Melanie's story
July 31st-August 1st
Nothing had really been happening as far as dilation, effacement, and engagement; and because of my blood pressure, it was in everyone's best interest that Ethan make his debut sooner rather than later.
At Friday's visit, Shanna suggested that I try Evening Primrose Oil and Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. Craig was able to find the Evening Primrose Oil at Wal-Mart, but had no luck with the Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. I told him, no problem, I could just get it on Monday when I went in for my next appointment.
On Saturday, I took several doses of Evening Primrose Oil- 3 orally and 2 vaginally. I work up a couple of times during the night, feeling crampy, but didn't really think anything of it.
Sunday morning, at 4 a.m., I got up for my nightly bathroom trip and realized that they were a little more than crampy now, and they seemed to be coming in a regular pattern. I figured I could be in labor.
Around 5:30 a.m., I decided to wake Craig up and let him know that I thought I was in labor. He was planning on golfing that morning and I didn't want him to get ready to go and then find out he wasn't going anywhere. This was probably a mistake because the next time I saw him, he was fully dressed with his tennis shoes on.
At 7 a.m., I decided maybe I should let Shanna, Michelle and Delilah know what was going on, in case they had plans for the day. I paged the birth center to let them know that I thought I was in labor. Shanna returned my page, asked me a couple of questions, and then got off the phone with me and called Michelle. A little while later, Michelle called, and we decided to meet at Dr. Dharma's Kaufman office, since it was closer than driving up to the birth center.
Craig and I arrived at Dharma's office at 7:35 a.m. to get Ethan's vitals checked and to see if I was progressing or if this could be false labor. I was 1cm dilated, 75% effaced, still had a posterior cervix, and Ethan's head still wasn't engaged. Michelle let us know that this could be the real deal, but it could also be false labor. We headed home to wait and see what would happen.
Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., the contractions started to slow down to about every twenty minutes or so. I decided it was probably false labor and was a little bit disappointed. The contractions started to pick back up and we met Joyce up at the birth center around 5 p.m. to get checked for the second time. I was still about 75% effaced, and 2 cm dilated.
They wouldn't admit me until I was 5 cm dilated, so off we went with a prescription for Ambien, so that I could get some rest. Although I have no recollection of this event, we apparently made another trip to the birth center around midnight to be checked once again. I was only up to 3 cm dilated, so once again I came back home. Shanna told us to call her around 5 a.m. and let her know how things were going.
The contractions continued to come regularly, but I would sleep in between them, so the Ambien probably helped me a lot. In the middle of the night, probably whenever the Ambien wore off, I became aware that the contractions were coming fairly close together and it was probably time to start timing them again. They were now coming about three minutes apart and lasting one minute. During this time, I also started to throw up. Throwing up is never fun, and it is even less fun when you are having contractions.
I told Craig to call Delilah, I knew I couldn't handle it by myself anymore and needed someone with me. With another trip to the bathroom, I discovered there was bright red blood coming out and I thought that this meant that there was something wrong. I told Craig to page the birth center and they told us to call Delilah and tell her to meet us at the birth center instead of at our house.
Around 3 or 4 a.m. when we got to the birth center, I told Craig to leave our stuff in the car. I wasn't totally convinced that we were going to be staying, and I didn't want to have to reload the car. Once inside, I discovered that I was 7 to 8 cm and 90% effaced, so I would definitely be staying up there to have a baby!
I told Craig to call Mama and Daddy, and ask them to call Jennifer and Cheryl. I felt bad for calling in the middle of the night, but I didn't want to get in trouble for not calling either. Jennifer, Daddy, and Mama came to the birth center to await Ethan's arrival. Eventually Jennifer had to go home, but Mama and Daddy stuck it out for the several hours it took for Ethan to finally come.
The contractions still didn't feel that bad, but they were a hundred times worse than they had been on Sunday morning. I kept telling myself, you better deal with this one, because they are going to get worse.
I climbed into the tub at the birth center and felt my body relax. At that point, I didn't think there was any way anyone would be able to get my out of the tub. Lying in the tub eventually became uncomfortable and it was off to the toilet. After a while, it was off the toilet and back into the tub.
Shanna came to check me and I must say, I was not too thrilled about it. I was feeling good and didn't really want to move. Shanna agreed to check me in the water, but informed me that I would have to get out when it came time to push because the tub was too small for me to birth in. It turned out that I was fully dilated, with a bulging bag of water. Shanna was unable to tell from my position if I was fully effaced or not, so I had to get out of the tub and onto the bed. There was only a little lip of cervix left and they told me that if we broke the water, that it would probably disappear and I would soon be ready to push.
I decided to go ahead and have them break my water, and it wasn't long before I REALLY felt the urge to push. I started to give little pushes and it actually helped lessen the pain of the contractions.
Several times, I was told that I could feel his head if I wanted to. I thought they were crazy. Anyone who has ever been pregnant knows how hard it is to reach down there, and I figured there was no way I was going to feel a head that was still inside of me. Eventually, I listened to them, and they were right! I could feel his head, and it felt like he was soooo close to coming out! I think that is what I needed to put a little oomph into my push.
When the head started to come out, they got a mirror and between contractions, I looked down to see that in fact, we were getting very close to finally having a baby!
At 7:47 a.m., Ethan smoothly slid out, and with him, came an instant feeling of relief and renewed calmness. After many months of pregnancy, and several weeks of bed rest, I was finally a mommy, and Craig was finally a daddy.