The George Adventures: June 2010

Finally! Sorry about the long wait!

With gestational diabetes, yet again, I risked out of home birth. I didn’t have to worry about a hospital birth last time with Joel. I really couldn’t tell you what it was about the hospital that worried me. I guess it could be all the stories I have read about what can happen at a hospital. A lot of times women do not really do their research into childbirth. Parents should really look into the pros and cons of everything that happens in childbirth. They need to look at the statistics of what is recommended by doctors. They need to be on their toes and ask “why?” A lot of times doctors and nurses use scare tactics without even realizing it. I didn’t used to think that way. I used to think that the doctors and nurses knew exactly what they were doing to women. Now I have realized that they are just doing what they have done for many many years. They are doing the normal day in day out routine. That routine is only broken when you find doctors, nurses, and parents that are educated enough to do something different. This is where Ephraim’s birth story begins…

I worked hard all night the night before induction to see what I could do about dilating and getting labor going. I tried peppermint oil, peppermint tea, peppermint candies, red raspberry leaf tea, walking, stairs, evening primrose oil, among other things. Some things helped bring on strong contractions but nothing stuck. My biggest fear going to the hospital was ending up with a c-section. When first risking out of home birth I considered just staying at home. However, not knowing how big Ephraim would be, and not having very much health training between Kevin and I, I decided it would be best to go where someone knew what they were doing in case something did happen to go wrong.

Early morning, Kevin and I (and Ephraim) ventured into the hospital. I was a little nervous as to what the day would bring. I went for induction on my due date, 06/09. We went through the routine of getting registered, checking fetal heart tones, blood pressure, and such. Not too bad. I was expecting to be uncomfortable with everything that was happening. I really wasn’t uncomfortable at all. I had met and talked to some of the nurses beforehand when I took my birth plan to the hospital. I was surprised when one of the nurses told me that they would try and make my experience as close to my home birth as possible. There were birth balls and rocking chairs to use for comfort. The nurse talked about how the OB unit talked about getting a birth tub, but they couldn’t figure out how to swing it. I thought, “Darn!” (Next mission, figure out how to get birth tubs or a birth center suite in the hospital!)

Anyway, back to the story…The doctor came in to break my water and see how I was doing. I had specifically chosen this particular doctor because he has been known to bend the “rules” if you know what you want and why. He agreed to only break my water and see where that took my labor. The day before my due date at the doctor’s office I was 3cm, maybe 4cm. When the doctor went to break my water he said that I was maybe a 4 or 5cm. I was hoping for at least 6cm, but I would take a little bigger than I was the day before!

When the doctor broke my water it was meconium stained which worried me a little. But the ol’ doc, who has been delivering babies probably as long as I have been alive, didn’t seem bothered by the meconium. Ephraim sounded great on the monitor so it reassured me that he was ok. Contractions started to come regularly at this point which helped me relax even more. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to relax if I went to the hospital and would end up having my labor forcibly augmented with Pitocin, per hospital policies.

The Ob unit was very busy, so my hopes of being left alone were fulfilled. Although, the nurses seemed very willing to only come in when they had to anyway. I didn’t get strapped to a bed. I knew I wanted to be up and active because of the bad back labor I had with Joel. I didn’t get, nor did I want, the routine IV. I knew it would hinder me from moving around even if it was just a lock. This was one thing the nurse was a little persistent about because of the possibility of caesarean, just to have it in and ready to go in case of such an event. The nurse left the room to let Kevin and I talk about it to see what we wanted to do. While she was away Kevin and I discussed why I wasn’t comfortable with an IV and what would happen if I needed a caesarean and didn’t have an IV in place. We decided it was better in the long run for me to be comfortable and get a last minute IV if need be. So we told the nurse when she came back in that we were going to opt out of the IV and she said, “Ok!”

I labored on a few more hours. At one point my nurse came in and said another nurse asked her why she didn’t hear any noise coming from my room. I’m not a noisy person anyway, but I do also know that some women get extremely noisy from fear and even as a coping method…that’s not me, we went to the hospital was for just in case purposes not in fear and I don’t use moaning as a coping method. Anyway, I took the nurse noticing that there was no noise as a compliment to my ability to be calm and having everything together during labor! I started to feel pushy and was so happy to be getting close to seeing Ephraim! It must have been around lunch time because the doctor was there and he asked me if I wanted to know where I was at. I told the doctor that I would hate to be one of those women who thought they were pretty far along and still be at 6cm. But, hmm, no group b strep, no other infections, sure, I guess I’d like to know. I could have died when the doctor told me that I was 6cm! I thought crap, I am one of those women who think they are ready to push at 6cm! Well, feeling pushy didn’t really get any better from there. The feeling increased slowly over the next couple of hours. I didn’t think much about it because I apparently wasn’t moving along very fast. It must have been around 2:40 pm or so when I had Kevin go with me to the bathroom. I had him escort me because I was having some really strong contractions. While in the bathroom I felt REALLY pushy, almost undeniably so. Although, it’s me, I was in denial still. Kevin asked me if I’d like him to go get a nurse, I think his instincts told him that it was time.

When the nurse came in I told her that I thought I may have pushed a little. She calmly asked if I’d like for her to check me. I repeated my concern of thinking I was further than what I really was and I’d be disappointed. I decided to head to the bed anyway to get checked, maybe this time it would be good news. I stood by the bed through a strong contraction and afterward crawled up to be checked. One nurse told the other to get the doctor on the phone and tell him I was feeling pushy, that he didn’t need to come yet just needed to stand by. As the nurse was putting the bed down it was all over! My fears of being 8cm dilated were totally unfounded. My body gave two big pushes and I heard the nurse say. “Never mind tell him she’s pushing!” I don’t know how the doctor did it, but he made it from across the road, it seemed just in time. The time I spent on the bed before Ephraim was born seemed to go so fast! I asked Kevin a little later how long I was pushing, he thought maybe 10 minutes.

The nurses, knowing that I wanted to be off my back to push, got me up off my back and to the squat bar that they had hurriedly installed. I remember thinking, even in the throes of pushing, “Wow, they remembered and they are making sure I get what I wanted!” I also remember seeing the doctor throwing on his cover gown and his gloves at lightning speed. A couple of good pushes later and Ephraim was born! He was very mad! He was kicking and screaming! I didn’t think he looked as big as Joel did. I also remember that Joel was really pink when he was born while Ephraim’s little feet were pretty purple. I held Ephraim on my chest for a while. The poor kid smelled like he was born in a barn because of all the meconium. Everyone was itching to find out how much he weighed…so I gave him up. On the scale he went and the verdict was formed. Ephraim Henry weighed 9lbs 2 oz! He was bigger than Joel, but he sure didn’t look like it. When his other measurements were taken we found out why he didn’t seem to be as big as Joel. Ephraim was 22 inches long!

The doctor, when all was said and done, paid me the ultimate compliment…he said to the nurses, “Man, I though the last lady was a real woman. I didn’t think she could be outdone” Then pointing to me he said, “This one here, she’s a real woman!” I don’t take many compliments. I tend to kind of pooh pooh compliments away. But this time I took that compliment and ran with it! Then a little while later he said, “See you could have just stayed at home. You didn’t need me.”

Because of the gestational diabetes Ephraim’s pediatrician said he had to stay for 48 hours to have his sugars monitored. My doctor said I was allowed to go home if I so desired. However, Kevin and I decided because of Medicaid, an early release from the hospital might not get paid for. So Kevin, Ephraim, and I stayed in the hospital for the next two days. Joel stayed with his grandma at our house some of the time and her house the rest of the time.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the experience we had. The nurses at the hospital were very kind. They seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate us and make our birth just the way we wanted, minus the at home part of course. They were also very helpful afterward while we were staying! We never got a rude nurse once! I have seen nurses at another local hospital that were very unprofessional and very nasty! I am so glad that all the nurses at our local hospital seemed so sweet and caring. The nurses carried on with leaving us alone unless we needed something. And man did we ever…with Joel, being our first child, we had plenty of sleep before he arrived. With Ephraim we knew we had house projects to do, we had to clean house constantly because of a little whirlwind named Joel, and we weren’t sleeping well knowing that our lives were about to get even more hectic. So the nurses came in handy at night time when they would take Ephraim for a while! And at our local hospital apparently the babies aren’t shipped off to the nursery they get loved on! The first morning when the nurse brought Ephraim back she told us that Ephraim really liked being held! My first thought was, “Let the spoiling begin!” And you know what…it’s really not a terrible thing to spoil a child!! But that’s another post altogether! 
As I said earlier, I was hesitant to go to the hospital. I really thought that I would be pushed into a c-section for some reason or another. However, what I found when I got there was an accommodating staff and a willingness, maybe even a desire, to make my birth as close to my home birth as possible. It may have helped that I have relatives that work at that hospital. It may have helped that a dear friend, almost midwife now, paved the way for people like me by working in that OB unit. But I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that, short of not having Joel with us, we really enjoyed our time at the hospital. We didn’t have to fight for what we wanted and the staff bent over backwards to give us the experience that we wanted. I would recommend the OB unit and doctor to other women…especially to women who want a natural birth experience. Not once was I offered any pain medications, the doctor and nurses knew I wanted to go natural and didn’t do anything to compromise that!
In no way was my great hospital experience a hindrance to my love for home birth. I still love home birth and hope to have one with our next child. There just might be a few hospital nurses, who expressed an interest in home birth, here in our home helping us welcome our next baby! Now my next task is figuring out how to get the hospital to remodel the OB unit! Birth balls and rocking chairs are great…but so are ropes for squatting, double beds for mom and dad, spa tubs, etc.! We shall see how my campaign goes! :-P

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