My Birth Story

Art by Amanda Greavette

On the afternoon of November 15th, a Sunday, Mark and I drove to labor and delivery at the hospital. The hope was that we would be sent right back home, but intuition told me we better pack our overnight bags. I had been leaking watery fluid for a few days by that point and had the fear that it might be amniotic fluid. Everything I read online told me I would definitely know if it was amniotic fluid but that wasn't the case for me.

At labor and delivery a quick test was done and we were told that I indeed had a ruptured water bag and would have to be admitted and induced. My heart sank. This was exactly what I did NOT want to happen. I knew induction meant the use of the synthetic oxytocin hormone called pitocin, and I also knew that in many cases pitocin was the first step in a series of interventions...the exact opposite of the natural birth I desired. To add to my dismay, my doctor wasn't there and I would have to be attended by a doctor I had never met.

Once in the delivery room, we were given permission to attempt getting labor started naturally. This came as a relief and gave me a glimmer of hope. We were provided a breast pump and spent the next 24 hours trying every natural method we could. I managed to dilate from 1cm to 5cm in that time, which is actually pretty amazing progress, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to satisfy the doctor (It was now Monday and my doctor had arrived). She was hoping I would have reached at least 8cm at that point. That is when she said that we needed to start a very small amount of pitocin to try and bring the contractions closer together. The baby wasn't showing any signs of stress, but after so many hours (days) in a leaky bag she was concerned he could get an infection. I had read over and over during my pregnancy that pitocin causes very painful contractions, so I was really upset that it had come to this. I was determined to bring my son into the world without pain medications that could leave us groggy and detached from the experience so I would just have to endure the pitocin pain. Luckily our doula was with us during this time and helped me keep it together. She talked to me between contractions and reminded me that Mark and I were the ones in control and that we had choices. Although things weren't playing out how I had imagined, she was there to remind me that it was okay.

Soon after the pitocin drip was started I could feel the contractions change. I was managing them quite well before, but now they were getting very painful. This went on for several hours but my labor wasn't progressing so my doctor broke my water and said things should really start moving now. She said we should have the baby within the next four hours. This was very exciting and I felt re-energized. But four hours came and went, the pitocin was increased, and then another four hours came and went. I felt like I had been in labor for days.

The doctor increased the pitocin one last time and put me in the SIMS position. I was in terrible pain at this point, the contractions were miserable and the SIMS position was excruciating to be in...but it worked. Within what felt like minutes of being in this position I was ready to push.

I had heard many women say that once they reached the pushing stage they felt relief, that the hard part was the hours of contractions. This wasn't true for me. Pushing was painful and hard work! I mean VERY HARD WORK. And then after maybe 20 minutes, on the evening of November 16th,  our son was ready to be born. The most rewarding part of the experience is that Mark caught the baby. He was the first person to touch Fox and was the first face our baby saw. He brought him up to my chest and I said a prayer that our son was healthy and finally in my arms. What a miracle!

A few minutes after Fox had been earth side, Mark cut the umbilical cord. Our lives were now changed forever. We had become a family.

~ Love & Light ~