Isaacs Birth Story: Part Two

Once we were settled into our room in the birth center, my midwife Heather gave me a few options for some positions that we could try. I decided I wanted to sit and bounce on the birth ball, stopping during contractions to hold up my belly with my hands. Heather suggested I try to get some food in now when I still felt like it, so I ate some applesauce out of my snack bag. Gabriel would offer me sips from my water and Gatorade in between contractions as well. 

It is recommended that you switch the position that you are laboring in about every half hour, so I tried some on the bed with a peanut ball and then the birth ball, which would allow me to rest my body because I was growing tired from lack of sleep.

Through it all, my contractions never stayed consistent. Heather said that at some points they would spread back out to almost 15 minutes apart at some points. She said that this could be a sign that the baby was in a suboptimal position, and that we should continue trying more positions in order to get him in a helpful position for labor. 

Once I moved from leaning over the birth ball, I saw that the sun had come up, and it looked like it had already been up for a while. I got a second wind of energy from seeing the sunlight. 

Heather suggested that we took a walk outside in the grassy backyard of the birth center to get some fresh air and to move around a bit. 

I remember that walking outside in the daylight made everything feel much more real. I was able to shift my mindset and separate myself from the pain in the dark room, but something about being in nature brought me back to reality, so I started to struggle. 

I started to become overwhelmed by the fact that I was over 26 hours into my labor and there was no end in sight. I expressed to Gabriel that I was becoming frustrated and I didn’t know how much longer I could do it. 

He told me to try to be grateful that we are going to meet our baby soon and to thank Jesus out loud. I did so begrudgingly, I knew he was right but it was hard not to feel negatively in that moment. I remember repeating help me Jesus over and over again in my head as we walked and I shed some tears, I was becoming so desperate. 

Once we went back inside, Heather said that it has been over four hours since my last cervical check so it would probably be prudent of her to give me another check if I was okay with it. 

Heather told me that I was 8cm dilated and that when I first came into the birth center I was 6cm, so I was showing good progress. She said my bag of waters was still bulging and I asked if she would break my water. 

I knew that after my water broke, my baby would be here within the next few hours. She said that she didn’t often break waters, but that she would if there were good indications to. She told me that as of that moment Isaac was not in an optimal position for an artificial rupture of the membranes.

We tried a few positions and techniques to try to get my water to break naturally, and I became frustrated when they weren't working. I didn’t like the pressure I was putting on myself mentally to try to get it to happen. I slightly recall stating bluntly to Gabriel and Heather that I was done trying to get my water to break. 

After trying many of the positions I had already been in a few hours earlier, my contractions seemed to pick up and Gabriel needed to give me counter pressure on my lower back with an ice pack. 

My contractions stayed relatively far apart but grew in intensity. I grew louder and louder as my contractions became more intense over the next few hours, and Gabriel needed to use his full strength during counter pressure with an ice pack in order for me to get any relief.

Eventually Heathers assistant, Katie, arrived at the birth center. I was excited about this because it meant Heather thought we were getting closer to the pushing stage and delivery.

Heather came back into the room at one point and asked if we could do a cervical check since it had been four hours since my last one. I enthusiastically agreed. She said I was still at 8cm and my water bag was still bulging. 

This was concerning not only because I had had no change in over four hours, but also because I had had no change in over four hours 31 hours into my labor. I knew she would need to break my water to get things going or that we would end up getting transferred to the hospital because I didn’t know how much longer my body could do it. 

Heather said that Isaac was in a better position now so she felt better about artificially breaking my water. 

Heather artificially ruptured my membranes at 1pm with a plastic amnihook during one of my contractions. My waters were clear with no presence of meconium so there were no indications of fetal distress. . 

Heather and Katie never left the room after this until Isaac was delivered, which I was very grateful for. 

Within twenty minutes of having my water broken, my contractions started coming quicker and were a lot more intense. I started to feel them at a level I hadn’t been used to so it took me a few tries to learn how to cope with them. 

I spent some time in various positions and then on a birth stool. When my legs fell asleep on the stool, Heather offered the birth tub. 

I remember the tub not being very comfortable for me. The warm water was very soothing, but either my face, arms, elbows, or knees were always holding the brunt of my weight and would dig into the unforgiving sides of the tub. 

I labored and labored, switched to one position after the other, and my vocalizations got even more intense. Eventually my body started to bare down and push without me even trying to.

Heather would check Isaac’s heart rate frequently, when her assistant reminded her to. 

I could tell something was wrong when it was taking her longer than usual to check the heart beat. I started to panic more every second that she continued to hold the doppler on my lower abdomen. 

I knew things were going wrong when she began to tell me what to do, because up until then she had given me her opinion but what we did was always my call to make. 

I was scared, but I was focused. I was prepared to do what I needed to. I was prepared to listen to my midwife and trust that she had everything under control. I trusted in her knowledge and her experience. 

I don’t remember if she explicitly told me what was wrong but I knew that Isaac’s heart beat was not what she wanted it to be. 

She told me to flip to my side and I did and she checked the heartbeat. It wasn’t improving. 

She told me to get out of the tub and I did immediately, somehow forgetting that doing so just a few minutes before would’ve felt impossible. 

I don’t remember how long I was standing or if I was leaning on someone until she told me to get on the bed. 

There were a lot of urgent commands being given to me in the form of encouraging words from Gabriel, Heather, and Katie. 

My head was in a fog and it was hard for me to hang onto what they were telling me. I think that I was being told to push even if I didn’t have a contraction to help me because Isaac’s heartbeat was still too low. 

I was pushing back to back with hardly any time for a breath in between, so I had an oxygen mask placed on me because if I was low on oxygen it would not be good for the baby. 

Eventually Heather captured my attention enough to get my consent to give me an episiotomy. She told me they don’t do it unless absolutely necessary and it’s what needed to be done to deliver the baby safely, as his heart beat has been too low for too long at this point. 

I didn't know if it had been thirty seconds or thirty minutes since his heartbeat had been struggling, my thoughts were in so many different places that I had no sense of time.

I gave a resounding yes to the episiotomy, and I barely felt the cut. Isaacs head was delivered on my next push, and his body came out on the second. 

My baby had arrived safely. Despite my fear I was able to find the strength to keep going even after so many hours. God gave me the strength to do what I needed to do to protect my baby. 

Isaac James was born at 3:52pm on May 1st, 15 hours after our arrival at the birth center, and almost 34 hours from my first contraction.

Isaac was given a quick assessment. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck as well as his body. As soon as Heather dealt with this she said he looked great. She told me he had even taken a breath before his body was fully out. 

He was placed on my chest. I was so relieved. I let my guard down. I thought the hard part was over. 

The placenta was delivered easily, I had barely felt it, but Heather noticed something that wasn’t quite right. 

I had been losing too much blood. Within a span of five minutes I had been given two shots of pitocin, one in each leg, an oral dose of misoprostol, and bi-manual compressions of the uterus. 

When Isaac’s heart beat was struggling, I had been scared for his life. But I knew when I was hemorrhaging that even if we needed to transport to the hospital that everything would be okay.

Although this was the most physically painful part of the whole experience, the uterine massage being even more painful than the birth, I welcomed it with a content heart knowing that my baby was safe.

The bleeding was resolved within ten minutes. I felt very weak, and I could tell I was disassociating because I continued to stare blankly at the wall and could not bring myself to show much emotion at all or pay attention to my baby. 

I wasn’t worried though, because Gabriel was there to give Isaac all the love that I couldn’t bring myself to just yet. I knew I had just gone through a lot and it could take me a bit to come back to my normal self. I was hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and I needed time to absorb everything that just happened. 

I was able to get some IV fluids and something to eat, I needed to receive stitches for my episiotomy, and we went home that night around 10. 

My mom instincts kicked in after a few days, they must’ve been delayed slightly because of how traumatic my birth was. I started to bond more closely with Isaac and I started to feel something in my brain light up when I heard his cry. 

By week three my body started to feel more like myself, and by week six I felt like I had made huge progress in breaking out of the fog of postpartum. 

I am grateful for my birth story. I am grateful that God used it to show me that I can do hard things, and I am grateful that He used it to show me how faithful He is. He protected my little family. He gave me the strength I needed to save my sons life. 

I’ve never been happier than I was that day when I realized that what we had been waiting for for nine months had finally arrived. 

I was so proud that I was a mother, but my heart grew about ten sizes that day when I finally got to see my husband become a father. 

He encouraged and supported me from the very beginning until the very end. He never let me give up or give in. He had faith in me that I could bring our baby boy to the world safely. He showed Isaac the love he needed when I couldn’t. Despite his fear, he never showed it. He was strong for me as I had tried to be strong for him. 

Going through a pregnancy and experiencing birth alongside your spouse is such a sanctifying event. It really helps you to appreciate the other in a profound way. 

I could not have done it without my husband there with me, and without my strength and perseverance, my husband wouldn’t have his son safe in his arms. 

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Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and may God bless you and your family. 

St. Margaret of Antioch, Patron Saint of Pregnant Women and Childbirth, pray for us!