Let me start by saying every mother’s birthing story is different. Whether you’ve delivered personally or used a surrogate all mothers can agree the moment our baby is born, we are re-born and every detail of the experience is permanently in our memory. I can honestly say my birth was easy; not at all what you see on TV with the lady sweating like she just ran a marathon and squeezing the father’s hand so hard he will need to be admitted as a patient too. When I was pregnant I was told soooo many stories – doing handstands for a breech baby, easily scheduled C-sections, don’t get an epidural so you can feel EV-ERY-THING, having the baby in car en route to the hospital, knowing a lady that nearly delivered in her home toilet, getting to the hospital just in time to push, inductions are awful so start walking… PURE HORROR for a first time mom that still cries over paper cuts (hey you know those hurt)! I may not get so lucky this second time around but one can hope. Anyways this is MY birth story with my first-born, Syrus.
I went to my OB for my last appointment, just 2 days before my due date. Everything was normal – nurse takes me back for weigh in, blood pressure and urine sample. This had been the usual routine for the past 8 months. My OB examines me and I’m only dilated to 1 centimeter. He pushes back on his still and throws his gloves in the trash, “If you don’t go into labor over the weekend, go the hospital Monday for an induction.” I’m thinking to myself great because I have the weekend for last minute preparations and go finish my work week. I stopped to use the bathroom before I left the office and as I open the door my OB is standing outside. “Go to the hospital tonight. We are going to induce you. My nurse showed me your blood pressure and it’s too high. You’re 39 weeks and 5 days. Go there tonight. See you again tomorrow Stacia.” I burst into tears. “You… You told me I had the weekend and we can do it next week. I… I can’t get induced. Please take my blood pressure again.” My OB just laughs and tells me to have a nice dinner with Eddie before 7 so I can get to the hospital shortly after for check-in. I walked out of the office with such a heavy feeling. I sat in my car crying uncontrollably for 5 minutes, like super ugly crying. Was this really happening? Was my pregnancy finally over and I actually had to deliver my baby? I was so used to being pregnant, I dismissed the idea of labor and it approached so quickly I wasn’t ready mentally for what laid ahead.
Eddie and I had dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. However, we were both so anxious, we barely touched our food and spent the time calling our family and friends letting them know Syrus would be arriving sometime the next day.
After dinner, we arrived at the hospital just as my doctor told us to. I got sleep around 1 AM and slept right up until 6 AM. I was started on medication to soften my cervix at 6:45 AM and Pitocin to induce contractions shortly after. By 9:30 AM I was in and out of sleep because the contractions would awaken me. I was not in any pain; just discomfort from the irregular tightening. The monitor next to my bed would indicate I was having a contraction but I did not feel anything really. I kept asking the nurse, “Do the spikes mean I’m having contractions? If so, great because they don’t hurt.” Fast forward to 10:30 AM and now I cannot sleep through the contractions at all. They were slightly painful but still not unbearable; I was able to breathe and talk through them. However, logically I reasoned if within an hour’s time the intensity changed this much how will it be a few hours from now?? The nurse came around again 10:45 AM and checked my dilation progression – 4, almost 5. She told me if I wanted an epidural I had to let her know within the next 30 minutes so the anesthesiologist could be called. I gave the nurse the green light. I put my make-up on and went back to sleep. Next thing I know the nurse is back with the anesthesiologist. A few signatures later I was granted a shot in the back that sent a tingly sensation down my legs until I could not feel my lower body anymore. Before the nurse and anesthesiologist left the room, I fell asleep once more. By 12 PM I was dilated to 7 and my OB was in to break my water. Back to sleep. Around 1 PM I woke up to 3 nurses surrounding my bed. The monitors indicated Syrus’ heart rate dropped significantly so he needed to be adjusted. I was helped by 2 nurses onto my hands and knees while the third nurse moved Syrus. This was quite the task for all of us because I could not feel my lower body at all. The nurses stayed in the room until his heart rate stabilized. Even after that scare, I was fast to sleep again. 1:30 PM and Syrus’ head is on my tailbone and I was now wide awake moaning in agony. My contractions were coming quickly with hardly any time in between but still no pain, just pressure. The monitor spiking more than I had seen it earlier that morning. The delivery crew turned all the lights on as they prepped the room. It was truly go time. I put a pillow over my eyes and just began to breath through it all. The delivery nurse tapped my arm, “Mama your doctor is on the way. I know you may feel like pushing but just wait until your doctor gets here, okay?” A few seconds later, I heard my OB’s voice in the hall just outside my room talking with the delivery nurse. I threw the pillow behind my head and forced myself to the end of the bed. I picked up my lifeless leg and placed my left foot into the stirrup. One of the other nurses saw me and helped me with my right foot. “Where is he?” I asked her. “I’m ready. Get him out now.”
In walks my OB, “Hey Stacia!” My reply, “Finally.” He sits on his stool at the end of the bed. “Alright Stacia, you need to take a deep breath in and push down as hard as you can. I can see the top of your son’s head. On the count of 3. 1. 2. 3.” The nurse that helped me put my foot into the stirrup adds, “Push from your butt. Alright Mom?” I did just as they said – took a deep breath in and pushed as hard as possible… from my butt. “Great job mama! His head is out. One more just like that and he will be out all the way.” Yeah right I thought to myself. There’s no way it’s this easy. They’re playing mind games with me. I’m probably going to be doing this number for the next 45 minutes. Nonetheless, I closed my eyes and pushed once more just like before. After that full body push (and a nice snip assist from my OB) I open my eyes to my son being held up just over the clothe draped across my legs. A few seconds later the infamous newborn cry ensues. I laid there in utter shock. Is that really my baby? That’s it? I don’t have to push anymore? Am I dreaming right now? Seriously that’s it? I look around the room Eddie is bawling similar to how I was the day before. Syrus is on the other side being cleaned off. All I could say was, “Can I see my placenta? I want to see the placenta.” Once they finished cleaning Syrus off the nurse lays him right on my chest. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I couldn’t even cry. I was finally holding my son. The baby boy whom I had only seen in ultrasounds until now. Now, though, I could really see him. His eyes. His nose. His fingers. His legs. His arms. My son is here, here in my arms.
Fellow mothers, comment your experience below! I’m curious to know if I’m the only one who had an amazingly easy induction.
-SEPTEMBER 2020
That is a beautiful story.