Alexander's Birth Story

Sunday morning I woke up as usual with Victoria at 7am. That night I had a dream that my water broke while I was at a restaurant and splashed all over the waitress, so embarrassing.

We came downstairs and I quickly found myself in HIGH gear. In addition to the usual duties of getting Victoria fed, I was cleaning like a crazy woman!

After cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, vacuuming and mopping the floors, I cooked a giant breakfast.

It was 11am and Vlad was still sleeping. This was very unusual for him, these days at least.

After we ate breakfast, it was time for Victoria to nap and I was overcome with tiredness. I slept for her entire nap and woke up feeling flushed and a bit out of sorts.

It was then that I felt the trickle come down my leg.

I decided to take a shower and do some last minute grooming, lol!

The trickle became more like small gushes. I told Vlad he should call him mom to come from Boston for Victoria.

The contractions started to come on around 5:30pm. They started off pretty slight, but by the time my mother in law arrived at 7, were growing in intensity.

Once Victoria was off, I called the midwives office. I was so thankful to find out that Julie Bell was on call. Her and I had a recent visit in the office in which we had a heart to heart about my last birth experience.

We were really at odds about what to do. Our last experience started the same, with broken water, but the labor never really picked up and we ended up at the hospital with almost no dilation and needed to eventually get induced.

This time, we wanted to labor at home for as long as we could, without being stupid! With a 40 minute drive in the bitter cold, we had to be careful and mindful. After consulting with Julie and discussing the consistency and timing of the contractions, we decided to head in.

She agreed to meet us at triage and help us bypass all of the bright lights and craziness.

The contractions were coming about 3 minutes apart all the way to the hospital. Julie greeted us in triage around 9pm and checked to make sure it was indeed my water that had broken.

She also listened to the baby, who was doing great and checked my dilation and station of the baby.

She revealed that the baby was very deep in the pelvis and that I was 3.5 centimeters dilated. I was a little frustrated at this point, wondering if this was going to be another 3 day event being hooked up to all machines known to man.

Once admitted to our room, we quickly made it comfortable, as the contractions were getting more intense.

Julie did not require monitoring, IV, and allowed me to eat and drink as usual. Vlad was helping so much, swirling with me, rubbing my hips and back, and giving me reassurance every step of the way.

After laboring for about 2 hours she checked my dilation again. At this point, she announced that I was only a little more than 4 centimeters. I felt pretty crappy about that, as I was in severe pain and the contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes.

I was really confused about how I could be only 4 centimeters and be in this much pain. Julie suggested I go in to the shower to help with it.

Last time I didn't really enjoy the shower, but decided to give it a try.

I ended up coming up with a method of making it hot during a contraction and cooling it down for 30 seconds in between, so I didn't pass out.

Wow, the contractions were coming on like crazy now. And they were intensely painful. The pain is something that is so hard to describe to someone who has not experienced it.

By the time I got out of the shower, I wanted to bang my head in to the wall. I was literally shaking uncontrollably, and could not stay warm enough or cool enough depending on the minute. The mental turmoil of thinking I was only 4 centimeters or so and in this much pain, had me begging for the epidural. I was not going to make it natural at this juncture and in my heart I was truly ok with it.

The anesthesiologist finally arrived after what seemed like an eternity and I sat there one contraction after another while the resident desperately tried to locate the right spot. I truly thought I might die. I thought, I am not sure I can do this for one more minute. This pain was so intolerable, I truly could not believe it. Finally she finished and before putting the medicine in my midwife asked to check my dilation again. Wouldn't you know, she tells us I am over 8 centimeters dilated and that I have been going through transition. WHAT? How could this be? I was just 4 centimeters before the shower less than an hour ago. No F-Ing wonder I felt like I wanted to die.

I went ahead with the medicine but asked that she keep the dose super low, as I didn't want to lose the urge to push.

I am so thankful for this much needed break. I was still able to move my whole body, including my legs, and the dose she gave me just took the edge off enough.

It didn't take long and I had that bowling ball in my bottom feeling coming on. Julie checked and said, "We have a head, here comes the baby."

She geared up and we began to push. 10 minutes later at 2:23am baby Alex was in my arms! He weighed in at almost 8 lbs and was 21 inches.

We could not be more happy with our birth experience. We were treated with decency and respect and we have the most beautiful little boy to show for it!