The birth of Anne May Baker
Born July 29th at 1:49 PM, our sweet baby Anne was 6 lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. Just look at what a beautiful day it was
I gasped for air after feeling like someone had punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me. As I sat forward and realized the gushing sensation I had was probably not "normal" (for a non-pregnant person that is), I grabbed a towel and ran into the bathroom. It didn't take long for me to realize my water had broken. I called out to Tim about 5 minutes after first waking up (it was now 5:20 am) and he went scrambling about the room to gather all of our things for the hospital. Thank goodness we had packed several days before and had everything essential ready when only two nights previous I had been in and out of sleep with contractions every 4-5 minutes apart...I had not had a single contraction for about 24 hours at this point; so it was definitely a shock to wake up this POP!
I pulled on some pajama pants to fully clothe myself, sitting on a beach towel in the passenger seat while Tim drove us the 30 minute drive to Murray. My contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and I thought...this is the pressure everyone has told me about...little did I know.
After a few hours of rotating between 3 different nurses to check-in and be monitored, my midwife came in to see where I was at. "Dilated to a 4" This was good news to me! I had decided anything above a 3 would make me happy. My contractions became irregular and I didn't progress at all over the next couple of hours; so my midwife offered Pitocin. I was really hoping to go through labor unmedicated and was sure I would need to have an epidural if my labor was induced. But after contemplating my options and realizing that I would only receive the smallest dose of Pitocin to see if my body would respond and eventually put me into active labor, I decided - let's go for it. After all, Annie's birth was a VBAC so this would be my first "regular" delivery and I thought, I'm not going to know the difference, since I have never experienced any labor contractions before, and I'll be in pain either way. So we started with 2 units (doctor's will go up to 20 units at the most to induce women's labor - to give you an idea of how small the dose was) and the idea was to only keep it going as long as I needed it to keep regular contractions. I was eventually on 3 units and stayed on the Pitocin through the delivery.
There was no question about opening the blinds. I loved having a view of the beautiful Utah mountains (yes, I love mountains, and we definitely don't have those out here!)
I'll try to make this story a quick and easy read; and then add some insights I have gained since reflecting on Annie's birth.
I pulled on some pajama pants to fully clothe myself, sitting on a beach towel in the passenger seat while Tim drove us the 30 minute drive to Murray. My contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and I thought...this is the pressure everyone has told me about...little did I know.
After a few hours of rotating between 3 different nurses to check-in and be monitored, my midwife came in to see where I was at. "Dilated to a 4" This was good news to me! I had decided anything above a 3 would make me happy. My contractions became irregular and I didn't progress at all over the next couple of hours; so my midwife offered Pitocin. I was really hoping to go through labor unmedicated and was sure I would need to have an epidural if my labor was induced. But after contemplating my options and realizing that I would only receive the smallest dose of Pitocin to see if my body would respond and eventually put me into active labor, I decided - let's go for it. After all, Annie's birth was a VBAC so this would be my first "regular" delivery and I thought, I'm not going to know the difference, since I have never experienced any labor contractions before, and I'll be in pain either way. So we started with 2 units (doctor's will go up to 20 units at the most to induce women's labor - to give you an idea of how small the dose was) and the idea was to only keep it going as long as I needed it to keep regular contractions. I was eventually on 3 units and stayed on the Pitocin through the delivery.
I can honestly say I loved every minute of it. Not once did it cross my mind that I might want to take pain medication. I could not have done it without the positive encouragement from Tim and my midwife. They were amazing. They both helped with counter-pressure and breathing, and praised me whenever I was having a hard time relaxing. I remember feeling traumatized a few hours after the birth thinking, "I can't believe I did that...I probably won't do that next time." But it didn't take me long to remember how much I loved the experience and I would be happy to go unmedicated our next one, if all goes well (and no Pitocin sounds great ;) (hopefully this doesn't sound like I'm trying to sell people on the idea of natural birth. I think epidurals sound great! Beau was delivered c-section after all and I am so grateful for modern medicine). However, I would like to share what I have pondered about birth since that beautiful day. First though - pictures of our sweet baby girl.
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| First eye contact |
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| I loved watching Tim with Annie, especially since I was able to keep her to myself for the first hour.  |
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