We had labored at home for 15 hours with the support of our doula for about the last 2 as we were attempting a natural child birth. My contractions had been pretty intense and rhythmic right form the start which happened to be at 3 AM, although my 3 AM contractions were a cake walk compared to the ones that started kicking in around 10AM or so. We figured first time labors usually take on average of 12 to 16 hrs, so after 15 hours and contractions lasting slightly more than 1 minute and about 3 minutes apart, it seemed like a good time to go to the hospital. My doula supported my decision to go but also let me know that if I wanted to stay home longer she felt I would be okay to do so. I still chose to go.
Once we got there Rob answered all the admit questions while I stood at the counter waiting for a place to labor. I was trying hard not to cry at this point as I was feeling very exhausted and vulnerable, I just wanted a place to labor. When I got admitted and put in a room the nurse came in and immediatly "took charge". She damanded I put my arms down and when I didn't she assisted me in doing so. She then rolled me on my back, a bad place to be with back labor, and there I stayed, complying with her demands. To make matters worse when they checked me I was 2cm. It was a HUGE disappointment to put it lightly. After 15 hours of labor I gave up, "I want an epidural" I demanded and got one an hour later. I still wasn't dilating so they broke my water; I eventually got up to a 6. Around that time I had a contraction that wouldn't stop and Jamison's heart rate was dropping. All the nurses ran in and started putting internal monitors on Jamison's head. I looked to my doula for support she reassured me every thing was okay. I was scared, I felt sick, I was light headed and now multiple medical staff were filling up my room, reaching inside me and attaching monitors to my baby's head. My doula was the only person who explained to me what was happening, and that me and baby were okay.
I was given a shot of something which just made me feel extremely jittery and significantly increased my heart rate. The shot was to stop the contraction that was not stopping on it's own, baby needed a break. To help ease the side effects of this injection my doula went over a relaxation script with me, I think I might have fallen asleep for a bit. Due to the shots effect of stopping contractions I got stuck at a 6 so they gave me pitocin. That got me to a 7 but shortly after when I was checked again I was back to a 6 due to my cervix swelling. My doula had tried some hip movement things with me to help get baby to move down but due to being unable to move she was very limited and they were not effective. That was when the Dr decided on a c-section. He was born at 5:03 in the morning healthy and Happy! It turns out he was face up (posterior) so that was the cause of the swelling and lack of dilation. I think my doula was the only one to recognize his positioning was off or at least the only one to care and do something about it. His APGAR scores were 8/9 which is great even for a vaginal delivery so all was well with my little man.
Jamison was born 8 lbs 7.5 oz on April 7th 2008.
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