the birth of Shay Luca

it was about 9 o’clock saturday night. i was laying in the bath & started feeling some cramps. they were strong but inconsistent. I thought it might be labor, but knew my body would need rest if that was the case. I decided to go to bed, waking up off & on throughout the night to stronger contractions, but falling asleep between them. at 4 am sunday morning, I knew it was full blown labor. my contractions were 1 minute long & 10 minutes apart. I continued timing them & falling asleep in between for another 2.5 hours before calling my midwife at 6:30 am. she agreed with me that this was it (woohoo!) she encouraged me to eat, hydrate, rest & have landon get the pool set up while we had energy. we were giddy & excited & ready to meet our little guy. I was breathing through contractions really well & felt extremely confident and optimistic!

little did we know, this was the start of a 40 hour labor that would end a lot different than anticipated.

contractions came & went roughly 10 mins apart for the next 6 hours & I was still in the same place— breathing & talking through. my doula (hayes) encouraged us to go for a walk, so we did! we took a walk around the neighborhood, then walked the stairs many times at our house before she joined us at the house. at this point, i’d been in labor for about 12 hours. still in good spirits, still full of energy. we were walking around, joking, talking & laughing— everyone was saying it didn’t seem like I was really in labor. I was coping great & felt incredibly prepared which I was so grateful for. I was really prepared to meet baby boy that evening.

hayes left & came back around 9:30 that night. by the time she came back, my contractions were about 5-7 mins apart, but I knew I was still quite a ways off from having this baby. as things kept progressing, hayes called amy, our midwife, who arrived around midnight. she checked baby’s heart rate & my vitals, then left me to continue laboring. my mental state was sliding as we got later into the night & approached the 24 hour mark. I tried all the positions while landon held me & hayes rubbed oils on my back. I sat by the fire & leaned on my birth ball & tried to keep my mind off the contractions as best i could.

I was mentally & physically exhausted & was having a hard time communicating what I wanted or needed anymore— signs of transition. we all really believed he’d be coming soon. around 2:30 monday morning, amy suggested I try getting in the pool to relax. & relax I did. the water felt incredible. I 100% stand behind the nickname “the midwife’s epidural” for the birth pool— it was life-changing. but, I was having a really difficult time sitting down. I could feel baby boy bearing down on my hip bones & rib cage any time I sat down through contractions. the water also slowed things down. it was a catch 22 of sorts— i was grateful for the break, but knew it wasn’t getting us closer to meeting our boy. reluctantly, i got out of the pool & re-entered transition. I labored another seven hours of HARD contractions every 1-2-ish minutes apart. we did circuits of sitting on the toilet through contractions then getting up and walking around. at this point, exhausted was the understatement of the century. I could feel my body fighting every contraction & I was no longer able to control my breathing or my thoughts.

around 10 am, I asked my midwife to do a cervical check. I told her “i feel like i’ve been doing the same thing for the last 12 hours. every contraction feels the same, but i don’t feel like i’m progressing”. she did the cervical check & found I was only 4 cm dilated because shay’s head was stuck sideways up in my pelvis— not even touching my cervix. I was right— i wasn’t progressing. with every contraction, my body was trying to push him down & out, but his head was stuck up in my hips (hence my inability to sit down for my entire labor). at this point, amy asked me if I wanted to transfer to the hospital for pain relief or try shifting baby myself. she encouraged me I could absolutely do it, but acknowledged the fact that i’d been at it for 32 hours at this point & was physically & mentally drained. I told her I wanted to try & spent the next 3.5 hours trying to shift his position. this was absolutely the most painful part of labor— doing forward inversions (sitting with my knees on the end of my bed & forearms on the floor) through my contractions in attempts to give him space to shift. landon & my mom coached me through the whole thing like champs & squeezed my hips for counter pressure until their arms all but fell off. I couldn’t use my legs anymore & even thought the contractions were more painful laying down, I physically couldn’t stand without help anymore. amy did another cervical check & found his head was finally in position, but my cervix was still so tight that we knew it would be hours (at least) before he arrived. the contractions were 3-5 minutes long with barely 10 second breaks in between. my body & mind were exhausted. I truly didn’t think I could take it anymore. together we decided the best course of action would be to transfer to the hospital for pain relief so I could get some relief & hopefully avoid an emergency c-section. amy’s exact words were “you’re strong enough & fully capable of doing this, but I don’t want you to be traumatized by birth, and I truly think we’re reaching that point”. I had to agree with her.

landon drove us to the hospital where they welcomed us with open arms. amy had called & told them we were coming, so they took us back to our room right away. at this point I was 8 cm dilated. there, the midwife on call handed me a cup of sprite & cranberry juice to get my blood sugar up while hooking me up to iv fluids. they gave me meds in my iv that calmed me down while I waited for an epidural. after the anesthesiologist re-inserted the epidural ~five~ times, I tried to rest as much as I could. contractions slowed thanks to the epidural, so I was given pitocin to speed them up. the midwife did a cervical check where she accidentally broke my water & I was ready to push a few hours later. the timing of this stage is pretty much a blur hahah

I pushed for 45 mins, having to switch sides pushing on my left, then back, then right, since baby boy kept rotating his position as he was coming out (tiny pelvis problems). it was evident to everyone in the room that my epidural wasn’t actually working— confirmed when I could feel the midwife stitching my tiny tear & could use my legs right after birth. humorous, since that was the reason we came to the hospital, but I was actually grateful to not be too medicated that I felt absent from the experience. & at 7:09 pm on monday night, our boy was born. his daddy cut his cord & sobbed uncontrollably & we gushed over his full head of hair and sweet brown eyes. the nurses beatboxed him happy birthday. everyone celebrated. we were all exhausted & totally wired. i was on an emotional high & couldn’t believe the relief. we did it. he was really here, really ours. our son. 40 hours in labor was all worth it for our boy.