Cora's Birth Story: March 4th, 2014

Cora's Birth Story 3/4/2014

I dropped Vince off at work on Monday March 3rd at 1:30, 2.5 weeks before our baby's due date, and came home to a list of things to do. First on the list was my weekly checkup. Still no more progress from the previous week, just a half a centimeter dilated. After I got home I went on a nice long walk with Jack. It was so nice out, we took some pictures together...
Me and Jack's shadow.
Cold, but nice.  I didn't say they were good pictures..
I put together a frame with a few of our sonogram pictures and put the rest in an album. At about 5:45pm I had to leave to pick Vince up from work. I knew I would have to battle traffic. Vince had dinner for me at work-a leftover chicken sandwich from his boss's 50th birthday party the previous Friday. It wasn't much but I didn't feel like cooking. I dropped him off at campus and I went to bible study until about 10:00 pm. After bible study I had a conversation with my friend about the contractions I was having. We concluded it was stronger Braxton-Hicks as a result of my checkup. We didn't get into bed until after 11:00. 
At 2:30 am I woke up abruptly to my water breaking. It gushed-everywhere. We knew we were going to have our baby that day. We called the on-call doctor who told us, "Don't make a mad rush here, but quickly gather your things and get to the hospital as soon as you can." So we did. I scarfed a couple slices of cheese and a half of a pbj, threw the sheets in the wash and headed out. Thankfully we had most everything packed in our hospital bags. We arrived at about 3:15 am. When the nurse checked me she said, "oh sweetie, you're only at 1 cm." Great, I thought, a long ways to go. I told them I wanted to be up and active until I felt that I couldn't. 
Don't laugh.

About to be a third Rediger!

Daddy is pumped!

They had the fetal monitor on me for the first hour and then every 40 mins for 20 mins. We were so excited and ready for things to progress rapidly.  We walked the halls, I bounced on the birthing ball, and did some stretches.  I wanted to meet our baby!  

There's a birthing ball under there somewhere, I swear.
They didn’t want to check my too often to see how I was dilated because of the risk of infection.  I was checked again around 8:00 am by my doctor.  She said that if things didn’t progress then they would have to give me pitocin to increase my contractions. So at 10:00 I was checked again and was at 1.5 cm.  She considered it progress; I was relieved.  At this point my contractions started to pick up and walking the halls was becoming difficult.  By noon I couldn’t walk or stand anymore and was having a lot of contractions very close together.  I was shaking so hard, I couldn’t control it.   
They gave me some sugar water in my IV to give me some calories.  Vince was by my side through it all.  At one point I had to use the restroom, so as soon as one contraction ended I made my way to the toilet and didn’t make it back to the bed in time for my next contraction.  I found that sitting on the toilet actually provided some relief from the pain and pressure.  So I asked to sit on a bed pan.  Yes, I labored on a bed pan for hours because it took the pressure of my hips and downstairs.  We worked so hard at trying to relax and breathe like we practiced in the Bradley Method.  Vince coached me in relaxing my body as much as possible.  I was still exhausted, but in between contractions I could rest for a short time.  I think around 2:00 my doctor came in because on the monitor that she was watching it looked like I was pushing.  I wasn’t but my body was acting like it.  I felt like I wanted to push. It actually felt like I was pushing but I couldn't control it. The nurse checked me and I was only at like 6 cm but I had made a lot of progress in a short time.  
By 4:45 pm I was exhausted and they wanted to check me again- only at 8 cm.  I talked with my doctor about her experiences after women laboring this hard for this amount of time with this type of progress, what she expected to happen.  She said likely 2 more hours until I was fully dilated and then 30 minutes to 3 hours of pushing.  I couldn’t do it.  Looking back I can tell that I was in transition; no wonder I felt like giving up. I felt so weak, faint, and shaky and wanted to deliver my baby healthily and safely.  I asked for an epidural.  It took the anesthesiologist 15 minutes to get there and I had several very long and hard contractions, one right after the other.  

Anesthesiologist arrives, but Dr. Woodus checks me one more time.
No epidural for me!
My doctor wanted to check me one more time before the epidural.  She said I was fully dilated and I said, “Next contraction I’m pushing!”  I’ve never worked so hard in my life.  I pushed so hard, pushed past the contractions until I couldn’t any more.  3-4 pushes, 10+ seconds each for each contraction. Like I said, I wanted to meet our baby!! I felt like I could actually contribute and even though it was hard and painful, pushing felt productive. I felt like the athlete I once was. They gave me oxygen and I didn’t know it at the time but apparently they do that when the baby is under distress. 


She was out in 15 minutes.  Our precious baby girl- Cora Leane Rediger-perfect in every way.  6 lbs 11 oz born at 5:21 pm on March 4th, 2014 at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas.  Our lil native Texan!  




Labor- the most amazing and challenging event in my life. Holding her for the first time was the most beautiful and emotional experience I’ve ever had.  I was a wreck in every way- physically and emotionally but so filled with love and affection for our Cora Baby.



from a full heart and humbled hands,

jessie

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