Labour & Delivery
It was about 9pm, and we were at the hospital for another round of induction, when my water broke. Obviously there was now no need for another induction, so the midwife sent me home and told me to call her when my contractions were 1 minute long, 4-5 minutes apart, and been going like that for an hour.
As were were walking down the hall leaving the hospital, I had one strong, long contraction every few steps. I wondered aloud why we were even leaving the hospital! But I still really wanted to labour at home for as long as possible before being admitted, so we left.
After about an hour of labouring at home with very intense contractions, it seemed like our baby was coming very quickly. So we called the midwife, and she agreed that it seemed like a very fast labour so far. (Only an hour and half after my water broke, I had already had 1-minute contractions, about 3 minutes apart, for more than an hour!) Together we decided it would be best to meet her (Lisa - the midwife) at the hospital, rather than have her come first to our house to assess me, which is standard procedure with a midwife.
By 11pm, we were back at the hospital. Lisa arrived just a few minutes after us, and we got settled in. She assessed me, and I was already 7cm dilated!! (When my water broke at 9pm, I was only 3-4 cm.) Things were moving fast, and we were all glad to be at the hospital already.
It seems that once we were at the hospital things slowed right down. My contractions were just as long, and just as intense, but became a little further apart. When Lisa checked me again after an hour or two, I was still only 7cm. And again, a while after that, she checked me and I was still only 7cm. Thankfully, she didn’t tell me that at the time, she only told me: “You still have a little ways to go.” I can’t imagine how disappointed and frustrated I would have been if I had known at the time that I was still 7cm!
By about 3 or 4am, after being told again that I still had some work to do, I realized that I had been tensing up, and sort of holding back. I had felt like pushing a few times, and knew that I couldn’t push yet, so was trying so hard not to push, that I was probably hindering the work my body was trying to do. I knew that somehow I had to relax more. I laid down on the bed, and did my best to rest between contractions, and really relax even through each contraction. For about 2 hours we all rested (even slept) between contractions! Lisa checked me again, and I was 9.5cm! By this point, resisting the urge to push was almost impossible, so Lisa just stretched and pulled back my cervix as I pushed, so our baby’s little head could fit through, rather than waiting to dilate the last little bit. A couple hours of pushing later, and his head finally made it all the way out! One or two more pushes and out he slipped!! Micah Daryl Vincent was born November 23, at 8:19am - after 4 rounds of induction, and about 11 hours after my water broke.
...to be continued...
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