Michael and I were greatly surprised in November 2012 when we found out we would be having a baby! From that time, to when Della was born. A great since of love was in our spirit for this little girl. As first time parents, we wanted to bring our sweet baby into the world the best way possible. With that, we choose the mid-wife route. We decided to not have a baby in the hospital and to do a birthing center because we wanted an all natural birth. We researched it and found that there are often unnecessary interventions at the hospital, and we didn't want that for our little Della. I prepared for the birth by taking all-natural supplements, eating well and exercising. I drink Raspberry Leaf Tea for weeks, took Primrose, meditated and more all in preparation to bring our baby into the world.
I had a great pregnancy. I was one of those women you hate. I was nauseous for a few weeks, but other than that everything was fantastic. Little Della was already head down by 31 weeks, and I just knew we were going to have a great natural birth.
Our due date was July 4th and I went into labor on July 5th around 2 am. Contractions were about 8 to 9 minutes apart. I waited till around mid-day on Friday to call the mid-wife and let her know that my contractions had gotten to the point were they were 4 to 5 minutes apart. A mid-wife met us at the birth center around 7 pm that night only to find I was dilated to 3 cm. I was given a shot to help me rest, and we were sent home because it looked like Saturday would be the day that our baby would come into this world. We got home and the shot did not help me sleep. The contractions were too strong. I stayed up laboring through the night and called the mid-wife in the morning. She brought us back in. I had managed to only dilate to 4 cm by noon on Saturday. Convinced I needed more rest to continue this laboring process, the mid-wife gave me a sleeping pill and sent me home.
The sleeping pill was a weird experience because I was out for about 3 hours, but my body was still laboring. My wonderful husband stayed up and held me down when my body would shake through each contraction. My body worn and tired, started spacing out my contractions to 8 and 9 minutes apart again. It was frustrating.
Finally on Saturday night, the contractions got to be 2 and 3 minutes apart! We thought, this is it, we are having this baby. We went back to the birth center where they checked me, and I was still 4cm. They went ahead and let me stay since my contractions were so close together and the mid-wife and mid-wife student began laboring with us around 9:30 pm Saturday night. We labored, and labored and labored some more. Another lady came in early Sunday morning and had a baby while we still labored (I was really jealous). I finally took the clock off the wall around 3 am Sunday tired and worn down with contraction still coming strong 2-3 minutes apart. At some point, I was checked early Sunday morning and was finally dilated to 6 cm. At this point, talk of breaking my water was starting because I was not progressing.
The midwife made the call to break my water around 6 am on Sunday. Once they did that - everyone knew Sunday had to be her birthday no matter what! After breaking my water and laboring till 10 am I had finally dilated to 8 cm. We had been at the birth center for so long the second on-call mid-wife had to come in. I got the pleasure of laboring with two midwifes, a midwife student and a nurse. At this point Michael and I had been in labor for 56 hours. My body was worn out. I was tired, and we were not progressing like we should after my water broke. I stayed at 8 cm for several more hours. With the strong advise of our midwife, we were advised to go to the hospital and get an epidural so my body would rest, and then we could deliver our baby girl.
It was such an emotional decision to go to the hospital. It was something we had not planned. We had this dream that we would deliver at the birth center. I felt like by going to the hospital, I had failed. I was admitting defeat. With much support, from my husband and mid-wife. We did decided it was in our best interest to let my body rest and go get the epidural.
Our midwife was amazing and they have full rights to the hospital. She was with me the entire time at the hospital. After I got the epidural, I got some rest. After about an hour, I got my husband to get the midwife because all though the pain wasn't there I had intense pressure and knew it had to be time. The midwife came - I was complete. However, by this time my cervix had swollen and Della's head had turned. She was no longer face down, but she had turned and faced lateral. At this point, we had a choice to make. One - they could put me in different positions to see if the swelling would reduce so we could deliver vaginally or I could go ahead and have a c-section. My husband and I opted to wait an hour and have them put me in different positions to see if the swelling would reduce. However, it did not and she was not coming out that way. It was time to prep me for a c-section. With emotions high, and tears rolling down my face. I felt as if I failed at my first task of being a mother. I could not give my child the best birth. However, through this experience I feel like I was able to sacrifice my body in order to bring my baby in to the world the safest way possible - through a c-section.
Once in the OR, it took them about 3 minutes to cut me open and pull Della out. Her cry was beautiful. I was so blessed to have a wonderful OR nurse for Della. As soon as they got her out and cleaned her off, they laid her on my chest for skin-to-skin time. Her cry immediately stopped as she was laid on my chest. I was able to have that skin-to-skin time while they stitched me back up. Once they were done, Michael got to go with Della to the recovery room, and I was soon to follow.
Once to the recovery room - Della was laid on my chest again to do the breast crawl. She was an absolute champ! She latched on within 5 minutes of being laid on my chest. She is such a smart little girl. At this point, I was glad she did something quick, too!
I spent two days in the hospital, and even though it was not the birth my husband and I desired. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I am so thankful to the mid-wife's, OB and nurses that got to be a part of Della's birth.
I'll continue on in another post - but before I round out this one. I have to say I learned so much about myself, my husband and God through this experience. God revealed himself so clearly in his people to bring our Della into the world!
Yay! I'm so glad you had an awesome birth team. I'm so glad that Della made it safely into the world.. and that she has such amazing parents! Love you!!
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