Nora's Birth Story
12/15/11
Saturday evening, December 3rd, Tim and I decided to go out to dinner - one last “date” for a while, plus an early birthday dinner for me [good timing, huh?]
Most of Saturday I'd actually had some pink-tinged T.P. when wiping and towards the evening had small cramps. I was fairly certain this was the beginning, but wasn't certain since I hadn't seen “The Plug.”
After getting home from dinner, I made sure to go to bed at a normal early time - by 10pm. But as I lay in bed, the cramps continued and were definitely spaced apart for some time.
Finally at 4:20am I woke Tim up - “I’m having surges!” We stayed up for a bit of time while I walked around and the surges became slightly stronger. I called my doula around 5:15am to tell her I was starting and to make her way over as she could - Anna arrived at 6:30am Sunday.
For the next 11 hours I switched between pacing my house, moving in different positions and trying to lay down and rest in bed while listening to my birth affirmations. At some point in the afternoon the surges became strong enough that I started moaning through them just to help me mentally. Hanging around Tim's neck [like a high school dance] helped as well. Resting in bed helped a bit - I'd start to fall asleep but the surges would wake me up and I'd have Tim massage my lower back. That's the one place I was not expecting pain - my lower back!
I was curious that Anna hadn't really intervened at all yet - she simply sat on the couch and observed my reactions and would suggest positions to relieve any pain.
Finally at 5:30 we decided to make our move - my surges were very strong and very close together - about 5 minutes.
We got to Bethesda North around 6pm and admitted myself. I tried to be cautiously optimistic about how dilated I was - luckily I was already around 5cm! We got to the room and my surges continued to get stronger. I can't even remember how I passed the time - I know I used the massive shower at one point to get some hot water on me during some surges. I spent a lot of time on the bed, leaning over the birthing ball.
At some point I was laying on my left side getting through a surge when I felt a POP! and a gush of fluid - I flipped out a little bit “Oh my God, my water just broke! ACK!” It felt like buckets! I know from that point on was G.D. intense - I cried through a lot of the surges and definitely whimpered that I needed help/an IV. Anna, Tim and the Nurse just reassured me that I was really, really close. We'd been told that's just our uterus talking through our mouth that we were near completion : )
My body started really taking over as we approached midnight and I could feel my body bearing down and physically starting to push Nora out. I was on my knees on the bed, facing backwards and draping my body over the head of the bed, and truthfully, I was YELLING through the surges and finally cussing. And crying a bit too. Dr. Bowen showed up around 11pm when I felt I just wanted to push at this point. I think I had a half hour of my body bearing down, then finally they said “Okay, you don't have to try and relax anymore - you can push as you need!“
The end of the bed was dropped down and I held myself on the upper half with what arm strength I amazingly had while I squatted my lower half down. I spent probably half an hour pushing - this part was not painful compared to transition! I became extremely determined and kept saying “Let's do this! Come on, girl!” I think I was talking to both myself and Nora. Bowen and Anna were pretty impressed that as I pushed Nora down, her head stayed in place instead of sliding back up. I tried to take it slow to avoid tearing [but it happened - oh well].
Feeling her come out at 11:51pm was so crazy and neat - Tim watched and was amazed that he saw her head come out purple, but watched as she took her first breaths and her head became pink. She slid on out and was brought directly to my belly. All I could do was gasp and say “Oh my God! Holy Shit!”
They all asked what her name was and I said "I don't know!!” I looked at Tim and said "What do you think of Nora Noelle?” and of course he was on board. I think her hair color determined her name : )
We spent our two hours with her on my chest and at 2am were moved to our recovery room. My entire family met us in there at 2:45am to congratulate us and say how proud they were of me - it was very special. Finally around 3:30am we asked the nurse to take Nora to the nursery so we could get sleep. I'd had a bit of tunnel vision and was feeling [obviously] extremely weak and needed sleep.
Staying in the hospital is comforting at first - lots of help and people watching over you. Then you get sick of the revolving door of nurses and staff who are there to check on you, check on the baby, get you breastfeeding, give you food, etc, etc. By Tuesday PM we were definitely ready to get home and start this journey on our own feet.
She's approaching two weeks old now and we're still learning about each other and I try to have patience when it's hard - I have to remember she's so stinkin' brand new and she doesn't know any better or care whether her Daddy and I are doing it “right” or “wrong.”
