Birth Story, Part 1: Labor & Delivery

Despite having a c-section scheduled for 36 weeks, 6 days, the babies decided to arrive a bit early. I won’t lie, after last week, I didn’t mind too much.

On Thursday, I was having some intermittent lower back pain. I knew they were likely contractions, but they were sparse and not terribly painful, so I chalked it up to one more discomfort. Around 10pm, that all changed. I was in bed, and was suddenly hit with a painful contraction that started in my back and wrapped its way around my belly like a really bad period cramp. It lasted a good minute. And then about 7 minutes later, it happened again.

I told my husband to get the stopwatch, and we started timing. They were very regular, coming about every 6 minutes. The worst part was that they seemed to be lasting about 2-3 minutes, peaking a couple of times. It was quickly becoming not at all fun. To add insult to injury, for whatever reason, I found I needed to pee really badly about every other contraction. So not only was I in quite a lot of pain from the contractions, but then I had to deal with the additional pain of rolling out of bed and hobbling to the bathroom.

Anyways, after three hours of timing the contractions, we decided they were not going away and made the call to the OB. At 2AM, we arrived at the hospital.

Because they knew I’d be a c-section if I delivered, they apparently decided I didn’t deserve one of the rooms with the nice beds. No, they basically put me on a stretcher. There’s nothing quite so lovely as having (what I presume to have been) back labor while on a flat, hard, not-adjustable stretcher. Once hooked up to the monitors, my contractions slowed for a while, so they were not entirely convinced I was really in labor. Great. But they checked my cervix, and I was indeed dilated to 3cm. So they hooked me up to an IV (which took three tries, of course) and gave me fluids. The contractions came back, but weren’t really registering on the monitor. They started saying how they wouldn’t just deliver a 36-weeker because I was “uncomfortable,” and it was all I could do not to cry. But they did pick up again, and upon another check, I had progressed to 4-5cm. Delivery would, indeed, be today.

The nurses prepped me, the neonatologist and anesthesiologist talked to me about what to expect, and my husband was given his set of papery blue scrubs. Around 5:30AM, I was wheeled down to the operating room. Somehow, I didn’t really feel all that nervous. For once in my life, I was kind of just living in the moment, not really thinking much about what would come next. Maybe the pain was distracting me from my usual distractions, I don’t know. Excited as I was, I didn’t freak out.

Getting the spinal was a little strange. The shot of lidocaine to numb my back hurt more than the “actual” spinal. As soon as he gave me the anesthesia, I was to lie down as quickly as possible. Suddenly my lower body started to tingle. The strange part was that I was still quite aware of people touching and prepping my belly, but no pain. Husband came in a minute or two later, and things were underway. There was plenty of tugging and pressure, as they tell you, and I did feel a little bit of pain very low in my pelvic bone. But the anesthesiologist didn’t want to give me any more meds until the babies were out, so they wouldn’t get any of it, so I just stuck it out. It wasn’t bad.

The next thing I knew, I heard them say “head is out,” and then “I need a time of birth for Baby A!” The anesthesiologist responded, “6:03.” A gurgly, underwater-sounding cry came from somewhere on the other side of the sheet at my chest. Very shortly thereafter, another gurgly cry and a “time of birth for Baby B, please.”
“6:03″
“No, that was baby A. I need a time for baby B.”
“Still 6:03.”
That’s how fast Rebecca came out after her brother.

Immediately after they were out, the anesthesiologist gave me an extra dose of “happy juice,” and according to my husband, I started snoring. I think I was only out for a few minutes, and when I woke back up, he was able to give me reports on condition and weights. Daniel was 6lb 2oz, and Rebecca was 4lb8oz. Daniel was working a little bit hard to breathe, so they took him off to the special care nursery. Rebecca was breathing better, so she got a little cuddle time with her dad, and was wheeled back with me on the stretcher to the recovery room.

C-section was fast and relatively painless, and before I knew it, we were back in the room I had so hated a few hours earlier. I sleepily looked to the other side of the room and saw my husband in a chair, gazing adoringly at our new daughter. Not such a bad room, after all.

More later on the days that followed. For now, some pictures.

Skinny Ms. Rebecca was first to get on the scale.

Daniel looks downright pudgy by comparison.

Happy daddy in the operating room.