Well it has been five weeks since the day Zoey Elizabeth was born and I thought I would share with you all her birth story.
I was one of the lucky ones with those really, really long labors. Long as in like three days long. On the 20th of September (a Friday) I started having braxton hicks 10 minutes apart – supposedly 10 minutes apart is considered early labor – well if that was true this was extremely early labor – these braxton hicks lasted about 16 hours. Long enough that I went into my midwife on Saturday morning. She told me I had dilated two centimeters but sent me home and said I could go to the hospital once I experienced the FOUR-ONE-ONE. For those of you who don’t know, 4-1-1 are the magical numbers that tell you it really, REALLY is time. Contractions are four minutes apart, they last one minute and have been going for at least an hour. Well for the next few days I would get contractions varying from 5-15 minutes apart for a few hours, then nothing for a few hours, then they would come back again. It was stressful. This continued all week long…
One good thing was that these contractions were painless, uncomfortable – yes, but not painful. I had heard of those people who magically went through all of labor with no pain and I began to feel this hopeful feeling that maybe I was one of those freaks of nature.
That hope was dashed Sunday morning on the 29th of September (9 days after contractions started in case you couldn’t do the math), when I woke up I thought I was having menstrual cramps. I was just kind of thinking of this half awake when suddenly I realized I was pregnant and that was literally impossible. Suddenly I was fully awake and really excited because I thought maybe this pain meant it was time for real now! Despite the contractions I went to church with Kris, mostly to help pass the unimaginably slow hours. It was hard to make it through though, every time I had a contraction I would squeeze Kris’ hand with all my strength to keep myself from crying out in the middle of church. Now, I thought, these contractions must definitely mean something.
They lasted all night, I was unable to sleep at all. On Monday I went in to the midwife for my regular appointment and she informed me that I was still only two centimeters. I cried. Literally I cried and cried. After almost 10 days of contractions on and off and many sleepless nights waiting with my hospital bags packed for the magical 4-1-1 it literally felt like the end of the world. The midwife told me to come back to the office when my contractions were so painful I couldn’t bare them and they would check to see if I was ready for the hospital. I did not take that advice well, I thought they already were to painful to bare.
The rest of the day the contractions continued to get more and more painful. At about midnight Monday night they had started consistently being 10 minutes apart again. This was the real early labor. I know that now, but at the time I was pretty convinced that I was never having this baby and it did not matter how close together or how painful the contractions were, it was all just a huge trick to get me excited for nothing. So I just waited them out, by Tuesday evening they had not stopped and were starting to get a little closer together even. I decided to go to the track – I walked about a mile and the contractions kept coming – really strong really painful. I am sure other people on the track were giving me weird looks as I held my stomach, contorted my face in pain and basically squeezed Kris’ fingers off. By the time I left I could not walk through the contractions and had to stop and sit down twice on the way out to the car.
They started getting so bad I really couldn’t bare it – I thought the ones on Sunday were bad but they were mild in comparison to these. By 10pm that night (Oct. 1st) I had definitely reached the 4-1-1. I was still not convinced though and did not want to be sent home so I decided I would wait till morning and see the midwife before going to the hospital. I tried to go to bed but found out really quick it would be unsuccessful. I paced the house in excruciating pain for a couple hours and by midnight Kris convinced me it was time to go to the hospital. I was still very unconvinced and felt positive the contractions would stop as soon as we walked into Labor and Delivery.
We went anyway though – when we arrived at around midnight I was four centimeters. And the contractions never stopped. I took a hot bath in the jacuzzi, ate some crackers and got an IV in my arm. The contractions got closer and closer together and more and more painful, I was pretty sure the entire hospital could hear me scream every time I had a contraction.
Some time after Sunday I had decided that I actually did want an epidural because contractions turned out to be a lot more painful than I had ever imagined they could be, but my midwife and the nurses who had been informed I wanted to go natural made me wait as long as possible. At 3:00am I was 5 centimeters dilated and demanding the epidural.
They brought me a consent form to sign, I vaguely remember the nurse saying some of the side effects of the epidural could be headache, nausea …… paralysis or DEATH. I heard the word death. And then I signed. I was pretty sure I would rather die than continue to feel the pain.
The rest of my labor was heavenly. Yup heavenly labor. I never previously imagined those two words could be in the same sentence.
The midwife came at about 2:00am. She leaned against the back wall with her arms folded, yawning now and then. Obviously unhappy to be woken from her sleep. Every time I had a contraction she said in a monotone but stern voice, “Breath Rachael, breath.” Once I decided for sure on the epidural she informed us that she was going home and going to bed and would return at 7:00am at which time I would start pushing.
She broke my water and then left. After I got the epidural Kris was able to take a quick power nap and I was able to relax while the contractions did all the work. At 5am the nurses checked and I was 9 centimeters dilated, almost ready to push but we had to wait for the midwife.
She came at 7am as promised. She was very unimpressed that the nurses had checked how dilated I was at 5am as she felt that it had been unnecessary. Since they had done that and I was only a 9 (two hours prior) she announced that she had no reason to check me and was going to drive home (which was half hour away) and get her kids ready for school and then she would come back and I would start pushing then.
Luckily Kris took control at this point and told the midwife as she was stepping out the door that I was actually ready to push right then, I didn’t know for sure but had whispered to him that I thought I might be. She sighed and turned around.
They set up a mirror so I was able to see Zoey as she entered the world for the first time, and Kris got dressed in scrubs so he could be the one to catch her and hold her for the first time. It only took about 45 minutes of pushing before she was out! It was at 7:56am on October 2nd, 2013 when she was born, she weighed 7lbs and 13oz and was 20in tall. Seeing her for the first time was the most indescribable feeling ever.
And that is the story of how little Zoey Elizabeth Burgess made her appearance.
XOXO,
3 Responses
Wow, I love birth stories, and so will little Zoey and other little Burgess’s as you share with each of them about the special circumstances that surrounded their entrance into the world.
oh my – I have not gone through labour, of course, but have had gall stones which someone said was very like labour, except that pain didn’t last for days on end. I think I too would have chosen possible death just to have the pain over and one with. The second to last photo is my very favourite. The look on Zoey’s wee face is heavenly. See you at Christmas. I bet she will have grown so very much by then that I might not even recognize her.
Rachael! You are a Mom! Craziness! So so fun. I’m so glad that everything went smoothly. Yes, epidurals are lovely. Frustrating that you had a midwife that was a little too relaxed, but better then making you go faster then your body wanted to I guess!