birth story

A lot of people have asked and I really don't mind sharing, so here is my birth story.  I'm not going to spare the details, so consider yourself warned!

Well, it all began on Tuesday...

I went to work and was having a regular day.  I went home for lunch (as usual) and walked back for my last period class.  My students entered the classroom and I sat at my desk to take attendance.  I felt a small gush.  Hmmm,  was that my water that broke?  My kids didn't suspect a thing, so I ran to the restroom down the hall to "check".  When I returned, I decided to call the office and ask for someone to cover my class as I ran to the nurse.  Yes, indeed!  It had!  This was 1:30 pm.

So the school nurse (and three secretaries) waited with me as I called my midwife and Brian.  After a few minutes I decided to go down to my room, grab my stuff, and say goodbye to my kids.  They all jumped up, screamed, and hugged me!  Very sweet.

With my midwife and OB's advice, Brian picked me up and we drove home to wait things out.  I wasn't having any contractions or bleeding, so the only real indication that I was in labor was the breaking of my waters.  Once your water breaks they want you to deliver within 24 hours because of the risk of infection.  But, they also knew I wanted a natural birth and the longer we stayed home the less likely there would be an intervention.  The plan was to go home and wait until my contractions were around five or six minutes apart, but if nothing happened by 7:00 am, to go to the hospital and check in.  Extremely excited that things were at least underway, Brian and I finished packing our bags and waited.  And waited.

last belly picture!

38 1/2 weeks

At 11:00 pm and without a single contraction, Brian and decided to go to bed and try to rest up for what would surely be a long day.  I woke up around 2:30 am with some nausea and mild contractions.  I started timing them and they were about 6 minutes apart.  Not being able to sleep any longer, I got up and took a shower.  I had started bleeding a very little bit, so Brian got up and showered as well.  We got ourselves together by 3:30 am when the electricity went out!  Looking outside it was very windy and there wasn't a single light on on the entire street.  We continued outside, thinking it would surely be back on in a minute.  Well...  an electric garage door opener doesn't work very well without electricity!  After sitting in the garage for 45 minutes, we decided to make a plan B.  We tried our friends Tiff, Tom, and Megan, but at 4:15 am, not too many people are awake.  We were in the middle of talking to a taxi company, when Tom called us back and offered to drive us to the hospital.  We collected our stuff and decided to wait on the front porch when the power came back on!  We ran back out back, got in the car, and opened the garage door.  Tom pulled up behind us and called, but we were good to go!  Thanks anyway, Tom!

We officially checked into the hospital around 4:30 am on 12/10/08.  I was immediately examined and hooked up to a fetal monitor to check on Miss Cassidy.  My contractions were about 3 to 4 minutes apart, but I was only 1 cm dilated.  I was still nine hours under the 24 hour cut off, so we decided to try to get some more rest and they would check me again at 8:00 am.

At 8:00 am my contractions were nice and steady, but I was still only 1 or 2 cm dilated.  So, being within five hours of the cut off time and the nurses and doctors beginning to talk about Pitocin, we decided to get moving!  We did laps up and down the halls of the hospital and I practiced my exercises.  I was feeling great and even though I was having lots of contractions, I was handling them well and felt calm and prepared.

inside our delivery room and still all smiles

At noon they checked again and this time I was only 3 cm and my contractions were becoming less and less consistent.  So, within an hour of our 24 hour cutoff, we had no choice but to start the Pitocin or we were risking serious infection.  Not only did it suck that I had to introduce medication to my system, but now I had to stay hooked up to an IV, the fetal monitor, and a blood pressure cuff.  No more walking the halls with gravity on my side.

I labored like this for five hours.  Contractions picked up and became extremely intense.  They were MUCH more painful than the natural ones and I was having them one on top of another.  But, determined to not take any pain meds, I stuck it out.  At 5:00 pm they examined me again and I had only progressed to 5 cm.  That's still a long way from 10 and I lost it!

I started crying and asked to talk to the nurse and my midwife.  I couldn't handle such strong unnatural contractions without progress.  So, I knew I still didn't want an epidural but asked if there was something they could introduce to my IV to help take the edge off.  We decided Stadol might be a good solution.

Well, not for me!!!  I had an atypical reaction to the medication and passed out!  I also had major hallucinations for almost two hours.  I'm being serious when I tell you I went to the land of Smurfs and the circus.  I had no idea where I was and became completely useless.  They worst part was it did NOTHING to help relieve the pain of my contractions.  I was in hysterics, screaming and crying the entire time.

At 7:30 pm I pleaded with Brian and my midwife for an epidural.  There was no way I was going to make it to the end without some help and I was SOOOOO tired and out of it at this point.  I have to say that the epidural was disappointing in the fact that I could still feel every contraction and my entire right leg went numb, but it managed to calm me down and rest for about an hour.

Cassidy's skull was bearing down on my left hip, which was incredibly painful, but the only way to get past it was to deliver, so they checked me again around 8:30 pm.  And...  she was ready to go!  All of the doctors and nurses gathered around me and Brian was up by my face, being incredibly supportive and loving.  They set up a mirror at the end of the bed (sorry if that's TMI) which was surprisingly helpful.  I was able to focus and see our progress and Cassidy was born after only a half hour of pushing!  I was able to catch her myself and pull her up onto my chest.  Here's our little lady within the first few minutes of life...

I hemorrhaged quite a bit, but the epidural had left me so numb, I didn't feel a thing.  Besides, I was completely preoccupied with the most amazingly beautiful thing I had ever seen...

So, after 32 hours of labor and a completely different experience than we had planned...  Cassidy Lane Weigand was born at 9:17 pm at 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 3/4 inches.  She has lots of beautiful dark hair, blue/gray eyes, the cutest little chin, sweet little lips, and chubby chubby cheeks.  We realize we're biased, but she really is perfection.  We feel incredibly blessed and head over heels in love!

Thank you all for your love and support!  It's been an incredible week!