Addison's birth story

I've gotten to read several people's birth stories via their blogs, and also love to hear the good/bad/ugly of the moms I know and their birth experiences.  It's amazing to me that just like pregnancy, every birth is so unique!

Naturally I had no clue what to expect going in to our big day.  As it turns out, pregnancy suited me so well health-wise that my body thought it would just keep it going... and going... and going.  15 days over in fact, and I'm fairly certain that had I not been induced at doctor's orders, it would've gone on another 15 days!  Don't hear me complaining though.  I was still running (swimming was out since at about 39 weeks I literally could not stretch the suit over myself one more time - ouch!), mowing, and generally going absolutely stir-crazy with the amount of energy I had, so I'm glad and thankful for that!  Here I am at 42 weeks:

That night, Danny and I packed and got organized, loaded the car, and took off for the hospital for our midnight appointment.  When we arrived at the hospital, the induction process started pretty much right away.  The "steps" as we discussed beforehand were: 1) Prostoglandin gel at 1am and 4am 2) Breaking my water 3) pitocin.  I was admittedly terrified of pitocin, so I was *really* hoping to avoid it (especially because my plan was to deliver naturally).  

As soon as they gave me the first dose of gel, things were off and running.  My contractions started right away, and were semi-painful, though I could talk in between them, walk around, etc.  I was a little surprised how quickly it began, as I'd been banking on a little sleep during the night before things got intense (ha!).  Thankfully Adrienne, my personal "lay-doula" and awesome friend arrived at 1am and stayed up with me, allowing Danny a few winks (he would need them!).  After the 2nd dose things kicked up a notch, though not too crazy.

We were still horsing around on the birthing ball... so definitely pre-7am.

At 6:30 my midwives arrived (Yes, I had a rock-star cast delivering Addison, including Danny, Adrienne, my two midwives, the nurse, and at the end, a doctor and her student).  They checked me out, and as I was only 4cm (that's as far as the gel is really supposed to take you), it was time to start walking around, bouncing on the birthing ball, etc.  I did all that until about 8:30 (pain increasing, so I figured I was progressing nicely!), when they checked me again, and I was just at 5cm.  Since I was 15 days over, we really couldn't just let the whole thing fizzle out and try again later, so we had to move on to the next step of breaking my water.  That seemed to up the contractions another notch, but at the next check, I was still stuck at 5, so the pitocin had to begin.  I was afraid, but agreed knowing that not progressing wasn't an option.  We started at a low dose to hopefully avoid the epidural (all the medical staff was extremely understanding of my wishes - blowing away the notion that doctors and nurses just push push push for meds - not true!)

Getting more intense!

At this point I'm a little fuzzy on times, but the contractions started getting even stronger around 9:30 or 10.  That was about to take a backseat though, as Addison's heart rate began to drop - fast.  Some variation and dropping is normal (the regular heart rate is about 120-160), but she was going down to 80, then to 60... and would just stay there for a long time.  The staff was totally on top of it, and kept things completely under control, but it was definitely scary for me.  They had me moving all around to different positions to try and stabilize her, and also called Dr. Jannelle (one of two doctors in the practice) to come from Blacksburg (in anticipation of a C-section).  They were able to call her off though, as Addison stabilized, to my and everyone's great relief!  They did have to hook me and Addison up to some extra monitoring devices, and also had to start flushing through some extra fluid, as Addie had already passed some meconium and that can be dangerous.

About an hour or so later, the same thing happened again.  By now my contractions were super close and off the monitor's charts, so hearing her heart rate beeping get slower and slower only added to my tension.  Armed with an oxygen mask I remember yelling through each contraction while the nurse, Danny, and Adrienne worked hard to keep me as relaxed as possible.  Again I was doing acrobatics around the bed, even at one point standing on my head!  We found a position that seemed better than the others, but Dr. Jannelle had been called again, and I also had to sign the papers for a C-section, as it was starting to look inevitable.

At this point, the only thing I was worried about was Addison, and would have done whatever it took to have her delivered safely.  I fully trusted our medical staff and knew that God would protect us, but it was still scary!

As far as progression goes, I was now 7cm, so there was still a ways to go.  The pain was intense, and my fear about Addison was mounting, so I knew we had to do something to help me relax.  They offered a bag of something via IV that would have a small affect, but I also learned at this point that if I made it to 8cm, an epidural wouldn't be possible.  In my mind, I had pretty much come to grips with needing a C-section, so I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, since it would allow me to be awake during the surgery, whereas if I reached 8cm and went to surgery, I would have to be put completely under.  

I am soooo glad I did it!!!  For 9 months I'd decided that I would have her naturally, with no medicine.  However, as soon as I received it, I completely relaxed, was able to listen to the doctors and nurses about what was happening with Addison, and even rested for an hour and a half or so.  When Dr. Jannelle arrived, she calmly assessed the situation and decided that we could move forward cautiously without the surgery. (yaaayy!!) 

Doing soo much better!

At about 3:45pm, Addison's heart rate went down again, so Dr. Jannelle and my midwives decided it was time to start pushing, or else we would have to revisit the C-section plan.  I was not yet 10cm, but we did it anyway. Kinda crazy, but I completely trusted their judgement, and listened to their directions, and pushed with all my might!  By this time I had so much adrenaline that I felt like I could've gone for hours, but it only took 40 minutes before we got to meet our baby girl!!  Danny did amazing during this part as well, staying totally strong and excited the whole time!  Adrienne was a serious multi-tasker, helping with the pushing with one arm and snapping photos with the other.  I am so excited she was able to capture these awesome moments! 

 I love this verse from John 16:21:

"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world."

With Kris and Mattie, our midwives!

Adrienne, our BIG support coach.

Meeting the White grandparents

And the Hedrick's!

The whole family

In summary - birth is the most amazing, miraculous, and emotional experience you could ever live through.  I am so grateful for the gift to have experienced it, and Lord willing would definitely do it again (and again, and again...).  If I could offer any advice, it would be to certainly research, talk about, and plan for how you'd like yours to go.  All the while, keep a humble, open mind to change your plan if need be, and commit to do whatever it takes to protect your baby and yourself.  If you do that, I am sure you'll also have a beautiful experience!

I'll save all the cute newborn photos for another post to save this from getting EVEN LONGER.  Another update about the next couple days in the hospital and also being home to come soon.. thanks for reading!!

(PS - the culprit in Addie's heart rate was that her cord was wrapped around her ankle, meaning in those unstable times during the labor, the cord was getting kinked and cutting off her supply.  I know God's design is perfect, but wow - those cords sure can wreak havoc!)