Training for Two: Birth of Emilyn Jane McCauley

The story really starts on Wednesday 4/17 when we had last OB appointment. I was still 50% effaced and not dilated at all (same as the appointment a week prior and the one to that as well). I hadn’t had any really regular contractions the whole time. I had a final to take for my Complex care of adults class (7 credit hours). I had previously asked my professor if I could take it early on Friday if I was showing signs of labor. Well, I didn’t think I was showing any signs of labor so I said I’ll just take it Tuesday with everyone else. Well, I started having inconsistent contractions on Friday and Saturday. Then Sunday I had regular contractions 3-5 minutes apart that were about 30 seconds long. I was VERY worried the baby was going to come Sunday or Monday but definitely by Tuesday. I called my professor and worked out that I would come in on Monday at 11:00 to take the exam. Scott and I said a prayer that my contractions would stop so I could focus on the test and do well enough to get an A in the class. I only needed a 90 but was concerned because her final in the other class from her was ridiculously hard.

My contractions stopped and I was able to take the final with out contractions and while I felt good and was very confident about it. Scott jokes that she was helping me.

Tuesday I wanted to go on what I knew my last run would be. I went to the gym on campus and ran/walked 6 miles it was about at 10 minute pace even with the walking. I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes for 40-60 seconds. I was able to get in a full mile at the end of the run without walking. Then I biked for about 30 minutes.

I had to go talk to some professors at school so I walked over and talked to them. I could still walk through contractions although they weren’t the most comfortable to walk through. I probably looked like I was injured or something. After talking to some of them through my contractions I decided that these contractions weren’t going away. The standard is to call the doc and go in if the contractions are 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long. Well these were definitely 3-5 minutes apart and 40 seconds to 75 seconds long.

I called the doctor and the nurse said to go in. I said I’m not in that much pain though. She said still to go in and get checked. Scott came and got me around 1:00pm and we obviously stopped by yogurt VI for some frozen yogurt. The nurses knew that I wasn’t going to be that far along when I came in because I was smilling. They checked me and I was at a finger tip and 50% effaced. They had us walk the floor for an hour and checked me again and I was at 60% and maybe a little more than a finger tip. My OB that I wanted to deliver her was on call that night and said that she could admit us, but that since we wanted to go natural we might just want to go home and then come back in when contractions were worse.

I had told everyone that I wanted to deliver on Friday because I loved the on call doc for that day. It was Dr. Sutler and she is a big advocate for natural deliveries. She gave me a pep talk when we went into see her during the pregnancy. We actually only saw her once during the pregnancy but it was my favorite appointment.

Well I thought that she would be delivering my baby cause I knew I was going to have the baby in the night. So we went home so I could labor at home in the comfort of my own home. I wanted chipotle that night to get some food in me since I hadn’t eaten much that day. I think total calories I had on Tuesday were something close to 1400-1500 and that was the day I worked out. Then from Tuesday at 8:00pm till around 1:00 on Wednesday I didn’t have anything. I was so so so hypoglycemic at the end of it. I was shaking uncontrollably.

Well, Scott went to chipotle and I walked to 5-guys to get some fries for us to eat as well. I was still able to walk through the contractions, but they were getting a little more difficult to walk through. We went home and I laid in the bath as we watched the end of the hobbit and ate chipotle. At the time I was going to have us stop the movie since it was a pretty suspenseful movie and I needed to be relaxing, but we wanted to take the movie back that night so we wouldn’t have to pay more. By the time it was over I really didn’t want Scott to leave and thought it was worth the extra 1.25 to have him with me through the entire labor.

I took a nice shower with Scott and then we went to labor in bed. Around 11:30pm I felt as though the contractions were getting pretty hard and they weren’t going away completely each time so I was a little worried about her getting adequate ox. I called and the doctor said I could come in but it wasn’t any rush to get in quickly. Scott encouraged me to keep laboring at home so I did. I took another bath and then labored in bed some more and might have drifted off to sleep a little in between contractions.

Around 2:30 am I said that it was time to go in. Contractions were getting harder and my uterus really wasn’t relaxing in between so I was worried about her tracing. The ride to the hospital was down Harrison Avenue, which is getting construction done on it, and is incredibly rough especially when you are going through labor. I said a quick prayer to myself that I wouldn’t have a contraction during that stretch of the road because I knew it would hurt. Fortunately, just as we pulled off the construction section I had a contraction, but not prior to that.

We were told we could go in through the ER, but I just wanted to park and walk in. I had a contraction right at the coffee shop in the hospital and had to stop. The two workers asked us if we needed someone to come get us or a wheelchair. I said to them in the middle of the contraction, “don’t mind me I’m just in labor, I’m fine!” The next contraction hit right when we were supposed to be getting out of the elevator. I couldn’t walk out and we tried to hold the door, but it closed on us and we had to ride it a little longer.

In triage they checked me and said I was at a 5 with a very bulging bag of water. They were surprised that it hadn’t broken yet. This check was probably the most painful check I’ve ever had. The woman who did it was merciless and was in me for minutes feeling around. She asked if I had ever had a LEAP or another surgery on my cervix. I haven’t ever had any type of gynecological problems so I was confused why they were asking. Like I expected the tracing for the baby was minimal and they were slightly worried. They wanted to pump me with fluids but I really didn’t even want an IV. I refused the IV and said I could just drink water and ice chips. I also wanted to get into their whirlpool, but with the tracing they weren’t going to let me.

When we got back to the room, I let them do the IV as a precaution. The nurse that I was handed off to said that she felt ok letting me in the tub but they were emptying and cleaning it so I would have to wait 20-30 more minutes.

They admitted me and my doctor came in and checked me again just minutes later. She asked me the same question about my cervix and I asked why they were wondering. Apparently I was 100% effaced except for one little area of my cervix that was holding everything back from dropping down and rupturing. She knew I was planning on going 100% natural and was very respectful of that. In our last visit she gave me a pep talk about the labor and that I could do it etc.

She said she was very surprised that my bag hadn’t ruptured and expected it to happen any time. She told the nurse to call her when it happened and she went to fall back asleep upstairs in the hospital because she knew after I broke I would go fast. She did mention that we might think about breaking your water because she didn’t know if it would on it’s own.

I went to the tub, which relieved much of the pain of the contractions. After about 30 minutes of laboring in the tub the nurse came in and asked me to get connected to the telli monitors. I stayed in the tub for 45 ish minutes more while I let Scott take a little cat nap in the rocking chair in the room. (Later he felt so guilty that he was asleep while I was in labor, but I knew that I needed him to be on his game later that morning and wanted him to sleep while I was doing fine with contractions.)

I then labored in bed, and standing by the side of the bed leaning over it, I tried to walk the halls a little, and the nurse brought in the birthing ball for me. At around 7:00 am they had shift change and I had two nurses with me because one was leaving in the afternoon. They asked me if I wanted to get checked and I said yes because I wanted to hear that I had at least made SOME progress. She checked me and told me I was still at a 5! I was heart broken, Scott told me later he was heart broken for me. I had been laboring and STILL at a 5! I was surprised they didn’t jump to say we need pitocin! They did mention breaking my water, but the OB was off the floor and the next one was coming in at 9:00. They couldn’t get ahold of the resident either. Just my luck! I decided that I did need my water broken to progress this labor since I had been the same the whole time.

They offered to get me in the tub again around 8:00am so I took them up on it. I went to the bathroom and had another contraction while the nurse was in my room. She ran over while she heard me and said “are you having the urge to push?” Apparently I sounded like it. I said well, my uterus feels like it is pushing without me wanting it to. It has been happening the last 4-5 hours during 80% of the contractions. I was in A TON of pain during those pushing contractions since I was trying to breath through them. I just didn’t know that that was what it was supposed to feel like and the night nurse didn’t say anything about them.

The nurse said let me check you before you go in the tub. I was at a 7ish and my cervix was still in the way and my bag of waters was still bulging. I felt like the nurse might have been exaggerating on that 7cm to make me feel better about the progress. She said she would keep calling to have someone come in and break my water but until then I could go in the tub only for 30 minutes. This time the tub wasn’t as much relief as the times at home and the last time in the hospital. I had those pushing contractions every contraction in the tub. Looking back on all this I’m surprised they weren’t more concerned since I could have ruptured my cervix by pushing when not 100%.

The nurse said she would be right outside the room if I needed anything. After 30 minutes I asked Scott to poke his head out and ask if they had gotten a hold of anyone. She said the doc would be there around 9 since he had a meeting in the hospital till then. It was close to 9 so I decided to get out. By the time I was out I saw the doc down the hallway. He yelled up the hallway having fun yet? I think I gave him a pretty dirty look and I heard Scott give a fake giggle. By the time I was in bed he was there with everything to break my water.

He got set up and was very gentile with me the whole time (thank goodness!). He told me that the contractions would probably get more intense and closer together. When I was in the tub the contractions had spaced themselves out to 3-5 minutes but they were any where from 90-150seconds long. I really didn’t have a textbook progression of my labor, but I guess the body doesn’t read the text book! Well he exited the room fairly quickly.

Not more than 2 minutes after he left I had another contraction that I felt like I had to push. I felt something drop down and the nurse checked me really quick. She didn’t even have to stick her fingers in me really to feel the head. She got extremely wide eyes and started calling for help. She told me to breath through my contractions because we needed the doc there. I heard bits and pieces of what was going on, but I was in the zone now. I knew that my baby would be here soon!

She said that she couldn’t get a hold of the doctor and I heard someone else say maybe he’s in the elevator try the resident. I heard/saw another guy come into the room who was the resident and I heard someone say that he was going to have to deliver. Scott told me later that he tried to introduce himself to me in the middle of a contraction! Then he said “nevermind.” Well they still had me breathing through contractions and finally got the OB in. They got my left leg in the stirrups but I just didn’t think I could put the right one. When they said now you need to put it here all I could say was, “no I can’t.” The nurses looked at the OB to ask if that was ok, he said it was fine. I really don’t think I could have laid any other way. Well the first couple contractions I wasn’t thinking and I continued to breathe through them. Then the nurse said you need to push and work with the contractions and I remembered what I supposed to be doing. Scott and I practiced the position a couple days prior so he helped me a little. I think he was more focused with the baby’s head coming out then me. The nurse was calming me and helped coach me a little. After a couple of actual active pushing contractions her head was out. They told me to look down and I saw her little head and then body come out. They put her right on my belly/chest and clamped the cord.

Now for the photo bomb!