Fiona's Birth

Fiona arrived after a long labor, almost 2o hours in duration. My contractions started in earnest around 10:30 on Monday night and quickly progressed. Our memory is a bit hazy, but we headed to the hospital sometime after midnight, with contractions coming about 3 minutes apart. The contractions continued into the early morning, but unfortunately tapered off and stalled out after that. Chris and Exie (our doula) and I tried a number of techniques for getting things restarted, including accupressure massage, walking, different positions, etc, but to no avail. Finally after much agonzing, I had an amniotomy followed an hour or so later by a low dose of pitocin.

Going on the pitocin was a hard choice for me, because I knew it would make my contractions much more intense and that I might not be tough enough to go it without an epidural or narcotics. The pitocin was very effective, and quickly got things moving to the point where I thought I as going to cave on the pain intervention issue. Thankfully, I had excellent support in the form of Exie and Chris, who coached me through to the end, reminding me time and again that I could endure anything for a minute.* With the pitocin in my system, I basically went from stalled out to ready to push in less than 2 hours. I honestly don't know if I would have made it much past that! Thankfully, I was ready to push before too long, and managed to deliver Fiona less than 7 minutes after I began pushing.

I had Fiona at the Harris Birthing Center at Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital. Throughout my hospital stay, including labor and delivery, the hospital staff were wonderful. At the point when I was stalled out for hours, trying to figure out what to do, I never felt pressured to agree to the various intervention options that were available, though they were gently offered to me. The nurses and doctor I worked with let me make decisions at my own pace and didn't treat me like I was being difficult. I think they would have preferred that I get an epidural, but they were accepting of my decision to bypass pain medication.

After Fiona's birth, every single nurse that got assigned to my room was friendly, professional, and responsive to my needs. They were always available to me, but never intrusive and made a point of not coming into the room too often so that I could get my rest. Fiona was only removed from the room 2 times, once for a hearing screening and once for her PKU screening. All checks of her vitals, etc, were done in the room.

The facilities available to me were great too. I stayed in the same room throughout my stay, including labor and delivery, and the room was comfortable and cozy. I had room service available from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night, as well as access for myself and support people to a "Nourishment Room"--a room stocked with coffee, tea, juice, ice, chicken noodle soup, bread, condiments, etc.

There were a lot of things that I would change if I could, when I think back to Sam's birth. Beaumont is a good hospital, and we were treated well, but it was a very different experience. For one thing, Sam was removed from my room repeatedly during the course of the day, for every shift change and on a number of other occasions. At times he'd be gone for 2 hours or more, which made me anxious and added to some of the difficulties I had with trying to get into the swing of nursing. I also delivered Sam in a totally different part of the hospital than the place that my room was located, so I had a long ride in a wheelchair after his birth. I also happened to arrive in my room between mealtimes. I was completely famished, but all the nursing staff could scrounge up for me was a dried out turkey sandwich. At Huron Valley, a chicken salad croissant sandwich with chips, chicken noodle soup, and pudding were delivered to my room within two hours of Fiona's birth. After a 20 hour labor, that meal really hit the spot!

I also feel like interventions were pushed more at Beaumont. They pretty much had me hooked up to pitocin within an hour or so of arriving at the hospital. In retrospect, I should have fought this, but they presented it as a routine move rather than a subject of discussion. When I did finally agree to an epidural, due to the pain of the pitocin contractions, the hospital staff got exasperated with me for being freaked out about the procedure. I know they see epidurals every day, but I've never had a needle stuck in my spine before and could have used a bit more understanding and patience from the medical staff. Thankfully, I had Chris there to talk me through it, otherwise I might have jumped right out of the bed.

One last big difference was what happened immediately after both babys' births. With both Sam and Fiona, I had significant bleeding and clotting problems. With Sam, this, combined with a low temp on his part, served as an excuse to separate us, so that he could go to the nursery and get put under warming lights** and so that I could rest. Of course, I had a hard time resting, wondering how Sam was doing and wanting to see him again. In all, we were apart for almost 5 hours, and I didn't get a chance to try nursing for the first time until we were reunited. With Fiona, they kept us together, encouraging me to nurse as this would actually help with the bleeding. I also got to watch Fiona have her first bath, right in the room, which was fun.

All in all, I feel very good about how things played out on Tuesday. I wish I hadn't had to have the pitocin, but I think it was the right move in the end, and I am glad that it was treated as situation that was mine to make. I really can't say enough about how wonderful my labor support people--Chris and Exie--were throughout the entire process. They both stayed calm and supportive and I never felt like I was alone in what can be a scary process.

*The contractions were also so intense and frequent that I seriously doubt I could have remained still long enough to actually get an epidural, so I guess that probably helped me stick to the original gameplan.

**He wasn't so cold that they didn't give him a bath, I later found out. If he really had had significant temp issues, they wouldn't have been able to do this.