The due date (9/20) came and went and I had already told CGB that we'd do one of our urban hikes on Saturday to get some delicious Arizmendi pizza to walk BBH out. It's a beautiful 4-mile walk roundtrip that takes you through Golden Gate Park, by the fragrant rose garden and past the De Young/Science Center. On this particular day, we got started around 11AM. It was a sunny, comfortable day and we definitely stopped to smell the roses.
Once we got to Arizmendi, CGB went ahead and got a whole order of pizza per our usual. It was mushrooms, red onions and rosemary oil, and as always we got it to go and enjoyed it together on a bench in the botanical gardens. A pesky squirrel and curious scrub jay even came to visit during our meal. As we headed back, I started to feel some contractions. Nothing too painful but these were definitely not Braxton Hicks anymore. As we walked past the De Young, I decided to take a quick bathroom break and we finished the 2 remaining slices of pizza that we had carried out of the botanical gardens. We even stopped to take another photo (the last, as it turned out) of "the bump."
By the time we got home, the contractions were starting to get a bit annoying. I told CGB, "Oh yeah, these are the real deal now." At 3PM, we decided to pre-pack and get everything into the car ready to go, assuming that we'd likely end up heading to the hospital in the morning. Once everything was packed we took a look at some movie times and were pretty disappointed that there wasn't really anything interesting to watch. Dredd was the highest rated option, other than The Master. The Master was probably the better movie, but we really didn't want to have to concentrate that hard on a movie that was already being reviewed as needing more than one viewing.
We decided to head out for a 5:15PM viewing of Dredd, and it was perfect. Pulpy, easy to follow, gory, super bloody fun. We didn't see it in 3D, but I could see the benefits of it considering the "slo-mo" effects. The movie did a great job of keeping my mind off the contractions. They were noticeable, but I was having too much fun to mind them. We drove back home right after around 7PM and the drive back wasn't too bad. Uncomfortable, but tolerable. I could still talk during the contractions without any problem.
Back home, I decided to re-read a few pertinent chapters of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth which CGB and I were finding to be the BEST reference for our plan to have a natural unmedicated childbirth. Meanwhile, CGB timed my contractions using an iPhone app - they weren't very consistent every 3-9 mins. Around midnight I decided I should probably get some sleep in preparation for the big day, but sleep wasn't coming. I lay in bed as CGB organized music, gathered some final "Hospital Humor" photos for the iPad and also re-read Ina May. He joined me around 1AM and started timing contractions again. By 3AM, they were coming in every 2-3 minutes, we had not yet reached the standard 1 minute in length, but we'd been going like this for at least 2 hours so we decided to call it in.
The nurse on the phone took in our information and told us to, "scoot on in." Luckily we live only 5 minutes away from the hospital so we took our time to both shower, feed the cats and triple check our list. I painfully walked down the 4 flights of stairs to the car, stopping and initiating my deep breathing with each contraction. At even only 5 minutes, the drive to the hospital was excruciating. When we got to the OB reception, I saw another couple get turned away. "Not yet" a woman told her husband as they picked up their hospital bag and returned back home. I hoped that was not our fate.
After settling us in, a few nurses took our vitals and some blood (which ended up leaving a horrible bruise). I have a feeling that after the couple before us, they were pretty used to turning people away and expected the same for us. Around 5:30AM, someone checked and found that I was 100% effaced and 4 cm dilated - we were being moved up to Labor & Delivery! "Halfway there," CGB thought to himself...boy was he wrong! From 6-8AM, a nurse named Kris took care of us and monitored BBH's heartbeat. She was fine at 135-145 bpm reacting appropriately to every contraction. I declined an IV in order to stay mobile, we walked the hallways and kept trying different breathing sounds.
From 8AM on, nurses Kim and Natalie took over. CGB immediately taped up legal sized photos from our Belize honeymoon and turned on ambient ocean sounds to help me focus on relaxation which really helped. We had a huge window and I'd often just stare out to fit and happy people going about their morning. Every chance he could, CGB made eye contact with me and offered a different breathing pattern which I would mimic to get through the pain. At noon, I was checked again and progress had been made: 5-6cm! There was some doctor chatter about breaking the waters, but nurse Kim didn't believe it would be necessary.
CGB ordered some lunch and had a cheeseburger and fries while I sipped water and ate strawberry jello. I bounced on the birthing ball and just watched him eat with envy. We continued to walk, breath and focus as CGB put up a photo I took of the Pantheon (one of my favorite focal points) to help me keep thinking "open." After lunch, the pain increased and CGB decided to share his "Hospital Humor" photo gallery on the iPad with me. It was a collection of various photos we'd taken throughout the years and internet memes that he knew had made me laugh. However, an afternoon check at 2PM found that we had not made any progress. Luckily hourly fetal monitoring found that BBH was beyond content to stay in the womb, maintaining her heartbeat and showing zero signs of distress.
At 3PM, it had been 24 hours of labor (almost 12 in the hospital) so we all agreed to break the waters. Kim told me that things would progress quickly soon after and to prepare for the rush. Sure enough the pain did come faster and some of the "Hospital Humor" photos weren't cutting it for me. I focused on the Pantheon and kept walking and bouncing on the birthing ball. Instead of just deep breathing I was starting to groan. By 4PM, we had progressed to 6cm and Kim told us to prepare for active labor and the pain of transition. She told us that transition was when she found that women go crazy and completely lose control. Kim had shared with us earlier in the day that she had been through a natural unmedicated birth herself, so she was purposeful in making eye contact with me and telling me to "be ready for it."
From 5:30-7PM, I can't even correctly recollect all the details of the labor. CGB tells me that I was on my hands and knees on the bed, grabbing the handrails with every contraction and growling, grunting and snarling like a wild animal. I remember telling everyone I wanted to push, but being told it wasn't yet time. My eyes were closed or squinted from this moment on. Kim and CGB took turns wiping my brow and offering me water after every contraction. I remember exclaiming, "HOW AM I NOT SUPPOSED TO PUSH THROUGH THIS?!" I dreaded the fetal monitoring every half-hour, but was thankful every time I heard that BBH was happy as a clam inside. At 7PM, I heard the words I desperately wanted to hear: "You are complete, let's prepare for pushing."
In my delirium I heard CGB ask how long this last stage might take. Kim told him anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. It had now been 16 hours since we were admitted and 28 hours since labor had first started. The end just kept moving farther and farther away from us. We tried pushing on all fours to begin with, and made slow progress. We had the squat bar placed as requested and made better progress there. My eyes were still closed, I was sweating profusely and beyond exhaustion. I heard nothing but words of encouragement but could sense that I wasn't progressing during this time as quickly as the OB and nurses had hoped. I was tired and deep inside my head, I honestly wasn't sure I could go on. At 8PM, CGB feared that my exhaustion was too great and later told me that he could sense the OB wanting to intervene (possibly with an episiotomy) and decided he needed to put the pedal to the metal. He leaned behind me and coached me through the next several pushes as we "pushed" together. He told me we were so, so close. For one brief moment I remember not being able to feel him behind me and I asked, "Where are you?" He pushed back into me in response and told me we were almost there. Suddenly the room was abuzz as BBH started to crown. Between my squinted eyes I could see things were moving and scrubs were being pulled on. The bed was prepared for delivery and I could sense the feeling in the room shift to much anticipation. With my last reserves, CGB and I pushed together, through the "ring of fire." At 8:21PM, I felt a huge gush of water and instant, immediate relief. Adrenaline coursed through my body as a wet and wriggly baby was placed onto my belly. My own eyes finally opened at the same time BBH's did. She cried and scanned the entire room. She latched for breastfeeding immediately watching me every second with surprising consciousness.
Our original plan was to have the OB cut the umbilical cord, but after the entire journey, CGB decided to do it after all. We even had the icing on top of having them wait to cut the cord until it stopped pulsating. Other than the intervention of breaking the waters, everything we wanted came true. No IV, no epidural, no pitocin and what we once thought to be inevitable...no cesarean.
After an initial hour of euphoria, I officially passed out and CGB took care of the rest. Two stitches and a placenta later, we were moved to Recovery where we spent the next 48 hours as mini-celebrities for our amazingly long and completely unmedicated natural birth. At 8lbs, 1oz and 21 inches long, she surprised everyone with her strength and alertness, scoring a solid 9 on her APGAR.
This first week at home is an entirely new (and scary) adventure, but I am so unbelievably grateful that Rain Althea Barratt remained cool, calm and collected through a 29-hour labor to make all this possible. She's already proven herself to be one strong little lady.
