Josiah's Thumb

Josiah really works on his hands and has been successful a few times in finding his thumb. Here is one of those times.

My Labor Story...

I LOVE this picture. It was taken at the exact moment of Josiah's birth. Can't you see the joy and excitement?

I had a really great labor experience, a 9 out of 10, really. It didn't go exactly according to plan, but I felt so much peace that it was going to go exactly as it SHOULD go. I had prayed that I would have a pain-free labor - a very bold prayer, I know.

My water broke at 4:00 a.m., and at first I was discouraged. I did NOT want to have Pitocin, and if my contractions didn't start on their own within 8 hours, I would have to get the dreaded Pit-drip. So after a brief moment of tears, I gave it to God and we started for the hosipital.

Upon arrival, I was ordered to change into a drafty hospital gown, which I politely refused. Instead, I wore a tank top and skirt which allowed everyone access to whatever they needed to get to, and at the same time, I was able to maintain my dignity. It was so nice to walk the halls in REAL clothes! I felt like I was just there visiting someone, instead of being a patient myself. I highly recommend staying in your own clothes!!!

And to get the contractions going we did a LOT of walking! We made laps, stopping a bit every hour for the nurses to hook me back up to the monitors and to check my progress. I came in at about 3 cm and every time the checked me I dialated another centimeter or so, so they let me keep doing things my way. As long as I progressed, I wouldn't have to have pitocin. I DID NOT WANT PITOCIN!

By about 1:00 p.m., my water was really gushing when I moved, so I no longer felt comfortable outside of the room, but I still didn't want to labor in that bed if I didn't have to, so I sat on the birthing ball. Steve sat on the corner of the bed and held my hands and provided stability; Kylene, my doula, sat on a chair behind me, rubbing my back and providing counter pressure. They were the perfect team!

And having a doula was the way to go! A doula is a labor coach, someone was is there to assist the mother with her birth. And Kylene was so great! She provided us with so much confidence and peace. I didn't feel the need to take a refresher class in childbirth because I had read plenty and I knew if we had a question, we could just ask Kylene! She didn't impose her opinions on us, but did gently provide information if there was a question, or she would make small suggestions that were so helpful! Her help was so non-invasive that my mom (who was also present for the delivery) commented that she didn't think the doula did much of anything. Didn't do anything?!? I couldn't have done it without her!!!

The nurses assigned to me were an interesting pair. We got off to a bad start when the pretty rookie nurse tried to start my IV and infiltrated the vein. I told her it didn't feel right and she checked it, insisted that she had it in there right, but offered that she would change it if I wanted her to. Not wanting to be difficult, I tried to grin and bear it, but after they started the antibiotics, it became apparent that I was right about it not feeling normal when my whole forearm became swollen and painfully immobile. So that was when the slightly more senior nurse started my IV on my other arm and the tension between the two nurses mounted.

In hindsight, I wish I had been a little difficult and asked for different nurses. The competition that seemed to be going on between them interferred with the calm labor I was trying to have. They were biased against a natural labor and planted the seed of fear that if I waited too long to ask for an epidural, I might not be able to get one. And every time they came into the room, they would offer pain relief. I was a bit dumbfounded - I was barely in pain, let alone so much pain that I couldn't handle it! I would look at Steve and reflect that I wasn't having difficulty getting through the contractions at that point, so why would I want to mess it up with an epidural. I was not opposed to getting one, I just didn't want to get it too early and then be confined to the bed.

After 12 hours of labor, the contractions were becoming my main focus. I wasn't able to chat in between them. Unfortuately, the princess nurse was so out of touch that she continually talked to me DURING contractions... "now when this contraction is over we're going to..." HELLO!!! Wait until the contraction is over to tell me what you're going to do, would you please!!! It was obvious that she preferred women to be numb to the pain so she didn't have to be considerate. This girl thinks she's a great nurse, but in time she'll be lucky to be a "good" one.

My doctor ordered another round of anti-biotics, but unfortuately, my IV had dried up or something because the nurse had to hold my arm and press the tubing a certain way to get the medicine to flow. It was either that, or start a new IV. Um, no thanks. So chubby senior nurse held my arm for 15 minutes and with that, I was ready for my epidural. My ability to cope on my own was weakened and the fear that I might not be able to do it on my own overwhelmed me. 

The epidural was actually the worst part of my labor. For some reason, my blood pressure fell to 70 over something and my lovely, peaceful, labor turned into a scene of multiple medical interventions. Steve and Kylene were pushed out of the way to make room for multiple medical personnel who were working to bring my blood pressure back up. I don't know what all happened as I might have black-out for a bit, but as I came back around, I asked for Steve and he was allowed to pop his head back in for a moment. I asked if everything was okay and he very convincingly told me that it was, so I relaxed. Later he told me that at the moment everything was NOT okay and that he was very upset by how it was being handled. Well, he did a good job of making me feel better at least.

Once I was stable again, it was time to push and so my legs were lifted into the stirrups (a HUGE negative to having the epidural - this is the only position available for pushing), and princess nurse began calling my labor. I was too excited to care about that, and so Kylene became the photographer capturing this wonderful expression of joy.

Josiah was born at 6:28 p.m., after 14 1/2 hours of labor. That sounds like a long time, but really it wasn't bad at all. I wish now that I had not gotten the epidural, and that I'd asked for different nurses, but that is really all that I would change about my labor. I would still give it a 9 out of 10; Steve gives it a 3 out of 10. The doctor in him just can't get over the whole epidural thing.