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3 years ago
Corbin's Birth Story
Corbin Colin Holliday Adams
8lbs, 2oz. 22 inches
4:48 pm, September 29th, 2011
Sunday, September 17th to Saturday, September 24th
Long birth stories are my specialty! Though I gave birth on 9/29, my story starts on 9/17. Just a few days after my due date, I woke up on Sunday morning with contractions at about 4am. They were strong enough to wake me, but I could breathe through them easily. They went on for a few hours, and slowed a little and enough that I still went to church with the family. I napped at home afterwards, where the contractions woke me up again. I continued to contract all evening long, and by 11pm, I was having contractions every 6 minutes or so. Thinking that it might be “go time” soon, I decided to lie on the couch and rest between contractions. I knew from previous experience that I would be able to sleep between 6 minutes contractions. I lay down on the couch, and drifted in and out of sleep between contractions for about 4 hours. The contractions spaced themselves out to about 8 – 12 minutes while I was resting, but were still strong enough that at around 4 or 5 am, I wasn’t able to sleep any longer. While up, they came back together a little to a consistent 8-9 minutes. I called my midwife, Olivia, to give her a heads up that I was contracting, but I knew it would be a while before she would need to come over. She recommended I rest, perhaps do some nipple stimulation to speed things up, and to let her know when things picked up.
Here’s the part where I should mention that we had planned a homebirth. I had many doubts and frustrations about Harper’s pregnancy and birth (his story is here), which for a variety of not very good reasons, was highly controlled and medically managed. I felt that I had sort of missed out of the opportunity to have a normal birth process and wanted the best chances of getting that labor experience with this pregnancy. I had originally met with a few other practitioners, but they (and their labor philosophies) made me feel that I would be dismissed as another repeat c-section.
Back to Monday. By the evening, my contractions had slowed even further to about 15 to 30 minutes apart. I was disappointed, but I knew that this was my body getting ready for baby, and that was exciting too. Tuesday morning, I woke up again at 4 am with contractions that were about 8 to 10 minutes apart. I spend the morning laboring through, by the afternoon, they had slowed further, and by evening, they were back to 30-60 minutes apart.
The same pattern happened Wednesday. I had an appointment with Olivia. She checked me and determined I was 2cm dilated, but that my contractions were all considered “prodromal” (aka false labor), since by definition, labor is contractions that get stronger and closer together which dilate your cervix. She recommended that I go back to work, since my contractions always seemed to wane at about 9 or 10 in the morning, and I could really use the distraction. So for Thursday and Friday, I woke up with contractions around 4 am, contracted 5-10 minutes apart until 9 or 10, and then went to work. Saturday the pattern was the same, without having to go into work. It should go without saying that I was getting very little good sleep during this time.
Sunday, September 25th
Sunday morning came around, and I woke up with contractions yet again, around 2am. These contractions got consistent quickly, and were about 3 – 4 minutes apart. I called Olivia again, and since I was having more frequent contractions for a few hours, she decided to come over. We called family friends and had them pick up Harper. While Olivia was there, she would frequently check the baby’s heartbeat after contractions, check my vital signs, and give me suggestions and tips on breathing through the contractions. I contracted for several hours, but again, they started to spread out. In the afternoon, she checked my dilation, and I was still at 2cm. She decided that I was not actually in active labor (despite the initial signs otherwise) and went home. I was fairly disappointed. I had been contracting, having “false labor” for a solid week. After all these signs, I had really hoped that having contractions so close together was the indication that we were actually ready to get started.
Monday, September 26th
Olivia recommended I not go into work Monday, even if I had the same pattern of contractions I had on Thursday or Friday, since she could tell I was getting frustrated. She recommended lots of rest, and trying to do things that might get my mind off things. I had some contractions, but it was fairly slow and mellow. I got two hour long naps and went to the library with Harper and Tom. For me, this was actually a really good thing. Many of you know that I had a little brother pass from SIDS when I was young, and Monday, the 26th, was the date of his death. I had dreaded the thought that my child might be born on that day – I didn’t want the two events to be at all related.
It was as if my body was respecting my brain’s feelings, especially when, at right around midnight the 27th, my contractions started up again at about 10 minutes apart. I started getting heavy and hard contractions, more intense than they had been, and by about 2 am, woke Tom up for his help in getting through them. I called Olivia, because between 1 am and 3 am, they were 3 minutes apart. I got in the bathtub because it sounded good. Olivia showed up in the next few hours (I don’t remember the exact time) and I was dilated to about 4cm. While I had hoped it would be more, I wasn’t really surprised at all. I continued to labor throughout the morning and afternoon. Olivia and her assistant Nicole, set up the tub, since I definitely appeared to be in active labor, but didn’t fill it fully, because they were going to wait until I was in need of more pain relief. The birth tub looked wonderful and I couldn’t wait to use it.
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| In labor, talking with Nicole |
At around lunch time, Tom and I went to the bedroom, since being loving and affectionate can make your body produce oxytocin, which is also the natural labor inducing hormone. My contractions had grown further apart, in the 5-10 minute range, and we were all determined to get back to the 3 minutes apart from earlier that morning. I labored all afternoon, without getting closer contractions, until we decided on a change of pace.
Tom rested (since he had been up all night too) while me, Olivia and Nicole drove to the beach. We spent probably close to an hour walking on the beach, looking at shells, walking through the water, contracting, and trying different homeopathic labor stimulators. It was amazing. I knew that if I had planned a hospital birth, I would already be in a hospital bed, possibly induced, but definitely stuck there, and instead, I was taking a peaceful evening walk on the beach, while in early labor. I picked up a few shells I liked; I am going to put them in a baby book to remember that experience. It was fantastic, the most relaxed I had felt since starting all these contractions days ago, and it is a part of my labor that I will treasure forever.
We got some food on the way back to the apartment – something spicy, of course! When I got back to the house, Olivia recommended I rest. My labor had still significantly slowed down, but my history suggested that it would pick back up in the middle of the night and she wanted me well rested when that happened, especially since I had not slept since Monday afternoon. Nicole lived close, so went home, but since Olivia lived farther out, she stayed in case my labor picked back up. I slept for about 2 hours before my contractions really started to bother me enough that I could no longer rest. I tried to stay in the bedroom and relax, but the contractions were uncomfortable enough and frequent enough that I wasn’t actually falling asleep between them, although I was able to rest a little.
Wednesday, September 28th
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| While the tub was draining |
That morning, we decided to try some more aggressive but still natural methods of inducing labor, including herbal tinctures and castor oil. After a few hours, I was still only having a contraction every 15-20 minutes or so, and Olivia decided that if I were going to go into “active labor” I would have by that point, so she decided to head out and go about her day. She tore down the birth pool and brought all her supplies out to the car, and left. I was crushed. I knew it didn’t make sense for her to stay if I weren’t in active labor, but I was just so disappointed to NOT be in active labor. I took a warm shower and cried a little, but at the same time, there was a sense of relief knowing I had an end date in sight. Logically, you know the baby isn’t going to be in there forever, but emotionally, I was starting to feel as if I’d never meet my child.
I decided to take a nap, and that was when the castor oil kicked in. I started contracting every 5 minutes or so, and in between contractions, had to run to the toilet. They became more intense than they had before and by 4 or 5 pm, I needed Tom’s help to get me through them. I was re-energized that this may have been the kick start I needed, and Tom and I worked through the contractions that night until they were about 3 minutes apart again. We would kiss in between contractions to keep the oxytocin flowing, in hopes of making the contractions stay close together. I kept thinking “Let’s get them closer and stronger and get this baby out!” They were painful contractions, and there was a lot of deep moaning on my part, and a lot of encouraging words and reminders to breathe in deeply from Tom. We called Olivia and she came over (again, the poor woman!). She checked my progress from that morning, but I was still at 5cm. I couldn’t believe it! I had been having rough contractions for 9 hours, and they hadn’t dilated me at all! I tried not to be discouraged. I kept on working through each contraction, and they had spaced out a little, but were more irregular. I might have a few that were 2 minutes apart, and then another 8 minutes later.
Thursday, September 29th
This went on well into the morning. Around 1am I started to get really tired. Olivia kept reminding me to relax between contractions, but even once the contraction had ended, the pressure in my pelvis made it extremely uncomfortable to sit. I tried sitting on my knees, on pillows, on an exercise ball, but I couldn’t get comfortable enough to even relax my body, let alone catch a cat nap between the longer spaced contractions. Tom was up with me the whole time, though he was able to get cat naps between contractions. He kept up with giving me sips of water and nibbles of cashews and raisins to try and keep my energy levels up, but nothing could compete with the lack of sleep. The last time I had slept for more than two hours was Sunday night, and the last nap I had was Tuesday night. That would be difficult under any circumstances, but when you add in the physical exertion of labor, I was starting to struggle. I was having difficulty breathing through the contractions and started to breathe too quickly, as if I were hyperventilating. Both Tom and Olivia had to constantly remind me to slow down, but I couldn’t seem to remember that from contraction to contraction. Instead of the preferred low, deep moans, I started to fall into a high pitched whine, and after a while it got to the point where I would break down crying during a contraction, because I simply didn’t have the energy to power through it. All I could think was “I wish these contractions would stop so I could sleep.”
I knew there was only one way that would happen. And at about 4am, Olivia checked my progress. I was 5 cm dilated. Still. I had been at 5cm for about 24 hours, despite 16 hours of active contractions. And that was it for me. I knew that even if I kept going, I was not going to have the energy to push my child out of me. Tom, Olivia and I talked it over and decided to go the hospital for an epidural. This was an emotional decision. I knew that simply walking into the hospital, not having dilated past 5cm in 24 hours, at 42 weeks pregnant, that I was looking at a high likelihood of a repeat c-section. But I had to rest.
We went to the hospital, checked into triage, and I was immediately put into a room, since I was clearly far enough along. Checking in was interesting, because they weren’t entirely sure how to process me as a homebirth transfer. Thankfully, Olivia was with me and able to supply them with all my prenatal records, and all the notes she’d been taking during my labor process. (As a legal homebirth midwife, she was able to do all this – some women don’t get that option! However, she doesn’t have hospital privileges, so aside from providing information on my prior care, there is nothing else she could do for me). It took them almost two hours to get the epidural in me, during which I had a few really rough contractions. It was even harder to get through the contractions at the hospital than it was at home, but somehow, easier to relax in between them. Maybe my body knew it would be sleeping soon
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| Contracting before the epidural |
Once the anesethiologist showed up, Olivia gave me a big hug and left the hospital. She had another woman in early labor, and Nicole had been sitting with her. They were now going to switch places. I had my worst contractions ever while getting the epidural in – I wasn’t able to move or rock for them and had to stay still. Once the epidural kicked in, I was finally able to rest. Tom was able to rest. And we both did so beautifully. I got a good 4 or 5 hours in and felt like my sanity had been restored to me. Nicole arrived during that time and in addition to being an assistant midwife, she was a doula, so it was really wonderful to have her there.
As an aside, as patient without a practice, I was assigned to the hospital’s house staff, which is made up of residents and their faculty attending physicians. I work closely with them professionally – I do statistical analysis of their research studies and attend their journal clubs to help them understand the statistics in the research articles they read. I was worried it was going to be awkward having them as my doctors, especially with something as invasive and personal as birth, but it wasn’t, and I was relieved about that. Additionally, and I don’t know if was because we had a professional relationship, but no one said anything about me transferring from a homebirth midwife.
We had hoped that just the act of allowing my brain to rest would allow my body to take over and do its thing. But when I awoke, my contractions were fairly far apart (about 10 mins). We met with one of the residents, and the midwife working with her to talk about our options and decided to go ahead and break my water. This was about 11am, and I was dilated to… you guessed, 5 cm! At first, I was especially excited to see that one of the hospital midwives was working with the residents. I was still hoping for a vaginal delivery, and figured she would help maintain that hope. However, I was dead wrong about her. When she broke my water, she first asked what I’d like to use to get labor going, (as in some sort of induction drug). The attending doctor had already been in and told me that he wouldn’t induce me at all, which was well in line with my wishes (induction after a prior c-section can lead to an increased chance of uterine rupture). When I said we wouldn’t be using anything (she clearly hadn’t talked to my primary doctor) she said that they’d wait 3 hours and if I hadn’t progressed, they’d give me a c-section. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. I told her something along the lines of “We’ll see what happens” and she left. An hour later she came back in and told me I’d be having a c-section and I should get a gown on. I nicely but firmly said that I’d like to wait a little longer before making that decision. She started in on the scare tactics, saying things like “Well, we want to make sure that you have a healthy baby and can still keep your uterus.” As if waiting a few hours after 10 days of contractions was going to make or break my uterus. And this is the same woman who offered me induction drugs! She wasn’t interested in what I thought or how I felt, it was her opinion that I was going to get a c-section, and somehow she felt that trumped everything. When she left, Nicole said that while she had never met that midwife before, she was really disappointed by her. I was too.
However, she did wait for a few hours before returning. During that time, I had requested a hospital grade breast pump, thinking that maybe a little nipple stimulation might get those contractions closer. They were definitely strong; I could feel them despite the epidural, though they still weren’t painful. I got them closer together, but not enough so, and when I took a break from pumping, they spaced back out.
At about 4pm, the doctor, resident and midwife came in. The doctor asked to check me and determined I was 5cm. Surprise. This means that I had been at 5cm for at least 34 hours. He also checked my pelvis. He very factually and respectfully explained to me that he was more concerned about the risk of uterine rupture with me than a typical VBAC-er (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) simply given the length of time I had been contracting and how my dilation had stalled. He said while he felt my pelvis was certainly large enough to accommodate baby (which is exactly what Olivia said), he also said the shape of my pelvis felt flatter and more ovaloid than the average pelvis, which may be why I was stalling at 5 cm, and why I might have stalled at 5 cm with Harper’s birth too. In his opinion, my chances of having a vaginal birth were zero, and he’d prefer to do a c-section. He suggested I talk it over with my husband and let him know what I’d like to do.
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| After deciding on the c-section |
Though both the midwife and doctor both agreed I should have a c-section, it made a world of difference to me in how it was presented. I talked it over with Tom and Nicole, and I agreed to the c-section. They prepped me for surgery, gave Tom his goofy scrubs, got Nicole’s number so that she could come sit with me in recovery afterwards, and we were ready to go. The surgery was straightforward and simple. The doctor was impressed with how little scar tissue I had (yay for my previous doctor!) and when it was time for baby to come out, Tom looked over the curtain and said “Baby’s got lots of hair! And testicles! And a penis!” and that’s how I found out I had another little boy!
Corbin was wonderfully healthy and my surgery went quite well. I was much more alert and awake afterwards (probably because it was the middle of the day and I’d recently had sleep) than I was with Harper, and was able to be pushy enough to see Corbin right away (it took them an hour and a half to get Harper to me, it took 25 minutes to get Corbin to me). Nicole stayed with me during recovery and we talked about how crazy it was that though I took two completely radically different approaches to birth with my sons, how both births ended up being eerily similar. It helped me learn a lot about myself and though it was difficult, I can say that I definitely that I got to experience a normal labor and birth experience (normal for me, apparently). I don’t regret a thing, and I am still thrilled that I attempted to have a homebirth, because it made for a very peaceful pregnancy.
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| Our newest addition! |
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4 comments:
Congratulations to you Ashley. Reading how you found out you had another son made me tear up and smile from ear to ear.
Awesome Ashley. I'm so happy for you!! Two boys! Yay!
Ashley, Your story was amazing. Congratulations to you, Tom, Harper and baby Corbin!
You write so beautifully. I just love reading your birth stories. And Corbin's story was a pleasure to read. Congrats and I'm happy that the outcome was so good.
YaY!!!
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