Well, let me start off by saying that no matter what ones birthing plans are, labor is a very emotional process and hard work! And a healthy baby is ALWAYS such a miracle.
I feel very scattered in my thoughts after Desmond's birth and I hope writing it out will help me focus my thoughts and feelings better.
Part one: Velamentous Cord Insertion
So, I need to start this story back at my 20 week ultrasound when I was told that I had a velamentous cord insertion. After doing A TON of research, I became so nervous of the high risk of having a still born. I also became aware that vaginal births are very dangerous for a VCI because of the risk of the blood vessels rupturing during the contractions and the baby losing too much blood.
Needless to say, I was so completely relieved when I had an ultrasound at 26 weeks and they said that I did not have a velamentous cord insertion and everything was perfectly fine and normal.
Well fast forward to the actual delivery of Desmond and the midwife kept finding blood when she was checking me and some weird clotting. Come to find out I DID have a velamentous cord insertion after all! And it DID burst during delivery, but by some miracle it clotted quickly, and baby Desmond is perfectly fine and healthy. As if that didn't make it miraculous enough, the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck 2 times.
Part Two: The Induction
So, especially after knowing about the risks of the VCI, I definitely feel that our decision to be induced a week early was an inspired one. I normally am all about letting nature take its course, so when my midwife offered the option of being induced a week early, my first thought was not to. But in the end we decided to because...... 1. In hopes of having a smaller baby (I am curious how much he would have weighed at 40 weeks though, but 8lb. 10 oz. is plenty big for me!) 2. Ease of scheduling someone to watch our kids 3. Being able to be sure that I could get an epidural.
Part Three: The Epidural
Getting an epidural was also a tough choice for me. I always felt like I would be in the low percentage that would have problems with it. All three of my older children I had without any pain relief. The first two were relatively manageable which is why I was willing to go without one when I had Aftyn. But her labor was the hardest out of the three, I think in part because I naively expected each birth to get easier and shorter than the prior. With Maiya I didn't have to push at all, and so when I had to push a couple of hours with Aftyn, I realized I was done with that. I started to really envy all of the stories of pain free births that I hear. So, I prayed a lot about it and felt that i would be fine if I got one (no death or paralysis).
Part Four: The Delivery
But! That didn't mean that it was easy breezy like I hoped it would be..... I got to the hospital at 6 am. I got the epidural in the morning around 9 am before they started the pitocin because I was already at a 5 and 80 percent effaced and Maiya's entire delivery from first noticeable contraction to birth was less than 30 min. The machine said that I was having contractions every 3 min without any pitocin, and I could not feel these.
Let's just say, as he was putting the epidural needle in, I felt everything! So, he kept putting more numbing in ( probably about 5 pokes, but, it didn't help. So then he said it was because I have very little space in between my vertebrae, so he decided to try it higher up. But it hurt just as bad, and I felt the needle going in. My whole body was shaking because of the pain. Shortly after that I started feeling dizzy and nauseous and the nurses noticed my blood pressure had dropped significantly so they gave me oxygen and pumped me full of fluids, until my heartrate was up. I started to feel the numbing of the epidural in my feet for maybe 10 min. And then I had complete feeling and movement in my legs. The monitor said I was having strong contractions every 1 1/2-2 min, and I didn't feel them so we assumed the epidural was working.
Well, they checked me several hours later, I was still at a 5.... No change, and the baby's head was too high up so she didn't want to break the water for risk of getting the cord involved. So I waited and waited again.... I was starving! And they wouldn't let me eat and Geren ate a twix bar in front of me.... Rude.
Finally around 5:30pm they came and checked me again, still no change. Finally the doc decided she could push down on baby to get him engaged more and then felt comfortable breaking the water. Well, while she was doing that I could feel everything she was doing, I asked if that was normal and they said no, and called for the anesthesiologist. When he checked the epidural, he found that it had completely fallen out and my back was soaked with the medicine. At this point I started feeling the contractions and they were pretty strong, but I did not want to go through the pain of getting the epidural again, but also, didn't want to feel the contractions! So, I went through with feeling that gigantic needle getting shoved into my spine. As I was writhing in pain, the anesthesiologist kept saying, "it's just presure." To which I responded, " well, pressure feels an awful lot like pain!!!"
Well, this time I felt the epidural worked really well and really quickly, my blood pressure severely dropped again, even lower. I felt dizzy and nauseous and I had to go through the same thing again,oxygen mask, fluids etc... I was freezing and shaking. Fortunately, I was not feeling the contractions. I did have to push for 30 min. And it was awesome to not have to be screaming while doing that.
So, my guess is a total of about an hour and a half of labor. Not too shabby. My doc asked if I was to do it again, if I would still do the epidural, and I am not sure. I sure wasn't expecting it to be so complicated, but it was awesome not feeling those contractions. And I definitely feel like I have a lot of knowledge and experience in all types of deliveries!
Overall, I felt Divine influence throughout my entire pregnancy, and delivery. And in the decisions that I needed to make. I know that my prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy baby were answered. God knew that delivery would be safe, and blessed me to believe I didn't have a VCI so I wouldn't have to worry and so I wouldn't have all the extra appointments, and c-section delivery. I marvel at it all. And I am so greatful to welcome our beautiful baby boy.
