I have taken a looong break from blogging, and for the record, I hate it when I read a blog and the blogger spends time apologizing for not writing for an extended time. It's like get over yourself, if I am reading this its because I googled something and your blog popped up... I have no idea how often you normally blog...B U T I feel like I kinda got a good excuse here to say that I haven't blogged in a while... I had a freaking baby! Of course I feel the need to write about my experiences with him, so he may be the subject of some posts from now on... but I digress. Here is the story of his arrival with likely too much detail for the average reader, but just enough for myself (I am sure my future self is thanking me riiight now). So... here's the story:
Canyon Nehemiah Overduin was born March 16th at 5:14 pm at Fontana Kaiser Hospital. He weighed 6 pounds and 4 ounces (tiny though he was 6 days overdue! He was in the 3rd percentile for weight).
Canyon’s birth was pretty crazy (though I am sure every new mom feels this way about their labor and delivery!). I basically did not follow the typical signs of labor progressing. My contractions were 10 minutes apart up until about 15 minutes before I started pushing, and the closest they ever got were about 5 minutes apart.
On Friday the 11th (my due date was the 10th) I woke up in the middle of the night from some fairly painful contractions. After they didn’t go away after an hour and were about 10 minutes apart, I decided to wake up my husband. At this point I wasn’t completely sure if what I felt were in fact contractions. For me they felt like period cramps at first, then I could feel tightening up to the top of the uterus. My husband could see my stomach tightening, too. After about an hour the pain went away, but I could still feel periodic tightening. Eventually they died out and we went back to sleep. This was the first of our bad nights of sleep :)
During Sunday I felt these contractions off and on. We thought I was probably in pre-labor (yay!) which I was happy about especially since my OB wanted to induce me, though she was respecting my wishes to wait until I was 41.5 weeks, which I really appreciated (there was no medical need to be induced). Sunday night they were painful enough to wake me up again, and that I needed to breathe through them. I am accustomed to very painful periods that I also need to breathe through, and I teach yoga, so this came pretty naturally to me. I found that I simply used the long inhale and exhale with an “O” mouth during my entire labor. It was simple and allowed me to visualize what was happening in my body. I visualized my cervix opening and the muscles of my uterus like blue ribbons (a technique from the hypnobirthing method). Sometime on Monday I started to have bloody show, which continued up until Canyon’s birth.
My contractions continued throughout Monday, but were spaced pretty far apart. It seemed that my labor always picked up at night, and by Tuesday at 2 am, I had 3 contractions in 10 minutes so we headed to the hospital. We live about an hour away, and I had been in labor for a while so I didn’t want to wait too long. This was the closest my contractions ever got before pushing (though I didn’t know it at the time), however, once we got in the car my contractions slowed down to about 1 every 10 minutes again. In triage they examined me and said I was about 3-3.5 cm dilated and after 2 hrs of monitoring I was about 3.5-4 cm. The nurse and midwife had looked at my birth plan on file and since I did not want any interventions or drugs, recommended that I come back when I have progressed further. We went to Denny’s in hopes of making some progress, but then ended up going back home for another night. At home I walked about a mile and a half, sat on the birthing ball, sat on the dilation station, did it all!
By Wednesday morning I was getting exhausted. My husband had the routine down by now. Every time he heard my breathing, he would bring a cold rag with lavender oil on my forehead and cheeks. This happened all through the night so we woke up every 10 minutes for three days. I was ready to do about anything to get this baby out of me. I called the advice nurse and she said to stay home until my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart for 2 hours, which is the same advice they gave me at the hospital. I asked if it was normal to feel like this for so long to which she said, “girl, I was 4 cm for a month!” This was crushing news. I could not see how anyone could live like this for a month. Looking back, I am sure that what I experienced was very different than what she experienced. I had missed my last OB appointment the previous day (Tuesday) since I was at the hospital. I knew they were going to start doing non stress tests on me since I was overdue. I decided to call to schedule one, or try to talk to my OB. My Ob was out, so I made the appointment for an NST. Thank God that they had an appointment the same day at 1 pm.
We drove back down for the appointment, my contractions still 10 minutes apart and just as intense as they had been the whole time. They were definitely too difficult to talk through and maintain focus on my breath. When they examined me, they found that my fluids were low, so they said they were going to “induce” me (whatever that means when you’re already 4 cm). I went across the street to the hospital and was settled in by about 3 pm. As I was walking to the delivery room the OB commented, “you’re looking pretty good for being 4 cm!” Well, once I was examined by the nurse she exclaimed “I can’t believe you’re not feeling this; you’re at 7 cm!” I was shocked and so very happy! I had mentally prepared for the worst but was so pleased that I was progressing even though my contractions were spaced far apart.
I told the nurse before I was examined that I preferred a natural childbirth, but that I was at the point where I would pretty much do anything to get this baby out. We decided to wait and see how it went, and obviously once we knew I was at 7 cm the answer was clear. I didn’t even need them to break my water.
Thank God I went in for the NST; I progressed extremely quickly but I still had the outer symptoms of being in early labor. Within about 2 hours I was fully dilated and I pushed for about 10 minutes. No drugs or interventions needed! My bag broke once I reached 10 cm (though Canyon still had the bag partially around him and there was some debate by the nurses if my bag needed to be broken), where I IMMEDIATELY felt not only the urge to push, but the uncontrollable reaction by my body. Had I not come for the NST I would have given birth at home!
The first two pushing contractions were kind of a mess. But once I understood what my body was doing, I was able to focus and use “J breathing” to help birth him. I felt like I could have birthed him slower so that I wouldn’t tear, but they were telling me the baby’s heart rate was dropping so I needed to push hard. This of course gave me ultimate determination. In my hyper-focused state I realized one of the nurses was on the phone requesting an immediate O2 tree; there was supposed to be one there and there wasn’t. I realized even more that I needed to focus and listen to instructions. They told me to breathe deeply during contractions and helped me push more effectively. I got him out in about 4 pushes, but it was all such a blur that time slowed immensely. I don’t remember when my Mom walked in the room, but I remember her saying, “I can see his head!” Once he was born and brought right to my chest, I was filled with wonder. All I could say is “Oh my gosh!” Over and over again. He was beautiful, and I felt as though I recognized him from one of the later ultrasounds I had done. His umbilical cord was still attached and really cool looking; it was curly! I birthed the placenta with the next contraction; and I was surprised that this also hurt. Everyone says it’s no big deal, which is true, but it’s not painless. I requested to look at the placenta, which seemed huge! Honestly, the worst part for me was being stitched up. I had 2 tears and needed 2 stitches. I also bled a lot, likely because I had high blood pressure. They were very close to putting me on blood pressure medication while I was in labor. The nurse said it was likely because I was internalizing the pain of labor. Ummm, yeah I would think someone in labor for 3 days might have slightly elevated blood pressure! But the tears are worth it to know Canyon is healthy. He was alert from the moment they put him on my chest, but didn’t cry until they suctioned him, and even then for a moment. A testament to natural childbirth! After this experience, I actually believe it would be so much more difficult with an epidural. But this was the right choice for me. Following your instincts is absolutely the best path possible.
Update:
At four months postpartum I am just recently feeling like I can be active again. It wasn’t until Canyon was three months that I felt able to work out and be able to do anything in the bedroom (sorry, Mom, hope you’re not reading this!). It was extremely hard for me to not be active like I wanted to be during this time. I thought that I did everything naturally, plus I worked out during my pregnancy, so recovery should be a breeze, right??? Well, not in my case. But I am healing. I am still not 100%, but I am slowly getting there. Hopefully in a few months I will feel completely like my old self again.
