Jill's Birth Story

The nurses wheeled me into the delivery room, started the petosin, and then checked my cervix. I was already 3 cm dilated and I had felt nothing in terms of contractions. We decided to wait until 6:00AM or so to call my family and Bryan spent the night snoozing in a chair. The contractions felt like really really bad menstrual cramps, I can't remember how often they came at that point. I just let Bryan sleep because I didn't want to waste his goodwill too early.

By 7:00AM I was at 5cm. I was feeling OK but I was fearful that it could be another 8 hours or so before I got to push and then I'd be tired and unable to do it. I asked for an epidural and I got it around 8:00AM. During the epidural my contractions were coming really quickly and they were very intense. I was sweating and a little nauseous from having to sit still through them. As soon as the anethesiologist was done placing the epidural, the doctor came to check my progress. I was at 9 cm, almost go time!

The rest went really quickly and kind of in a blur for me. After the epidural I wasn't afraid any more and that was a big relief. It was opening day for the Red Sox and all of the nurses were like, "Come on, we have to get this done before the first pitch!" Bryan thought we'd be done by 10:00AM and his prediction turned out to be pretty close.

I started pushing around 8:45. Early in my pregnancy, wanting to maintain some sort of feminine mystique, I had said that I didn't want Bryan anywhere near the business end of things during delivery. That and all other modesty went out the window as soon as I started pushing. Bryan and a young doctor were pushing on my legs and Bryan cheered me on while I pushed. At first he said things like, "Come on, baby, PUSH. You've got to PUSH! You have to push harder!" I was like, "Umm, honey, it feels like you're criticizing me. Can you switch it up a little?" From then on he was perfect. I was really numb from the epidural. So much so that I couldn't feel anything below the waist and I couldn't tell when I was having contractions. The nurse would tell me when one was coming and tell me when to push. The nurses were so nice. This one woman Amanda had been with me all week in the Maternal Special Care Unit. She had to leave just before I started pushing and her replacement, Cheryl, was terrific too. Cheryl was like, "I can't wait to tell Amanda what a great pusher you were!"

I know that every baby story has some drama. Ours came when Jill's heartbeat started to get faint near the end. Her head had crowned and we were really close but she was sunny side up (face up instead of face down like she should have been). Back labor can be extremely painful and difficult so I was very glad I had taken the epidural! I was starting to get some sensation back and I could tell now when the contractions were coming, they weren't painful though. Because Jill's heartbeat was becoming fain, I heard one doctor suggest they move me to the OR for a C-section. Just then I felt a contraction and I asked if I could push. The head doctor said, "Yes, push!" then he told the other doctor that moving to the OR would take too long. He grabbed the forceps and pulled Jill out of there!

Tufts is a teaching hospital so there were a ton of people in the room. I think Bryan counted 14 doctors and nurses. When Jill was born they whisked her away to work on her. She didn't cry for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't see anything and I kept asking if she was OK. Bryan is going to fill in the rest because I couldn't tell what was going on at all!