Claire Merrilee's Birth Story

It was the morning of Friday - October 30th, 2015. I was five days over my due date of October 25th and had kind of given up hope that I would actually go into labor on my own. I had an induction scheduled for Monday November 2nd, 2015 and I had come to terms with that being the date our baby would finally arrive. I finished working at Vivint at the end of September and finished teaching piano right before UEA on October 16 so I was bored to tears waiting for little Claire to come. In the couple weeks I had to prepare,  I was able to get her nursery ready, walk over 30 miles with my mom, clean every corner of my house and then just continued to wait. My 38 week appointment showed that I was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. By my 39 week appointment I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. My doctor showed confidence that I could go into labor on my own and I was hopeful too. At 39 weeks I started trying everything I could to help my body on its way.

• Evening Primrose Oil
• Walking Stairs
• Pineapple Juice
• Briskly Walking
• Blue Cohosh
• Rasberry Tea Leaves
• Clary Sage
• Practically everything but castor oil

Nothing seemed to be working so I just accepted it and tried to stay sane!

The morning of October 30th I woke up early to go to my brothers Halloween parade at school. I met my mom and the two of us went to the parade together. After the parade  had plans to go on a walk later that day so I went home to change. While home, I used the bathroom and when I stood up I experienced a large gush of water. Could it be my water breaking? I have to admit I got a bit excited but wanted to be careful not to overreact. I debated whether or not I should call Brady but after seeing the amount of fluid figured it had to mean something significant.



I called Brady and told him I though my water might have broken and he a sounded a little panicked and told me he would be home from work to pick me up in 30 mins. I called the nurse to let them know what had happened and they continued to encourage me to come in to the hospital. I text my mom and calmly started to get a bag together for the hospital. Of course I had waited until last minute! I had set a few things aside before hand and just had to get them in a bag. After a while Brady got home to pick me and up. We took a brief moment for Brady to give me a blessing and say a quick prayer. I was so thankful we had the time to do this, it helped calm both of our nerves. We set off for the hospital and I have to admit I was in a bit of disbelief! Brady and I kept looking at each other and saying this is it! This is it!

Once we got to the hospital we went straight to Labor and Delivery where they took our names and got a room set up for us. Up until this point I had been bound and determined to have a natural/ unmedicated birth. I had prepared myself for months for this type of birth and was really hoping to be able to pull it off. I had chosen this because of my history with scoliosis. I had heard that sometimes people with scoliosis have a hard time taking an epidural as sometimes it fails to work or is difficult to get it. I figured I wanted to try to get Claire here without an epidural if I could.

Here's a little chronology of events that happened that day. . . 

Friday - October 30, 2016

• 10:50am- Felt an unusual gush while at home. 
• 12:00pm- Arrived at the hospital, ran tests, concluded it was not amniotic fluid and that my water had NOT broken. Bummed because I thought I had started to labor on my own, making a natural birth much harder. 
• 1:30- Hospital agreed to admit me regardless seeing that I was 6 days overdue. I hadn't had anything to eat the entire day so Brady ran and got me lunch because I was starving. 
• 2:30pm- Started Pitocin 
• 4:30pm- Doctor broke my water 
• 5:30pm- Dilated to a 4 
• 6:00pm- Consistent and increasingly painful contractions begin. 
• 8:30pm- Began laboring on birthing ball
• 10:00- Still a 4. (Que breakdown!) 
• 10:30pm- Finally broke and decided to get an epidural

Saturday - October 31, 2016 

• 12:00am- Watched the clock strike midnight and realized I would more than likely be having a Halloween baby! 
• 12:30am- Dilated to a 5 
• 2:00am- Dilated to a 6- baby had turned posterior or head up
• 3:45am- Still at a 6 (put me on oxygen) 
• 4:00am- Expressed concern over her heart rate being to "flat" and told me they would give me one more hour to progress or we would have to start discussing c-section. 
• 4:30am- No sign of improvement 
• 5:00am- Nurses expressed they were a little more hopeful and optimistic about her heart rate then they had been an hour before. Allowed me to keep going. Dilated to a 7.
• 5:30am- Asked for epidural to be topped off because I was starting to be able to feel random spots in my butt! 
• 6:00am- Still dilated to a 7. Heart rate starting to become more concerning. 
• 7:00am- Doctor came in. Checked me and said that rather the a 7 like we had thought I was at that he suspected I was only about a 5. Decided to prepare me for c-section. 
• 8:04am- Claire Merrilee was born! 

After Claire was born Brady got to go over and help them wash and measure her. I remember the doctor saying, "She's a big girl," and "look at all that hair!" They continued to work on me for about 30 more minutes but as quickly as possible, Brady brought Claire over and laid her next to my face. I got to see my little baby for the very first time. It was a very surreal moment. 

After surgery they wheeled us back to our room and allowed us to be alone with our little girl. This was the one thing I was worried about when I realized I would be having a c-section. I didn't want to be robbed of that special one-on-one bonding time. I got to do skin to skin with Claire and feed her for the first time. Brady sat right next to us and we got to be a family of 3! Brady took lots of pictures and kept our families in the loop. It was a very special moment as a couple and as a new family. 

After about an hour we went upstairs and met our families who were anxiously waiting for us! 

 

  

 

 

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed to have had to get a c-section. I had never planned on that. I was really hoping to have that "empowering" birth experience that so many women talk about. I soon realized that regardless or how she got her, Claire had arrived safe and healthy. That was something to be grateful for. Now I look back and I guess I am kind of lucky because I got to experience natural birth, the relief of an epidural and a c-section so now I know how all three feel!Claire had so many visitors and people that love her! Though it didn't go like I had planned, it was a great experience meeting our little gal!