Noah’s Birth Story

Posted on November 11, 2012 By Guest Mama vaginal

Noah’s Birth Story

Mama: Krista L.

Stats: 9 lbs. even

Type of Birth: Vaginal

Birth Location: Hospital

Primary Care: Midwife

Wednesday, September 10

My contractions started late afternoon, becoming closer together until they were five minutes apart at about 2:30 am, September 10. I had been 1 cm dilated at my appointment the morning of the 9th, so I was hoping that things were moving right along. We went to the hospital around 3 a.m., where we found out I was still only 1 cm dilated. They stripped my membranes and sent us home.

Thursday, September 11

My contractions had been continuing, becoming more painful, but still somewhat irregular. The night of the 11th they got to 2-4 minutes apart, so back to the hospital we went… to no avail. I was still only 1 cm. Home we went.

That night I woke up in so much pain from contractions that I took a hot shower for about 40 minutes. I managed to doze in between contractions, but wanted to wait at home as long as possible. Contractions continued sporadically (and much less painfully) on Friday the 12th.

Saturday, September 13

Overnight from the 12th to the 13th I was in so much pain again – each contraction continued to get worse and worse and got to 2-4 minutes apart again. Finally at noon we decided to go back to the hospital, since I just couldn’t take it anymore. After I changed into my gown I noticed a tiny leak. When the midwife, Linda, checked me, she determined it was amniotic fluid, saw that I was 4 cm dilated and my bag of waters was bulging through my cervix. She admitted me and said that my water could break at any time. My nurse, Robin, started an IV for antibiotics and then we walked around the Labor & Delivery ward for a while. They moved us into a labor and delivery room, where we periodically returned to be monitored.

At 4:45 p.m. I decided to go ahead with an epidural since Linda wanted to break my water to get things moving, which was fine with me since I felt like I had been in labor for days.

5:10 p.m. – water broken – 6-7 cm dilated

6:30 p.m. – 8-8.5 cm dilated

After that, things slowed way down — my contractions continued, but they gave me Pitocin to attempt to strengthen them and get me to 10 cm. They ended up having to put an internal monitor on me to see how strong the contractions were, and Noah’s heart rate was rather erratic so they put a monitor on him too.

Sunday, September 14

1 a.m. – still 8.5 cm dilated – Linda mentioned that she was now getting a little concerned that I hadn’t progressed in so many hours, but she’d give me another 30-45 minutes and then we might have to do a c-section. I was praying and praying for those 30 minutes that I could get to 10 cm. When she came and checked I was at 10 cm with just a slight bit of cervix still in the way, but she said she could push it aside while I pushed and we would be able to do it.

1:45-2:25 a.m. – pushing

2:25am – Noah is born!

For about an hour after birth, the two of us laid skin-to-skin while I was being attended to – Noah was so alert and sweet, and when I nursed him the first time he was an absolute natural! We were all so tired but it was such a great experience, mostly because of the fantastic nurses we had and an amazing midwife who delivered our second (and just as adorable!) son. I still can’t believe he was nine pounds…

Born 2:25 a.m. on September 14, 2008, 9 pounds even, 21 inches.

Guest Mama Krista is from southern California where she’s an amazing stay-at-home mama to her two beautiful boys (ages 4 and 6!). When she’s not chasing after her boys she’s a photographer who specializes in weddings, families, babies, birth and maternity. Check out her website: Krista Lucas Photography.