 |
 
|
|
 In Dawn's Words Victoria Dawn West was born Oct. 17, 2004, at approx. 1:10 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs. and 9 oz. and was between 21 and 22 inches long! No wonder she came a few days early! Here’s the story.I was having discharge for Wed, Thurs, and Fri. I knew this to be the “bloody show” experienced sometimes before labor, so I was watching for a mucus plug, cramps, swollen nose, nesting and any changes. I have read that the discharge can be for weeks before actual labor, so it wasn’t usually an actual sign of labor. Thursday and Friday I was feeling fine, just a bit achy, sorta menstrual, but I didn’t think a thing about it. Besides, most first time pregnancies go longer than the due date and her date wasn’t until the 19th, so I went about my business. Friday I ran some errands, went to the grocery store, the feed store, Dillard’s, cooked some baked potatoes, e-mailed, ate salad, and started washing all the baby clothes….ALL the baby clothes. About 7:30 Robert and I started looking through some things to take to Memaw’s garage to store. At about 8:10, I felt a low “punch” or “pop” that wasn’t like anything I had felt before, so I went to the bathroom to see if anything had changed. Nothing. I went back to the baby room and started looking through boxes and promptly had a contraction lasting about 10-15 seconds. I told Robert that I think I had a contraction, then I HAD to go to the bathroom. Went back to the room, another contraction, 10-15 seconds, HAD to go to the bathroom again. Back to the baby room, another contraction, to the bathroom, and this time when I came out of the bathroom I went to page the midwife from the birth center. It was about 8:30. I didn’t know if it was Braxton Hicks contractions or the real thing. They were very mild. No mucus plug, no water. But I had been told if I had 4 contractions within an hour to call, and I just had three in 20 minutes! While I waited for Michelle (midwife) to call me back, I decided to finish packing for the birth center just in case. In the meantime, Robert is still moving stuff around for Memaw’s. I get off the phone, have another contraction, a harder one lasting 30 seconds or so, and tell him “I don’t think we’ll be doing that tonight. Help me get ready to go in case we have a baby, because I just had another one.” It’s a blur after that. As I gather stuff in the bathroom, I have a hard contraction and I wonder why Michelle hasn’t called back. She always does. It’s now about 9:00. I page her again with 911! I call Delilah, my doula (a birth assistant and much, much more!) I have another contraction while talking to her. She asks if we were planning on a home birth. I told her no, but it looked like that’s what may happen. She asks to talk to Robert. She tells him to get the bed ready with plastic over the mattress, and have lots of towels handy, and for me to eat something in case I have a long labor. I call Michelle on her home phone. (Her pager didn’t go off. This had never happened before! Found out why the next day—it was at the birth center!) She asks how long and far apart. I ask Robert. He laughs at me and says “I haven’t been here for two in a row. I’ve been getting you frozen water bottles! I’ve been heating your rice socks(hot pads)! I’ve been running your bath and making you food!” So I tell her about 30 seconds to a minute long, maybe 5 minutes apart. She’s now on her way over to check me and take me to the center. It’s about 9:10. I hadn’t had much appetite that day and had only eaten fruit, yogurt, trail mix, and salad. So Robert goes to fix me a baked potato, (which I do want at this time), and to start me a bath. I had wanted to take a shower at the birth center, but I was now thinking we may not have that much time, so I had decided to relax in a bath for a few minutes, since they were really starting to hurt. I couldn’t walk down the hall without stopping to have a contraction! He brings me the potato; I shove it aside because just the smell makes me gag! I get in the bath until it’s not hot enough anymore (10 minutes!) and when I get out I have a hard contraction. I was on the floor on my hands and knees yelling for Robert to come and HELP ME! He said he was still making the bed. “I don’t care! HELP ME!” He comes to rub my back, bring me water, bring me my nightgown, help me to bed, apply counter pressure (something we learned in our birth class) and do whatever I ask. I remember saying “Oh God, let them get here soon! OOOwwwww!” (He did a wonderful job!) Michelle gets to the house between about 10:00. It has now been about less than 2 hours since my first contraction. She checks me, and to her (and our) surprise, I am completely dilated! (I was still hoping to go to the center! HA!) She calls her birth assistant, Shanna, and tells her to get her emergency equipment from the center, that we are having a home birth! With me being a first-time mom, labor usually lasts 12 hours or longer, so we were not expecting this! All she had with her was rubber gloves to check me and the Doppler to check the baby’s heart (and her infant baby Faith Elizabeth, who was asleep in her car seat in the corner). I had another hard contraction, with a strong urge to push! She yells “NO! Not yet!” and helps me breath through it. She didn’t want me pushing before the equipment got there in case there were problems. Delilah and Shanna both arrive about 10:30. Delilah helps me breathe and focus through contractions, and I’m allowed to push when I feel like it. Robert has been faithfully rubbing my lower back with hot rice socks and frozen water bottles. My back hurt the entire time! I kept asking if the baby was turned because it just wouldn’t let up except for when I pushed. I can’t even imagine the pain if the baby wasn’t turned! I was coping with contractions by pushing, breathing, and focusing on whatever Delilah was saying. Sometimes I was too tired to push through the whole thing. Sometimes I couldn’t help but push. We tried different positions. It’s amazing how different positions changed things! I tried on my knees leaning on the bed, but my legs were too weak (no potato). When I was on my back the contractions were MUCH more intense and it was excruciating if I let up before it was over. Forget that! Semi-sitting, I felt the most in control with a good balance between pushing and pain. On my side, the contractions were more intense than semi-sitting, but pushing felt more productive and my back didn’t hurt as bad. I alternated mostly between semi-sitting with Robert behind me, and lying on my side, switching when I got tired. Time went on and on…..Everyone laughed when I asked if they wanted coffee! (Dad has the pot on a timer and it makes automatically at midnight.) Delilah put on the music I asked for. We listened to the whole CD twice. I told them I can see why women ask for drugs, and that I felt like my legs were going to break off. Finally, I was getting really tired, so I decided I had to get her out while I still could. I gave it a few really good hard pushes. (“push into the pain” they said.) The last part really hurt. A terrible burn that is hard to describe, then Victoria was finally here! She came out with her hand on her face, just like in some of her sonogram pics! This gave me a “paper cut” on my upper left labia, my only tear. I was immediately given a shot of pitocin to help my uterus contract and hooked up to an I.V. because I had lost a good amount of blood. After the placenta was delivered, I was given another shot of pitocin and a second bag of I.V. fluids. Victoria was very calm through all of this, while she was cleaned, suctioned and measured, and only after she was “jostled” with a towel for a good bit did she cry. She got pretty mad! Then I was able to nurse her for a bit while they cleaned up and Michelle prepared to give me a few stitches on my cut. I started bleeding again at this point and they decided to transport me to the hospital as a precaution. I had lost about 1 liter of blood. I felt fine, and my blood pressure was normal the whole time, and I didn’t want to go, but I knew nobody in the room would listen to me had I said no, so I went along with it. The volunteer fire department emergency vehicle picked me up, and we woke Dad up and told him everything was fine, just a precaution, see you later. He slept through the whole thing! (and so did Faith Elizabeth—truly a midwife’s child!) I was told I was a very quiet laborer. It was a very bumpy ride to the hospital in that thing. I don’t recommend it, especially if you are in pain, which I was not at this time. Hindsight being 20/20 we should have taken the car. Had I needed any serious help those two goons couldn’t have done anything but radio ahead to tell them we were coming, which they already knew! When we got there, we didn’t know how long we would be, so we saw no need to call everyone just yet. We were at the hospital about 5 hours. We were able to talk them in to just holding me for observation, rather than admitting me, since it was cheaper because we were self-paying. After I was settled in and we knew which doctor would be coming, (the one Michelle works with), Michelle left because she isn’t allowed to care for me once I’m in the hospital. There was a bit of tension when we had to negotiate to keep Victoria with me in the room. They wanted to admit her and put her in the nursery which we were adamantly against. To keep her from getting “stolen”. Right. $$$ After a half hour of supervisor checking and such, and we agreed that there would always be one other person in the room with me, they said she could stay. Glad they did. I was ready to tell Robert to make a run for it with the baby, and I dare someone to stop him. Take my baby. HA! Delilah was a great help in the negotiation! She stayed with me while Robert slept and I massaged my abdomen to speed things along. I didn’t want the nurse doing it. She hurt!—badly! I was given another shot, another I.V. and when the doctor finally came in she took a look, said I was fine, and that we could go if we wanted because I didn’t want stitches if I didn’t have to have them. She said it wouldn’t be necessary on such a small cut that wasn’t bleeding anymore. I was given iron pills and told I had to be on bed-rest for 24 hours and someone had to help me walk in case I fainted. We got home just as the sun was coming up. Robert finished cleaning the bed and put me and Victoria in it. And they all lived happily ever after. In Delilah's Words 8:30 Dawn called me- at grocery store- said ctx had begun about 30 minutes before, had 4 already. Would call me back when ready for me to come. Hadn't called Michelle yet because "D comes before M, haven't made it down the list that far yet"- promised she would drink and try to eat something and rest, along with calling Michelle ASAP. 9 something- Dawn called back- ready for me to come when I could. Had paged Michelle twice but hadn't heard back yet. Said she didn't think she wanted to go to the birth center after all, because she didn't want to get in the car. (I took this as a cue to speed everything up!) Asked to speak to Robert, told him to prepare the bed- no, don't take the shower curtain down, just get some black plastic trash bags, make the bed, sheet/trash bag/sheet like a sandwich. I got arrangements made for all three kids, lunches made and clothes laid out for in the morning, carseats out of my car, and put kids to bed. Nursing Virginia to sleep, I hear the cell. Calling the cell as I run out the door, it's Robert having left a message- sounds a little tense, wants an ETA. 10 p.m. Driving to Garland, talk to Michelle, she's pulling up right then armed with nothing but a pair of gloves and a Doppler. I ask if she needs me to bring anything, she doesn't know but says she'll call back. I'm glad she is there because when Robert sounded so tense I was a little nervous that it was going to only be us there. 10:15 p.m. Michelle calls back, I have no A/C in my van so I had windows down. It sounds like she said Dawn is asleep. I am astonished, because she sounded really serious to me 30-45 minutes before. I said "She's asleep?! Is she not having contractions at all anymore or she's sleeping between them!?" and Michelle replied "Did you hear me?! I said she is COMPLETE!" Whoa!!! Shanna is on her way to the birth center to throw some things together, and I say I will hurry! I wonder if I will miss the whole thing, and/or if I will be of any use to anyone since I am getting there so late in the game, but I continue praying for a beautiful birth and that I can be a blessing to Dawn. 10:25 p.m. Find the house (after a phone call to my sister for turn-by-turn directions because I missed the street to begin with), Robert is outside. He is excited and glad we are there. Dawn keeps giving him things to do. He tells me how close they came to being in the car schlepping stuff to storage when she went into labor! Inside, I find Dawn wearing her labor bracelet I gave her at childbirth class and a tank top, sitting on the edge of the bed, with Michelle helping her blow through contractions. We didn't want her to start pushing if she could avoid it- push if she had to, but don't TRY to push if she didn't have to- until Shanna arrived with the supplies... 10:40 p.m. Shanna arrived with the birth bag and oxygen, so Dawn could start voluntarily pushing. She was seated on the edge of the bed. The baby's heartbeat was in the 140's. 10:55 p.m. Robert sat behind Dawn on the bed, she was leaning into him and the pillows, while I used a cold wet rag on her face, neck, and shoulders. It had to be very cold (wrapped around a bottle of frozen ice water between contractions) or it was annoying. After awhile, the damp rag on the face became annoying. It appeared to continue to be comforting on the back of her neck and shoulders throughout pushing. FHT still 140's. 11:20 p.m. Dawn still semi-seated against Robert and pillows, requested the Generation J CD, which we listened to twice through. We talked about Victoria probably knowing that music when she came out, even if it weren't "traditional" lullaby type music. Dawn mentioned that her back hurt, and Michelle checked blood pressure- 140/82 11:35 p.m. FHT 150's 11:40 p.m. Shanna can see the baby's head during pushes; she has a little dark hair. We talk about whether Robert's hair is dark or light when he isn't shaved. FHT 140's 11:45 p.m. Dawn's back hurts enough that she wants to change positions, even though she doesn't actually want to move- she decides the pain of staying put with her back feeling like that is worse than the pain of changing positions. She moves to a side- lying position on her left side. This helps her back but feels more intense and she isn't ready for the intensity of what the pushing feels like there. 11:55 p.m. Moves back to sitting position. Feels less intense to push. 12:02 a.m. Back hurts too much, she decides it's worth the pushing intensity to relieve it. Back to side lying. 12:18 a.m. Wants to change positions again, moves back to sitting. 12:20 a.m. Dawn offers us coffee. We assure her that we are fine for now, and she can carry on with her business of giving birth. No hospitality required! (I was very impressed that she was interested in anyone else's comfort or preferences at that particular moment, since I couldn't have given a flying flip about anyone or anything else once I was actively pushing out the baby with any of my three births.) 12:25 a.m. From my vantage point at Dawn's shoulder, holding her hand and wielding the cold rag and providing sips of water, I can still see the baby's head during pushes. (i.e. head out enough that one didn't have to be down there at a particular angle in order to see) She really wanted to be done at this point and was asking if it was working (yes-her body was working beautifully, everything was fine) and saying "It can be done and I can do it." Oh, and "sweet Jesus, please help me" during and "thank You, Jesus!" after contractions. She was very quiet during pushing- more of a groan, barely raised her voice at all ever. 12:27 a.m. Moves back to side lying. 12:35 a.m. Can't bear side lying because of intensity of pushing- can't bear semi-sitting because of back pain. She tries laying flat on her back, gets some good pushes but can't stand back pain there either. FHT 140's 12:45 a.m.Tries right side, side lying. FHT 150's 1 a.m. I can see lots of head, even between pushes. 1:10 a.m. Time of birth! Welcome, Victoria Dawn! (Dawn's first words are "Oh, sweet Lord, I'm glad that's over.) Baby is rubbed with towels, looking for a cry- as soon as she does, she is on Mommy's belly- Robert and Dawn both decline to cut the cord, I am thrilled to have that honor. Robert takes a photo as I do so. As soon as the cord is cut, Dawn can hold her (she wouldn't reach until then, cord not long enough). Baby pinks up nicely, no oxygen required. A little bit of suction, not much needed. Dawn is bleeding a bit more than is good- has a shot of Pitocin 10(mg?). This helps some but a few minutes later, appears not to have been enough, so Michelle runs an IV with a bag of ringers lactate and 20 (mg?) Pitocin. I hold the bag up (a la IV pole) for a few minutes and then Robert takes over while I try to help the baby get latched on to help with the bleeding. Victoria is not terribly interested, and feels a bit put out with me for bothering her. She is happy to be skin to skin with mommy, covered in a blanket, hanging out at the breast, though. Michelle did a manual exploration of the uterus after the placenta came out and a piece was missing. I meant to look at it and forgot. The Pit IV is done by 1:35. I get juice for Dawn, which she drinks quickly, and then I get Shanna and Michelle a drink as well. At this point, Michelle is checking for a tear- Dawn has an intact perineum but a "paper cut" type tear in the upper left structure of the labia, which she is going to repair in a bit. Michelle remarks that it was because Victoria had her left hand up by her face on the way out. 1:50 a.m. Shanna heads over to the birth center to get the scale and measuring tape. Michelle helps me help Dawn (who is feeling pretty exhausted, and whose left hand is still occupied by the IV) get the baby latched on, she nurses for about ten minutes. 2:05 a.m. Dawn's blood pressure is 140/72 and 90. (respirations?) More juice. 2:22 a.m. Shanna is back with the scale. Michelle checks, says uterus is "firm at U" and explains it has to do with where the top of the fundus is in relation to the belly button. 2:25 a.m. Latched the baby off for newborn exam. She is 8 lbs 9oz. and 20" long, head circumference is 13.25" and chest circumference is 13.5", she has a little vernix in the creases of her legs. While Shanna was doing the newborn exam, Michelle went to check on doing the repair, and saw that Dawn was bleeding again. It was now to the point in the protocols where Michelle had to recommend transport. An ambulance was called. (They arrived with lights flashing, but the lights and siren were not on as we drove to the hospital.) Michelle called Dr. Dharma and there was some confusion as to whether she was on call or her back up was, but either way, they were expecting us. The EMT's didn't appear to know much about birthing babies, as Michelle was giving them the rundown on what had been done so far, and one of them said "Pit?" like "what's that?" Hmmm. Not reassuring to me! Dawn's blood pressure was still fine, and she was calm. We packed bags, water, bag for the baby, etc. I asked the EMT's if Dawn could have the baby in the ambulance with her, but they said no. Robert put the baby seat in the back of his car and I put the baby in for him, then the ambulance, Robert, Michelle and Shanna, and I all left en route to the hospital. Arrived at the hospital 3:11 a.m. The intake nurse was not terribly thrilled that they were there with no insurance (and was a little snotty about them needing to accept financial responsibility, although Robert and Dawn were both very calm and polite about it), nor was she delighted with all of us heading back to Dawn's room. However, Shanna held Faith (who had kindly SLEPT through the entire birth and all the craziness following it) in the waiting room and Robert (as the dad), Michelle (as the care provider transferring care and needing to speak to who she was transferring care to) and I (as the person holding the baby), were allowed back to Dawn's room. Robert began filling out the paperwork. The nurses on staff (Norma and Cheryl, in particular) were quite kind and accommodating. An IV was started and a Foley catheter inserted as Dawn needed to empty her bladder but couldn't. They gave her more Pit, not sure how much. Also a blood pressure cuff was put on. 4:15 a.m. Paperwork is completed. There is discussion about admitting the baby (baby is fine, and asleep cuddled up to mom) or not, and admitting Dawn and moving her to the postpartum floor. There is a lot of discussion, supervisor "checking with", etc. 4:20 a.m. Robert takes the opportunity for a nap. Dawn and I visit. She is a woman of strong faith and much charm. We talk about her birth, and discuss what the different positions she used in pushing had felt like. She told me:
Blood pressure 130/78 5 a.m. Robert wakes up, BP= 132/80, Gave her a shot of Methergine in her thigh, I wrote "GM 5'61/2" in my notes but am not sure what that was- I had been awake for nearly 24 hours at that point. Maybe the dosage of Methergine? Norma mentions that Dr. Dharma may be coming in to deliver a baby, so they are leaving us where we are instead of moving us to the postpartum floor. (May also have to do with the fact that they do not want to admit Dawn without admitting Victoria, which is not acceptable to Dawn. There seems to be a security issue if the baby is on the floor without being admitted, or even if she is admitted if no one is awake, although I volunteered to stay awake.) 5:18 a.m. Lab nurse comes in to draw complete blood count, she is tired and cranky. She takes off the BP cuff to draw the blood. I hold the baby. Baby would rather be with mom. (surprise! NOT!) Lab nurse does not replace BP cuff when she leaves. Dawn, Robert and I are visiting- they tell me about their first date, and I make note to check out the Purple Parrot in Pensacola as a possible place to stay next time we are going on a family vacation. Their affection for each other is very palpable and heart-warming. The BP cuff tries to do its thing but is not attached to anyone, so it starts making a dreadful beeping noise. I go to the nurses' station to ask them to come turn it off. They come and reapply it to Dawn- BP is 144/81 at 5:25 a.m. We visit some more, and then the dad gum BP alarm goes off some more. I go ask them to come turn it off again. They are very busy, but kindly come and turn it off. 6:07 a.m. BP is 145/77 when the blood work comes back. Hemoglobin is 9.6; I ask if the rest of the numbers look good. Norma very thoughtfully offers me a copy of the lab results, which I gladly accept. Dr. Dharma comes in, and kindly but briskly checks Dawn's bleeding (which has responded well to the Pit and Methergine) and decides not to do a repair on the laceration although she does caution Dawn to take it very easy, she is quite swollen, and gives us the okay to go home without Dawn ever having to be admitted, for which everyone is very grateful. Robert goes and brings the car around, they remove the catheter and IV and we get Dawn all situated with her gown. I go find a wheelchair when Robert gets back having brought the car. The baby poops but Robert already put the baby's things in the car. Dawn and Robert promise to go home, change the baby, nurse the baby, and GO TO SLEEP. I buckle the baby into the car seat again, get Dawn situated in the car, and then we are ready to go! We left the hospital about 6:35 a.m. and I call Michelle to let her know. All's well that ends well! |
||
