Guest Post (2) Jenna- Carlee & Karis's Birth Stories

Carlee’s Home Birth Story

Sunday, November 9th, 2008 – My amniotic fluid started leaking. I didn’t panic because I wasn’t having accompanying contractions, but I knew we were getting close. And in talking with My Midwife Erin the next day, the baby is ’supposed’ to be born within 24 hours of rupture of membranes, but I wasn’t sure about just the amniotic fluid since my membranes were still intact.

9 am The Next Day – So, it wasn’t a surprise when I started having contractions. I called Erin, who was on the way to Temple this time, and she immediately turned around and headed to our house.  One of the best things about having a homebirth is the midwife making sure she will be at the birth in plenty of time. However, the midwife was a little uncertain she would make it in time, so I called her as soon as I thought I might be having contractions. I got dressed, got the kids dressed and packed, I put on makeup, and picked up some things around the house.

9:30 am – Erin arrived and told me she didn’t have an assistant available. (The previous assistant had jury duty in Houston that day.) So I called my dear friend Rachel, who was planning on being at the birth anyway, and she was so excited to get to assist. I asked Erin to check my dilation, so I could know in my mind if I really was in labor or not, and she said I was at 5 cm and 95% effaced. She never checked me again after that. (She didn’t have to, and she didn’t have to check dilation then either, but I was a little apprehensive since my fluid was leaking.) I also managed to eat some breakfast – a blueberry bagel with cream cheese.

10 am – My mom came to get the kids while I was pacing around the house, gathering clothes and shoes and books for the kids. I kept drinking water when I was thirsty, a huge boost for my stamina throughout labor. I told My Husband Kevin I couldn’t bear to hear the “ding ding ding!” of The Price is Right, so he turned off the tv and streamed KSBJ through his computer. My contractions were getting more regular towards the end of this hour, about 5 minutes apart.

11 am – Somewhere in this hour, I decided to use the birthing pool. While Kevin and Rachel were setting it up, I remember reading my church’s recently published cookbook. (It’s funny what you remember.) I also remember feeling the need to do the dishes but not really wanting to do the dishes. Erin told me I could do pretty much whatever I wanted, that the Amish women would iron when they were in labor, so I could pull out the ironing board if I wanted. Yeah, right. My contractions were getting steadier, still about 5 minutes apart but lasting around 1 minute each. (In my pre-labor, my contractions never lasted more than 45 seconds each.)

Contractions were getting more regular, about 2 minutes apart and I felt the need to push but I couldn’t push against the inflatable pool so well.

1 pm – I got out of the pool and immediately felt the most horrific pain I had ever felt in my life – I would later know this pain as back labor. I immediately fell to my knees over the birthing stool, grabbed Kevin’s forearms and (I’m sorry to say) dug my elbows into his hands during contractions. I couldn’t find any way to get comfortable. Contractions were right on top of each other and I was entering transition. I remember telling Kevin, “It hurts.” So whenever I would feel a contraction coming on, Erin would press really hard on my low back to alleviate some of the pain. Kevin prayed for me after each contraction and encouraged me when my pain was unbearable. He kept whispering, “God, give us strength.” and he told me to keep breathing and relax my whole body so that the baby could relax too.

I also remember asking if the baby’s head was crowning or if I was close to delivery, because the pain was so strong. And right after I asked, I got no answer, which I took to mean that the baby wasn’t close to delivery. So then I started panicking and worrying that the baby would not be okay. Erin reassured me that the baby was working her way into the birth canal, into my pelvis, and that all the contractions and pain would be worth it soon. Even though I wanted it to be sooner, I could feel the baby in my pelvis, getting ready to be born.

1:48 – My water broke, after only a few pushes, and the baby’s head was born, with her cord wrapped around her neck and her hand propped against her chin. (There’s a scientific name for that…) One BIG push later, and she was here! Since her hand was under her chin, it made her shoulders hard to come out, which was why I had to push so hard.

It’s hard to believe that the hardest part of this labor only lasted about 45 minutes. I am thankful I was able to enjoy my labor and that up until that hardest part, it was so calm and peaceful and relaxing. I loved being at home, in a familiar environment with my own clothes on. I loved being able to set the temperature in the room – with my previous births at the hospital, I trembled after I delivered because the hospital rooms were so cold. I loved not having people coming in and out of the room all the time. I loved not being hooked up to any sort of IV or fetal monitoring device – Erin monitored the baby with doppler.

And, the best part about the birth story was her birth! I scooped my baby girl up in my arms and held her close. I told her she was beautiful and that I was so glad she was here.

Carlee Joy Grubbs
November 10th, 2008
1:48 pm
8 lbs., 15 oz.
21″

Karis’s birth story.

December 14th.
8:45 am – I went in for my 38 week check up feeling miserable.  Every day for almost a week prior to this day, I had had regular contractions for about an hour, then they’d subside.  My doctor told me to watch out for these contractions, because he said those who have had multiple pregnancies can get to transition (which is right before birthing the baby) really quickly.  So I went in wanting to know “how much longer”?

The week prior, I was dilated 1 cm.  My OB told me he didn’t want me to walk around at more than 4 cm because of fast transitions and because he worried about my water breaking and the cord being around the baby’s neck.  I knew nothing would happen until I had contractions, but with them being so sporadic, I didn’t know if I should call my OB and come to the hospital to be checked.  And, the baby had been so high up in my uterus that I wasn’t yet worried about her falling out.

My OB has a really great sense of humor and is very personable.  I told him that that day I was headed to Kennedy’s Christmas program at 10:30 that morning.  He told me (all the while doing the exam) to make sure I don’t miss a moment of the Christmas programs, because “it’s so important to take time to…” and then he stopped talking and his eyes got big.  He asked me, “What did I say you were last week?”  I told him 1 cm.  He said, “You’re at 4 cm right now.  Maybe even 5.” and then I started having bloody show.  He pressed on my uterus and said, “You’re having a contraction right now.  Do you feel that?”  And I said no, because I had had way worse than that.

He said I needed to go to Kennedy’s program and then get myself checked in to the hospital.  He mentioned Pitocin, which I told him I didn’t want, and he said he’d break my water, which I wasn’t opposed to doing.  So, I left his office, called Kevin, told him to cancel his plans for the day, made some other phone calls to family, went home to pack my bag, swore at myself for not folding the 5 loads of laundry I had done the night before, and went to Kennedy’s program at school.

It was pretty neat to see and tell some people “Today’s the day!”, especially parents of Kennedy’s friends and her teachers, who kept asking, “When are you due?  How are you feeling?” all semester long.  It was also neat to be able to pack my bag rather than run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to drop off the kids where they needed to go and worry about what time they all get out of school and who would pick them up…

11:30 am – After the program, Kevin and I went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  This wasn’t my first rodeo:  I knew the hospital wouldn’t feed me until the baby was born.  I saw some friends at CFA and they laughed at me when I told them I was in labor!  

12 noon – We arrived at the hospital.  I checked in downstairs, went up the elevators, and walked into a very empty maternity ward.  I was greeted by nurses who asked me, “Are you thinking of having the epidural?”  And I said no.  Their faces lit up as they said, “Oh!  She’s one of our kind!  We love patients like you!”  I really had no idea *I* was so rare.

1 pm – I kept laboring, much like I had labored the past week – heavy contractions for a little while, then a nice long break.  My OB came in, checked me (I was at 6 cm by that time.), then asked if I wanted pitocin.  I told him no, but I said I was ready for him to break my water.  He did break my water and Kevin said it would be 38 minutes from that time until the baby would be born.  Boy, I wish he would have been right.

1:30 pm – We took pictures, videos, and I kept laboring.  Repeat for the next 5-6 hours.  We kept getting texts from family asking “How’s it going?” or “Baby yet?” and that didn’t help me relax.  Meanwhile, every time the ever-encouraging nurses would come in to check me and I was still at 6 cm.  I kept changing positions, I tried all the things that I could possibly do with my water broken to try to get this baby out.  I told Kevin “This baby is going to be laid-back.  Not in a hurry.  She’ll get here when she gets here.”

7:30 pm – At this point, the baby was starting to move into my birth canal, but she flipped posterior so that I had extremely intense [painful] back labor and Kevin had to press really hard on my back to alleviate some of the pain.  (And because of this, I would have bruises and soreness for a week after the baby was born.)

Unfortunately, at this point I also lost my supportive nurses at this point because they went off shift. And, supportive nurses were replaced by epidural-happy nurse.  EHN came in as if I hadn’t been laboring for the past 6 hours with my water broken, asked if I wanted an epidural, and when I said no, she hung around for several painful contractions.

8 pm  - Also with EHN in the room, I remember screaming at Kevin that I couldn’t do this anymore and that I couldn’t handle the pain that was happening (with the baby being posterior).  In my mind, I was ready to settle for a c-section, just to get her born.  The pain was that intense.  EHN suggested that I could try some staidol to alleviate the pain, and then some pitocin to make the contractions more intense.  I didn’t want the pitocin because I knew the contractions would hurt like crazy.  But, since it’s standard practice to give OB patients pitocin after labor anyway, in order to help the uterus contract back to normal faster, I decided to go ahead and have just a bit.  My OB was also there at the time and told me, “We don’t have to give you too much, just enough to make those contractions come more regularly.”

So, he checked me before all these things happened, and I was still only at maybe 7-8 cm.  And I started screaming at EHN to take the monitors off of me and to get away from me.. I begged for an epidural at that point.  I’m pretty sure I wanted to rip my IV off too.. all of that is foggy because of the staidol.

And then, I needed to push.

Let me interject here to tell you all what a superstar husband Kevin is – he deflected all the texts and calls, he ran out of phone battery trying to get everyone up to the hospital when needed, and most importantly, he was the best labor coach I could have ever asked for.  All those intense contractions and times when I didn’t think I could even breathe on my own, and he was there holding my hand and breathing with me.  Sometimes I think he was more tired than I was at the end.  I had to go through physical pain, but he had to endure the emotional pain of watching me in pain.  There were many times when I wanted to give up, and the only thing stopping me was Kevin.  If he hadn’t encouraged me and cheered me on and prayed with me, I definitely would have ended up with that c-section.  Instead…

8:30 pm – Things got really interesting in the room; all the table setting up and taking down and nursery nurses entering and people trying to get me fully dilated. I pushed my way into 10 cm and then my OB took over.  I forgot how to push.  My OB helped me push.  Kevin helped me breathe.  I got into a position that was comfortable for me (forget grabbing my legs and laying on my back).  After a few pushes, my OB said to wait while he got the cord untangled from her neck. And then, I looked down and saw her head.

8:41 pm – Karis Mercy Grubbs was born.  20 inches long, 6 pounds and 13 ounces big.  The first thing I noticed about her wasn’t how big she was but how loud her scream was.  It was a beautiful sound.  She looked so purple but her apgar scores were 8 and then 9 (at 10 mins.)  Kevin and I cried and kissed and then he got on the phone – my parents and our kids were just downstairs; they had brought Kevin’s phone charger just a few minutes before.  The OB’s first words were, “She looks like her sisters!” and boy does she ever.  And, then he prayed with us before he left the hospital that night.

We were so blessed to have such a wonderful experience.  All things said, it wasn’t exactly how I pictured it, but it was exactly what needed to happen without too much intervention.  I didn’t have any tearing or stitching, and all of the tests they ran on Karis came back a-ok, so we got to go home when she was 24 hours old.  Everyone who took care of me did a fantastic job.

Other than that, all I’ll say is, “Don’t walk your infant by the elevators, or the alarm system will think you’re stealing a baby.”