My Birth Story - Luca
Luca was due on December 11th. The evening before, Ryan and I were in the hot tub and he was telling me that a patient told him the baby won’t come until their father “calls them out” so jokingly in a very deep and low voice, Ryan said “Luca....come out son...come out.”
The next day, December 11th, I had a midwife appointment and my blood pressure was a bit higher than normal so I decided to take it easy that day and relax. The day went on as usual and later that evening I was feeling extra tired so I crawled into bed around 9 pm. Roughly an hour later I woke up having to go to the bathroom (#2 that is) ...and when I say go to the bathroom, I made about 8-10 trips. My tummy was clearing everything out. I laid back down and around 10:30 pm I began having contractions. I tried waking Ryan up, but he was KNOCKED out so I decided to wait it out. Around 1 am I thought “something isn’t right, this is not a stomach bug, these are contractions.” From the very first contraction, they were about 4-5 min apart and only got stronger and closer together. I woke Ryan up and we called my midwife to come over and check me. She listened to Luca’s heart beat via Doppler as I had a few contractions and said “yup, you are in labor!”
Because my contractions were getting stronger and stayed about 3-4 minutes apart, my midwife said it seems I skipped early labor and was essentially starting out in active labor. In retrospect, I wish I would not have heard this comment, but Ryan asked my midwife how long she thought it would be and she said “well, first-time moms usually take a little longer, but her contractions are getting stronger and closer together, faster than usual so I would say maybe around 8 am or 10 am.”
This messed me up. I kept thinking “almost there, only a few more hours.” Well....8 am became 10 am became 12 pm became 2 pm....and then there was no time frame given. I just kept hearing “you are getting close, almost there.” If you know me, you know I’m a driver, a goal-oriented person, but I need a destination in front of me to know where I’m going and how long and how hard I have to push to get to the end goal. Birth was a huge challenge of my mind and heart for me because there was no definitive, it could be another hour or 10 more hours.
My contractions around 10 am (I was roughly 12 hours into labor at this point) became transitional style contractions occurring every 60-90 seconds. Though my contractions were moving fast, my dilation was not. I spent a lot of time in the hot tub which felt better, but I believe made me throw up more (I threw up about 6-8 times throughout my labor).
Around 11 am my water broke in the hot tub. You may ask “how do you know that if you were in water?” Well, it feels like a jacuzzi jet shot right out of my girl area...that’s how I know. Also, my contractions began to get even stronger at this point.
For the next 5 hours, I went between the hot tub, shower, living room couch, birthing ball, standing, on all fours, and everything in between.
The other thing that seemed to be working against me was my cervix was posterior so though my son was descending down he was not engaging at the right area of my cervix because it was so far back.
At about 4 pm, after 18 hours of strong labor, I was dilated to a 9. My midwife suggested to try sitting on a birthing stool which they set up for me on my bedroom floor. Holy fire so much pressure down there!!!!!
My midwife explained to me that she could feel his head and that the pushing wouldn’t take long because he was so low but because my cervix was so posterior, they would need to go up in my girl area for 2-3 contractions and pull my cervix over my son’s head and keep their hands up there in between contractions so the cervix didn’t slip back. Both my midwife and her apprentice did this for 3 contractions...the pain was unreal!!
Finally, it was time to push. I pushed for about 15-20 minutes and Luca’s head finally crowned.
During my pregnancy, I had a really bad left SI issue that I couldn’t get to resolve and sure enough it affected my delivery. Luca stayed crowned for 6 MINUTES because he kept rotating to turn around my left hip. They call it the ring of fire because it feels like your area is on fire down there but it’s supposed to be quick; 6 minutes is a long time to have your kid’s head hanging out down there.
I looked at my birth team (including my mom and husband) and said “if anyone tells me one more time that I’m almost there and I’m not and this takes another few hours, I’m launching you all clear across the street.”
My midwife gently smiled and said “your baby will be in your arms in no time....give me a few more good pushes”....then came his shoulders and then the rest of his body.
As I sat on the birth stool, they placed this ginormous little boy on my lap and I remember looking down and thinking 3 things:
1. He was hairy as HECK....no wonder I had so much acid reflux.
2. This kid is massive, how did he fit inside of me?
3. He had a cone shaped head due to the long birth and getting stuck multiple times...I said out loud, “good thing your mom is a chiropractor, I can fix that.”
It was then that I realized everyone in the room was moving very fast. My mom had a look of horror on her face. I heard my husband say, “do you want me to call 911?!” and both my midwife and her apprentice were moving very swiftly and not speaking.
My midwife came right over to me and gave me a shot of Pitocin in my thigh and then gave me coagulation meds. I guess I was in another world because I couldn’t hear the blood pouring out of me; my mom said it sounded like a running faucet on high.
My midwife told Ryan that she gave me a shot and meds to stop the bleeding, but it didn’t work. They quickly got me on the bed and began doing aortic compressions. I heard her tell Ryan that if this doesn’t stop the bleeding, she has one more thing to try before calling 911. I just tried to hold my baby boy securely on my chest and stay calm as I lay in bed with them over me doing aortic compressions.
They finally got the bleeding to stop and helped deliver my placenta.
Luca was born on Thursday December 12th at 4:47 pm after 19 hours of unmedicated labor at home. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz and measured 21.5 inches long.
Needless to say, I had severe 3rd degree tears and needed quite a bit of sutures. I lost so much blood that I passed out on the toilet later that evening and was caught mid fall by my midwife.
My midwife said in her experience of over 600 births, I was in the top 10 for blood loss, tearing and extreme labor. I guess my competitive spirit came through a bit too much.
I still try to wrap my mind around what happened that day as I feel I tried so hard to prepare for everything to go smoothly. I am certain that everything happens for a reason. While this was a painful experience in so many ways, I know this pain can be turned into purpose! My experience will allow me to better serve thousands of moms in my years to come!
This is what I know:
1. My son is perfect and I will forever thank God for this little guy!!!
2. I’m thankful for emergency medicine and for my midwives moving fast and knowing just what to do to save my life. I found out later that there are different types of midwives and if I didn’t have one that was certified to be able to administer the shot and meds, I would of likely bled out because of the amount I lost and at the fast pace I lost it at.
3. Finally, my husband and I work together which means we are always together. We butt heads and drive each other nuts on various occasions. But THAT guy right there...there isn’t another one out there like him!! I fell in love with him all over again that day. He was calm, strong, steady, funny, loving, encouraging and everything I needed and more. I know for a fact that I could not have done 19 hours of home labor without him....no way! I may have birthed that little turkey, but he kept my mind from going downhill. I told him so many times that I quit and I didn’t want to do this anymore and I changed my mind...I kept telling him towards the end “to make it stop” and with tears in his eyes, he just kept loving me and encouraging me. I am so very thankful he is mine!!!