Scarlett's Birth Story

Soooo, I've been meaning to post this for a while now but what with dealing with a newborn I've been preoccupied with dirty diapers, feedings and cries for attention. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who have told me how much they've enjoyed my blog while I was pregnant. It's been great having an outlet to voice my observations, frustrations, complaints and happiness throughout. And the fact that people actually enjoy reading about them is just icing on the cake. So, thank you. I'm going to try my best to keep this blog up but now that I'm a mommy (see aforementioned dirty diapers, etc.) we'll see how that goes.  But I at least wanted to update you on how the best/most challenging day of my life went. And with that, I give you Scarlett's birth story.

For personal reasons that I won't get into, my goal had always been to have as natural a birth as possible. I had read that a lot of first time moms go past their due date and have to be induced which is something I wanted to try and avoid. But when you're approaching your 40th week of pregnancy and are in constant discomfort your temperament can get a bit testy.

Around 38 weeks I started researching ways to naturally induce labor.  Spicy foods? That just gave me heart burn. Walking? I walked about 3 miles a day to try and shake her loose. Sex? Um, no comment. But I had also read that some women swore by evening primrose oil. Apparently the herb can help thin the cervix so I figured I would give it a shot. I took two capsules on April 9th and three capsules before I went to bed on April 10th. Three hours later (on my due date!), my water broke.

It was around 2:45am on April 11th and I had just gotten back in bed after a middle of the night bathroom trip. I hadn't even fallen back to sleep when all of a sudden I felt this warm trickle that turned into a steady stream. I kind of laid there for a second thinking, "Oh shit, that was totally my water breaking." Nik was still up so I immediately found him in the living room and announced, "Um, I think my water just broke". We both inspected and concurred that it most definitely wasn't pee. Hey. you just never know when you've got something the size of a watermelon pressing down on your bladder. Also, here's the thing about your water breaking. It doesn't just gush or trickle out once and then it's over. Oh, no. It will keep trickling until you push that baby out. Talk about gross and uncomfortable. And that's just the beginning.

So at that point everything was a little surreal. Unlike what Hollywood has taught you, when your water breaks it doesn't mean you have to rush to the hospital. It could be hours before contractions begin. Since I wasn't really feeling anything yet I took a shower and got ready while Nik double checked the hospital bag I had prepared weeks in advance and started loading up the car. I did some pacing around the house and bounced on my exercise ball for a bit. Around 5am I thought I started feeling a little something. Since this is Los Angeles where traffic is the WORST THING EVER we decided to go ahead and head to the hospital in order to beat the morning commuters. I probably could have labored at home a while longer but I didn't want to tempt fate and have to give birth on the side of the 405.

Typical LA traffic.
NOT an appropriate birthing place

We checked into the hospital around 6am and they took me to the triage area to make sure I was really in labor. You know, just in case that fluid coming out of me was something other than amniotic. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was. I still wasn't sure if I was feeling contractions or not so they hooked me up to a monitor and they were already 3 minutes apart. Oh, don't you worry. I definitely felt them later on.

After confirming my active labor status we moved into the labor and delivery room. There was a reason I chose Cedars-Sinai to give birth in. This was one of them.

Posh private labor and delivery room

Room with a view

You can't see it in the picture but we had a view of the Hollywood sign. You know you're in Beverly Hills when you get to push a baby out overlooking one of the world's most famous landmarks.

After becoming sidetracked with our posh digs we spoke to the nurses and I let them know I was hoping to labor naturally for now. Since I was low risk they just slapped a portable heart rate monitor and hep-lock IV on me and let me do my thing. That consisted of walking the halls of the hospital and bouncing on a yoga ball for several hours to try and get my labor to progress. At some point in the afternoon things started to become more uncomfortable and I wanted to know how much more real shit was going to get or if I could hold off on that increasingly enticing epidural.

A midwife came in and explained to me that since my water had broken on its own there was a risk of infection each time they checked my cervix to see how far dilated I was so they would rather hold off. They asked if I wanted an epidural but I decided to keep on trucking through it. I was afraid that an epidural might slow down my labor which would mean they would have to use medication to speed it up. So if I were to get an epidural I wanted to try to progress on my own as much as possible.

Unfortunately, my natural pain relief options were running out. I had always planned to soak in a hot tub during labor but that option was also out since my water had already broken. Again, it would have been another risk of infection. So the midwife suggested I try a hot shower instead to see if that helped. The nurses got clearance to remove the heart rate monitor with the exception that they would come back once an hour to check the fetal heart rate with a hand held device. And for the next three hours I stood in the shower and let the warm water run over me.

Around 4pm the contractions became unbearable and my stamina was wearing thin since I had been laboring over 13 hours on only 3 hours of sleep. So I decided it was time to get out of the shower and get a needle into my back instead.

At this point in time we still didn't know how far along I was but everyone, including my amazing nurses, were hoping that my efforts hadn't been in vain. Around 5:30pm my OB came in and checked me for the first time. Fist pumps went all around when I was I told that I was at a 6 1/2. I was dilating at about a centimeter an hour  and my body was doing all of the contracting on its own so I didn't need pitocin or any other medication to help speed things along. My doctor estimated that the baby would arrive by midnight. My doctor was wrong.

I was hoping to get some sleep after receiving the epidural. I think I may have dozed off here and there but nothing solid. Perhaps it was the excitement of being in labor or the sounds of the heart rate monitor that kept me awake. Either way, I couldn't turn my mind off enough to get any good rest. That was a tragic mistake. I'm not sure what time it was, sometime before midnight, but all of a sudden I started feeling immense pain on the right side of my body near my hip. I had been dealing with hip pain the last month of my pregnancy but this was worse. Thankfully when you get an epidural they also give you a little button you can press to boost it up. I pressed it twice in three hours to help alleviate the hip/nerve pain. Unfortunately, my epidural fun was about over

My nurse had been in periodically to check on me, ask me if I needed anything and whether I was feeling the pressure to push or not. Each time my answer was no. I could sense that she was growing concerned about the lack of pressure sensation so around 2am on April 12th she received clearance to check me again and I was dilated to a 9. That was the good news. Then they hit me with the not so good news. Since I wasn't feeling the urge to push they were going to cut my epidural in half.

And that's when shit got real . . .

Oh, I could finally feel the pressure all right. Along with EVERYTHING else. When they cut my epidural in half that right hip pain I was telling you about, it came back in full force. I'm not sure if it was the baby pressing on a nerve as she made her way through the birth canal but it was absolutely excruciating. Even worse than the contractions because there was no interval. It was just constant, intense pain that I could do nothing about. This went on for hours. The nurses felt so bad for me. They tried propping my leg up in order to elevate my right hip and put hot compresses on it but nothing seemed to help. Except when it came time to push. Even then, I'm not sure if the hip pain miraculously went away or if a new set of pain just took its place.

I know of women who get an epidural and are able to push a baby out without feeling a thing. Lucky bitches. When it came time to push I was so exhausted from dealing with everything else for the past 26 hours that I didn't have much left to fight with. This was around the time I started thinking that maybe just scheduling a c-section wasn't that bad of an idea. All the while my nurse was assuring me that things will go much quicker with my second baby. I wanted to choke the bitch. Kidding. But seriously, how about let's just get this one out before we even discuss the possibility of a second one.

They had me do some practice pushes while we waited for my OB to get there. I feel like with all of my preparation and research on child birth no one had prepared me for the pushing part. It sucks. Basically, you feel this intense pressure to push and the only thing that will alleviate that pressure is actually pushing. And the closer the baby gets to coming out the more uncomfortable it gets because of the obvious. So when they had me stop after a few practice pushes so we could wait for my doctor to arrive I started getting pretty impatient. Also, it's not just one long push. They had me push in three 10 counts. Take a deep breath, push for 10 seconds, take another deep breath, push for 10, take one more deep breath and push for another 10. The first 10 count was the easiest but getting through the other two took some work. So they put an oxygen mask on to help me out.

I'm not even sure what Nik was doing at this point. Trying to be supportive I'm sure. Giving me sips of water when I needed them. Making sure the puke bucket was nearby in case it also became necessary. Thankfully, it did not. Suddenly, my room got very busy. Since my water had broken over 24 hours ago they had several doctors in the room in case there was an issue with the baby. My OB had finally arrived and was putting on the gloves to get ready for business. Using the motivation to get this labor over with and finally meet my daughter I pushed. For about an hour they told me. At one point during the pushing I looked down and could see her head. After a bunch of 10 count pushes they had me do a series of 5 counts and then a few 1 counts. And at 6:05am I heard crying and out plopped the love of my life, all 8 pounds and almost 22 inches of her - Scarlett Elizabeth Karpen.

The nurses immediately placed her on my chest as she started wailing and I just remember saying hello to my sweet baby girl. All of that pain and discomfort I had been feeling was instantly gone. We spent I don't know how long just staring at each other. And have been ever since.

Several people have asked how we came up with her name. I have always been an avid reader so her name is inspired by two of my favorite literary heroines. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. They are both strong and spirited female characters and so is our own little Scarlett. Sweet Jesus, the girl started crying before she was even all the way out. I can't wait to discover the person that she becomes. But in the meantime, I am happy to let her sweet baby snuggles fill my days.