Asher's Birth Story

How did labor go??  It was quite the journey, my friend.

 DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT DETAILS OF A BIRTH.

Pre-labor symptoms began Friday night, July 1st while Otha and I were making a home-made apple pie.  While making this delicious blend of apple goodness, I noticed I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart for several hours.  We were hopeful, but knew that pre-labor could last several days before the real deal kicks in.  So the days passed on waiting for signs of legitimate labor.

The real chef in charge of Pie Project 2011. 

Wednesday morning I woke up a little before 4:15 am for my 4th trip to the bathroom for the night.  I noticed my mucous plug had come out (WHEN I SAID DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT BIRTH DETAILS I MEANT IT.  IT ONLY GETS WORSE).  I excitedly returned to bed to tell Otha about the mucous plug and noticed that I was having period-like cramps that came with a good dose of pain.  So we began timing the cramps and they were 4 minutes apart and lasting a minute long.  Labor at last.  I texted our midwife- so modern- and told her the situation and she replied that it sounds like real labor and she was on her way over.  Thus time for a phone call to my parents for them to begin driving down.  We also began preparing the environment for our ideal labor:  put on my birth playlist, lit candles, got lotion ready for massages, etc.  

Shortly after Erin (our  midwife) arrived, she and Otha began setting up the birthing pool in the living room since it seemed like I was progressing fairly quickly.  Contractions were becoming more painful and closer together.  By 9:30 I was in the birthing pool.  HUGE RELIEF.  Being in the water decreased my pain at least 50%.  However, my body relaxed too much and labor slowed down significantly, leaving us all just waiting for my body to speed up again.  So I got out of the pool, went for a walk with Otha and tried the pool again upon return.  Again, labor slowed down.  Erin then identified that I was dealing with "performance anxiety" since everyone was just waiting on me for something to happen.  As much as I hate to admit it, my people pleasing tendencies had come to town and I really was stressing out about how I was waisting people's time by my labor slowing down.  So everyone but Otha left for a few hours.  We found ways to waste the time while stopping to massage through contractions and waiting for my body to kick it up a notch.  My parents came back in the afternoon and played cards with me while Otha got caught up on some much needed rest.  Meanwhile, my contractions were increasing in frequency and strength.  12 hours- done.

Morning pool attempt #2.

By 6:00pm, Erin had come back and brought herbs for me to take every 15 minutes- black cohash, blue cohash, and goldenseal.  They tasted disgusting but helped intensify contractions even more.  Erin then measured my progress and I was only 3 cm dilated after so many hours of labor.  However, I was 100% effaced and Asher was at a +1 station, meaning he was very, very close to the outside world. So Erin encouraged me to rest as much as possible and let her know if contractions became unbearable or I had the urge to push.  

At 1am, I was having difficulty breathing through contractions due to the immense pain.  So we called Erin and she came over to check my progress again.  Only 4 cm dilated after 7 hours of labor since the last check.  People average 1 cm of dilation an hour... obviously I am not average.  She manually opened my cervix to 6 cm, since my cervix was already so thin and just needed some help moving out of the way.  I continued to walk between contractions and then both my mom and Otha double teamed massaging my back during the contractions.  Although pain was increasing with each contraction, I knew that labor would eventually end and Asher would arrive.  

My amazing coach working hard to help me through contractions.

26 hours into labor, Erin decided to break my water since I was dilated to a 7, almost an 8 to help things progress quickly.  Yes, she broke my water her finger during a contraction.  I then climbed back in the birthing pool since all signs showed that I was well into the Transition portion of labor at this point.  According to Erin, you are only supposed to be in the birth pool for 2 hours before physiologically things automatically slow down.  So we went into the pool with high hopes that transition would end, pushing would begin, and the baby would come within the next two hours.  My body was not on the same page with our plan.  I continued to be in transition all 2 hours in the pool.  Transition = agony.  I am not exaggerating... I cannot express the pain I felt during contractions.  My whole body felt like it was going to explode.  Otha and my mom were once again Allstars and worked incredibly hard to help me through each contraction about 2-3 minutes apart now.  

I am obviously a little more miserable this time in the pool.  Thanks mom for helping!!

When the 2 hours of pool time ended, Erin worked on opening my cervix more and found I had an anterior lip that would not move out of the way.  We decided to go ahead and try pushing at this point.  To help open up my pelvis more, we chose the squatting position for pushing which we stuck with for about 2 hours.  Erin quickly found that Asher's head was facing sideways in my pelvis.  This created a huge problem since the shape of his turned head was not matching up with the opening of my pelvic bone.  Therefore, with each push Erin tried to turn his head and push open my pelvis to try to help Asher's head through.  Needless to say, it was a painful process.  At this point I was extremely tired and simply driven by motivation that Asher would be there soon.  His head was so so close to coming out if only it would turn.  When my body could not handle the several hours of squatting and pushing any more, we moved to the bed to try and push there.  My mom, Erin's assistant, Otha, and Erin all held parts of my body to help me through each push since my energy was draining too quickly.  At this point I told Otha that I did not have anything left in me.  I was exhausted.  Nothing to give.  We tried several more times after this and all the tricks Erin could think of before we had no other option except to transport to the hospital.

Trying to push...worst pain ever. 

We made our way to the hospital around 1pm.  My contractions were out of control painful to where I would just collapse on the ground with each one hoping someone would permanently knock me out.  At this point I was sincerely hoping for a C-Section with full-blown anestesia.  I just wanted to get Asher out ASAP.  Since we did not have an OB, St. Josephs assigned us a team of doctors and nurses who were absolutely incredible and wanted to honor our original birth plan as much as possible.  They informed us that they would do whatever they could do avoid a C-Section and allow me to still push out the baby.  Looking back, I am so thankful for their attitudes.  But in the moment I wanted to scream at them and say that I cannot handle any more pain and I am going to die if they don't get the baby out that very second.  Thank the Lord I was in too much pain to speak my mind.  

They gave me a hefty dose of an epidural as quickly as possible so that I could get some rest before trying to push again.  Instantly I found relief!!  I literally could not feel ANYTHING in my lower body.  The only reason I knew I was still having contractions was listening to Asher's heart rate speed up every two minutes.  Needless to say, I quickly drifted off to sleep.  I awoke probably an hour and a half later to the medical team coming in to see if I was ready to push again.  Because I was already 10 cm dialated at this point, my body was freaking out and I was shaking uncontrollably.  Felt like a drug addict.  But we decided to go ahead and try pushing sweet little Asher anyway.

Feeling completely wiped out at the hospital.  Note my swollen face.  Really, I should be a contender in a Labor Beauty Pageant.

Due to his head still being turned sideways, the medical team was having the same problem that Erin was having trying to turn it during contractions.  Not kidding you, at least 5 different doctors and nurses took turns trying to turn his head with each contraction while I pushed.  At least FIVE sets of hands continually went inside of me, one after the other.  Our head nurse (who was absolutely incredible) literally said to me: "I am destroying your vagina!  I am so sorry!".  She was the champion, however, who was able to keep her hand inside in between contractions to hold Asher's head in a correct position for the next contraction.  Way to go Samme!  They continually told me to push, but as a reminder I could not feel anything.  So pushing was a complete mental game for me while Otha held one leg, a nurse held my other leg, Erin helped me breath through contractions, my dad continually gave me water, my mom was by my side, etc... It was quite the production.  So once Asher's head could be held in the correct position, they took my temperature and it had climbed to 103.7... not ideal.  They decided the next best step to get him out ASAP was to use the vacuum.  One of the doctors attached a suction cup to Asher's head and would pull when I would push.  After three more contractions, Asher was out!!!!  

6:00 pm July 7, 2011.  38 hours of labor.  

I will write some other time about the blessings of both worlds we experienced- home birth and hospital. God completely provided from start to finish and we couldn't have asked for anything better in those difficult circumstances.  As of now, we are just so thankful for Asher to be out of the womb, healthy, and finally home.