Madigan's Birth Story as told by Kirsten

Kirsten belongs to an online baby group. Each woman would write about the birth of their child. The following is Kirsten's tale - it is long.

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9am Wednesday September 27th
Four days past the due date. OB appointment to check things out and discuss induction, currently scheduled for Monday October 2nd. Heartbeat is in the 130 to 140 range. Doctor did and internal and I have dilated from 1 cm to 2 cm, possibly 2.5 cm if she stretches her fingers a bit. I have her strip my membranes again to see if that helps. Immediately I feel crampy and the doctor comments that my cervix opened a bit more - the cramps are stronger than the week before when she stripped my membranes the first time. The doctor then informs me that she is having to go out of town Friday and would not be here to induce me on Monday as planned. My options are being induced this evening or waiting until the following Wednesday. I am worried about the apnea episodes I have been having for the past two weeks and I am also a bit discouraged that I have gone past my due date. We decide to induce that evening after midnight. My husband is not happy at the prospect because he has calls scheduled for work in the morning but I tell him not to worry and that it will work out in the end. We leave the office and I am having my normal BH contractions. We go to breakfast and head home. My husband has work to do and I decide to clean up the house, do some laundry, and take care of other things around the house. I want things to be as orderly as possible since my life will change at the stroke of midnight.

2pm Wednesday September 27th
We decide to go walking after we run a few errands. We go to the zoo to walk because they have long trails and plenty of hills to get a good workout on. We get to the zoo and discover it closes in an hour. So we get back on the freeway and head into Portland and the Northwest District where there are plenty of shops to walk through. We walk for about 1.5 hours and by the time we get back to the car I am definitely having what I determine to be contractions and not BH contractions - they were low down and uncomfortable. Up until now I have always driven and decide it is time for the husband to take over. We go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I eat well but am still having contractions. By the end of dinner I am uncomfortable but not in pain.

6-9pm Wednesday September 27th
As we head home I time my contractions and they are happening every 4 minutes. We had planned to get gas on the way home but I change our plans and have my husband take me straight home because sitting was uncomfortable and I felt like taking a shower. He takes me home and I shower and put on a nightgown and lay in bed. He comes from the gas station and lies on the bed and falls asleep while I watch TV and time the contractions - still every 4 minutes.

9-10pm Wednesday September 27th
I sleep.

10pm Wednesday September 27th
I get up and notice the contractions have stopped and am bummed out. I call the Birth Center regarding coming in for the induction. They are currently delivering 3 babies and tell me they will call once the night calms down. I go back to bed and sleep.

Midnight Wednesday September 27th
I get up and go to the bathroom and start having contractions again. As I leave the bathroom my phone rings and it is the Birth Center. They request I come in at 1am. I wake my husband and get dressed. I am having contractions and they are every 4 minutes and still just uncomfortable. We get to the hospital around 1am and are shown to the birth room. After changing and speaking with the nurse I am hooked up to the monitors. It takes 3 nurses 4 tries to get an IV into me. They call a lab tech to take blood because they don’t want to risk losing the line after all their work. The nurse checks me and says I have dilated to 3 cm and am 50 to 60% effaced and the baby’s head is high (she can push it back from the cervix).

2-5am Thursday September 28th
The pitocin drip is started. My nurse says if I am favorable to pitocin I should notice a difference in my contractions before she ups the dose in 15 minutes. She is right on the money because I feel them get stronger. Every 15 minutes the dosage is upped and when I think they hurt the nurse comes and says she has to up the dose again to regulate the contractions - they are spaced oddly but maintain the same length. The goal is 1 minute contractions every 3 minutes. The contractions get stronger and I am restricted to the bed because of the monitors and this does not help matters. My back begins to ache and burn badly. The nurse suspects back labor and brings my a hot pad which helps for a short time - the pad was hot enough that I couldn’t concentrate on the back contractions because my skin felt like it was on fire. My husband and the nurse helped me to breathe through the contractions but it got harder and harder. I remember muttering “mama mia” (funny to me now) and moaning “ow” a lot in addition to trying to breathe deeply. This time period is a blur and I don’t remember what happened exactly when. At 5 am the nurse checked my cervix and I was 8 cm and effaced 80%, another reason it hurt so bad because I stretched so fast. At this time I asked to take a shower or bath and was told I could not because of the monitors - being told no was a real moral killer for me. After the next contraction I asked for something for pain and the nurse said she could start with a half dose of Stadol. I did not plan to have this drug but I could not convey this thought nor did I want to ponder other options so I said yes to it. The nurse went and got the Stadol and administered it. She told me it would blur my vision and make me feel drunk. After this I don’t remember a lot, time seemed to fly, and what I do recall was being in an unconscious state of blackness and then being in a very conscious state of pain.

My husband says the nurse first called my doctor at 5:30am and told her how fast I was progressing. The doctor said I was a first time mom and would not deliver too soon. Over the next 1.5 hours the nurse called two more times and the doctor finally came in after her last call at around 7am. At around 7am the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated with a small anterior lip she could push out of the way. My water was still whole and the fore bag was bulging slightly. She started to prep the room for delivery. Sometime after this she left the room and my husband was in the room watching me. My husband told me during this time the nurse turned off the IV pump completely because my contractions were so strong and so close together - she had backed down on the dosing and it did not help.

After 7am Thursday September 28th
I remember opening my eyes during one very strong contraction, noticing my knees were bent and my feet were on the bed and I thought to myself that pushing might make my pain go away. So I pushed and that broke my water. My husband heard a pop and then saw a gush of liquid leave my body and land on the floor. He stepped over the puddle and left the room to get the nurse NOW. In the meantime I had gone back to Stadol la-la land and don’t remember his leaving.

The next time I came to there were 4 nurses and my doctor in my room and a lot of equipment and activity going on in the room. I was contracting one right after the other and the pain was intense. I felt like someone was trying to cleave me in two from my ribcage to my knees. My night nurse was telling me to stay strong and not lose it because I had made it through the night and it would be done shortly. Later she told me she was worried because I had a very panicked expression on my face and my eyes were darting about rapidly. I remember planting my feet on the bed and grabbing the mattress tightly as I lifted my bottom off the bed in an attempt to make the pain go away. I now refer to this as my Exorcist Impression. The day nurse introduced herself and I think I grunted at her. She asked me to move up on the bed so they could break it down for delivery and I said I could not do it. I then levitated off the bed with the next contraction, something I seemed to have energy for. With her help I did move up on the bed. They broke down the bed and gave me hand grips and foot rests. I was told I could push. With one push I moved the head down the birth canal almost two inches. The doctor was still garbing up and told me not to push but I had a hard time not doing so, my uterus was on auto-pilot at that point. With the next contraction I brought my knees together in an attempt to not push and the nurse commented “you cannot have a baby like that” and she parted my knees. I thought “watch me”. The nurse placed her hand over the baby’s head and my perineum in an attempt to stall for a moment - the doctor did not want me to tear and wasn’t ready just yet... During this I lost my composure and was screaming and moaning and breathing and carrying on, the pain just would not subside and my perineum burned so badly, it felt like I was in a scalding hot bath. I remember saying “I have to push, I have to push” and “it hurts”.

Finally the doctor was ready and told me to push. I did not push that hard because my uterus was doing its own thing. The baby’s head came out with one push. The doctor yelled “don’t push, the cord” and it took all I had left in me to not push even though my body had other plans. I could hear the click of the clamps and felt the doctor moving the baby and that hurt. She then told me to push. I couldn’t control myself and my push became a shove as the rest of the baby was delivered in one push. The doctor laid the baby on my stomach and said “it’s a girl” and I looked down at her and said “hi baby girl”.

7:41am Thursday September 28th
Madigan was here, we finally knew we had a girl. The nurse whisked Madigan to the warming table and they suctioned out her lungs and nose and stomach - she had a lot of amniotic fluid in her because of the fast delivery (contractions and pushing force the fluid out). I cannot recall when I heard her cry but when she did it was strong. In the meantime the doctor had me push out the placenta. I remember the nurse massaging my uterus from the outside and cringing at the sensation because it hurt and I was tired of hurting, I kept trying to curl up. I also remember being surprised at the instant lack of pain, the contractions felt like they had stopped instantaneously. The nurse continued to massage me and the bleeding slowed and the clots I was passing were getting smaller. The doctor then injected lidocaine and stitched up my two tears. I kept inching up on the bed to get away from the needle pricks I could feel - the one lidocaine injection was slow to work. Finally they were done. I had a weird moment and blame the Stadol. I recall everyone and everything in the room at one minute and then the room being empty the next minute, I don’t know if I forgot or if I fell asleep or what happened. Weird.

I had one coherent moment and asked my husband to grab the camera from the bag and take pictures of Madigan. He got shots of her on the warming table being cleaned up and then in the bathroom when they gave her a bath. She did not cry during her bath and was quite alert through all the procedures. She scored a 7 and an 8 on her Apgar tests, mainly because of her appearance and response.

What a whirlwind! Madigan was the talk of the nurse’s station that day because of how much fluid was suctioned from her - and she still threw up two times Thursday night in the nursery and two times when I had her in my room.

I was drained from my adventures in procreation but I could not sleep. After a brief rest the nurses had me up and in the bathroom with orders to pee, which I did while showering. Housekeeping changed my bed and cleaned the room and I crawled back into bed in a clean gown and finally held Madigan. She was mine at last. I felt like a kid at Christmas. And talk about hungry, my appetite finally came back, and I ordered off the room service menu and ate heartily and could have eaten more if it was placed before me. My husband and I called our friends and family starting right after the birth and my mother in law and her husband came by for a visit.

That night I had the same nurse who helped me through labor and I got a chance to ask her about things I could not remember and she filled in some blanks for me. She was also a great help trying to get Madigan to nurse. At one point I could not make Madigan happy and she came in and finger fed Madigan with a pipette and formula. I was nearly in tears at that moment. Madigan spent part of the night in the nursery having her vitals checked and sleeping and I tried to sleep the best I could. Madigan was brought in to nurse and my nurse helped me again to get her latched on and sucking - this time she held the pipette of formula alongside my nipple to entice Madigan. This woman is a saint in my book. We both slept until the next time our vitals were checked. Friday morning was busy with blood work, a visit from the OB on call, and our pediatrician. I was finally discharged at around 1pm - I had been there approximately 36 hours. Amazing how much can happen in such a short time.