Yoko's birth story
The beginning
April 13th, I had my last prenatal exam before my due date, and I asked for my dilation level because I wanted to know how close I am to the labor. I was 2cm, 80% effaced, level 0. The midwife told me that I might have a quick labor because the baby is so low, but we still talked about what will happen if I go over the due date.
That next day, after coming back from work, eating dinner and taking a walk, I was in labor. Well, it is a big mystery when my labor started, but I started to have strong contractions from 10pm on April 14th. Before that I was having pretty regular contractions without pain about every 30min during the day and every 10 min at night for about a week and a half. I told Will not to fly back from Seattle (where he works) because I will probably have a long labor as a first time mother…. which turned out to be a big mistake! But he was with me the whole time over the phone from Seattle.
Stage I
The painful contractions started every 7min, and I knew this is the real labor. I tried all the breathing techniques that I learned in the prenatal class and they helped a lot. A LOT. When I was having strong painful contractions, I could not help myself but starting with level II (1 in 1 out) breathing because they hurt, but Will reminded me to do level I (slow breathing; 4 in 8 out, in my case), and this actually helped me a lot. Counting in my head did give me the control over the pain and distracted me from the pain the most. I remember screaming at Will between contractions to remind me to calm down and do level I breathing because it worked so well, but every time I had contractions I could not help but start with level II. I drank water to rehydrate myself and changed positions about every 30 min. Will called the birthing center when my contraction got every 3min with 1min interval for about 30min. They told us to stay at home for a couple of hours. I swear to god, I thought they were evil to have me go through with this for much longer. My voice got louder every time I breathed as contractions got stronger. I tried the tub at home and it helped me the most but I could only sit up or kneel in the tub when the contractions started. They were too painful to lie on my back. I stayed in the tub for about an hour since that was my favorite place, but it got hotter and I had to get out. I started to have even stronger contractions after coming out from the tub, and I was having “urge to push”. But at that time, I thought there is no way I would be having “urge to push” this early, so I just thought I was having stronger contractions. But I could not help myself wanting to go to the birthing center, so told Will to call them again. During the call, I had a contraction and they heard the way I breathe, and they told me to come in.
At 2AM, Motoko (my mom) and I started walking to the birthing center which is usually a 10min walk from our apartment. I had contractions during the walk by the tennis court, at the intersection, by bushes on Covell Blvd, the parking lot, and at the center. I did not care about waking people up with my voice at all at this point. Each of us had a pillow and we used them to protect my knee every time I knelt down to ease my contractions away. When I got to the birthing center, the main door was closed and had to go around to the side door. I was yelling the f-word in my head.
Stage II
When I got to the center, they examined me and told me I was fully dilated and ready to push. I freaked out because 1) I wasn’t mentally ready because as a first time mom I thought I would have a good 8 more hours to go, 2) I wanted to wait till Will got there, and 3) I was on a bed instead of a tub with operation kit (clamps and scissors, etc ) shining right in front of me. The tub wasn’t ready when I got there. Tearing was my biggest fear during the labor and I did not want to push on the bed (I heard the water birth prevents severe tears). I did my first semi-serious push, just to see how it’s like to push. I felt the baby going down and it was bigger than I expected. I freaked out again. Since then, I stopped using the contraction to push as I was told to because I was afraid for tearing and I was also confused because during the stage I, you ease the contraction away by breathing and I’ve got used to this over the last few hours.
Once I was in the tub, I was still hesitant and weighing pushing and tearing. I kept telling them that I don’t want to push and they waited for me with patience. In about 10min in the tub, it got harder to ease the “urge to push” feeling and Will (on the phone) told me to push and reminded me that I could do this. Also, the midwife told me I could do this just like my body knew how to grow a baby in side of my body. So… I pushed. No body counted for me like I saw on TV because I was not on a monitor and I was the only one to know when I’m having the contraction to push. First push in the tub, I felt the pop and that’s when my water broke. During the next contraction, I did about 3 pushes with a contraction just like I learned in class, and my baby was out into the world. It felt so good. It is really like pushing 9 month of constipation out. I screamed not because it was painful, but because of the surprise. Like, Ah~-she’s-coming-out scream. 3:40am on April 15th, after about 6 hours of labor, Emma Jeanne Ambrosini was born.
Stage III
After the birth was the placenta. Pushing it out was a piece of cake, but after the placenta was the most painful part for me probably because I did not know what to do and I was not expecting it at all. I remember Vickie (the lecturer of the prenatal class) covered this very quickly in the last class that the midwives will push your belly to stop the bleeding. And they did and it hurt so bad. I bled a lot so they even gave me an IM shot of Oxytocine on my thigh. I screamed the whole time and Will told me that this stage scared him the most during the delivery.
Postpartum
After the birth, they showed me how to take care of my tear (yes, I had a second degree, superficial tear, but… it’s nothing to worried about after the whole thing) and took me to the postpartum room. The baby never left my side till I left the center at Sutter Davis. We co-slept till discharge which was about 30 hours later after the delivery.
April 13th, I had my last prenatal exam before my due date, and I asked for my dilation level because I wanted to know how close I am to the labor. I was 2cm, 80% effaced, level 0. The midwife told me that I might have a quick labor because the baby is so low, but we still talked about what will happen if I go over the due date.
That next day, after coming back from work, eating dinner and taking a walk, I was in labor. Well, it is a big mystery when my labor started, but I started to have strong contractions from 10pm on April 14th. Before that I was having pretty regular contractions without pain about every 30min during the day and every 10 min at night for about a week and a half. I told Will not to fly back from Seattle (where he works) because I will probably have a long labor as a first time mother…. which turned out to be a big mistake! But he was with me the whole time over the phone from Seattle.
Stage I
The painful contractions started every 7min, and I knew this is the real labor. I tried all the breathing techniques that I learned in the prenatal class and they helped a lot. A LOT. When I was having strong painful contractions, I could not help myself but starting with level II (1 in 1 out) breathing because they hurt, but Will reminded me to do level I (slow breathing; 4 in 8 out, in my case), and this actually helped me a lot. Counting in my head did give me the control over the pain and distracted me from the pain the most. I remember screaming at Will between contractions to remind me to calm down and do level I breathing because it worked so well, but every time I had contractions I could not help but start with level II. I drank water to rehydrate myself and changed positions about every 30 min. Will called the birthing center when my contraction got every 3min with 1min interval for about 30min. They told us to stay at home for a couple of hours. I swear to god, I thought they were evil to have me go through with this for much longer. My voice got louder every time I breathed as contractions got stronger. I tried the tub at home and it helped me the most but I could only sit up or kneel in the tub when the contractions started. They were too painful to lie on my back. I stayed in the tub for about an hour since that was my favorite place, but it got hotter and I had to get out. I started to have even stronger contractions after coming out from the tub, and I was having “urge to push”. But at that time, I thought there is no way I would be having “urge to push” this early, so I just thought I was having stronger contractions. But I could not help myself wanting to go to the birthing center, so told Will to call them again. During the call, I had a contraction and they heard the way I breathe, and they told me to come in.
At 2AM, Motoko (my mom) and I started walking to the birthing center which is usually a 10min walk from our apartment. I had contractions during the walk by the tennis court, at the intersection, by bushes on Covell Blvd, the parking lot, and at the center. I did not care about waking people up with my voice at all at this point. Each of us had a pillow and we used them to protect my knee every time I knelt down to ease my contractions away. When I got to the birthing center, the main door was closed and had to go around to the side door. I was yelling the f-word in my head.
Stage II
When I got to the center, they examined me and told me I was fully dilated and ready to push. I freaked out because 1) I wasn’t mentally ready because as a first time mom I thought I would have a good 8 more hours to go, 2) I wanted to wait till Will got there, and 3) I was on a bed instead of a tub with operation kit (clamps and scissors, etc ) shining right in front of me. The tub wasn’t ready when I got there. Tearing was my biggest fear during the labor and I did not want to push on the bed (I heard the water birth prevents severe tears). I did my first semi-serious push, just to see how it’s like to push. I felt the baby going down and it was bigger than I expected. I freaked out again. Since then, I stopped using the contraction to push as I was told to because I was afraid for tearing and I was also confused because during the stage I, you ease the contraction away by breathing and I’ve got used to this over the last few hours.
Once I was in the tub, I was still hesitant and weighing pushing and tearing. I kept telling them that I don’t want to push and they waited for me with patience. In about 10min in the tub, it got harder to ease the “urge to push” feeling and Will (on the phone) told me to push and reminded me that I could do this. Also, the midwife told me I could do this just like my body knew how to grow a baby in side of my body. So… I pushed. No body counted for me like I saw on TV because I was not on a monitor and I was the only one to know when I’m having the contraction to push. First push in the tub, I felt the pop and that’s when my water broke. During the next contraction, I did about 3 pushes with a contraction just like I learned in class, and my baby was out into the world. It felt so good. It is really like pushing 9 month of constipation out. I screamed not because it was painful, but because of the surprise. Like, Ah~-she’s-coming-out scream. 3:40am on April 15th, after about 6 hours of labor, Emma Jeanne Ambrosini was born.
Stage III
After the birth was the placenta. Pushing it out was a piece of cake, but after the placenta was the most painful part for me probably because I did not know what to do and I was not expecting it at all. I remember Vickie (the lecturer of the prenatal class) covered this very quickly in the last class that the midwives will push your belly to stop the bleeding. And they did and it hurt so bad. I bled a lot so they even gave me an IM shot of Oxytocine on my thigh. I screamed the whole time and Will told me that this stage scared him the most during the delivery.
Postpartum
After the birth, they showed me how to take care of my tear (yes, I had a second degree, superficial tear, but… it’s nothing to worried about after the whole thing) and took me to the postpartum room. The baby never left my side till I left the center at Sutter Davis. We co-slept till discharge which was about 30 hours later after the delivery.
posted by yoko at
7:14 AM
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