So just last week on April 25th (the perfect date, iykyk😉), we celebrated my daughter's 10th birthday. It's still crazy to think that a decade has passed since her birth. She was my kind of unplanned unmedicate, induced, and second successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). Her birth was very different from her sister's, who was my first VBAC. But that's a story for another time.
The Background
At this point, I had been working in labor and delivery as a nurse for about a year and a half. In that time I had seen many different birthing experiences and approaches. I hadn't really out much thought into how I wanted mine to go, just the typical healthy mom and healthy baby. Also no c-section, of course.
As a joke, I made a birth plan. A ridiculous birth plan, with weird pictures of my husband and I as well as just dumb labor requests. (See below)
I put in there I wanted to walk the halls, but be naked whole doing so. I wanted no medication and all medication. It was just me being goofy but I also wanted to kind of prank my doctor and co-workers. Back then I was working night shift and didn't really know the day shift staff all that well, so I knew they wouldn't know if I was serious or not. My night shift crew told me I was jinxing myself by making this birth plan, but I told them I didn't believe in that. Now mind you, my husband really didn't even know I had done this either, so it was a surprise for him too.
I had been thinking about trying to have an unmedicated birth, but I was also planning on being induced (looking back not sure why) and knew that would make going unmedicated more difficult. So, I didn't give it much more thought.
The Big Day
I arrived on labor and delivery around 7:30am for my induction. It was a super busy day and most of the rooms were full already. I told my nurse to just give me the papers and I would fill them out. I knew the drill and wanted to make it easier on my coworkers. I would've started my own IV if I could, but I did as much of the admission process on my own as I was allowed. Including filling out my white board.
I pulled out my "birth plan" and handed it to my nurse. She looked at me kind of surprised, but smiled and started looking it over. I was bursting at the seams trying not to laugh as she attempted to not make any weird faces while reading it. Finally, I couldn't hold it in and laughed out, "It's a joke. The plan is not for real."
She sighed and laughed.
I then proceeded to pull the same prank on my OB, who was very nervously looking it over saying, "Uuhh, uumm." She did not have a poker face at all and clearly was concerned, which made me laugh even harder.
After we got that out of the way, my OB and nurse proceeded to get everything ready for my cervical balloon to be placed. This is a tube with an inflatable balloon on the end which is placed between the baby's head and cervix. It is a way of mechanically dilating the cervix. I had managed a few of these with my patients and most of them were crawling up the bed when it was placed, so I was a bit nervous.
Thankfully, my doctor got it in no problem, inflated the balloon and it just felt like a weird pressure sensation. For me, it didn't hurt at all, but this wasn't my first rodeo either with childbirth.
My nurse had never managed a cervical balloon, so I showed her how to apply tension and tape the tube to my inner thigh. That part felt...odd, but still not painful. I then told my nurse that I would just do the adjustments myself every 30 minutes or so and to leave the tape out. I knew they were busy and doing that would be easy.
Shortly after pulling on the tube, the increased pressure on my cervix caused me to start having contractions.
It was during this time of waiting for the balloon to come out that I informed my husband I wanted to try laboring without an epidural. My husband looked at me shocked and asked, "Why would you do that?"
I shrugged and answered, "I don't know. I guess I want to know what my patients are feeling."
"Uh okay, I just don't know how help you."
I told him I wasn't completely excluding the option, but wanted to see how it goes. He didn't understand it, but was as supportive as he could be.
About 3 hours later, I was pushing my button on my bed to sit up more. As I was inclining, I could feel the balloon coming out. I pushed my call button and informed my nurse, "I gave birth...to a balloon."
She came in and checked my cervix. I was 5cm dilated now with a bulging bag of water. She told me she was going to stir things up a bit and I gave her a nod. I knew what this meant and was all for getting my natural oxytocin to be encouraged. Upon doing so, my bag of water broke. This would hopefully help things continue to progress.
A couple hours later, my contractions had increased in intensity. They were strong, but not unmanageable. I was up walking, sitting in a chair, rocking with my husband, anything to get the back labor I was having to subside a bit. My nurse made me a big heat pack that I out on my back and made a world of a difference!
At some point my contractions weren't as often as they would've liked (looking back now I would've refused this, but oh well) and they started pitocin. Thankfully, I barely needed any and was on a very low dose. I also started feeling very tired and nauseous. My OB checked me and I was 7cm. I would be stuck at this for about 2 hours, which was frustrating. I was really having to go into myself and focus to get through the contractions at this point. I kept telling myself I was going to be done soon and that it was not that bad yet, but that feeling of defeat was starting to settle in. After being told I was still 7cm again by my OB, she suggested I try some IV pain medication called Nubain. I agreed to try it, but wasn't thrilled out my baby possibly having side effects from the medication.
My nurse came in with the medication and I told her to only give me half the dose.
"That's not gonna do anything, Natalie." She told me.
"Maybe not, but I don't want a Nubain baby and I'm sensitive to that stuff." I replied.
She sighed and gave me the half dose through my IV. It didn't give me any pain relief, but what I did notice is that I could relax a bit more in between the contractions which helped me rest.
Another 30 minutes or so went by and I could feel this baby getting lower. I couldn't open my eyes because I completely had to focus.
Suddenly, my husband leans toward my face and says, "I'm running down to the lobby quick. We ordered a pizza. I'll be right back."
Inside I panicked a bit. I could feel I was close to pushing and didn't want him to miss it, but I couldn't even talk to tell him otherwise. I just said, "Be quick."
I think I only had one contraction while he was gone, but the next then everything changed. I started having another contraction that just seemed to keep building and wasn't letting up. My moan suddenly changed to words,
"Ooooooohhh sssshhhhiiiiitt!" My husband was walking into the room with a large pizza in his hands as this monster contraction was peaking.
"I GOTTA (grunt) PUSH!" I yelled.
He runs out of the room, throws the pizza on the nurse's station and tells the girls that I was ready.
I had never felt such a strong and involuntary urge to push in my life. My body was pushing and I couldn't stop it. I could hear everyone running into the room, the light coming out of the ceiling, the bed being broken down for delivery and the baby warmer being turned on. All I could do was try to breathe and even that was difficult.
"Hang on Natalie!" I heard my OB say. "Don't push yet."
Yeah, okay. I thought sarcastically to myself.
I also started panicking internally.
What are you thinking? Why did you not get an epidural? Oh my gosh this is crazy!
Finally I heard those beautiful words.
"Okay, Natalie, push!"
One contraction, three pushes, breathe, burning, so much burning, another contraction, 2 pushes, breathe, one more push, and...
SHE was here! Oh sweet relief! We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl and both the relief of labor being over and finding out we had another girl was overwhelming. As you can see, we had a party of spectators. My husband, his mom, his two sisters (one took these pictures, thanks Jenny!) and my mom were present for the birth of our third child.
I couldn't believe it. I did it! Holy crap I did it!
It was such a wild ride! And to be honest one of the first thoughts I had was, I can't wait to do this again.
Crazy, right?! It was such an empowering experience. One that changed how I took care of my patients for sure. I never told my patients to stop pushing again. It's miserable and nearly impossible to do, especially without an epidural. I could help coach women through the same hurdles I endured. I was and am so thankful I was be able to go through this experience.
So my unplanned no epidural, induced, back laboring, surprise gender birth went pretty darn well. And I was rewarded with a cheeseburger and fries from Portillo's!
Hind Sight
Looking back, there are a few things I would've changed knowing the things I know now. But thays lifez right? It was still a great experience and I regret nothing. I know what I have gone through helped me take better care of my patients and now my doula clients. This was actually my best birth experience out of the five children when I think about it. Every birth is different and unique, just like each person is. Maybe that's why God makes it that way. This never gets old for me and I look forward to learning and experiencing more so I can help more women through their unique and beautiful births!
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