Overdue Birth Story of Sophie Marlana

As my pregnancy of this third little one progresses I have reflected so much on the birth of my last one, Sophie. I realized I had never written a Birth Story documenting the amazing experience I had with her birth. So here it goes, almost five years later. I remember it like it was yesterday actually.

After giving birth to Davis in 98, with every intervention possible, except for a c-section, I soon began to educate myself on the whole process of birth. Davis was a rather large baby at 9.3 lbs. . I wouldn't trade his birth for anything, even though it was a very difficult one. His birth urged me to explore other alternatives and led me to becoming a Doula. Little did I know it would be almost 7 years before I got to put in to practice all of the new things I had learned.

My goal with Sophie was to have a natural/unmedicated birth with my husband and a Doula to guide me through the whole process. My sister-in-law Moni eagerly began educating herself on the techniques. I knew she would be great, I wasn't even worried about how much she knew, I was so confident in her nurturing personality to help us through the birth, and she did amazing! David was extremely supportive and was willing to try ANYTHING to make me comfortable, even when it was not so comfortable, and at times back breaking on his part. He stayed active and involved the whole 18+ hours we labored to bring Sophie in to this world. I say We because I believe it was only possible to accomplish what I did with God and the support of these two people.

We arrived at the hospital around 6 AM for a scheduled induction on August the 17th. The Pitocin was started at a very low dose to get things going. It seemed so easy at first. It was a very slow process, which was actually good, since I did not plan to have an epidural. My Dr.  wanted to break my water around 8:30, however, I declined, knowing that it would kick things in to gear very fast and I didn't think I was ready. Needless to say it was not broken until 3pm or so. In between 8-3 we walked the halls, changed positions too many times to count, and I sat on my birth ball most of the time. We listened to my Enya CD's over and over. Ironically Sophie loves to listen to them too. David was so cooperative and encouraging with all of my requests and frequent changes of positions. Moni was encouraging and emotionally and physically supportive through all of my requests too. She was good at reminding me to remember to breathe and reminding me of my goal and the beautiful baby I would be holding in the end. Once my water was broke, around 3pm, things did not take off like I had hoped. I continued to progress slowly. We continued to move around and I wasn't in the bed very much. As the night continued I finally started to have the unbearable contractions. I was allowed to sit in the shower, on my birth ball, while Moni sprayed my belly with the spray nozzle. Thank goodness I was allowed to do this, I believe it was at least an hour that I stayed in there. I was still doing very well. The amazing thing about birthing is there is a break in between surges (contractions) that gives you the needed relief. I clung to those. As I progressed we learned that I had come to a halt. I stayed at an 8 for at least an hour or more. This is when one of my nurses checked me to see if she could "help things along", this is also when the demon possessed Michelle was introduced :) Not sure what she did but it hurt more than anything I had ever experienced. I began wanting an epidural, I began to panic!!! Transition had arrived... I was beside myself! Moni stepped out in to the hall leaving David and I alone for a few minutes while she talked to the nurses. I'm sure she was asking them " what the heck do I do with her now?" I was demanding an epidural, but what I was being told was it would be at least 30 minutes before the anesthesiologist would even get there... it would most likely be to late. So in those few moments while she was out of the room I started having the urge to push. I screamed to David that the baby was coming out now! Needless to say he got a little terrified, to say the least, and hurried to get the nurses. After returning to the  room he actually fainted. The nurse checked and low and behold little Sophie was on her way. Several nurses began attending to David, and I actually began to calm down. They called the Dr. and I was just holding on until she got there. At this point it had been 18 hours and we were in to the next day. The pushing stage was much more manageable. I would bear down and actually was screaming/grunting very loudly (so loud I'm sure it could be heard down the hall and one nurse said "don't make that noise" it was impossible not to, and my Dr. said those were my best pushes, so keep doing it!) then simply lay back and sleep. I was totally focused and able to ignore what was going on around me... chatter between the Dr. and nurses, and all the attention being given to David. It did take at least an hour of pushing, but it felt more like 20-30 minutes. Finally little Sophie came in to the world at 3:18 on August 18th 2005. I felt amazing afterwards, tired yes, but I was so alert and full of unexplained energy. I was able to nurse her immediately like I had hoped for, she wasn't even cleaned off yet. Then of course they had to take her and weigh her etc... She also had some fluid that she had to have suctioned a few times. Otherwise it was the birth experience I had imagined and hoped for. It was so amazing. Note* David was taken down to the ER for IV fluids after seeing Sophie. He recovered well. They were worried because his pulse would not come up. He plans to not faint this time around :)

So, in about 16 weeks I will be going through this again. I have the same plan, however, this time around I am planning to try Hypnobirthing as well. I hope to keep from "freaking out" during transition. I pray that I can stay focused and I pray it will be less than 19 hours this time around. I plan to NOT be induced, unless absolutely necessary. I can't wait to write a more accurate birth story for our baby girl in the weeks to come.... stayed tuned :)