Birth Story: Edith Wren

January 11th 2018

Last bump pic! 

As the days came and went with absolutely no feeling that baby girl was ready to come out, we started to think about induction. We talked to my midwives, friends, and family and decided that inducing would be the best for baby girl and I. Despite baby girl measuring on time, I had started to lose weight . Her movements had become even more irregular and spread out then they usually were and with her being full term we decided it was the best choice. 

We dropped Lewis off at my in laws on the night of January 1st. On the drive there we saw the start of the supermoon. That night called for a huge full moon and it was such a sweet start to her birth story. Lewis has a book that we've read probably a hundred times that has a light up moon at the end. We say goodnight to the moon on most nights (that we can see it). So dropping my first baby off, knowing that he'll no longer be the baby was a little difficult. But seeing that moon together was just a simple reminder that even though things were going to change for our family, lots of things didn't have to. 

We settled in at the hospital and around 1030pm my nurse gave me the first medication. They hooked me up to the contraction monitor and baby girls heart rate monitor. She was looking perfect and my contractions started almost immediately. I was pretty excited being there and feeling the contractions start. The room was cozy but their were lots of little lights on that made it hard to fall asleep. Not to mention the most uncomfortable bed ever paired with the monitors hooked to my belly. I got about an hour of sleep and Cory got just a little more than that. 

At around 6am my midwife checked me and I had only progressed to 1cm dilated and still remained at 40% effaced. It was a little devastating. Overnight I could feel my contractions, not painful but uncomfortable enough to keep me up. They couldn't give me more of the medication because my contractions were coming 5 minutes apart. We ordered breakfast and decided to walk to halls. We walked and walked and walked until about 10 am. My sister arrived around this time from Seattle. We were SO happy to see her. She was here for Lewis' birth and it just felt right for her to be here for Edith's. 

Around this time I felt like my water broke. We were standing in the hallway talking to my nurse's aid (who also is a long time friend, and happened to be my nurse's aid for Lewis' labor) when I felt a warm sensation down my leg. I waddled back to room, went to the bathroom, and had the nurse come in to check. My water did not break (it was my mucous plug) but I had dilated to a 3cm and thinned to 50%. They decided to start the Pitocin then. 

The rest of the day moved a bit slowly. We walked some more, ate lunch, I sat on the ball a lot, just kept active. The hours ticked by and my contractions stayed steady at 3-4 minutes apart. They were getting a little more uncomfortable and I noticed around 7pm that I wanted to keep my eyes closed for them. This is when I noticed my back labor picking up. Until this time, they were mostly in the front down low and a little around my sides. I was excited to feel the progression because I knew it meant things should be progressing. 

I was checked again around shift change with no change at all. Oh my goodness I felt so defeated! How was I feeling these very real contractions but them not doing anything to bring our baby girl closer to us?? I had what's called prodromal labor with Lewis, and it was panning out to look like the same with Edith. 

As the night went on the contractions became more and more intense. I could no longer lay in the bed, I had to be moving but loved the ball the best. I tried to have Cory push on my back but that wasn't helping at all. I needed the ball and as the contractions came I would hold on to the base of the bed and lean back into them. That was the only relief I could find. Peeing came a little easier this time around ( a detail of Lewis' birth that was just so painful) and I tried laboring on the toilet backwards for a bit. The piton was turned off because my contractions were so close together so they let me go in the shower. Oh man did that feel good. My sister would hold the shower head while I swayed back and forth letting the heat run down my back. I tried sitting down in the shower but baby girl did not like that. Her heart rate would dip a little. The nurse suggested the tub and I was so excited! For some reason I thought I couldn't go in the labor tub. But since I wasn't hooked up to any meds I could go in the tub. 

We stayed in there for about 2 hours. All the lights out, me breathing our baby girl down, and my sister by my side while Cory got a few hours of shut eye. I felt much more relaxed in the tub. I was able to lay my head back and close my eyes and actually fell asleep in between contractions. It's unreal how quickly you can fall asleep when you've been up for that many hours doing painful work. My midwife popped in and wanted to check me one more time and see how I was doing. At this point around 4am, I was so drained. Mostly emotionally and I knew I was reaching my physical max. 

I hopped in the shower for one contraction then she checked me. 6cm and 80% effaced. Another defeat it felt like. Things were moving so incredibly slow. At this point I started to feel incredibly nauseous. With every contraction I just wanted to throw up. I had that feeling for a few and then started to dry heave. I realized throwing up would not make me feel better. I asked my midwife to talk to me about an epidural. I had told her before that I did not want one and to make sure I asked for one several times before giving in to my request. We talked about it for about 30 minutes. I could have probably finished her labor without one, but I didn't want to. I was at my max. I felt so lucid and in control and my movements during the entire time and I wanted to stay like that. But I could feel myself slipping into a state of exhaustion that I didn't want to go to. We finally got the epidural placed around 5 (which is a crazy experience) and my midwife broke my water and they positioned my on my side. 

The anesthesiologist, as they called him Dr. Feel Good (his real name was Dr. Good), does a good job at making sure the mamas aren't all the way numb. They wanted me to still feel some contractions and to still feel my legs a bit. At first I was so confused, I was still feeling my contractions when I thought I'd be all numb. But the more I focused I realized I was feeling my contractions in the areas that were manageable. I felts lots of pressure down below, but the intense pain that I was feeling down there was gone. Right before the epidural was placed my midwife did an ultrasound to see baby's position. Occiput Posterior was the position she was in and the reason why I was feeling so much back/pelvis labor. They turned me from side to side to get her to spin a bit. As the hours ticked and I moved side to side I could feel her move lower and lower. That was pretty awesome! 

Shift change came and my nurse from the day before, Edith, was on again. I was so happy to see her. She said she had never had a baby girl Edith born to her and was so excited to be involved in her birth. My midwife came back and said she had consulted with an OB that was on call. They mentioned the words unexplained un-progressing labor and I just about lost it. I broke down in tears. I just wanted her out, I wanted her safe. Cory and I did not want a labor and deliver that felt like one intervention led to another. Her and the nurse sat with me for a bit and we talked about what my labor has done and what could be done and should be done. They said they just wanted to let me labor a bit more. Baby girls heart was doing so well and there was no need to put me on a "clock" as they say. I labored for about another hour when I asked them to check me. It felt like a lot more pressure, pressure that stayed in between contractions. To my midwife's surprise I was a 10cm and fully effaced. She asked me to give a practice push and her and Cory saw baby girl's head! She asked the. nurse to get everything set up to start pushing. I felt so relieved. I felt like we would never get to this point and then there we were. Cory called my sister back to the hospital. We had sent her out home to get breakfast and freshen up after our un-progressing talk. She had been gone no more than 30 minutes. My midwife and I talked about pushing and how I wanted lots of couching. Once everything was set up I started pushing. First breathing her down, then when her head was crowning I started panting her out. It felt so amazing! No pain (thanks to the epidural) but I could feel her slowly coming out. I gave one more push and her body came out. 

They placed her on my chest and I started crying. So thankful she was finally on the outside. She didn't cry for what felt like forever, but was really only a few seconds. The nurse did a good job of wiping her off and waking her up. When she let out that first cry, I cried some more, looked up at Cory who was also getting a bit teary eyed. Oh man was it glorious to just look at her. We noticed she looked so much like Lewis but just girly. Little hands and fingers, smaller toes, her lips were more dainty and she had a dimple on her left cheek. 

It took over 45 minutes for them to get the placenta out and doing so I had met the criteria for a postpartum hemorrhage. They stopped the epidural and upped the Pitocin to help my uterus start contracting down. The epidural was still wearing off, so during this time I felt no pain. Holding Edith just melted everything away. 

Edith getting checked out being held by her nurse Edith

Here are some pictures from our first few days with her. Lots of snuggles, lots of pictures. My mom came to visit for a bit and meet her and my sister actually came back about 5 minutes after I pushed Edith out. We joke now that Edith got scared when she left and decided to not make us wait anymore. 

Cory's parents came to meet her and bring big brother to meet her as well. I greeted them at the end of the hallway and walked him back to our room. He held onto me so tight. Oh I just about cried! He was so big! I don't know if it was because I was holding a little peanut all day and he just seemed so big, or he actually grew in the 2 days we were apart. He pointed to my belly a lot and then caught on that baby sister was a real person. He was very excited about her toes. 

Our Edith Wren. So worth the wait. She wore the same onesie that her brother wore on his way home from the hospital. 

Her birth was way longer and harder than Lewis' but I walked away from it feeling empowered. We had to make lots of choices throughout the labor process and I felt really good about all of them. Thankful she is here and healthy.