A Birth Story

Up until our little one’s arrival, almost all of 2017 had revolved around trying to keep that baby in. Despite a September 28th due date, my OBGYN predicated an unavoidable early delivery and had spent the entire pregnancy hoping that I would make it to the 15th without going into labor. By week 36, September 15th was sounding better and better to me; I was ready to get that baby OUT! I was a bit nervous though, as my doctor would be on vacation from the 11-18th …right in the middle of our expected delivery window, and I didn’t love the idea of just any old OB delivering my baby. But, ultimately that was not up to me; the big entrance was all up to our Little LaRosa.

Since we managed to avoid a C-section, I had my cerclage removed (a simple in-office procedure done without anesthetic, and quite uncomfortably) on the 14th by the on-call doctor. The 15th came and went. No baby. On the 21st I saw my OB, fresh from her vacation, and she was shocked to see that I was STILL PREGNANT. It seemed now that this baby could come out, it simply didn’t want to. officially one week from my due date, my doctor checked my cervix and performed a membrane sweep (umm, ouch) – giving me a 50/50 chance of going into labor within 24 hours – and scheduled me for an induction on Monday, September 25th (just in case I didn’t deliver over the weekend). Around 4PM the following day we found ourselves in L&D; I’d spent the last 2 hours having contractions every 5-8 minutes, some of them bringing a stream of tears that would roll down my face as I contorted my body to alleviate my back pain. Several hours later, the contractions stopped progressing and we were sent home. The weekend came and went. No baby.

September 25
7:30AM – It was officially induction day, and after an early morning alarm, K and I walked into L&D (back again!) where I was quickly taken to a delivery room. I changed into a gown and had my IV started. The fetal heart monitor and contraction monitors were strapped to my belly and shortly before 8AM, my doctor broke my water – again, she was shocked to see that I was STILL PREGNANT …I mean, who goes through an entire weekend 4 cm dilated and 70% effaced without their baby popping out?!

Noon – By midday my contractions were lasting just over a minute in length with little down time between them. At only 0.5 units of Pitocin, my body had clearly been ready to serve its eviction notice once my water had been broken. Once more I found myself in a familiar place, trying to find a position that would alleviate the worst back pain of my life as tears rolled down my cheeks. Time to call the anesthesiologist. By the time my epidural was administered the labor pains were so bad, the only thing I was aware of were my contractions. I didn’t feel the burn of the lidocaine. I didn’t feel the insertion of the needle. As far as I’m concerned, epidurals are painless. Within 15 minutes, my legs started to feel heavy and the pain was replaced with periodic tightness that would start in my back and end just above my belly button. Over the next few hours, between the occasional shaking, nausea, and sweating (even though I couldn’t feel my body laboring, it was still working hard to move that baby closer and closer to delivery), I was placed on my left side, on my hands and knees, and on my right side in an attempt to rotate baby face down. It turns out that a sunny-side-up baby was the reason for my excruciating back pain.

3:00PM – With only 6 units of Pitocin in my IV, I was fully dilated and our little one had dropped into my pelvis. Time to start pushing. Our baby’s arrival was imminent but it still felt so surreal and the idea that we would soon have a baby seemed like an abstract idea way off in the distant future. Luckily, my L&D nurse was amazing, and under her careful coaching, my mom and K each grabbed one of my legs and brought my knees to my chest. The only sounds in the room were the beeping of baby’s heart beat and the nurse counting to 10. After only a few pushes, our baby's heart rate was not recovering between contractions and I was placed on oxygen. The pushing continued.

4:30PM – As the fastest hour and a half of my life came to an end, I could start to feel pain in my back again, but it became easier to feel myself pushing. The nurse called my OB and while we waited, I gave “one last good push” to get baby into position. Suddenly there was immense pressure in my pelvis; our baby was crowning. As soon as my doctor walked into the delivery room, she quickly gowned up while taking inventory of the delivery instruments. She performed a 3rd degree episiotomy (give that a quick Google search if you're interested to learn how pleasant my post-partum recovery was) and with 1 final push, out our baby came. Our little man arrived at 4:41 PM; they placed him on my chest and he stole my heart.