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Ferryn's Birth

My due date was September 1st, but that day came and went. At my 41 week checkup I was only dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced. I went for an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid and had a non-stress test. Everything was fine. At my next checkup a couple of days later, I was dilated to 2cm but still only 50% effaced. The midwife estimated the baby's weight to be between 9 and 9.5 lbs. We decided to schedule an induction for September 12th. I'm a full-time student so I went to class as usual on September 11th. After class, I went up to the library to check out some books to study from after the baby was born. After getting up from a low stool, I felt a gush of fluid, just enough to make me fairly certain that it was my water breaking and not urine leaking! I went to the bathroom and checked it out, the fluid looked yellowish and clear, a good sign.

I made my way as quickly as I could across campus, to my car, and drove home. When I got there, I woke up my husband Denny (who works nights) to tell him that I thought my water had broken. His first question was "Which car did you drive?" When I replied that I had driven our newer Honda, his reaction was to inquire whether I had gotten the seat wet! I couldn't believe that he was more concerned about the car seat than his wife! (He has since redeemed himself, BTW) I then called my midwife's office and since I wasn't having regular contractions yet, they had me come in to the office to be checked.

In the meantime, I hadn't had any further fluid loss and was starting to think that maybe I had imagined it all. As luck would have it, the minute I got up onto the examination table at the office, the leaking started again. I really made a mess of their table. The midwife at the office palpated my abdomen to check the baby's position, causing a lot more fluid to leak out, and told me that I should go to the hospital by 6 pm, even if contractions hadn't yet started. She also told me that June, the midwife on call, was currently at a different hospital than the one I was planning to deliver at, and that the OB on call was at my hospital. This really disappointed me since I had been seeing the midwives throughout my pregnancy and had hoped to have a midwife attend me for labor and delivery. Since I do a an afternoon rural paper route, I though that I would go ahead and deliver the papers for that afternoon. I called Denny and asked him to meet me and do the route with me. By the time he met me, it was 3:30 p.m. and I was starting to have contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart and mildly uncomfortable, but by the time the route was complete, at 5:00 p.m., the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and starting to really hurt.

We hurried home to pick up Sean, our 10 year old son who was to be present at the birth, and went to the hospital. As luck would have it, by the time I got situated in a labor room, my contractions slowed down considerably. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor to check on the baby and see how my contractions were doing. Well, the baby was fine, but the contractions barely made a ripple on the monitor strip. The OB on call, Dr. Martini, came in to examine me and said that I was dilated to 3cm. That was more than a little disappointing but he did cheer me up by saying that as soon as June, the midwife, finished delivering her patient at the other hospital, he would be switching hospitals with her, so that she could be in attendance at my delivery.

In the meantime, I was encouraged to move around to get the contractions to strengthen again. I decided to get into the shower. It felt great and the contractions did pick up a little, but still weren't anywhere near as strong as they needed to be. After a while, I got back into bed because I started feeling shaky and nauseous. My son had watched TV for a while, but around 8:30 had curled up with a blanket and pillow and fallen asleep. It's a good thing, because watching me get sick into an emesis basin was not a pretty sight. The nurse told me that this was an encouraging sign and told me she thought I was probably dilated to around 7 cm.

Shortly after that, June arrived. I was glad to see her, but when she examined me, I was shocked to find out that I was still dilated only to 3 cm. It was now about 10:30 p.m. It was decided that they would start an IV and give me Pitocin to get the contractions going and my cervix dilated. I wasn't exactly thrilled by this but neither did being in labor and making no progress. The nurse tried to get an IV started in my left hand, but failed. Three or four other nurses came in to take a look at my veins and all declined to even try. They finally sent in the IV team, who got it going on the first attempt. Once that was accomplished, they started the Pitocin and added some antibiotics, since it was now over 12 hours since my water had broken. They also re-attached the fetal monitor and put an automatic blood pressure cuff on my other arm. This whole scenario was very disappointing to me, since I had an intervention-free first delivery and had hoped to do the same with this delivery.

The Pitocin kicked in almost immediately and the contractions became very regular, about 2 minutes apart and much more painful. When the nurse said that she would be able to add some Fentanyl to the IV for pain relief, I gladly consented. When the Fentanyl kicked in, I felt drowsy in between the contractions, almost stoned. Things did move along fairly rapidly after that, although my recollection becomes much more hazy, due to the drugs. Around 1 or 1:30 a.m., I asked to have the dilation checked again. Happily, some real progress had been made, and I was 6-7 cm. However, I was having a hard time coping with the contractions at this point. The pain meds didn't really help at the peak of the contractions, only with the build-up, leaving me feeling as though I was waking up to intense pain every couple of minutes. Denny was trying to help as best he could, alternately stroking my hair and holding my hand. I was really glad that he was there with me. Sometime after 2 a.m., I started feeling some pressure during contractions. The nurse went to go get June, who had gone to take a nap. She came in, examined me during a contraction, and told me that I could start pushing with the next contraction.

I never really felt the urge to push, but I hadn't with my son's birth, either. It was hard to remember how to do it, but the effort made me feel more in control of the pain. June started doing perineal massage with warm oil and told me that she didn't know what was going to happen with my previous tear scars (I had 3rd degree tears with my son's birth), but that she would try to minimize any damage. Denny woke up Sean, telling him that the baby was going to be born soon. After about 15 minutes of pushing, June suggested setting up the squat bar to take advantage of gravity. They lowered the foot of the bed and installed the bar across. Basically, I sat on the edge of the upper part of the bed, kept me feet on the lower part and leaned over holding on to the bar. After a few more contractions, I could feel the baby's head moving down in my vagina. The rectal pressure became really intense. A couple of more contractions and I could feel the vagina and vulva area stretching. It wasn't really painful, in the context of things. As soon as the baby was fully crowned, they quickly removed the squat bar and had me lay back on the bed. June asked me to push really slowly. It was hard because I just wanted this thing out of me, but I tried to push in little tiny bursts. All of a sudden, I felt a big rush, the baby's body slither out of me and the baby was laying on my chest. It was so amazing! I don't remember this, but my husband said I kept repeating "oh my god, look at this baby!" The baby was facing away from me so I couldn't see her face at first, just that she was completely red all over. Her skin was slick from amniotic fluid and she didn't have a trace of vernix on her. My husband asked if it was a boy or a girl, and I immediately chimed in, "What is it, what is it??" The baby was in a fetal position and the nurse actually had trouble prying her legs apart, but then said "oh, it *is* a girl". I had convinced myself that I was having a boy, but I was happy beyond belief that the baby was a girl.

June asked who was going to cut the cord and Sean volunteered. It was a little tougher than it looked, because it took him a couple of snips to get through it. I was lost in admiration of the baby and barely even felt it when the placenta was delivered. Probably the Pitocin made it come out really easily. I do remember hearing June show the placenta and amniotic sac to Sean, saying "here's the hole she made to come out". After a few minutes, the nurse put the baby under the warming lights, while she trimmed the umbilical cord and applied the clamp. June told me that I had torn a little bit and would need some stitches, but it was only a first degree tear and wasn't too bad. It took her just a few minutes to get me stitched up. After the nurse cleaned the baby up a little bit, she gave her back to me and I nursed her for the first time.

She latched on right away and seemed to know what she was doing, and hasn't had any problems since. I stayed in the hospital for about 36 hours, then went home, amazed at how good I felt, compared to my son's birth. Ferryn is now 8 weeks old and growing like a weed. We feel incredibly blessed to have her in our lives.

Kris Garner