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Birth Stories
Lucia Yolanda
The birth of my sweet Lucia
On Thursday, July 3rd, we went to see Margie for our weekly appointment. I was 40 weeks 3 days. Margie measured my belly and it was 35.5cm, the same as it was a week before. She checked my cervix and I had not yet dilated and was 30% effaced. Margie decided to try and get my labor started by making me 1 cm dilated. She said my cervix was soft and long. We discussed what the options were since I was close to being 41 weeks. Margie suggested that I get a stress test and a fluid test to make sure there was enough fluid in my belly since it had been measuring small for the last 4 weeks. She was able to get that appointment for us right away so off to the ultrasound office we went. We had the stress test done first and the baby looked great, not stressed at all. After that we went and had the ultrasound done to check out the fluid.
Dr. Peng was very concerned that there wasn't enough fluid. He explained that the older the baby gets the more it needs from the placenta and the older the placenta gets the less it gives to the baby. He said I would be induced that afternoon and wanted us to head right over to labor and delivery. We wanted to discuss this with the midwife first. So back over to Margie's office we went. Margie basically had to agree with Dr. Peng, her opinion at this point was overlooked since my pregnancy was now classified as high risk. At this point I was excited and nervous and couldn't believe that I actually knew my daughter was really going to be in my arms in a short period of time. So we went home, packed our bags, packed a boatload of food, our speakers, music, and then went out to lunch. I called the doula on the way home, told her about the appointment. She was going to meet us at the hospital at 3:30 so she could be there for the whole labor. We spent the whole time at lunch in total awe of what we were about to experience.
We arrived at the hospital around 3 pm and got set up in the birthing room. Since Margie had dilated me, I had been having contractions all day; we were hopeful that my labor was starting on its own. Around 4:00pm I was started on pitocin. The contractions started up right away and were pretty regular, nothing that wasn't manageable though. We ordered a pizza for dinner, hung out with Kathryn, the midwife, and our doula. Kathryn went home to get some sleep and we all decided to turn in to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep though, the contractions were too strong. The nurse came in at one point and thought I was contracting pretty strongly and decided to turn the pitocin drip off to see if my body would produce the same regular contractions, but no such luck, the pitocin was back on a few hours later. Around midnight, one of the physicians came in to check me. I had progressed to 3 cm and was 80% effaced. We were all very excited about the progress. Back to sleep they all went.
Around 8:00am the next morning (Friday, July 4th) Kathryn broke my water in hopes that it would start to speed things along. The contractions began to get more and more difficult. By afternoon I was in a considerable amount of discomfort. I spent a lot of time on the exercise ball. I was nauseas and tired. My contractions continued to be very strong. I found the most relief in the shower, where I spent hours with the water beating against my back. I even went into the tub; however, I found my contractions to be pretty unbearable in the tub. I was so exhausted at this point that I was falling asleep in between contractions. It was such an out of body experience. I remember hearing voices and seeing people, but not being completely present. A lot of times it was just sounds that I was hearing and so much seemed to be in slow motion. After spending an hour in the tub and multiple hours in the shower, I was checked again and I was still 4cm and 100% effaced. This was extremely discouraging. I continued to go on, and back into the shower I went. My contractions were getting so intense at this point. My baby was pressing on my cervix and with every contraction my body was pushing the baby out, except I was only 4cm. This was causing my cervix to swell so I had to get in positions that would bring the baby away from the cervix. We tried child's pose, we tilted the bed so I could lie down at an angle and breath through some contractions, these poses and positions were painful for me so I didn't last long in them. At this point it was close to 10pm on Friday, July 4th, I had been in labor for 30 hours and was only 4 cm dilated. I was in so much pain from the baby pressing on my cervix, I was screaming and crying and just wanted it to end. I hadn't slept in 2 days and was hungry and weak. Our biggest worry was that my cervix was going to be too swollen and that a c-section was going to be our only option. I wanted an epidural at this point; I couldn't see how I would get through the next 6 cm without it. Marco, the anesthesiologist came to the rescue. He knew that I was shooting for a natural birth, so he gave me a very light epidural. I was able to feel and move my legs, and feel contractions. We all decided to take a two-hour nap. At midnight Margie, checked me and I was 9 cm! My body just needed to relax! We waited another 45 minutes and I started to push. We tried a bunch of different positions, but I ended up delivering my daughter at 4:41 am, July 5th, in the squatting position. I pulled my little one up and onto my chest where she stayed for 30 minutes until she found my breast and nursed. Giving birth to my daughter was the most incredible experience. I couldn't have done it without the support of my husband, my doula, and the staff at MCV.