A Child is Born

Our Alyma Joy was born on May 15th at 10:20 a.m. after 4 hours of labor. Well, at least 4 hours of labor that ended in giving birth. I was in and out of early labor for a week prior to her actual delivery. But still, 4 hours is quite fast considering Alex's birth was 21 hours and Aaron's was about 9 hours. Alex was born at 38 weeks and weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. Aaron was born at 8 days late weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. And Alyma was born at 38 weeks, 2 days weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz. I guessed she would weigh in between her brothers and I was right! We also guessed she would be born on May 15th--either we are prophetic or she is already a very obedient child. :) So nice of her to come a bit early and relieve me of my misery!

Okay, so I thought I would write out Alyma's birth story before I forget it. The night before she was born I had been having some occasional contractions and they were quite strong. I had been to the dr. earlier that day and I was only at 1 cm and 50% effaced. I could tell these strong contractions were doing something and kept expecting my water to break under the pressure!

At 4 a.m. I woke up as I had for several days prior. I rolled over and felt a slight gush of liquid and said, "Peter! Wake up! Something is coming out of me!" Haha... He jumped up and grabbed a towel and told me that he couldn't see anything but a clear wet spot on our sheets. We just looked at each other like, "Okay, this is it! Here we go!" Considering Peter had a cold and I wasn't having any contractions, he tried to go back to sleep. I began scurrying about cleaning the house and packing a few final things for the hospital. Peter ended up not being able to sleep and joined me for breakfast while we watched a beautiful sunrise. Actually, we watched the sunrise while our oatmeal cooked and by the time it was ready, I said, "We'd better have breakfast in the car, I'm starting to get contractions."

So we woke Sean up and told him we were leaving for the hospital at about 5:40 a.m. We took the "long way" to Waimea along the coast rather than over the bumpy, windy mountain pass. It's only 10 minutes longer and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the bumps and contractions at the same time. It was a really gorgeous drive considering the time of day and the way the sun was coming up. I began having regular contractions about 3-5 minutes apart on the way to the hospital. This was a relief because I was afraid that I would have to get induced if I didn't go into labor on my own.

We walked into the ER at 6:20 a.m. to register and then made our way to the Family Birthing Center. I got checked in and they put me on the monitor to get a 20-minute strip of the contractions and the baby's heart rate. The nurse commented, "Now that is a heartbeat you could dance to!" I was feeling really good and the contractions were definitely strong but manageable. I was told all the birthing rooms were full and we'd have to wait for a bit to be moved into another room.

During our short wait, things really began to pick up in the contraction department. I'd say by 7:00 a.m. I was beginning to really feel the pain. The nurse moved me down the hall into a delivery room. I was sad to pass up the "ilima room" - I thought it would be so cool to give birth in the room with her Hawaiian name! Oh well... So by the time I met my new nurse and got into the birthing room I could not sit still for them to put me on the monitor. Everytime I had a contraction I could feel the weight of the baby moving down very intensely. I never felt that much pain or strength of contractions with the boys. When they checked me and told me I was only dilated 2-3 centimeters, I told the nurses I was not going to be able to cope with that much pain for very long and wanted to know my options for dealing with it. I was told they could try calling an anesthesiologist to see if one might be available to come in and do an epidural, but that it was unlikely that it would happen because my labor would probably move quickly. Instead, the midwife suggested I go sit on a birth ball in the shower and try to relax.

I spent a great deal of my labor with Alex on a birth ball and also in the shower and I remember it helping immensely. So I decided to go ahead with this plan and try to relax. No luck. I found myself holding onto the railings in the shower for dear life everytime I felt a contraction building and was telling Peter to go get me drugs!!! Unfortunately, since my water had already broken, getting in the hot tub wasn't an option for me. I had really looked forward to trying that out! After 5-6 contractions in the shower I got out and back onto the bed, literally feeling like I was being tortured alive and clawing at my husband as the contractions became so close together, it seemed like I never got a break. At one point I was told "no biting." Haha! I think I was about to put Peter's hand in my mouth. :) The poor guy, he's lucky he has hands left after how tightly I hung onto him for those few hours!

Just before I thought I was going to lose my mind altogether, the nurse came in and offered to give me and IV and a narcotic. I gladly accepted, although trying to get an IV in a moving target took a couple of attempts. While one nurse put in an IV, another drew blood from my other arm to get a platelet count "just in case" I might be able to get an epidural eventually. I was relieved to feel the narcotic take effect. I was able to relax a little more and feel like I got a minute or two of respite between the still-spiking and terribly painful contractions. While I would have rather been numb, the break helped me cope a bit better. I still couldn't believe how intensely I could feel the baby moving down with each contraction. Maybe it was more intense because this was the first time my water had broken before labor? Whatever the case, probably just before 10 a.m., I reached down after a contraction and felt the baby's head. Remember, the last time I had been checked I was only between 2-3 centimeters and the baby was "hovering" high. Peter told the nurse I felt a head and she ran in. Sure enough, it was time to push!

The midwife came in and turned on the baby warmer and got all the delivery paraphernalia out. This is where a midwife delivery here in Hawaii was so different from my California doctor deliveries. They didn't break down the bed, put me on my back, cover me in blue paper and start barking numbers at me, telling me when to breathe and when not to breathe. They put Peter at the end of the bed and gave him a rolled up towel to hold. I held the other end and, whenever I had a contraction, I pulled on that towel as hard as I could and pushed the baby down at the same time. I was just sitting up on the bed, not in stirrups or anything like "normal." Pulling on that towel really helped me focus on pushing. It was the first time I ever experienced the urge to push in a delivery and it really did feel better to push than to just ride out the contraction.

Things began to get easier at this point as the contractions slowed down to being 5-6 minutes apart rather than one on top of the other. From the time I started pushing, I'd guess I had 4-5 contractions before the baby was out. Peter said the decibel level in the room was never so high as it was when she was beginning to slide out. Ha! It was VERY intense, but I knew that as soon as I got beyond that point, I could be DONE! Once her head was being delivered (and they announced her head of black hair!!!), they told me to open my eyes and look at the baby. I was shocked at her hair and how dark purple and flat-nosed she was. I really thought she looked like a black baby! Then they had me reach down and grab her under her arms as she was being born. I delivered her from there and layed her on my chest. I was dripping in sweat from the workout of my life, but so happy to experience holding my baby immediately after delivery. Both boys had been whisked away at birth to have their meconium-filled lungs suctioned out, so I didn't get to hold them right away.

At this point, the midwife and the nurse began to get really nervous because I was hemorrhaging. The midwife said, "Sorry, I have to do this," and then proceeded to shove her fist up into my uterus--no joke--up to her elbow! I also got a shot of pitocin and some other drug to help stop the bleeding. Peter did say I was gushing blood, but at that point I didn't really care...I was just glad to have the baby out and know that I never EVER had to go through childbirth again! It is a good thing that Alyma was our last child because, had that been my first childbirth experience, I probably wouldn't have had anymore children!

I must say I was shocked by the "hard and fast" delivery of our daugther. The pain was incredible, however it was nice to have it over within a few hours! I have a lot to be thankful for. For one, she came early! I was living in a miserable state there at the end of the pregnancy, so to have her come early was a great blessing. Secondly, the fact that my water broke before my labor began allowed us to leave for the hospital and make the 40-minute drive before my contractions got to the unbearable point. With as quick as things went, I could have had her in the car had I waited too long! And lastly, I had a healthy baby girl with no complications, tearing, or need for a c-section. She really is perfect and our family is now complete!