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Birth Stories
Hudson Orion
Friday, Feb. 22, 2008
I just knew Hudson would be born on 2/22, and that morning something was definitely going on. I was having abdominal cramps and shooting pains down my legs - not what contractions are supposed to feel like - there were no obvious beginnings and ends. Hinmaton stayed home from work and around midday I called the doctors office. They told me to come in for monitoring. The nurse said it looked like contractions, but Dr. Blanton called it uterine spasms and said I had at least 2 or 3 more days to go.
Saturday, Feb. 23
The spasms were still happening and getting increasingly uncomfortable. Hinmaton ran a few errands, while I sat in the car, and we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Late that afternoon, just after Hinmaton had massaged my stomach with oil, we started seeing a pattern. The spasms started having beginnings and ends – contractions! – and we started timing them. They were about 5 minutes apart, so we called our doula Sara Toombs and she said to take a warm bath, have a glass of wine, do some yoga and try to get some sleep. Throughout the night I took multiple baths and was able to sleep between the contractions.
Sunday, Feb. 24
The contractions were the same. We took a short walk, sat on the couch and watched lots of 6 Feet Under. Around 1 pm the contractions had been 3 to 4 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour. Around 3:30 pm Sara came to the house and we called my mom and dad to start heading down to Richmond. We walked to the 7-11 for Gatorade, then walked around the block. I had to stop to make it through the contractions. We called Dr. Blanton, she said to come into the hospital whenever we wanted to and that she would let them know we were coming. She also let us know she had just had dental surgery and was not feeling very well, but that if I delivered soon she would be there. Around 4:30 pm my parents were at our house and we started to get ready to go to the hospital, despite the fact that when I laid down the contractions slowed down.
When we arrived at the hospital around 6:15 pm I was 4 centimeters dilated, 100% effaced and -1 station! Nurse Martha estimated 6 more hours of labor. Her shift was ending and when she left she said “hope you are in 2 pieces by the morning!” We spent our time in the birthing tub, walking the halls, climbing the steps, in the shower and on the birthing ball – I was most comfortable swaying back and forth through the contractions. At the nurse’s request we tried the “half nelson” – a position that requires the bed to be inverted, my head on the low end, me laying on my side with the top knee pulled up to my chest. This meant I couldn’t move during the contractions, something I was not happy about. I tried to focus on not squeezing the bed rails and staying loose which was not an easy task. At 8:15 pm I was only 5 to 6 centimeters dilated and still -1 station. Sara went home to rest. The contractions were inconsistent and unproductive. Nurse Angela talked with Nancy Giglio (a local midwife who was in the hospital with one of her clients) and she recommended breaking the waters using pressure points on either side of the cervix. This had to be done during a contraction, took 3 tries, and was pretty painful, but finally there was a gush of warm water. At some point that night we were introduced to the doctor who would be doing the delivery if it happened over night. She was a African American woman with her hair pulled back. When I was introduced to her, the lights were off in the room. I remember looking at her not being able to see her face and thinking she was a bald man with a woman’s voice, I just knew I was “losing it.”
Monday, Feb 25
By 8 am Nurse Martha was back and was disappointed to see me in one piece! She checked the dilatation through a contraction (never before in my life have I begged for mercy – it was almost unbearable) I was only 7 centimeters dilated. Around 10:30 am Sara chatted with Nancy and asked her if we could try “the drink” – a homeopathic concoction Nancy makes with secret ingredients. It is mixed with Champaign and is intended to bring on consistent contractions. She agreed to make it for us. Nancy said I should drink it, sleep for an hour, and wake up to consistent contractions. I did sleep, but only for a half hour. I woke with strong contractions, but they soon slowed back down again. Around 11 am I was exhausted and disappointed. I had a huge meltdown and not knowing how much longer this was going to go on, I was beginning to doubt myself and consider medical intervention. All I can remember was crying heavily, saying I couldn’t do it any more and Hinmaton being close to me. Everyone was so supportive and convinced me to hang in there, I had come this far and they hated to see me give in now.
By noon I was back on the birthing ball with my chest, arms and head on the bed, rocking back and forth through the contractions and “singing” as Hinmaton called it…repeating om rhythmically. Hinmaton and Sara made sure I had cold washcloths, ice and back rubs. At 2 pm Martha checks dilation again through contractions, again I beg for mercy…but this time I am 8 centimeters dilated, my cervix is “much stretchier” and baby is at 0 station between contractions and coming down to +1/+2 during contractions…all good news! But by 3 pm, contractions are still inconsistent and weak so we start pitocin. (A drug that increase the strength or duration of contractions.) Something I had hoped to avoid, but at this point it was necessary. At 4:15 pm Dr. Blanton realizes the baby has gone “OT” (meaning he was no longer head down, but transverse or sideways, and had to be moved back into the head down position. Babies that are transverse cannot be born vaginally) I am put back in the half nelson in an attempt to turn him. Doctor says I can try for 30 more minutes, but then we have to start an epidural. 15 minutes later I feel a pop, I am screaming and begging to get up, baby is in birth canal and I HAVE TO PUSH! We try a squatting position, but doctor wants to be able to watch how baby descends, my legs are too exhausted to hold myself up and Hinmaton can’t hold me up. So I am put on my back, chin and knees to chest with one foot on nurse Martha’s chest and one on Hinmaton’s chest for support – not a pretty site, but it got the job done! I push for about 45 minutes but the contractions had slowed back down again. Dr. Blanton tells me to “get angry!” and “focus all my energy down!” I have never exerted myself so hard or experienced such pain in my entire life: it is truly amazing what the female body can do.
I remember as soon as Hudson’s head came out everyone yelling “stop pushing” then the huge relief of him coming out all the way. At 5:22 pm Hudson Orion was born! He was put right on my chest and began to nurse. I remember staring at him in amazement and trying to focus on him as Dr. Blanton stitched up where I had torn, which was not pleasant, but the hard work was finally over. He got a 9/9 APGAR rating, was very alert and absolutely perfect. Hinmaton cut the cord after it stopped pulsing. I delivered the placenta with one push but had to stay on the pitocin to insure I didn’t hemorrhage.
Nurses Martha and Angela along with Dr. Blanton were awesome, supportive and impressed with what I had done, a very long labor without painkillers. Dr. Blanton said she hadn’t seen anything like it in 30 years. Our doula Sara was a great resource through the pregnancy and during labor: she was our security blanket. Hinmaton went above and beyond, even earning himself the nickname “man-doula.” He was hands on 100% and a huge help to me and Sara. Hudson was such a rock star, had he shown any signs of distress, they would have medically intervened, but he didn’t and I was able to do what I wanted to do, deliver my baby naturally. He was born on 2/25 at 5:22…how cool is that? …I knew there would be 22’s in there somewhere!