Remember me??  I was the nurse that wanted the ‘no epidural all natural birth’!

Well…..it happened that way but not exactly the way I had planned. Turns out I had back labor – which is no joke. It hurt like hell!  However we did use all the techniques we learned in class to produce oxytocin to get my labor going and avoid induction. On the Monday, I got my membranes ”stripped’ at my 40 week appointment, had multiple rounds of sex, walked 1-3 miles and did lots of squatting on Bertha ball. On Tuesday night I started to feel back pain (which was normal for me to feel spasms) but I wasn’t overly concerned. I slept throughout the night, waking up to pee and kept feeling that pain.

Wednesday morning came and the back pain wouldn’t go away; in fact it was getting worse and intermittent. I spent 9am to11am on my knees and on Bertha and then I took a hot shower to ease the back pain.  I messaged hubby to come home around noon because I thought I was in labor. Finally around 1:30pm I couldn’t take the back pain anymore and the contraction timing app said it was time to ‘go to the hospital’ with contractions 5 mins apart.

We got there just fine but because of Covid, hubby had to wait outside while I was triaged. At 3pm, I was measured at 4cm dilated and 90% effaced.  The nurse told me to walk around for an hour to help labor along – the hospital wanted me a bit further into active labor before admitting me.  I was planning on laboring with my partner’s assistance and Covid really limited my options!  First I had to remember what I’d learned in class plus labor by myself. I took deep breaths, I walked around the unit with a mask, and finally the contractions were too much.  I went back to the triage room and sat on a stool that I pretended was Bertha. After more deep breaths and squatting, I suddenly got an urge to push!

The Doc came in and told me that I looked “really uncomfortable” (which made me want to punch him in the face haha).  He checked me again and in the 45 minutes since I’d arrived, I’d gone mins I went from 4cm to 9cm!  They could feel the bulging bag of water!  I called hubby and he was rushed to L&D after getting stat entrance into the hospital.  At 9cm I gave in and asked for an epidural – only to be refused because I was too close to birth!  I did get a little fentanyl to take the edge off but (wait for it) the vial broke! Yes the vial broke and it took 2 nurses and the doctor to verify it broke while I just lay there thinking how I would not be getting any relief.

Realizing my predicament, the midwife said “let’s just break your waters and get it over with” and get it over with I did. After 90 minutes of  pushing, out came my beautiful baby girl. We are so in love with her!

I wanted to thank you for everything we learned from you. Even after back labor, the refused epidural, the broken vial of fentanyl and the delayed partner support, I was able to remember the techniques that made me manage the pain without medication. Things might have been very different if we had gone in sooner or used all the tools and techniques in your book and class.  So thank you so much! My husband and I truly enjoyed your class and thank you for everything we learned!