BS! (birth story) (tmi?)

Cameron and River are at church, Sariah is finally asleep, and the house is moderately clean. It is amazingly quiet and serene here. Instead of taking advantage of my 'alone' time and doing something productive (like showering) I'm going to write about Sariah's birth before I forget and decide to have 5 more kids. ;)

Sariah was due on April 10th. April 10th came, and by that time I was dilated 3 cm, 50% effaced and ready to have a baby already. My doctor thought I would go into spontaneous labor, as I did with River who was 4 days late, but they scheduled me for an induction just in case. Well, I ended up going in for the induction 7 days later, April 17th. We had to be there at 7:30 am to get things started. I was really nervous to be induced. I did natural childbirth with River and was planning on doing the same this time. However, I've heard pitocin-induced contractions are more painful than natural contractions. MORE painful? Is that possible? Cameron didn't help much either...he kept saying, "Are you ready for the Poison? I mean Pitocin?"

One nice thing was that my parents flew in the night before and were able to come to the hospital with us and be with River. ANYWAYS, we all got up early Friday morning and went to the hospital. We got there at 7:30am, but they didn't actually start the pitocin until 10:00. The pitocin started my contractions, but I couldn't actually feel them for a couple of hours. River and my parents kept me entertained because I was stuck in bed with an IV, blood pressure cuff and contraction monitor. (another thing I didn't like about being induced, you can't move much...) Around noon I was feeling a few cramps, but nothing really painful at all. River got bored, so my parents took her to get lunch and play at the park. Cameron fell asleep in the bedside chair, and I ate 3 blue popsicles and watched home make-over shows while waiting for something exciting to happen. The next time the midwife came to check me I was dilated to 4 cm, so she decided to break my water to speed things up . After she broke my water my contractions became twice as painful almost immediately.

After about an hour (?) I told Cameron to help me start relaxation/breathing techniques I used with River. I started feeling like I needed to push, so the midwife came in and checked me again and I was at 6 cm. I said, "Is that all?" because the contractions were close together and getting quite painful. And I felt like I needed to push. It was so weird because I never felt the urge to push during River's labor...not even at the end. The midwife told me that I had made fast progress and suggested I try sitting on the birthing ball to help with the pain. It did NOT help.

I was sitting on the birthing ball, sweating puddles and thinking, "I can't do this. This is a lot worse than last time. And I'm only at 6 cm." I was still feeling a urge to push, so I decided to go to the bathroom to see if it relieved any pain. The nurse was in the room at the time and said "Sure, if you feel like you need to go." So Cam helped me over to the bathroom. While I was sitting there, I said to Cameron, "I think the baby is coming." He immediately jumped up, told the nurse, who ran in and said, "you better get out of here" then ran to call the doctor. (I'm sure she thought I was crazy...)

By this time I was pretty out of it. All I remember is Cameron helping me up on the bed, and about 6 people came running into the room. Cameron said, "It's okay Sheena, the doctor is here." I said, "She is?" he said. "yes". I said "Can I push?" But I was pretty much pushing the whole time anyways, because I couldn't help it. Cameron said, "I can see the head." I said, "No you can't." He said "Yes, I can see the head. You can do it. You're doing great." I think the doctor was saying stuff during this time, but all I could hear was Cameron's voice. After one more push he said, "The head is out!" I said, "It is?"! Why I couldn't tell, I don't know. (Also, I was doing alot of screaming, probably terrifying some first time mother down the hall. Lol.) Then I pushed one more time and Sariah was born. She was all purple, which is normal, and beautiful.

My doctor was delivering another baby when she had to run into our room to deliver Sariah. She joked with us afterward, saying that most babies give her more of a warning. Anyways, Sariah was born so fast that it was a little overwhelming. I'm not sure if it was the pitocin or the speed of labor, but the contractions seemed worse this time. At least it was over fast!