Braylon's Birth by Lindsay

I went in to labor on August 31st. I was having contractions and decided to go to the hospital at about 8 p.m. Once I got there, they checked me and I was at 4 cm. They checked me again about an hour later, still 4 cm. So they asked me to walk around the hospital for about 2 hours, which I did. They checked me again shortly after 11p.m. with only a little change. Because there was so little change, and my water still had not broken, they gave me an Ambien and sent me home, as the hospital was full and there were no nurses on staff (this is one of two major hospitals.... not really sure why there were no nurses on staff!).

So, I went home to sleep until I was "further along." I woke periodically through the night and was up at 6 a.m. At about 6:30, I was having to stop what I was doing to get through the contractions. Took a shower and got to the hospital at about 8 a.m. At this point I was having serious back labor that I couldn't get away from. So I asked for pain relief so that I could enjoy the labor. Well, the way this hospital works, you first have to go to a room so that they may determine if you are in fact in labor, and they monitor the baby at that time as well. Then they send you to the delivery room if they feel you are in labor and ready (when I was in there for problems with pre term labor back in June, there was one woman claiming to be ready to deliver who was not even pregnant, and one who was in labor, who had no idea she was pregnant!) The only way I could get some relief from the back labor was to get on all fours which messed up the fetal monitor reading. I was also 6 cm at this point. I kind of lost track of time at that point, but by the time they got me to delivery, I was 8 cm. I was in so much pain, and again I asked, no, more like demanded, an epidural. Then I remembered someone saying at one of the Dar a Luz meetings that some times it helps to open your mouth and let out a moan. So I opened my mouth and screamed. It was the only way I felt somewhat better. I screamed through each contraction. At some point I was told I had to remain on my left side and I could not move, as the baby was in stress. My doctor (who is a wonderful man that has been doing this for 25+ years) came in and decided to break my water, turned around and told the anesthesiologist who was just now arriving that I wasn't going to need him. About that time, I stopped screaming and told them I need to push, which I was also instructed not to do. Finally I was allowed to push and 16 minutes from the point of my water breaking, at 9:51 a.m. Braylon Truitt came into this world.

Now, I feel like I need to explain why I was told not to move from my left side and not to push until the doctor was ready. When I was in the first room of labor and delivery, they missed that the baby was in stress because I kept getting on all fours which messed up the readings. Once they got me to delivery, they caught this and monitored the baby. I was not allowed an epidural until they had so many minutes of an accurate reading, which is why it took forever to get the anesthesiologist to my room and why I was not to move from my left side. As it turns out, the cord was loosely caught around the baby's neck - which is why I was not to push until the doctor was ready.... Kind of scary, but all was fine in the end. I was really amazed at the relief from the contractions once I was able to push!

Braylon Truitt was born at 9:51 am on September 1st. Lindsay says she felt incredibly empowered by his birth.