Birthday: November 28, 2006
Birth Time: 3:28 pm
Weight: 7 lbs 3 0z
Length: 21 inches
The following is my best recollection as to how the tale unfolded...
We went into the early stages of labor at about 2:00am. The contractions were pretty mild (relatively speaking), but combined with the anticipation, not much sleep was had by either of us.
Our midwife (Jennifer Barr) came up in the late morning to check the vital signs (i.e. heart rate for mom and baby). All checked out fine and she said she wanted us to give her a call as things started to get more intense… off she drove to leave us for another birth in process. Tina spent the better part of the day walking around the property, eating and trying to nap… by mid afternoon the contractions had decreased in their strength and we decided to take a drive down to Boulder and get some acupuncture.
We returned to the cabin with stronger contractions and empty stomachs… thank you to Kelly for dropping off some grub for us. She’s a great cook. We ate, and we turned in for another restless night.
SUNDAY (Nov 26)
We finally crawled out of bed at daybreak and had some breakfast. The contractions were pretty intense all night, but again dropped off the scale with the coming of the day. Tina took many, many walks and our doula (and good friend) Sharon, showed up midday with guitar and more food in tow. During the day, we tried regular applications of acupressure, which helped but we still couldn’t get Tina into the full on contractions for labor.
That afternoon, I called on a friend who practices acupuncture in Boulder. He was awesome enough to make a house call and we were once again off to the races with heavy contractions. However, the contractions never got to the “4-1-1” stage (4 minutes apart, each 1 minute long, for one hour).
Oh, did I mention that Tina’s water had broke? This started the clock ticking… because Phoenix wasn’t expected until Dec 12… being early introduces a risk of infection to the mother and/or the child without the use of antibiotics… this would require transport to the hospital if we did not get into active labor within 24 hours. So now, we have the added pressure of racing the clock.
Sharon and I just kept hitting those pressure points and the contractions were getting painfully intense – according to Tina : )
With contractions now more intense we have also been pretty much so awake for well over 30 hours, so we all decided to try and get some sleep.
I awoke abruptly to an ultra painful surge of ouchedness blasting through my torso as Tina had a solid handful of my chest hair and was rhythmically yanking it back and forth to match her heavy, wee-morning contraction.
Contractions were now getting into a rhythm and pain ratio telling us it was time to call the mid-wife and get her to making her way up to the cabin.
Jennifer arrived before dawn (about 5am). She checked mama and baby’s vitals again and all were strong and normal. She didn’t want to actually perform an examination at this time because the water had broke and she wanted to avoid introducing any bacteria.
This turned out to be the marathon day … Tina went through the ringer! Since we were racing the 24 hour clock, we did everything we could to induce labor at the house… acupressure, walking, CASTOR OIL (this gets everything moving and supposedly labor, too). We also took the time to light the candle blessings that were given to us at the baby shower (see that blog below). The birthing space was beautifully perfect.
We arrived at Boulder Medical Center at 5:30pm and there was a nurse waiting with a wheel chair to admit Tina. By the time I’d parked the car and popped up to the maternity ward, Tina was already set up with an IV for antibiotics and go-go juice (hydration). I’d say that it wasn’t much later than 6:00 and Tina was sitting in a jetted Jacuzzi tub. Finally, a little relief!
The hours passed slowly and are now a total blurr… everyone was exhausted… working hard to comfort Tina and keep her focused on grounding out the pain with every contraction. I found myself waking up from a 1 minute nap in between contractions.
TUESDAY (Nov 28)
The laboring pain continued on into the early hours. I have to mention that the hospital staff was totally respectful of our wanting to have a natural birth (they even asked us about our expectations when we first arrived), so they were not pushing anything that we did not want.
Finally at 3:00 am, Tina was VERY ready for an epidural so she could rest and pitocin injections (pitocin is a synthetic version of oxytocin that helps to induce labor). By 3:30am, we all settled into a needed nap… Tina in the bed, me on the couch and Jennifer & Sharon on floor pads.
I woke up at 7:30am to hear Tina getting the dreaded talk from our doctor about the possibility of a C-section. Oh the horror! The last thing we would’ve ever imagined with the coming of this birthing experience. It was upsetting, but the doctor just wanted us to be aware of the possibility… they did not push us at all for a decision (mostly because the vital signs were still very strong).
By noon, the pitocin injections had only taken the contractions to a new level of steady pain (not discounting the epidural). Tina had also not dilated enough to start pushing (she was at 7cm). The possibility of a C-section was becoming more and more of a possibility since the pitocin had been going for 9 hours. We were going to make a decision in one hour (1pm). So, I went off to finally give the family an update and let everyone know the saga was near an end. I prayed that we could do this naturally after all that Tina had been through.
At 1:00pm, the doctor showed up with that not so positive look… crap. She’d been monitoring Tina’s contractions remotely and they were no more intense than they had been for the later part of the morning,
the doc had finally fallen off the fence and was now recommending a C-section. We were upset, exhausted and decided that it was time to just give in and get in over with.
The doctor felt our sorrow, consoled us and then proceeded to do the required examination. “What’s this?!” Tina had dilated to 9cm!! Right on! We (not so much the literal "we") were SO ready to push… that was a close one!! …but would Tina have the energy to really push now?! Our nurse Jennifer (different Jen from the mid-wife) gave Tina a heart-to-heart pep talk and she proved to be 100% right.
Tina went into labor at 1:45pm. I really don’t know how her body was able to muster the strength to get through what I witnessed over the next hour and 45 minutes, but she did. She was a champ! The nurse was great! She had this really cool, kinda tug-o-war, really pullin’ hard on a bed sheet with mama technique. Our mid-wife (yes, Jennifer… now your catching on) was taken by this technique and did her fair share of tugging with Tina. and I... well, I just kept wiping Tina’s forehead, giving her popsicles and the occasional hit off the oxygen tank (which she refused until I reminded her that they use it to climb Everest and she was in the middle of a much bigger expedition).
The doctor (Sarah) was totally cool. Further respecting our home birth experience, she said I could catch Phoenix. No kidding. I got to catch my baby in a hospital! All I can say is “wow”! I was IN THE ZONE… focused, poised, ready for that slippery little rascal… after Sarah cleared the umbilical cord Phoenix just slid right out! Well… it didn’t go quite that easily, but suddenly there was a baby in my hands!
Phoenix immediately started crying and so did I. Apparently, I’m very
emotional on little sleep, and immediately after delivering babies.
I was off to the side disposing of my gloves when I felt nurse Jennifer beckoning me… she wanted to show me something. There was no concern, given her big smile. She parted the small crowd that surrounded mother and child and there it was… a NUT-SACK! ... Aron will be pleased to know that there will be NO circumcision (I'm grinning).
Anyway, the little girl we were expecting turned out to be a HE. Cool by us either way, but WAY COOL.
As Sarah (the doctor) was tending to final details with Tina, all she could say was “EPIC”. Of course, with a big smile on her face. This was such an incredible saga for everyone directly (and remotely) involved.
The rest is now history. Baby is healthy and so is mom.
There was a heavy snow storm that started after we made our way to the hospital and it snowed pretty much so throughout the entire laboring process, but there again always seems to be that wonderful calm after the storm…
The view out our hospital window on Wednesday morning.
