Birth Story

At around 10:00pm on Tuesday, February 18th, as we were headed to bed, my water broke! I told Todd, and since labor had begun this way with both of the other kids, we decided to try going to bed and see if any contractions started before alerting the midwife or worrying about calling Dan and Nancy late at night about childcare.  As with my other two labors, I had a few sporadic contractions over night, but nothing regular or with increasing intensity.

First thing Wednesday morning I lost my mucus plug and had some bloody show, which was reassuring that my body was doing some prep work even if my contractions weren't regular.  Todd took Nathan and Natalie over to spend the day with Nancy while I called and made an appointment to see the midwife, took a shower, and made sure that all of the hospital stuff was ready to go.

As we drove to the midwife's office, I was feeling surprisingly calm and happy--SO ready to meet this new baby.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and was 40 degrees, a total anomaly for any Michigan February but especially during this bitterly cold winter.

After my midwife confirmed that my water broke--which was not a surprise, as it just kept gushing all morning--she sent us up to labor and delivery.  As my contractions had slowed down to near nonexistence, and again, having been through this whole scenario before, we stopped at the hospital cafeteria and had lunch before heading up to the labor and delivery floor. :)

We got checked in around 11:45.  One of my favorite midwives, Jenna, was on call that day and had a student midwife, Gretchen, working with her who was also really nice.  Gretchen checked me, and I was 3cm, 75% effaced and baby was at -1 station, so some progress had been made since last week's appointment. Jenna gave me the option to wait a little longer before starting the induction process, but since it had been 14 hours since my water had broken and we waited 24 hours with Nathan and 36 hours with Natalie with no regular contractions, we decided to go ahead and start the pitocin.  I have had a L&D experience with pitocin and no epidural, and one with pitocin and an epidural.  I chose the epidural route for this delivery! :)  Jenna and Gretchen were on duty until 5pm, after which a midwife I had never met was coming on board.  We all told the baby that she needed to be here in time for happy hour!

My L&D nurse, Susan, was awesome. She's been helping deliver babies for 22 years, and was very calm and responsive.  She started my pitocin around 12:45, and almost immediately my contractions began.  By 2:00 I was in full transition and they turned off the pitocin because my contractions were coming right on top of each other.  I could feel the baby moving lower with every contraction.  The anesthesiologist arrived at that point, and started prepping for my epidural.  Simultaneously, Susan was prepping the room for delivery--if the epidural did not slow down my contractions (a common side effect) the baby was going to be here soon.  

Sure enough, the epidural did slow down my contractions.  It did take full effect, and I was able to rest and relax for a bit.  Susan turned the pitocin back on, then a little after 4:00pm, she came back in and announced that it was time for a position change.  She got me turned over onto my right side, with my left leg overlapping my right.  Susan said that given how low the baby was, that with this position change she predicted I would be pushing in the next 20 minutes.  I guess she was putting those 22 years of experience to good use, because she was right, almost to the minute!  The midwife came in a little bit after 4:25, checked me, and I was completely dilated and the baby was only a half inch away from outside--it was time to push!

With my first push, I could see the top of the baby's head, and she had tons of dark hair! It is so amazing and motivating to watch your baby come into the world! I am very thankful that the hospital has a big mirror so I had the option to see her birth.  As her head came down with the next push, I just started laughing hysterically about how much hair she had--talk about a crazy rush of intense physical and emotional feeling! Two pushes later (with one break between contractions with her head halfway out--ouch!), and I was able to help pull my daughter from my body and onto my chest! She came out and pooped, peed, and cried heartily--the best sound in the world!  She cried and cried until she found my breast, where she latched on immediately and settled down. It was amazing. She is beautiful.  We let the cord stop pulsing before Todd cut it, and my placenta was delivered easily.  I had to have three stitches for a small tear, but I didn't care--I was totally engrossed in getting to see my baby.  

She stayed on my chest for about an hour after her birth, and Todd and I decided that she really did look like a Danielle Joan.  Her first name is in honor of Todd's dad, Daniel, and her middle name is the same as my maternal grandmother's and also a feminine version of John, which is my dad's name.  We know this little one is going to be special, so we wanted to name her after some of the best people in our lives.

Danielle Joan Fowle arrived in the world at 4:44pm on February 19, 2014, weighing 7lbs, 6.6oz and 19" long. She is healthy and a miracle!