Evie's Birth Story

I better post Evangeline’s birth story before I forget it!

My water broke at 2:15 Friday morning, December 21, one day before I was to be induced. All 3 labors have started at virtually the same time! I wanted to get to the hospital ASAP because I figured the labor would be fast and intense like my last one. My parents raced over while I checked and doubled checked my list of things to do and pack (all of which had been done for 3 weeks)!

My contractions were 5-7 minutes a part and manageable. This seemed unusual because both my other labors had regular 2-3 minute contractions from the onset. We went up to the hospital and had to wait for a room to be prepared. We finally were set up and into the Jacuzzi tub I went.

Four hours later (seven hours since my water broke), I was still in the tub. My contractions were still 5-7 minutes apart but becoming more intense. I felt a bit frustrated that so much time had gone by. I was bored, tired, and beginning to feel very anxious about the next phase of labor. My anxiety increased so Phil and I talked at length about me getting an epidural.

I wasn’t progressing so my midwife suggested that we start pitocin. That pretty much sealed the epidural decision for me. My biggest fear was dealing with intensity of transitional labor and I know that pitocin quickly pushes you into this stage. The nurse tried twice to get an IV in but my veins kept disappearing when the needle came near. This was quite painful and I hate needles so I was pretty traumatized. The anesthesiologist put an IV in my hand and then started the epidural process. I had to sit still through several painful contractions which was awful because I cope with labor pain by moving. My legs became heavy and the pain was replaced by pressure. My blood pressure dropped a little and this gave me the shakes, preventing me from really relaxing.

I went into transition without needing the pitocin after all. My contractions (still 5-7 minutes apart) were 2-3 minutes long. I was grateful for the epidural at this point because they were twice to three times the length of a “regular” contraction.

Finally, I felt the pressure of needing to push. It was time to meet my daughter. I pushed and pushed and pushed. I was very frustrated because I did this for 70 minutes and I felt as though I just couldn’t push hard enough (even though I was) to get the job done. They finally added some pitocin to my IV to try and bring those contractions closer together.

Evie was born at 1:03 p.m., 11 hours after my labor started. She was born sunny side up (meaning that her head was down but facing the wrong direction). No wonder I couldn’t push her out. I have heard that this can be very painful and often times cause back labor so once again, I was thankful for the epidural.

One thing that was a new experience for me was the emotional aspect of holding my baby for the first time. With my other two, there was such a sense of relief that labor and delivery were finally over that I hardly enjoyed the experience of those first precious moments holding my newborn. With Evangeline, I was relieved but didn’t have the emotional and physical exhaustion of the birth so I was able to experience the sheer joy of having her put in my arms for the first time.