My story begins early Monday morning November 1, at 2:16 A.M. I woke up thinking I was using the bathroom. You all know that feeling, don't you girls??? I tried to stop the flow but just couldn't. So I rolled out of bed as gracefully as a pregnant woman could. As my feet hit the floor, so did my amniotic fluid. I KNEW this was IT!! My water had never broken on it's own before so this was a new experience for me.
I called my midwife and she asked if labor had started and I told her, "No." She told me to wait until they were regular and to come on in. Well since my bed was wet, I made my way to the couch and my husband slept in the chair. I could not go back to sleep. Contractions began a short while later but were mild and very sporadic. I called the midwife again at about 9:00 A.M. to let her know there was no progress. She suggested using the breast pump and walking. I did these two things for hours with very little progress. We decided to drive on to the birth center around 4:00 P.M. My water had now been broken for 14 hours.
Since this was my first experience at a birth center, I really didn't know what to expect. After we arrived, we continued pumping and walking. Later that evening I was given some tea and herbs to start the labor. They told me to fasten my seat belt after taking this. Well nothing happened. So we pumped on and walked again.
My midwife finally told me to get some sleep and we'd start up again around 6:00 the next morning. Too bad there was someone else laboring in the next room. Honestly, she mooed like a cow ALL NIGHT LONG!! Needless to say I didn't get any sleep.
The morning came and I was exhausted from no sleep in two days plus all the sleepless nights the previous week from just being plain miserable. I was so tired from TRYING to go into labor.
My husband was sent to CVS to get me some castor oil. Oh boy!! They had me drink the whole bottle. You all know what castor oil does to you. Fun, fun!! Well.......this didn't work either. So we walked around and around the building. At around 2:00 that afternoon, we were getting nervous. My water had been broken for 36 hours and there was no sign of labor. We made a few calls to family and my old OB/GYN office. They all said I needed to get to the hospital. You see the midwives can only do so much. Pitocin was not an option to start my labor. We were afraid there would be some infection if I didn't soon go into labor.
I had been so excited about delivering at the birth center without medical intervention. But it just didn't seem to be working out for me. We made the decision to go on to the hospital. What was scary about that was, my midwife wasn't going with me. She only delivered at the birth center. So I was going in as an unassigned patient. I had no idea who would be delivering my baby. Another fear was that they would automatically give me a C-section because of how long my water had been broken.
We loaded up and headed to the hospital where I had delivered my other three children. As we drove, we began to pray that God would take care of our little baby. We arrived and were assigned a midwife named Mistee. She was a hoot!! We liked her right away. She asked me if I wanted an epidural. I told her no because the other two I had with my girls didn't work so I wasn't interested. She said, "Well, Dr. Babb is on call and he is the best." I consented with the encouragement of my husband.
Before they were able to give me the pitocin, I started having contractions and they were quite uncomfortable. By this time, I really wondered just how I was going to deliver this baby. I was so exhausted from trying to go into labor that I felt unprepared for the real thing now. I was asked if I wanted anything to take the edge off and my husband encouraged me to get some medication so I could rest and be ready for the hard work later on. So they gave me something called Stadol. As the nurse was putting it into my IV, she told me I would feel like I had drunk a truck load of margaritas. I told her that I hadn't even had one in my whole life. As soon as these words left my mouth, I entered the 'Twilight Zone.' So much for just 'taking the edge off.' I couldn't even lift my head off the bed. It was the weirdest feeling. I don't think I'll be trying that drug again. It even slurred my speech.
They finally got me in my room where I was given an epidural BEFORE the Pitocin. I never felt a thing. They rolled me over on my side, put a pillow between my knees, and I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, they were checking to see how far along I was. Four centimeters. I thought I would be able to sleep a little longer, but shortly after the nurse left the room, I felt *something* It wasn't pain or even pressure. I thought maybe my catheter had come out or something. I told my husband to go get the nurse just in case. As he was walking past my bed, he decided to lift the covers for some reason. As he did, you wouldn't believe the look on his face. "THE BABY IS HERE," he said. I couldn't believe it. Could I actually deliver a baby and not know it? I mean, I had delivered three children before and I worked very hard to get them into this world. Babies just don't come out unnoticed!!!
My husband ran into the hall to get some help. In less than a minute the midwife along with about 6 nurses were there. The baby was scooped right up by the midwife and he was just fine. He had only been laying there for about 3 or 4 minutes according to the monitors that showed when my last contraction was. I was still laying on my side, numb from the waist down. I was twisting my neck trying to see all that was going on. I just could not believe that I had had my baby. Talk about a dream delivery. I never felt a thing!!! My water had been broken a total of 42 hours. My labor, if that's what you want to call it, was clocked at 3 hours 30 minutes.
I find it truly a miracle how my son was born. God had His Hand on him the entire time. I like to think that God was being merciful to me by letting me have a pain free delivery.
Our little sweetie weighed in at 6 lbs. 10 oz. and measured 21 inches long. The only signs of the quick delivery was he was a little bruised around his mouth from coming out in such a hurry. His agpar scores were great.
My mother-in-law told me I couldn't have any more babies because of the way this labor and delivery went. I told her that if they all were this way it would be a breeze. Bring on the babies!!
Here's a picture of how our little Joseph was found. Praise God for His keeping power!! God is good all the time.
And here's a close-up of my little darling soon after delivery...
My youngest caught the bride's bouquet at a wedding a few weeks ago. I think it's safe to say that she will NOT be the next one to wed anytime soon!!!
