Pictures of Sarah's birth!!! Sarah's Birth Story (warning: a bit graphic) I started to lose my mucus plug (bloody show, etc.) early Monday morning, August 25th at around 1:00 am. I then started to have some "early labor-like" contractions about 12-15 minutes apart. I let the rest of the family sleep and continued my "nesting frenzy." (laundry, cleaning the house, etc.) I woke James up around 3:30 am and let him know he might want to go ahead and take a shower in case we needed to go to the hospital earlier than originally planned. (my induction was set for 7:30 am that morning) So he got up, showered, puttered around on the computer, read a book, etc. until about 4:45 am and then he went back to bed for awhile. I laid down on the couch and read a book, trying to relax. I dozed for awhile and woke around 6:00 am to stonger contractions about 7 minutes apart. I woke James back up and we got everything ready to go. Then we got the kids up, packed into the car and off to the babysitter's house. Then James and I drove to the hospital. We parked and then prayed about what was to come. I was a bit nervous but more excited than anything else! We went to Labor & Delivery and checked in. They had me do the usual "pee in a cup" routine. They did an internal examination, I was still at 2 cm. Then I was settled into one of the Labor & Delivery rooms. James and I just talked and joked for the first 2 hours or so. Then my friend Jeanna arrived with her 2 month old son. She stayed for a few minutes but had to go take her baby to the sitter's house so she could be with me when I had the baby. I was already hooked up to pitocin (a synthetic hormone used to cause the uterus to contract more efficiently) They started me at 2 mg. By around 11:00 am they had raised the level to 5 mg. (Jeanna said all it took was 4 mg. to get her labor going strong) Well, that did the trick! The contractions were now regular (every 3-5 minutes or so) and I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable. I sat in the rocking chair for about 15 minutes or so until I started to feel the back labor coming on. Owie. They did another internal, still at 2 cm and my water hadn't yet broken. I then knelt down in front of the rocking chair with my arms resting on the chair itself. With each contraction, James would rub my lower back. The mixture of being on my hands and knees (getting the weight of the baby off my lower back) and James' massaging probably took about 65-70% of the pain away! It was wonderful!!! After about the 3rd or 4th contraction in this position I felt Sarah's head "fall into" the birth canal and my water broke! I had the same thing happen with Hannah. I knew at that point I had dilated quite a bit in that one second. So they checked me. I was at 5 cm. The contractions started coming on a lot stronger at this point! They had me get up onto the bed and asked me if I still wanted the sufenta block. (an injection in the spine like an epidural only it just takes the pain away, it doesn't numb you) I said "yes" and they called for the anesthesiologist. I prayed he would come quickly! He came after about 20 minutes and went over the pros and cons of the sufenta block and wanted to make sure that was in fact what I definitely wanted as opposed to an epidural. I said "yes" and signed the appropriate paperwork. Eveyone was laughing at me because even during the contraction I was feeling I was trying SO had to make sure my signature was legible! Anyway, after about 2-3 contractions I started to feel the pain of the contractions less and less. I remember thanking the anesthisiologist profusely before he left! I was then able to settle down and rest, and yes, even snore while I was waiting for my body to complete dilation. The midwife checked me after about an hour and I was 8-9 cm. So I rested a bit more. She said there was still a "lip" of the cervix left and that the baby seemed like a "baldy" to her! Finally, around 2:00 pm, right as the sufenta block was wearing off unfortunately, the midwife told me to go ahead and start pushing. So they dropped the end of the bed and had me squat down on it and push while holding on to the bar attached to it. That was nice because I had always pushed my other babies out lying flat on my back. Where's the logic in that?!? I pushed and pushed and yet it seemed like nothing was happening. So they had me get off the bed and squat down on the floor. I remember the internal burning I felt with each contraction and it was all I could do to push through the pain of it! Pushing just made it hurt worse! It was all a matter of willpower at this point. Now my eye, (you remember my eye infection??) was beginning to swell from all the pressure of pushing but I was so "out of it" I didn't even notice. I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I remembered thinking "Have I forgotten how to push? Why isn't she coming down??" It was SO frustrating!! Finally, while pushing and squatting on the floor the attendant said "OK, she needs to get up in the bed NOW." I had pobably been pushing for about 40 minutes by now. The longest I had pushed with any of my children was 19 minutes, with Jacob and he was my first baby!! *sigh* So anyway, they got me back up onto the bed where I continued pushing for the next 15-20 minutes or so. (which, believe me seemd like an eternity!) As Sarah's head was "crowning" they noticed that it was rotating around, that little stinker was trying to turn over!! As her head was twisting around they could all see (and I could certainly feel!) her feet kicking me way up inside my uterus!! It was the craziest thing! As her head finally came out (and I at this point thought my body was going to rip in half) they noticed two things about Sarah; first, her eyes were WIDE open and second, she was "sunnyside up!" That means she was facing "up" rather than "down" when she was born which explained why I had to push so long and so hard! Normally a baby goes down the birth canal facing down or slightly sideways which allows the bones of the head to "mold" to the shape of the birth canal, letting it pass under the pubic bone without any difficulty. (like my previous births) Thus the occasional "cone-headed" look. In Sarah's case, she was facing "up" so her head didn't conform to my birth canal and the widest part of her head had to squeeze through under my pubic bone. That's when they had me squatting on the floor. That got her past that part. Routinely, with first babies, they just perform a ceserean section to get the baby out when this happens. The only reason they didn't was because this was my 4th baby and I had just given birth 2 1/2 years ago. Boy howdy, that hurt!!!! Now back to the "eye issue." You probably noticed in the photos that my left eye is rather swollen. Well, that was the eye with the infection. During the stress and strain of pushing, someone noticed blood dripping from it, like tears. The blood vessels had burst and were bleeding out of my eye! Eeew!!! It didn't hurt, it was just really REALLY gross!! By the time Sarah was born, my left eye was completely swollen shut. (think Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky??") Right after her head came out just until her shoulders were visible, they asked me it I wanted to reach down and pull her out so I did!!! She was the first of my babies I delivered myself!! It was the most incredible feeling! I couldn't really see her too well because of my swollen eye but I remember feeling the umbilical cord with my left hand. I then laid her on the left side of my chest and just bawled while they were wiping her off with towels. She was crying really softly and I was crying because I could hardly see her. She was so warm and soft. They said the cord was REALLY long and that it was wrapped around her foot when she was born! She was SO beautiful!!! I just kept thanking God that she was finally here!! I'll never forget that moment, not with any of my babies. I had a small tear that the midwife had to stitch up after she delivered my placenta. James took a picture of the placenta (which is the most amazing thing!) but I chose to leave it out of my album for obvious reasons! Actually I had to leave about 20 of the pictures out for graphic reasons but they're really fascinating just the same! Postpartum-wise there were a few complications. I had a bit of a bleeding problem and they discovered the night after I had her that I had retained some of the placenta and amniotic sac and so I had to go back to Labor & Delivery and have them removed. It wasn't a D&C or anything, the midwife just put a speculum in and pulled it out of my cervix. (sorry, TMI!) Also, I ended up with a "spinal headache" from the injection in my spine (the sufenta block) so I had to go back to the ER and have a "blood patch" put in. We're all better now. As for my eye, it's no longer swollen although it's totally red. Beet red. It's kind of freaky-looking but the Opthamologist that came in to see me the night after Sarah's birth said the blood vessels will completely heal within a month or so. So there you have it. If I remember anything else I'll add it. I hope that helped "narate" the pictures a little bit! Oh! One more thing! You probably noticed a black and white stuffed dog in almost all of the photos?? That was given to me by Jacob (my 7 year old). He wanted me to be comforted by it during the "scary parts." It never left my side. Thank you, baby. Graphics purchased from Julie