Birth Story: Women should be running the world!

Birth Story of Elena Jane

As told by mama Emily

Elena Jane was born Sept. 7 at 12:45 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz and was 21.5" long. Here's how it went down:

T-minus 5 days until the 42- week mark. Monday, Sept. 8 was 42 weeks, this was Wednesday, Sept. 3. We met with Midwife Monica, she had me wear a belly band to make sure everything was lined up. A belly band sounds nice -- oh it supports your back from your massive belly. But, actually it was kind of painful and I had to wear it over night. I kept coming up with excuses to take a shower so I could have a reprieve for 10 minutes.

T-minus 3 days until the 42-week mark -- Friday, Sept. 5. We met with midwife Monica in the morning and she checked things out. She said things had progressed slightly since last time and my cervix was soft. I was dreading the herbal induction but by this point had succumbed to the fact that this is probably in my future. Monica suggested we do the Foley catheter--I would need to return that afternoon so Midwife Amy could insert the Foley. I was sent home with the herbal induction if, by Sunday morning, nothing happened I would need to start the herbal induction -- which is ingesting something every 15 minutes followed by a lot of time in the bathroom (as I've heard).

My husband, Geoff, and I left with my bag of "goodies". We decided to go to Mickey's diner in St. Paul to load up on a greasy meal (figured it was similar to an herbal induction, right!?) and then went to Como zoo to walk around. Luckily, I took a 2-hour nap before going back to the birth center to get the Foley.

I know we learned about the Foley in childbirth ed class or at the Health Foundations complications class, but until I actually had to have it, I don't think I filed it in my brain as something to recall. The Foley catheter is a thing that is inserted into your cervix and then two small balloons are filled up with saline solution on each side of the cervix. This is meant to aid dilation. It falls out on its own around 4 cm, otherwise you have to have it taken out. I was scheduled to have it removed on Saturday at 4 p.m.

As soon as midwife Amy filled the balloons, I got instant cramps all over. By the time I came home, the pain was so bad, I called the midwife line to see if there was anything I should do -- I couldn't imagine having this constant pain until 4 p.m. the next day. I will remember Monica's words forever, "Well, Emily, it sounds like it's doing what we want it to do, which is put you into labor...so wrap your head around that!" I laughed and thought, OMG -- no kidding, I can start doing my relaxation and breathing (for some reason that didn't occur to me until she told me that). Monica said to focus on if contractions were coming and going and to call if they got close together or especially if the catheter fell out.

Once I had that to focus on, the contractions were more manageable. I could barely eat anything for supper (rice and cream of mushroom soup) and then I went to bed. The contractions lasted all night but by the morning, they had lightened quite a bit so I could eat a solid breakfast (thank goodness or I don't know if I would have had the energy). After breakfast we went for a walk which picked things back up quickly -- we didn't make it for a long walk and we had to stop every 5 - 7 minutes to work through a contraction.

I got back and called the midwife Amy to check in and let her know where we were at. She said she'd see me at 4pm but to rest and eat some oatmeal. Geoff went and got me some oatmeal of which I could eat half -- and then in less then an hour the contractions were so bad, the oatmeal came back up. Geoff called again to let Amy know the contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart ( I was also concerned b/c I needed to get to the birth center for antibiotics b/c I tested positive for group B strep -- and they said I should go in about 5 min apart). Amy said to really try to get some sleep and she'd see me still at 4pm.

I went to bed to try to get some good shut eye but within 15 minutes I had to pee and out came the catheter -- those balloons were WAY bigger than I had thought...Not quite a raquet ball but I'd say maybe two ping pong balls on each side. As it was coming out I thought, what good practice for birth -- HA (not the case). This was at 1:45pm on Saturday.

We ended up meeting Amy at the birth center at 3:30pm. She wasn't quite there when we arrived so I had some lovely heaving and ho-ing out on the deck until she arrived. As soon as she opened the door, I went into the birth room (the one on the left), knelt on the ground with my head on the sofa and dealt with a few more contractions while I got my antibiotics. I heard my husband ask Amy, "Do you think we'll need to go home or is she far enough along to stay?" Amy said based on the noises I was making, I was staying (I was relieved).

My doula, Kim, arrived shortly after. I started working through contractions in the shower on a birth ball, which was nice and then Amy had me get up and walk up and down the steps and around the studio upstairs. I don't know what we would have done without our doula there, it was nice for Geoff to be able to take a break or stay with me when I wanted. I was so out of it, I didn't notice any lapse in having someone there to help me. And I later found out that he had eaten dinner at some point...who knew!?!

Around 6 or 7pm, Dr. Amber (chiropractor) came to adjust me. Her three cute kids walked in and I was again heaving and ho-ing in the waiting room. They were so cute but I couldn't say a word to Amber!  After the adjustment, Dr. Amber had me go to the bed and hang one leg over the bed ( I think we watched a video of this in class) and labor there for a bit. After several of these on each side, Amy checked to see where I was at.

With Amy's check, my water broke because it was right there and she said I was fully dilated and ready to push! I couldn't believe it! It didn't even seem possible, I kind of just assumed at that point that the baby would be in me forever and I would have contractions the rest of my life. She said once I stood up, I'd probably feel a lot less pressure and an urge to push.

I did feel less pressure but never really had the urge to push -- just pushed when I had a contraction as they told me. This was 9:30pm. I started pushing on the birth stool -- not really a fan. I felt kind of like the gorilla I saw at the zoo that morning -- just sort of sitting there with my big belly while everyone watched me from every angle. Then we did squats in the shower -- these were my least favorite as they were the most painful, I think I thought the baby would accidentally fall out on the hard shower floor (I'm an idiot) and I didn't like that I couldn't rest in between pushes -- just stand. Then we labored on the bed in the normal legs raised position -- and a little with the birth ball on the bed..by far my favorite because I liked that I could rest in between. However, Geoff and our Doula sure had to be strong to basically be my make-shift stirrups!

We rotated between all of these positions maybe three times. Every time Amy suggested the shower squat thing I gave her a bit of a stink-eye (she later told me!) but complied because I knew the pain meant it was working. Throughout I thought I would not have enough energy to get through it. A few spoons of honey I think pushed me through.

Finally, we got to the point where I could feel things happen and Amy told Geoff to get ready to catch the baby. She had one of the nurses (Monica - a nurse in training and her first birth) take his place to hold my leg. That was exciting for me because I knew it was close. I asked if I could push even if there wasn't a contraction, I was ready for the finish line. I pushed and felt her head come out. Amy told everyone to wait (while she moved the umbilical cord from around the neck). I remember just being super still and then she said, "ok" and I was still. That felt like 10 minutes of waiting for -- I didnt realize she was saying ok for me to finish pushing. I just watched her and it felt like silence. Then she looked at me and said, "ok, push" and that was super easy! Elena's slippery squirmy body went from Geoff's hands to my stomach --- It was awesome!

I remember saying something along the lines of, "Holy @#$&, I cannot believe women have done this for so long. We deserve a huge amount of money and women should be running the world!"

The rest is a blur -- I had to get that darn placenta out. I had to cough a bunch which was hard because I was sore everywhere and my throat hurt from groaning for 12 hours. Ok, it wasn't anywhere as close as hard as birth but I was just tired and wanted to cuddle my baby. Geoff was nervous because there was bleeding and clotting that the nurse was concerned about but they all calmly did what they said would happen in the complications course (super helpful). I was on cloud 9 and didn't really have any concerns.

We packed up and headed home at 5:30 a.m. It felt a little weird to be driving home with an infant after having no sleep at all and going through that but it was nice to be home. All things said and done: Labor for 33-ish hours, active labor for 12-ish hours, pushing for 3 hours, 0 drugs (well accept for the antibiotics and ibuprofen afterwards), 0 herbal inductions :), 1 cutie pie and 1 happy family!!

I can't say enough about how amazed I am with the nurses and midwives at Health Foundations. What an amazing profession they have been called to do. I could never do it but I am so grateful for them!

Emily, Geoff, Elena & Ella bean (the dog isn't too jealous!)