Our 4th (and Final) Birth Story

Claire Colleen Hanks was born on August 22nd, 2014 at 2:50am. 
She weighed 9 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. 

 

Just before midnight on August 21st. Still having "normal" (painful, but not crazy intense) contractions.

Did I know my baby was going to be nearly 10 pounds when all of my other kids were in the "normal" 7-pound range? Nope! Everyone was pretty shocked. 

Did I know my baby was also face up and would have to be turned during delivery? Uh...nope again! 

Did I know that giving birth to my fourth child would be the toughest thing I'd ever done? Not for sure, but I maybe had some inklings...

(The story below might be too much info for some people. And it's long. In a nutshell, we got to the hospital around 9:00pm on the 21st and Claire was born the 22nd at 2:50am.)

Brian getting a power nap before the real craziness of my labor actually began. August 22nd, 12:08am.

The story begins with an obedient child who didn't make her appearance until after I had been through the whole First Day of School business with the kids. It reminded me of Ruth's birth in that she waited to make her appearance until after all the Valentine's Day celebrations were over. Such obedient children I have! :)

I had really wanted to be a part of Sydney's first day of Kindergarten so I either wanted Claire to come before, so I could be home from the hospital, or after so school would be underway. I was really hoping not to have her right in the middle. However, even though I theoretically wanted to have her earlier, I was really nervous about being in labor again. I couldn't really pinpoint why. I had had three previous natural births that all went really well. Granted, Ruth's had been the hardest of the the three and it was only 18 months ago, so it was pretty fresh in my mind. I just felt really apprehensive about the whole thing and I felt nervous about doing anything that may actively start my labor. I worried about her being bigger as we got nearer to my due date, but I thought that was silly since Sydney was born the day before her due date and she was my smallest baby at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Obviously, unbeknownst to me, my concerns were justified. I knew that baby had to come out eventually though! And I knew I still would rather feel the pain of childbirth than a needle in my back and all that comes along with it. But yah, I felt more scared this time.

On the morning of August 21st, after seeing the kids off on their first day of school, I had my appointment with my midwife. (Interestingly, I have gone into labor 3 out of 4 times after I had a midwifery appointment.) My mom watched Ruth while Brian was crazy busy at work. I had my mom come early this time in case I did miss the first day of school, so it was nice to have her here to help. This is actually the first time my mom was here before my baby was born, since I have gone early every time.

At my midwifery appointment, she checked me and I was a 2 1/2, which was only a half centimeter more than I had been the week before. So, my midwife asked me if I wanted her to strip my membranes. I had never needed to do that before. I was hesitant because I was nervous about going into labor, but at the same time, I wanted to get the baby out and not have to be induced (since my due date was the 23rd). So, I had her do it and ultimately, I'm really glad I did considering the size Claire was!

After my appointment, I went home and we went about our day as usual: picking up Sydney from Kindergarten and then Wes from the bus stop. I had started having contractions around 3pm, but they still weren't really real contractions. I casually mentioned it to my mom and she insisted on me telling her every time I had one so she could keep track of the time. They were coming about every 10 minutes. I told her I didn't want to say anything to Brian yet because I didn't want to get his hopes up.

As we were making dinner, they started getting a bit more intense. At dinner, I was starting to think that they were likely becoming more of the real deal. However, the annoying thing about "going into labor" instead of having your water break is that there's always this question of "Is this for real?" so it's a constant question of "Am I really in labor or am I just imaging it?" and "Will it just stop or will it keep going?" So, after dinner I just said, "I'm going to get in the bath. I'm having contractions and they're kind of painful." Brian started getting really excited. I'm not sure if he was more excited about the baby or the prospect of getting out of work the next day. :) I tried to tell him not to get his hopes too high because it might not be for real. But, of course, I'm pretty sure he was convinced we would be heading to the hospital that night.

After my bath, I went into the living room and sat down on the couch with everyone while they watched a show. Eventually, Brian, my mom, and I decided it would be good to just get all the last things in my hospital bag, just in case we were going to the hospital. I was still undecided. :)

Between 6:30pm and 7:00pm, Brian's cousin, Adam, his wife, Sara, and their kids came over with dessert and to chat about the Charlotte area since they may be moving there. We chatted and then I just hung out on the couch - having contractions - while Brian gave them a tour and they had dessert (I did have some of the strawberries and whipped cream). After they left, we finished getting the bag packed and got the kids to bed. Sydney said the family prayer that night and prayed, "Please bless the baby doesn't die." My mom and I decided what she probably meant was, "Please bless everything goes well," but she didn't know how to articulate it.

I figured we might as well go to the hospital even though I knew we still had a ways to go - contraction-wise - before we got to delivery. The thing is, you never really know how long that process will take, and since the hospital can be up to 30 minutes away depending on traffic and lights, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. When we were getting ready to go, I just kept saying, "Are we really going to do this? Are we really doing this?" Obviously, I didn't mentally want to go to the hospital and have a baby that night!

We got to the hospital sometime around 9:00pm. It was very deja vu to Ruth's birth because it was the same time of night on a Thursday exactly 18 months and one week after I had been there to give birth to Ruth. This time though, my contractions weren't as intense upon arrival at the hospital as they were with Ruth, so I figured Claire would come a little bit later than Ruth had.

The thing I love about St. Al's maternity center is that there's no triage. They trust that when you call to them them you're on your way and in labor, you know what you're talking about. (Of course, they can send you home if after monitoring you, you're not actually in labor.) Our nurse, Lynsey, took us to our room and started monitoring Claire's heart rate and my contractions and doing all of the admitting paperwork. After a while of contractions, she commented on how quietly I labored. I had that same comment during Ruth's labor, too, so it made Brian and I wondered what most women sound like when they labor. Whatever other women sound like, I guess I'm on the "quiet" end of the spectrum - at least at the beginning.

At some point, the nurse told me my baby was looking a little "sleepy". She checked my cervix (I was a 4) and then she tried to wiggle Claire's head around to "wake her up". (That is totally weird to think that she could just reach in there and wiggle my baby's head, right?) She thought I might be dehydrated. That was probably valid because I'd avoided drinking water before we went to the hospital because I didn't want to have to get up to go to the bathroom the entire time I was in labor like I had with Ruth. The nurse brought me a large glass of apple juice and I was instructed to drink it all. After that, Claire was less "sleepy". (I was never really told what "sleepy" meant or what the concerns were. Gratefully, it ended up being a non-issue.)

Around 12:30am, I decided to have the midwife break my water so we could get a move on. (Another deju vu from Ruth's birth.) Basically, things still continued to move slowly, but eventually my contractions started becoming more intense. I sat on a birthing ball and leaned on the bed, which was a nice change from just lying on the bed. Eventually though, I wanted to just get back in the bed and relax as much as possible between contractions. 

At some point, the midwife realized that Claire was facing up. She asked us if any of our other children had been face up. At the time, we were like, "I don't remember...?" And now I realize, if another one had been face up, there's no way I would forget! At another point, the nurse and midwife decided to try giving me oxygen because Claire's heart rate was too high. I just held the mask up to my face and took breaths between contractions. (I did not like having that plastic thing on my face during a contraction.) Thankfully, the extra oxygen helped Claire.

Basically, from about 1:00am to 2:45am, I was contracting, the midwife was turning Claire (yep, inside my uterus via my cervix with no drugs! Painful and uncomfortable.), and I was trying to get myself to transition from about a 7 to a 10. (By the way, transition is the hardest and most painful part of labor.) I kept having her check and I'd be at an 8 and then at a 9. I was getting so ticked off that it was taking so long to get to a 10. (I went from a 5 to a 10 with Sydney in about a half hour.) Apparently, a "lip" of my cervix just kept getting in the way. (Interestingly, I had a similar problem in labor with Ruth.) I turned on one side, the other, on my knees, I'd try little bearing down pushes to get that cervix out of Claire's way. It was just taking so long! The midwife kept asking me what I wanted to try. It is pretty impossible to make coherent decisions in a situation like that. 

One position that seemed manageable for me was in a sort of sitting up position and when I had a contraction, Brian would push on my knees toward my back. The counter-pressure helped manage the pain in my back. I think Brian was glad to have a way to help this time. This labor much harder for both of us mentally and emotionally because for me it was more physically taxing. A couple of times, the midwife kept her hand up there in my cervix to try and keep that lip from falling down between contractions. (Fun, right?!) Then, sometimes I'd be resting between contractions and feel the next one coming and just wish I didn't have to have any more contractions. Like I said, I was getting mad and frustrated and I kept saying things like, "I don't want to do this anymore!" It was difficult to feel like I wasn't making the progress I wanted to get that baby out.

Finally, at 2:46am, I was considered "complete" and at a 10. I began real pushing and had to pull my knees in and curve my back "around the baby" and push. (Why does that feel so hard to do in labor?) She was born 4 minutes later at 2:50am and I cried. I wish I could say they were tears of joy, but they weren't. I had just accomplished the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. 

As soon as the midwife and nurses saw Claire, they all kind of freaked out saying things like, "Oh my gosh! Look how big that baby is!" "How big do you think she is?!" "Wow! Where were you hiding that baby?" 

They gave her to me and then asked if I wanted to hold her or if they should just take her to clean her off and weigh her. I was totally fine if they took her. In your mind, you always think, "I'll deliver my baby, hold her to my chest right after and everything will be wonderful." I don't think that's ever happened for me. Labor and delivery is such a shock, I'm more in a "What the heck just happened?" mindset post-delivery. Especially since there's still the placenta to deliver (giant in my case, this time) and the checking for tears (miraculously I was totally intact, even with my almost 10-pound baby...thank you kegels). So, she was weighed and everyone there was shocked, including - and especially - me. It was almost like, "I know that just came out of my body, but are you sure it's mine? I don't have babies that big."

They round that up to 9 pounds, 15 ounces.

She was quite puffy and had a little bruising on her face.

At first, she really didn't look like my other kids because she was so swollen looking.

This is after she was cleaned up and given back to me.

You know what I've just been through...I'm not quite ready for real a smile yet.

My chunky monkey.

This is what her hair looked like before her bath. I remember Sydney's looking similar at birth (but she had less). Time will tell if we'll have another curly-headed girl!

She has my face shape - although a bit chubbier - just like my other kids. You can see it in the chin.

I just kept thinking, "What the heck? How did my baby get so big?" And, we'll never know. (August 22nd, 4:56am)

Since she was over 9 pounds (I think the minimum is 400 grams or something), they have to do glucose screenings every few hours because they worry about her blood sugar dropping too low since she could have a seizure if that happens. Bigger babies tend to burn through their sugars faster. So, I was supposed to feed her before her first test. However, she was breathing a little fast, so the nurse called down a guy from the NICU to come see if she could feed. He thought she'd calm down and be fine after she ate. We couldn't really get her to latch and eat so the nurse helped me manually express some colostrum and she fed it to Claire on a spoon. Claire had her first bath and then we made preparations to go to my post-partum room.

In our post-partum room. (August 22nd, 9:17am)

After sleeping for a bit in the post-partum room, Brian headed home so he could get some better sleep. We figured all was well and good and we'd have a normal day and then go home. However, just before 11am, my new nurse and the pediatrician came in to do checks. I will continue that story in another post...