Medicated Hospital Birth (anonymous)

This person opted to keep their name anonymous. Thank you to those who voluntarily share your birth story with us! We hope that publishing positive birth stories on First Kick Co. will help other women feel more prepared for their own birth.

Birth Story:

After two miscarriages, my third pregnancy was a success and relatively uneventful. Throughout my 7th and 8th month visits, my doctor tried to prepare me for my birth by letting me know what to except generally. “It’s not like the movies”, she told me repeatedly. Meaning, my water wouldn’t pop like a balloon sending me into immediate labor pains followed by a rush to get to the hospital.

As luck would have it, there was an unexpected electrical storm in the area when I was at exactly 39 weeks. At 5:30 in the morning my water broke and it was, ironically, exactly like in the movies. The “pop” and release of amniotic fluid woke me up, and I rushed to the bathroom to try and prevent a mess. As I was cleaning up, I started feeling instant and intense contractions that were occurring so frequently I couldn’t tell when one started and another began.

I woke up my husband, called the hospital, and got the go-ahead to head over. When we arrived fifteen minutes later, I was signed in and sent to a triage room. Due to the weather we were told, there was a sudden influx of patients in labor and they weren’t sure when a room would open up. In the meantime, they clocked me at 6cm and told me it would be about thirty minutes before the anesthesiologist could come by with the epidural. A kind a no-frills nurse convinced me of the safety of alleviating some of my immediate pain with fentanyl, which was inhaled and lasted about twenty minutes. I was told to try “holding in” my pushing, as the triage room was not large enough to accommodate multiple doctors should anything go wrong with delivery.

The anesthesiologist came by, and “in-between contractions” (they were constant at this point), I received an epidural. This moment was the second most uncomfortable of the entire event, but once they had situated the IV and let me lay back down, it began working almost immediately. They believe I was likely fully dilated by the time I received the epidural, as my labor was progressing quickly.

It became easier to control my body’s impulse to push once the epidural kicked in. Shortly thereafter, I was moved to a delivery room. For two hours, the nurse guided me through pushing. I could hear my baby’s heartbeat while in utero and his recovery heartbeats anytime he went down the birth canal. And popped back up. You’re largely exposed at this point, but I didn’t care much at the time. In-between contractions, I’d rest my eyes for a bit before feeling the strong urge to push again. At one point a doctor dropped by to warn us of possible medical intervention when concern rose about the baby’s heartbeat not recovering fast enough. However, the nurse was helpful in having me position myself I. Different ways to help boost the baby’s heartbeat recovery, and I reiterated with the doctor and supporting staff that I wanted to avoid medical intervention if at all possible. They agreed and let me continue trying to push for another two hours.

By the time the Midwife came in, I pushed for another fifteen minutes or so and got to experience the “Ring of Fire” that I’d heard so much about. The epidural may have dulled this pain, but I would say this moment was the most painful/uncomfortable of the event. Luckily, it only lasted long enough to pop out a head and shoulders before the rest of him slid out. All-in-all, it probably lasted about a minute.

I had a second degree tear which they stitched up after I passed the placenta, and then I got to cuddle my not-very-cheese covered baby for an hour while feeling like I had run a triathlon and then walked immediately into oncoming traffic. But the excitement, joy, and relief went a long way towards distracting me from any kind of discomfort, and then they brought me a sandwich. It was great. The whole process took about five hours from start to finish!

I did need to advocate for my preferences throughout, and did so by hearing their recommendations, asking follow up questions about pros and cons, and then letting them know what I was and was not comfortable with. Good luck to anyone gearing up for this process! It’s a bitch but then it’s over, and it was important in my case to remember to take it easy for a few weeks afterward as I did end up tearing my stitches.   

*To help you prepare for your own birth, feel free to check out other posts on the blog, or shop our First Kick Kits to get all the pregnancy and birth essentials you need, delivered right to your door.