Inspiration

Birth Stories

Finnian Joseph

Finn’s Birthday

Finnian Joseph was born on February 14, 2008 at 12:42pm at St. Mary’s Hospital. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 oz and was 18.5 inches long. He was about 2 ½ weeks early but the best Valentine’s Day gift my husband and I could ever get for each other!

I woke up at 1:30am to what I believed was a contraction. It was just a tingly feeling starting in my low back and came around to my belly. The contractions occurred about every 10 minutes; I monitored them for about an hour before waking my husband and telling him. He asked what we should do: call our doula? call off work? I said no, they weren’t painful at all and this might not even be the real deal. I couldn’t fall back asleep though so I walked around the house, watched tv, checked email. When I was standing, the contractions weren’t very noticeable at all so I wondered if they were even still occurring. At 5:45 I called my mom and she said, “Oh, I think it’s the real thing. You’re probably having a baby today…” I still wasn’t convinced. My husband woke up at 6:00am and we walked the dog. I had to stop a few times to breath through contractions but they were still very tolerable.

Coincidentally, I had my 37 week doctor appointment scheduled for 8:15 that morning. I didn’t know if I should go to it, thinking that if I am in the early stages of labor I didn’t want to be checked in to the hospital too early. I’d prefer to labor at home as long as possible. After the walk with the dog, at 7:00am I called my doula, Kathy Stewart, and asked her if she thought I should go to the appointment. She said to go, that I was probably in the early stages of labor and they would probably send me home. She said to stay in touch with her and let her know what was happening. She told me she had a 10:00 hair appointment and I told her emphatically, “Oh, go to your hair appointment! Nothing will happen in the next three hours.” She said she’d call a back up doula just in case. So I got ready for the doctor’s appointment (showered, shaved my legs, straightened my hair, put on make-up).

My doctor, Heather Zechman at Virginia Women’s Center, had warned me that she would be on vacation this week so I had to schedule my appointment with a nurse practitioner whomI had never met. At the time, that was no big deal…. When I arrived at the office, I hoped I wouldn’t have a contraction in the waiting room. I didn’t. The tech called me back to the room and asked all the usual questions. “Any swelling, nausea, vomiting?” “No, no, no… But I think I’m in labor,” I said with a smile! The girl must have thought I was nuts. The nurse practitioner, Cat, examined me and asked if I was a first time mom. I confirmed and she said, “Wow, you move fast for a first timer. You’re about 3-4 cm dilated.” She wanted to hook me up to the fetal monitor to track my contractions. Mind you, I was having all back labor. Not pleasant. I was on the monitor for what seemed like an eternity, probably 35-40 minutes. Cat would check the output of the monitor every 10 minutes or so and kept saying, “Yeah, we might be sending you over to Labor & Delivery.” I kept saying, “Oh, I’d really like to go home if I could.” But during that time on the monitor my contractions went from 10 minutes apart to five. By the end I couldn’t sit still and had to lean over the exam table. They were getting pretty bad. Cat came in and said, “Ok, you’re definitely in labor, we’re sending you over to the hospital.” Ok, that was just fine with me!

I was checked in to the hospital at 10:00am. The first thing the nurses asked was if I had a written birth plan and luckily I threw it in my purse. They respected all of my requests. I was asked once what my level of pain was and she said, “Now you know there are drugs available to help you cope. Would you prefer that I not tell you about them again and you can request them if you want?” Yes. Exactly.

The back up doula, Cynthia, had not arrived yet and the contractions were so intense. My husband was wonderful but it was difficult for him to watch me in so much pain. I did utter the word “epidural” at one point but only because I was thinking “I can’t do this all day.” That’s when Dan yelled, “Where the hell is our doula???” I think it was during the next contraction when she walked through the door. I was buckled over the bed and she came over and started massaging my back in the exact location that needed it.

At 11:30am my water broke on its own and the nurse examined me. I was 8 cm dilated. I just needed to get through the next two or three contractions before I could begin pushing. Those few contractions were the most difficult of labor, only because your body instinctually wants to push. Cynthia was awesome and helped me breath through them.

At noon I began to push and Kathy, our original doula, walked in. I remember Dan asking her if she had a camera because we didn’t bring anything with us (remember, we thought we were going to be sent home). I pushed for less than 45 minutes with Cynthia on one side of me, and Kathy on the other (two for the price of one!). It wasn’t painful; it was more pressure than pain. And then our beautiful baby boy was born! It was absolutely incredible. They placed him on my belly and did the Apgar test there; they waited until the cord stopped pulsing before my husband cut it.

After seeing The Business of Being Born, I really wanted to avoid any drugs and thankfully I was able to (even the shot of pitocin they routinely give for the delivery of the placenta). I had a very small episiotomy (the doctor pulled the “the baby’s heart rate has dropped some so we want to get him out on the next push” card so she said she would give me a small cut since I was tearing already) but at that point I didn’t care and it was not a huge deal in the end. We stayed only one night in the hospital because I honestly felt great and the baby was doing wonderfully as well. If I may brag, we were told he was the best breast feeder on the floor. :o)

My final thoughts::

You can have the birth experience you desire in a hospital setting.
Get a doula. The nurses were great but they are nurses, not coaches. They are focused on their job, not getting you through a contraction and making you comfortable.
Believe in yourself. Through this whole pregnancy I’ve been amazed at what the female body can do and birthing a baby takes the cake! Your body is designed to do this and honestly, it’s not that bad!

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