We recorded Michael's birth story in the hospital soon after Michael was born because I wanted to remember the details but I knew I'd forget. I had tried to mentally and physically prepare for the challenge, and so the birth was a Big Deal for me. In retrospect, it's hard to remember the pain -- I'm sure God designed it that way, otherwise we'd all stop at one child! I do still remember holding my little guy for the very first time. It was one of the most rewarding and -- to be honest -- strangest moments in my life. I bet it felt strange for Michael, too!
(I tried to edit out some of the more explicit details, but it is a birth story with some details about dilation and whatnot, so read at your own risk. Then again, the only people who might possibly be reading this are probably other pregnant moms who I personally know, which is no one at the moment, but if I ever do know one, she probably is desensitized to that stuff anyway. Ramble ramble)
The Birth of Michael Francis
Kaiser-Permanente, Hayward, CA
November 5-6, 2010
11/5, 9:00 PM
Our friend, Mary Ann, was hanging out with us at home after dinner. Tarisa thought she was having Braxton-Hicks contractions
10:30 PM
We went to bed, but the contractions were continuing and getting stronger. We thought it could possibly be labor, so Ben tried to get a few hours of sleep. Tarisa was unable to sleep due to the contractions.
11/6, 1:00 AM
Tarisa’s noises wake Ben. She leaves for the living room, but Ben couldn’t go back to sleep. He got up to go time some contractions, and found they were about 4-5 minutes apart, lasting 50-60 seconds already.
3:59 AM
Ben called Labor & Delivery at Kaiser to say Tarisa is in labor. The contractions had been roughly every four minutes lasting one minute for about 90 minutes. The rule we had been told was 4-1-1 (every four minutes, lasting one minute for 1 hour). The nurse asked if we could feel the baby moving, and we hadn’t since the previous night. They then told us to come in, but Tarisa could take a shower or whatever first. We then started packing, then packing frantically. We ordered the co-sleeper bassinet at the last minute, having realized that the order hadn’t actually been placed the week before, like Ben thought.
5:30 AM
We leave for the Hospital! Tarisa lay down in the back seat of Bessie (Camry) for the five to ten minute drive.
5:45 AM
Arrive at Labor & Delivery, and are shown to the examination room, where we wait for around 30 minutes. The admitting personnel asks a series of questions, including what Tarisa’s current pain level is and what her pain tolerance level is, on a scale from 1-10. Tarisa tells him she’s currently an 8 and Ben answers the second question with “I guess we’ll find out.” That “8” would later be re-evaluated by Tarisa (after the entire birth was over) as a mere 6, given what was to come. Christine (the midwife on duty) examined Tarisa, and said she went from 3cm to 4cm as a result of the exam. She estimated the baby at somewhere between 5 ½ and 6 pounds; Tarisa said her last ultrasound (around 34 weeks) showed him at 6 ½ pounds, and Christine said that midwives are typically more accurate than ultrasounds, but we’d soon see who was right! Tarisa was admitted, and sent to delivery room 1, which was right next to the labor tub.
6:15 AM
Tarisa is put on the fetal monitor for around 30 minutes.
6:45 AM
Susan puts Tarisa on a penicillin drip for about 1 hour to treat for group-B strep
8:00 AM
Maggie (Midwife) comes on duty. She helps Tarisa move to labor in the shower. Tarisa really likes the warm water jets.
9:00 AM
Labor tub is finally ready (cleaned and filled).
10:30 AM
Maggie tells Ben to go get breakfast (with Tarisa’s permission). When he got back from the cafeteria with sandwich in hand, Tarisa kicks him out because of the smell. Eventually, she started to feel uncomfortable in the tub (flushed and warm, contractions getting painful again), and got out. Tarisa says she’s in so much pain already, she won’t be able to handle transition. Maggie suggested that she might already be in transition, and she’d like to do another exam to tailor her advice (which would differ whether Tarisa was 5 or 8cm at that point).
11:15 AM
Exam reveals only 5cm dilation, an increase of only 1cm despite tons of pain and long, double, unpredictable contractions. Maggie says “we need to have a serious talk”, and suspects labor position is ineffective. Tarisa wanted to cry and begged for an epidural. Maggie said that might actually help Tarisa relax enough to finish dilating, but that it probably wasn’t necessary. Maggie said Tarisa was able to handle the pain, and she wouldn’t want to give her an epidural just for that. So she said that the current position (hands and knees) wasn’t working, and that Tarisa should try a new position for an hour and then recheck and reassess. (Maggie later said that she felt she could “stretch” Tarisa to 6 or 7 cm just doing the exam.)
11:30 AM
After a few contractions in the side-lying position, Tarisa was ready to quit. She kept feeling an overwhelming urge to push, and she knew she was only 5cm dilated. Pushing would only wear her out faster. Tarisa paged the nurse to tell her that it wasn’t working and she couldn’t do it, but the Head Nurse Donna showed up instead. She immediately took charge, and put Tarisa into a new position – squat/sitting (bed back all the way up, feet all the way down, as only a hospital delivery bed can do). In this position, contractions were painful, and Tarisa felt a huge urge to push, which Donna said was just fine as long as Tarisa was still able to talk (as opposed to holding her breath and bearing down). Donna (who is a Lamaze instructor) coached Tarisa through several contractions with the “I am strong, I am in control, I am _____”.
11:45 AM
The water breaks, which Donna notes is a good sign that labor was progressing. Subsequent contractions were slightly less painful, and the pushing drive mostly went away. Apparently, Tarisa’s body really wanted to bear down and push and break the bag of waters. Around this time, Tarisa was hooked up to her second and final dose of penicillin. Susan was surprised to hear that Tarisa’s bag of waters had broken – she thought it already had in the tub.
12:20 PM
Maggie returned and performed another exam. Tarisa had progressed to 9cm in an hour by changing from the more comfortable “slow down labor” hands and knees position to the “speed up labor” sit/squatting position. Tarisa was in a lot of pain at this point – very intense pressure from the baby successfully moving down.
12:35 PM
The nurses (2 or 3 in the room at this point) tell Tarisa to work with her body – if she needs to push then push. Tarisa started doing so, and one suggested they move to the toilet. Pushing on the toilet relieved some pressure off of the tailbone. The contractions were intense and unpredictable; some came four in a row, sometimes there were longer breaks in between.
12:45 PM
Maggie says she can see the baby’s head, and that Tarisa should move back to the bed. She has one of the nurses quickly grab her a sterile glove in case the baby comes before they can get moved. The nurses laid Tarisa on her back on the bed and confirmed that he was crowning. Ben excitedly told Tarisa that she was close – don’t give up! The nurses told Tarisa not to push with the contractions – Ben said later that they were scrambling to get all the delivery paraphernalia together. The nurses asked Tarisa if she wanted to feel his head as he was crowning. The idea freaked her out and she said “No!”, but they put her hand down anyway. The feeling was surreal.
12:54 PM
After about 3 pushes while on the bed, the rest of the room erupted with more excitement as the baby’s head fully emerged, while Tarisa just took everyone else’s word for it because she was distracted by the discomfort. One more push for the shoulders, and then the baby slid out. He emerged crying. They placed him on Tarisa but the cord was too short to get much further than her belly, so the nurses had to get the placenta out. Tarisa didn’t feel any more contractions or pushing urges, but pushed when the nurses instructed her too. A gentle tug, and the placenta came out in one piece.
Michael was born at an even 7.0 pounds (3175 grams), approximately 19.5 inches long, with 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores of 9 and 9. The ultrasound won over Christine’s estimate for this round of “guess the baby’s weight”!
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