(my crazy long) Birth Story (because I was in labor for 33 hours!!)
Milena’s Birth Story
On Monday (Jan 5) I had a doctor’s appointment. The following day I would be 41weeks, so at my appointment I had an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid level and a non-stress test. Both tests looked good (although my fluid level was a bit high). I also had a cervical check (my first this pregnancy) - I was only 1cm dilated. Since the test results were good, and my doctor knew we wanted to avoid any unnecessary interventions, he said we wouldn’t talk about induction until the following week.
I had been having painless Braxton Hicks contractions for the past few weeks. That Monday night they were accompanied by back pain throughout the entire night. The back pain was gone during the day Tuesday (Jan 6), but it returned after Jess and I ran some errands that evening. By 7:30pm they were consistent enough for me to start timing them. They were anywhere from two to six minutes apart, lasting around 45 seconds each. I called my doula Lea to let her know that I thought I was in labor. She asked if I thought I could rest, and I said yes. So after getting off the phone with her (and telling her we’d give her a call once things started to pick up), Jess and I went upstairs to try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, the contractions were just strong enough and close enough together that any time I was able to start drifting off, the next contraction would wake me up. So we went back downstairs and watched some TV. A little before 5am I had Jess make some peanut butter toast for me to eat. My contractions still weren’t too painful at this point, but they were about two minutes apart, so we decided to go to the hospital. We called Lea, who said she would meet us there.
We got to the hospital a little after 5:30am. A nurse brought me to triage where they checked my vitals and strapped sensors on my belly to track Milena’s heart rate and movement. Everything looked good. After awhile, the resident came in to do a cervical check. She said I was only 1cm dilated, but admitted to having small hands, so she asked the nurse to verify. The nurse said I was 5cm dilated and 80% effaced with a bulging bag of water. I was there to stay until baby came! We were told that my OB was currently on call, but would only be there until 8am, so unless baby came in the next few hours, he wouldn’t be delivering her. He did, however, come in to see us in triage before they moved me to the birth suite.
Once I was admitted and moved to the birth suite I was not allowed to eat any solid foods, which made me thankful for the peanut butter toast I had eaten earlier, but made me wish I had eaten a bit more. By this point I had also been awake for nearly 20 hours. I was given a bite of bagel before being getting told not to by the nurse. Our first nurse was Angelia, and the doctor on call was Dr. D. They both looked over our birth plan, and Dr. D said that he thought everything we wanted was very possible barring any complications.
After they checked my vitals again, I asked to be put on a telemetry unit so that I could get up and move around while they continued to monitor baby’s heart rate and movement (already the nurse could tell baby was in an OP position based on how my contractions were peaking - which explained why I was having back labor). This would be the last time I was made to lay on my back during labor. We decided to walk around to see if we could get things moving. After a few laps around the wing we went back into the room.
During this time I mainly labored on a birthing ball (leaning toward Jess during contractions). Since I was having back labor (the only kind I had the entire time), Lea used our heating pad to put pressure (and heat) on my back during each contraction, which helped quite a bit. Later I moved onto the bed. I got on my knees and leaned against the back (which was all the way up). I labored in this position quite a bit (and later pushed in this position as well). We also tried standing up where I leaned on Jess and we danced and swayed while Lea applied the heating pad on my back.
They offered to fill the tub up for me numerous times, but I put it off as long as I could (until I felt like I wasn’t handling the contractions as well as I wanted). Once I moved into the tub it wasn’t as useful as I had hoped. Since I was having back labor, I felt more alone with my contractions in the tub because there was no good way to put pressure on my back during them. I got nauseated in the tub and threw up twice (which was no fun, but was a sign I was making progress). We tried to take another lap around the wing after that, but I still wasn’t feeling well, so we went back to the birth suite.
I continued to labor on the birth ball and in the bed, and we put in some more laps a few more times during my labor. The nurse had brought me some apple juice to drink along with water early on, but I couldn’t really even stomach that (though I tried to, since I knew my body needed more than just water).
It was during this time that things started to get hazy. By now I had been awake for nearly 30 hours, and hadn’t eaten anything for nearly 12 hours. For the rest of my labor (the next 14 hours), I felt like I was fighting sleep (and losing). I had a difficult time focusing on anyone or anything, and I was unable to have any sort of conversation (or even just answer questions) - which is why Jess was left to make all the tough decisions later, and why I had to ask him to write most of the rest of my birth story.
Around 3:00pm, Angelia’s shift was coming to an end. There had been a moment earlier where she told us that she was feeling uncomfortable with how things were, because of Lea’s presence. We assured her that things were fine and she was doing nothing wrong. We are just quieter people, and Lea was just there to help us keep calm and try to have the birth we wanted, not be a doctor or give medical advice. The new nurse coming on duty was named Maria, and Lea knew her and had some sort of previous experience with her. She assured us that Maria would be completely on board with anything we wanted to do. She was fantastic.
Around 6:00pm, things got a little bad. I was tired and hurting. Lea suggested I lie down for awhile and try to rest. I tried, but I was almost too tired to do so, and the contractions were still coming on strong. I asked Jess over and over why she wasn’t coming out, and told him I didn’t want to do this anymore. He did all that he could do - reassure me that she was coming and that I was making progress, and telling me that I was doing an amazing job and he was very proud of me.
Later on around 7:00pm or so, we decided to try a shower. I stood in the shower with Jess while Lea ran water on a towel draped over my back. This went on for a while before me moved on to try laboring on the toilet. That seemed to be more effective, but there was still no baby coming out! Labor continued on in the bathroom and on the bed.
At 11:00pm, Maria was getting ready to end her shift. She spoke with the nurse coming on, Kristie, and gave her all of our information- what we’d been doing, where we were at, etc. Before leaving, Maria told us that she was going to come see our new baby when she got back tomorrow. She also checked to see how far along I was and said that I was at 10cm and 100% effaced. I started to push, as everything seemed to be in place to get our daughter out. Kristie was so sure of my early progress that she kept bringing in all the necessary equipment for when the baby came out. She even kept restarting the warmer in the adjacent room.
Pushing was long and hard. I began to moan with each breath whether I was in the middle of a contraction or not. This was true for the rest of labor. Jess would moan with me while holding my hand, and he and Lea always made sure I had water to drink whether I asked for it or not.
Kristie said she kept seeing progress from the pushing, but still no baby. Around 2:30am, Dr. D came in to check how things were going. He said that the baby had not really dropped and was at zero station, as well as looking up. She wasn’t tucking her chin. He recommended a C-section, and Jess asked for some time to weigh the options. I was pretty out of it, so this all fell to Jess. Jess wanted to see me stop suffering, but also knew we wanted to try to have as natural a birth as possible. After talking with Kristie, we decided to try a different labor position that Dr. D had suggested- on my back, pulling my legs up with my hand and lifting my head up during contractions. It seemed to be a little more effective, and I was able to push longer and harder. Everyone kept giving me support. The hope was that if the baby would drop even a little bit we could try a vacuum or forceps induction.
Around 3:30am, Jess made the call to try some Pitocin. This decision was backed up by another nurse whose name we didn’t catch, who told us that even though the baby was big and not moving that she was very sure I could have this baby vaginally. I got the Pitocin around 3:50am. Jess asked how long it would take for it to take effect, and was told 30 minutes or more. Within 15 minutes my contractions were coming much faster and stronger.
During my entire labor, Milena was a champ! She handled all the contractions and the hours of pushing really well. I am so proud of her! I’m sure those hours were as difficult on her as they were on me.
At 4:45am, yet another check was made. The baby was having some molding on her head, but not enough that an induction was possible. Jess made the call to go with the C-section. Things moved very quickly after that. The anesthesiologist came in to go over everything with me, and I had to sign a form authorizing the procedure. While all this was going on, Jess was packing up all of our stuff onto a cart to move into the recovery room. He was also given a white Tyvek suit with mask, hair cap, and booties so that he could come into the OR with me as soon as possible. The nurses gave me a drink that was to neutralize my stomach acids. It tasted sour and gross, and I could only do little sips. Even though it was only a bit bigger than a shot glass, I only got about half of it down before I threw it up. The nurses said I wouldn’t have to do it again, since vomiting cleaned out the acids.
As we were getting ready to leave, Jess hugged Lea and was crying. Lea said that she was going to go home and check on her daughter, since she couldn’t be in the OR with us. She did sit with Jess in the recovery room until he could go in, to keep him company and keep him calm.
Because they had just recently given me Pitocin, my contractions were now much stronger and closer together. Once the nurse placed a catheter and IV - prior to moving me into the operating room - I was told not to push. Unfortunately, that was not an option! On the way to the room, every little bump felt huge, and the room itself was freezing cold. While they moved me to the operating room, Jess waited in the recovery room while I got prepped for surgery.
I had to help them move me from one bed to the other, then they asked me to sit on the edge of the bed with my back rounded and my feet on a cold metal stool so they could do the spinal. The spinal kicked in quickly, and by the time they had me on my back with my arms spread out at my sides, I couldn’t feel anything below my waist. They put up a sheet so I couldn’t see anything, but a nurse stood over me to talk to me. Jess was allowed to come into the room at this time, and a few minutes later Milena Ruby Schuknecht was born. I heard a few little baby cries, they lifted her over the sheet for me to get a glimpse of her, and then they took her away to check her out while they finished operating on me and closing me up. Jess went with Milena for a little bit and then came back to sit by me until my surgery was over.
After the surgery, Jess, Milena and I were moved into the recovery room. We were in there for about an hour. Every so often a nurse would take my vitals and check my dressing and see if my uterus was firm and my bleeding was normal. They gave me a button to push for medication (through my IV), which I had until the following day. When we were done in recovery, the nurse placed Milena on the bed next to me and wheeled us to our room in the Family Care Suites. We spent the next four days in that room.
Looking back, I don’t regret any of our decisions. Some people are amazed/surprised I went 33 hours without pain medication, but as difficult as it got at times, I never once considered even asking for something. And I’m not at all disappointed that I ended up having a c-section. I know I tried my best to have Milena vaginally, and Jess and I went into this agreeing we’d do whatever we thought was best for me and her. Our goal wasn’t to have a natural birth, it was to have a beautiful baby to bring home and love.
The only thing I would change if I had to do it over again (or what we’ll plan for next time around), is I wish I would have thought to ask (or had been offered) something so I could have rested a bit before I had to start pushing. I don’t know if I would have been able to deliver Milena vaginally had I taken something, but I think I would have at least been more aware of what was going on and would have been able to help Jess make the decisions he ended up having to make on his own.
It makes me sad that I really don’t remember much of my labor. It’s strange to have to ask someone else to write your birth story for you; it’s even stranger to only remember bits and pieces of the things you read about.
But, like I said, I went into this to meet my baby girl, and that’s exactly what I did. Success! Milena and Jess and I were rockstars through the whole process. I am so proud of our family!