Birth Story - Part 4

After Ben's eventful outing to Wal-mart and the good laugh he provided Cindy, Abby, and Whitney (I laughed later...remember, I am dilated to a five and contracting hard), we were all focused and very ready to have this baby, me most of all.

I labored in the tub for what felt like forever. At about 4:30, mother nature called, and I had to get out of the tub to use the restroom. Cindy encouraged me to stay out of the tub and try and labor on some other things in other positions to get the baby to come down. I proceeded to walk, sit on the birthing ball while laying my head on the bed, and do whatever concoction with my body that Cindy said would help get this baby out. There was only one position I couldn't do. She told me to grab on the post of the bed and lean back and squat. WOWSERS! I have never felt such pain. I started to throw up, and I had to get up. All I remember saying was, "I can't do that, I am sorry, I can't." Luckily, they were nice and didnt make me do it again. I remember walking a couple times to the front of the birth center and I could see the sun. I couldnt believe it had already been that long. In the same building is Dr. Cindy and Dr. Jim Bob's office; me in my lovely pink robe, didnt want to be seen by all their patients. Then it dawned on me, "Will everyone hear me screaming all day? Oh man, I hope not." This is something that would haunt me for the rest of my labor. It didn't stop me much from screaming though.

When I got to the birthing center, I couldnt have imagined the pain getting much worse. Boy was I wrong. Throughout the rest of the morning, the contractions only heightened and increased in intensity. I hadn't slept in days, and Ann (who arrived at about 7am) was encouraging me to sleep and get some rest for what was ahead. SLEEP??? YEAH RIGHT! I could see Ben was more than exhausted, having been up for 15 hours, so I thought we could both try and get some sleep. I got in the bed and Ben sat on the chair beside it. Cindy and Whitney loaded me up with pillows to try and make me feel as comfortable as possible. I actually did get some sleep (about three minutes here and there) in between each contraction. It was the weirdest thing. I would be dead asleep and then BOOM, I would be screaming in pain. Eventually, I couldnt take it anymore, and I had to get back in the tub.

I know this is really weird, but the best place to labor (for all you women who want to go all natural) is on the old commode. For some reason, and I don't know why, it is so comfortable to sit on. Plus, I could put a pillow on the tank and lean on it. I went back and forth from that and the tub, which was convenient because they were two steps away from each other. At some point, I sorta blacked out. I remember screaming and moaning through the contractions, and I remember I was in the tub, but that is about it. There are only a few snapshots of things I remember. For instance, I remember saying, "This is so embarrassing, everyone can probably hear me!" and I remember Ann saying, "no, they can't, the walls are soundproof." (which I later found out, they could hear a little). I also remember saying over and over again, "what is taking so long, what are we waiting for." Ann kept telling me that we were waiting for me to make a pushing sound, and we would know it was time. It did cross my mind a few times to fake a pushing sound, and maybe they would let me push and it could be over. For all of you who have had a baby, you know it doesnt really work like that :-). I kept going in and out of consciousness in the tub, until I startled myself by pushing. The whole team came running into the bathroom, and Ann checked me and I was a 9 1/2. WHAT! I couldnt take anymore of it. She said there was just a lip of the cervix left, but that the baby's head was coming out crooked. For those of you who know me, I had a c-section with my first, and I just didnt want that again. Ann immediately told me to get out of the tub.

I got out and just about ran to the bed. I didnt want a contraction to come while I was walking. Ann asked Cindy to come and adjust the baby's head. She put her hands on my lower stomach and adjusted the baby's head. Ben prayed in my ear over and over, "Please let her come, Lord, please let me come." I was screaming that at this point :-). This is where the most intense part of my labor came. For the next hour, I had to breathe through each contraction and not push. That is so difficult to do. I needed to push, I wanted to push, but i had to fight the urge to push. I had to give time for the rest of my cervix to dilate. Ben would also probably say that this was the hardest part of labor. He was sitting up by my head, encouraging me through every contraction. I had my arms wrapped around his neck and would yank on his neck with every contraction. Sometimes he would say things like, "let me sit up real quick." I am sure he was in so much pain, not as much as me though! I was also squeezing the life out of Whitney's hand. Neither one of the complained. After an hour of excruciating pain, and Ann checked me again, and the baby was crowning! Thank the Lord, I was actually going to birth this baby!

Before I began pushing, Ann asked Ben to pray over us. Ben prayed what I am sure was a beautiful prayer, but I don't remember a word of it. I interrupted him when I screamed out my first push. Through the next few pushes, Ann praised me, but I felt like it was taking forever. I remember screaming, "CANT YOU JUST PULL HER OUT!?!" Ann responded by saying, "That is why God didnt put ears on the top of their heads." I wanted to laugh, I really wanted to...I would laugh later. Ben asked if they could put a mirror down there so he could watch (remember, he was by my head). I absolutely did not want to see any part of it (I kinda wish I had now). I proceeded to put for 38 minutes, which is really good for a first time pushing mom. Put a woman through active labor for 15 hours, you betcha she can push a baby out in 38 minutes.

When Peyton finally arrived, it was the most incredible moment of my life. They put her right on my chest and she laid there peacefully and looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes. They waited to cut the chord until it stopped pulsating, which was about 15 minutes. When it finally stopped, Ben cut the chord and she was finally ours to keep. I immediately called my mom and shared the good news. She cried and wanted to hear Peyton. For the life of me I couldnt get her to make a cry. She was so peaceful and happy. About 20 minutes later, I lost my placenta and I was officially not pregnant...YEAH!!!