Colin Joseph
May 10, 2010 was my 11 week ultrasound due date, and the beginning of week 40 for me. Since this was my estimated due date, I was convinced that this was not the day that Colin would come. So more than any other day out of the last few weeks, I was able to put going into labor out of my mind and focused more on finishing things up at work. I went for my weekly check-up. I was told by the nurses that none of Dr. Pranger’s patients ever make it to their due date, and that I shouldn’t still be pregnant. Seriously, I wasn’t trying to make history. I was ready to have him a week prior, but babies come when they are ready…geesh! Well, Dr. Pranger also mentioned that his patients rarely go over due, so he insisted on trying to strip my membranes again. He did this mind you, while he was already checking my cervix. Not exactly a position to tell him no. I was not amused, because it was uncomfortable and hurt, and I was not convinced that it would do anything more then that. I was only dilated to a half centimeter at this point, so he did not have a lot of room to work with.
I went back to work convinced I would not be going into labor. I got a lot of work finished up, which really helped keep my mind occupied. Looking back, it was like I knew I would not be back to work the next day, because I was completely caught up with everything before I left that day. At the time, however, I refused to let the thought enter in my mind because I didn’t want to be disappointed if indeed I was. I had already been down that road, and didn’t want to do that again. The week previous, when my Dr had stripped my membranes I had a lot of contractions, some of them very strong and hard, but they’d never remain consistent longer than an hour or so. They’d eventually stop and go away, and it was very frustrating. I just kept wondering how much more and how much longer. Finally, I just decided to put it all out of my mind and trust that everything would happen when Colin was ready to come. This is very hard to do, for a planner, but I finally did.
So when contractions started this night at 10pm, I noticed them, but put them out of my mind. They were consistent though, at about 10 minutes apart. I got up off the couch and went to take a bath to help me relax so I’d be able to sleep that night. Sleep was something I had gotten very little of over the last couple weeks because I developed PUPPS of pregnancy. This is an awful rash, that doesn’t harm the baby thank goodness, but made me miserable. It was the worst in the middle of the night and I would wake up every hour scratching madly. Luckily for me this rash didn’t start tell around 36 weeks, and by this point my rash was manageable and almost gone.
After the bath my contractions still continued, but were still about ten minutes apart. I decided to try and go to sleep. I laid in bed for about two hours and just tossed and turned. I couldn’t sleep. I decided to get up and surf the internet. Thought I might as well keep my mind occupied. Contractions were now around 8 minute apart. They stayed this way all night. I finally went to lay back down in bed again around 3am. I kept thinking that if I was going to go into work I better try and get some sleep. I was not able to sleep. I laid in bed until the alarm went off. Contractions were now between 5 and 7 minutes apart. After my husband came out of the shower, he asked why I wasn’t getting ready for work. I told him that I thought I was in labor. He asked, “What does that mean?” I laughed because I knew what he really meant by the question but I still had a sense of humor at this point. I told him, “it means we are going to have a baby soon!” He didn’t find it funny, and I told him to go to work, because that was the real question he was asking. Since the contractions were still far apart and I thought they may just stop anyway. I’d call him when I knew more. So he went to work. I called my doctor next and told him I thought I might be in labor but wasn’t sure. He told me that he could tell by the sound of my voice I was in labor, but to stay at home until I was ready to go in. I still didn’t believe I was in labor. I then called my mom and told her that I didn’t know for sure but might be in labor. She immediately said she thought I was and was heading here from Dubuque.
My first thought was to finish cleaning before my Mom got into town! Which meant I only had 90 minutes to finish nesting. So I spent the next 90 minutes cleaning in between contractions. I would lay down and rest on my bed for the contraction, and then get up and clean. At this point they were five minutes apart and lasting about a minute each time. It sounds kind of funny now looking back, but it kept me occupied. My parents, and a couple of my sisters made it in town by 10:30. I still wouldn’t admit I was in labor, even though contractions were between 3-5 minutes apart at this time, and remained consistent for the last 12 hours. At this point, I was still afraid if I admitted it they would stop. It was great having my family with me while I labored at home. They were cracking me up and I was laughing between contractions. It was actually a lot of fun, for being in labor anyway.
At about one o’clock all of my family was convinced I was in labor and kept insisting I go to the hospital. Contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart, so I thought it was too early to go to the hospital. I agreed to go to my doctor’s office and be checked. Once there he finally convinced me I was in labor. He said that I was having steady contractions and that my cervix had changed quite a bit from the day before and that I was now dilated to 1.5 cms. This was kind of disappointing since I had now been having contractions for around 14 hours. He said I was in a latent phase of labor and that if I didn’t have the baby by noon the next day he would be surprised. I thought he was absolutely crazy! I better have this baby by noon tomorrow! He told me to go home and labor more there and I would know when I needed to go into the hospital.
On the way home we stopped at McDonalds and I got a hot fudge sundae. This turned out to be the last thing I would eat before Colin arrived. Since Pete was still at work, I went home and labored more with my family. My sisters walked the house with me and I would sit on a birthing ball when I’d have contractions. This really seemed to help pick things up and contractions were a steady two to three minutes apart and lasting about a minute long. About 4:30 Pete got home and I knew things were getting more serious. I tried to keep it from my family, so I went in my room to lay down. Pete had to run an errand and said he’d be back. Then when he got back he asked what to do about dinner. He told me they were all going to order some pizza, and if I wanted to go to the hospital I should either go before they ordered or I’d have to wait until after they ate.
At first, being the nice person I am and wanting my family to eat, I told them to go and order. Then I had another contraction and changed my mind. These were starting to get seriously strong, and I didn’t want to be going to the hospital during transition. So I quick told him to stop and that I needed to go to the hospital.
We got to the hospital about 6:30. The ride in the wheel chair from being admitted to the labor and delivery floor seemed like forever. It was really only about five minutes. They hooked me up to the monitor and saw I was having strong steady contractions. Um, duh I had already told them that! Then they checked my cervix. I was only dilated to 3 but was now fully effaced. Again, I was disappointed. I think I was hoping to be to a 6 by the time I went. They said they were admitting me. Again, duh! My contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and lasting over a minute long. I am in hard labor, you are not sending me home!
The nurses read my birth plan, and my nurse was switched to one that was comfortable with natural labor. I was truly lucky for this change. My nurse made all the difference to support my natural labor. I was now in my birthing suite and I was exhausted. It’s been about twenty hours of contractions and it is starting to wear on me. I am definitely in self-doubt at this point. My nurse suggested I get up and walk around. I was having hard back labor, and finally told her I could not do this. She said to me exactly what I needed to hear, “You are doing this!” Then she reminded me, “but you’re going to have to work for your baby.” I got a little mad, because that is what I had been doing, but it was the motivation I needed. She suggested Pete push on my back through the contractions.
Pete took my hand and asked me to Dance. I smiled and reflected back, just three years previous we were at our rehearsal dinner. So three years later we walked around the birthing suite facing each other and holding hands. Then when I’d have a contraction I would hug into Pete and hold on to him. He then would push on my lower back. I focused on belly breathing. This really helped me to manage the contractions. I started to believe again that I could do this! As this went on for some time, contractions got lower and harder. So I would tell Pete to push lower and harder on my back. At one point he joked, “That’s what she said.” Normally, I would have found this funny, but my sense of humor was now gone. Then I felt like I was going to loose my stomach too. I got shaky and was sweating even more then before. I realized that I was transitioning.
Pete said to keep doing what we were doing, but I wanted to be checked. In hind sight, I wish I would have listened to him and waited to be checked. It didn’t matter that I was transitioning, because when things were are ready they would happen. I needed to know that I was right, however, and that I was transitioning. The nurse came in and checked me and was shocked. I was now dilated to 8. Just a few short hours from checking before when I was at 3. I was so excited! This baby would be here soon, or so I thought. The nurse left the room to go tell the doctor. They then hooked me back up to the monitor, and this made the contractions more difficult to manage again. This is why in hindsight I wished they didn’t know how far dilated I was. I’m not sure how much time passed by it didn’t seem like long, maybe 30 minutes or so I was dilated to 9.5 cms. My doctor said I was a stretchy 9.5 and that he thought if I started pushing that I would fully dilate to 10.
I had heard other birth stories where this worked for other mom’s, and at the time I wanted to do something other than lay there on the bed, so I began to push. It turned out to not be a good idea, however, because it inflamed my cervix. This made pushing really painful for me. I believe since I had back labor though, that my pushing also needed to turn Colin in order for him to come out right. I first started pushing standing in the squatting position. This wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t get comfortable. So then I tried my hands and knees with the bed broken down. This also didn’t seem to work well for me. Finally, about an hour and a half of pushing, I finally said to my doctor, “Tell me what I need to do.” I again (internally) was doubting that I could do this. He told me to try the reverse squatting position when I was laying on my back.
The position that I thought would be the worst, is what actually worked very well for me. I wasn’t really flat on my back though, because I would fully get up to push and was very active. Finally, after a few pushes in this position I got his head past my cervix. Everything from that point on seemed easy. A few pushes later he could see his head, and a few pushes later his head was out. I did tear slightly. My doctor later told me I was stretching great but that Colin’s chin ended up cutting me. I did not feel tearing at all though, nor did I feel the ring of fire. One push after his head was out and Colin was fully born, at 2:29 am, exactly 38 weeks from the day I conceived him. It was the greatest moment of my life. I said at least twice, “I did it!” I didn’t believe I could, and then I did. It was an amazing feeling. And then the joy of holding him was like complete peace.
I wanted to delay cord clamping, so Pranger waited until the cord stopped pulsating before he clamped the cord. Then Pete cut the cord. Colin went to the breast right away. I had no problems latching, and he instantly knew what to do. He made nursing easy, other than his amazing suction power. Wow! I hadn’t anticipated that. Colin was then taken to be weighed and cleaned up. He then went to sleep but I was so excited that I just stayed up and held him the rest of the night. It was wonderful experience, and one that I look back on very fondly. I was very blessed to have gotten everything out of my birth plan that I asked for. In addition, our marriage was blessed, with a healthy son as he was born on our three year wedding anniversary!
Colin Joseph
May 12, 2010
7 lbs 10.7 oz
20 inches long
I went back to work convinced I would not be going into labor. I got a lot of work finished up, which really helped keep my mind occupied. Looking back, it was like I knew I would not be back to work the next day, because I was completely caught up with everything before I left that day. At the time, however, I refused to let the thought enter in my mind because I didn’t want to be disappointed if indeed I was. I had already been down that road, and didn’t want to do that again. The week previous, when my Dr had stripped my membranes I had a lot of contractions, some of them very strong and hard, but they’d never remain consistent longer than an hour or so. They’d eventually stop and go away, and it was very frustrating. I just kept wondering how much more and how much longer. Finally, I just decided to put it all out of my mind and trust that everything would happen when Colin was ready to come. This is very hard to do, for a planner, but I finally did.
So when contractions started this night at 10pm, I noticed them, but put them out of my mind. They were consistent though, at about 10 minutes apart. I got up off the couch and went to take a bath to help me relax so I’d be able to sleep that night. Sleep was something I had gotten very little of over the last couple weeks because I developed PUPPS of pregnancy. This is an awful rash, that doesn’t harm the baby thank goodness, but made me miserable. It was the worst in the middle of the night and I would wake up every hour scratching madly. Luckily for me this rash didn’t start tell around 36 weeks, and by this point my rash was manageable and almost gone.
After the bath my contractions still continued, but were still about ten minutes apart. I decided to try and go to sleep. I laid in bed for about two hours and just tossed and turned. I couldn’t sleep. I decided to get up and surf the internet. Thought I might as well keep my mind occupied. Contractions were now around 8 minute apart. They stayed this way all night. I finally went to lay back down in bed again around 3am. I kept thinking that if I was going to go into work I better try and get some sleep. I was not able to sleep. I laid in bed until the alarm went off. Contractions were now between 5 and 7 minutes apart. After my husband came out of the shower, he asked why I wasn’t getting ready for work. I told him that I thought I was in labor. He asked, “What does that mean?” I laughed because I knew what he really meant by the question but I still had a sense of humor at this point. I told him, “it means we are going to have a baby soon!” He didn’t find it funny, and I told him to go to work, because that was the real question he was asking. Since the contractions were still far apart and I thought they may just stop anyway. I’d call him when I knew more. So he went to work. I called my doctor next and told him I thought I might be in labor but wasn’t sure. He told me that he could tell by the sound of my voice I was in labor, but to stay at home until I was ready to go in. I still didn’t believe I was in labor. I then called my mom and told her that I didn’t know for sure but might be in labor. She immediately said she thought I was and was heading here from Dubuque.
My first thought was to finish cleaning before my Mom got into town! Which meant I only had 90 minutes to finish nesting. So I spent the next 90 minutes cleaning in between contractions. I would lay down and rest on my bed for the contraction, and then get up and clean. At this point they were five minutes apart and lasting about a minute each time. It sounds kind of funny now looking back, but it kept me occupied. My parents, and a couple of my sisters made it in town by 10:30. I still wouldn’t admit I was in labor, even though contractions were between 3-5 minutes apart at this time, and remained consistent for the last 12 hours. At this point, I was still afraid if I admitted it they would stop. It was great having my family with me while I labored at home. They were cracking me up and I was laughing between contractions. It was actually a lot of fun, for being in labor anyway.
At about one o’clock all of my family was convinced I was in labor and kept insisting I go to the hospital. Contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart, so I thought it was too early to go to the hospital. I agreed to go to my doctor’s office and be checked. Once there he finally convinced me I was in labor. He said that I was having steady contractions and that my cervix had changed quite a bit from the day before and that I was now dilated to 1.5 cms. This was kind of disappointing since I had now been having contractions for around 14 hours. He said I was in a latent phase of labor and that if I didn’t have the baby by noon the next day he would be surprised. I thought he was absolutely crazy! I better have this baby by noon tomorrow! He told me to go home and labor more there and I would know when I needed to go into the hospital.
On the way home we stopped at McDonalds and I got a hot fudge sundae. This turned out to be the last thing I would eat before Colin arrived. Since Pete was still at work, I went home and labored more with my family. My sisters walked the house with me and I would sit on a birthing ball when I’d have contractions. This really seemed to help pick things up and contractions were a steady two to three minutes apart and lasting about a minute long. About 4:30 Pete got home and I knew things were getting more serious. I tried to keep it from my family, so I went in my room to lay down. Pete had to run an errand and said he’d be back. Then when he got back he asked what to do about dinner. He told me they were all going to order some pizza, and if I wanted to go to the hospital I should either go before they ordered or I’d have to wait until after they ate.
At first, being the nice person I am and wanting my family to eat, I told them to go and order. Then I had another contraction and changed my mind. These were starting to get seriously strong, and I didn’t want to be going to the hospital during transition. So I quick told him to stop and that I needed to go to the hospital.
We got to the hospital about 6:30. The ride in the wheel chair from being admitted to the labor and delivery floor seemed like forever. It was really only about five minutes. They hooked me up to the monitor and saw I was having strong steady contractions. Um, duh I had already told them that! Then they checked my cervix. I was only dilated to 3 but was now fully effaced. Again, I was disappointed. I think I was hoping to be to a 6 by the time I went. They said they were admitting me. Again, duh! My contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and lasting over a minute long. I am in hard labor, you are not sending me home!
The nurses read my birth plan, and my nurse was switched to one that was comfortable with natural labor. I was truly lucky for this change. My nurse made all the difference to support my natural labor. I was now in my birthing suite and I was exhausted. It’s been about twenty hours of contractions and it is starting to wear on me. I am definitely in self-doubt at this point. My nurse suggested I get up and walk around. I was having hard back labor, and finally told her I could not do this. She said to me exactly what I needed to hear, “You are doing this!” Then she reminded me, “but you’re going to have to work for your baby.” I got a little mad, because that is what I had been doing, but it was the motivation I needed. She suggested Pete push on my back through the contractions.
Pete took my hand and asked me to Dance. I smiled and reflected back, just three years previous we were at our rehearsal dinner. So three years later we walked around the birthing suite facing each other and holding hands. Then when I’d have a contraction I would hug into Pete and hold on to him. He then would push on my lower back. I focused on belly breathing. This really helped me to manage the contractions. I started to believe again that I could do this! As this went on for some time, contractions got lower and harder. So I would tell Pete to push lower and harder on my back. At one point he joked, “That’s what she said.” Normally, I would have found this funny, but my sense of humor was now gone. Then I felt like I was going to loose my stomach too. I got shaky and was sweating even more then before. I realized that I was transitioning.
Pete said to keep doing what we were doing, but I wanted to be checked. In hind sight, I wish I would have listened to him and waited to be checked. It didn’t matter that I was transitioning, because when things were are ready they would happen. I needed to know that I was right, however, and that I was transitioning. The nurse came in and checked me and was shocked. I was now dilated to 8. Just a few short hours from checking before when I was at 3. I was so excited! This baby would be here soon, or so I thought. The nurse left the room to go tell the doctor. They then hooked me back up to the monitor, and this made the contractions more difficult to manage again. This is why in hindsight I wished they didn’t know how far dilated I was. I’m not sure how much time passed by it didn’t seem like long, maybe 30 minutes or so I was dilated to 9.5 cms. My doctor said I was a stretchy 9.5 and that he thought if I started pushing that I would fully dilate to 10.
I had heard other birth stories where this worked for other mom’s, and at the time I wanted to do something other than lay there on the bed, so I began to push. It turned out to not be a good idea, however, because it inflamed my cervix. This made pushing really painful for me. I believe since I had back labor though, that my pushing also needed to turn Colin in order for him to come out right. I first started pushing standing in the squatting position. This wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t get comfortable. So then I tried my hands and knees with the bed broken down. This also didn’t seem to work well for me. Finally, about an hour and a half of pushing, I finally said to my doctor, “Tell me what I need to do.” I again (internally) was doubting that I could do this. He told me to try the reverse squatting position when I was laying on my back.
The position that I thought would be the worst, is what actually worked very well for me. I wasn’t really flat on my back though, because I would fully get up to push and was very active. Finally, after a few pushes in this position I got his head past my cervix. Everything from that point on seemed easy. A few pushes later he could see his head, and a few pushes later his head was out. I did tear slightly. My doctor later told me I was stretching great but that Colin’s chin ended up cutting me. I did not feel tearing at all though, nor did I feel the ring of fire. One push after his head was out and Colin was fully born, at 2:29 am, exactly 38 weeks from the day I conceived him. It was the greatest moment of my life. I said at least twice, “I did it!” I didn’t believe I could, and then I did. It was an amazing feeling. And then the joy of holding him was like complete peace.
I wanted to delay cord clamping, so Pranger waited until the cord stopped pulsating before he clamped the cord. Then Pete cut the cord. Colin went to the breast right away. I had no problems latching, and he instantly knew what to do. He made nursing easy, other than his amazing suction power. Wow! I hadn’t anticipated that. Colin was then taken to be weighed and cleaned up. He then went to sleep but I was so excited that I just stayed up and held him the rest of the night. It was wonderful experience, and one that I look back on very fondly. I was very blessed to have gotten everything out of my birth plan that I asked for. In addition, our marriage was blessed, with a healthy son as he was born on our three year wedding anniversary!
Colin Joseph
May 12, 2010
7 lbs 10.7 oz
20 inches long