Mara Rae-A Birth Story Part 3

The process of checking in to the hospital was a bit hectic but thankfully Josh and Doris Ann took care of all of the small details.  I honestly don't remember talking to anyone through all the triage paperwork.  I was too focused on the contractions and willing them to not slow down (I knew that most peoples' labors slow after reaching the hospital)

Even though we were at the hospital, I still wanted to labor as natural as possible.  I let the doctor put in the hep-lock but refused the IV fluids because I didn't want to be attached to any wires.  The midwife checked me and declared I was 5-6.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear but I still felt confident that we would be meeting our little girl in a few hours.  

Getting the hep-lock

The hours seemed to pass quickly.  Josh and Doris Ann cycled in and out, each supporting me in their own way.  It started to get serious when Doris Ann left to get some dinner.  My contractions started to get more intense and I found myself losing (what I thought to be) a lot of blood.  I told Josh that he better go get someone because that didn't seem normal.  Apparently it was semi-normal and the doctors deemed it fine if I would let them hook me up to an IV.  I reluctantly agreed and we continued to labor.  

The birth ball helped a little

Two hours later the midwife rechecked me and low and behold I hadn't changed.  At this point I was getting a bit discouraged and nervous at the same time.  The medical staff was talking pitocin and all I could think about was how that was going to make things much harder.  Thankfully Doris Ann was able to talk them into giving me a little while longer.  She got me on my hands and knees through each contraction.  Looking back on it now its funny because she said this would be a good labor position for me even before we hired her!

Being on all fours I felt like I was in better "control" of each contraction. I say that loosely because at this point I was feeling the urge to push.  I knew we weren't there.  We were only at 7 cm and stage 0.  She wasn't ready to come out yet but with every contraction my body seemed to take over and push.  I tried panting.  I tried deep breaths.  It was all I could do to not push.  

At this point I was still hooked up to both the baby and contraction monitor.  Baby girl was moving around a bit inside and they couldn't get a steady read on her.  They had said if they could just get 20 minutes of constant good feed I could take it off but I never got there.  In fact they started to get really worried about her heart beat and asked if they could do internal monitoring.  I didn't want to but at this point felt it was in both of our best interest.  This way they could get the reassurance they needed and I may be able to avoid any other non-necessary intervention.

Josh told me to smile.  This is what I could muster.

By this time it was about 7 pm.  I had been dealing with these overwhelming contractions for about two hours.  I don't remember a lot about this time except feeling completely helpless. Josh and Doris Ann were doing everything they could to get me through the contractions.  We were praying and I just remember turning to Josh and saying, "Babe I don't think I can do this."  

At the end; just exhausted

Thankfully at that moment they came in and decided to see how we were progressing.  Music to my ears!  I was 9 and 3/4.  I finally had the go ahead to give into those pushing urges I had been feeling for about three hours.