Early in the morning on December 10, I was having what I thought were very strong Braxton-Hicks practice contractions (not the real thing). I noticed I had some slight pink discharge but I thought I wouldn't worry about it since it wasn't very much at all. I had a nursing review that was starting that morning at eight, so when Robbie was ready to go to work he drove me over to Southern. My mom flew in at 12:56 that morning and we were going to let her use our other car while she was visiting. That's why Robbie drove me.
I waited for the instructor of my nursing review to arrive and when she did I went up to the classroom with her. At that point I had to use the restroom again, and when I did there was bright red discharge and a lot of it. I panicked a little and thought something must be wrong with the baby and that I needed to get to the hospital right away. Of course, I didn't have a car, so I called my friend Hannah and asked her if she could take me to the hospital. I called Robbie and told him what was going on and he said he would meet me at the hospital. I also called my mom to let her know as well so that she could come to the hospital when she woke up.
While Hannah and I were driving to the hospital I kept thinking of what would happen and how I would probably have to have a C-section even though I really didn't want one. I thought of all the possibilities of what could be wrong and was really starting to believe that I wasn't going to be able to have the birth experience that I had been looking forward to.
When we got to the hospital, I had to finish signing some papers, which took about two seconds, and then Hannah and I went up to the Labor and Delivery unit, where they put us in a triage room. The nurse came in ( a graduate from Southern), and checked to see how much I was dilated and effaced. She said I was only 1 1/5 cm. dilated and a little effaced (she didn't even say a percent).
We sat around for quite a while. I was hooked up to the monitor so we could see the baby's heartrate and my contractions. My mom and Robbie both arrived and then the nurse came back in to say that she had talked to the doctor and he suggested we walk around the unit for an hour or so and then get rechecked to see what progress was being made. At this point I was wanting to go home instead of just sit around the hospital all day. But we decided to walk around for an hour. Hannah left and said she'd see us later. My mom, Robbie and I walked around the floor several times. After an hour we went back to our little triage room and waited for the nurse to come recheck my cervix. When she did, she said I was 3 cm. dilated and 70% effaced. What a change in only an hour.
After that, we decided to leave the hospital, since I was still in early (latent) stage of labor. We went to Southern first, and I went and saw some nursing instructors and told them I was in labor. They were all excited, and one of them (the Childbearing Family teacher) said that she hoped I'd deliver that night since some student nurses would be there for clinical. After that we went home, where my mom got her stuff together and Robbie packed a bag for us to take to the hospital. Then we took my mom over to the hotel she was going to be staying at for the next two weeks.
As my mom was getting settled into her room, Robbie and I walked around the building. He would time my contractions and we would just walk and walk. There were several people who were sitting in their hotel doorway or outside on the edge of the sidewalk, and one of them asked me if I was trying to start labor. I said no, that I was trying to keep it going. Another person asked when I was due, and I said "Today," which took her by surprise.
Finally, Robbie and I decided to take a break and went in to my mom's room where I sat down on the bed and Robbie used my phone to call our pastor. Robbie's phone started to ring and he saw it was his sister, Jenny, so he handed me his phone to talk to her. While I was talking to her I suddenly felt a gush of fluid and I told Jenny, "I think my water just broke." She couldn't believe it, but said that she'd let me go and we got off the phone. I stood up and fluid just continued to drain out of me. It was the weirdest feeling, being unable to control it at all. I just stood there laughing because it was just so weird.
I decided to take a shower before going back to the hospital. At this point it was around 4 or so in the afternoon. After my shower we got in our vehicles and drove back to the hospital. When we got there, I had to fill out papers again, and while I was standing there, fluid was dripping down my legs, pooling in my shoes and overflowing on to the floor. I felt so embarrassed, but the lady behind the desk said it happens all the time.
When we went up to the unit we were taken to room 18. I decided to take another shower. By this point I was in active labor. I went back and laid down on the bed. Oh, I should have mentioned a while ago that Robbie and I had read up on the Bradley method and wanted to try it. So, I was using relaxation techniques that I had read about and practiced to get me through contractions. It worked really well, and I didn't experience much, if any, pain at all, just a sort of real intensity. At about 6:30 or so, they decided to check me again and said that I was at about 4 cm. (which may or may not have been since it was different nurse who checked me. Each nurse is different, so this nurse's 4 could have been my original nurse's 5 or 6). Anyway, they said I was at 4 cm.
Robbie needed to go pick up his mother at the shuttle station over in Eastridge and he knew it would take about 20 minutes to get there and back. Since the nurse said I was only 4 cm. dilated he decided to chance going over there and picking up his mom. While he was gone, my mom stayed with me and helped me relax through contractions. Then I started feeling like I needed to push with contractions. I tried not to but when you feel that way it's almost impossible not to. Robbie wasn't back yet so I was trying as hard as I could to not push. I told my mom, who told the nurse. The nurse said they would recheck me and that I was probably 8 cm. since I was feeling like pushing. At that point, Robbie and his mom finally arrived.
Then I was able to start pushing. While I was in the pushing stage, the room started to fill up with people. One nurse had told me that my doctor was not on call, but that there was a nurse-midwife in the practice who was willing to come deliver our baby if I wanted her to. I said yes, that I would like that very much. So, the nurse-midwife was called and arrived shortly. Another nurse asked me if I minded some students coming in and watching the delivery. I asked if they were from Southern and she said yes. When they came in I recognized them and said hi. At one point I asked them if they were learning anything. By the time Hope was born there were about 12 people in our room, some of them were nurses who just wanted to see a natural childbirth.
As I was pushing, a mirror was brought in so I could see the birth. One thing interesting was that before the baby was delivered, the amniotic sac partially came out, which I guess is something that rarely happens. The nurses said it was called being born in the collar and meant that the baby would be lucky. Finally, they could see the head and they told me to push as long as I could with each contraction. I was watching in the mirror and I kept saying that I couldn't do it. I just knew I wouldn't be able to push the baby out like that. But finally I gave a push and her head came out. The nurse-midwife was really calm and cool and she told me to do that again to deliver the shoulders. When I did, I guess the shoulders coming out caused me to tear pretty badly. Of course, I didn't feel it at the time.
After the shoulders were born, the nurse-midwife asked me if I'd like to lift her up onto my stomach. I reached down and pulled her up and it was the most amazing feeling holding the slimy, wet, smooth little new human being. It was one of the greatest moments in my life. Hope Asher was born at 8:28 pm on the 10th, born on her due date.
The Lord was so good to us. He planned the delivery perfectly, even planning a nurse-midwife to deliver Hope instead of my doctor (for more on that whole thing I have another previous blog). I was able to deliver naturally, the way that I had desired to, and the labor was painless, which was a blessing. I praise the Lord for how He worked everything out so wonderfully. Another thing was that most of my nurses were graduates from Southern, even the nurse-midwife. And they were all so supportive of natural delivery.
So, this is the story of Hope's birth. I hope that it was interesting to read, and not too gory for anyone. I just thought some people would be interested to hear about it. Again, I praise the Lord for how He worked out everything so perfectly. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
Haven's Birth: August 1, 2010
On the night of July 31, I felt like I was starting to have contractions. I didn't say anything, and just waited to see if they went away or intensified. I fell asleep and slept all night. In the morning, I was not having any contractions but was very tired. I just felt as though I had no energy. Robbie took Hope to go get on the internet and Skype with some family. I stayed home and rested on the couch. I fell asleep, but woke when I had the feeling that maybe my water had broken. I got off the couch carefully so as not to get amniotic fluid on it, if my water had broken, and stood up. Sure enough, a huge gush let me know that yes, my water had broken. I find that feeling so funny, because it is so uncontrollable. I went to our next door neighbors' house and asked them to run up to the training center and let Robbie know my water had broken.
This happened at about 10:30 in the morning. At that point I was not having any contractions. We called our midwife and just hung out at home, waiting for contractions to start. At lunchtime, we went to eat at Baguette De France, a great sandwich shop, and after we were done we headed over to the midwife's house. I still was not having contractions, and I thought, by that point, that there might be some meconium staining in the amniotic fluid. The midwife checked me and I was about 50% effaced and 2 cm. dilated. She looked at the amniotic fluid and confirmed that it was indeed stained with meconium. She said that since there was meconium staining, I was only 2 cm. dilated, and not having contractions, that I should probably go to the hospital. She did not want to risk the baby's life in case it was in distress. So, we ended up going to Niles to the hospital there.
It seemed that the hospital staff felt put out by us walking in off the street. It felt like they looked down on us for having wanted to have a home birth. Before we arrived at the hospital, we had tried to contact the first midwife we had seen in Michigan to try and get the prenatal records back from her, but she wasn't home, so we didn't have any. At the hospital, they tried to get the records from her, but she refused to give any of the ones that we had given to her, because they were from another midwife and not her. The doctor was very frustrated with that. After a while, it seemed that our nurse warmed up to us.
We arrived at the hospital at around 3:00, and at 3:30 they decided to start me on pitocin. Almost immediately I started contracting. The bradley method worked really well with Hope. I was able to manage contractions and relax through them relatively easily. This second childbirth with pitocin was a greater challenge. Pitocin made the contractions so much more difficult to relax through. I almost was to the point of wanting pain medication, but then I felt like I could start pushing.
Our nurse told us that the doctor on call was one of the best that attended at that hospital. When the doctor first walked in, we weren't sure she was the doctor. She was so unassuming. She had a very dry sense of humor. But when I felt like pushing she came in and checked my dilation and said I was only at 6 cm, but that the cervix was so soft that if I felt like pushing I could go ahead. That was great news to me. Pushing was better than just relaxing through contractions. I felt much more in control than I had with the pushing phase of Hope's birth. I remember at one point the doctor told the nurse,"Better write that in your nurse's notes, open glottis pushing," because I would push while breathing out, instead of holding my breath. I guess the doctor doesn't see that very often.
Well, after 5 and a half hours, only the last half hour of which was pushing, Haven Anne Doss was born, at 8:59 pm. Sorry that it's taken so long to really write anything about her birth.
Hope was there for Haven's birth. I was very glad that she was there. It was amazing to have all of our family together, right when it was growing larger. We had a friend watching Hope and helping her understand what was happening. We really appreciated her help (thanks Brittany:)).
Three weeks after her birth, Haven is a growing girl. She's a good baby. Hope loves her and always wants to hug her and kiss her and says what a sweet baby she is. She is still in the process of learning to sleep on her own, having to scream and cry and then comfort herself (of course, we do our share of comforting her as well). We're so blessed to have our two beautiful girls. Although it didn't turn out how we planned, we are still so amazingly blessed.
Ephram's Birth : October 5, 2012
On October 4, Ephram's estimated due date, we had our final prenatal appointment with our OB, Dr. Supreeya at 7:00 in the evening. Since it was the last one, we decided to all go together as a family. The visit went well. I asked about getting tested for GBS (group B strep) just in case. Dr. Supreeya said they don't usually test for GBS on Thai women, but she said she would if I would like her to. So, she did the swab, and then asked if I'd like her to check my cervix, and I said that would be fine.
After she had checked, she asked if we'd like her to strip my membranes. We had talked about having it done, and hesitated on whether to have her or not, but she went ahead and stripped them. I don't think we really said we wanted her to, but we didn't say no either, we just hesitated. It was a little uncomfortable...
Once our appointment was over, we went on home and tucked the girls into bed. I went out and took a walk for about 30 minutes. The last several days I had been walking for about 30 minutes, and every time I would experience one big, long contraction the whole time I was walking, and this night was no different.
Finishing my walk, I went inside and took about 30 minutes to wash all the dishes. It was about 9:00 pm and I was feeling like I was having regular contractions, but they seemed to be very easy. I took a shower and went to bed around 10:30. I hadn't told Robbie because I didn't want it to be false labor and I wanted him to be able to get a good night's sleep if it wasn't real labor.
At 1:30 in the morning I woke up and realized contractions were really strong, so that I couldn't sleep through them anymore. I got up and Skype'd my MIL and let her know that I was in labor. Then I Skype'd my sisters, who helped me through some of my stronger contractions. We Skype'd for quite a while, then I got off and took another shower.
I started getting things ready to go to the hospital, and then put a towel down on the couch, just in case my water broke, and got on to FB for a little bit. As I was sitting there, I had another contraction, felt Ephram kick really hard, and then my water broke. It was strange because all three things happened almost simultaneously. This was at 4:00 in the morning.
Once my water broke, contractions strengthened tremendously. I woke Robbie up, called my sisters to let them know we were going to the hospital. I called our friends who were coming to watch Hope and Haven and let them know to come over. We finished getting everything together to go to the hospital, but we still were waiting for our friends to get to our house.
Finally, at around 4:52, I told Robbie, "We need to go NOW or we won't get to the hospital in time." We got in the truck, called our friends to see how far away they were (only a couple minutes), and drove to the hospital. Robbie sped as fast as he could and made it there in about 5-6 minutes (where it usually takes about 10). He dropped me off at the emergency room entrance (instead of the entrance to the L&D department).
All during this time, from when we got in the truck to when Robbie dropped me off to go park, I was having pushing contractions, but resisting the urge. When he dropped me off, I saw an attendant and said, "I'm having a baby right now! How do I get to Sri Phat?" He pointed over to the other entrance, but told me to sit down in a wheelchair. I said, "No, I'm going to have a baby right now! I have to go to Sri Phat." So, I started walking over to the entrance for Sri Phat hospital (the private part of the hospital where the L&D department is).
I walked in, and there were people waiting on the benches. Many, many people sitting and waiting to be seen by the doctors. As I was walking toward the elevators I was groaning and talking to Ephram, telling him to wait until I got up to the L&D department. I could feel that Ephram's head was just about to crown at this point. An attendant came running up to me with a wheelchair and told me to sit down. I told him, "No, I can't. The baby is coming out now! His head is going to come out now!"
I stood there, thinking, "What am I going to do? Pull up my skirt, squat down and deliver him myself?" Everyone around me was thinking, "What is she going to do?" There was nothing else to do, so as modestly as I could I squatted down, reached down and delivered Ephram's head, and then body. Boy, those newborn bodies are slippery! He slipped out onto the floor for a second, but I unwrapped the cord from behind him, grabbed him up and he let out a hearty wail! This was at just about 5:00 am on October 5.
At this point, Robbie was coming in the entrance and saw all the people watching something with great interest. Then he heard a baby cry, came around the corner and saw me pick up Ephram and hold him to my chest. Then I stood up and sat down in the wheelchair and let the attendant wheel me to the ER. There they separated Ephram and I (so I wasn't able to breastfeed right away :(
There were many people working around Ephram, and I sat in the wheelchair until they brought a bed for me.
Then it was a waiting game (they started an IV on me, checked to see if I had torn, which I had, and then just left me alone pretty much). My doctor finally arrived and they decided to take me up to L&D and get me sewn up, and then have Ephram follow me up.
Once my doctor finished, Robbie and Ephram came in, they opened the blinds and we saw Ephram's first sunrise together. It was beautiful.
I got up to go to the bathroom, but when I stood back up to go back to bed, I fainted. Robbie called the nurses, who came in to help me back to bed, but I stood up and then fainted again. They finally got me back to bed, and once I ate something I started to feel much better. Later that morning, our friends brought Hope and Haven up and they met their brother for the first time.
Although it was nothing like what we expected, we are so thankful to God that Ephram arrived safely and that he is healthy and growing perfectly. We praise God for all three of the wonderful children He has blessed us with.
Ooh I love this story so much!!! Almost made me cry happy tears! I'm a serious birth junkie!
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