Labour Story Brooklyn (1st Baby)

Everyones labor story will be different! But it’s cool to hear about diverse experiences and they can offer you some insight to situations that can come up during labor so you are better prepared.

I would also recommend 2 things:

1: Soon after having your baby, write down your labour story even if its just notes on your phone so you don’t forget what happened because you will be surprised how easy it is to forgot the details.

2: Have someone (usually your spouse) record video and photos just after baby comes out. You might think ‘eww I’m going to look gross after just giving birth’ etc. But my husband took one short video of Brooklyn being on my chest just after and I LOVE to rewatch that video and wish I had more. How new she is, how content she is on my chest, how happy (and exhausted) I look. Those first moments pass by so quickly and you will want to remember. Some people like to record labour process too - not my thing, but to each their own.

STORY

Day after due date, I came into the hospital for a routine ultrasound to check on status of the baby. They noticed my amniotic fluid levels were getting low which could become an issue for the baby. They informed me right there that I was being put on call for an induction. I was so shocked! I thought I was just going in for normal check up and now I knew labour was immenint and there was this risk for my baby. My OB kindly came down to talk to me, assure me that it’s not emergency situation just something that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. He calmed me down a bit and informed me the induction would probably be closer to 48 hours.

I had to call a number to officially put myself on the list. I gave them my contact information and informed them I was staying just down the street and could be there within 5 minutes. We were staying at my moms at the time because she was so close to the hospital. I was worried about the baby and didn’t want to wait that long on call in case their was a risk to her. I would just be stressing until they called me. I had a feeling this piece of information I told them helped because they ended up calling me at midnight that very night.

Dylan and I headed to the hospital right away and checked in. They didn’t have a room for me (why did you call me then??) so had to wait in prenatal triage area. While I was waiting for the next steps, some lady kept walking by screaming how much pain she was in saying ‘ I wanna die!!’ …and she was only 3cm dilated. That really shook me up: Super excited to be one step closer to meeting my daughter to WTF!

Fresh baby Brooklyn

Still blue - she literally just came out and they put her right on me :) Blue colour is normal as long as they are crying and she is already regaining her pink colour.

Eventually someone came by to put Cervadil up my cervix and I had to remain lying down for a couple hours. The cervadil is supposed to help relax and thin your cervix, but was informed could take 24-48 hours to start labour. They still didn't have a room for me and I had to stay in the hospital for observation, so they placed me in the high risk maternity ward in a semi-private room with some lady who made weird coughing sounds all night. I was not allowed to have anyone with me, but Dylan stayed anyways on the recliner chair. No way he was leaving me alone. He cabbed to Mcdonalds in the morning to get us breakfast since we were both starving and I was craving Mcdonalds. On and off sleeping all night. Starting feeling contractions around 9/10 am like painful period cramping. By 11am it was extremely uncomfortable. Starting trying out different positions from my prenatal class and slowly walking around which both helped a bit. Dylan was by my side always helping me when I needed a break or hand to squeeze. By the afternoon about 12 hrs since cervadil was inserted, I made Dylan get someone to come check on my progress since I was in a lot of pain. NO dilation (opening of cervix)! WTF??? Just effacement (thinning of cervix). Obviously pretty pissed since I was in significant pain and it seemed like not much was progressing down there. Found out after that induction tends to be more painful labor process which makes sense since you are forcing your body to go into labor when it may necessarily not be ‘ready’ for.

The next hour the pain was exponentially higher. I couldn’t even walk it out anymore. The nurse we had (only one I did not like at the hospital) kept trying to push morphine on me even though I was not asking for pain medication. I decided earlier on that I did not want to resort to morphine because small amount of it can go into baby bloodstream. Was my personal choice which I told her, but she kept insisting. The only thing I would change in this situation was to tell Dylan to ask for another nurse to check on me. It is your right to request it and you don’t have to feel guilty about it - this is your experience and even the prenatal classes tell you that.

We kept insisting that someone come check on me. They kept saying someone is coming but I think it was BS and they were just delaying since they thought not much could happen in a couple of hours with first time mom. They probably thought I was over exaggerating, but I really was in a lot of pain and not one to be sensitive about pain in general. So it was frustrating no one was hearing me out expect for Dylan who was my advocate. Finally I went to the bathroom to do #2 and I felt something else come outside of me (from different region) and I couldn’t see it for obvious reasons. And knew it had to be the cervidil. We told the nurse who checked me and said she couldn’t feel it. So I was transferred back to triage FINALLY.

Now during this whole cuffufle, my mom was slightly harassing Dylan through messaging about the progress, if she should come etc. My husband just kept saying nothing was happening. Of course she finally just shows up at the hospital right at the peak of my pain in triage. Seeing me like this, she started freaking out and demanding nurses to give me something for the pain. This one timid nurse comes up to her and says ‘If you don’t calm down mam, I’m going to have to ask you to leave…’ my mom shuts up and goes to sit in the corner. It was hilarious later on to look back on. I thought I wanted my mom to be there for labour (was young, scared etc, she went through it already) which I told her during my pregnancy. But once it was happening and I had Dylan there really helping me through everything, I really did not need her there. So advice: don’t have your mom there no matter how tough you think she is. As a mom, you will always be upset when you see your daughter in pain. Period.

A doctor finally came to check me. 4 cm dilated. Told you!

Side Note: you will come across a lot of different doctors (shift changes) that will come check you down there. It is weird but part of the process and there will usually be resident doctors coming to see too. You are allowed to say no if you don’t feel comfortable. Personally, I feel this is how future doctors learn so it doesn’t really bother me. But it’s up to you! Don’t feel bad if you are opposed to it.

This was the theme of my labor. It took what seemed like forever to dilate, but once I started it continued pretty quickly. At least for a first time mom, even the nurses were surprised. Once I got settled into a proper birthing suite (in a wheelchair of course since I could barely hold my chart) I got my own nurse. She was Polish so we immediately bonded! She got the anesthesiologist for me before he went into surgery. So I finally got my epidural! The process was very unnerving to be honest since they are putting a needle into your spinal fluid. I told Dylan to leave so I could focus and the nurse was really supportive to help keep me still. Had to time it between contractions which is in itself nerve wrecking. But you feel a prick with the numbing agent (nothing compared to the contractions you are experiencing) followed by cooling sensation going down your back. This was around 3pm.

her unhappy face

The white vernix is normal. All babies will have some when they come out. They recommend to keep it on baby for a few hours before cleaning it off as it has protective properties.

With the epidural you have to remain in your bed and they are constantly monitoring your heart rate and fetal heart rate. It took about 40min to kick in, a little bit longer than the norm. But I mostly felt numb with one spot on my lower back that did not completely respond to the epidural. But still so much better than what I was experiencing before. You have a button to keep topping off your epidural without overdosing (timed maximums). I kept topping mine off whenever I could since I could still feel a bit. Might as well take it to your advantage.

Once the epidural was in, they told me my contractions were irregular and that baby would not be born today - probably another 10 hours!! So wasn’t getting excited just yet.

My amazing partner

in love already with her <3

During this time they also found the baby’s heart rate kept randomly dropping off. At first they would help me change positions slightly. My second nurse (shift change at 7pm), who was also awesome and young, inserted a fetal scalp monitor to get more accurate reading of the heart rate. I couldn’t see the monitors, but Dylan could and told me after it was pretty scary watching the fluctuations. I was 5-6cm at this point.

I kept topping off my epidural. I would keep feeling the pain coming back. So at some point the anesthesiologist had to come put more medication. And because of this soon after an OB came to check my dilation. I was fully dilated!!! The doctor said it takes on average 2-3hrs of pushing for first time moms so that we would try a push in a little bit to give baby more time to naturally descend. So soon after, the nurse set up my helpers with my legs up to try for a push. Since with the epidural you don’t feel much, the nurse tells you when to push. I pushed - Dylan saw her hair!!! WHATT?!?!? Nurse told me to stop. WHAT??!? I was in competition with another mom now and there was only one OB available.

SO when the doctor finally came, I started pushing again. The baby’s heart rate started dropping again, but I really didn’t realize what was going on since the monitors were not facing me and I was in a daze. Which I was grateful for later on otherwise I would’ve been freaking out! Poor Dylan was internally. Because of the drop in heart rate they quickly decided to suggest vacuum (didn’t really have a choice) to help baby out of the canal. Midway, her shoulder got stuck (just like her mommy, I had big shoulders too). Dylan caught a glimpse of her and told me after she was so blue and barely crying or moving - absolutely terrifying. When this happened, with zero hesitation, the nurse quickly said something on the PA system and group of nurses rushed into my room seconds later. One pushed my mom out of the way and another jumped on top of me to help push baby out from on top of uterus to dislodge her shoulder. Was actually so impressed later on how quick they were to react. A total of 10 minutes of pushing beautiful baby girl came out! She wasn’t making much noise (not crying) so they only delayed cord clamping for a few seconds. They put her immediately on me and she started crying. Was so adorable with her sweetest little cry and it absolutely was the best feeling in the world. You can’t really explain it unless you have gone through it yourself. I just was in a daze and in heaven with my beautiful baby girl on me. We were so content to finally be united together. She wasn't the only one crying too. Dylan and my mom were hugging and crying it out. I think they were more aware of the drama and danger surrounding her birth that they were so grateful she was okay.

Brooklyn

7lbs 3oz