Fischer's Birth Story - Part II

“You are doing great! If this is what we need to meet Fischer then you can do it. I know this wasn’t in the plans but you can get through this.”

He really stepped up and was being am amazing coach. It is now 4:45 pm and my midwife decides to check me before starting the Pit. I am still 2 cm dilated. Here comes the IV. . .

Once the Pit was started we could no longer be intermittently monitored so there I was on a leash, so to speak. Before the IV I only had to be monitored for 15 minutes every hour and was free to roam where I pleased. The fetal monitor would not stay put because my belly was so round that it would roll off every time I moved. The Pit started to kick in about a half hour after starting the IV and the waves were feeling more productive already. Jimmy was great at getting me on the birthing ball and putting counter pressure on my back. The thing that felt the best was when the nurses would microwave my rice sock and place that on my lower back. During this phase of labor my favorite position was to stand up and lean into Jimmy and sway my hips back and forth. It was amazing that when I would feel a wave coming on my light switch would instantly be turned to the off position and I moved my anesthesia to where I needed it. My Hypnobabies training was working without even thinking about it.

I must say it was quite a chore to go to the bathroom since Jimmy would have to disconnect the monitors, put the IV on battery power and gather up all the cords to roll me into the bathroom. He had to stand there in the doorway helpless when  a wave would hit while I was trying to pee.

At 8:30 pm my midwife came back in to check me, since the Pit had several hours to start working. I had progressed to 3 cm and 70% effaced now. She also realized that it was my hind waters that were leaking and that my bag hadn’t completely broken. This could be the reason things are going so slowly. We kept up the birthing ball positions, nipple stimulation and reflexology to keep things going.  Jimmy and I were both losing hope that he was going to be born on June 10, 2011 and it was looking more and more like we would be at this the next day too. Our poor parents and siblings down in the waiting room were refusing to go home and kept bugging Jimmy for information that we just didn’t have. All we could say was “things are progressing”.  I know that wasn’t what they wanted to hear but it was all we had.

Hours go by with waves coming every 2-3 minutes lasting sometimes a minute. I keep saying to myself through each wave “open, open, open”. It is now 11:00 pm, the 18-hour mark. My midwife informs me that we now have to start antibiotics since it has been 18 hours from when my water broke. I have now made it to 4 cm and 80% effaced. Jimmy and I discussed it and decided she should break my fore-waters to get him engaged. That made adrenaline start pumping through my body causing me to shake uncontrollably. That was the weirdest feeling. It was making standing through the pressure waves much more difficult. My body was starting to get really exhausted from being up for almost 24 hours.

It is now 3:00 am, Saturday morning and my midwife comes to check me again. Yes, I made it to 5 cm already and 100% effaced. I haven’t even made it to active phase yet. At this point I am seriously thinking that I will be pregnant forever and he just doesn’t want to come out. Fischer’s heart rate is still cool and collected; he is handling the waves and the Pit very well. I am incredibly exhausted now and my body just won’t stand up anymore but it is not comfortable to sit down or lay in bed. I am running on no sleep for 22 hours and Jimmy can tell that I am getting worn down. I am handling the pressure waves just fine, the hypnosis does work.

 I could not believe the words that are about to come out of my mouth. . .

“I need to an epidural. . .”

To be continued