Django’s Birth
Story
At 41 ½ weeks, I was waiting, under the threat of
induction, for labor to begin…
At
3am
on Sunday, April 25th, I got my first sign of labor. After getting
up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I returned to the bedroom
only to feel some warm liquid running down my leg. It wasn’t very much, so I
wasn’t sure that my waters had broken until
5am
when they came again in an undeniable amount. I called the doctor and he told
us to meet him at the hospital and that we were indeed going to induce right
away. By
11am
, we arrived at the hospital and by
noon
I was hooked up to an IV drip of Pitocin. Because the doctor didn’t want to
risk infection, my cervix wasn’t checked with an internal exam. Although it
was at zero at my last appointment, we assumed that it had ripened some with the
waters breaking and the Pitocin. I had wanted to have natural childbirth, so I
figured I would see how far I would go with the Pitocin before considering any
pain med options. I started having contractions around
1pm
on Sunday.
By
7:30pm
I was in active labor and holding my own without pain medication with varying
yoga poses, movements, and breathing exercises. By
1am
, we were in the shower letting the warm water massage me while the contractions
came stronger and much more frequent. By
3am
, my contractions were 1 minute long and one and half minutes apart. The nurse
and our doula both thought that things were progressing and we were all getting
excited about having the baby. I’d heard too many horror stories of slow
cervical progress, so by
3:30am
, I decided to have my first internal exam rather than assuming that things were
as far along as they seemed. Everyone assured me that all the signs showed me to
be progressing well and that they would be shocked if I was less than six
centimeters dilated, but I needed to know, so that I could pace myself and
manage my expectations. We were all shocked and dismayed that after 15 hours of
labor contractions, my cervix was only at 3cm. I was totally devastated by the
news. After careful consideration and discussion with Alfredo and our doula, I
decided to get an epidural, get some rest, and continue with labor into the next
day. I was told that it was common to do this and that with my body relaxed, I
would most likely have the baby by Monday afternoon.
I woke at
7am
, refreshed and 4cm dilated. As the day progressed, so did the labor. It was
surreal to go from such an active labor to such a passive one with the epidural.
I went from constantly moving in response to the labor pains to laying
motionlessness with no feeling from the waste down. I was now hooked up to the
Pitocin, a catheter, and antibiotics to fend off infection. I was 6 cm dilated
by
1:30pm
and by
5pm
, 7cms. The doctor arrived around
6:30pm
to report that little progress had been made in the last couple of hours and I
was still between 7 and 8cms. The baby’s head was molding into the cervix and
the cervix was swollen around the head. It didn’t look promising.
While the baby wasn’t showing real signs of distress (only a bit of
mechonium staining), the doctor was recommending a C-section. He thought it
unlikely that there wouldn’t be complications with a vaginal birth at this
time and suggested a C-section now instead of the likelihood of an emergency
C-section later. So after 30 or so hours on Pitocin, it was again time to make a
difficult decision. Given the swollen cervix, molded head, my physical
exhaustion, etc., I agreed to the C-section. There was a great deal of
deliberation, but I didn’t want to risk the baby's or my own health. So nearly
40 hours after my waters broke, April 26th at
7:43pm
, we welcomed Django into the world in the operating room. My marathon motto
rang true, “To finish is to win.” Django Schuler Piazza was born 8 pounds 11
ounces and 20 ¼ inches long. He’s a healthy, happy boy!
While this was exactly the antithesis of the birth experience I wanted, I'm
grateful to have experienced all that I did through labor. I have my wonderful
son and I’ve gained incredible incite into three different types of labor.
