THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH

I was 10 days overdue when I was admitted into the hospital with my daughter. The
doctor and I had already set a date to begin inducing labor, at my last prenatal appointment a few
days after my calculated due date the doctor noticed that my cervix was not thinning out. When I
was admitted the nurse placed a drug by my cervix that would start thinning out the cervix and
hopefully start contractions. By 7am the next morning I began to get what felt like menstrual
cramps as my labor was beginning. By 8am the anesthesiologist had started an IV where the
baby and I would be able to receive fluids and where the doctor could start the drug Pitocin to
strengthen my contractions. I had planned on a natural birth as I did not like the idea of a long
needle going near my spine. As my labor progressed I practiced my breathing exercise we had
learned in Lamas, the breathing helped me focus on something besides the pain and the pressure
that I was feeling from the baby moving down the birthing canal. By 11:45am I was exhausted as
my labor progressed very fast due to the Pitocin. By the time the anesthesiologist came in to start
an epidural line I had a strong urge to push, when I told the nurse I have to push she checked
me again and I was fully dilated and ready to push. At 12:31pm I delivered my 6lb 7oz 19 inches
long baby girl. Since my labor progressed so fast and I was not able to get the epidural I was able
to walk down to the nursery with her and watch her very 1st bath.
With my second child as with my 1st I had to be induced, because of medical reasons I
had decided to get my tubes tied after his birth. So I already had planned on getting the epidural
so I would not have to be knocked completely out to have the surgery done. Because this was my
2nd birth we scheduled the induction for 7 days before my calculated due date. At my last prenatal
appointment the doctor discovered that I had already thinned out and the babys head had
dropped so I went straight to labor and delivery to begin the Pitocin. As with my first experience

my labor progressed rapidly in the beginning but because of the tubal ligation I opted for the
epidural after I was dilated to a 5. About an hour after they started the epidural my labor slowed
down and I stopped dilating. So they turned down the epidural and turned up the Pitocin. A few
hours later once the contractions became stronger my sons heart rate would drop with each
contraction. The doctor came in and checked on us at about 4pm after the nurse informed her of
the drops on the monitor. I was told they would have to perform a C-section because the baby is
in distress. As the operating room team prepared the OR for us they turned up the epidural again
in preparation for the C-section. The nurse put on a full oxygen mouth to help get some more
oxygen to the baby. By the time they came back to get us to go to the OR my sons heart rate had
stabilized a little and I was dilated to a 9. About an hour later I was able to deliver my son 6lb
11oz 19 inches without any further complications besides the umbilical cord being wrapped
around his neck 4 times as the cause of the heart rate drops.