HURRICANE HARVEY | MY BIRTH STORY

It was the beginning of 2016 and I was the typical anxious 1st time mom. I read everything I could get my hands on and prepared to have a natural birth. I had downloaded all the pregnancy tracking apps, joined all the Facebook groups, and read so many blog posts my head was spinning.

I also took a self-hypnosis course called Hypnobabies to aid me in a pain-free, natural birth. I was fully convinced I would have a quick delivery without any drug intervention. Who else has read that labor would be quick and easy when mommy stays active the entire pregnancy? Yoga, weights, cardio: I lived in my workout clothes.

and then God laughed.

Long story short: Labor began at 39 weeks and 2 days. I arrived to the hospital at 4 cm dilated and yet, all of my preparation was for nada.  After 24 hrs of labor and very little progression, I threw my birth plan out the window, and got my epidural. It was just my luck, my epidural was only effective on the left side of my body. Since my water still hadn’t broken on its own the OB did it manually at 8 cm. I ended up needing Piton towards the end to edge things along. 9 hours later, Goz finally decided it was time and exited my uterus after 5 minutes of pushing.

Moral of the story: Nothing Goes According To Plan

ο CLICK HERE for my Printable Hospital Bag Checklist

I took a very chill attitude with this entire pregnancy. I didn’t look at any baby apps or mom-to-be groups. I knew what I was getting myself into this time around. Several days leading up to the delivery I experienced a couple of false alarms that proved to only be Braxton Hicks contractions. Wrapped up in nesting and blogging, I hadn’t been paying much attention to the news; so I heard about Harvey 36 hours before he hit.

On Friday, Hubby and I made it to our 39 week midwife appt through heavy rain proceeding Harvey’s landfall. I anxiously asked my midwife what the plan was if I went into labor during the storm. The best she could tell me was to head to the closest hospital since the medical center would most likely be flooded. I was convinced I would go into labor within the next 24hrs. On Sunday, when the storm started showing us what it was made of, I started to panic and plan for a home delivery. Even reaching out to social media, checking if anyone had advice on a safe home birth.

On Monday, I realized I had given birth to Goz at the same stage of pregnancy I was in. My Braxton Hicks continued but never became consistent or painful. Despite all of the devastation around the city, we were blessed to be in a small area that didn’t experience residential flooding. But leaving the subdivision didn’t look too promising. My husband didn’t even flinch when I told him he may have to deliver the baby today. Fortunately for us, another day passed without meeting our little one.

By Thursday, rain lightened up and allowed water to begin receding around Houston. That morning I kept tossing and turning but couldn’t make myself comfortable. Around 7 am I took a shower and noticed I had been having contractions that were consistent and timed 6 minutes apart. For those of you who have never given birth or experienced contractions, it’s hard to notice them at 1st with so many false alarms, but for me, they are best described as period-like cramps that flow up and out like a wave; getting worse with time/dilation. The top of the wave is where the scary pain is. It takes all of your focus and concentration during the contraction just to get to the next one. The best way to cope with it is releasing all tension (especially in your face and shoulders).

By 11:30 am I could not take the contractions at home anymore and started screaming for my husband to get me to the hospital. What got me through the majority of labor was knowing that once I made it past the wave, I would be that much closer to meeting my little man. If you know that you are going the epidural route, I recommend laboring at home as long as possible because:

1. They will likely send you home if you are not dilated past a certain point

2. An epidural may slow down labor, possibly starting a cascade of medical interventions

3. You won’t be able to leave your hospital bed once you get the epidural, until the anesthesiologist removes it after delivery

Once I got to the hospital at noon, I completed a cervical exam — 6 cm dilated. Whoop! Below is me in praise and worship between contractions, just know when those contractions hit I turned into a monster. It was a blessing to have my midwife there from beginning to end. She gave me such a pleasant birth experience, from massaging and motivating me through my contractions, letting me dig my nails into her, and cracking jokes while I pushed.

 

At 1 pm I had the epidural placed and by 3:17 pm Kezie entered the world within 5 minutes of pushing, taking after his brother. My midwife allowed me to pull him out the last half of the way and lay him on my chest. I am still in awe and wonder of how magical  the moment was. We did delayed cord clamping which is when you allow the umbilical cord to stop pulsating before hubby cut the cord.

Every birth is unique. I have a tremendous amount of respect for mothers who labor without medication. But I am here to let you know it is ok to have any form of  intervention if you need it. That epidural is not the end of the world. What matters most is that you and baby make it out of the room together.

Victims of Harvey, Irma and Maria will need help to recover for months to come. If you would like to donate to the continued Hurricane relief efforts please visit Oneamericaappeal.org