Well, it’s a doozy and I know what you are
thinking: bear fights, ninjas, nuclear winter but Mariah made me promise to
tone down the exaggeration element. I know, let down. Well, first I
have to say Mariah takes the term trooper to a whole new level-- enduring
contraction pains since Tuesday morning to ultimately deliver a baby Sunday
without resorting to a C section, epidural or at least Pitocin is beyond me and
then some. I have to say, without the Bradley class and the support of
the midwives throughout this process this literately and figuratively would not
have been possible. I think for both of us knowledge is power and all the
learning we have done these past 9 months prepared us for this tumultuous
week. So, first off, I want to say Mariah skipped or slept through the “putsy
putsy” phase where she wants to clean everything and is giddy and full of
energy, lets take a picture etc. no none of that. She woke up Tuesday
unhappy and telling me about contractions she had been feeling for half the night.
I thought, well unless these are Braxton Hicks we should see a baby in 48 hours
at the latest. Tuesday we had a our regular weekly visit to the birth
center and found out Mariah's cervix was 40% effaced so more good news plus she
was 1 centimeter.
Then, after 2 nights with no sleep, we made a return
trip to the birth center on Thursday to learn she was 4 centimeters dilated,
100% effaced, and the very experienced midwife said she couldn't guarantee but
felt very confident we should see a baby some time tomorrow. Contractions
were now around 4-20 minutes apart but at this point my first stage coaching
was more errand running, chauffeur driving, and being by her
side than the go to your happy place, pace your breathing, nice music, let me
give you a massage and see where you are tense. I don't think those
methods are flawed but they are not designed for 5 days of stage 1 labor. You can only give so many massages or say,
"you’re doing great", so many times. Her water broke 2pm on
Friday 11/2 and we thought for sure a baby that night but no luck.
We
decided Saturday morning to have an ultrasound just to confirm that something
wasn't wrong and preventing the labor from progressing. When University
Hospital finished their exam, they confirmed water breakage had occurred but
mom and baby were doing well otherwise. We felt a huge relief. They then
began insisting we stay, use Pitocin to induce, and confine Mariah to a bed
with a fetal monitor with no food or drink nothing but an IV for fluids plus I didn't
like their parking situation :) We confidently turned them down signing
an AMA release meaning "Against Medical Advice". We stuck with
our plan and agreed as always to use the hospital as last resort which seemed
like at this point we were close to that point, mainly because I did not want
Mariah trying to deliver on 6 hours of sleep over the past week. The last
homeopathic remedy of Caster oil was administered Saturday afternoon and within
1.5 hours of finishing the bottle Mariah went into active labor and gave birth
4.5 hours later. Disclaimer: do not use Caster oil as a first resort to
induce-- I won't go into details but it did make a water birth
impossible.
The fact that Mariah stayed dilated at 4 and then 5
centimeters for a span of 48 hours even after all the birth stories we had read
or heard still seems incredible to me. The stage two was like going from
a mild 5 day jog to olympic track star pace at the flip of a switch. I
kept feeling like the doula and midwife team were stealing all my positive
phrases during this sprint at the end. We also had both our birth
photographers have conflicts which added to the tension but fortunately
Mariah's friend and her dad stepped up to fill the gap at the last
minute. When we got to the birth center 90% of the things we brought did
not get used FYI. We simply plugged in her iPhone and streamed music from
Pandora then Mariah tried pushing in 6 or so various positions over the course
of 3 hours of intense active later and out came our baby. The final
pushing position invoked both midwives the doula and myself each assisting with
either a leg motion, helping Mariah arch her back or catching the baby.
We also never reached the phase called transition where Mariah was like,
"I can't do this" which I am glad because at this point I would have
probably told her you’re right :) Mariah did use the change of clothes we
packed and a baby outfit plus a few snacks like string cheese.
After the moment of birth I was amazed by how
quickly Mariah's mood and demeanor changed. It was definitely one of the
happiest moments for both of us. We were a little concerned by Logan's
color which was a deep blue and after a quick umbilical cord cut by yours truly
the midwives went into action clearing his lungs of fluid using various tools
and techniques. After about two hours he was declared stable and just
after that I fell asleep on a bed with 5 other people, 3 of whom were still
working. I was amazed at how full of life Logan was and how cheerful the
mood was after he was born. We stayed at the birth center about 8 hours after the birth and
then returned home.
