Julia’s Birth Story

by Leslie

My friend Toni at This Simple Life has a cool gig going: The Thursday Birth-Day. Check her out each Thursday for lots of information on childbirth including links to resources, birth stories, words of encouragement and more.

I bought What To Expect When You’re Expecting and Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care the day I discovered I was pregnant with Julia. From that point on, I was constantly reading or talking with someone about pregnancy and childbirth. I was determined to do it all right, so I soaked up every fact, statistic and story I could find and worked hard to create the ideal birth plan. I excitedly presented it to my doctor at the beginning of my third trimester, but she wasn’t too impressed. Without looking at it or even taking it from my hand she said, “Leslie, be careful how much you plan for your delivery. I can tell you from experience, things rarely go as planned. I advise you to forget the birth plan and just go with the flow.”

I quietly tucked my birth plan away with the intention of bringing it to the birth and the expectation that it would be honored to the letter. I was planning on a natural birth and fantasized about the moment my baby would come into the world and straight to my arms. I wondered when I would go into labor - would Dave be home or at work? Will it be day or night? Will my husband be overwhelmed with excitement like men are in the movies as we speed to the hospital? But, I never got to speed to the hospital or go into labor - at least not on my own.

During my final month of pregnancy, I started making too much amniotic fluid. It became such a problem that the doctor chose to induce my labor. It was 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday when the nurse came into my hospital room and gave me Cervadil to get things going. She said, “Have a nice dinner. Relax. We’ll have a baby in the morning.” I asked my Dad to bring me a Big Mac and I devoured it while I made some last minute notes in my journal.

Less than an hour later, I was feeling pain worse than I ever imagined and my Big Mac was making a reappearance. The labor pains hit me like a train; there was no easing into it. Still, I maintained that I intended to have a natural birth and refused offers of medication throughout the night. My water broke at 4 a.m. and the intensity of my contractions increased. My pain management strategies weren’t making much of a difference by then, but I remembered hearing in my childbirth class that the average first labor lasts 12 hours and I set my eyes on the 12 hour mark. I kept telling myself that I could make it 12 hours. By 9 a.m., I was exhausted; I had to admit that the pain was more than I could bear and I asked for an epidural. By noon, I still wasn’t fully dilated and after some pushes to try and coax that last bit of cevix to open it was decided that I must have a c-section.

I sat in my hospital bed and waited to be taken to surgery scared out of my mind. I hadn’t planned this. I couldn’t visualize this happening. Were we going to come through this? While I had studied up on childbirth, I had ignored most of the information about c-sections because I was so convinced that I wouldn’t have one. But, here I was. At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday they wheeled me in to the operating room and a half an hour later Julia was born. I wasn’t the first one to touch her and hold her, like I had hoped. Breastfeeding would have to wait until they sewed me up. My daughter had finally arrived, but not the way I had planned at all.

Dave was the first to hold her. He brought her next me and I looked at her face for the very first time. After nine long months of waiting, she was there. She wasn’t crying or fussing. She just stared at me with big, wide eyes. There was my baby. She was alive and she was healthy. It didn’t matter how she got there. She was there. Twenty minutes later, she was in my arms and at my breast and my life was forever changed in ways I could never have planned.

Posted in Mommy's Stuff, Julia, Photos |

Comments

6 Cool Kids Came To Play

Toni on April 5, 2007 1:10 pm
I think birth is the first time we are confronted with the fact that this motherhood thing doesn’t come with an “easy” button. I believe it is also the first time a woman realizes just how very powerful she is. Julia’s birth may not have gone as you planned but it clearly showcases the strength required to become a mother.
Ruth on April 5, 2007 1:49 pm
I had shivers reading your story, I love hearing about different experiences and how all these moms make it through. You really captured the moment with yours!!
Daddy Forever on April 5, 2007 10:58 pm
Sounds like Julia was a handful from the start. I suppose you have Julia’s life planned out for her too. My wife had a difficult labor with our first child too, but not nearly as hard as your’s. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything went as planned?
Michelle on April 6, 2007 12:47 am
It’s such a rush of spiritual/emotional when that baby is finally there and you’re holding them. Like nothing else.
Dana on April 6, 2007 11:12 am
What a beautiful story. Perfect for a beautiful child!
vasilisa on April 6, 2007 8:53 pm
What a beautiful post.

Personally I think that the whole birth-plan/anti-epidural thing is some sort of conspiracy. My first pregnancy all I was doing is reading books and planning. But by second one I knew that none of it mattered. Babies have their own plans. As long as my kids get here in good health, I don’t really care about the specifics…

Good luck with this pregnancy/delivery