My Birth Story

I never did write a birth story when I had my first little guy, and now 5 weeks after little miss Kaya arrives I'm finally sitting down to tell of my experience. Not that it was extraordinary or warrants any certain recognition, but as any mom can tell you - giving birth is special, magical, and different. So here's my story:

My due date wasn't until May 9th. Because my first baby was a little early, I figured Kaya would probably make her grand debut a couple of weeks early as well. What I wasn't expecting were the contractions to start 5 weeks early. At my normal checkup at 8 months, my doctor informed me that I was already dilated 4cm and because of my shortened cervix he wanted me to take it easy, rest as much as possible, and no lifting. Easy for him to say, he doesn't have a clingy two-year old! But, I did as he said and basically spent all my time resting as much as possible.

The morning of April 13th, I knew it wasn't going to be long before my little girl decided to come out. I had a restless night full of fairly strong contractions, and was just uncomfortable in general. I called my sister to have her go grocery shopping with me, I knew Sammy was going to need milk and we were out of the basics. About 15 minutes walking through the store, and I couldn't take any more. I went home and laid down, trying to relax and hoping that I wasn't actually going into labor. Nevertheless, I told my mom to get ready, as well as got a babysitter lined up for Sammy. When Matt got home from work, I let him know that we were probably going to be bringing home the little one sooner than we thought.

It was almost 11:00 when I got to the hospital because I had to wait on my mom and my sister. Once there though, the contractions were steadily getting worse - closer and stronger. The nurse checked my cervix, decided that I was a "solid 6" and started the necessary steps to get everything going. After starting my IV, having the lab technician come draw my blood for the tests I had to have before they could do the epidural, and working on all the other details of what needed to be done, my nurse told me that she was hurrying as fast as she could to make sure I got the epidural before it was too late.

Now, don't think I am a horrible mother for wanting to expose my daughter to drugs. I am a total wimp when it comes to pain and I honestly didn't think I would be able to handle childbirth without an epidural. With my first baby, I had a slow labor and was given Stadol and an epidural. It still hurt! Of course I was going to ask for the epidural again.

Not what Kaya had planned, however. My contractions were so strong and painful that I couldn't sit or lay down. I paced the delivery room, bending over and whimpering with each one. Matt was so awesome, rubbing my back as each contraction got worse. My mom asked me if I needed her to call the nurse in to check me again and I told her no; I wasn't ready yet. Then the pressure started and I felt like I needed to push. This was at midnight, a short hour after I got to the hospital. The nurse came in and checked - I was at 9cm... Too late for an epidural or anything for pain, and time to call the doctor in.

A quick call to the doctor and he was there within 15 minutes, breaking my water and telling me to push. I felt miss Kaya force her way into the birth canal and pushed each time the nurses told me to. Then the contractions stopped. Kaya's head was almost to the opening, sunny-side up, and my body thought I wasn't in labor anymore. There was nothing I could do, but lay there helpless as the worried looks on the doctor's and nurses' faces told me something was wrong. Kaya's blood pressure was dropping and she was in distress. My doctor decided that an episiotomy was the best way to go, and once there was room for my baby's head to come out, he had me start pushing again. Two short pushes later and I was a mother again, of a beautiful baby girl.