On April 24, 2013, at 10:36 p.m., Janni, Sweet Baby of Ours, graced the world with her presence. She was 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 19.75 inches long. She had a full head of hair and rolls from chin to thighs! This is her birth story!
Disclaimer: Her name has been changed but all other details pertaining to her birth are real and true.
Just to clarify, Janni is our first baby and although she turns 3 in less than two weeks, I remember her birth it like it was yesterday. I am going to try not to be too wordy in my details to make the read shorter.
When I was pregnant with Janni, I was a homebirth kind of girl. I loved the idea of welcoming a bundle of joy into the world by having them being born at the place they'd be calling their home. Since Janni's birth, a life-threatening emergency has really caused our views to changed and I intend to have our second baby and all future babies in the hospital, but 3 years ago, that wasn't the case.
My pregnancy went pretty smoothly except for a tiny hiccup that landed me in the hospital at 25 weeks (more about that later). Other than that, I had aches, I had pains, my feet were swollen by the end of my day (I found out I was pregnant the 2nd weeks of the school year, so I taught my entire known pregnancy.
I was due April 20, 2013. I looked at the due date and took great relief in the fact that very few people actually give birth on their actual due date because there are just too many negative things associated in April 20 and I didn't want my child's celebration of life to be on Hitler's birthday or a day where people collectively get high.
On Monday, the 22nd, two days past my due date, I saw my midwife and she asked if she could check me to see how far I was dilated. I agreed. She shrugged and said I was maybe half a centimeter and at this rate, we were probably looking at another week at best but probably closer to two weeks before I went into labor.
For my first child, my labor actually only ended up being less than 16 hours. I couldn't actually sleep the night before and tossed and turned from discomfort as little Janni repeatedly kicking my rib cage (you know, just getting those last kicks in before she received her eviction notice!). I got up to sleep on the couch so Zack could actually sleep because I was so uncomfortable that I was adjusting and readjusting pretty much every minute or so.
I hadn't slept a wink when I began to see light shining through the living room window. I was so grateful that my last day at work had been the week before because I was going to be one tired Mommy to be! Zack got up to get ready for work and I got up to make him breakfast. I remember telling him to just go out to eat with Don, his best friend, for lunch. As Zack was getting ready for work, I felt my first contraction but I had been feeling these for a while. A few minutes later, it came again. A few minutes later, again. I grabbed a piece of paper and began to track my contractions but again, they just felt like menstrual cramps and I didn't think this was the real deal. I mentioned it to Zack and I told him if this was it, he would more than likely be able to make it through the day before the baby was here. My Mom was in labor with her first, my sister, for 28 hours. I wasn't expecting this baby to be here anytime soon.
I spoke to my Mom on the phone and mentioned to her that I might be in labor but was craving something sweet and thinking about going to get something. She made me promise not to leave the house. I agreed.
I did things like clean and watched several episodes of the Dog Whisperer. About 11, I decided to take a shower. In the middle of it, I got a very strong contraction and grunted in pain. If there was any doubt, I now knew I was in labor. I got out of the shower, got dressed , did my hair, and then at noon, I called Zack and told him I was certain this was it and I needed him home. He came home immediately.
As soon as Zack came home, my body started having sever contractions. I called my midwife in between contractions and told her I was in labor. I was calm and collect and since she had seen me 2 days prior with nearly no dilation at all, she asked me to come in to get checked. I agreed and as soon as I got off the phone with her, another contraction hit and I told Zack I couldn't go in. He called back my midwife and she agreed to send her duela over to check me. She came over right away, checked me, and with a shocked look on her face (all the while trying to hide her disbelief), she said I was dilated to about a 5 and that I indeed was in labor. She called the midwife to inform her and I could hear disbelief on the other end of the phone with a loud laugh saying, "you just can't predict anything in this job!"
Within the hour, my midwife was there. She checked me herself and I was at a 7! My water still hadn't broke nor had a certain plug come out so she popped it and the removed my plug while I WAS HAVING A CONTRACTION! Zack claims that that was the only time I let out a real scream during my labor (he says I grunted a lot, but never screamed but once).
For the next several hours, I waddled around the house between contractions. I tried to labor in the pool but I just got light headed. By 7 p.m., I was at a 10 and my midwife gave me to go ahead to start pushing. To my disbelief, each push actually brought relief from the pain of the contractions! Oh yes, I liked pushing!
I pushed and pushed and pushed with little to no progress. I tried to push in any all positions I could. Still, nothing. My midwife said that she was at the canal and that she had dark hair (Zack and I are blondes). I PUSHED HARDER! Still, with little progress. About 3 hours went by and the duala began using the doppler to check the baby's heart rate. I put up with it once or twice, but by the third time, I asked her firmly to stop.
That is when my midwife let me in on what was going on. She said that I was bee pushing for a really long time and they were beginning to worry that the baby may be under distress. They told me her heart rate was dropping and then rapidly speeding up and that that was a tell-tell sign that the baby was distressed.
The midwife and her team decided to give me the option to keep pushing or for them to call an ambulance and got to the hospital for an assessment. Duh. I chose to keep pushing and this time I was willing to try everything possible to get this baby out naturally.
Another 15 minutes later, there was no progress so my midwife told her assistant to call an ambulance, that this was going to be a Caesarian Section. Zack said when she said this, my eyes about popped out of my head and I turned white as a ghost.
And ambulance was called and tried desperately to push this baby out, to no avail. When the paramedics came into the house, they used their own doppler on the baby and her heart rate was back to normal so they agreed to let me keep pushing. I pushed for another 15 minutes and when the paramedic listened to Janni's heart rate, it was super high and he shook his head at my midwife and said, "let's get her to the hospital." Reluctantly, I agreed.
They took my to the hospital via ambulance and Zack got my emergency bag and his Mother brought a few outfits from Janni's dresser.
I arrived at the hospital and the hospital's doctor on duty checked me and shook his head at my midwife, "Emily, your baby is occiput-transverse (or head in the canal but completely sideways), this baby isn't going to come out a healthy baby if you deliver naturally. I need to take this baby c-section and since you have been pushing for over 3 hours, I would like to do it now for her safety."
I looked to Zack, desperate for him to tell me to keep pushing. In tears, I asked him what he thought and he said to me, "I think we need to do what the doctors say." My mind was ticking, "we don't have insurance, we can't pay for this." But I was bombarded with papers to sign and questions about my last menstrual period and whether the baby was a boy or girl, I agreed out of desperation. I wanted to be left alone to push, I wanted the chaotic to disappear.
They rolled me to the operating room and Zack met me there. By the time he was there, the anesthesiologist had already given me the epidural and I was freaking out about how I couldn't move my legs (nobody warned me that I wouldn't be able to move my body from the waist down, so I seriously thought they had permanently paralyzed me!) and the anesthesiologist was telling me that that was a good thing, they didn't need me kicking the doctors while they were working on me (aka pulling my baby out of my torso).
They surgery went fast, but the nurse assisting had to literally push her back up the canal to the uterus and I could feel the pressure while they did it.
They brought her to a table to work on her, Zack smiled the largest grin and me and said, "That's her, I am going to go see her." and he asked me if it was okay to leave my side. I agreed.
They brought her to me and I just wanted to grab her and leave the hospital but duh, I was paralyzed from the waist down. I was stuck there.
The anesthesiologist asked me how I was doing, I told him, "I'm just happy she's here and she's healthy." He shook his head with sorrow in his eyes and whispered, "She pooped in the womb, they're going to need to watch her and see if she swallowed any. Is she did, she will be violently ill for the next few days."
I just started praying she didn't swallow any!!!
So, they watched her and monitored her and wanted to make sure she didn't swallow any meconium. And on top of that, my blood pressure was so low that they spent and hour and a half trying to stabilize me while a stranger took care of my baby and, you know, because nobody warned me I would be paralyzed and I was literally stuck to my bed. It was hard. Necessary, but heartbreaking and so hard. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be home in my bed. I wanted my my baby to be born at home like we had all planned!
Slowly my ability to move my legs and wiggle my toes came back. I got up and started walking and 3 days later, I was discharged and allowed to go home!
Oh Janni, your delivery was hard but we are so glad you're ours!
We love you so!
Zack's Parents
Leaving the Hospital
Midwife team
