My Hospital Birth 05-25-2018
The Back Story:
This was my second pregnancy and first birth that took place in Aurora, Colorado.
I chose prenatal care with the OB/GYN group at UC Health for my first pregnancy. Within that group there were also midwives for prenatal care. I was impressed with the midwives approach and level of care for each appointment. That peaked my interest to look into midwifery care for my second pregnancy. I found out that within UC Health there was a separate Midwifery practice for prenatal care and births. The group (about 5-7 women at the time) rotated between prenatal care and births. They delivered at the University of Colorado Hospital.
I was curious and open to having a water tub for labor or birth, epidural, or no epidural. I didn't really have a strong opinion one way or the other, so I was going to see how labor and delivery unfolded.
I was very fortunate that the whole week before (I gave birth) I was able to take off from work. I worked 4-6 hours at home that week to finish a project, but otherwise wrapped up or passed on everything else. I'm so glad because I became increasingly tired as the week went on (sign of labor coming??). My days consisted of a couple hours of work, walking my dog, going to the neighborhood pool, reading, and napping. I felt so grateful to have that time to myself before baby arrived. Although, I won't lie, I felt a little guilty to start leave early. I'm sure most women probably do/would. In our culture, it's glorified or normalized if women work right up until they go into labor. Looking back, it was the best decision I made, to take time for myself before my life was about to completely change. I cherish that time so much, so completely worth it! I wonder if that was great labor prep; the de-stressing, resting and relaxing? I believe it helped tremendously, but at the time I had no idea, I didn't really plan for it. It stemmed from projects just naturally coming to an end and not picking up new ones because of my upcoming maternity leave. By 36 weeks, I was checked out of work, so I was so ready not to be there for a while, and so when this presented itself, I just had a conversation with my boss because it didn't make sense to come into the office if I didn't need to. I could've scraped together some more hours/projects to fill the week, but I had enough PTO (if baby girl came in a week - then not sure what was going to happen) and she was so understanding (sometimes you just need to ask ;)).
The Birth Story:
It all started shortly after midnight, very early in the morning, on Friday, May 25, 2018, at 39 weeks & 3 days pregnant. The day prior, Thursday, seemed completely normal (as normal as it gets at nearly 10 months pregnant). I don't believe I had any contractions during the day, none that I detected.
I realized I was having contractions after the third or fourth time I got up to pee and felt strong cramping. In the last two or three months of pregnancy I experienced Braxton Hicks contractions, but this just felt different. It's hard to explain. It was more painful and uncomfortable. I stayed up to monitor, to see if the cramping would come and go regularly. I got some water and turned on the TV. I wanted something light and funny on in the background, so I turned on Netflix and played, "Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life". They lied, it was definitely an evening I would never forget.
After about an hour I knew this was it, contractions were about 15-20 minutes apart, lasting about 30 seconds. I woke up Pablo to let him know what was going on. I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible, which at this point was only a total of 2-3 hours. He had a contraction monitoring app ready to go on his phone, to time and keep track. He was there next to me (rubbing my back, holding my hand, or just sitting near me was enough, while also encouraging me to breathe), and then also made sure we had everything we needed for the hospital and put it in the car.
At roughly 2:30am, as I was walking into the kitchen to get a snack, my water broke. I wasn't sure what exactly happened, but I didn't think I peed myself. I went to the bathroom to check for any mucus, mucus plug, or blood. There was a little blood. I just remember verifying that it wasn't pee. I called the midwife on-call number to let them know. At that point my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. If contractions slowed down or didn't progress, I was instructed to call back later in the morning and I'd most likely come into the hospital by 12pm to ensure no infection. In-between contractions, I texted my mom we were going to the hospital at some point that day! She was the messenger to the rest of my family. I had also texted my friend, who was taking the role of dog-sitter, that today was the day!
I was lucky things progressed really well and relatively quick. Shortly after 4:00am my contractions were 4 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, for at least the last hour. The 4-1-1 (or 5-1-1, I learned both), time to go to the hospital! We (probably Pablo) called the midwife to let them know we were on our way. I was so ready. I was incredibly uncomfortable and in so much pain at this point.
The car ride sucked, it was the worst part. I was getting tense and afraid of the pain, instead of trusting the pain. This did not set the stage well for the car and the rest of labor. I was so miserable and uncomfortable. No woman in labor wants to be constricted in the car. It was awful. I wished we had left sooner. Luckily, no one was on the roads, Pablo drove as fast as safely possible, but to me it felt like it took way too long (of course). Pablo dropped me off at the entrance while he parked the car. The lobby was completely empty except for this older couple, calling the courtesy phone to check-in for the gentlemen's procedure. The woman came over to say they told my husband they'd look after me until he came back. She was so kind and sweet and was coaching me through breathing. She told me she was a retired labor and delivery nurse. She was God sent!
I was admitted to a room right away. They did not wait to check my cervix, because no one else was waiting and I was visibly in a lot of pain. The midwife arrived and checked my cervix to find I was only 3 cm dilated! I felt defeated. Only 3 cm!! I thought I was much further along, things felt intense. I was encouraged by the nurses and midwife to get into the bathtub to attempt to relax the body and relieve some pain naturally. It wasn't enough. I then elected for nitrous oxide to further my relaxation efforts. I had that for about 30 minutes to an hour. I'm not sure, time is really blurry at this point. Because I had a mask on for the gas and connected to a tank, it was restricting and felt hard to breathe. So I went ahead and requested an epidural. While I waited, I was on the toilet. That position can help (again, hated that too haha). I was defeated mentally and physically. My legs were shaking, I was very unsteady and out of it right before the administering of the epidural. It was very difficult to sit still while getting it in place, my contractions were at it's peak and most likely near transition. Once it was done and getting in my system, what a relief it was!! Night and day. I felt SO much better and I could relax finally!
It was now 7:00-7:30am and the new midwife on shift checked me and I was 10 cm dilated! In approximately 1.5 hours, I dilated from 3 cm to 10 cm! Wow. No wonder my pain, no wonder my exhaustion. That was very quick and unexpected, although it felt like hours to me. I did not expect to be fully dilated by the time the epidural was administered, I don't think the nurses and midwife did either. The midwife recommended to let me rest for a while, to allow my body and contractions do the work of continuing to push baby down further the birth canal, rather than start pushing right away. During this time, my parents arrived at the hospital and came into my room to visit for a little bit. After a couple of hours, I started to push! We tried positions on my side, but propped up on my back ended up working the best for me. A nurse, midwife, and Pablo assisted me by holding my legs up and coached and encouraged me to push and breathe. She was so ready to come out! I only pushed for 20 minutes.
Josefina Grace made her entrance into this world at 10:10am on May 25, 2018, weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. I have no idea if I peed or pooped when I was pushing (I'm pretty sure I did), I couldn't feel much and I absolutely did not care at that point. She came out and immediately was laid on my chest. It was so surreal. I immediately felt love, more intense love for this baby girl, than I've ever felt before. I felt a fierce protector kind of love, while also feeling a little disconnected as she was a stranger to me. The hormones and adrenaline and relief that comes afterwards was incredible. The best feeling ever. It was an amazing, miraculous, and empowering experience.
-Margo Game Brandenburg
