Birth Story

On Tuesday, January 23rd, my water broke at birthing class. I wasn't sure whether this was the "real thing," so I didn't mention it to our midwives and we went home. By midnight, labor had begun and was heavy enough that I couldn't sleep. I woke Seth up at 1:00am and we called the midwives a few hours later. I labored at home through the night. At 5:00am, we went into the New Dawn office and I was 3 cm dialated. Our midwife confirmed that my water had broken. We went home, grabbed a few things, and met the midwife at the hospital at 6:30am. I labored without medication throughout the day and into the evening. I was in and out of the birthing pool, which felt nice. I continued to dialate, but then seemed to "stall" at 8 cm. After being at 8 cm for a little while, with no sleep the night before and my body beginning to tire out, our midwife suggested that I have a "whiff" of pitocin to make my contractions more intense. At this point, I was so exhausted and doing everything in my power to ride each contraction. I didn't think that I could handle pitocin-induced contractions that were any more intense than what I was experiencing. We agreed that I would have an epidural, then some pitocin. I waited for an hour for the epidural, and finally at 7:00pm got it. My dialation progressed quickly, I was able to have a brief rest, and then we were ready for pushing. I pushed for four hours. My contractions were 3 minutes apart, and with each contraction I would push 4 times for 10 seconds each time. (I think if my math is right, this means I pushed 320 times for 10 seconds each time.) I put my feet on the shoulders of Seth and a nurse, grabbed their hands, and pushed against them. I could see the baby's head, and feel it too, and we felt like we were so close to the birth. Finally, the midwife had to call the backup doctor to come in and advise us, because I had been pushing for too long and the baby's head was not coming under the pubic bone. The doctor came in and after feeling around for the baby's nose said that it looked like the baby's head was turned the wrong way. Instead of the crown of the head coming out, we were seeing a very swollen section of the side of the head, and even vacuum extraction would be impossible, because they can't turn the head and vacuum extract at the same time. The doctor recommended a cesarian birth. Seth, I should say, was amazing throughout my labor. He went above and beyond any expectations I could have possibly had, constantly encouraging me and staying with me throughout. He didn't nap or barely even stop to eat. During the four hours of pushing I don't think he sat down once, he held me leg up the entire time and pushed with me. (My friend Cindy was also there for a good portion of the labor, helping me get through contractions and photographing the labor...she was a saint!) When the doctor said cesarian birth, we were crushed. We were so depleted... Throughout labor, the baby's heart rate was strong, and the baby never showed any signs of distress, so the cesarian was not an emergency. The doctor said I could continue to push while they prepped for surgery, and I did. Finally, they wheeled me in for surgery. They gave me an unbelievable amount of medication, I thought I would puke or pass out. They said I wouldn't feel any pain, just "some pressure and tugging." I can't describe (nor would you want me to) what it feels like to have your organs pushed and pulled..."pressure and tugging" are not words that come to mind! At 4:10am on Thursday morning, Myles Seth Hendler-Voss was born. Seth asked them not to announce whether the baby was a girl or boy, he wanted to look and then tell me. The doctors told him when it was time, and he looked over the curtain and saw that the baby was a boy (he also saw my uterus hanging out to dry). He told me it was a boy, and Myles cried right away, this really vigorous cry. He was weighed and measured, and we were shocked to hear that he weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz because Seth and I were both under 7 lbs at birth and I didn't think I would carry a baby that big (especially for a first baby). Then Seth brought him over to me and I told him his name for the first time. There's nothing like seeing your baby for the first time, I won't even try to describe it. We were taken to recovery, then eventually to our room, where Myles and I were checked by nurses around the clock. We discovered that you can't get any sleep in the hospital! So that's the birth story. It was a very hard experience, and not at all what we had envisioned. I think it will take some time for me to process it all. At the same time, I am thankful for many things. Seth was amazing, and I think our marriage is forever changed and deepened by this experience. The baby is healthy, and I realized how good it was that in the midst of all our struggles with labor and delivery, the baby's well being was never in question. Also, an unexpected perk to cesarian birth is that Seth has had to be much more involved in the care of the baby. Since I couldn't get out of bed right away, and couldn't change the baby's diapers or walk with him, Seth did all of that for several days. I think all that time together has been good for Seth and the baby, and I don't know how I would have managed without Seth. I am also incredibly grateful that I was able to labor naturally for as long as I did. I do feel like I had that experience of a natural labor, although the birth was cesarian. So in the midst of lots of struggles, there's a lot to be thankful for...and of course the arrival of Myles was so amazing that it puts a hard labor and delivery in perspective. He is so beautiful that we wanted to share another picture of him with you. Today he is one week old!