These past 21 days have been absolutely incredible. A roller coaster of hormone-induced emotions, but overall, these three weeks have been the most amazing of my entire life. Nothing could have prepared us for the love we would feel for our daughter. It has been a steep learning curve, filled with laughs, tears and sleep deprivation; but every time I look at her, my heart skips a beat. I still can’t believe that she has arrived and is ours. Today I’m thrilled to share with you Katie’s birth story, which was when we quickly realized that she is the guiding light in our lives and doesn’t always follow the plan. She surprised us by coming so quickly that I ended up giving birth without an epidural.
My plan is to share Katie’s birth story in two parts – one that highlights the birth in a very top line manner and another which will include all the details so I will have it for future reference and be able to answer many of the questions I’ve received from readers and friends. So, typed over the course of three naps and while wearing a milk-stained nursing tank, here is the first, very top line birth story.
On June 19th, after another borderline blood pressure reading at my 40-week checkup, my OB-GYN recommended induction since our daughter was full-term and induction would avoid any further risks to mom or baby due to blood pressure. The plan was to be induced at 10:30 pm, twelve hours later, at NYU. I spent the next twelve hours, running around like a crazy person. I made a to-do list during the cab ride home that included crazy things like deep clean the house, cook dinner, call to have the oven fixed, draft a blog post, send a few work emails and then double check our hospital bags. Yes, if you can tell, I was clearly a bundle of nerves but had no interest in focusing on the induction. Instead, I distracted myself with my to-do list.
Things didn’t start to feel real for either of us until we sat down in the cab, surrounded by our hospital bags. At that moment, we held hands and spent the twenty-minute ride reflecting on everything that had transpired over the past nine months. Once we arrived at the hospital we spent 10:30-3:30 in the labor and delivery triage area since there were no labor rooms available.
At 11 PM a Foley Bulb was inserted to induce labor. It was less painful and awkward than I expected. In fact, the IV they administered was far more painful. For the next four hours, I started to feel pressure and mild contractions.
While Bo slept in the chair next to me, I passed the time reading a book. At 3:30 they were able to move us into a birthing room, where I proceeded to vomit two times as soon as we arrived. At 3:45 I started to have lower back pain and found it difficult to get comfortable. Around 4 the Foley was removed as I had reached 4 centimeters.
The doctor said that nurses would check on me every 15-30 minutes to see my progress. At 5:30, when turning over to greet a nurse, my water broke. It felt exactly as people described – warm gushing, clear fluid that covered the bed sheets. At 6 AM I was still only 5 centimeters dilated, and chose to continue going through labor without the epdiural or other medication when asked whether I wanted the epidural at this point. I declined, saying I’d wait a bit longer since I wanted to feel as much of the process as possible. I didn’t feel that I’d been feeling true labor yet since I hadn’t been “that uncomfortable.”
At 8 AM I truly started to go through the motions of labor. The contractions started to grow more intense, leading me to tears, but they were still not regular enough or long enough.
The nurses helped me try different positions, sitting on a chair, sitting on the birthing ball, walking around the room, squatting. Nothing helped except lying on my left side. Bo was a huge help, putting a heating pad on my back to relieve some pain and then simultaneously putting ice and washcloths on my forehead to cool me. I was having horrible sweats which were followed moments later by chills.
At 9:30 I finally reached the point of pain which caused me to ask the nurse to get my doctor and request an epidural. Based on the last check I was still only 5.5 centimeters dilated, progressing slowly and couldn’t handle hours of this pain. The nurse informed me that unfortunately, the anesthesia team had two other epidurals to administer in front of me which meant it’d be an hour until they could get to my room. The nurses turned the Pitocin down to calm my contractions and provide me with a brief relief while we waited for the epidural. At 9:56 I began screaming to the nurses, that I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I’d read enough birthing blogs, books and articles to know that this is a key sign that the baby is progressing. Within seconds my OB was in the room with a team of nurses. After quickly checking my dilation and effacement levels, she informed me and Bo that I’d progressed quicker than anyone expected and was now less than 30 minutes from child birth if I chose to progress without medication or an epidural.
An epidural-free birth is nothing that Bo nor I expected or even discussed when we thought about labor. Our only plan was for me to labor until I reached my pain threshold and then request an epidural. Hearing the words “medication free birth” scared me for a moment but then also provided me with a boost of energy that I needed. I trust my OB and knew that if she said 30 minutes she meant 30 minutes. We agreed to continue and 26 minutes later, Katherine Elizabeth Diamond was born.
In fact, she came so quickly, that when my parents called at 10:59 to tell us they were their 11:10 AM rescheduled flight, which had been delayed and cancelled the previous day, was getting ready to take off, I was able to tell them, with tears running down my face, that they were grandparents and I had their granddaughter on my chest.
Ahhhhh I’m over here crying!
Aww thanks Katy 🙂 Just wait until you read the longer version. 🙂
Gah me too. A birth story gets me every. single. time.
Aww I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hey mama – congrats on that beautiful little lady of yours! just a heads up in case no one has mentioned it yet. The terminology you should use is “medication-free” or “no epidural” birth. (If you weren’t induced, you could call it an “intervention free” birth.) Not natural. A natural birth is whatever baby needs – which may mean a c-section. Your language might be a little off-putting or excluding to some people. Making them feel like their births weren’t “natural,” when in fact, they were what their baby needed at the time. (This is coming from a mom who had an emergency c/s AND an intervention/epidural free birth – I’ve learned this over time.)
Oh my gosh thank you so much Melissa! I will change the language immediately. I really appreciate the comment!
LOVE THIS! THANK YOU, Melissa!
This is almost exactly what happened to me with the epidural. I asked for the epidural later, but the anesthesiologist had two planned epidurals before me so I would have to wait 30minutes. During that time, I became fully dilated and was ready to birth my baby girl. Welcome to motherhood!
Congrats to you Ashley. You’re doing a wonderful job. The pics alone make me smile. Your happiness is so visible. Awe. (((Hugs to you and you little family)))
Ashley, congrats on your unmedicated birth! It’s a wild ride, isn’t it? And on pitocin too! Wow. I can’t imagine that was easy. I’ve never had to have it but my SIL said it made her throw up every contraction. I’m glad they took your BP readings seriously. You did look a little puffy right before delivery which is a symptom of pre-eclampsia. But she sure was ready to come out, wasn’t she, sweet Katie!
Love her name… It always served me well though my middle is spelled with an s! And obv I went by Kat ha. It’s a good strong name!
We’ll, congrats you two! We should get all the kids together for a GT reunion someday soon! Xoxo
Also, I love good birth stories Keep them coming! Glad everyone is transitioning well!
Yes we are hoping to make a trip down to Atlanta later this Fall but as I type this I realize you’ll be in Asheville. 🙁
Just let me know when and we can see if we can come down too. I feel like this year especially we’ll be back and forth a lot!
This is an amazing birth story! Gives me baby fever–you make it look so easy!
This actually kind of happened to me, but I ended up getting the epidural. I was stalled at 6 cm got the epidural, and then ended up delivering the baby about 20 min later. I wish I would have held off, but I cannot complain about a quick labor and healthy baby!
Excited to hear the second part of the story.
Liz you had no idea it would only be 20 minutes – I don’t blame you at all and felt like I was almost in the same spot. I agree – epidural, c-section, vaginal whatever it takes to deliver a healthy baby and mom is most important!
WOW thanks for sharing…I cannot believe you gave birth naturally and it started with pitocin! Great job! Thank goodness it progressed the way it did! Your birth story is giving me all the mental prep I need as I go into labor and delivery soon (I’m 34 weeks). This is my third pregnancy and third time delivering. One successful birth (Kensington born on her due date at 40 weeks), one preterm delivery last year at 27 weeks due to my water breaking early (baby did not make it), and now this one. I have been getting medicated help (extra insertion of hormone shots each week) and meeting with a perinatologist to make sure I don’t deliver early again. One day I hope our little ones can meet and have a playdate! I’ve been reading your blog for many, many years….LOVE it!
Thanks for sharing this moment. It reminds me of 03 years ago when I gave birth to my little girl :). Congrats Katie and thanks Ashley