Little Prince's Birth Story - Part 2

Life has been busy this week with back to school and after working out my calendar for the rest of this month, busy is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future. Still, I’m okay with that. It’s difficult some days and there will be a few times this month where I will be seriously wishing I had a couple clones of myself but – such is life at the Corner Table House.

But back to the story. Where were we? Ah, right, I made it through Princess’s birthday party and we planned on spending the weekend together as a family… 

Saturday night, after going for a walk, I started having contractions. I timed them. I talked, walked and even danced through the pains. Despite knowing (and trust me, after having previously had three babies I knew) that the pains were different and this was the beginning of labor, after nearly 5 hours of contractions, and the beginning of some very light spotting of blood, I was tired. So I decided to try and get some sleep since it was already two in the morning. I knew after all that I wouldn’t sleep through the main event and that my body was going to need all the rest it could possibly get. 3 hours later I was up again and walking, dancing, talking and just breathing through more contractions.

By noon I’d called my parents and they’d come in to hang out with us at the house for the day. Shortly after they arrived I started to get a little worried though. What had begun around midnight the night before as a very slight pinkish ‘show,’ suddenly darkened and was a true and bloody red.

By 3pm my contractions had basically stalled at 4-6 minutes apart with what I considered a moderate pain intensity – I could still talk and walk through them but they were finally becoming what I called pain. (Again, remember I’d previously gone through 3 completely unmedicated deliveries and knew what the true pain to come could be.) By 4pm the amount of blood I was losing started to concern me and I decided that I should go to the hospital to get checked out just to be careful. Lil Sis arrived about 5pm to take the older children for the night and not too long after that Heli Dad and I were out the door. My parents drove us to the hospital so that we wouldn’t have to worry about parking.

Check in at the hospital went smooth and was without issue. In short order, I was wearing a hospital gown with monitors strapped over my rather large belly, while nurses gauged and tracked my contractions. The timing and intensity was still basically the same as it had been all afternoon, but just as I’d grown concerned by the blood I was losing, the nurses and on call OB seemed to be as well. Within the first hour I was at the hospital the rate and quality of my blood loss increased even more and it was determined that while the baby was still handling the stress of the labor well, we could no longer simply wait for my contractions to progress naturally. For the first time in my birthing experience I would have to receive pharmaceutical intervention to induce labor.

My completely all natural birth plan was suddenly altered.

I rolled with it though. Because A) what else could I do? and B) I was increasingly worried about the blood loss and could tell that though they were down playing it the nurses and doctor were too. Plus there’s also the simple fact that C) women worldwide are induced for labor all the time, so in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t something I really felt I needed to get hung up on.

For me this was one turning point but while I felt some hesitation of the unknown, I wasn’t scared. Any birthing can be “good” or “bad,” a lot of that comes down to the laboring mother’s perception and mental state, but I’ve never felt that interventions, be they medical or pharmaceutical, can or should take the blame if circumstances change mid-course. Ultimately the health of the baby is what’s most important and that really was my main concern.

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As I wrap up this part of the story and before I take a break before the next segment, I have to ask: Moms out there – did any of you feel compelled to make a choice during labor that was somewhat against what your hopes, your plan, but that at the time (and/or now) seemed like the only acceptable or feasible way forward?