the birth story

Hooookay. So here comes the story of Greta's birth, no holds barred. For perspective feel free to start off by reading the story of Soren's birth here: http://iktownsend.blogspot.com/2007/06/soren-carter-made-his-grand-debut-8.html

So despite having announced that I planned on having this baby July 11th the weekend came and went with no sign of anything starting. At my last midwife appointment on my due date I had been 2-3cm dilated and about 50% effaced, so she had stripped my membranes, but to no avail. Sunday I was upset at the prospect of Isaac going back to work on Monday and having to chase Soren around in all my misery. So I tried some of the old-wives tales about things to induce labor- ate half a papaya, a ton a pineapple, did some accupressure on my legs, and went for a long (for a very pregnant woman) walk. Monday morning Isaac got up about 5:00 to get some work done, and I woke up feeling what I thought might be contractions. I tried to stay in bed, but they quickly ramped up to strong enough that I had to get up. I spent some time wondering around, got in the shower for a while, and then when it became apparent that this was it we called my sister Beth to come watch Soren, and called my doula Carey to come over. I got into the downstairs jacuzzi tub at about 7:00 which felt really good. In fact it felt so good that I stayed there until about 10:30. My contractions stayed at about 3 minutes apart and 45 seconds long for pretty much the entire time we were at home, never got longer or closer together, but definitely got more intense. At about 11:30 I decided that I wanted to go to the hospital before the contractions got much worse.

It's too bad there was no one taping the ride to the hospital, because I'm sure we were quite the scene. We stopped at a red light at 50th and France, right next to a bunch of people enjoying their lunch outside at the D'Amico's, and of course right then I had a massive contraction. Next time you see Isaac you should ask him to do his impression of what I looked like screaming in the back seat. Carey suggested that I might be more comfortable leaning over the back seat of our station wagon, so we drove up 100 with me hanging over the back seat screaming. I would have loved to see the faces of drivers passing us.

When we got to the hospital at about 12:15 Isaac dropped Carey and I off and went to park the car. I really didn't want to have a contraction in the lobby and make a big scene, and it's a long walk to the elevators, so I was pretty much running down the hall with Carey chasing me. We got up to labor & delivery and the assessment room where my midwife Karen was waiting, and found out that I was dilated to 7cms! Much better than my progress with Soren! So I ran down the hall to the delivery room and leapt into the tub. I have to say that until we left the house I think I was managing the contractions pretty well. I mean it was no walk in the park, but I was hanging in there. But in the car and when we got to the hospital I started losing it. Isaac, Carey and Karen did a stellar job of getting me back on track and helping me figure out how to manage, but damn was it hard! I didn't last long in the tub at the hospital before I started feeling "pushy". Karen checked and I was 9.5 cms with just a lip of cervix left. So she had me get into some different positions in the bed to try to get past that last little bit. What she didn't tell me was why it was that I was stuck on that last little bit of cervix (foreshadowing!). She also broke my water (the only intervention I ended up getting). There was meconium in the water, so they had to call the NICU to come down and be ready to check her. Although I wasn't quite completely dilated Karen said I could start pushing, which actually felt good. Not good in an enjoyable way, but good in a less excruciating way. I pushed for about an hour, and at 2:20pm Greta Christine was born- sunny side up!! Most babies are born facing down, but Greta came out facing up, which was why she had gotten stuck on my pubic bone for a while. Karen said that she thinks if Greta had not been sunny side up that we wouldn't have made it to the hospital! After a third-degree tear with Soren I only had a small "skid-mark" (sounds nice, huh?) that required one stitch. My recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, the worst was that my tailbone was sore for a day or so, but by day two I was feeling back to normal!

I'm still working on processing the whole experience. Although it obviously went a lot smoother than Soren's birth, I think it was actually harder for me. Isaac disputes this, so we'll see if some distance gives me a different perspective. Right now I'm traumatized enough that the thought of doing that a third time terrifies me, but IF (note the big if) we did I'm not sure if I would do it unmedicated or not. Probably, but damn the thought of it makes me want to invest in a good chastity belt.