Cora Jane's Birth Story

(Warning: This is a birth story. I want to make sure I remember every little detail of Cora's debut. If you don't like birth stories, or find them too personal, you may want to skip this).

I had been in prelabor for several days. On Wednesday when I went to the doctor, I was 3CM dilated (had been for a couple of weeks) and nearly fully effaced. The doc's words were, "I'm on call tonight. I might see you two again in a couple of hours". On Friday, I was frantically finishing my to-do list and cleaning spaces that had not been cleaned in months. By the time I went to bed on Friday night, I was feeling like I had overdone it. At 10PM, Landon was still at the laptop at the kitchen table and I was in bed reading. I sent him a text (yes, we text each other in our house) that said, "I think you may need to get a good night's sleep". He immediately turned off the computer and came to bed.

At 12:50 AM I woke from the strangest dream. One of my students needed a urine sample from me, and I was having to "hold it", and "holding it" hurt REALLY bad! When I woke up, I got up and went to relieve myself. As I woke up I realized that I was having contractions. I crawled back in bed, woke up Landon, and had him start to time me. A fairly regular 5 minute interval lasting approximately 1 minute each. I was in labor.

This is where I start to act crazy. I tried to insist that Landon go back to sleep while I insisted that I get up, fold laundry, and add a few blog posts. How could I blog about the baby if I hadn't added a few belly shots from pregnancy?!??!?! He instead got up, took the dogs down to Tracy & Trevor's (we had there 4 month old lab at our house), and came back.

He and I had prepared for the birth with the Bradley Method, also known as Husband-Coached Birthing. We did 12 weeks of 3 hour classes focused on remaining healthy during pregnancy through diet and labor, learning the signs of prelabor, 1st stage labor, transition, and 2nd stage labor, etc. At first the classes were a bit intense (12 Monday's of this!!!), but by the end, we were really thankful that we had taken the classes. The ultimate goal: birth without any intervention, including epidural or episiotomy. What was clear to my coach? I should not be up folding laundry - I should be in bed focusing. But taking the contractions lying down did not sound very feasible or comforting. I had things to do, darnit, and I needed to get them done!

It's a good thing I planned to not use drugs because I was one of those wonderful labors where drugs would not have even been an option.

At 5 minutes apart, I called the doc and let her know I thought I was in labor. She suggested I come on in, but after I told her I planned to labor naturally, and that I we lived about 1 mile from the hospital, she agreed that we could labor from home for a while longer and see how things progressed. At around 2:30 I went and crawled into bed with Landon, informed him I couldn't concentrate and I needed him to time the contractions. He was happy to see that I was finally being rationale and laying down. The contractions were about 3 minutes apart.

Around 3:00, I heard a "popping" noise and my water broke. We timed the contractions again, which was complicated, because I was having trouble telling when one ended and the next one began. By 3:30, we had debated whether to go to the hospital and stay home and labor longer. I noted that my mother had had really short labors...

By the time we got in the car at 3:30 AM, my contractions seemed to be about 1 minute apart. I had to stop in our foyer and sit on the stairs to let one contraction ride itself out. Once we got to the hospital, I was so miserable and sweaty, and covered in amniotic fluid, that I seriously considered stripping out of my bandeau dress in the parking lot and letting Landon wheel me in only wearing underwear! The thought of laboring in jail discouraged me from doing that.

In the admitting area, I think that the lady thought I was being a little dramatic. I could barely answer any questions, like when Landon needed my SS#. The contractions were that close together. On the way upstairs, I remember saying, "Wow! This really hurts" and feeling like the cracks in the floor would make me insane. The nurse brought in a hospital gown and suggested that I put that on in the bathroom. I asked if I HAD to wear their gown. She said no, Landon threw me my green one, and proceeded to change there in the middle of the room. Landon said he knew from my lack of modesty that I must be transitioning from first to second stage labor.

She positioned me on the bed, and began to complete some info in the computer before hooking me up to the monitor. She also needed me to complete a domestic violence form without Landon in the room. It became clear that I wasn't letting Landon leave, and that I wanted to rush through that form. I stated, "He is much more likely to get punched in the nose than I am", and asked for the pen. It was 3:55AM when I signed that form.

Finally, I was hooked up to the monitor and it was as if I light bulb went off for the nurse. My contractions were double-peeking, lasting for about a minute and a half, and coming without break. She said, "You're having two for ones here! I'll get the doctor". The on-call Doc, Dr. White, came in, checked me, and declared I was at 6cm. I felt a little discouraged - I thought I was much further along than that. They left, and the nurse made promises to come back with some tools for natural child birth, like a birthing ball and a squat bar. I stood up with plans to try to walk, and asked Landon if he would fill the bath. While he stepped into the restroom, I laid back down on the bed. When he came back, I said, "you'll think I am crazy, but I want to push". He called the nurses station.

When the Doc and our nurse, Janette, came back in, they were wearing facial expressions that subtly stated, "They're going to be one of those 'call us back every 15 minutes' couples"... I vomited, was proclaiming to be switching from hot and cold every few minutes (other signs of Transition), and made the statement, "I don't know if I can do this". The doc checked me - I had progressed to 8cm in a matter of minutes. No wonder it hurt!

The nurse wasn't rushing, but she was hustling, to get items laid out for the birth. Landon asked for a few more towells (I was begging for a wet cloth on my forehead). While everyone was out of the room, I stated, "I have got to push". Landon hit the nurses button again...

Landon: She wants to push really bad.
Nurse: You're a frustrated dad?
Landon: She wants to push really bad.
Nurse: You're a frustrated dad?!?!
Carrie: I AM PUSHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think she got my point. By the time that the doc came in Landon was trying to slow my progress a bit and my body was naturally pushing our baby out. It felt like convulsions - the feeling that you have when you vomit, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it. It was very intense - but it also felt really great in response to the contractions. The doc at one point said I was 9cm and not quiet effaced, but quickly gave me the all clear and flipped me onto my back.

I felt like I pushed longer, but Landon said it was 20 minutes tops. The whole thing was surreal...

The happy ending was that we had our little baby girl. I declared, "Little sundresses", and kept saying again and again, "I can't believe she's here, I can't believe she is so healthy" and I kept asking for reassurance that she was OK. We had prayed for this for what seemed like so long (even though I got pregnant relatively quickly), and I had spent so much time worrying over the smallest details of my diet, my exercise, my sleep habits... to see her arrive whole and beautiful was one of the most blessed feelings I've ever felt.

Cora Jane Messal.
8 pounds, 3 oz.
19 inches long.
With an unexpected head full of dark hair.

She came out alert with a loud cry. Her coloring was nearly perfect from the very beginning. And, although I can't say that I really knew what I was doing, we established a good latch fairly quickly. And my recovery was phenomenal. Although I did have to have a few stitches, I was up and moving by myself within the hour after birth. In fact, breakfast came around 8AM. By that time, I had already been up, drawn myself a bath, cleaned myself up, changed clothes, and crawled back into bed. (Landon would have helped with all that, but somebody needed to coo at our new bundle of joy!). I am very thankful that I had the type of labor, and the type of preparation, so that I could avoid any intervention. I don't know how I would have felt with an epidural, and I certainly have no idea how I would have felt after a ceasarian. But I do know that this week I have felt nearly 100%. A little fatigued (is that the birth... or learning to care for a newborn), and maybe a little crampy, but I even gave up Motrin the day after her birth in worry that it was making her a little groggy...

We are completely smitten with our baby Cora Jane.

With Dr. White, the doctor on call to deliver Cora.