A Teeny Tiny Birth Story

So just like last time, the Teeny Tiny birth story turned out to be not so teeny or tiny.  But I've learned that apparently I don't do short labor stories.  Similar to last time I planned a home birth.  Even though I didn't get the home birth I desired with Pierce, I found the midwife care very beneficial and laboring at home was much more comfortable than the hospital.

When we started this journey I thought I would have to have a c-section since the reason last time was the existence of a fibroid tumor.  So I engaged my miwife Yvonne to provide montrice services.  However, our first two ultrasounds (9 weeks and 18 weeks) showed no signs of the tumor we began to plan a home birth so in addition to Yvonne I brough Taryn to my homebirth team.  All in all we had 5 ultrasounds none of which showed any signs of the tumor!!

I approached this birth differently than last time.  WIth Pierce I was determined to have a home birth and consequently we labored at home for 35 hours before going to the hospital. Since this birth was a VBAC there are extra considerations and from the begining I knew that if certain things happened, such as failing to dialate, I would need to go to the hospital and I wasn't going to fight this time.

Labor started around 3:30am on Saturday (7/19).  I woke up with recurring surges and I kept thinking they weren't rythemic.  But around 4:15am I decided to start timing them and it turned out I was having a contraction for about 45 seconds every 5 minutes.  When Clay woke up around 7am I told him this was "it" and we were gonna have a baby.

Once Pierce was up we called our back up crew, had breakfast, and packed Pierce's bags fully expecting he would be home that night to see his new sibling. I also called my midwife and let her know what was going on.  She asked if she needed to come right then and we decided it wasn't "time".

All morning I continued to time my contractions and my water broke (for the first time) around 8am.  Clay and I had lunch and laid down to rest around 12am.  When I did I realized I wasn't experiencing as much fetal movement so I called Yvonne and she came to the house.  She checked me out and everything was fine.  So we spent the afternoon walking and trying different positions to aid labor and make me more comfortable.

Around 9:30pm my water really broke.  It turns out that there are a couple of different layers of tissue that can release to make your "water break" but this was the real deal. This was important because I was GBS positive and the water breaking starts the clock to ensure the baby is safe.  Regardless we had started an antibiotic protocol around noon just to make sure everything was safe.

As the evening wore on my labor continued but wasn't really changing. So the midwife decided to check my progress. When you're GBS positive they recommend fewer checks to minimize the chance of infection for the baby.  However when I was checked I was only 4cm dialated.  I was distraught.  4cm is where I stopped dialating at home with Pierce and this felt like a bad sign.  This was around midnight so we decided to try a bath and eventually we tried letting everyone get some rest.  However, I couldn't sleep and Clay and I talked and I knew I was too tired and couldn't labor at home anymore.  This was around 5am.

So we decided to do one last check just to make sure I hadn't progressed but when I had actually back tracked to only 3cm it was a sure sign we needed to go to the hospital.  Clay started packing up and I took a shower.  Clay and the midwives got a little breakfast and we headed to the hospital around 8:30am.

We had to decide which hospital to go to.  I had delivered at Saints last time and my doctor was at Saints who would perform a VBAC. However, my doctor was out of town and she let me know the doctor on call would not do VBAC, so if we went to Saints I was almost guaranteed another c-section.

On the other hand we could go to OU where I had no history but they have better support of VBAC deliveries.  In the end we decided to go to OU since there was no indication I needed a c-section and I prefered a natural delivery.

Once at the hospital they checked me in but wanted to see if I would progress without pitocin.  At one point I had a contraction that caused Teeny Tiny's heart rate to fall below 80 and everyone sprang into action.  From this point on I was on continual oxygen and had to breathe deeply to keep the baby's heart rate up.

When they checked me around noon I was still only 4cm dialated so they gave me an epidural and pitocin.  However, the epidural only partially worked and I had break through pain. So the doctor gave me additional medicine and suddenly I couldn't feel anything below my belly button.  Last time I had some sensations so this was really weird.

As the afternoon wore on I was able to get some rest and when I woke up and they checked me around 7pm the nurse announced it was time to have a baby!!

Labor was really strange.  My epidural was still so strong I couldn't feel as my midwife and doula worked with the doctor and nurses to move me into position.  When I was told to push I didn't have any sensation of what I was trying to do. Luckily once you start pushing labor they turn off the pitocin and epidural so about an hour into pushing I began to have sensations which helped me figure out how to push.

As labor wore on I was more and more tired.  In addition they were closely monitoring the baby's heart rate since every contraction caused her heart rate to drop and I was on oxygen and had to really breathe deeply between contractions to bring it back up.  After a couple of hours of pushing the attending came in to observe.  What I heard him say was "You have 2 more pushes to get this baby out."  Apparently he actually said I had to get the baby out soon, but sometimes you hear what you need to hear.  In my mind I knew if I didn't get the baby out on the next push I would have a c-section.  So with all my concentration I pushed and out she came!!

Once she was out we could tell what the problem was.  The cord was wrapped around her neck and then back around her arm and around her neck so every time she moved it constricted her oxygen flow.  Praise God everything was safe.  When she was born Clay said "Honey it's Adia!" and I knew we had our little girl.

The nurses placed her on my chest but her lungs were filled with amniotic fluid and they couldn't get her airway cleared while she was on me. I was so scared and they had to take her over to the table to clear her lungs.  After what felt like an eternity (or probably just a minute) I got my baby girl back and I got to see her beautiful face and hear her little cry.

In the end it was again a blessing we ended up at the hospital.  With the cord around her like it was we could have had additional problems.  Also, it appears the reason I couldn't progress past 4cm was scar tissue from the tumor so it seems my body needed the boost of pitocin to push through.  And finally my entire labor was 42 hours and I was exhausted. Having the epidural gave my body some rest which allowed me to deliver.  And yes, for the record I did a successful 42 hour VBAC!!!