extra night and continue treatment at home. So far, Adam’s counts are not too elevated. We pray that they continue to remain normal and that he can come home with minimal treatment.

Thanks again for all the prays and support.