Kealan's Birth Story

  *First off, let me explain that in no way am I against medicated births, C- sections (if necessary) or really any birth choice. I think birth is a beautiful thing and a woman should have the right to choose what type of birth she so desires without being judged or criticized. I think often times some people believe that women who choose to birth naturally may think that they are 'better' or stronger than women who have medicated births, inductions, C-sections, etc. That really isn't the case, I was all for my epidural with our firstborn! I have just learned a lot since his birth and made some lifestyle changes and it was my goal to go through this pregnancy and labor/delivery without any medication. While I wasn't able to make that goal of no medication through the pregnancy due to severe 10 months of 'morning sickness' and two instances of preterm labor, it was that much more important to me to achieve the goal of laboring and delivering without any medication and as little medical intervention as possible; and I am proud to say that I achieved that goal and here is my story..

  After months of contractions, I was not the least bit excited when I woke up early in the morning on my due date with contractions. I was already disappointed that I didn't go into labor just two weeks before at 38 weeks since I had Eli at that time.. and there was certainly no way I was going to be part of that 5% or 10% of women who actually go into labor on their due date..  This denial stayed with me up until I was pushing Kealan out.  It was around 3:50 am Friday, May 24 when I woke Brenton up to tell him I thought I was in labor. He of course was very excited as we had very impatiently been waiting for this day. He told me to text my doula to let her know what was going on, again I was in denial and didn't want to text her so early in the morning if this was just a false alarm.. so I opted to wait until contractions became more painful to text her. Brenton started timing the contractions and they were 7 minutes apart.. no big deal. I decided to lay back down in the bed and Brenton would apply pressure to my lower back each time I had a contraction (the majority of this whole labor was back labor) maybe 20-30 minutes later contractions went from 7 mins apart to 3-5 minutes and I was having to breathe through them.. I decided then I would at least text my doula to let her know what was going on. She responded and said to stay hydrated and try to rest and call her when I needed her. Okay, that I can do. I continued to lay in bed as Brenton applied pressure to my lower back.. I still didn't think I was in true labor. About an hour later, a little before 6:00 am, Brenton reminded me that I had said I wanted to 'look good' this time for labor and maybe I should start putting on some makeup if I wanted to.. so thats what I did.. in between contractions I applied my makeup and Brenton started getting our bags together. I was really feeling a lot of pain and wanted to get into the tub but didn't want to stall labor, especially this early on. Brenton suggested maybe we should go for a walk around the block.. I declined and said that I really didn't think I could handle going up the hill. ( I am so glad I made that decision!) I decided to go downstairs and walk down there and get some ice. On my way down the stairs I had to stop and hover over the railing as a very strong contraction hit.. it was then that I was starting to think that maybe this was the real thing and text my doula that she needed to come over. I get downstairs and fix me a cup of ice and start chewing on the ice and decide to lean over the couch and do some pelvic rocks, it was around this time that the contractions were starting to come every 30 seconds to 1 min and I instantly started feeling extremely nauseous and shaky.. looking back I was probably in transition during this time. I immediately tell Brenton that we need to go to the hospital NOW and to go wake Eli up immediately and to call our doula to tell her just to meet us at the hospital. He tried to persuade me to not leave yet to wait for the doula to get to our house to see her opinion.. I responded in a voice that Brenton said he has never heard before and he quickly went up the stairs to go get Eli up and dressed. At this point I was in so much pain that I didn't really no what to do other than to moan and pray loudly through the contractions, then for some reason I decided to go into our front hallway and I started scratching at the walls trying to climb them, it was then that my doula came through the door and immediately afterwards another strong contraction hit and I felt my water break. I panicked and screamed that my water had broken as my doula tried to calm me and said that was perfectly okay. Not even 20 secs later I really felt the need to go to the bathroom so into the bathroom I went. I apparently started making grunting noises because my doula came in and asked if I was pushing, I tried to explain that I just needed to go to the bathroom, she then tells me I am pushing and to stop! All I could do was continuously scream that I wanted a bath.. (this went on and on.. my plan of pain management was to get into a bath, and I was beyond ready for a warm tub to get into!) She goes and gets Brenton and informs him I am on the toilet pushing.. poor guy, I cannot imagine what was going through his head. She tried so hard to get me off of my toilet.. I still just thought if I could just go to the bathroom maybe it would take the edge off of these contractions.. she then informed me that if I pushed our baby out into the toilet he would be taken to NICU once we arrived to the hospital and I did not want that.. she finally got me off of my toilet and I shuffled my feet to the car. Now the hospital we were to deliver at is 25 minutes away.. we did not have 25 minutes. We left the house at 7:00 (Kealan was born at 7:19) and Brenton was speeding, driving on the shoulder, running red lights, doing everything he could to get us to the hospital all while I was in the passenger seat trying my hardest not to push.. each time  a contraction came and I tried not to push the pain was so intense and I would scream.. and scream loud. It seemed that the louder I screamed the more it helped.. poor Eli was in the backseat listening to all of this. We finally get to the hospital as Brenton runs into the ER, he gets back into the car when he puts the car in REVERSE and starts backing up.. I looked at him and asked him what in the hell was he doing.. he explained that the ER staff told him to park in the ambulance bay and they would have some people out to help immediately. They were right.. immediately we had tons of nurses and the ER dr pulling me out of the car and into a wheelchair where they physically kept my legs closed and kept yelling at me not to push.. all while my poor husband had to go park the car and a nurse took Eli.. we finally get up to L&D where a team of nurses were waiting.. they immediately take off my pants put a gown on over my shirt and lay me on the bed.. I was still screaming that I wanted a bath and they informed me they needed to check me first and then maybe I could get into the bath.. they uncross my legs and a nurse yells that I am crowning and that we need a dr ASAP.. I still was screaming for a bath.. what seemed like an eternity later (which was really just a minute) Brenton arrived and so did the OB (come to find out, she had to run over from across the street from the clinic as they did not have an OB in the hospital at that time) .. I could finally push! Kealan was out in just 2 contractions.. I think pushing was perhaps almost the hardest part.. I had always been told that there is a sensation known as 'the ring of fire'  hahahahaha that is an understatement! I remember wanting to give up but at the same time the urge was so strong to push to get him out.. while it hurt really bad, it felt so good to push by responding to my own body, not by nurses or an OB telling me when to push.. I remember the last contraction and pushing as hard as I could and immediately felt relief.. he was out!! He was born at 7:19.. we arrived to the hospital at 7:12. He was a very healthy boy at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 in. long. He nursed soon after birth.. this was completely opposite of Eli, he never did latch.  I cuddled with him as Brenton, Eli, and I ordered room service of a great breakfast. It was pure bliss.

  The whole experience was truly amazing and nothing short of a miracle. Normally on a Friday morning at 7:00 am, there is a ton of rush hour traffic in Omaha. However, it just so happened to be the start of Memorial Day weekend so traffic was not nearly as bad as normal. Thank God for that or else we really could have had a car baby.. just five minutes would have made all the difference. The crazy driving that my husband did, I am so thankful and blessed that we didn't end up in a head on collision or something.. it was as if God took control of that steering wheel and put His foot on the gas pedal to get us to the hospital safely and in time.

  While this was the most intense and painful thing I have ever done, I don't plan on doing a thing differently next time, except for maybe getting to the hospital quicker. Not only had I labored/delivered without any medication, I didn't have an IV or even a hep lock.. it was the most non medical birth you could get in a hospital. We really had no complications, I did end up having a 2nd degree tear and some problems with excessive bleeding and blood pressure later in the day but all was quickly resolved and we were back home just 24 hours later.  I still can't believe this all played out like it did, but I am so thankful. While it wasn't exactly ideal for Eli to witness the labor/delivery, it will make for a really cool story one day. How many people can say they witnessed their sibling being born?