On Friday, November 2, Justin and I headed to our 41 week and 1 day checkup. I had been having consistently inconsistent contractions for days, but.......Still.No.Baby. My doctor wanted to monitor me and Via for half an hour and was looking for us to score 10 out of 10 points. After half an hour of monitoring us she only found 6 points - also my blood pressure was much higher than it had been during the rest of my pregnancy. Justin and I listened as she explained that the placenta may not be doing the best job for the baby anymore. She looked at me and said, "If you were the type of mom that was planning to have an epidural, then I'd say let's go to the hospital, put you on pitocin, and have this baby." She went on to say that since we favored a drug-free approach we had two options:
1. Go to the hospital and be monitored for 24 hours to see if we could make up the 4 points we were missing. If all looked good, then we could go home and continue to wait for a spontaneous labor and delivery.
2. Go to the hospital and try to kick start my labor with a foley bulb. I was already dilated to almost 3 cm, and the foley bulb would get me to 5cm.
I asked her what she recommended and she advised that the second option was her favored approach. Justin and I talked it over and decided that the last thing we wanted was to stay in the hospital for 24 hours and not make up the additional 4 points. At that point in time we could have potentially lost a whole day of laboring. We ran home and grabbed a hodgepodge of things. I hadn't packed a labor bag because that was supposed to have been one of my at home, early labor activities.
We got to the hospital at about 6:30 p.m. and got the foley bulb by 8:00 p.m. Somewhere in there our friends the Bueg's brought us some food, but the foley bulb wasn't my favorite thing and I barely had an appetite for the chicken sandwich they brought. By midnight the foley bulb came out and I was dilated to a good 6 cm! Contractions were pretty regular and it looked like we were in business. Justin read me my labor notes and one quote kept ringing through my mind for the rest of labor and delivery, "Your creator is not a careless mechanic."
At about 2 or 3 a.m. Adria came back to the hospital and we walked the halls hoping to keep the baby and the labor moving. Not sure when they checked me next, but I was a good 7 cm. Yes! This is when things kind of stalled and at 11:00 a.m. they started talking about pitocin since my contractions weren't as regular any more and it seemed like things were slowing down. I agreed to start on the lowest possible dose and said that we could turn it up gradually with my consent.
Julia visited for a bit after I went on the pitocin and my parents arrived at the hospital at about 3:30 p.m. This whole time I felt good and felt I was managing the pain of contractions pretty well. A little after 4:00 p.m. I asked my parents to step out of the room so that I could use the restroom. They never came back into the room until after Via arrived because as soon as they walked out the door is when I hit transition. Whoa baby! The contractions were very hard and very regular and I knew that I would be pushing soon. Justin was fabulous throughout everything. Constantly wiping my forehead, giving me sips of water, and encouraging me that I could do it.
I'm not sure what time I actually started pushing, but it was really hard. Via kept turning in the birth canal so we tried tons of different positions to try to get her to move down and out. The nice thing about not having the epidural is that I was free to move about and try these positions, but that is also the negative thing about the pitocin. I was hooked to a machine for the pitocin which impaired my mobility somewhat and kept frustrating me throughout the pushing experience. I just wanted to be free of the machine!
Near the end I realized that I was not going to be able to push her out. I just wasn't. I felt defeated, exhausted, and broken. I had been pushing for what seemed like days and they had been telling me that I was so close for what seemed like hours. Then I remembered that my creator is not a careless mechanic. He designed me to be able to do this, to get this baby out!!!
At 7:16 p.m. Syliva Lynne Mederich came out sunny side up. She was perfect! 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 eyes, 1 nose. I felt such a sense of love, relief, gratitude, and accomplishment. Justin was a beautiful wreck. I wish a had a picture of his face in those moments. For both of us it was love at first sight.
More next week on our acclimation to life with a newborn....
1. Go to the hospital and be monitored for 24 hours to see if we could make up the 4 points we were missing. If all looked good, then we could go home and continue to wait for a spontaneous labor and delivery.
2. Go to the hospital and try to kick start my labor with a foley bulb. I was already dilated to almost 3 cm, and the foley bulb would get me to 5cm.
I asked her what she recommended and she advised that the second option was her favored approach. Justin and I talked it over and decided that the last thing we wanted was to stay in the hospital for 24 hours and not make up the additional 4 points. At that point in time we could have potentially lost a whole day of laboring. We ran home and grabbed a hodgepodge of things. I hadn't packed a labor bag because that was supposed to have been one of my at home, early labor activities.
We got to the hospital at about 6:30 p.m. and got the foley bulb by 8:00 p.m. Somewhere in there our friends the Bueg's brought us some food, but the foley bulb wasn't my favorite thing and I barely had an appetite for the chicken sandwich they brought. By midnight the foley bulb came out and I was dilated to a good 6 cm! Contractions were pretty regular and it looked like we were in business. Justin read me my labor notes and one quote kept ringing through my mind for the rest of labor and delivery, "Your creator is not a careless mechanic."
At about 2 or 3 a.m. Adria came back to the hospital and we walked the halls hoping to keep the baby and the labor moving. Not sure when they checked me next, but I was a good 7 cm. Yes! This is when things kind of stalled and at 11:00 a.m. they started talking about pitocin since my contractions weren't as regular any more and it seemed like things were slowing down. I agreed to start on the lowest possible dose and said that we could turn it up gradually with my consent.
Julia visited for a bit after I went on the pitocin and my parents arrived at the hospital at about 3:30 p.m. This whole time I felt good and felt I was managing the pain of contractions pretty well. A little after 4:00 p.m. I asked my parents to step out of the room so that I could use the restroom. They never came back into the room until after Via arrived because as soon as they walked out the door is when I hit transition. Whoa baby! The contractions were very hard and very regular and I knew that I would be pushing soon. Justin was fabulous throughout everything. Constantly wiping my forehead, giving me sips of water, and encouraging me that I could do it.
I'm not sure what time I actually started pushing, but it was really hard. Via kept turning in the birth canal so we tried tons of different positions to try to get her to move down and out. The nice thing about not having the epidural is that I was free to move about and try these positions, but that is also the negative thing about the pitocin. I was hooked to a machine for the pitocin which impaired my mobility somewhat and kept frustrating me throughout the pushing experience. I just wanted to be free of the machine!
Near the end I realized that I was not going to be able to push her out. I just wasn't. I felt defeated, exhausted, and broken. I had been pushing for what seemed like days and they had been telling me that I was so close for what seemed like hours. Then I remembered that my creator is not a careless mechanic. He designed me to be able to do this, to get this baby out!!!
At 7:16 p.m. Syliva Lynne Mederich came out sunny side up. She was perfect! 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 eyes, 1 nose. I felt such a sense of love, relief, gratitude, and accomplishment. Justin was a beautiful wreck. I wish a had a picture of his face in those moments. For both of us it was love at first sight.
Bringing her home was probably more terrifying than actually giving birth to her, but we are trying our very best to be great parents. We take way to many pictures, and as you can see below she is starting to get a little annoyed with the paparazzi. Every time I look at her I think, "Little girl, your Creator is not a careless mechanic."
ReplyDeleteCheryl Schaefer Fisk, Serena Harris Ervin, Hannah Pratt and 2 others like this..
Julia Mederich This is a beautiful story! I'm so happy that your little family just got a little bigger.
November 11 at 3:31pm · Like..
Rachel Rebecca Palkki So fantastic. What did your labor notes consist of?
November 11 at 4:34pm · Like..
Kaitlyn Clair Carlson Thank you for sharing. We have a masterful creator! Bo cannot wait to play with his new cousin Via :)
November 11 at 5:30pm · Unlike · 1..
Kelli Hayo Mederich Love, Love, Love!!!
November 11 at 7:13pm · Like..
Robyn Fisk Mederich Rachel, my labor notes were scriptures plus excerpts and quotes from several different books I read on "natural" births.
Kaitlyn, Via can't wait to meet Bo, and neither can we!!
November 11 at 8:58pm via mobile · Like..
Rachel Rebecca Palkki That's a great idea!
November 11 at 9:04pm · Like