Adam: My wife and I have worked
throughout the pregnancy for a natural non-medicated birth for our
daughter. We took the Bradley Method classes, and spent a lot of
time practicing and researching to be as prepared as possible. We
chose a group of midwives at St. John's/St. Vincent Anderson Regional
Hospital for delivery. All went well until week 37, which is when
Aria decided to go from head-down to frank breach (bottom down).
Lisa and I tried everything to flip her, from the chiropractic
Webster Technique, to putting frozen vegetables on Aria's head, to
lying upside down on an ironing board. After our 38 week midwife
appointment, Lisa felt movement and hoped for the best that the baby
had flipped back to vertex. I talked to our midwife, Charlotte, about
delivering a frank breach vaginally - which can be done; they used to
do it in the 70's even in the 80's - but due to liability issues the
hospital would not allow it. She said the closest midwife she knew
who could do it safely was in Tennessee. Anyone else would be risky
because they wouldn't necessarily have the experience with enough
breech births to do it safely. Delivering a breech baby is no longer
taught in medical school.
We were running out of options and time
before Aria's due date, so we scheduled an appointment for an
external version on Friday, May 31, when Lisa was at 38.5 weeks'
gestation. They would perform it after a quick ultrasound to
determine Aria's position and eligibility for the procedure. The
external version was our last option to attempt a vaginal birth; if
it did not work, a c-section would be scheduled sometime early during
Week 39 (June 3 – 7).
On Thursday, May 30, both Lisa and I
felt like we were poised on the brink of something big; the calm
before the storm. Lisa described it as that quiet moment of focused
calm just before hearing the starting buzzer of a race, or that
collective intake of breath before a band sounds the first note of a
musical piece. We were ready, no matter what happened...c-section,
or normal delivery.
Friday, May 31, 2:00 AM
Lisa: I got up in the middle of
the night to pee (AGAIN), and noticed that my mucus plug had fallen
out. I didn't think much of it; labor could be days, even weeks,
away yet. I groggily went back to bed...but didn't get much in the
way of rest. My contractions started in earnest. Somewhere in the
back of my half-awake brain, I knew they were about 10 – 15 minutes
apart. Then, at 3 AM, my water broke. Whatever I was before, I was
awake now...this was labor. I elbowed Adam awake and asked for some
towels.
Adam: I sat bolt upright,
completely awake. I asked her if she was sure, which of course her
response was a resounding yes. I got her some towels. She called
the midwife, who told us to come in to the hospital around 5:00 am.
Our favorite was on call: Charlotte. Charlotte was the most open to
allowing what we wanted without pushing any interventions. I took
the time to take a shower, walk the dog and make sure we had
everything we needed, including putting a towel in the passenger side
seat of the car. Lisa took the time to call her parents and to
attempt to get some sleep. I was calm, excited and hoping that the
baby had turned. As usual, I was practically pushing Lisa out the
door to be at the hospital by 5:00 AM. I drove calmly, as I knew the
route and had prepared for this moment. Lisa said the baby was
moving fine, and there was no reason to hurry. We checked in and got
settled into our room...which, unbeknownst to us, was going to be our
home for the next 4 days.
Around 6 AM, Charlotte and the OB/GYN
on-call came to do the ultrasound to check Aria's position. Our
hearts sank. Still breech. And she had sunk so far into Lisa's
pelvis that we couldn't see her legs anymore. Aria had made the
choice for us: she had to be born c-section. The good news was, all
her vital signs were good and she was handling each contraction like
a champ. The OB/GYN agreed to schedule a non-emergency c-section,
and to wait until there was an opening in the Operation Room
schedule. We were all disappointed, because our midwife and all the
delivery nurses had been rooting for us to go “all natural.” Our
choice was a rare one, and they had been looking forward to
experiencing it with us.
Lisa: I was overjoyed with the
news that my c-section wouldn't happen until the early afternoon.
More time for me to labor naturally and give Aria all the hormones
she'd need to make a successful transition to our world. Despite the
major distractions of nurses constantly coming in and out to check
me, getting IV fluids and a badly placed hep-lock in my elbow
(resulting in the loss of using my arm), continual fetal monitoring
to make sure she didn't go into distress, and worst of all: no
eating. I could handle the contractions; I had trained long and hard
for them and was focused on keeping them from stalling out. The
reduced movement was also hard because I couldn't move into the
positions I wanted, and prevented me from being close to Adam. But
the hunger-induced nausea was way worse, and unlike the contractions,
never ended. With every contraction, I fought hard to keep from
retching. The required anti-nausea meds they gave me prior to
surgery just made it worse. Finally, just before the nurses took me
down to the OR for surgery, I stopped fighting the nausea and threw
up in the bathroom sink. The ultimate irony was, if they had allowed
me to eat, I wouldn't have felt so sick.
Adam: The OR was running behind
schedule, so we spent a lot of time in the recovery room waiting.
Lisa moved into active labor, her contractions 5 minutes apart, then
4. I would rub her back and hold her up, especially for the really
intense ones. I used everything I learned from the Bradley classes
and it worked. Especially reminding her to breathe deep and slow.
I'm extremely proud how my wife handled the contractions; she did a
wonderful job. If you want to freak out a bunch of recovery nurses,
start active labor in front of them. I did everything I had learned
in class about creating a bubble around Lisa; I calmed the nurses to
keep them from distracting her, telling them what was happening was
fine and normal...just active labor. Apparently they'd never seen a
woman in active labor awaiting surgery; most request drugs to stop
the contractions. Finally, around 1:45 PM, the OR was ready. They
took Lisa away to place the epidural, and I took the time to inform
the recovery nurses that we wanted to get Lisa back up with the baby
within the hour to start breastfeeding.
Lisa: Placing the epidural was
by far the most painful and traumatic experience of the entire labor.
When they took me into the OR, I had labored for 12 hours, and
dilated to 6 cm and 90% effacement. I had given Aria the best I
could, taken her as far as I could go. She would be exposed to the
epidural drugs for only 15 minutes or less. I would be nursing her
within the hour. She had come into this world on her terms; picked
her birthday all by herself. I had succeeded in giving her those
things. It took 2 tries and 6 different adjustments of the needle to
place the epidural. Each movement of the needle triggered a
contraction, and I felt fire race along my spinal nerves. I was
panicking; I struggled to keep my breathing deep and even. Finally,
the needle was placed, and my recollections became hazy and
out-of-focus.
Adam: When I walked into the
OR, it was not the best scene. Lisa was not doing well; there were
tears in her eyes and she was very scared. I wished I could have
been there earlier to help. I sat down in a chair they had and held
Lisa's hand. I rubbed her head and told her everything going to be
fine, you're going to be a wonderful mother, I love you, we're about
to see our child. This helped calm her down. They put a small
curtain up between us and the surgery area; of course I could peak
over the curtain to watch. The next moments were some of the most
amazing moments of my life. I watched them pull out Aria from Lisa.
She looked good; with having less than 15 minutes of the epidural in
her system, you could tell. Her coloring was great, and her muscle
tone strong. She was alert and active. Her lungs inflated and she
started crying immediately. Strong cries. They took her over to the
nurse's table; did a few checks lasting a minute or two. Lisa kept
asking if Aria was OK, and I told her everything was fine. She kept
asking to see Aria every couple of seconds after that. I told her to
wait just a minute, and I would be right there. I went over to the
nurses and looked at Aria. They clamped the cord and let me trim it.
The cord had to be cut immediately because Aria pooped as she was
coming out, and they needed to check her for distress. It took three
tries to cut through the umbilical cord; it is very strong! I
couldn't get over how beautiful my daughter was, and how perfect she
was to me...all 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches of her. She was so small;
tiny fingers and feet. And a full head of hair!
They gave her to me. Being drugged,
Lisa couldn't hold her, but she told me to lay Aria down next to her.
She wanted to kiss her and smell her hair. After a few minutes the
nurses wanted her back, so I took Aria back over to the nurses and
they wiped her off and did more checks. Aria was squinting with one
eye, and struggled to open the other. They were worried, as there
were some crud on it, but I shaded her eyes and Aria opened them both
just fine. Those eyes were amazing, and melted my heart right there.
Here was my daughter. I helped push the incubator box back to our
room, never taking my eyes from hers.
We got back to our room and they did
countless checks, leaving once for a minute to get stuff. I took
that first moment to welcome Aria into the world. Aria was not happy
about the checks, so I put my arm next to her while they were doing
the check and would look in her eye and tell her everything was OK.
I told the nurses we wanted the eye gel and vitamin K shot delayed
until Lisa nursed her, as being a c-section birth, Aria would need
all the help she could get in establishing a good latch. Lisa made
it back to the room before the checks were done, and they put Aria
skin-to-skin so she could nurse. The nurses left to finish the
checks later, and Aria latched on right away. I've never seen a more
proud mom.
Lisa: My memories of the
operation and recovery room come in jumbled flashes. Flash: Adam
above me, rubbing my face and hair. Flash: Aria crying, and me
needing desperately to touch her, to smell her. Flash: me being
back in my room. As soon as they put Aria on my chest and she began
to nurse, the drug-induced fogginess disappeared. It was magic, that
moment. I couldn't get enough of my daughter: her eyes, her cheeks,
her tiny body, her perfectly formed fingers and toes.
The c-section was a more traumatic
birth experience for me than I had anticipated, but breastfeeding my
daughter has been the healing balm. It motivated me to focus on a
mostly drug-free recovery (Ibuprofen only), and has helped me cast
away the disappointment of not giving Aria the birth I felt she
deserved. In the days immediately following Aria's birth, she sailed
easily through the routine hospital checks as if she'd been a natural
birth all along. She continued nursing like a pro, I was proud of
that.
The most important thing I've learned
from this experience is that the lessons and techniques we learned in
the Bradley classes are applicable to any birth experience, natural
or medically assisted. Adam and I both relied heavily on the
information we learned in class, and took the time to ask questions
and discuss our options...even in the height of the most intense
moments. We worked as a team to support each other, and to choose
the path of least medical intervention. For that, we are both very
proud and grateful, and can't wait to grow together as a family!!