Baby Kate

"It is wonderful what you can do when you have to." -C.S. Lewis

We went in for a non-stress test Friday afternoon--a routine check they do on babies once they past 41 weeks to make sure they are doing okay. As it turns out Kate's amniotic fluid was getting a little low, so one of the doctors over the midwives made the call that we should deliver that night. I had some labor the morning before and some blood-tinged mucus coming out, so it felt like things were ready have this baby, even if I needed a little kick-start to get going. My cervix was dilated to a 4 plus and 80% effaced, which were also good signs. I felt peaceful that this was the right thing to do.

We checked into Labor and Delivery at 6:45 in the evening. By about 8:30 I had my IV in and things were actually under way. My midwife was helping a first-time mom in the Orem Community Hospital at the time and had the nurses start me out on a low dose of pitocin. In the picture above you can see blood in my IV. That's because I was sitting on my bouncy ball and didn't realize my IV line got caught under the ball. I looked down at what should have been a clear IV feeding into my hand, and it was solid red. I had disconnected my IV and was bleeding all over the floor. Not painful at all, but not a very fun way to start things off. So, they got my IV flushed and reconnected, and started the pitocin over.

Things progressed smoothly from there. I had my ipod with ear buds in playing hypnobirthing recordings the whole time, and they really helped me stay calm and in the zone. Plus, having a midwife who was much kinder in her choice of pitocin dose was a big part being able to stay calm and in the zone. It never got even close to what it was for Lily. By about 11:30 I was feeling like I needed to get off the ball and try and new position. I lowered the end of the bed and tried flipping over onto my hands and knees. The very next contraction I felt an urge to push, so I told Jason to get the nurse. The nurse asked if I could flip back over so she could check my cervix and I was about an 8, I think. My midwife still had not showed up, so the nurse turned off the pitocin and called my midwife. They also flipped on the warming lights for the baby and pulled all the tools they use once baby is delivered, which is always an exciting feeling.

We kept breathing through things. I was bearing down a bit, but not too intensely. I didn't mind if my midwife didn't make it this point, I just wanted Kate to come. But things didn't really progress too much until Jennifer, the midwife on call, did arrive about 20 minutes later, so we went from there. The baby was still kind of far back in my pelvis and it didn't seem like things were going anywhere, so we opted to break my water right before midnight. Then it got a lot more intense. I was kind of screeching at this point with the intensity of the pushes, so the midwife instructed me to lower the pitch of my voice. So I went from this high pitched screech to this really funny bellowing noise, but it did feel more productive.

I think I was still sitting forward squatting and the midwife observed that the energy of the pushes was sending the baby above the pelvic bone rather than below it, so she recommended I try lying on my back. I was not a fan of this idea, but we compromised with a side-lying position. From there it was just a lot of pushing and low-bellowing and it seemed like it took forever. However, I did have recovery time between pushes where I could hear my midwife give me more guidance and encouragement, whereas with Lily, the contractions were so close together, there was not much recovery at all, and I went into orbit physically and mentally and could not respond to my doctor's requests if I wanted to. Needless to say, it made this birth much better than my last.

You always get to a rock-and-hard-place point where you are pretty confident you don't have what it takes to get this baby out, but you don't have a choice because there is not stopping your body from contracting with everything it has until you do get this baby out. The worst part is when you can feel the pressure of the head crowning and then feel it retract when you stop pushing. It's like you just undid your progress and instead of that being your last push, you've probably still have several more.

This is where having a midwife really helped, because she guided me on using the full length of the contraction since I wasn't exactly pushing in sync with them. She also had me do a few grunt pushes at different times as well, which I guess were a way of getting just a little bit more out of that wave. They also felt a little more calculated and controlled. I felt a sudden reduction of pressure which made me hope the head had emerged. Not quite. But the next push or so I just went for broke. It's like you decide you have to get that head out because you cannot push another minute, so you push and push and push and keep pushing where it's a contraction or not, and then they tell you to stop pushing because they have a head and they want to guide the rest out, and it's the best feeling in the world. Kate was born at 12:36 am, so it was just over a half an hour of  the real intense get-her-done kind of pushing, though it certainly felt like longer.

I do have to be honest and say that going unmedicated a second time, so far I always finish and think, this is the last time I'm doing this (unmedicated). But then I get to the recovery side of things and always feel great, feel like I'm up on my feet and going to the bathroom so much sooner, that I start to reconsider if it wasn't worth it. I had only one tiny tear despite Kate being so big and being on my back, and it was on one of the labia rather than the perineum, so that was a bonus. One thing I think we have settled on is going beyond 41 weeks may not be the best idea in light of this experience. Kate is a beautiful well-developed baby and champion nurser, but she was 9 lbs 7 oz at birth. Also, there are some risks associated with going way over that I think I appreciate better than before.  I don't think the next time around I'll be quite so stubborn about having to go into labor on my own, even if it takes 42 weeks. A low dose of pitocin is way different than a higher one, and going with a midwife was also a much better experience for me.

But no matter how you deliver, there is no better feeling than that of having a new little spirit in your family that you knew was supposed to be there at that time. No better feeling in the world.

I like this picture because not only is it a cute one of Jason's mother, Myrna, holding baby Kate, but it shows off her wild poof of hair. We've really been enjoying how the nurses styled her hair to stand straight up. Like a little peacock or something.

Once you get them out, it's great having a big baby. Kate really filled up her crib compared to the other babies in the nursery.

We love having Baby Kate. It's amazing how quickly it feels like your little baby has always been a part of your family!