Brady's Birth - February 25^th 2004

  My labor with Brady started on the Monday after my 38 week doctor appointment.  I had just had an exam and was 4 centimeters. I had been having some back aches the night before, but didn’t even think it could have been contractions!  I was shocked I was so far already with literally no work.  That evening, I started having contractions again.  I had been having back pain throughout my pregnancy, and these contractions were all in my back.  They were about 10 minutes apart, but only lasting about 20 seconds.  However, it was a very intense 20 seconds.  They continued getting closer together, and by about 11PM on Monday, they had been 5 minutes apart for 2 hours.  I could not lie down, and was on my hands and knees during the contractions.I decided that perhaps this would be a very fast labor, and maybe we should go ahead to the hospital.  The contractions were so intense and close together, I thought surely this was it and it wouldn’t be long now!  We got to the hospital, and I was still 4 centimeters.  We decided to walk for a while to see if things would progress.  After an entire night at the hospital, I was STILL 4 cm.  At 10AM, our OB suggested we could try pitocin to “have the baby today!.” I was so exhausted from being up all night, and was not ready yet to give up the natural process.We decided instead to go home. Contractions had pretty much stopped during the night, and I was showing NO active labor signs at all.

We got home on Tuesday morning around 11AM and I promptly went to bed.  I was still having light contractions, but managed to sleep for a good 3-4 hours.  I slept on and off most of the day, and continued having extremely intense back pain contractions all day and throughout the night.  I spent most of the night in the shower, the warm water running on my back, and squatting during contractions.  I could not lie down during contractions - it felt best when I was on my hands and knees or squatting, so that’s what I did. 

On Wednesday morning, after a night of very intense and painful back contractions, I told my husband I just could not do it any more.  The contractions were too much and we just needed to go to the hospital and see what was wrong.We decided that if I was anything less than 6 cm, we would talk about other options.   We checked in around 11am, and found that I was 8 centimeters!  I was shocked I had progressed so much - my contractions were still about 7 minutes apart and only lasting 20-30 seconds.  They continued like that and never got closer together or longer.  I remember lying on my side in the bed during this time, completely unable to relax. I wish I had the mindset to get up, but the nurses and wanted me to lie down so they could check me and hook me to the monitor! After only 2 hours in the hospital, I was ready to push!  I had the nurse get the squatting bar earlier, because I knew there was no way I would be able to push any other way.  The doctor had gone to get lunch, after having my water break on him while giving me a vaginal exam. The nurse was out of the room.  “I have to push”, I told my husband.  The nurse came in and told me to go ahead, thinking it would be a while.  I pushed twice and the baby was crowning!  The nurse couldn’t believe it - my husband had to run and grab gloves for her.  One more push and he came out - the doctor still wasn’t there.  After 42 hours of labor, Brady decided it was time to come out and did so very quickly!  My husband got to see that he was a boy before any one else - we did not find out ahead of time.  It was such an amazing time!!  This experience intensified my belief in the power of women, birth and nature.  Though my contractions were extremely overwhelming, they were never too long or close together, so they were never more than I could handle.  While this was definitely not the labor I expected, it was a wonderful experience to know that I had done it… naturally!