I started out getting a horrible cold at 39 weeks. I got on antibiotics because my m/w wanted to make sure I didn't have pneumonia and my lungs were clear. I was up a lot and not able to breath or sleep for that last week and a half. It was really such a pain. So then at 40 wks 3days, thursday night, I started having contractions. I had them all night and timed them until they were three minutes apart. So I called the MW to come check me to see if we should leave for the clinic. (I live in Delta Jct. and the clinic is in Fairbanks an hour & half away.) So she came and I was effacing and 1 cm. She told me to try to get some sleep and then she'd check me again and see if I was ready to leave. Well, then everything slowed way down and I slept some and then everything stopped. I had a few contractions Saturday and NOTHING on Sunday. Come Monday, I was trying to do everything to get labor going again. Tuesday, at 41 weeks, I started having contractions again and this time they were getting really hard. (Or what I thought was really hard.) I called Joy (the MW) again and she came to check me. I was more effaced but not any more dilated... But she thought it best to go ahead and go to Fairbanks.
So we left at about midnight Tuesday, or really Wed morning. Yeah, Well we got up to Fairbanks, she checked me at the clinic and told me that I really wasn't in active labor, so we were going to a house near by to wait it out and see what happened. So I totally fell apart and cried for about half an hour. I didn't sleep all night because the contractions were still five minutes apart and hard enough that I couldn't stay still through them. So, then we waited Wednesday and Thursday, not ever sleeping more the 20 minutes at a time because of the contractions, which were HARD... SOOOOOOOOO frustrating!!!!! I was exhausted and just wanted to take a nap already!
Come Thursday night/ Friday morning. I was up AGAIN and couldn't lay down or sit down at all because of how much it hurt. I got into the shower around 1:30 and was praying and really knew that it was time to tell my body what it needed to do. So I started saying, "Ok, now's the time, we're going to do this. We were made to do this. We have what we need.Let's get it done." Over the next hour or two, the contractions picked up from 10 - 15 minutes apart to five. I waited until 3:00 and called Joy in to check me. I was fully effaced and had dilated to 2cm. We waited until six and then went over to the birthing center, where I FINALLY got to get into the tub.
SUCH a relief! I was so tired though, having been up for three nights in a row and having just recovered from a bronchitis. I needed DH SOOOO badly and he was SUCH an awesome support. I Labored in the Tub until nine am when Joy checked me again. She kept her fingers on my cervix while I had several contractions and stretched me as I contracted. I went to a four almost five and then we went on from there, getting more intense and painful. I got back into the tub and kept working, trying to be effective and not fall asleep between contractions. I WAS SOOOOOOO tired!! I drank lots of Recharge, (good stuff) and ate some Skittles for sugar and kept drinking tons of water.
At one point, she had my DH lift up on my belly to get baby into a better position through TEN contractions. It was SO painful and my poor DH was behind me holding up the belly. I started feeling drops of water on my shoulder and realized he was crying. The poor guy hated seeing me in so much pain.
At One, she had me get out and checked me again. I hadn't dilated any more, so we did the stretching again. Which hurt like hell. I went from a four to a seven with her stretching my cervix through each contraction. Then my water broke and all hell broke loose as it were. I went into transition almost immediately. There was Meconium in the water and I got a little concerned. The contractions were so I hard I was having a hard time dealing with the pain. I never screamed but was definitely very vocal through each contraction. Joy had me get back into the tub and with in half an hour I was having the irresistible urge to push.
So I started pushing in the tub. FOR EVER!!!!!!!! Well really only 30 minutes. I went from a seven to fully dilated in 30 min. Then the rest of the team got there. There were two other midwives and then my sister and my mom, (who had actually been there since 9 am. ) So, Joy had me get out of the tub and sit on the birthing stool for a while to see if I could move the head down. Then when i wasn't making anymore progress she had me get onto the bed on my back and had the other MWs lift my legs so I could "rock the baby under the pubic bone." Then back onto the birthing stool, where I pushed forever, and then the baby's heart beat started to go down hill. So back to the bed. I pushed a bunch there and the heart tones got a lot better. Then Joy started using a hot compress and stretching me as I pushed.
It felt SO much better. I then got BACK onto the birthing stool and finally started feeling the head come down. I kept reaching in to feel it and encourage myself that the baby was really right there. I just needed to push a little harder. SO I pushed a little harder and kept pushing. I was never so relieved in my whole life as when I felt that head coming through "the ring of fire" It hurt tons, but I was finally getting my baby out!!!!! I got his head out in two or three pushes then needed a couple more to get the body out. Though Joy was pulling on him pretty hard because he was in distress. He finally came out, but he was breathing really badly and so they went to work on him right away trying to clear his lungs and sucking stuff out of his airways. They gave him oxygen and then started doing mouth to mouth and kept working on him. I held him for a second, but he wasn't responding or waking up so they kept going. (Before this point another midwife had come in to help... so yes a total of four midwives.) Joy had already called 911 by this time and because the hospital is literally like three minutes from the clinic, the medics were there in no time and the room REALLY filled up with people. I was on the floor wrapped in a blanket and towel and two midwives were with me and several with Jackson (baby) and then there were four medics who came and got the baby and my DH and took them to the hospital. I stayed at the clinic, delivered the placenta and the blood etc. I was there for probably two hours, getting cleaned up and recovering a bit. I ate some food and talked with my mom & sister & two of the midwives. I called DH and Jackson was already breathing way better and they had sucked meconium out of his lungs and belly.
I had to wait about two hours before I could get into a car and go see my baby. But strangely enough, I was never worried. I knew my baby was going to be fine and that I would get to see him soon. It was so special to finally hold him when I got to the hospital. I got to nurse him and have been ever since.. He is still in the hospital and doing really well. We hope to be going home tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. But I am SO THANKFUL he came and he's safe. He's the sweetest baby and very cute. (I obviously think so anyway:)
So I was in "active labor" for only 11 hours, but really in labor for DAYS before. I had pushed for over two hours, which felt like an eternity. It was not what I expected, but I had the BEST team around me and everyone was SO great at helping me deal with the pain and get through it. I was SOOO sore the next day. Even my lungs and esophagus hurt. :)
The baby, Jackson Douglas was 8 lbs 10 oz. 22.5 " long with a 14.5" head. Which is why it took my so long to get him out. Joy also told me that she thought my body didn't want to dilate on it's own because of the D&C I had with my ectopic. I don't doubt that if I had had the baby in the hospital, I would have ended up with a c section. But it's over now and I have my beautiful baby.
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