Jamie

I am now pregnant with our second and began reading the birth stories that others have sent in. They are great to read while pregnant and I wanted to share the story of the birth of our first. I'm sure I will share my upcoming birth story after the big event takes place (mid-September, '97).

My pregnancy was pretty typical. Only a little bit of morning sickness, for about a month, and feeling very tired towards the end. The 2 weeks off of work before Jamie was born was great!

When I began getting my cervix checked, towards the end of my regular Dr. appointments, Dr. L gave us the great news "1 cm dialated!". I was glad to hear this, it seemed to make me feel as though things were progressing like they should. Then, the subsequent cervix checks showed no progress beyond 1 cm. We kept going back in, and finding no progress. When Dr. L started talking about the possibility of a c-section being a bit higher than the average because my pelvic arch was narrow, I began to consider it as a possibility (although I still kept thinking that it probably wouldn't happen). As we kept going back in, the percentage got higher. We then began talking about scheduling an induction date. The Dr. did not recommend that we go too much over a week over due, and that was approaching (July 15, 1995). The Dr. said that because my cervix was not ripe, I would have to go in for prostaglandin gel treatments before we did the actual induction. We scheduled 4 treatments within 2 days time.

I went in to the hospital at 10:00am on Tuesday for the first treatment. The Dr. said I could come in by myself, and would be able to drive myself home. The treatment took a lot longer than expected and about the last 2 hours I began feeling contractions. The nurse said they were pretty mild (how did she know?!) and she sent me home. By the time I was putting my clothes back on, I was really feeling the contractions, but thought if the nurse said it was OK to go home, I guess I should. I drove home with the contractions the whole drive. By the time I got home, I felt awful. I went into the bedroom, turned the AC on, and put a heating pad on my back (that was where most of the pain was). I called my husband and asked him to come home, that I was feeling bad and I didn't want to be alone. He came home and I called the hospital to ask if I could come back in. We had our second gel treatment scheduled for that evening anyway, but I just wanted to be checked. I told my husband "we better put everything in the car, I think this may be it". It was about 6:00pm July 18, 1995.

On the way to the hospital we tried to time the contractions, but it was impossible. They were right on top of each other. When we got to the hospital, the nurse hooked me up to a fetal monitor and told us that I was having one long contraction, almost without any breaks. I guess that's why I was feeling so bad!! They told me that my cervix was having a reaction to the prostaglandin gel which was why I was having these inefficient contractions. Apparently, they were not helping me to dialate, they were just painful. She said the baby was doing fine, which made me feel better, and she hooked me up to an IV to slow the contractions. It did slow the contractions after a while. About 10:00pm the nurse said we could walk around, so we did. The Dr. on-call (not our Dr.) checked me at about 11:00pm and said I was at 2 cm so they decided to give us a room. This was very exciting so my husband called all the family and they rushed right to the hospital.

I took a dip in the jacuzzi tub for a while which was nice (although it's hard to enjoy when you are still having contractions). Then the Dr. decided that no decisions would be made until the morning when a Dr. from our OB office came in. He offered me a sleeping pill, but I thought it would hurt the baby, so I declined. Looking back, I should have taken him up on the offer. I didn't sleep much at all after that and when I decided I wanted the sleeping pill, it was too late. The nurse wanted me to be awake when the Dr. came in in the morning. She did give me something in my IV that helped a little. I kept having contractions all night and I was using my breathing techniques which helped somewhat. But after having them for so long, I was simply worn out. I had to keep getting up and going to the bathroom and each time I did, the contractions got worse. At one point, I had to throw things at my husband to wake him up to get help to the bathroom. I was jealous that he could sleep. All I knew was that I couldn't wait for the Dr. to come in and talk to me. I was exhausted and I felt that I was quickly losing all of my coping skills.

My family came back in the morning around 6:00am. I just remember that I was glad they were there but I couldn't even muster up any words for them. I felt wiped out. When the Dr. came in (about 7:00am on July 19, 1995) he informed me that I was still not in labor (that's one of the last things you want to hear after a night like I had!). I also had not dialated any more. He did say that I could have an epidural. That's what I wanted to hear. I was at the point where begging was not out of the question. But luckily, I didn't have to beg. He was also going to start me on Pitocin to begin labor.

The epidural was great! I wasn't even afraid to get it because I knew it would make me feel better. After that, I felt great! I could chat with my family, take naps, eat Popscicles, and wait for the nurse to come in and check me and tell me how much I had dialated. That went on until about 3:00pm. I was at 8cm when the midwife from my OB office decided to break my water. I knew by the look on their faces that whatever happened was not good. Apparently, I went backwards to 7cm after they broke my water. Not a good sign when you're trying to get to 10cm! The next shift of nurses came in at about 4:00pm. We ended up getting the same nurse who was with us when we came in the evening before. She was great. She got on the phone with the Dr., told him the situation, and he decided to take the baby c-section. At that point I just wanted to see the baby. I was a little scared and remember getting tears in my eyes.

Everything happened very quickly. Within the hour the Jamie was born, 8lbs. 7oz. The Dr. had asked us previously which names we had picked out (for a boy and a girl). When the Dr. shouted out "Happy Birthday Jamie!" I knew we had a girl. I will never forget that.

The c-section was not as bad as I thought. I think I was so excited about seeing the baby that what was happening to me didn't matter that much. The reasoning behind the need for a c-section was that my pelvis is narrow and the baby was fairly large. The Dr. called it a "fit" problem. The only way to avoid a repeat c-section this time is to have a smaller baby. We'll see what happens. I would love to have a vaginal birth the second time around. I would hate to miss out on that kind of experience but I just feel blessed that we have a happy and healthy 2-year old and that she will soon have a new little brother or sister. We do not want to find out what we are having, but my husband has made his formal prediction: he thinks we're going to have another girl (although he would also love to have a boy!) We are very excited about going through this experience again. It's the most amazing experience that words just don't do it justice. It's something you have to experience yourself to truly understand…

Jamie's Mommy