Our Happenings : A Birth Story

Audrey

The birth of a child is an amazing thing. The night after the birth and the first few days of recovery, I was in a little state of shock as to how intense childbirth can be. But now a couple weeks later, looking back it is clear that Audrey's birth went as good as we could have hoped. Josh and both nurses we had through the day and night were extremely crucial in helping me get through the pain and delivery and I feel very lucky I had that support. Below is a cliffs notes version of the days' timeline.
5am - I had just gotten back in bed after one of my four bathroom breaks of the night. I was having trouble falling back to sleep when all of a sudden I felt my water break. I jumped out of bed and told Josh either I peed my pants or this baby was on its way.
5:15am - We called the doctor who confirmed my membranes were likely ruptured based on the evidence. Because I had tested positive for Group B Strep she wanted us in the hospital in the next hour or so to start antibiotics even though I was not feeling any contractions.
6:15am - After showers and a scrambled egg breakfast, we packed the car, said bye to Sark and headed to the hospital. (Josh mentions this isn't quite at the urgent pace he was expecting)

Bye Sark!

7:30am - Medication was started thru an IV. This was my first experience with an IV and it wasn't particularly pleasant. We had a failure of entry on one arm and the second arm was difficult as well. The nurse joked that some women think this is the hardest part of labor. I told her I think I could live with that.
8am - They monitored baby and contractions. The nurse said I was having some slight contractions even though I couldn't feel much. Once I saw them on the monitor, I realized I felt light crampiness during the peaks, but nothing that would have stopped me from going to work had said water not broken.
8:30am - My doctor came to check in and requested I do some walking to try to bring on stronger contractions and she would check back in at noon...if needed we would talk about inducing with some Petocin (not ideal). We started up and down the stairs and laps around the first floor of the hospital. By the time we went back for a quick monitor of the baby I could definitely feel contractions getting stronger but more of an annoyance than pain.

Before we were 3

Last Belly Photo

11:30am - Jump a few hours of walking for a half hour and monitoring the baby for 10 minute intervals and I was definitely feeling the contractions about every 8 minutes. (Again Josh mentions this is not how he expected this to go...it was pretty uneventful. I would tell him when I felt a contraction so he could time them, but they weren't too painful and when it was over it was like it never happened)

12:30pm - The doctor is happy with my progression and advises us to continue to walk and rest to keep things moving forward. I try to lie down for a bit since the initial adrenaline rush was over but the contractions were just a little too uncomfortable for much rest. (Josh enjoyed the Masters)
4:30pm - Contractions are coming more frequently and stronger and I labored in the bath for an hour or so. My doctor decides its probably time to check my dilation. To everyone's surprise, I am already at 6 or 7cm, the baby is low and I am progressing quickly. The doctor requested to break a sack of fluid that was in front of the babies head to get it out of the way. She said she'd check back in a few hours.
5pm - And now I'm in indescribable pain and contractions are coming every couple of minutes. I labor in the tub again until I start feeling nauseous and need to get out of the heated water. (Now...this is closer to what Josh was expecting!)
7:15pm - I get out of the water which causes the pain to increase even more. Luckily I feel the urge to push. I push through a couple contractions with the nurse and Josh on each side of me and the nurse coaching me through. The nurse calls the doctor to let her know it's time. I am afraid the doctor is not going to make it in time to catch the baby.
7:40pm - The doctor arrives and realizes it really is time. She quickly dresses and brings in her cart of equipment. I continue to push through contractions and it isn't long until the head starts to appear. The nurse continues to be my personal trainer...ensuring I was pushing longer and harder than I thought possible. And it paid off...
8:04pm - Audrey Ann was born and placed directly on my chest. Josh couldn't exactly see the parts needed to identify the sex, so the nurse turned her towards him and this is how it went:
Josh: 'It's a girl!'
Tracie: 'Really, it's a girl? Are you sure?'
Josh: 'Yes, I'm sure'
Doctor: 'I can vouch for him, it's definitely a girl'

The aftermath of the birth was something I'll spare details on. The important part of the process was complete - we had our little girl - she was healthy with a good set of lungs on her and our hearts were full of love we didn't know we had.