When I was pregnant, I always loved reading other mom’s birth stories. I love how personal they are and how different labor can be for everyone. It helped prepare me to have an open mind when going into labor and to expect the unexpected. Here is my youngest daughter’s birth story below. I hope you enjoy!
At 5 am I woke up with a strong contraction. After dealing with on and off false labor for the previous four days, I was exhausted and just wanted to go back to sleep. So I rolled over and tried to go back to bed. Twenty minutes later, it hit again. And then in another 20 minutes, another one came and then 10 minutes later another one came. Around 6:30 am I woke up my husband and told him that they were getting closer and that I was going to get in the shower, and he should probably start getting ready as well. I went about my morning getting ready and woke up our daughter, Avery, to get her ready for daycare. The contractions were getting closer, and by 7:30, they were about seven minutes apart. At our doctor appointment earlier in the week, I was already dilated to 4cm so the doctor told me that once my contractions were five minutes apart to head to the hospital right away.
At this point we knew that it was real this time. We were going to get to meet our sweet baby girl today! As I finished getting my daughter ready for daycare, I worked through each contraction while sitting on my exercise\labor ball. The exercise\labor ball was my saving grace. I could be doubled over in pain from the contraction and as soon as I would sit on that ball, everything would align and I could push through the contraction with ease.
We dropped our daughter off at daycare, grabbed our hospital bag, and then headed to the Maple Grove Hospital. Part of me was a little worried because the contractions were getting closer and closer and we had to drive to the hospital which was 20 minutes away in no traffic. It was now 9am on a Monday morning and I was praying that rush hour would be over. Thankfully there was very little traffic, and we arrived and checked into the hospital at 9:30am.
Immediately when we saw the nurse, I told her that I needed a labor ball. They told me they wanted to check me first to see how far I was. I was in a lot of pain as the contractions were now coming one on top of the other and I couldn’t get a break. Once the contractions finally stopped for a minute, I laid down so the nurse could check me. I remember the look on her face and her yelling to another nurse to get in there quick. She then told me I was at dilated to 7cm and the two nurses worked quickly to get me moved over into a delivery room.
I reminded the nurse again that I needed the labor ball and I immediately told them that I wanted an epidural and to get the fluids into me. I knew that with being 7cm already that it was going to be really close to being able to get the epidural or not. They put in the IV in and the nurse FINALLY came in with the labor ball and I let out a huge sigh of relief! LOVE that thing!
The nurse then began to tell me that the anesthesiologist was on his way, but they were sure that I was already fully dilated and ready to begin pushing. I looked at my husband and the first thing that came to my mind was that I couldn’t do this. I had planned to have the drugs and I was not ready to do it without them. (All you natural birthing mamas are my heros, but I like my drugs, LOL! ) The nurse tried to get me off the ball and onto the bed to check me but my stubborn self refused to get off the ball. I was not getting off that ball until the anesthesiologist got there. A few minutes later he came through the door and it was like the heavens parted and I could hear angels singing halleluiah!
The anesthesiologist explained to me that I was too far into my labor and that the epidural would not take in time before the baby is here. BUT there was another option. I could get an intrathecal analgesia instead which is pretty similar to an epidural but takes affect immediately and doesn’t last as long. The nurses assured me there wouldn’t be any concern of it not lasting long enough with how fast this little girl was coming. I was so relieved to find out that there was an option that I immediately hopped off the labor ball and onto the bed so the anesthesiologist could give me the intrathecal. Once he injected the meds, it was instant pain relief and it felt just like before when I had the epidural with my first daughter. Woohoo!! I could finally catch my breath and relax again. I then laid down for the nurses to check me. I was fully dilated and the nurse went to go call in the doctor. It was time to meet this little girl of ours!
The doctor came in and then broke my water since it hadn’t broke on its own yet. Once my water was broken, she told me that Addison had her meconium while still inside of me. (The meconium is the baby’s first poop) Because of this, they called in the special care unit to be on backup in case of any issues. Once everyone was there, the doctor told me I could push. Three pushes later, at 10:29am (59 minutes after we arrived at the hospital), Addison Marie Pajerski was born into the world!
After Addison was born, they laid her on my chest and they immediately began to suction out her mouth and nose. They noticed she was having a really hard time breathing and handed her over to the special care doctor. The took her weight (5lbs 14oz), length (19 1/2 inches), and then began to explain to us that she had swallowed a lot of the meconium when she took her first breath as well as she was low birth weight for gestational age. They immediately took her to the special care unit and I told my husband to go be with her as I did not want our baby girl to be alone.
So there I sat in my hospital delivery room, just given birth and was now all alone. The nurses and doctors had left, and my husband was in the special care unit with Addison. I didn’t know what to do with myself. All I wanted to do was to go be with my daughter and hold her but I couldn’t. The silence was deafening and I had so many thoughts running through my head. I began calling and texting friends to let them know of Addison’s arrival and even turned on the TV to pass the time. About 30 minutes later, my husband came back to my room to tell me that she was doing good but they did need to put her on a breathing tube and they were monitoring her closely.
An hour later I was finally able to go and be with our baby girl. The nurses said she was a feisty one and that she would be out of there in no time. And they were right. Four hours later she was off the breathing tube and by 8 pm that night, she was able to come back to the room with us and sleep in her bassinet next to me. All I could think of as I held her that night while slept on my chest was how amazing the birth of a baby is and how thankful I am for my daughter and the amazing doctors and nurses that dedicate themselves to taking care of others!
I had gone into this expecting Addison’s birth to be easy and breezy just like her big sister, but she obviously had her own plan and it is good reminder that when it comes to the birth of a baby, always expect the unexpected!
