My first child was due on May 1st, 2008. My Partner and I had chosen to have a midwife deliver our baby at a hospital. I wanted a vaginal birth with absolutely no intervention. My intention was to labour at home for as long as possible and then move to the hospital to deliver my baby and return home within six hours of the birth.
I had no fear of labour pain and was intent on pushing out my baby and having him immediately placed on my chest, I wanted to begin nursing right away and I wanted to take my family home as soon as possible.
On the morning of April 27Th, 2008 my water broke waking us up. Contractions began about ten minutes later. We called the midwife who was at our house by 9:30 am. She checked me and was concerned because my blood pressure had spiked, she told us to monitor the contractions and if everything continued as was to meet her at the hospital at 2:30pm. Within the hour after she left my contractions increased to two minutes apart, and forty-five seconds to one minute in length.
We again called the midwife who arranged to meet us at the hospital at noon. Once at the hospital I was monitored briefly and because my blood pressure was still fluctuating I was then admitted to a birthing room with my partner and the midwife. I was having back labour because the baby was in an Occiput Posterior Position. I laboured through the day with little change. I used many different labouring positions including a birthing stool, a birthing ball, toilet sitting, walking the halls, showering and slow dancing. Around 9:00 pm I still had not dilated beyond five centimeters this was due to the OP positioning and the fact that the baby had not fully decended into the pelvis prior the water breaking. At this time I was given the option of a Pitocin drip to help move things along. I declined this as I felt fine and wanted to continue to labour without intervention. Between 10:00 and 11:00 pm we had a midwife change over and in between a Doctor tried once again to put me on the Pitocin, again I declined. With the arrival of the second Midwife I laboured through the night and well into the next day still with little change. At some point during the night the midwife performed a Stretch and Sweep to try and increase dilation. I remained active throughout the night and continued to take in fluids to keep up my energy. During the night I did spend some time in bed side lying to attempt to turn the baby. By 1:30 pm on April 28Th, I had not dilated past five centimeters and my contractions had begun to slow.
At this point the Midwife spoke with me about an Epidural so that I could rest in order to be able to push when the time came, and a Pitocin drip to increase the intensity of the contractions so that I would dilate and transition to pushing. We had an emotional heart to heart and decided to go ahead with the intervention – at this time we had been warned that because of the posterior positioning of the baby, the lack of decent and the length of my labour, that a Cesarean was a possibility. I still hoped to deliver my baby naturally and felt that this intervention would give me the best chance to still meet that goal.
After a few hours on the Pitocin with the Epidural I had not dilated further and my contractions had slowed. I was having back pain and feeling nauseous. At 6:00 pm the Doctor examined me and declared that I would need a Cesarean. Again after much crying and reassurance from my Midwife that this had to be, we consented to the surgery and our son was born at 7:15 pm on April 28Th, 2008 via Cesarean Section.
When he was born, both of us spiked fevers and he had what they called a respiratory hiccup. He did not pass the APGAR and a Pediatric Respiratory Specialist was called into the delivery room. During this time the surgery on me was being completed and I could only see my son from a distance as he remained on the warming bed with staff buzzing about.
I was taken into the recovery room and on my pa'srtner insistence the baby was briefly brought to me on his way to the NICU. He and I were separated until 11:00 am the next day when I was taken to the NICU to nurse him for the first time. We remained in the hospital until May 1st when on my insistence and my Midwife’s assurance, I was discharged one day ahead of schedule.
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