Noah's Birth Story

Here's a long post for you all!  I've tried to keep it fairly PG, but let's face it...labor and birth are just sort of gross in general...beautiful and a miracle, but gross none the less.  You have been warned!


On Friday, August 24th at 3:30pm we had another doctor's appointment.  Dr. Lucas checked me and I was dilated 3 cm and 60% effaced.  He stripped my membranes to help things along and said, "I don't think you will make it past the weekend!"  Josh and I were excited and nervous at the prospect of this baby being born that weekend.  Shortly after arriving home, I started having contractions.  These weren't the contractions I had been having.  When one would come, I found myself stopping whatever I was doing and concentrating on my breathing until the contraction ended.  It seemed that if things continued in this manner we wouldn't be home much longer.  So while Josh tracked my contractions, we got some things cleaned up around the apartment...took out the trash, cleaned out the fridge, picked up the living room.  I decided that if we were going to the hospital, I wanted to eat dinner first, because I knew they wouldn't let me eat anything once I was labeled as being in active labor.  Josh wanted taco bell but knew that probably wasn't the best option for me.  So, my amazing husband went to 3 different places to put together my completely random craving for my "last supper".  I got cheesy fiesta potatoes from Taco Bell, a roast beef sandwich from Arbys and mac and cheese bites from Sheetz.  Lots of protein for the long haul!

After sitting down together at the kitchen table for our random dinner (and breathing through contractions in the midst of eating), we gathered what we needed for the hospital and packed the car.  My contractions had been regularly 2-6 minutes apart for 2 hours at this point.  So it seemed that it was time to head to the hospital.

Around 8pm we headed to the Emergency Room so they could register us.  We got up to the birth center and they put us in triage to determine whether we would stay or not.  The nurses got me and baby hooked up to the monitors to start tracking contractions and heart beat.  The nurse was convinced that they would admit me.  However, then they got the results of my urine sample back.  I was extremely dehydrated...even after drinking over 100 ounces of water that day.  The problem is that the dehydration could be what was causing my contractions, rather than labor.  So, they started me on an IV and gave me a pain medicine called dilaudid.  If the contractions stopped in response to the fluids and medicine, they would know that I wasn't in active labor and it was just the dehydration causing the contractions.

After an hour or so, the contractions had become a little less regular, but were still there.  The nurse thought it was just the dehydration...the problem was the monitor had shifted and Josh watched as I was going through much stronger contractions than what the monitor was reading.  The nurse, of course, wasn't seeing this because she was only seeing the readout from the monitor in the nurses station.  So she declared to us that I was not in active labor, but she would talk to Dr. Lucas about whether he wanted to go ahead and admit me or not.  Since Dr. Lucas didn't think we would make it much longer anyway, he told the nurse to go ahead and admit us.  I was thankful because for one, I had a feeling I was in active labor, and second, I really didn't want to go home just to turn around and go back an hour later.

We moved down to labor and delivery room #2!  The rooms there are beautiful!  The birth center was renovated not too long ago at Centra Southside.  The room was big, included a chair that pulls out to a bed for Josh, and has its own bathroom.  Josh got our bags out of the car and we started to make the place feel a little more like home.  We set the prayer shawl that was made for us by ladies at our church on the side rail of my bed.  We placed a willow tree angel that I had picked out as a focal point on top of the cabinet that my bed faced.  We pulled out various other comfort items--chapstick, blanket, our favorite book to read to baby, iHome and iPod, etc.

The next several hours consisted of breathing through contractions and trying to get some rest in between in preparation for more intense labor.  Around 4am, Dr. Lucas came in to check me.  Josh had fallen asleep on the cot/bed.  Dr. Lucas declared that I had progressed to 5 cm and asked the nurse if my waters had broken yet.  When she said they had not, Dr. Lucas asked for the instrument they use to break my water.  It basically looks like a crochet hook.  In a matter of a minute, my water had been broken.  What a weird feeling!  We were off and running to more intense labor!  Josh had woken up in the midst of this commotion, but being groggy didn't really know what was going on.  As Dr. Lucas and the nurses were leaving Josh said, "What's going on?"  I replied "I am at 5 cm and he just broke my water."  Well, that woke hubby up for sure!  We figured at this point it was time to start calling family.  Josh went ahead and contacted his parents since they had a 3 hour drive ahead of them.  We waited a little while and then called my parents as well.  I think it was a little later once Josh called and texted others on our list. 

The period between 4am and 10am are kind of a blur to me.  Hopefully Josh can fill you in on more details of what happened.  Our good friend Brittney arrived somewhere around 5am.  She is a nurse at Lynchburg General Hospital and agreed to serve as my doula for the birth of Baby Blakely.  I remember the smell of coffee when she came in.  She was AMAZING!  Britt was attentive not only to my needs throughout labor, but of Josh's as well (she brought the coffee for him!).  There is absolutely no way I would have gotten through this labor without her and Josh by my side.

It seemed as contractions got more intense, I drifted further and further into some sort of meditative state.  It was the way I found to cope with the pain.  Breathe in through my nose while squeezing Josh and Britt's hands, breath out slowly through my mouth while releasing Josh and Britt's hands.  We had made our intentions of a natural birth clear to the nurses from the start, and for the most part they were great about that.  One of the nurses on the night shift pushed me a little at various times, but thankfully Josh and Brittney were wonderful advocates for me and kept my wishes in tact when I was not able to really answer for myself.  This rhythm was how I lived my life for the next few hours.  For the most part, while the contractions were not pleasant, I was able to get through them with my rhythm of breathing and hand squeezing.  For a while I also listened to "Peace Like a River" album by Chris Rice which helped me focus on something else besides the contractions.  Then, though, they started to get more intense.  There were times when one contraction wouldn't be completely finished before the next came on.  It was those moments that were difficult to get through.  I had no break to recover, it was just straight into the next contraction.  At some point Dr. Lucas came in again, and I had made it to 8 cm.  I think it was after this when I started going through what was the most difficult part of labor for me (again, things and especially the order of things are sort of a blur).  I was having what I can only explain felt like 2 contractions at the same time.  I was having a regular intense contraction and another contraction that felt like my stomach was seizing up and would literally lift my torso out of the bed when they came on.  This is where Josh and Brittney were essential is helping me through the labor.  They helped me slow my breathing and gain back control over the situation.  Believe me, this was not an easy feat.  These contractions were the first time I started to feel fear and felt like I was losing control over my body and what was happening...which psychologically just makes the pain worse.  I have no idea how long these contractions lasted.  I know that Dr. Lucas came back in and told me all I had left was a small rim.  He had me push a couple times to thin the rest of the way.

I was finally able to push this baby out!  The whole bottom half of the bed I was lying in was removed and the nurses began busily getting all the supplies ready.  One of my nurses, Lori, told me to just let her know when I felt a contraction coming.  I was to take a deep breath, then push for ten seconds, quickly take another breath and push another ten seconds, then one more time before resting in between contractions.  I can't tell you how great it felt to push!  This was something I was not expecting.  I thought that this would be the most painful part of it all.  But pushing offered me relief from the awful "double contractions" I had been experiencing.  I was able to do something with the pain rather than just enduring it.  The nurses were more than willing to let me relax as much as I needed to in between pushing...I was not!  I used every contraction to push.  I wouldn't even allow Brittney to count to three before starting our count to 10...I just went for it!  I asked Lori how long this phase typically lasted.  She said for first time moms, usually 1-3 hours.  I decided in my head that was not going to be my story.  I had had enough of this labor business.  I was ready to meet my little man.

I pushed so effectively that Lori had to tell me to stop to give Dr. Lucas enough time to get in and robed up.  In fact, I found out afterwards that Noah was face presentation and I pushed so hard that I flipped him around!  Then I continued to push so effectively that Dr. Lucas had to tell me to stop when Noah's head was already partially out in order to allow me time to stretch so I didn't tear too much.  Let me tell you, when they say "ring of fire" they mean it...and when you have to stop pushing in the middle of the ring of fire--no fun!  But, about 30-45 minutes later, Noah Benjamin Blakely took his first breath outside of the womb at 10:01am!

I can't explain how surreal a moment it was to see and hear my sweet baby boy for the first time.  This little baby who spent almost 40 weeks growing inside of me was now being held up in front of my face.  After quickly rubbing down Noah's body with a blanket and suctioning out his mouth and nose, they placed him on my chest.  He immediately looked up at me and grabbed my cross necklace in his tiny hand...something I forgot I even still had on.  There he was.  This precious amazing miracle from God.  He kicked his little feet and wiggled his way over to take his first taste of breast milk.  But mostly we just cuddled and marveled at one another while Dr. Lucas worked on getting me stitched and situated.  Josh got to hold Noah as well before they took him over to get his stats and his first bath.  After weighing Noah and finding out he was 9 pounds 1.6 ounces, the nurses all started calling me superwoman.  After everything was set the family was invited in to meet Noah!

I am so so glad I decided to go natural with this baby.  There were moments when I felt like giving up but Josh and Brittney got me through it.   Overall, it really wasn't that bad.  People tell you that childbirth is the worst pain you will ever feel in your life...don't believe them!  As Dr. Lucas told us, pain in childbirth is really about fear.  If you are scared and allow the anxiety to overcome you, the pain is much much worse.  If you are able to find a rhythm and have confidence in your body doing what it was made to do, the pain is easily tolerable.  At one point during a contraction Dr. Lucas held my foot.  After the contraction was over he told me how well I was focusing and remaining calm during contractions because I never tensed up my feet.  Apparently your feet are one of the first things you tense up when in pain.  If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I would change anything!  I am so happy with my experience, and more importantly with this sweet sweet boy who has stolen my heart.