Gracelyn Rose’s Birth
I didn’t have the birth that we had been wanting/planning, but two years later, the outcome was still my beautiful daughter that I just can’t get enough of.
My husband and I had been planning a drug free birth at the birthing center via the Bradley Method. I was 33 1/2 weeks along and Sunday morning February 7th at 8am, I started into early labor. I didn’t know what they were, (I thought it was just serious braxton hicks!) so I headed to church. After church, (trying to sit still and breath through my “braxton hicks”) I realized I was in labor. I called my midwife and she told me to pick up some magnesium oxide, (a natural muscle relaxant) and lay in bed to try and stop the labor. It worked for a while, but by 10pm they were getting more intense and closer together.
We made it through the night and headed to the birthing center to check things out. When we got there, my midwife said, “if you’re under 2cm then we can send you to the hospital to get your labor stopped.” Surprise! I was almost 5cm dilated!!! So she said, “I guess you’re having a baby today”! She kept me there for an hour to see how fast I was progressing, ( I wanted as little intervention as possible and I knew that the less time I spent in the hospital the better my chances of at LEAST having a drug free birth) and I was dilating 1cm per hour! So she told me to pack my bags and head to the hospital. Darn it.
I took my sweet time at home, took a shower, shaved my legs, piddled around etc. Anything really to delay going to the hospital. I wanted to walk in, get to my room, and push her out. LOL. My midwife called at 12pm and told me to get my butt to the hospital.
We finally got to the hospital around 2pm and got in my sarong rather than the robe they offered. I wanted to bring at least a piece of the environment that I wanted with me. I was scared and confused, I had no idea what to do in a hospital. The nurse came to give me a hep-lock, (one that was never needed and if I had known that I could have refused, I definitely would have) and she had a hard time getting it in. OUCH! Right then, my labor came to a stand still. It felt like forever waiting for it to start up again! Slow, Slow, slow. Finally around 7:30, the nurse wanted me to take a sleeping pill and try to get some sleep. I’m glad I declined because as soon as I laid down and got comfortable, almost asleep, pop! My water broke. That sent me into transition almost instantly! The rest is kind of a blur, I ran to the shower, (which they didn’t like) and washed off, the warm water felt so good, and birthed Grace an hour after my water broke.
The whole N.I.C.U. delivered my baby and I only got to hold her for what seemed like seconds before she was taken to the NICU to have an IV and a feeding tube put in. I din’t get to see her till three hours later. We were only there for 10 days and it was mostly just learning how to eat and keeping her temp up. Not fun but I’m happy they’re there for when we need them. It was a far cry from what I had wanted, a quiet birth with my family and midwife, birthing where, and when I wanted.
We are planning our next one and this time I’m excited to have a water birth at home. Wish us luck!
