Freya's kind of unmedicated birth story. (born at 38+1)

It’s been just about a week since my labor started, so I thought I’d take some time to share the story! This is probably going to be long....

But, of course, here's the pictures first!

My labor started early afternoon on Thursday 3/17 (38 weeks exactly). That morning, I had gone to the OB for a checkup and cervical exam. I was 1cm and 20% effaced. My BP had been high (150s/90s), so we scheduled an NST for that afternoon. I went to a meeting at work and then to the hospital for the test. She passed with flying colors. My mom happened to be at the same hospital for an MRI so we had carpooled. While waiting for her to finish, I started having contractions. I timed them at 40 seconds long and 2 minutes apart. My doctor had warned me that the cervical exam would cause cramping/contractions, so I hoped that was all it was and tried to ignore them.

I went home and the contractions kept up. I decided to drink a lot of water and lay down to see if they went away. At the same time, my husband was going out to dinner with a friend. I told him he had to keep his phone out and ready just in case I needed him. While the contractions got better, just before 7PM my water broke. Guess who didn’t answer their phone. So I called the hospital and they said to take a shower, eat something, and come in. My parents came to get me because Joe didn’t answer his phone for what seemed like forever. He ended up meeting us at the hospital.

I got to the hospital at 8PM and was admitted right away. They confirmed that my water did indeed break and measured me at 2cm and 50% effaced. They let me labor naturally for about 2 hours, but I barely made .5 cm progress. Because my water was broken and I wasn’t making any progress, my doctor wanted to start pitocin.

This was a really hard decision for me to make. I was really set on having an unmedicated birth, but knew that the risk of infection would just go up the longer I was in labor with broken water. Also, since I was up all day and not getting any rest, I knew I’d be getting exhausted soon and didn’t want to labor any longer than necessary. Joe and I decided that the best thing was to start the pitocin. I remember when the nurse hooked up the IV that I was so scared that I was making a huge mistake.

Things started picking up with the pitocin. I hated that I couldn’t really get up and move around since I had to be on the monitors. Joe and our nurse, Jessica, were both amazing and provided counter pressure and words of encouragement. We were having issues with the contraction monitor, so after a few hours they asked if they could place an internal monitor. I said they could. Sadly, I was only at 3cm at that point, but 100% effaced. I remember feeling really defeated because I wasn’t dilating much at all, but the nurses focused on the effacement and were really trying to keep my spirits up.

Once the internal monitor was placed, we could see the timing, duration, and strength of the contractions. And guess what - they were literally off the scale. After the first one on the new monitor I remember feeling validated that this really was super painful and terrible, but hoped that it wouldn’t be getting any worse. Yeah, that’s not what happened.

After about 90 minutes, things got crazy. I can’t remember much other than screaming that no one was helping me, that I couldn’t breathe, and that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I kind of recall random nurses coming in to see what the fuss what about and some of them thought I was pushing. They did a quick exam and found - to everyone’s massive surprise - that I dilated like a champ and was at a 9.5! I remember them all going into action, telling me the doctor was on the way, trying to explain that I needed to not push (because I really wanted to at this point). Once I understood that I was in transition and that’s why I thought I was dying, it got a little easier to handle. Not much tho. I asked for oxygen at one point but hated having the mask on. I was screaming and shaking the bed and I’m really surprised that I didn’t break Joe’s hand with how tight I was holding on. (I was literally hoarse at the end of labor with how much screaming I did!)

The doctor arrived pretty quickly and found that I just had a small cervical lip left. He wanted me to breathe through 2 more contractions and then I could start pushing. I think I ended up breathing through 4 or so, just because I was scared. Then, we started pushing. I think it was 4-5 contractions of pushing and she was out. Just one 2nd degree tear. I guess the doctor was going to give me an episiotomy but Joe talked him out of it.

Freya had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice, but it was long enough that she wasn’t in any danger. What freaked me out is that she wasn’t crying. They had her on my tummy for skin to skin, but since she wasn’t crying they took her over to the warmer. She never actually cried, but was breathing on her own. She did have a bit of fluid in her lungs that they got out as well. Her first Apgar was a 6 and then an 8. I don’t really remember delivering the placenta or getting the stitches since I was a bit distracted by making sure she was okay.

Once they found that she was doing well, they brought her back to me and I got to hold her for maybe an hour or so. Then they wanted to do some more checks on her, so the nurse took me to go to the bathroom. I almost fainted (thank you blood loss) so they made me sit on the toilet and drink some juice and eat crackers. Honestly, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until that moment.

If you’re looking for the point where I got an epidural, you aren’t missing it. It just didn’t happen. I went into labor not wanting one and somehow kept with it. I’m so grateful to my nurse and Joe for keeping me strong and never offering pain meds, even when I was losing my mind. In the end, I wouldn’t change a single thing. Well, yeah, I wish I didn’t need the pitocin, but everything worked out fine in the end. Honestly, what they say is true - once she was born and I saw her little face I completely forgot about all the pain and craziness of the labor. From water breaking to her first breath was almost exactly 12 hours.

So there you have it! Let me know if you have any questions. I hope this wasn’t too long, but I always loved detailed birth stories when I was prego, so I hope some of you get some use out of my experience.

TL;DR: Water broke, slow natural labor, fast pitocin labor, apparently I scream like Shakira, it’s all worth it when you get to hold a squishy baby at the end.