| Kseniya's Birth Story For weeks my husband and I were hoping that Kseniya would choose to come after the 18th of July so that we would be able to go to the movie "Johnny English" a film that we had been waiting impatiently to see. So Friday the 18th I prepared for Ilya to come home from work and was thinking we would make our movie night our last date before becoming parents since I was already 39 weeks pg and due on the 21st. So I made a pizza and set the table nice with a table cloth and candles. After dinner we headed to the 7:40 showing of Johnny English. I even joked in the theatre and said that even if my water broke I would just move on over to the next chair. The movie ended at 9:30 and we were home by 10pm. I immediately went to lie down in bed to elevate my swelling feet. I was lying quietly and all of a sudden there was a pop feeling like a cork coming out of a bottle. I stood up to go to the bathroom and there was a gush... I immediately knew my water broke. I called out to Ilya to bring me the phone so I could call my midwife. My midwife said I could wait out at home until labor started and became intense and if it didn't start by 6am I should head to the hospital. Well, as soon as I hung up the contractions picked up and were already 3 min. apart. They were just a little uncomfortable. Ilya started getting things together into the bag and was making last minute touches around the house (tidying up). He was very calm and cool, whereas I was not thinking clearly because of the excitement that this was it! We got to the hospital around 10:30 pm and I was checked around 11:15pm. I was already 5-6 cm dilated. After some monitoring I sat in the rocking chair while Ilya got the shower ready. The shower was awesome! They had a nice bench and I would lean forward onto the shower wall and grip the handrail during the contractions while Ilya sprayed my back. I admit that it hurt enough that I would see stars but it was bearable. After an hour in the shower they wanted to monitor the baby's heart rate for 20 min. and then my midwife checked me and I was 8-9 cm. My water broke the rest of the way at this point and there was meconium in the fluid so I couldn't go back to the shower at this point =(. I had to stay in bed and be monitored. The contractions were harder to deal with in bed and I about broke Ilya's neck several times by pulling on it. I also think the hand rails in the beds are WONDERFUL for dealing with the pain. My midwife came back around 3am and I was starting to feel pressure. She checked me and I was 9.5 cm with just a little bit of cervix left but she said I could start pushing if I felt like it. After an hour of pushing the baby wouldn't descend (still at -1/0 station � where I was at my appt. on the 14th of July) and I was making no progress whatsoever. Talk about frustrating! My midwife said that the baby's head was not coming down the right way and that she was transverse. So she said they'd give me an hour to lie on my side and to try and rest (LOL-rest?) and see what happens. At this point I was in alot of pain because I have had no drugs. After an hour of pushing with no progress my moral was down and I was exhausted. I decided to get a small amount of Nubain (I have a low tolerance to meds). The nubain helped me to rest between the contractions but every time I would have one I had the uncontrollable urge to push. My body would push and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The nurses drove me nuts by saying 'don't push', 'don't push'... are they nuts or what? The nubain worked for about a half an hour. After an hour of "so called rest" my midwife came back to check me and I was still 9.5 cm and she still hadn't descended. She said that the next option was to call the doctor and have a c-section. I really didn't want one but at this point I just wanted the pain to end. The doctor and anesthesiologist had to be called into the hospital. The nurses prepped me for the section... shaving, catheter... The anesthesiologist arrived after about 30 min. and started to ask me questions to prep me for the epidural. Through all this I'm still in terrible pain with the contractions and pushing because I couldn't help not to. Everyone scrubbed up, including Ilya (he looked so cute in his scrubs) and the doctor finally arrived. He did one last check and what do you know? He said the baby turned and we can deliver her vaginally! I was like no... I want to go home. I want this to be over! LOL Of course they didn't listen to me and so the catheter comes out and they prep the room. At this point the room was full of people in blue scrubs (they had to call respiratory because of the meconium). I remember at one point seeing my doctor going into the supply closet and goofing around saying stuff like "I'm coming out of the closet!" (He didn't have to do any work cause the midwife would still deliver the baby). After about 45 min of pushing little Kseniya made her debut into the world! The whole thing was like a dream because I was so tired and in so much pain. The nubain had long wore off about an hour and a half ago and I never did get the epidural. After delivery of the placenta my midwife had a little trouble getting my uterus to clamp down which was kind of scary. I was really hoping to have a med free birth but I think given the circumstances a little pain relief was needed. I think if she had been in the right position for delivery I could have definitely done it and she would have been born shortly before 4am instead of 6am. Getting to 9.5 cm wasn't that hard, the pushing was the worst. So not only was our little girl considerate enough to wait for the movie to end, she also came on the weekend like her daddy had asked her. Also, Ilya and I didn�t take any childbirth classes. Instead we read the book �The Birth Partner� and wouldn�t you know that we just finished reading it the night before I went into labor! We have one smart little girl! This story was written by Kara |
| Back * Home * Belly Gallery |