Madrid Birthing Story

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Labor

On Sunday, November 11, Ignacio, my mother and I passed the entire afternoon and evening counting contractions. The pressure on my pelvis was greater than it had ever been before, but unfortunately the contractions refused to stay consistent. Sometimes they would come every two or three minutes and sometimes ten minutes would go by without one. My mother kept us all calm; saying that it wasn't time yet, but that hopefully they would continue through the night and Queenie would come.

They stopped at eleven at night.

At three a.m. the contractions started up again, but not strong enough to keep me from sleeping... and they stopped again at five a.m.
Monday my mother and I walked for almost three hours, but no baby.

Tuesday we went for a short walk, found a really cool jewelry store and on the way back the pain and pressure was so great that I could barely walk or talk. Since we were walking though, we couldn't yet go to the hospital. We went home, counted contractions and soon calm set back in. Ah!

That afternoon we had an appointment with the OB. Thankfully he stripped my membranes without my having to ask and said he was sure that I would go into labor within 12-24 hours. (By the way, being stripped is no picnic.)

The contractions that night were more painful because of the membranes being separated, but by morning I still wasn't in labor. Let me tell you, by Wednesday morning at four a.m. I was so frustrated I started to cry. Throughout the morning I had some of the same contractions but was so disillusioned that I didn't think anything of them.
By four p.m. they were coming even harder. When Ignacio came home around five p.m. we started counting again. It seemed like it was going to be another day like the Sunday before until at eight p.m. I felt a very strong, very strange pain in my lower abdomen. I lay down and the pain came again. Since I had already passed my due date we decided to go to the hospital with the hope that even if the pain was nothing that they would induce me. On the way to the hospital the contractions started getting harder and coming faster. At that point they were hard enough that I had to focus on breathing while they lasted. Walking into the hospital I felt the mucus plug start to come out which was gross....but exciting. (By they way, so many gross things come out of you during labor it's surprising that we still see it as a beautiful thing. If it weren't for the little baby that comes at the end I'm not sure anyone would want to go through with it. Especially the husbands! Ignacio kept his cool the entire time, even helping with changing the bed pads as the amniotic fluid continued to drip out! (Let me tell you the truth...more stuff comes out of you during labor than they tell you. It is not a clean 12 hours!) Husbands who have gone through labor with their wives have a knowledge of the female body that other men would balk at!)

They put me on a monitor right away since I was already past my due date and checked to see how far I was dilated. I was guessing a good 4-5 centimeters at least, but no! I was only dilated 2 centimeters! I hadn't gotten any farther than the day before, even with all the contractions! The nurse warned us that I was going to have a LONG night and left.

For the next hour the contractions started coming hard enough that I needed Ignacio to help remind me to breathe and hold my hand. My mother was stationed at the monitor, telling me when the contraction was about to be over and telling me to focus on one thing as I breathed through it. I chose to focus on the moment when they would hand me little Queenie. (Focusing definitely helps...hint, hint, hint!)

A little after nine p.m. I felt my water breaking. The nurse came back in after a few more contractions to check on me. She told me that they were going to give me a room but we had to wait a moment while they cleaned one. (They told us later that normally they have around 5 deliveries a day. That day they had 15, so they were a little cramped for room!) The nurse reminded us that it was going to be a long night since in the last hour I still hadn't dilated more, but that my water breaking was a good sign.

I remember walking to the dilation room (private, thankfully). I remember looking at my sneakers as I held the hospital robe around me and Ignacio held me by my waist. At that point I was in quite a bit of pain. The hours passed by quickly, though more and more painfully.

Let's stop and talk about this pain, which is a pain like nothing you've ever felt before. First you have the pain that we can compare to period cramps...except that it is 100 times worse (and this from a girl that needs to be medicated during her period even while on the pill.) Then you have the sensation that your hip bones are being crushed or splintered and then there is the pain that feels like your legs are being ripped from your body. It's no picnic, that's for sure. I was extremely grateful to have Ignacio to hold on to while I moaned and groaned through the pain...alright, screamed through the pain. But not too loud...I didn't want other people to hear me!

The nurse came in at what I can deduce to be around 12:30 a.m. he checked me and told me I had dilated up to three centimeters. (Remember, we have to get to 10!)

He had to basically to talk to Ignacio as I kept getting contractions. I had to get in bed at that point because they had to put an I.V. in me for antibiotics since I have strep B. While Principe and the nurse talked and helped me in to bed I continued to grab a hold of the bed for support with every waves of pain. The nurse asked if I wanted the epidural and I told Principe to tell him no. He reminded me that I was going to have a long night but said I could do as I wanted. After a few more contractions where I couldn't concentrate on the vision of her being handed to me nor could I breathe in ant way but hyperventilating (even with the nurse and Ignacio reminding me) I told them I needed the epidural.

Once it was in a feeling of calm came over me, though my body couldn't stop shaking from the effort it was going through. My mother was allowed in then (their policy is only husbands but they let her in since she came from the states). She just had to wait until one more woman gave birth so that her family waiting outside wouldn't complain. She took one look at the monitor and told me it was a good thing I had decided to take the epidural. Apparently Sofia's heart rate wasn't returning to where it should have been as quickly as it should have after each contraction. With the epidural in me she would be less stressed because I would be less stressed and because they would be able to give me some medicine to regulate the contractions and get me to dilate.

At this point it was one a.m., just to keep up with the timeline.

The nurse asked me how I was after the epidural and I told him I was much better, but that I still felt pressure on the left side of my pelvis. It wasn't exactly pain, I told him, but pressure. He told me that as long as it wasn't pain I would be fine. I was told I could try to lie on my left side to make sure the medicine was being received on the left side of my body, but that if the monitor lost Queenie's heart rate I would have to go back to lying on my back. Of course I tried lying on my side and of course the monitor lost her heart rate. Back to being on my back!

For the next hour my mother and Ignacio tried to sleep. My eyes kept closing but not for long as the pressure on my left pelvis kept coming with every contraction. After that hour was up the pressure had turned into pain and I couldn't help moaning through them. Ignacio talked to the nurse, who adjusted something, but whatever she did only made my right side become even more numb. Throughout the next hour the pain increased to what it had been before I got the epidural...but only on the left side. I had to hold on to Principe as he rubbed my left hip and follow my mother's instructions on breathing as she watched the monitor. They finally did another adjustment on the epidural and my left side finally relaxed a bit. Unfortunately Queenie's heart rate was showing signs of stress again. After a few more contractions in which she took too much time to get back up to a normal heart rate my mother, the ever watchful nurse, told Ignacio that he should show the nurses what was going on. They had just been in the room a few minutes before, but it hadn't looked like they had paid any attention to the monitor, so Principe went to tell them. He was met by two nurses already walking towards our room, catheter in hand. One of them told us that she had seen the monitor, but said little else about it as the two of them went on with their work of emptying my bladder. When they had finished with that they checked to see if I had dilated any more.
I remember seeing Principe's sleepy face startle awake as the nurse suddenly exclaimed, "Kathryn, try pushing!"

With the next contraction I pushed with all my might and heard the same nurse say to Principe, "Come here and look! You can see your daughter's hair!"
Ignacio laughed as the nurse showed him Queenie's hair. He couldn't stop smiling as he told me that Queenie had a full head of dark hair.

The nurse then told me to push with every contraction that I felt coming because they were going to wheel me into the delivery room. Prinicpe asked how long a delivery could last as they started wheeling me out. The last thing I heard the nurse say is, "Half an hour, if she pushes well."

With that in mind I became determined to push like I had never pushed before. In the delivery room they helped me onto a bed with stirrups and two metal bars to hold onto in order to give you more strength while pushing. The doctor came in and introduced herself and explained what she wanted me to do. At that point the epidural was suddenly working and I could only feel the peak of the contraction, which meant I needed her to tell me when to breathe in and start pushing.

With the first contraction I pushed on my own...pushing as hard as I thought I could. It wasn't good enough though, so a nurse stepped up on a stool and the doctor told me I was going to get some help with the next one. The nurse placed her hands underneath my lungs and pushed down hard as I did the same. I felt Queenie's butt and feet being pushed away from my lungs, but unfortunately the force was so great on my diaphragm that I involuntarily pushed out all the air I had just taken in. The doctor reminded me to hold my breath, but I was unable to with the next two pushes. The nurse pushed so hard that it felt like I was being punched in the stomach. The next few contractions I pushed on my own and suddenly she was crowning. The contraction ended though with her head in a placed where it shouldn't have been according to the doctor. She told me that with the next contraction she was going to have the nurse help me again and that I had to push even harder to get her head out. This time I kept my breath inside and was able to push along with the nurse. At that point Ignacio was allowed in, though I don't remember too much of where he was. I think he was watching Queenie come out.

Once her head was halfway out the doctor did an episiotomy and used a vacuum as I pushed again. She must not have used the vacuum too much though, because Queenie's head was practically perfect right away. My mom noticed where the vacuum was used, but no one else could tell. Not even me.

With the next few contractions I felt her head come out, then her arms, hips and finally her feet. I looked at Principe and laid back on the bed to rest. The doctor was telling me to take Queenie from her, but I was looking at the ceiling and thought she was talking to Ignacio until I heard Ignacio tell me, "Kat! Take your daughter!"

I lifted my head and held out my arms to receive the most beautiful porcelain doll I had ever seen. Her face was white, without any imperfection, crowned by a mess of black hair. The rest of her body was a bit grey and still covered in spots of blood and mucus, but I didn't care. She was a beautiful, slimy baby and she was mine!
The only problem was that she wasn't crying.

For that reason I only got to hold her for one precious second before they took her away from me in order to suction her out and get her to breathe. As the doctor started massaging out the placenta Queenie's lungs suddenly opened and tiny cries came from the back room. Ignacio was with her, but came to tell me that we had the most beautiful daughter in the world, that she was perfect in every way and weighed 7.8lbs.
Once they had wiped her down, cleaned me off and placed me back on my hospital bed I was finally given back my little baby and wheeled back to our room.

After she warmed up against my chest for half an hour I passed her to Principe and then my mom. It was love at first sight for all three of us

Looking back I see that day as the most perfect labor and delivery that I could have asked for and I wouldn't change anything about it. My mother thinks the nurses were preparing me for a C-section when they came in with the catheter since even they were surprised to see me 10 centimeters and her hair poking out. Thank goodness Queenie got her head in position and thank goodness for medicine that makes you dilate! Apparently the women in my family have always had problems with delivering babies and it doesn't seem to be getting any better as the generations grow. Even though I didn't want an epidural, there are times in which you have to use the mediums that science has given us in order to make sure you and your baby are fine. So, I'm okay with the choices I made. No regrets there. And even though this post has taken me four days to complete, the fact that I have a beautiful little baby on my lap as I type makes it all worth it.

I would do it again in a heartbeat...and one day I will!