Birth Story: Liam Edward
My oldest came into the world much like he operates in it; methodically, structured, and wasting no time. I walked into my 40 week appointment having a couple high blood pressure readings in weeks 38 and 39 hanging over my head. I really wanted an unmedicated birth, but I didn’t put in the work to make it happen. Despite over the course of my pregnancy, reading books covering many aspects of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, I wasn’t prepared going in. Towards the third trimester I began listening to podcasts, but didn’t do much or have time for birthing preparations because we had just finished renovations on a 1999 single wide we had moved into a week prior.
My OBGYN expressed his concern at the readings and offered two options: be monitored at the hospital for an extended period or get induced. We chose the latter. He instructed us to make the preparations needed and to go to the hospital after. We went home, packed, ran to Dollar General for snacks and other essentials, snagged a light lunch and headed into town.
1:30 pm - We arrived and signed into the emergency room. A decent amount of time later, they led us to a triage room where I was changed into a hospital gown and was strapped down to monitors. We waited in that room for hours until they finally moved us to an available delivery room around supper time. We were entreated to visits from nurses, the anesthesiologist, and all the other team members there to collect information.
6:00 pm - they informed me they were ready to start my induction with a foley bulb. For those who don’t know, this is essentially a balloon attached to a straw that they put up on the edge of your cervix, then blow it up to mimic the pressure of the baby's head which triggers your body to dilate up to about 3 cm. They continue to give it a tug every hour until it finally falls out. This part made the contractions far more difficult to deal with and sharper on the pain scale. Fortunately, it only took one hour. I started the induction at 1 cm.
7:00 pm - The foley bulb came out and I asked to use the bouncy ball to manage contractions. In retrospect, I know that instead of welcoming the contractions, I was fighting the pain which made it so much worse. So I sat, clutching my rosary and praying the Divine Mercy chaplet with each passing one. A lesson I used in my second birth. They offered to break my water, but I asked to delay that until 9:00.
9:00 pm - I let them break my water at 3 cm. I was unblocked which made the experience physically more painful and the contractions afterwards became more difficult because the cushion had been broken. I labored between the bouncy ball and the bed until early in the morning. At every contraction offering up the pain and praying through tears.
2:00 am - I’m exhausted, haven’t been allowed any food but Jello and water, and am approaching 6 cm. As much as I wanted to go natural, I knew that based on what had been happening I was going to need sleep to push this baby out. So I opted for the epidural.
2:45 am(ish) - the epidural kicks in. I’m officially stuck in the bed and shaking all over. I’m exhausted and fall asleep.
4:00 am(ish) - I wake up. The epidural was done well enough that I could roll myself over. The following hours were a mix of catheters and nurses adjusting a peanut ball between my legs until they rolled me onto my other side and Liam’s heart rate dropped. Soon I found them calling my doctor, frantically moving me back to where I was, and dropping an oxygen mask over my face. I can’t say at the moment I had any fear despite their worried looks and repeated questions as to if I was okay, but it is what it is. After this happened twice, everything was pretty uneventful.
6:00 am - My OBGYN pops in to check on me and informs me that I’ve stalled out at 8cm. I ask him if we can let my body go and see if it’ll kick into gear, he agrees and leaves me be. I also really didn’t want pitocin because I had heard horror stories and that was his next suggestion.
6:45 am - He comes back in to check on me and I’m still stalled out. He doesn’t think my body will do it and suggests pitocin. I tell him they can put it on the lowest setting, but no higher. He later came back in to talk to me about a surgery he needed to go do on the west side. He asked if I was more comfortable with him canceling or going to do it. I told him to keep his appointment and he said he would be back around 8:00 am.
8:00 am - I’m beginning to feel what I think is the urge to push. The nurse comes in to kneel by me and says, “if you resist as long as you can, you might not have to push as long.” So I resist.
As a note, this whole time my husband hasn’t been able to do much besides hold my hand or sleep on the sofa which I think made him feel a little helpless in the crazy moments.
8:30 am - I hit the nurse button because there’s no way I’m resisting the urge to push any longer…
Suddenly, there’s lots of people in the room. Trays, tables, tools, blankets, and more are all lined up at the end of the bed. They throw my legs into stirrups and the doctor arrives just in time.
I have no idea how to push and this guttural sound is coming from my throat with each contraction. My doctor coached me to direct that energy towards the pushing motion and then I made better progress. Despite the epidural I felt all the pushing sensations without the contraction part. We do this for about 15 minutes and I tear just slightly.
8:43 am - Liam crowns and emerges into this world. They hand him to me and the first thing I notice is a freckle by his eye. It’s still there and I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, that’s what you look like.”
My thoughts on how this birth went:
With my poor preparation, I think it went as well as it could have. I was able to delay interventions and probably could have done better if I hadn’t let them break my water so early. I also realized soon after this birth that the epidural left me stuck in transition for FOUR hours. They say it shouldn’t last longer than two. Knowing that I was a person that with an epidural my labor is prolonged helped me make better decisions the next time around. There are a lot of women who speed up with an epidural or can only relax with one and that’s great. I’m just not one of them and overall I didn’t enjoy the epidural experience.
I prayed in advance for all the people who would be involved with the birth and every nurse that came into the room was compassionate, advocated for me and answered all my questions, they were encouraging too! I think the Lord sent each and every one of them for a purpose which made it better than I could have expected. Without their explanations and guidance, I think I would have stressed so much more. My only other prayer was that I wouldn’t have a c-section and the Lord came through on that as well. It truly showed me the fruits of that Matthew 7:7-11 mentality.
I don’t regret how Liam’s birth went, despite the fact that I really wanted an intervention free birth. With the order of events, the choices we made were the right ones for the circumstances. Not having the birth I wanted does not define me or my kids, but serves as an opportunity to grow in advocating for myself and preparing better, which I think is parenthood in a nutshell.
The last quirky thing I’ll mention about this birth is that for October, it was hot. The day he was born was 86 degrees! I almost would have regretted packing a flannel if the hospital rooms weren’t so cool. My sweet fall baby I had prayed so hard for was born on a not-so-fall feeling day. I'll always cherish the experience of this first birth. Not just because it was the first, but because I learned so many lessons about how I like to give birth and what it really means to advocate for yourself. The Lord blessed us with nurses that were caring, compassionate, and good at standing up for first time moms. I don’t think it would have gone as well without the team He supplied for us. His hand and His lessons were in every part of this 14 hour process. It further strengthened my resolve to prepare better next time in order to have a better and more natural birth experience. I praise Him often for His providence in Liam’s safe and healthy delivery!
