Birth Story, Sophie Marie

Finally ready to write out my birth story for baby #2--Sophie Marie Ackerman. Now, let's start from the beginning:

As a background, my first baby--Eleanor--was born 24 hours after reaching the hospital, and 5 hours after the epidural.

So, this time around we hadn't gotten insurance yet when I found out I was pregnant. Because we didn't know what kind of insurance we were going to get, I looked at going to a midwife and doing a natural water birth. I went there a few times before we got our insurance all straightened out.

Well, here's the truth--during my first trimester and slightly into my second, I had crazy hormonal issues I think. It was, for some reason or another, harder. Easier physically, but harder emotionally. I was SO scared of having two kids, and even more scared of going all natural. I read TONS of stuff online about all natural births--I did pre-natal yoga at least three times a week and kept as active as I could with how exhausted I always was. Still, I was terrified. I remember finally deciding to get the epidural with Ellie and how marvelous things were after that. It made me nervous for how going all-natural would be with the second.

Well, after we got really great insurance I was still so scared and unsure of everything, I opted for a hospital birth. My sisters have all had natural births, and I know doulas and I've read a lot of the material for going all-natural. I guess that for me, knowing the hard after, and during, births of some "naturalists," I couldn't get over the fear.

So, my decision was to go in just like I had gone in with my first--no expectations of how things would go down. If things went quickly enough, I would go all natural, if not, I would get the epidural.

So, My due date came and went, despite my being almost completely effaced for a whole week prior. But, June 14 (three days after my due date) I started having contractions. It started early in the morning, but I had been having so many braxton hicks, I pretty much ignored them. Until I went to the bathroom and realized my mucus plug come out. It got me excited, but I know it still takes a while for some people after that happens, so I kept chill and went back to lay down. Pretty soon though, I started leaking fluid--my water broke. With Ellie, the nurses broke my water for me, so it was a new experience. It didn't come out all at once, but was basically a steady stream for twenty minutes. I called one of my sweet friends from back home in Kansas to ask for advice. She's a doula and has helped my sisters with their births.

She was great to talk to. If nothing else than to help my confidence level so I could feel like I really did know what was going on with my body. So, because of how long I was in the hospital last time, this time I was determined to wait to go in. I still called the Dr. on call at the clinic I was going to so they would know what was going on, but he told me I could wait until my contractions where about 3-4 minutes apart since we lived so close.

So, from about 10am to 4pm I sat on our coach in a complete trance. I slept in between contractions while Mark occupied Ellie upstairs. The hours went by pretty quickly as I just sat there, completely calm and relaxed. I felt totally confident, familiar with these contractions from two years ago. In fact, these were much better since Ellie's were only 1-2 minutes apart for hours.

At around 3pm my contractions were basically 4 minutes apart. I wanted to wait, though. I was convinced this baby was not coming until 2 or 3 in the morning. Not sure why, I guess I just figured with how long I was in labor with Ellie, that had to be the case.

Then at about 4pm the contractions starting getting more painful than I had ever felt--these were not so familiar. Still I wanted to wait for some reason. But Mark came down to check on me at about 4:30 and it took me about ten minutes to realize my contractions had jumped to 1-2 minutes apart and we had to go to the hospital right away.

I was scared because in my mind I still had a while to go, yet these contractions were SO painful. We got in the car and I started screaming.

Yeah, screaming.

You know those movies with women that go crazy during birth? Suddenly, that was me.

I. Was. Crazy.

We got to the hospital and I held it together right up until we got to the doors to the birthing center. At Riverton Hospital you have to pick up a phone and tell them you're there in order to get in. That's when I started screaming again.

Here's a tip: If you ever really want attention in a hospital, just start screaming and you'll get tons of it. I imagine this rule is generally true in all places, but especially in a hospital.

We barely got in the room before I shouted I wanted an epidural. I had no idea how far along I was, I just knew I wanted the pain to stop.

They called the anesthesiologist while they checked how far along I was. I was an eight in full transition.

For some reason I was in a little shock--I was already that far along?! Then I thought to myself--I could do this. I could actually go all natural.

And then I had a contraction. My next thought was, "What's the POINT?!"

When I tell people my birth story, they're always amazed at the nurses allowing me to even get an epidural when I was so far along. Mark and I both attribute it to the screaming. We're about 98% sure it was because of the screaming.

The anesthesiologist came in and got everything ready waaay faster than my last one when did. Right before he was ready to put the needle in, he told me I would have to stop screaming. In fact, he even said--word for word, "If you scream one more time while I'm putting this in, I'm leaving and you won't get the epidural."

That shut me preeeeetty good.

Right after the epidural. I look horrible, but I felt great

 Actually, I think that was the best thing. If someone had told me I needed to shut up earlier it might have helped. I feel like all the screaming had started out as a way to somehow deal with this unfamiliar pain, and had turned into something that was psyching me out--I was so worked up I felt like I couldn't calm myself down.

So, then the epidural kicked in super fast and the entire room turned from a hurried craze of people running around and giving orders in between screams, to a clam peaceful place--you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief.

Well, about ten minutes after the epidural they told me I was ready to push but wanted me to wait for the Doctor. This is another reason why I wanted the epidural--I know how nervous nurses get delivering babies and how they want to make you wait to push until the Dr. shows up. But I really have no idea how I would have felt if the Dr. was there when I got to the hospital, so I can't say that's the whole reason.

Anyway, I couldn't feel pretty much anything (I told the anesthesiologist in my frenzied state to give me everything he's got!), so I was okay with waiting. I looked at Mark--his relieved face now that I was calm--and I felt so excited. Like I hadn't felt all day! The whole day was spent in deep concentration, and then a short while of freaked out pain. But at that moment I felt like I could actually enjoy what was about to happen--our baby was finally coming! And I felt 100% confident everything was going to go great. Mark and I got to just sit with each other for 10-15 minutes, enjoying this crazy excitement together.

Then the Dr. came in and told me to push. Unlike with Ellie where my epidural had started to ware off a little before I started pushing, this one was so potent I had next to no idea when my contractions were hitting. So, the first push was off, obviously.

So, then they told me when to push and out came her head and half her body. I have never had ANY desire to see my babys' heads crown, but I was actually for some reason so far forward that I could see the whole thing. I have to say, it was actually pretty cool.

By the end of the second--though first legit--push, she was half-way out. We had told the Dr. the gender was a surprise so at that point he looked at her and announced, "I think it looks like a boy!"

But, sure enough, the second push came and she was out....and was obviously a she.

With Eleanor I had spent 30 minutes pushing before she came out. This little one--about 5-10.

She was handed to me right away and I couldn't believe it. We had another girl! Mark and I both cried, of course, and felt like the happiest people on earth all over again.

I tried to nurse right away, but half my body was so numb I couldn't get a good hold on her very well. Still, it didn't matter. She was perfect.

I could go on about the after birth, but that's not near as interesting, and this is already insanely long. Here's one of the best parts I will share: NO STITCHES! None. After I could finally feel everything again, I felt AWESOME. Except for the extra baby skin hanging down (sorry if this is TMI, I just assume guys don't read these kinds of posts), I felt completely back to normal! No big amounts of bleeding, no stitches, and basically no soreness.

And there you have it--the birth story. Now, I have to have a small section in here devoted to my ranting. If you get offended easily, you probably shouldn't read on, because I think I come off kind of mean when I do this--which is why I've tried to cut down on my facebook rants lately, but sometimes I just can't help it.

RANT: I know a lot of people who are dedicated to the "all-natural" birthing methods. For the most part, these people drive me crazy. So many "naturalists" believe that because they go un-medicated, they're births are more beautiful than those who do the opposite. Well, here's what I have to say to that: CHILDBIRTH is beautiful you morons (yeah, I'm not even trying to hold back). And you can't ever tell me that my births were less beautiful than yours--because come on! They were plenty beautiful, alright?!
And a couple other myths I'd like to crush while I'm at it--"epidurals lead to not being able to push which leads to taring and/or other bad things." almost true, but WRONG. Okay, it's true, I couldn't feel when to push, I'll give you that one. But in NO WAY did that cause me any problems. No tares, no complications--and both kids were out SUPER quick. Then there's, "Epidurals stop the labor process and then Doctors make you get c-sections." Sometimes true, but mostly WRONG. If you get an epidural too soon when you're not far enough along in labor, this can happen. But don't get it too soon and chances are, you'll have a nice, peaceful birth with no other medical interventions. IN FACT, studies I've read say there is actually no evidence that people who get epidurals are more likely to get a c-section. It's just naturalist propaganda (Note: the word "propaganda" was meant mostly as a joke....don't take this too seriously).

I could go on and on dispelling all the stupid things I've heard about epidurals. But, I will say this. Going all-natural can be a great thing to do. I do understand some of the fears with getting medicated, but I also understand how MANY epidurals happen every year in the US and how few of them lead to anything bad. I mean, is it possible that I would have had the same peaceful results if I had prepared for a natural birth and gone through with it? Maybe, but maybe NOT. Could I have had no stitches at all this time around and an amazing recovery if I had gone all natural? Maybe, but maybe NOT (that's another myth--that recovery is always better when you go all natural. I've known plenty of women who've gone all natural whose recovery wasn't even close to as good as mine).

If you want to go all natural--good for you. In fact, to all those who have gone all natural, I have to say this: I APPLAUD YOU!!! I could not handle that pain. That is pretty awesome what you've done. But if you ever try to tell me that's the reason you're birth experience was better than mine, I might have to explode all kinds of crazy on you.