We had been anticipating the birth for months, and we had an ideal birth plan prepared. I really wanted everything to happen as naturally as possible and have our little bundle of joy enter this world in the most relaxed state that is possible. Of course, the one thing that we wanted more than anything in the end was a healthy child, and a healthy mom. So when the due date came and went, I thought nothing of it. In fact, many first time mothers don't even go into labor until 10 days past their due date. So I continued life as usual and began trying to induce labor naturally.
When I woke up early on Friday to take care of little Oliver, I thought about the day that it all began. Four weeks ago, I began having serious contractions around 1 a.m. As it all started happening, I thought very little of it, because I had been having minor pains, or Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks prior to the beginning of real deal. Luke and I had picked my mom up from the airport earlier on this day, and I thought something may happen later that evening. In fact, I had seen my Midwife earlier at the Farmer's Market and told her that I may see her sometime that night. I also had seen Pauline, our Childbirth Class coach at the store that evening, and we talked about how things would soon begin. So as labor all began to unfold, it seemed a little surreal. As each contraction came and went, I began getting more excited to meet our little guy (or gal)!We live just a few blocks from the hospital, so we had decided to wait until the contractions were three minutes apart, lasting one minute each for at least an hour. My goal was to be 7 cm dilated by the time I reached the hospital. The contractions came and went and seemed a little irregular, so I chose to let Luke and my mom sleep a while longer. I took a warm shower and timed each contraction. They began lasting a minute and eventually were about five minutes apart. This is when I decided to wake up the husband. We began gathering the bag(s) that I had packed, and decided to call our Midwife. This is when everything suddenly slowed down, so we decided to stay at home a while longer and lay in bed. About an hour later (around 6 a.m.), the contractions were back and timed around three minutes apart. We decided that we had to go to the hospital now!
Less than five minutes later, we were at the hospital, and I was being wheeled up to Labor and Delivery. Once we were there, it was about 6:30 am, and I was happy to hear that I was already dilated 5 cm. On the other hand, my water broke shortly after arriving, which meant that I had to begin medication. Knowing that I would now be strapped to a monitor most of the time scared me some, but both the nurse and Midwife were very respectful of my wishes and only made me "plug in" to the monitor once every hour. I began walking the halls, squatting to try to get the baby to move lower, breathing, and using imagery to deal with the pains of labor. Time seemed to pass by so slowly, because nothing seemed to be progressing. So when it was 12:30 pm and things were about the same as when I was first admitted to the hospital, I was given Pitocin to speed things along. Once I received this, I knew that my chances of a naturally delivery decreased immensely. And this was not at all what I had envisioned. Nonetheless, two and a half more hours passed, and things were remaining about the same... only I was in an immense amount of pain. This is when I finally agreed to having an epidural. None of this was a part of our Birth Plan, but most of all, I wanted a healthy baby! So when our baby's heart rate began dropping and there was some fetal distress, I was prepared for what I considered to be my worst nightmare - a cesarean section.
Around 3 pm, I began crying--not because of the pain, but because the baby's heart rate had dropped and I was being admitted to surgery. (Of course, I did want that healthy baby, and the moment I received Pitocin, I knew that things were not in my control.) Thirty one minutes after the surgery decision was announced, Luke peaked over the curtain and announced that we had a little boy. Little Oliver James Handke was born.I am sad to say that we did not have much time to bond initially following his birth, because he was admitted to NICU due to fluids that were trapped in his lungs. Even though I was not able to begin breastfeeding him just after giving birth, I was adamant that we would begin while recovering in the hospital.
All of this is to say that we do not have the ideal birth story to share, but we do have a healthy little boy who is one month old today!
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