My Birth Story with Felicity

After a long drawn out but also very quick labor, we are so excited to welcome our sweet Felicity Ella to our little family.

Born August 3rd, at 10 pm, here is her birth story, 🎀

So for just a little backstory, I was scheduled to be induced August 3, due to GDM, gestational hypertension, and Polyhydramnios. I was 38weeks and 1 day.

So we arrived at the hospital at 7 am on August 3rd, Checked in and at 7:30-8 got a room and all setup. The first thing they did was check my cervix and that baby was still head down and my dilation. I was dilated to a 3 and 40% effaced. So my body definitely had been preparing for labor just not gone into active labor yet. They then got an IV for the Pitocin ready, checked my blood pressure, and blood sugars and both were really good, for which I was very thankful.

We had originally picked that day of the week because my Dr. was supposed to be the one on call but there was a mixup and she wouldn’t be there till 5pm. It was kind, she actually called personally and apologized and felt so bad because she didn’t believe that she’d be there for my delivery.

Haha, little did we know…🙉

So anyways, after we met the dr on call who seemed great and I felt confident about him delivering the baby, they started me on 1 mL of Pitocin at 10:30 am.

With everything going on, they would only allow it to go up 2 mL’s. every 1/2 hr. It was a little bumming, but I knew it was for safety reasons as well as for my pain tolerance. So, In the meantime I did a lot of bouncing on the ball, pacing the room, lunges, squats, and acupressure. The contractions started, but they didn’t feel super productive and really not painful at all. I had Clary Sage oil and Lavender oil diffusing, as well as a labor playlist going. The mood in the room was very relaxing and a great spot to start from.

So around 1 they checked my cervix and I had made it to a 4. The deal with the Pitocin was that you’re only allowed to get up to 20 mil. with regular outside belly monitoring. But, if I went up any more then that I had to get internal monitoring and that would mean also breaking my water for which we wanted to wait as long as possible to do. So we continued at this pace for about 4 hours. The contractions did get stronger and some felt productive but it felt so slow.

The nice side of things was that I could eat and drink whatever I wanted during this time. So we had some Canes chicken, coffee, snacked on cashews, crackers, anything like that to keep busy while we sloooowwwly made progress. It felt like a party up until this point!

Everything felt like molasses till about 5pm, and that’s when my Dr came on call at the hospital. She was so surprised I was still in labor. But thought that perhaps how much excess fluid there was from the poly was what caused my sac to not break. despite just then maxing out the Pitocin. Because of the slow process she decided it was time to break my water. This made me nervous, because I knew at this point, if they did she would have to be out in 24 hours. They also had to be sure that her head was the only thing at the top of my cervix and not any cord for fear of it coming first from the poly. I had a slight panic moment at this point. But my Dr was pretty confident she could safely do it now.

At 5:30, Once she broke my water, things sped up more. I was immediately dilated to a 5 and 80% effaced.

At that point the contractions started to build but were totally still pain manageable. At about 7 pm I’d say is when hard labor started. I was dilated to about a 6, and up until this point I had been able to manage my pain really well and I felt like I might be able to even go the rest of the way without an epidural.

Then the contractions got hard and close quick. I was trying to decide between moving on or getting an epidural at this point. In most cases women probably make a cm progress an hour till they reach 10.

I was going to have them check my cervix but then just decided while the contractions were still manageable and I had a little bit of energy, to get the epidural. Honestly, I somewhat wish now I had had them check my cervix because I didn’t realize the progress I was making.

They gave me an IV and explained I needed to get 500-600ml of it first and then they could do it. Haha, I did not like that. During this time the contractions really started to get back to back fast, and my energy was running low.

I was relieved when the anesthesiologist walked in at 9pm and I was going to get some pain relief.

Because at this point, with how intense the labor pains were as well as the Pitocin intake, i was starting to shake some as well as get a little frustrated. So with that happening, the anesthesiologist went ahead and started. Unfortunately, he had to try 4-5 times to try to get it right in my back. I had a really hard time with staying calm at this point…When he finally thought it was in correctly they decided to check and see what I was dilated too.

Now this is where it got intense FAST. About 9:30 pm.

Most of the time epidurals only take about 10-15 mins to kick in. Well, I kept waiting for that to happen, and it wasn’t. So, here I was, laying there, hooked up to wires and all that, not getting any pain relief and feeling upset with no chance of movement. They decided to give me a bulus shot of the epidural to my line and just see if that would give me what I needed to relieve my pain. And despite the best effort, it didn’t work either. The only thing I felt was numbness in my left thigh( weird haha).That being said, as I hoped and prayed it would kick in somehow, I didn’t realize the progress my body was still making. The hardest part at this point was that I had to stay in bed and movements other then with the peanut ball on the bed were very limited. When I finally bared down again, and focused with the contractions in bed, I suddenly felt not so much a heaviness but a transitioning in my contractions.

So it was about 9:45 and I called the nurse and explained I felt a different kind of contraction happening. I felt a need to kind of push. She wasn’t too concerned with thinking I was quite ready to push baby out, but quickly checked me. One swoop around babies bead and we all knew what was happening.

The words I remember most- “don’t push yet!! Hold on a minute.”

It was crazy because in literally an hour and a half we’re pretty confident was when I had progressed from 6-10 cm!

My plan originally had been to push on all fours to avoid tearing this time around . But consequently because of the epidural placement that was not an option. And at this stage, all I knew was there was no holding her in anymore. My body was voluntarily pushing her out!

So at 9:56 my husband recalls texting his mom that they were getting everything ready to help me deliver.

And the next part I remember was a flood of nurses running around and in walked my Dr, ready to go!

They quickly got a table setup with things needed for delivery, and I had 2 contractions in between so close together and had to try so hard to not push her out. Like seriously, the urge was insane.

Finally, what felt like ages to just me, at 9:59 pm they were setup ready to go and I said “great, I’m pushing her out now”. And with that, in under a minute and with 3 pushes, she was out! 10pm on the dot we had our baby girl!

The relief I felt was indescribable. With the failed epidural, even tho I felt everything, it also allowed me to feel my bodies readiness to push, and go with it, to make for a very quick push time.

So this delivery because of how quickly it escalated I had an episiotomy instead of tearing like last. And while I had 2nd degree cuts/tares again as last time, my recovery has been overall better this time. It’s amazing how God created our bodies to remember and adapt and change however is needed.

And while my birth plan didn’t go 100% how I wanted it to, being flexible and in-tune with my bodies ability to deliver Felicity safely, was a huge blessing. I have no doubt in my mind that God’s hand was all over it and with us the whole way.

Our sweet Felicity has already been such a joy to have in our family, and we are so grateful God gave her to us.💖

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Xoxo, Shantel