Birth Story

As promised, here is Lucas' birth story.

Forewarning -- it is long and detailed. I will try to keep it as clean as possible but there are certain things, like mucus plug/water breaking/placenta that can't be ignored in the telling of the story. ENJOY!

Our story actually begins the day before Lucas was born. On Wednesday September 4th I woke up with some slight cramping in my lower abdomen. Having been 1cm dilated since August 23rd I wasn't too concerned with what it might be. However, as I went to take my shower that morning I noticed that I was bleeding a bit as well. Knowing I had my weekly pre-natal appointment the following morning I tried to put the cramping and bleeding out of my head. Of my many labor and delivery fears, one that always stuck out was "false alarms" ... I didn't want to be that girl that went to the hospital two and three times only to be sent home! But as the morning progressed I realized that maybe it was a good idea to call. My doctor asked me to come in at 2pm that afternoon "just to check things out".

I took it easy the rest of the day before driving myself to the office. During the drive I began noticing pains that weren't cramps and they definitely weren't Braxton Hicks. Trying to do the smart thing, I began timing these pains as I drove. One thing I had read was that if you can "breath through" a contraction than it's not real labor. Luckily for me, since I was alone, I could do just that. By the time I reached my appointment the pains were about 10 minutes apart - certainly not admittable for labor. My doctor hooked me up to the fetal monitor to make sure the nugget was still moving around and that his heartbeat was strong. After my 20 minutes were up my doctor did an internal exam during which (here comes the grossness) I lost my mucus plug. At that point she indicated to me that I was now 2cm dilated (woohoo) but that given the loss of my plug she expected that I would go into labor within the next 24 hours.

I called Brian on my way home, along with my mother, his mother, my sister, my grandmother and my uncle to let them know to be on high alert! Everyone was so excited. I tried reminding them that while she said I'd probably go into labor, there are no guarantees and that it could really be at any time. I was on cloud nine! When I finally got home, I made sure that my hospital bag was packed and ready to go. We were having dinner with Brian's parents that evening so I wanted to make sure everything was all set should we need to leave at a moments notice.

We had just finished eating dinner at Brian's parents house when my contractions started again. This time they were definitely labor pains. Brian began timing them and for the first hour they were sporadic - anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes apart. My doctor had said to call when they were consistently 5 minutes apart, so I held off. By the time we had finished our coffee there was no denying that I would be heading to the hospital sometime soon. We were just getting ready to leave when my water broke - at least that's what I thought it was. I told Brian we needed to leave immediately and we hurried out the door. At that point I was hoping I could just go home and sleep until the next morning as it was already 10pm and we had been up since 6am.

I texted my sister when I got in the car and said "I think my water broke" ... you'd think I would have known that's what it was with all the reading I'd done throughout the last nine months. She texted back that because she'd had a c-section her water had never broken so she didn't know what it would be or feel like. It then occurred to me that with the exception of my two friends Kim and Michelle (whose babies were born 3 and 5 years ago respectively) none of my girlfriends would know as they'd all had c-sections. This was the first time I felt like I had no one to ask questions!! So I did what I should have done from the beginning ... I called Dr. Mansour; the on-call doctor.

As soon as I told him my contractions were now about 6 minutes apart and that I believed my water had broken he instructed me to get to the hospital immediately. This of course sent me into a tailspin! We still had to get Berklee to my parents (I feared leaving her home on the off chance I was admitted), I needed to change and I began realizing how terrified of the actual birth I was.

I cried pretty much from that moment until we arrived at the hospital. They checked us into the system and then we waited... and waited... and waited. By now my contractions were timeably 4 minutes apart and there I was standing in the waiting room to be taken into triage. As someone who had never given birth before most of what was happening at this point was a mystery to me. I quickly learned that once your water breaks it doesn't stop. It's not as if it's this one gush of fluid and then it's done ... oh no, it just keeps coming and boy, let me tell you - it's nasty! At one point I joked to Brian that I should have bought Depends and not just overnight pads! After we'd been in the waiting room for about 20 minutes Brian began to get anxious. He asked the receptionist when we'd be taken into a room stating that unless they wanted me to have the baby in the waiting room that it would be a good idea to get someone to see me. Within a few moments my nurse arrived - and what a Godsend she was!

Her name was Kristine and she was such a ray of sunshine (I know super corny). She held my hand as we went into triage and she talked me through every single thing she was doing. She made sure I was comfortable - and began my admission process. There were about seven pages of questions I needed to answer, everything from when my due date was to who my medical proxy was should anything happen to me. When she was finished with the questioning she gave me the most beautiful pair of hospital mesh underwear and a johnny. I'd brought my own pajamas with me but figured I'd save those for after he was actually born.

Once I was settled Brian came into the room and we hunkered down for what we figured would be a long night. Kristine returned to insert my fluid IV and take some blood. She hooked me up to the contraction/fetal monitor and asked if we had any questions. We went over a few basics of my care and she left us alone. Now, for those of you that haven't given birth before or experienced an extended labor (due to a c-section) the monitor is like a computer screen. There is a set of numbers that shows the baby's heartbeat and another set that shows the intensity of your contractions. This set of numbers is a blessing and a curse all rolled into one. My husband, who I love so very dearly, tends to joke around during stressful situations as a form of comfort. So, in his attempt to keep me calm he would watch these numbers and let me know when a contraction was coming. For me, I started to really feel the contractions when the monitor hit 20. By the time it hit 40 I was hurting, anything over 60 and I was pretty much in tears. Being told when a contraction was coming was nice in that I could prepare myself for the pain and get ready to do my breathing, on the other hand it was a curse because I knew it was coming (if that makes sense). Additionally, Brian was able to tell me when the contractions were ending as the numbers started to decline. A few times my contractions would last longer than a minute at a time - damn were those awful. But with each one Brian "challenged" me to go higher ... "The last one only hit 65! I bet you can make the next one hit 70!" Not realizing that with every integer I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I labored this way, with no medication for 4.5 hours before finally being taken to a Labor and Delivery room of my own. At one point I'd asked the nurse if they were going to send me home, since I wasn't progressing, to which she replied "honey, your water broke. You're having this baby tonight"

We said goodbye to Kristine at 2:00am and were introduced to Mary - my Labor and Delivery nurse. She was another miracle! Now, I know there are many women that opt to have a fully natural delivery and for that I applaud you, I knew going into it that there was no way on God's green earth that I wasn't having pain medication. So Mary ordered my epidural. At 2:45am the pain angel arrived. Brian was allowed to stay as they were administering the epidural which was calming for me. Many hospitals ask the birthing partner to leave for fear that their reaction to the size and placement of the needle could cause the woman to spontaneously shift which could potentially cause irreparable harm to the spine. Luckily, Brian kept it together and I was able to get through it just fine. The nurse first gave me a shot of numbing medication into the site where the epidural would go. Despite my fears of it not working, I felt immediate relief. She then inserted the (come to find out later) MASSIVE needle into my spine. While I didn't feel pain per say, the amount of pressure I felt was pretty intense. It was almost as if someone was compressing my ribs into my spine. Once she inserted the tubing and removed the needle the pressure was gone. I was given an "on demand" button for any moments of extreme pain but was warned that the initial relief from the epidural wouldn't be felt for at least 20 minutes. By then, my contractions were 3 minutes apart and topping out right around 80. Good Lord was I in pain. Amazingly enough having Brian there was so helpful. Just being able to look in his eyes as he gave me his caring smirk made it just a little easier.

Once my epidural fully kicked in I was able to relax, and try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, because of the monitors beeping and the nursing coming into check my vitals every 20 minutes or so, that was easier said than done. The epidural is like nothing I've ever felt before and truly is a miracle of science. When you think about pain medication (like Percocet) you picture an overall relief, where you can feel it throughout your body. The epidural is localized and that feeling is bizarre to say the least. I could feel everything from my waist up (although I had some itchiness and tingling) but everything from the waist down was numb. Not completely numb though. I would liken it to falling asleep on your arm - when you wake up and you can move it but not feel anything. I knew I could move my legs, and in fact was asked to do so frequently to avoid "heaviness" of the medication, but there was a disconnect between my brain and my nerve endings (thankfully). Every time I moved it took a lot of mental effort on my part to tell my body what to do. It was almost comical.

Because of the epidural I couldn't tell when or if I needed to go to the bathroom so at 4:45am the nurse returned to check on my progress and insert my catheter. At that time she indicated to us that we were "ready to go". She said she was shocked at how quickly I'd gone from 2cm to 10cm and hurried away to find Dr. Mansour. When he arrived a few moments later he told us there had been a mistake. Due to the way I way lying at that point it looked as though I was further along than I really was. He did tell us however that I was now 4cm dilated. Only 6cm to go! Unfortunately, our nurse had told us that once you hit 4cm, it typically takes an hour per cm after that, so realistically we were looking at another 6 hours before it was time. Thankfully, because of the epidural I was relatively okay with that concept. Had I been feeling pain it might have been another story.

Brian and I spent the next few hours talking about how crazy this whole process was and that we couldn't believe that any minute we were going to go from being a family of 2 to having a child of our own ... we were about to become parents! It's a crazy thing to think about. Here you are a husband and wife, and in one action you become a mother and father. It's an overwhelming feeling.

Around 8:30am I began experiencing pain that the epidural couldn't mask. It was almost as if I was contracting without any pain medication. We called Mary into our room at 8:40am so I could describe what I was feeling. At that point she just knew it was almost time for the little one to make his appearance. She said that I was transitioning and that I should expect to be in this stage for another 30 minutes or so. She asked me a series of questions about where the pain was and whether or not I felt like I needed to "poop"... apparently that feeling is the best indicator for the doctor to know truly how far along you are. After answering her litany of questions she decided to take a look for herself at which time she said "I need to get the doctor! You're fully dilated!" Given her earlier mistake I tried not to be too excited, but knowing that it had been 4 hours I thought perhaps it really was time.

Dr. Mansour arrived within a few moments and when he looked at my progress he said "You told me she was 10cm dilated - you didn't tell me you could see his head!" Immediately there was a flurry of activity as Mary, the doctor and the assisting nurse began to ready my room for the delivery. This was where my idea of delivery was squashed. I had pictured a sterile room with stirrups and the doctor at the end of the bed - you know, what you see in the movies. But that's not what it was like at all, and truthfully for that I am grateful. There was something calming about how it was done. Dr. Mansour literally sat perpendicular to me at the end of my bed, with Mary on my left and Brian on my right. He had me pull my knees up to my chest and told Brian to hook his arm under my right knee while Mary did the same on the other side. It didn't feel "hopsital-ish" to me. It felt natural and comfortable - strange I know.

At 8:45am Dr. M looked up at me and said "PUSH!" My first contraction came and I pushed three times. He told me I needed to hold my breath and push down (as if I was trying to poop), and that screaming out loud and/or heavy breathing weakens the push. As my contraction wound down I collapsed backward on the bed. Epidural or no epidural - pushing is a lot of work! My next contraction came not even a minute later and I pushed three more times. With the third push my doctor said "the next one is it!" At 8:50am my third contraction came, and with it three more pushes. On my third and final one my son was born! He came out screaming his head off! Dr. Mansour sucked any remaining amniotic fluid out of his nose and mouth then handed the scissors to Brian so he could cut the umbilical cord. Iimmediately after he was placed on my chest for "skin to skin" contact. I looked up at Brian and he was crying, he just kept saying "I can't believe he's here". I looked down at my son and felt relief. We had done it! And we had done it easily! Three contractions and 6 minutes! All the hospital staff kept saying that we were "amazing" and that they couldn't believe how fast I delivered. It was as if he knew how badly we wanted to meet him.

A few moments later one final "push" (I say that lightly because I didn't really push) and the placenta was delivered. Brian told me later, that it was like a black mushy balloon. After that the assisting nurse and Mary cleaned me up, removed all the hazardous waste and it was if nothing had ever happened. It was all so fast I still can't believe it.

Oh, and don't even ask if we kept the placenta. The schools of thought on that are so incredible to me - some women choose to eat it, others have it dried and turned into vitamins and some use it as fertilizer to plant a tree - we chose to leave it with the hospital.

While my delivery was an easy and quick one I did end up needing two stitches due to some minor tearing, but luckily didn't need an episiotomy (something else I was terrified of). When Dr. Mansour had finished with my stitches, Mary took our son from us to weigh and measure him and to make sure that his APGAR score were good he got an 8! From there they left us alone to have family time. We were told we'd remain in L&D for 4 hours after his birth, at which time they would bathe him for us before moving us to our Postpartum room.

Brian and I sat there with our son in awe of what had just happened. We'd arrived at the hospital only 10 hours earlier and now here we were holding our little miracle in our arms. I couldn't help but visibly cry when I saw Brian hold his son for the first time, even now just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. Just the way he held him and looked at him with so much love in his eyes is something I could never fully explain. As the mother, I've had nine months of him growing inside me to build a different sort of connection. When he was born for me it was more like "oh well, there you are" and for Brian it was more "wow!" ... it's such a hard emotion to explain.

We spent those few hours alone quietly holding our son and whispering to each other. When it was finally time for the nurses to bathe him I didn't want to let him go.

Brian called our families with the wonderful news and told them to come as soon as they could to meet our little man.

It was so incredible after everything we went through this past October to be able to look at the perfect little face of our son, our miracle - our little Lucas Joseph!

So there it is, our long, yet thankfully uneventful birth story. I wouldn't change it for the world!!

Lucas Joseph
September 5, 2013 at 8:51am
Weight: 6lbs 13oz  Length: 20 inches