RacheyJ's Life: July 2010

I have planned for many months how I wanted this birth to go. I wanted no pain medications, I wanted to be free to move around, I wanted to be able to hold him as soon as he was born and all in all I got my wish.

With my twins I delivered them in a sterile surgery room, extremely medicated, on a flat surgery table (Just in case there was a problem). There were so many people in the room my hubby couldn't even stand beside me to hold my hand. When I was born I was determined to have a natural child birth but due to a Very long labor and other circumstances things did not go exactly as planned. Pain medication was needed and due to certain circumstances which I will not go into now he ended up with double pneumonia and in the NICU for 7 days. Surely J would be the one that was the perfect birth!! Not the case from 19 weeks on he was breech and refused to turn. He was brought into the world by C-section. Then here comes baby number 5…

When I found out I was pregnant I figured (and had always heard) “Once a c-section always a c-section”. So I resigned myself to find an OB and was sure c-section would be our outcome. I obediently attended all my OB appointments but really felt a pull to do something different and I really did not want another surgery. So I started researching and reading and asking questions. Once I started asking question the OB just kept saying well if it gets closer and you want to try for a VBAC we can “try” as long as I went into labor on my own by 39 weeks. I still felt uneasy and kept researching and that is when I found my local ICAN group. Their first recommendation was change to a local Midwife the offered services at a local hospital. I decided to give my OB one more chance and went in with a loaded list. The answers I got were less than promising. She even contradicted herself by saying she wouldn’t break my water but then in the next sentence said she would want internal monitoring as soon as I was admitted. Ahem! Idiot I am not… So I made the switch at 32 weeks… Eeeek.. really late in the game. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do it if not for the ICAN ladies I can NEVER NEVER thank them enough. They also suggested I get a doula but I knew I could never afford a doula at that late in the pregnancy and I could never talk the hubby into paying for one anyway. I had no idea what I was going to do until a random email from another ICAN member showed up in my inbox. It was for a lady who had already started her doula training and just needed a few hands on experiences to get her certification. She offered to be my doula for honestly next to nothing to get the experience and she was definitely and answer to prayer. So here I am around 34 weeks with a new Midwife and a Doula. I was prepared!!!

So begins June 15^th at 41weeks and 1 day of my due date and I was schedule to go in for a light induction. Basically due to having had a c-section they could not give me full pitocin but would give a boost to get contraction going and then turn it off. So the kids having been dropped off at grandpas the day before hubby and I got up early and had breakfast (against hospital recommendations ha ha) and then headed to the hospital. We got checked in IV’s were placed and it all began. The pitocin was delayed due to an argument/disagreement with the OB on call but things finally got underway. I actually arrived at the hospital having contractions so it did not take much to get them going full force. I walked the hallways for a bit all with the support of my hubby and FABULOUS doula. At some point my doula went to lunch and it was just me and the hubby and this is where things get a little blurry. I went into transition at this time and it took all of my concentration to get through each contraction. When my doula showed back up I think she felt bad for having left as a lot had changed but I told her that she really needed to eat so it was ok. I do remember her telling my hubby to go get something and I said something like “Over my dead body he could eat a granola bar” lol. During this time I also remember yelling into the room to tell everyone to SHUT UP the nurses were chattering about shift change, my hubby was still telling jokes, and I was over it they were not helping. I profusely apologized later to nurses and hubby. He actually said “I didn’t think you were talking to me” ha. At some point during all of this my body took over and I started pushing I really didn’t even realize what I was doing until someone asked “Did you just push with that contraction” and I had to admit that Yes, Yes I had. Hazy Hazy memory Baby B was born safely into my arms could have been 5 minutes could have been hours I couldn’t tell. I do remember yelling for the midwife to leave me alone a few times which thankfully she did not. He was beautiful, he nursed like a champ from the beginning and I got the birth I wanted. He did have a few mild breathing issues which sent him to the nursery a little sooner than I would have like but within 20 minutes of birth I was up walking and within 30 or so minutes I was in the nursery with him.