Water broke in the middle of the night

Though both my labors were relatively easy, my second labor was easier than the first. So I will begin there.

I am quite small, at 5 feet 1 inch on a good day. My weight before the pregnancy was 117, and at the end I was around 150. My daughter Eleanor was born 3 1/2 weeks early (36 1/2 weeks into the pregnancy), at 6 lbs., 1.5 oz and 19 3/4 inches on Feb. 6th of this year, 15 days before my 29th birthday. The picture was taken about an hour after delivery.

The day before the birth was a difficult one. It was the first day in the pregnancy where I had left the house without blow-drying my hair, because I was too tired to get out of bed. Blow-drying makes a huge difference in how my hair looks, so this is a big deal to me. That night, I cooked the most difficult meal I had cooked in months, and was completely exhausted by the end of the day. Looking back, I can say that I was probably being driven by the "nesting instinct" that everyone talks about.

I went to bed early, but at 12:30 I felt a funny sensation. It felt like I was going to wet the bed. Alarmed and instantly awake, I rushed to the bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time. I hadn’t put protective plastic coating on the bed yet, but somehow I managed to avoid any leakage outside of the bathroom. Even though I felt fully awake, it took me a few minutes to realize that my water had broken. We were not at all prepared, since it was so much earlier than expected. I called out to my husband. Since I wasn't having contractions, I wasn't sure what to do. I called my OB/GYN, and the nurse told me to go to the hospital. My husband began to prepare a suitcase and called my brother-in-law to come stay with my older daughter.

When we got to the hospital, I sill was not experiencing anything that could be called contractions. Walking after my water had broken felt strange but wasn't painful. Joking around with the nurses, I was sure they would send me back home. Apparently that doesn't happen any more; when the water breaks, the baby comes. So they set me up in a room, gave me an IV, and told me to rest, hoping the contractions would start on their own. During the night there were a few contractions, but nothing painful. In the morning, I was 4 cm dilated. An hour later, no more progress had been made, so my doctor decided to give me Pitocin to get the labor started. I knew its reputation, so I asked for and received an Epidural before they gave me the Pitocin. It was started around 11:00 am.

Watching the contractions begin on the monitor was interesting. Sometimes I could feel a little bit, but usually nothing. About 11:45, I felt a very strong contraction, and yes, it was painful. I grabbed for the epidural button (that I could push to administer more painkiller) and pushed it twice. Then I called for the nurse. I realized it was time. The nurse got the doctor. She came right away and set up. This was the worst part. They told me not to push until the doctor was ready. I'm sure it only took a few minutes, but it felt longer. Finally the doctor was ready. One nurse held one leg, and my husband held my other leg. I could feel when to push, but the nurse walked me through anyway. Two contractions were all it took, a total of four pushes. I could feel the baby moving down the birth canal and out of the opening. I embraced the feeling, since I knew it had to happen. It is a very strange feeling, but with the Epidural it was not painful. It is the kind of feeling that made me cringe just thinking about it, and I’d always tried to stay as far away from thinking about it as possible. But when I embraced it, it was not nearly what I feared. It was freeing - that was how my body became free of the baby inside.

Soon the baby was out. One little stitch, and I was done. It took an hour or so for the Epidural to wear off, and then I was able to get up by myself. I was shaky, and very hungry, but not any more tired than after a moderate Aerobics session.

That is my birth story. I share it not to brag or to belittle those with other experiences, but to give hope to you who are scared. It may be that you, too, can have an Easy Labor Story!