Sianna June - My Birth Story

Finally finally Wednesday, May 4th at 5:16pm, Sianna June joined the world after 61 hours of labor. I had planned for a natural, drug free birth with a midwife at a very modern, progressive hospital. Here is what happened.....

Monday around 6am I started having contractions and losing huge hunks of my mucus plug. Contractions weren't very regular and were pretty far apart. It was the constant back ache, more than anything, that let me know this was for real. I wanted to move things along so I walked the dogs a couple times and went out and brushed the horses and put all their fly gear on in case they had to be left out for a couple days and rolled and rocked on the ball.

That evening I went to sleep. I was super uncomfortable and slept mostly sitting up. Around 2am I started having stronger contractions and the back ache got worse. I could barely sit still let alone sleep. I rolled on the ball and paced the hallway. They were about 12 minutes apart and as the night wore on got to be about 6-7. I tried to sit with the heating pad on my back but sitting didn't feel good at all. By 5:30am they were strong but 5-7 minutes apart. I got in the shower and cleaned up and let the hot water run on my back. I had 2 contractions in the shower, but the water felt so good.

At this point SO said we should we should probably head to the hospital. I didn't want to go until the contractions were closer together but he had to go into work and we had a horse running and he didn't want me at home, 35 minutes away from him, if things got bad or if things moved along faster than anticipated. Oh, were we ever in for a surprise.....

I called the Midwife Hotline right before we left the house and Joanie answered back that she would be meeting me there. I won't lie... while I love all the midwives, Joanie is my favorite and the one I've seen the most. I was happy to know she'd be delivering my baby! We met my mom at the hospital, I'm still talking and walking through contractions, but oh the back pain. In triage I find out I'm only 2cm but 100% effaced. Hooray! everyone said, effacing is the hard part! The rest should go much faster! Baby will be here in no time. Yea... sure.

We get settled into my L&D room and I'm walking and rolling on the ball and standing under the hot shower. This goes on for hours. Sometime around dinner time Joanie fills the labor pool and has me get in it to try and get baby off my back.
-Side bar..... Tuesday, exactly 1 week before, Joanie checked me and said baby was head down facing my back. Apparently, as soon as labor started, she decided to roll into sunny side up position, which if you don't know, is all wrong for labor.
So anyways. I float and kneel mostly on my belly in the pool and after a couple hours in there I start having contractions 2-3 minutes apart and some of them marathon, lasting well over a minute. Joanie had me get out at some point so she could check me again. I was STILL only 2cm.

At this point I know what happened but at what time things happened is fuzzy. Mom and SO took turns walking around the floor with me trying to get baby to move further down and get me dilating more. I took another hot shower, while sitting on the ball. Walked some more. Somewhere in here Joanie checks me again and I'm 6cm.

At some point toward the middle of the night we're walking the halls and the pain from the contractions are so bad. I feel like my hips are being split like a wishbone. The pain in my back was running all the way down both legs and I couldn't breath.

Now, let me say that not ONCE during all of this did anyone suggest that I get an epidural or did anyone say I had been in labor too long and we needed to add Pitocin or do a c-section. No one. Not once. Everyone was very respectful of my birth plan and wishes.

At some point walking the halls with SO I told him I couldn't do it anymore. I was seriously considering an epidural. He said he would be there and support whatever I decided to do. We went back to the room where I continued to labor, but I was wearing out. I couldn't breath through the pain anymore. I was crying and genuinely felt like throwing a total 3 year old temper tantrum. The pain was making me just want to run away. I told mom I wanted the epidural. Joanie called anesthesia and they were there in no time. The nurse wanted to make sure I knew that an epidural meant I had to have an IV fluid line and wear a fetal heart rate monitor. I knew. I'd done my research.

I felt like such a cheater. I planned a drug-free childbirth. I thought I was tough enough to deal with whatever came my way. But nearly 24 hours of HARD labor, 36-ish all together, and I was worn out. I could hardly stand. We'd tried every position to labor in that Joanie could think of, using every trick in her book and still, right before we had the epidural put in, we checked me again, still only at 6cm.

Finally, I napped. My body needed that so bad. This is where things get really fuzzy.... I was told my contractions were slowing down too much and I got a Pitocin drip. I can't remember who came in and told me that needed to be done. Joanie was supposed to leave her shift at 8am and Jackie take over, but she said she was staying with me and because there were no other midwife patients in labor, Jackie would come in  later. We were all assuming that by later, there would be a baby girl born and Joanie would be long on her way home.....

They gradually increased the Pitocin and I was able to feel my contractions, even through the epidural. Not every time in my uterus, but I was feeling it every single time in my hips and back. The pain wasn't as severe as without the epidural but it was no freaking walking in the park either.

My bag broke on it's own sometime in there, I want to say around 9am. I kept looking at the clock in front of my bed but it I couldn't remember what time anything happened. It was like being in another dimension. Time was no longer a number on the clock, but the number of breaths during a contractions, how many times I had to moan through the pain, how many times a nurse came to check on me, how many times I asked for water or juice because I though I would pass out (this hospital lets you eat all through labor, but not if you have an epidural, then it's clear fluids only).

Around 10:30am Joanie checked me and said it was time to push. So I pushed and pushed. When you have an epidural, it's really hard to tell if you're even pushing. I remember Joanie saying "push toward your bottom" over and over. She'd say "that's it! that's it!" when I hit the right spot and I'd try to remember that for next time.

Feel a contraction starting, inhale, hold it, push for a count of ten, exhale, inhale, push for 10, exhale, inhale, push for 10. The next several hours went on like this. Every now and then Joanie would check me and have me breath through the contraction. Those were the worst. An epidural only does so much.

Baby girl was sunny side up (head coming out facing up, instead of down as what is normal). So Joanie started trying to turn her, to ease her into a better position. I am so thankful at this point that I had an epidural because I didn't even know half of what she was doing down there. Without it, I'm sure I would now be recovering from a c-section. I could somewhat feel and move my legs so we got me up against the back of the raised bed and tried having me push like that. We tried having me push on one side or the other.

This whole entire time baby girl's heart rate never fluttered. It was turned up on the monitor and sounded like she was a wild horse, galloping away. But at one point while pushing on my side with Joanie trying to maneuver her, her heart rate dropped. It wasn't even a big drop but not a good one. We got it back to normal quickly and it never faltered again. Not once. Actually, they were putting oxygen on me to get me to breathe deeper and slow her down most of the time.

At some point Jackie got there and decided she'd take a look. She tried some things to turn baby and decided she was just going to put on some scrubs and join the party. We tried having me breath through contractions with my legs hanging off the bed, with me pushing using a bar, doing tug o war with the bar, with my feet together, with me grabbing my legs. Mom was often helping me hold a leg and SO was helping me hold my upper body up so I could curl into the push.

They would get her head almost past the bone, and it'd go back in. This went on over and over. Baby girl has a big head and it wasn't facing the correct way for starters and it was stuck on my pelvic arch. We had to turn her to get it through or she wan't coming out vaginally.

Sometime that afternoon, Joanie had the OB attending come in and have a look. I'm not sure what all was said but the jist of it was, if we didn't make any progress by the time she came back from doing a c-section we'd have to decide: try forceps or prep for a c-section. I'd been in labor far too long, even if baby's heart rate was beating like the hooves of a stakes horse coming down the stretch - nice and steady and strong.

In the next hour, every time we though we were getting baby girl further through, she'd suck back up in due to how her head was positioned against my pelvic arch. We were doing everything to try and turn her. When the OB came back in, we hadn't made much progress at all. While baby was doing great, I was worn out. We decided to try forceps first. I had worked so hard to prepare my mind and body for a natural birth and I wasn't going to get drug-free. But I could still delivery vaginally. And even though I'd had an epidural, I was feeling quite a bit of my contraction and they hurt like a sonofayouknowwhat. Because I could partly feel my legs we even tried pushing on my hands and knees on the bed, epidural and all. But it didn't help.

Next thing I know, there are so many people in my room. The OB and her staff, the NICU staff, because there was meconium when my bag  broke. Plus 2 midwives, my nurse and the OB tech nurse. Everyone was around the bed. The anesthesiologist replaced my epidural bag. It was time to end a very long labor and deliver this baby.

I was put in stirrups but left flat on my back. The OB carefully inserted the forceps and as I felt the contraction, I grabbed my thighs pushed like I'd never pushed before. It was like having a whole cheer leading squad. SO had my hand and back. Mom had one leg, a nurse had another. Everyone was telling me to push, I could do it, don't give up, I'm almost there, harder, push harder.Jackie had 2 fingers positioning the head as the OB eased her out through the contraction while I pushed life into the room.

I was nearly folded in half and I saw her slick little body being caught and lifted out. I remember reaching, sobbing with relief and pure joy, for her and asking Jackie to delay cord clamping. She told me we couldn't do it. I later found out this was partly because of the risk of aspirated meconium and also because her cord was abnormally short. I wouldn't have been able to do skin to skin even if things had gone differently. She wouldn't have reached my belly!

But she was crying and everyone said she was strong and healthy. After NICU gave her the all clear, they diapered her and finally I got to hold my little one. She took my breath away. SO and I looked at her and tried to decide what to name her. He said after all I'd been through, I got to pick. She is such a perfect mix of both of us when you look at her. She's gorgeous.

While I am loving on my LO for the first time, the OB is waiting for my placenta. We waited over 30 minutes, even upped the Pitocin but it was not coming out. It had to be manually removed. I'd also lost a lot of blood and I was very shocky, nearly passing out when they tried to raise the bed up for me to nurse and throwing up the little bit of juice I'd tried to get down. I nearly threw up right on Sianna's head! My mom, who is a nurse, jumped from Mom/Doula mode to nurse mode, insisting I get a transfusion. But for whatever reason they didn't want to do it just then, instead waiting to see how I felt the next day. I ended up receiving 2 pints of blood the day we were discharged.

As I nursed and fell in love with Sianna June, the OB stitched me up and gently pushed a slightly prolapsed cervix back into my body. I have 2 sets of sutures, one on my perenium and one set that's off to the left somewhere but I haven't checked them out, not sure of the exact location. The tearing, while giving me what the OB called "a pumper", wasn't overly bad. No episiotomy was cut. In addition to the prolapsed cervix and tears and need for a transfusion, I also pulled a groin-area muscle in my right thigh when pushing.

My mom and SO think I'm a bit crazy. Mom said she would have begged for a c-section long before the 24 hour mark, her also having delivered a face presentation baby (me!) drug free and my baby being a whole pound larger than I was at birth. SO knew I wanted to be as natural as possible, but being worried sick for me made him wish I'd opted for surgery long before.

But to me, I'm happy with the outcome. I made "concessions" but if you think about it, I really didn't. Every decision was made based on what would be best for LO and myself. I needed that epidural so that I didn't physically crash and give out all together. And the forceps kept me from having major abdominal surgery, which to me is very important. Had LO's heart rate been all over the place, had she been in distress, I would have been running for that OR. But she was strong and that enabled me to do what I could to get her out vaginally.

A few days before I started labor, one of my best friends warned me that even though I'd done research up the wazoo and had a very well laid out birth plan, things could go wrong and instead of using that research to get my dream birth, I might have to use it to make tough decisions. She was right.

worth it all!

The OB told my mom that face presentation babies is hereditary, so is retaining a placenta. So someday when LO is ready to have her own babies, I'll have to warn her about this. While Mom labored with me for 17 hours start to finish, including her early first stage, I labored for 61 hours including early first stage. Pushing for 6.

I am so thankful I switched to the hospital I did back at 3 months. NO WHERE ELSE would I have been allowed to labor as long as I did and have such an amazing, supportive and empowering team to get me to the finish line. Not once did anyone use scare tactics, as a matter of fact Joanie and my nurse often spoke quietly, me having to ask "what's wrong?!" because they never wanted me alarmed. Not even the OB threatened or tried to scare me. She came to visit me both days I was in recovery, just to see how the "legend" was doing. Apparently I've set some hospital records.... What very easily could have been a traumatic experience anywhere else ended up being the most rewarding and empowering experience of my life.

No, everything didn't go as I'd dreamed and planned, but I couldn't be happier with the outcome. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Sianna June

Born May 4th
7lbs8oz, 20 inches