Birth Story

Saturday, August 22

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, the process began with a long, painful, bang (and a little more waiting). Around 11 pm, Liz began feeling contractions. We assume this was the event, but expected a 24-36 hour “warmup” early labor and began getting our things together, attempted some sleep and waited for changes.

Sunday, August 23

By morning, contractions were irregular and brief, so rather than rushing off to the hospital, we summoned Lauren the Doula from her home in Wallingford to help assess the situation. This was about 6 am, and she was here around 8. She observed Liz, helped us setup a “tens unit”, that would provide regular, subtle electrical impulses through these sticky pads attached to her lower back (never used it though). Around 9 am, we fell asleep on the couch, contractions slowed to every 20-30 minutes and that was her cue to head home. This was not actually progressing to full-blown labor quite yet.

So we kept waiting, Liz’s appetite faded, as did her ability to sleep. Yet contractions remained irregular and brief. Since we were now 10 days past the original due date, there was already a fetal stress test scheduled later that day to make sure our little guy was still alright in there. This was scheduled at the hospital in the same assessment rooms they use to determine whether or not you’ll be admitted for realz.

We were excited to see Amy, one of our favorite midwives from the group that we’d been seeing every so often throughout the pregnancy. Liz threw up a little while we were there, so it seemed like maybe we wouldn’t be going home. She did some fancy medical stuff and informed us that after nearly 24 hours of contractions, Liz was only 1 centimeter dilated. Fortunately, she was fully effaced, which meant things were happening in the right order, just kinda slow. We now know this is called prodromal labor, and it’s sometimes a precursor to full blown labor, and sometimes not.

So we headed home and Liz tried to get comfortable, or sleep, or watch TV, all pretty unsuccessfully. I obsessively cleaned the kitchen, repositioned our go bags, and we kept waiting. Contractions kept her from sleeping again that night, though I got a pretty solid night’s rest for the last time in awhile.

Monday, August 24

By morning, it really seemed like today would be the day. Contractions were getting longer, though still irregular. We remained in contact with the doula via text and went to the hospital around 8 am for an exam. The midwife on call was one we had only seen once before, Carol. Definitely the most “midwifey” of the group, she projected a worldly confidence of someone who knew her way around a birth experience. She brought up folk dancing in the Caribbean at least 3 times over the course of our time with her.

After some vomiting and additional medical sorcery, she informed us that Liz was now 4 centimeters dilated (we’re shooting for 10). Since it had been quite awhile since Liz slept and she’d been experiencing brutal back pain due to baby’s position, she recommended a shot of morphine to dull things enough for her to rest and gather steam for an imminent delivery. This was gratefully accepted and she sent us home to rest, but let us know that she wouldn’t be surprised to see us before her shift was over.

We came home and spent the rest of the day in a fog. Liz tried to eat some oatmeal, took a bath, watched TV, struggled to find a comfortable position with the baby pressing into her back. By late afternoon we checked in again with the doula and she recommended a series of positions that could help reposition our baby and take some of the pressure off. Liz worked through those position around 5 pm and began to feel some relief. I went to sleep around 10 to gather energy. And about 2 hours later, Liz woke me to share that she was experiencing intense contractions, and they were getting closer together.

Tuesday, August 25

And so around 12:40, we called our old friend Carol and she said that we’d better get down there. No need for triage, we’d be admitted immediately and our room would be waiting. The signs were all there, and it was time to get to work.

I don’t remember seeing a single vehicle the entire drive from our house to the hospital and without barely speeding we were there in 15 minutes.

We parked in the waiting area near the emergency room and one of the ER nurses noticed Liz moving slowly. He immediately grabbed a wheelchair and thank god he did. The path from the loading zone to the birth center felt like an insanely long maze of hallways and elevators. We finally made it to the labor & delivery room and Liz began settling in. I headed back to the car to gather an obscene amount of luggage and ran into our doula in the parking lot. I hauled the first batch of bags to the room and by the time I went back for round 2 (we basically moved in), she had managed to navigate her way to the birth center (it was a maze, remember).

Carol the midwife came to talk and check on everything. She let us know that Liz was now 8 cm dilated and the baby was descending as expected. There would be a little more waiting though, and it was our job to help find ways for Liz to cope. With the baby still in OP position, she had a LOT of back pain. Thank the heavens that our nurse happened to be Mo. We had a lot of nurses over the 2+ days we were there, and she was one of, if not the, best. I love Mo.

According to Carol, she had a reputation for successfully repositioning OP babies. But the first thing she offered was some relief with a warm bath.

Our nurse Mo was the main staff person we worked with and she was a pro, through and through.