Andrew’s Birth Story
During pregnancy with our firstborn
I had so many ideas of what I wanted labor to be like. I had a plan in my head,
but it wasn’t at all what happened. I was absolutely devastated when I was told
I needed to have a C-section. I don’t think it’s wrong to have a C-section, I
just wanted more than anything to experience a natural birth, so when we got
pregnant with Andrew I had my mind and heart set of natural birth, and I was
one determined mama!
Tuesday, April 15th 1 a.m.,
I awoke to a hard contraction. It was the middle of the night, so I just went
back to sleep, but not for long before another one hit. I got out of bed, as it
hurt more to lie down, and went and sat in my glider. I had been having
prodromal labor for about 2 weeks, so contractions like this were very normal
to me. After about an hour they got harder and closer together, about 5 minutes
apart, but I wasn’t convinced yet, so I asked my hubby (James) to make me tea,
and tried to relax as much as possible. Around 2:30 a.m. I couldn’t find a
comfortable position through the contractions, and standing on my own was not
happening. We decided it was time to call our friends to come take care of our
firstborn, Isaiah, and head to the hospital hopefully to have a baby.
When we got to triage at Sarasota Memorial
Hospital the nurse took me right to a room, as she saw the pain I was in. James
went and got us checked in, while the nurse took me back to get “checked”.
Sadly I was only 3 cm. I told the nurse I felt like a wuss at 3 cm. How could I
be in this much pain, with such a small dilation. She was kind and said; “Every
labor is different, for every woman.” They monitored me for about 30 minutes,
and then moved us up to labor and delivery!!!! I can’t tell you how excited I was
to be admitted. We were about to have our baby!!!
When we got
to our room another nurse took over, and had us sign papers and answer
questions between contractions. I honestly just wanted her to leave, so I could
breath, move, and focus with my husband on the task at hand. About an hour
later she was finished, and we were able to labor in peace. Lol.
The
next hours are honestly a blur. I stood, and swayed. James held me up when a
contraction would come. I sat of the birthing ball when I could. I tried lying
down. I think I would have tried handstands if I had the muscles.
As the time passed there was a
shift change, and we received a new nurse. This woman was an angel!!! Her name
was Noe, and she was super pumped about our desire to have an “all natural
birth”. She was giddy and her face glowed, as she tried to help us find
different positions. She didn’t mind us doing whatever we wanted, with the
exception of eating, as I was a VBAC patient, and they wanted to be extra
cautious.
9:30 a.m.
came, and my dear friend Whitney arrived to help coach me through. At this
point I was 4 cm, and progressing very slowly. James was very tired, so Whitney
took over for a bit, so he could rest and eat. I rocked on my ball and held
onto her tightly, when a contraction came. By this time I had found my “labor
noise”, and had no trouble using it. When I seemed weak she reminded me how
amazing it was going to be to meet my baby, and that God had given me the
strength to do this. When the contractions were to hard to “hum” through, she
would tell me “I never had to have that contraction again. That one was over.” She
kept me motivated!
Hours
passed by, we tried more positions. Eventually they had me lay down again,
because I kept falling asleep in between my contractions. I hated lying down,
but I knew I needed to rest. While sleeping I would dream I was having
contractions, and then wake up to them. Seriously a nightmare!!! I wasn’t u
4 p.m. came,
and I asked for the epidural for the third time. Only this time I yelled for it
through a contraction. James and Whitney both said my face changed, and they
knew I had reached my limit! They made absolutely sure that I knew what I was
doing during the next break, and then asked the nurse to call for it. Our
nurse, being the gem that she is, got us to the front of the line, and the
anesthesiologist was there within 20 minutes. I’d love to tell you about the
hoot that this guy was, but that’s another story in itself. All that really
mattered was he had the good stuff! In no time I was pain free, and resting
peacefully. There weren’t any regrets about my decision, I knew I was out of
energy, and my body was to overwhelmed to breath through anymore.
After receiving the epidural my
labor slowed a bit, and around 7 p.m. we decided to have my water broken to try
to get things moving again. It worked! By this time I had made it to 6 cm, and
we were finally over half way there. We had another shift change, and had
received our night nurse, Kristin, who was another Godsend. She was on board
with our plan, and helped as much as possible. The doctor and her were very
hopeful that baby Andrew would make his grand entrance in the next couple of
hours!
Well, the next couple of hours came
and went. My body was doing everything it needed according to the monitors,
Andrew was responding wonderfully, but things were moving like pond water. The
doctor came in a couple of times to check on me, and then finally decided to go
take a nap. We had made it very clear that as long as baby and I were
responding well, we would like to wait it out. The doctor and nurses were so
wonderful, and patient. They honored our request without any hesitation.
Around 10 p.m. Kristin started
putting me in different positions in the bed to help keep things moving. She
checked me every couple of hours, and kept a close eye on baby through the external
monitor. Around 5:30 a.m. Doctor Cohen, who was on the night shift came in to
check me one last time before his shift ended, 9½ cm. I was so close. He
decided to see if he could push my cervix out of the way to get me to 10. He
did it!!! I was officially 10 cm!
After getting me there, Dr. Cohen
and now nurse Noe told me they wanted me to wait to push until baby “labor
down” a bit. Basically he was at the zero position in my birth canal, and they
wanted my body to move him down to a plus three before I pushed. They said my
pelvis was very small, and they weren’t sure if he could fit through. I
obviously didn’t like hearing this, but I was willing to wait a little while
longer.
A couple hours later the epidural
started wearing off. I began to moan and breath through the contractions, all
while being stuck in bed. Another nightmare! Noe asked me to hold off as long
as I could before getting a “top off” from the anesthesiologist, as each
injection slowed my contractions. After about 4 hours of this we decided to
redo the epidural, and started me on Pitocin to help keep my contractions
steady. We weren’t too excited about the Pitocin, but Noe and Dr. Sullivan
assured us that if baby wasn’t responding well to it we could slow it down or
stop it altogether.
After receiving the second
epidural, and realizing that I had been in labor for about 32 hours my mind
grew shaky. Questions started flooding my mind, and I could feel fear setting
in. My focus had been on Jesus the entire time, so my questions went straight
to Him. God, do you want me to have a C-Section? Why aren’t you doing anything?
Why is this taking so long? He responded very quickly and clearly. Sarah, this
is for my glory! When I heard this I asked Whitney to write a couple of phrases
on the marker board. Statements the Lord had given me during my pregnancy, that now made so much sense. “Leave your “what
ifs” at the door”, and “The Lord has given you this”. I also, was reminded of
my labor verse, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.” Exodus
14:14 After writing this I asked her to turn on the song that was chosen to
help me through labor, Oceans by Hillsong. Then she sat in bed with me and we
began to cry, pray, and worship. Talk about a holy moment. Nurse Noe even
joined in for a second. It was amazing how the Holy Spirit moved in my heart. I
felt my confidence return! He had given me this, and I would be pushing my baby
out!
James had gone for a walk, and when
he returned Whitney let him know that she had contacted Harmony a midwife,
asking for safe positions to put me to help move baby down. We talked to Noe
about the position, and I could see on her face that she wasn’t fond of the
idea. Honestly is scared me too, as I didn’t have any feeling in my legs, and
it involved me sitting on the edge of the bed, while James and Whitney held me
up, but I was willing to try anything to get Andrew to come down. It was noon
at this point, so I told Noe I’d like to give it till 2, have her check me, and
if things hadn’t changed I’d like to try the position, and then start to push.
She said she’d talk with Dr. Sullivan, but it was fine with her.
Noe returned about an hour later,
and said she’d like to check me, and then wanted me to start pushing. Apparently
she had talked to the doctor, or came up with a game plan by herself to avoid
“the position”. Either way I didn’t care. I was ecstatic!!! Whitney had gone to
get coffee, so we called her and told her to hurry back. She was elated, and
got there ASAP. Andrew hadn’t moved, so we just went for it. I remember, at
some point, Whitney asking me if I felt like I had the strength to do it, and
like fire shut up in my bones I responded with, you watch me push this baby
out!! Lol. I was ready!!!
Commence pushing!!! Noe had me push
in different positions. First, on my back, then on my right side, left side,
and we tried hands and knees, but I couldn’t hold my legs up. As I pushed through
each contraction James and Whitney held my legs and counted to ten. Noe kept me
motivated, and watched to see if baby was moving down. After I found the right
muscles to push with, he started moving. Talk about motivation! Noe had another
nurse come in to work with me. Moe was her name, and she was an awesome cheerleader.
She got things really moving. Then came Nurse Anne. This woman wins pushing
motivator of the year! She helped me push harder than I thought I could, and
with each push they could see Andrew’s head more, and more! Near the end things
got really exciting. I’m not sure how many nurses were in the room, but it felt
like the super bowl had come to the hospital. Everyone was cheering and
excited. “Just keep going.” “You’ve got this!” “He’s moving down!” “Look James
you can see his head!” Comments were flying from everyone.
Around 3:30 p.m. they told the Dr.
Sullivan to come quickly, and told me to stop pushing as hard, because I had to
wait for the doctor to deliver by baby. Are you kidding me??? I need to push
and push hard. My body did not want to stop pushing. I could feel everything,
and everything said to PUSH! It only took ten minutes for him to get there and
get set up, but if felt a lot longer than that. Dr. Sullivan, now in position
said, “Alright Sarah on this next contraction I want you to give it all you’ve
got.” Nurse Anne was right in my ear, “Here we go… Take a deep breath, and
PUSH!!!!” She counted to 10. “Let it out, and again, and one more time, Sarah!
Alright, now breath.” It took three contractions, and his head was out. One
more, and he was out!!!!
HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! WE DID! HE’S HERE! I
remember I just kept repeating this, as I cried tears of joy! They suctioned
out his mouth and nose, let James cut the umbilical cord, and put him on my
chested. James and Whitney were right there with me, as we looked at our little
warrior, Andrew Benaiah Beechy! Born at 3:44 p.m. on April 16th. He
was 8lbs 15oz and 21 ½ inches long.
