My Birth Story

These irregular contractions continued through the day. My sister left that afternoon as they had to get back for their kids’ Back to School Night. My mom, Greg and I ran a few errands, grabbed lunch and ice cream (at my favorite place – Kilwins) and continued about our day.  The evening rolled around and at 8:20pm, we were relaxing at the house and eating our leftovers from lunch earlier that day. I was eating my salad from Chopt when I felt a huge POP in my vagina. It felt like Baby L punched me in the uterus as hard as he could. It honestly scared the crap out of me initially when I gasped and looked at Greg. “I think my water just broke!” Greg immediately took flight, told me it was okay and walked me to the bathroom. I was shaky and scared – I think I cried a little (lol) – but I quickly calmed down.

[[Side Note: I was told by my midwives as well as in our birthing classes, that usually when your water breaks its more of a trickle instead of a big gush. Some women mistake it for peeing. It is also less common as only 20% of women’s membranes rupture (their waters break) prior to labor – most are ‘broken’ during the laboring process.]] 

Ha! In my case, it was not a trickle — it was a very big gush. There was water on the chair I was sitting in when it happened, my pants were soaked, and when I sat down on the toilet it continued to gush out. I put on a Depends when it seemed to slow down and we called my midwife, Tammy. 

She stated that usually after the waters break, labor begins to pick up, although that isn’t always the case, and that we should update her in another hour or so with how things are going. 

Ohhh Yeah. About ten minutes later, labor definitely ramped up and the intense contractions began. I was pacing around the living room and kitchen with each contraction as sitting down only felt worse. Greg tracked each contraction while I focused on my breathing. 

We live about 45 minutes from the hospital I was delivering at, but I didn’t want to get there too early so it was a bit tricky with planning on when to leave. It was around 9:ooPM and my mom and Greg were suggesting that we head towards the hospital. Initially I was against it,  but I quickly agreed as they reminded me that the contractions were only going to get stronger, and I wouldn’t want to be sitting in the car when they did. So, I put on a new Depends, changed into comfy clothes, and Greg put our bags in the car before leaving. 

They were right, and I’m glad we left when we did. By the time we got to the hospital it was around 10:00PM and the contractions were closer together and very intense. I felt them a lot in my lower back. We went up to the nurses triage and checked in to be evaluated. After being called back to a room, the nurse checked me, I changed into a hospital gown and she set me up to a machine to monitor my contractions. She also tested to ensure that my water did break (which they did) and she checked my cervix — I was about 3.5cm dilated at this point. She called Tammy to let her know, and she informed us that we wouldn’t be going home.

We were transferred and got to a labor + delivery room around midnight. It was a fairly large room with a large couch, decent space and a nice sized bathroom with a tub and shower. The room was exactly how I could have wanted it. Tammy had the ceiling lights dimmed and only a string of Christmas lights hung so that the lighting was still low. She had a diffuser going with calming lavender oil and she was playing soothing music in the background. The vibe and ambience was perfect.

Greg and my mom carried all of our bags into the room and got settled in. Greg told my mom to get some rest as we were all very tired at this point, so she laid down on the couch to take a nap.

My contractions continued to get more intense and closer together as they should during labor. I was determined to deliver our son naturally without an epidural or other medicinal interventions so I tried all types of positions and ways to cope with the pain.

At one point, Tammy raised the top half of the hospital bed so it was more like a chair, and I had my knees on the lower part with my arms at the top leaning into it. Greg and Tammy took turns massaging my lower back. They also occasionally applied counter pressure to my hips and pelvis to alleviate the pain. I didn’t stay in this position long however as standing up and moving around felt a lot more comfortable than sitting or laying down. Greg and I walked around the hospital floor every so often, we danced (swayed) in our room during contractions, and I sometimes just wanted to stand in place or slightly lean/bend over on the bed while he again applied pressure or massaged my lower back with a tennis ball. I tried sitting on a yoga ball but that only made things more painful for me. The only time(s) that I sat or laid in the hospital bed was when they needed to take my vitals, hook me up and monitor my contractions every so often and/or when Tammy checked to see how dilated I was. She did not check me too often though as there are higher chances of infection since my waters already broke. 

Laboring was extremely painful (obviously), but it felt the most intense in my lower back. I had ‘back labor’ the entire time. Before going into this, my plan was to labor in the birthing tub, but during labor… a lot changes lol. I was in so much pain that I didn’t know what I wanted. Tammy and Greg were amazing the entire time, trying to ask me what I wanted, but honestly all I kept saying was “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.” Because, well, I really didn’t know what would help ease the pain. 

Eventually, I opted to get in the shower and have the hot water run down on me. I continuously turned back and forth so that my back and belly took turns with having the hot water hit it. I also let the water hit my breasts and nipples, as breast/nipple stimulation is said to help move labor along by dilating the cervix. As the contractions came, I could sometimes feel my body clenching and tensing up. I became very conscious of this and forced myself to relax the entire time and fully feel each contraction. Clenching and tensing up tends to stall or slow down labor. The hot water helped with the pain slightly, but not as much as I hoped for. I threw up in the shower for the second time during labor (the first time was about an hour before when I was walking around our room) because the pain was so bad. 

I stayed in the shower for close to an hour before deciding to get out. At this point my contractions felt like they were only 1-2 minutes apart and that I barely had a chance to relax in between. I cried out to Greg a few times as I was in so much pain. He truly was my rock and the glue that kept me together during this whole thing. I didn’t tell him this at the time, but in the shower, I was thinking to myself that if I wasn’t farther dilated at this point then I couldn’t take it any longer and wanted the epidural. Greg just kept telling me how strong I was and how proud he was of me. 

It was about 4:00am at this point, I had gotten out of the shower, and I wanted Tammy to check me again. I felt a lot of pressure in my butt, and I had the urge to push. She first hooked me up to monitor my contractions again and to check my blood pressure. It was slightly high and the baby’s heart rate was slightly increasing and decreasing with the contractions. She initially requested for some blood work to be done to make sure the baby was okay and that I wasn’t developing eclampsia. However, she checked me right after, and I was 9.5cm dilated at this point!