Trista and Gabriel's Birth Story

Written by: Trista Churkey
This is my first child

On Monday, August 16th, 2010, I had an ultrasound, which was a weekly occurrence at this point due to my son's low fluid levels (I was diagnosed with Oligohydramnios). In the previous weeks I wasn't "ready" to have Gabriel, but by 39 weeks I was getting anxious. 

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 - I wanted labor to start on its own, so at my 39th week appointment with my doctor I was curious about whether or not my cervix had done anything. My doctor didn't do cervical checks unless you wanted her to (which I totally agree with), and I held off on doing them because cervical checks can be so disappointing (and pointless...a woman can be dilated for months before she goes into labor, or she can dilate the day she goes into labor...you just never know!). My cervix was high (posterior), hard, and closed. I tried not to let this be disappointing news, as I knew that the cervix does what it wants to do when it wants to do it. 

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 I felt really dizzy and got a horrible headache. I tried Tylenol and anything else I could think of, but nothing was touching it. Off to the Birth Center I went (per doctors orders - Round 3 - ding, ding, ding...). The nurse checked me out and my cervix was still high, but she said it was a little bit soft. Gabriel wasn't very active that day.  

Thursday, August 21, 2010 my husband and I tried to "heat him out" with wings. Then I came home and had a ton of pineapple. We also had sex (which wasn't on my top list of "lets try's"...but I thought "eh, what could it hurt I guess..." So I was a team player and tried it out). That night I got really bad contractions. 

Friday, August 20, 2010 I had quite a few contractions throughout the day, but they weren't painful. I did, however, have more horrible stabbing pains deep down in my cervix. 
 
Monday (August 23, 2010)
My 40 week appointment was on my Due Date. I was not dilated or effaced at all, and my son hadn't dropped. Due to the fluctuating fluid levels, no one, especially me, felt safe about leaving Gabriel in my belly any longer. We decided to go with an induction (after much research on my part) on Tuesday night.

On Monday, in the early evening (around 4pm - after my doctors appointment), I started getting really crampy contractions and they continued into Tuesday (these were from my lower back into my lower front, so I knew something was up). I decided to not call in, since I was already going to the hospital on Tuesday night anyways, and I let my early labor go its course at home. I got up 5 times in the night to pee and my contractions were constantly waking me up (something that had never happened with my previous Braxton Hicks...I always slept through them). They never went away; I woke up with them and I checked in with them on Tuesday night.

It all hit me that this was REALLY going to happen and I cried really hard about 3 times on Monday night.

Tuesday (August 24, 2010)
Still crying (haha!) - that afternoon and in the shower before I was getting ready to leave for the Birth Center. Then Arron made my cry on the way to the hospital just because he asked me "Are you ready for this?!" -  

At this point, I just wanted complete silence. I needed to absorb everything that was about to happen, and I needed to do that in absolute peace. 

I guess he didn't get that memo. 

We arrived at the Birth Center right at 7pm and I got all settled in. My doctor arrived at 8pm and administered the gel I had asked for (Prepidil - the cervical prostaglandin gel). She told me that she didn't expect it to do anything at all with the first dose. She checked me and I was 20% effaced and Gabriel had dropped, but I wasn't dilated. The contractions from Monday night until tonight had done something at least! After I got the gel, Arron and I settled in for the night, watched a movie, and went to sleep.

Wednesday (August 25, 2010) 

I wasn't able to sleep until 1am - I have been in labor for around 33 hours now. Sleep finally came, but not for long because the nurses had to wake me up at 6am. I was really uncomfortable and in notable pain at this point. The nurse hooked me up to monitors to see how things were going and I was having contractions every 4 minutes now. At this point I had been in Early Labor for around 38 hours. I was in Active Labor now, but you will note that I hadn't dilated past a 3 yet...which should have probably happened. I went and took a shower and my doctor came in at 8am. She was quite surprised to find that a second round of gel wasn't going to be needed. I was dilated past a 1 but not quite 2cm now and was 50% effaced. Gabriel was now at a 0 (zero) station - so he had dropped quite a bit overnight. She then broke my water to get things to pick up. By 8am I had been in Active Labor for just 2 hours. After the doctor broke my water she figured he'd make his way into the world in about 10 hours. At 11am she came back to check me out. I was now 80% effaced, which made me really excited, but I hadn't dilated, which really bummed me out. By 11am things were starting to feel more serious and I thought that I must have dilated at least a little bit since 8am. But nothing. And I cried. My doctor suggested Pitocin, though I don't think she suggested that lightly, since she knew this wasn't something I had wanted to do. They started it immediately. My doctor went home after that and would wait for the call that I was ready to deliver. Pitocin slowly made the contractions worse and worse. I lost track of time after this. At first the pain was really bad.

A side note here: 

I warned all of my nurses, my doctor, and my husband to absolutely, under no circumstances, bring up taking pain meds of any kind to me. I would tell THEM if I wanted it, and I would only say it if I meant it. I wouldn't beg for them unless I knew for certain there was no other way I could do it.
Everyone complied. 

My nurse asked me to rate it and I gave it a "10."
She said, "Oh hunny, I don't think you're at a 10 yet. 10 is the worst pain you've ever felt."

This was absolutely the stupidest thing you could say to me at this point - this WAS the worst pain I had ever had. Hands down. I didn't think it was possible to get worse than this. 

Little did I know, the pain I was experiencing was more like a 7 than a 10. When 7, maybe 8pm hit, that was when it got the worst. I had to go to the bathroom and Arron helped me get there. My contractions had been 2 minutes apart since earlier this afternoon. When I sat down I had another contraction and the horrible urge to push. I decided to try the bath tub at that point. My pain was so horrible now that I was screaming and crying harder than I've ever cried in my life. The nurses could hear me out in the nurses station and one of them came to check me.
She asked, "Are you feeling the urge to push?"
I said "Yes!"
So she checked me again. I was just under a 3. Gabriel was trying to come out and I couldn't stop it. All I could do was push - it was uncontrollable and unbearable. I made my way out of the tub, got back into the bed, and bawled my eyes out.

I felt like my body wasn't doing what I needed it to do. 

I looked at Arron and told him, for the first time, that I couldn't do it anymore. If I kept going I was going to need oxygen just to breathe and I would probably end up with a c-section and there was no way I was going to allow that, if I could help it. And I knew one way that I could. He went to the nurse and told her that I was done. It was now 10pm, it was going on too long and I gave it all I had and more than most would have.

The epidural couldn't get there fast enough. 

From the time she got there at about 10:20 until she was done, I had contraction after contraction. The most horrible part of that, was that I had to remain still through them, which felt like an impossible task. I had to just sit there, as still as could be, and scream. After she got the epidural in (which took FOREVER due to the deep inward curve in my lower back), I asked her if it had been hard to get that done. She said "yes" and that my back was the first back that had made her "nervous." The epidural only took to my right side at first, so more medicine had to be administered to get it to flow over to my left side as well. I could feel the contractions in half of my body - totally weird! I was finally done at 11pm. The nurse checked me at this time and I was now 4cm and 100% effaced! Relaxing really helped my body progress quickly.

Thursday (August 26, 2010)
I got to rest for a little bit, but it was hard since there was constantly a nurse right there next to my bed. I was laying there and all of a sudden felt this gush. Since I was numb I thought "oh no! did I just poop?!!" So I asked the nurse to check me - it was 1am. Nope! No poop! (HAHA!), Gabriel had just dropped right down and pushed more fluid out of me -

I was now a 10 and it was time to push! 

I was so happy that my body could actually do what it had been wanting to do! I woke Arron up and told him it was time.

I started pushing with my contractions at 1:05am.
The nurse called my doctor at 1:20am and she arrived at 1:30am.

Pushing felt so good! 

I was laughing and joking between pushing.
By 2:30am I was getting tired and more serious.
My contractions got so weird. Sometimes they were every 30 seconds, then it would go 5 minutes before another one. We'd think another was on the way and here I was, with my legs in the air, waiting to push, and 7 minutes would go by...then they'd come every 30 seconds again. Ugh, my body, I'm tellin ya. It did whatever it wanted to do!

By 3:47 am my beautiful baby, Gabriel Lee, was here! 

He was 20 inches long and 7lbs 1.6oz

Arron was so happy and we both cried. They immediately placed him on my chest and I got to get a good look at him. He had a little trouble breathing and his head was so incredibly bruised from what he had been through. They took him over to give him a breathing treatment and clean him up; Arron went to his side and talked to him and the most amazing thing happened...

Gabriel stopped crying and looked right at him; he knew exactly who this guy was - this was the guy that talked to him every single day while he was in his Momma's belly. 

His Daddy! 

I was so exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open. I delivered the placenta and all was well; my doctor left. A few minutes later I felt this big gush, felt really weak, and got really worried when I saw my nurses face. She said "Oh God." I asked what was happening and she said I was hemorrhaging and she started massaging my abdomen. Arron later told me that it was like a horror movie and that he cried when he left the room later to call people because he thought he had been so close to losing me. Poor guy. Since I lost so much blood, I didn't feel well at all and felt to weak to hold my son. I later asked what the hemorrhaging was caused by. She told me that I had been maxed out on Pitocin for hours and hours and essentially, it flooded my uterus and caused me to hemorrhage. 

Arron spent the first few hours, just holding him. I was finally able to hold him around 6:30am and I continued holding him until 9am! I decided I should get a little sleep (which wasn't easy). 

I was so afraid that I wasn't going to bond with him because I had been so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, but once I was finally able to hold him, I couldn't believe how much my life had changed and how much I loved him!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Gabriel - 2 days old, getting ready to leave the hospital

We finally get to go home! Being in the hospital since Tuesday evening has driven us about crazy, so we were so thankful to get to go home. I wasn't scared to go home - I was excited. I couldn't wait to be alone with my new family.

So you'll see here...that birth plans may not always pan out. If I would have had it my way, I would have been able to give birth at home, without pain meds. But my pregnancy, for one, and my home location in relation to the hospital, for two, wouldn't allow a home birth. I think if I would have had someone like a doula there for me, to help me into some better positions, to massage me, I may have had things go differently for me in labor. I also feel like if I wouldn't have had my water broken, things may have gone differently as well. But in the end, I'm just so happy that I have this little 10 month old squirt, that's pushing his toy truck around on my bedroom floor.

Gabriel - a few days shy of 10 months old