by Heidi Wilhelm
On August 6, 1999, my husband, Guy, and I met with our HypnoBirthing instructor for our fourth and final class. Ten days later, on Monday, August 16, I woke in the morning to get ready to go to work like any other day. When I went to the bathroom before my shower, however, I discovered I had passed the uterine seal. We called the OB practice and Russ, our certified nurse-midwife, was on call. He suggested that we come in to the office later for a labor check. So Guy and I jumped into the car at 6:30 am to run into Hartford to get enough paperwork for me to work at home that day. When we arrived back home, we got a doctor appointment for 2:30 that afternoon for a labor check. Since it was possible that we’d be told that we were in labor and to check ourselves into the hospital, Guy packed the car. I started my workday.
We went to the doctor’s office for our appointment and saw the same doctor who had examined me the previous Friday for my routine visit. He had done an internal check three days ago and discovered that my cervix was 2 cm opened and 50% thinned. I was happy that our labor check would be done by the same doctor – we would be able to compare apples to apples.
He came into the exam room and said, “You’re here for a labor check?! You’re not in labor!” This was said as he walked into the room and hadn’t even touched me. He did another internal while the nurse told us, “You’ll know when you’re in labor!” The doctor admitted that we had progressed some, but not much, so he sent us home. We were disappointed – we had hoped this was it! I finished my workday at home without incident.
I did notice, however, that occasionally when I rested my hands on my belly, my palms could feel a tightening. I mentioned this to Guy and we wondered if I was experiencing Braxton-Hicks. I wasn’t feeling anything inside other than the baby’s usual movements.
I worked until 5 pm and took a nap, as I often did in the evenings. I got up around 7 pm, had dinner, and went to bed for the night at 10 pm. Everything was just like any other night.
However, at midnight, my membranes released. I was awakened from a sound sleep with the impression that someone had dumped a pail of warm water on top of me. I called to Guy, who was working on his dissertation at the computer. He came running. Luckily, I had worn a sanitary pad to bed, which absorbed much of the liquid. Guy helped me to the bathroom, where I sat while he called the hospital and my mom.
My body started to feel as if I were having a period. Kind of crampy. I started getting nervous.
Guy came back to report that a nurse at the hospital said to get some sleep and to come in when the surges were 4-5 minutes apart. So we went to bed and listened to the Rainbow Relaxation tape. The bedside clock said 1:02 am when I got up to go to the bathroom. A surge had just passed before I stood up. Before I got to the bathroom (7-8 paces away), I felt another one. I asked Guy what time the clock said. He told me, “1:04.” I said, “They’re two minutes apart. Call the hospital.” We had never timed them before going to bed.
The hospital said to come in immediately. Thank goodness the car was packed already. It took me 20-25 minutes to get out to the car. It took so long because whenever I felt a surge, I had to stand still and concentrate in order to relax completely, but they were really starting to hurt. I remember thinking, “I don’t think I can do this for 36 hours.” Now I realize that I was feeling that hallmark of labor which is a signpost for the end – that the birth itself was really near. I didn’t know that then.
We were in the car at about 1:30 am. Even before that night, the bumps at the end of our road were uncomfortable, but that night they were horrible. I told Guy to drive really fast between the surges and really slowly and carefully during them. He knew when because I would squeeze his hand while trying to relax.
I tilted the seat back because I was more comfortable without a bend at the hips. I realized that I was fighting the surges and that I needed to relax, but I didn’t feel like I could.
It took 15 minutes to drive to the hospital. They were expecting us, so a wheelchair was on the way to the Emergency Room and Russ, our certified nurse-midwife, had been called. I sat in the wheelchair when it arrived, but had to stand up with each surge, so it took a while to get to the end of the corridor and the elevator. When the elevator arrived, I was standing and breathing through a surge and couldn’t move to get on. The elevator doors closed and the wheelchair attendant said, “We have to get on the next one.” I think he was getting nervous.
The doors opened again and we got on, but another surge had arrived when we got to the right floor. Guy embraced me and moved me off the elevator. The nurses met us and started to move us toward our room when all of a sudden, I threw up. All I had consumed was a few sips of water at midnight, so I was surprised. The nurses assured us that it wasn’t unusual.
They wheeled me to our room and I announced that I had to go to the bathroom. Terri, one of the nurses, showed me to the bathroom and asked if I wanted to be alone. I replied that I didn’t think that was a good idea. Moments later, I told her I felt the urge to push. She started moving rapidly – she helped me get undressed and back to the bed. I said that I wanted to birth while standing, but she replied that since Russ hadn’t yet arrived, she was short a pair of hands and needed me to be on the bed. So I decided to kneel on the foot of the bed. Terri did a quick internal check to learn that the baby was at station +2 – almost crowning.
I leaned heavily on a bar at the midpoint on the bed facing Guy who was sitting near the head of the bed. Russ arrived just as I started pushing, which was completely mother-led. I pushed for 10 minutes and it really hurt when the baby crowned, but the perineal massage worked! No perineum tears! I was worried that the quickness of the labor wouldn’t allow the perineum to stretch adequately, so I never really pushed hard. My muscles just did what they were designed to do and Kate was born at 2:11 am – less than 30 minutes after we arrived at the hospital!
Guy and the nurses helped me turn over to receive Kate. She started nursing immediately and the placenta was released easily. After it had stopped pulsating and had turned white, Guy cut the cord. Russ gave me two small stitches to the inner labia because I had had a slight inner tear. Kate had been born with her hand on her face, so her little elbow caught me on the way out. Her birth was completely unmedicated and without any medical intervention. Yahoo!
SOME LESSONS FROM KATE’S BIRTH:
I suspect that practicing my HypnoBirthing tapes resulted in a state of constant relaxation. This relaxed state may explain why I literally felt nothing resembling labor before my membrane released at midnight even though my body must have been in labor for hours. I was also able to fall immediately into a deep sleep for my nap at 5 pm and again at 10 pm for what I thought would be the night. In addition, I put in a full workday without any issues. All told, I experienced my labor for literally 2 hours and 11 minutes. So the OB doctor and nurse were wrong – my body may have been laboring for hours before my mind knew it!
I believe that one of the biggest reasons I experienced discomfort (and pain near the end of labor) was because I was nervous and scared. This fear created tension in my body and that tension caused the pain. I didn’t realize how close we were to Kate’s birth when my membrane released. All those other women’s birth stories came crashing down on me. Remember, “I don’t think I can do this for 36 hours…”? In the car, I actually thought that maybe I would get an epidural. The car ride to the hospital made labor more difficult because I was not able to completely concentrate on relaxing. Having a hospital birth necessitated that drive; if I had planned a homebirth, I may have been able to completely relax and fall asleep using the Rainbow tape and wake up in time for Kate’s birth. In addition, she was born at 37 weeks gestation, so I wasn’t really expecting her yet. Her arrival was a bit of a surprise.
The hospital nurses didn’t realize how far along my labor was. Again, I didn’t look like the usual mother 15 minutes before birthing. This was demonstrated by Terri asking me if I wanted to be alone in the bathroom upon arrival to our birthing room. If she had realized that the baby was almost crowning, she wouldn’t have asked that!