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Birth Stories
Ada Laine
Birth Story of Ada Laine
Born July 20, 2008 at 843 PM
8 lbs 1 oz, 20 1/2 inches long
We switched from an OB at St Mary’s to a midwife at St Francis at 30 weeks. Since we were late in switching, we had only met with Leslie. On Friday, I had my 40-week appointment with Nicole, since Leslie was out of town that week. When she checked me, she said, “Well, you’re still at 1 cm (I had been 1 cm, 50% effaced at the prior week’s visit) but now you’re 80-90% effaced, 0 station. Actually, I have no idea how your cervix is still closed” to which Will replies, “Will she make it through Batman?” Nicole says, “Yeah, she’ll make it through Batman”.
Saturday night we went to Jen’s 30th birthday party where Will was playing upright bass in his rockabilly band, Hamburger James. I had been having some minor Braxton Hicks coupled with a few deep menstrual like cramps all week, but they were extremely irregular. The band didn’t start playing until 9:30 pm; I stayed for the first 1/2 hour of the set, then got a ride home from Heather.
That night, I never fell asleep as my cramps became contractions. Will gets home around 11:30 pm, gets a 1/2 hr of sleep in before being awoken by me taking a bath. He instantly knew “it was on”. Of course, I hadn’t packed- I was so sure she was going to be fashionably late. Will was running around, in between my contractions, packing our bags. We labored at home and I had the textbook purging of my system several times - out of both ends. We were trying to wait until 6 am to call Sara, our doula. But we decided to call at 4:30 am after we had been timing the contractions and they were coming at 5 minutes, lasting 60 seconds in duration. Sara got to the house around 5:30 am, we stayed for another hour, trying to get me hydrated and some protein in my belly. Boy, was I not prepared for the nausea. I’d have a really big contraction, get through it just fine with the breathing (thanks to yoga, Leslie!) but then the nausea and vomiting came and stayed until the next contraction started-ugh.
As dawn was breaking, we left for the long drive to St Francis, which included getting stopped by a train- double ugh! We walked in the back door. I remember having to stop in the lobby for a couple of contractions, and laughing because of the echo I made. I was quite vocally loud; Will later said that I sounded like our badass cat in a fight. My throat was sore for days afterwards.
We checked in, I was at 4-5 cm, 100% effaced, 0 station. I immediately got in the tub, which was relaxing. At this point the contractions were painful, but manageable. The most irritating thing was the nausea and vomiting. Nicole became concerned and around 10:30 am, I had IV fluids and anti nausea medication. Will, Sara and I at first were not okay with this, but Nicole convinced us that it would be a good thing, and it turned out later- it was. At St Francis, they used a detachable lock so I could still be mobile and still get in the tub.
Around noon, I get checked again and am only at 6 cm. So more changing of positions; the ball, squats, walking, on all fours then back to the tub. Also, it turned out that Miss Ada had decided to look around; she had been in perfect position all this time (pretty much the last 1/2 of the pregnancy) but now she decided to turn her head ever so slightly to the right, which made her disengage. Which now meant doing these crazy trash can lunges (one leg jacked up really high on a trash can) with Will and Sara, while Will attempted some coaxing massage of my uterus to get Ada to turn her head back into position.
Its 4pm, the contractions are getting stronger, beginning to get unmanageable, and the anti-nausea meds are wearing off so I’m sick again and again. My chanting has deepened and changed from “uhhh, uhhh, uhhh to HO, HO, HO and WHOA, WHOA, WHOA”. We check again and now I’m 8-9 cm, I think, “thank god, this will be over soon.” Not so fast, chica!
Nicole is confused as to why my water hasn’t broken yet, she checks and can see the bulging bag, we discuss and decide its best to go ahead and break the waters. Nicole takes the hook thingy and is moving it around and around, they still won’t break- she tries for a really long time to get them to break, and comments that its one of the toughest membranes she’s EVER seen. Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea after all, as the water bag was what was pushing my cervix open. I regressed back to a 7-8, and felt utterly deflated and depressed. And I can feel the baby and each contraction even more intensely than before.
At one point, when checking the baby’s heartbeat (she was so strong through the eternally long 18 hour labor) Will says to Nicole, “ Did the baby just bark at you?” To which Sara replies, “Tucker, Jr? Will says, “He’s in BIG trouble!” I laughed and laughed.
Its around 6 pm and I was entering that dark, dark place in time where I just thought I couldn’t do it. I had not really used any words since about 10 am that morning but now the words were flying out:“ I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this” to which my awesome team of Sara, Will & Nicole, keep telling me, “Yes, you can, you can, you can.”
The pain is unbearable now. I’m utterly exhausted, dehydrated, still nauseous AND I’m not progressing at all. Nicole says its time to discuss “my pain management options”; a shot that will make my head loopy, but the pain is still there or an epidural which takes away the pain but your head’s still in it. We discuss and in between my contractions, coupled with the relentless nausea/vomiting, I give in. Defeated and crying, I call for the epidural. Will is telling me, “It doesn’t matter, you did your best. At the end of the day, you still get your baby- it doesn’t matter how.” The epidural cart gets wheeled in to my left, where Sara happens to be, right in front of the cart. Before it can be administered, they decide I need another round of fluids because of all the vomiting. I get the fluids, and get the immensely cold, shaky shivers. All the while Sara, Will & Nicole are talking me through the contractions which are coming fast, on top of one another. Nicole asks if I feel like pushing, I say, “Yes, I want this baby OUT! So I push- really hard- and Nicole says, “UH- whatever you did, just do it again because you just pushed your cervix open 1 cm with that one contraction.” I’m still screaming, “I can’t do this”, to which Sara keeps replying: “Yes, you can”. It becomes our mantra- over and over again. In my head, something clicked. I am still not sure what made me shift gears; but all along during the pregnancy, I had always said it was black and white- there’s no grey- either you go for the epidural or you don’t. I had worked so hard all day to get to this point, I didn’t want all that work to be for nothing. Will word's from earlier in the day also surfaced in my head; “What sorority of women do you want to be in? The ones who copped out and think you can’t do this without drugs or the strong ones who know you can do this?” Sara’s head was in the crystal clear foreground, the epidural cart in the fuzzy background. Turns out a human being can be so much more powerful than some stupid cart that you didn’t want anyway. I push my cervix open from a 7-8 to 10 within a matter of a few contractions. They wheel the epidural cart away- much to the nurses and anesthesiologist’s dismay and start bringing all the baby carts into the room. Nicole says, “They don’t do that unless there’s a baby on the way.” I reach down and feel her head and the combination of seeing the baby carts, the fluids, Sara, Nicole & Will all are so powerful and energizing that I push her out in less than 45 minutes. Sara talks me through the crowning and the ring of fire. I feel like the baby’s coming out of the wrong place and like I am ripping in half. At one point I say, “Holy Smoke- it’s coming out of my bottom”. I’ve NEVER said “Holy Smoke” in my life!
The best part of all was that she took her time coming out and I hear Nicole say, “Kim, reach down and get your baby.” I pulled her out of me and immediately placed her on my chest. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
Ada Laine greeted the world fist first on her due date. Nicole was able to manipulate her skillfully out with her hands. She latched on within 15 minutes of being born and nursed for 30 minutes on the left side, 20 minutes on the right. My labor was the most physically exhausting thing I’ve ever done yet the most mentally empowering. My husband had said “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get your baby”. Here I am at the end of the day, and as it turns out, it DID matter to me. I have a baby in my arms and a great sense of accomplishment.