Archives of Birth Stories

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A Born Yankee Fan
-Faith, NY

It was my second delivery and my water broke around dinner time. My husband and I expected it to be a fast birth, so we flew to the hospital. We arrived at 8pm and I was in full labor. By 9pm I was situated in the delivery room. We got one of the best rooms, with a TV, VCR, CD player, shower, private bath–– the works.

It was opening night of New York’s Subway Series (that's Mets vs. Yankees). By general vote of my husband and doctor, we had the ball game on TV. It was too late for an epidural, I wasn’t allowed to walk anymore and I had no soothing music to listen to—just screaming fans. Every time the Yankees were up, all eyes were glued to the tube.

Around 11pm, I felt the baby starting her way down the birth canal. I felt her head just starting to crown and I screamed at my doctor, “I need to push.”

Both my husband and the doctor, still watching the game, yelled, "You can't push yet. THE YANKEES ARE UP!" My little one didn’t want to wait for the inning to be over. I think she wanted to see the Yanks win.

To this day she’s a lefty hitter with a strong desire to win the Series.

I Can Do This
-Frances, HI

My husband is in the Navy and was in the middle of a six month deployment in the Gulf during the end of my pregnancy. Luckily, my fabulous mother-in-law had flown out to be with me in Hawaii.  It was her first grandchild and we spent most of the time before he was born at the beach.
  
I was officially one day past my due date and very cranky. We finished the day with a game of double deck rummy and I headed to bed around 10:30. I had always known my water was going to break, but when I woke up at 12:30, I was utterly confused as to why I had wet the bed. After cleaning up and wondering what had happened, I felt another gush of warm water. Now, I knew. I decided to wake my
mother-in-law and tell her the news. I went downstairs and called the
hospital and they said to come on in, but they were sure it wasn’t my water that broke.

The labor and delivery reception was packed.  I was thinking about the week before, when I thought I was in labor and they had run out of rooms. Luckily, this time they got me in and examined me.  Sure enough, my water had broken and I got the very last room!
 
I got settled in my room and was having very few contractions and none were all that painful. However, I had a nasty case of restless leg syndrome and could not get any sleep.

Around 8:00am I asked for an epidural so I could get some rest. I remember thinking it would be a very long time before we had a baby, since I was only 4-5 centimeters and 50% effaced. My husband called me from Bahrain around 9:30am after coming back to his hotel. I told him to have a great night and call me in the morning. It was going to be a long time before I had the baby.  

My anesthesiologist came in and performed the epidural shortly after I got off the phone. He told me that this was his first labor and delivery epidural. He normally is in the OR.

Shortly after, my doctor decided that since I was not dilating enough and my water had broken, he would put me on Pitocin. I thought, “Sure. Why not? My drugs will be kicking in soon.” Boy, was I in for the shock of my life. My left leg was barely numb and that Pitocin soon kicked my contractions into overdrive. My anesthesiologist tried three times to fix my epidural. Finally, at around 11:30 when I was in agony, he decided to redo it. By this point I was contracting every two minutes or so and my nurse had gone to assist with another birth, so it was just me and my mother-in-law.

As soon as the doctor came back in I screamed that I had to push and to give me whatever he could. He said that a nurse needed to check me first and grabbed a very nice one from the hall who happened to walk by. She checked me and I was fully dilated, but the baby hadn’t come down all the way. I remember saying, “I can’t do this.” Then the nurse, in a very sweet tone informed me that I could do this and I would, because I didn’t have a choice.

At this point everyone left the room including my mother-in-law, who went to make a phone call. I remember having another contraction and having to push all alone. I was terrified.

Suddenly, people were in the room and I looked over and saw my anesthesiologist standing there in horror. Some first L&D [labor and delivery] case! They were pulling people out of the hallway and I was pushing as they were breaking down the bed. I had to roll on my side because the baby’s heartbeat was dropping.

Then, before I knew it, my little Charlie was born at 12:34pm on August 5th—exactly 14 minutes after I first had to push. Then the doctor who delivered him introduced himself to me.

When I called my husband back he was so confused that I had to tell him I was his wife. All he could say was, “I thought you said it would be a while.”  Out of all the women in labor and delivery, I was the last person admitted and the first to deliver, and I got the last private  room. I got lucky I guess.
 
When the nice nurse told me, “You can do it,” I really could, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for it.

Be Jealous!
-Mercy, Nevada

My first pregnancy was just wonderful. Well, okay, I had a little nausea in the beginning. But, I didn’t experience much weight gain or discomfort and I had that pregnancy glow like you've never seen.

The day of the birth I had contractions and felt a little queasy, too. I remember thinking, “This is it! I'm going in!” I was with a friend and her fiancé and they didn't believe it. They thought I couldn't possibly be in labor because I wasn't in enough pain.

I just did what my instincts told me. I went to the hospital because I knew it was time. I went up to the second floor into baby land, and I was ready. The nurse told me she thought I was just nauseous and she'd give me some nausea meds and I'd be on my way home.

When she left the room to get the medication, my water broke! It happened right there in the hospital – how convenient! So, I ended up staying.

About six hours later, without any medication, a wonderful and beautiful baby boy came into my life. His birth seemed to happen so naturally. As soon as I saw my son, I pulled him out and hugged him against my chest. Of course there were tears and a whole lot of smiles. I wouldn't take back those moments for anything. It was one of the most magical times of my entire life!

So many of my girlfriends say they are so jealous that I seemed to have such an easy pregnancy, labor and delivery. They say that it’s just not fair.

Now I'm pregnant again and due in April. We'll see how this one goes. I'm hoping to turn them green with envy once again!

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This Can't Be Labor!
-Evelyn, New York

There I was, pregnant with baby number two – or at least the second baby that actually made it to week number 34.

I woke up feeling okay, so I decided to organize the heck out of my house. Just a little nesting to take care of…

Sometime around 10:00am I was folding every piece of clothing in my closet and I started feeling "a little crampy." I didn't think much about it—wondered if it was another case of diarrhea coming on. I kissed my husband good-bye and he boarded a bus to New York City.

At 11:00am I was still folding every piece of clothing – towels and whatever else I could find to fold and organize, fold and organize, fold and organize. The cramps seemed a little worse. I still didn't think much about it since I had already given birth to one child and thought I pretty much knew exactly what to expect for labor and delivery. Hah!

Then I got a phone call from my sister. All of the sudden I stopped speaking and she said, "Evelyn, Evelyn, are you there?"

I was too bent over with surprising pain to answer. I finally got back on the phone with tears in my eyes. "Yes, yes I am here." She asked what happened and I told her, "These freaking Braxton Hicks are killing me!" She then screamed at me, "Get your butt to the doctor, immediately!"

I agreed I should have the cramps checked out, especially since I was then crying in pain. I thought it couldn't be labor. My water hadn’t broken like the last time. Hah!

I called my husband and told him he might like to come back from the city (once he actually got there) because I wasn't feeling too well. "I don't think that this is actually it, but you never know." He said he would come straight back out to our town, as soon as he actually got to the city (you can't stop a public bus in motion, you know!).

My girlfriend said she would get someone to take me to my doctor. I told her not to worry and I would get a taxi. It couldn't be labor. Yet again, hah!

Thank goodness she didn't listen to me. Twenty minutes later I got to my doctor's office. The doctor said, "Oh yeah, you are three centimeters dilated and…I don't think that is a head I am feeling. I think I feel some hands and feet." That was not what I wanted to hear.

I was immediately whisked off to the hospital and my husband was still not there. My friend's sister-in-law drove me to the hospital. Who else could I find in a pinch?

Then came the hospital gown and a sonogram. We saw that the baby was transverse – across my stomach. Everyone hustled to prep the OR for an emergency C-section. In the meantime, my doctor tried to turn the baby. Can you say OUCH!?! The baby didn't turn.

My doctor told me that I'd better call my husband and tell him I'm delivering now. Then he said, "Uh-oh, honey, they have to do an emergency C-section. The umbilical cord is blocking the cervix. I hope you can make it."

Can you say PANIC!?!

I was prepped and on the operating table within 15 minutes. They started the operation and I heard them cut across my stomach.

Suddenly the doctor yelled, "The husband is here! Get the husband! We got a foot here!" My husband came in just in time to see his daughter being pulled feet-first from my uterus. It was a very different birth from seeing his son born the usual way.

It just goes to show: you can never predict a birth. Never.

Hah!

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