Birth story - Kiana and baby Winry

Warning - Use of word contractions (not negative to me), Induction using Cervadil, and Vacuum assisted delivery

I would love to thank PBC for helping me believe in myself and trusting my body!

We found out we were pregnant the end of June 2020 (it was a big surprise pregnancy but we were so excited and ready!) We had just finished college together and were about to move back to our home town two days after we found out. So it worked out perfectly with our plans!

I had a pretty easy and uneventful pregnancy, besides a bout of c-diff bowel infection in my second trimester, which lead to a few weeks of reactive arthritis. But by the time I got into my third trimester I was back to square one and feeling good.

At my 39 week appointment my cervix was soft but I still was only 1/2cm dilated and Baby was up high. So we decided to do a stretch and sweep. This was followed by a few days of spotting and cramping but nothing more.

At my 40 week appointment I still had not progressed any further, so we repeated the stretch and sweep and decided to schedule an induction for 40+6.

Fast forward to 40+6 I was admitted into the hospital at 4:00pm. My doctor did an ultrasound to make sure everything looked good, and then started to get everything ready for the induction.

At 6:30pm she checked my cervix and I was 1-2cm dilated. She could actually feel the baby’s head for the first time, yay! The Cervadil was inserted right after and I was monitored for one hour, and had to stay laying down for 2 hours. Once I was hooked up we saw that I was actually already getting contractions about 2 minutes apart but they weren’t painful. We were optimistic that things would get moving!

Contractions were getting more intense but I was able to get some sleep from 12-2am. Sitting and laying down was getting pretty difficult, so I decided being on all fours was the place to be.

While I was switching positions after walking around the room for a bit I felt a pop. I was on my hands and knees so I decided to sit up and then water started to drip out. We decided to call my nurse and after confirming my water had broken I found out I was 3 cm dilated. Contractions started to pick up shortly after this.

At 6:30 my nurse helped me get into the shower to try and sooth my back pain. I was in there for about an hour when I started to fall asleep between contractions, and vocalizing during them to get through the pain. Upbreathing alone wasn’t cutting it anymore, and I didn’t wanna fall in the shower so I decided to get out. Before doing so I decided to request some morphine so I could maybe get some sleep. They said they needed to check me first because if I was in active labour they would have to give me fentanyl instead.

After getting checked at 7:30 I found out I was 4cm dilated, whoop whoop! So they decided to give me fentanyl, which wouldn’t last as long but could be given to me every half an hour if I needed it. At this point in labour I was mooing and moaning quite loudly during contractions, and had to be on all fours. Laying down or standing was excruciating on my lower back. Thankfully the fentanyl allowed me to relax in between contractions, but it didn’t numb the pain which I liked. It more just allowed me to take mini naps in between contractions.

I continued to labour on all fours and be given fentanyl every half hour until 11am when I was checked again. I was 9-10cm dilated and was starting to feel pushy. My doctor told me to start pushing during contractions on all fours to see how things started moving. I had a slight lip of cervix still around her head and when a contraction would come on, she would help stretch out the last little bit as I pushed.

Shortly after I moved to my back/sitting up and starting pushing in this position around 11:30am. I had planned to push on my own, but I was so exhausted and ended up sleeping in between contractions so my doctor helped encourage me. The moans were more so screams at this point and the pressure was very real, but I was very greatful for the breaks in between!

In the last 10 minutes of pushing baby girls heart rate started to drop, as she had the cord around her neck and her head was stuck on my pelvis. She had been crowing for about 20 minutes with no progress. So she told me to push like crazy and not stop pushing. She was quite stuck so she had to pull out the vacuum and stick it on her head to help give a tug. With a tug and a huge scream our baby girl was here!! It took her a while to scream and unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the delayed cord clamping I had wanted. But I was just greatful it was over and our baby girl was okay!

I ended up needing a few stitches inside but they were very minor luckily. And I am so crazy proud of myself for being able to go without an epidural and meet me goal! No judgment to the mommas who get it though, because WOW it was the most painful but wonderful experience. I wasn’t able to use the recordings or the down breathing because I ended up just doing what felt natural, which was a lot of vocalizing! But the courses definitely gave me confidence in my body!

A week later and we are both doing great, recovery has been quite easy for me which I am very grateful for!! Good luck to all the mommas out there about to give birth, no matter what your experience looks like I know you can do it! In my experience as soon as you see your baby you will be so amazed at how fast you can forget the pain!