Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 2:20 am Madison Isobel Staniels was born!
What an experience. I truly can say that no one, and I mean NO ONE can prepare you for childbirth. I look back at the pictures and I can truly say I was in shock afterwards. But I wouldn't have changed the process in the least. The human body... or should I say the Woman's body is an AMAZING thing. You never know how strong you are physically and mentally until you are fully engrossed in the biggest event of your life.
Our due date was April 15th, 2010 and with that having come and gone, the doctor appointments every three days began. I truly enjoyed my pregnancy but being late, you truly lose your sense of joy for it and begin with the comments to your belly like ... "seriously, don't you want to come out already?", or "it's much more fun out here than in there! we have toys! all you have are my organs! EEEWWW!".
Anyway the decision was made on Monday, April 26th that we should consider induction a little before the final induction date. (legally they can't let you stay pregnant anything more than 2 weeks past your due date) We would've been induced the second friday after our due date but our ultrasounds started showing that my amniotic fluid was starting to get low. Nothing to be worried about but if we waited until that friday there might be problems. So we decided to start our induction on Tuesday night with Cervadil in the hopes that we would deliver wednesday night with our favorite Midwife: Kelly McDermott. However, things never go as planned!
What Happened:
Monday, April 26th, We arrived at St. Mary's in Troy for one of our ultrasounds/check ups and discovered the amniotic fluid started getting low. Talking with Kelly McDermott, we decided to plan the induction for Tuesday night the 27th at 6pm with Cervadil, in the hopes that we would deliver by Wednesday night the 28th with Kelly (that's when she would be on call). She also mentioned stripping my membranes might start my labor naturally. By this time I was already laboring for a week with no consistent times. So Kelly stripped my membranes (not a painless procedure I might add) and we went home. Strong labor started in the car on the way home from our appointment, every 4 minutes, but didn't last. Called my mom and sister and asked them to come that night to be here for the birth.
Tuesday, April 27th, Mom, Barbara, Tim and I decided to go to the mall to walk and see if my contractions get closer together. They didn't, so I decided to go home and rest before the induction that night. I took a nap for a few hours, when I woke, Tim and I got ready to go and tried to not be too nervous. Arriving at the Birth Center, we were told how busy they were and were given a room, put on a gown, and asked about the Birthing tub.
6pm Tim and I arrive at St. Mary's Birthing Center in Troy for our induction.
7pm I was 2-3cm dialated and the Cervadil was in and strong labor started almost immediately. The awful part is that you have to be on a monitor for at least 2 hours with any induction... which means being in a bed not moving with labor. That totally SUCKS! It made my labor that much more painful. after 30 minutes of hating the bed we begged the nurse for anything but the bed and she gave me an exercise ball, MUCH better. My Labor was one minute apart all night.
9pm midwife takes out the cervadil and the contractions keep getting stronger with only a minute apart. I was in and out of the shower swaying in Tim's arms. The shower was the only thing that made the labor bearable. I couldn't wait until the Birthing tub was filled. The things that worked for me was the exercise ball, with Tim behind me pushing on my lower back, and our friend Cat, pushing my nausea pressure points to help me not feel sick, walking, swaying in Tim's arms, and of course the Moaning as I breathed deeply.
10pm Mom tried to help the nurses fill the tub. I'll be completely honest... mom's fiddeling... isn't always helpful. I appreciate the help to get the tub filled fast but when I heard the water stop running I was a little pissed. LOL definitely the labor talking. Love you mom! As soon as the tub was filled I jumped in (well maybe not jumped) and INSTANTLY had relief! it just gave me that one moment of breathing room!
Wednesday, April 28th: 1:50am My water breaks! OH MY GOD! what pain! I never expected your water breaking to have pain... I always just assumed it would be a weird "woosh" of water and that would be it. But not for me. Granted I was in the tub so I didn't know what it was at first. It was a pop that I couldn't hear, only feel, it felt like Madi had punched me twice inside really fast. And I started screaming that something had "happened". I didn't know what it was but it was painful! and scary. At that point my midwife, Linda, had me get out of the tub to check me and see if it was indeed my water breaking. She really couldn't tell but looking back on it I know that's what it was, but at that point I was 8cm dialated. I got back in the tub as soon as I could. But the big action was just about to start!
2:05am Soon after I was in the tub, I instantly got sick. It was quick and unexpected. One thing I thought I would have avoided in childbirth... but like they say, expect the unexpected! At this time Linda just left the room and I was struck again with an unexpected event. I started pushing! involuntarily, but still pushing and I was scared. Mom/Barb ran and got Linda again (I doubt she made it any farther than the nurses station outside our door. Through out the entire night my pain relief had been moaning and deep breathing. So when I started pushing, I was moaning/screaming pretty loudly. Linda looked me right in the eyes and told me I had to stop pushing... (what?!? Are you kidding?!?) because I was completely out of control. But She was so right. She moved to one side of the tub and I quickly followed to keep eye contact. All I knew was that she had knowledge of what to do and I wanted it. In my own desperation I asked her what I needed to do... she told me to bear down with the contractions and not let my moaning escape. Harnessing what I had inside and in a half squat in the tub I used the next contraction to bear down. Closed my eyes, and found that place deep within and used everything I had to push. Thinking back on that moment I remember visualizing Madi moving down and out of the birth canal. The pain becomes second to doing what you have to do to get this little baby out.
2:20am After pushing a few times I felt Madison's head come down and out and there was a quick moment of relief before I quickly felt her shoulders stop her from sliding out. As her head made it's way out I started leaning back, getting out of the squat and Linda reached down to greet our little girl. Tim came around the tub to catch me while Linda instructed me to push one last time to free her shoulders. The next part I'm sure I was watching but I just don't remember it... Tim said Madi came flying out, arms open wide, gliding effortlessly into the water. Linda had her and placed her in my arms saying, "Take your baby!". I cannot tell you how in shock I was. It's almost a daze at that point as she layed on my chest in my arms, while I was in Tim's arms. I just remember thinking how small she looked/felt. I expected to see the biggest baby on the planet. But she was just perfect! Being that Madi was out of the water (I'm a big girl) she was getting cold and so Linda instructed me to step out of the tub and get into bed to warm Madi up.
The umbillical cord was still attached, per our birth plan, we wanted to make sure Madi got all of her cord blood before they cut the cord. The way they do that is to wait to cut until it stops pulsating and then clamp it. This allows the baby to get all of the nutrients/stem cells.
Looking back at the pictures, I have such pride and sadness. The sadness comes from the expression on my face after Madison was born. It was one of shock and numbness. I didn't expect to be so shocked. After 10 long months and 6 hours of labor this little miracle is here. What a journey it has been and an even bigger one is just begining. Little did I know a few days later what would come.
.JPG)
