Tanner's Birth Story

The following words I never thought I would, and never wanted to, say: I had a natural birth.

Yeah, you heard me. No drugs, no beloved epidural, no nothing. Just me and my body. How did this happen, you ask, when I am so pro modern medicine? Well let me explain. Note: If details (and specific words) about delivering a baby make you queasy, stop reading now.

First of all, my body does quite a bit a work before I am actually in labor. I have A LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions. While they are annoying, they do serve a purpose for me. At 38 and 39 weeks I was dilated to 4 cm. By the time I went in for my 40 week appointment, I was at 5 cm and 75% effaced. Now, in the medical terminology of Labor, I should have been in "Active Labor". But little Tanner was happy as a clam, cozy inside Mommy. My Dr. kept telling me that if my water broke, come in right away. Don't wait.

On Sunday morning, October 13, at about 3:50 am I woke up and realized my water had just broken. I went to the bathroom to make sure I didn't just lose control of my bladder, and sure enough, my water had broken. I woke up David, and we gathered our last minute things. Then we got Eli up and, thankfully, our next door neighbor was all set to watch him. (Thanks Melissa!) Off to the hospital we went!

We arrived at the hospital around 4:40 am. Got checked in, etc. It was a busy night and I got the last room. They had to make sure that my water had actually broken. Then the Resident OB who was there that night came in and explained that when women come in with their water broken, they don't like to check for progress until contractions are 2-3 minutes apart--close enough to ensure cervical progress. This is to prevent bacteria/infection getting to the baby. I was a little annoyed about this because I had hoped to do what I did with Eli--get myself to 6 cm and then get my epidural. The Dr noticed that I was distressed and she asked why. When I explained she said that she could check me, if I wanted but asked if it would make a difference--Would I want to wait longer for the epidural if I wasn't progressed any further than I had been earlier in the week. By this time the contractions were already starting to hurt so I said it wouldn't make a difference. I just wanted to go ahead and get the epidural going.

At 5:20 the nurse came in to start getting my IV ready for the epidural and I was told I was first on the list for anesthesia. At this point I knew I had about an hour to wait until I had enough fluids. So I sat in bed and let the contractions come. David read to me, my sister-in-law Shonda was there taking birth photos, and my mother-in-law was there rubbing my back.

At 6:20 I started asking where the anesthesiologist was. I was told that they had gone into surgery, and once they were done I was first on the list and they would be in to give me my epidural. More waiting... The contractions started getting more and more painful. I kept asking where my drugs were. I was next told that the surgery had turned out more complicated and they had to wait for that patient to be stable before they could come in to me. But I was first in line...

They offered me the narcotic drug to "take off the edge", which I refused. I didn't want to risk anything and I had no desire to be loopy. After I refused, and the nurses left, Shonda said she hated it when she had the narcotic. She said she felt just as much pain but was unable to express/communicate it. After hearing that testimony, I was even more glad I had declined.

At 7:00 I was in a lot of pain and I begged to be checked, just to know if the pain was doing anything. The Dr checked me and said that I was at 5 cm and 80% effaced, but my cervix was stretchy. Baby's head was at -2 station and she said that once his head dropped further he would come flying out (I don't think she knew she was being prophetic...) I was very upset that I hadn't progressed any more, especially after all the pain I had already felt.

She then recommended, to encourage baby to come down, that I get on the birthing ball. Well, what could it hurt. I was in pain no matter what. Maybe this would work. I got on the ball, I had David kneeling in front of me so that I could grab/clench his knees and he could talk me through breathing. Thank goodness for my amazing husband! Being on the birthing ball hurt so much. The contractions weren't slowing down.

Finally at 7:20 the anesthesiologist walked in. I looked at him and told him he was my new best friend. He had to go through his whole list of possible side effects, etc. I quickly nodded my head saying I understood. He asked if I wanted him to get his stuff and I answered with an emphatic "Yes!".

Off the ball, back onto the bed to get into position for the glorious epidural. The pain was finally going to end! The contractions still hurt. It was all I could do to keep it together and practice not wrenching in pain so that I wouldn't twitch at all when the needle went in. My nurse noticed how hard I was concentrating on just that. Shonda and Mom left to let my get the epidural. This was about 7:35 I think. I was sitting sideways on the bed, my feet on David's knees, and I was in the crouched position ready for the epidural. Then I had a contraction and I told the nurses that I felt a lot of pressure down low. They said that was good and thanks for letting them know. The anesthesiologist put the blue disinfecting stuff on my back, in prep for the needle. Another contraction. I told the nurses that I felt I needed to push! The anesthesiologist paused and asked if we wanted him to stop. I gave 3 involuntary pushes. The nurses told him to stop, called to get the Dr in there fast. The had me rotate back to laying on the bed. The Dr came in and checked me--I was ready to go! Baby was coming! (By the way, she looked surprised by this news) I had just gone from 5 cm to 10 cm in like 30 minutes! The anesthesiologist looked at us and said "I'm so sorry" and left the room.

They told me not to push. Dr had to get scrubbed up. They quickly prepped the table, called in all the nurses and doctors needed..it was a whirlwind of activity. Meanwhile I'm panting, not pushing (not an easy task). I told David to call Shonda and his mom and get them back in here. He texted them at 7:42. They came back up as fast as they could. They arrived just as everything was finished being prepped and I started pushing.

I don't know how many pushes I did. It wasn't many. Tanner came flying out (like the Dr unknowingly predicted). He was born at 7:49 am. His head was blue when he came out. It freaked me out. The cord was wrapped around his neck, body, then neck again. But he was healthy and breathing just fine.

He was finally here and I couldn't help but sob in happiness and then grin. He was 7 pounds 3.7 ounces and 20 inches long. He is a dream of a baby and we love him already.

If you would like to see the birth photos Shonda took, send me a message and I will give you the address and password. Warning, the pictures definitely tell the story. So if seeing a woman in labor and in pain (there are like 2 or 3 of these photos) would make you queasy, then I don't recommend seeing them. I love them because they tell the story--a much different story than the one we had with Eli.

Some extra thoughts:
The anesthesiologist: So, my nurses changed shifts at 7:00 am. The anesthesiologist who came in said that he had just gotten there for the day. My guess is that the night time anesthesia team did have a surgery they were finishing up. But by the time they were done it was right about 7:00 and they just decided to go home and let the new guy on shift take care of the next patient (me), rather than come in. Since he didn't arrive in my room until 7:20, he obviously wasn't aware of how long I had been asking for them to come in and wasn't in a big rush...

Recovery: I definitely feel like I recovered much more quickly from this birth than Eli's. Even right after the birth I felt better. But it is hard to know if that is because it was unmedicated, because I pushed for 6 minutes instead of almost 2 hours, because Tanner was smaller than Eli, or because it was my second.

Future Births: While I could probably handle doing another natural birth, since I've already done one, I'm not sure it would be safe. Since Tanner came so fast, once he was engaged, I might end up delivering on the road or at home if I try to go into labor on my own. It will probably be best for me to get induced a little early with my next babies, rather than go on my own.