Sebastian's Birth Story

When I was pregnant, I really enjoyed reading other women's birth stories.  I appreciated their willingness to share something so personal and their honesty.  It also helped me get a better sense of what to expect.  So I've decided to also share my story.  Since the story and photos are personal, please do not share the link (invite others) to read this blog without permission.  Thank you :-)

Sebastian's Birth Story 

I went into labor on a Friday evening.  At my doctor’s appointment on Monday, there were minor contractions being picked up by the fetal heart monitor (cardiotocography, or CTG), but I could not feel them.  By Friday, I still had no signs of impending labor other than feeling extremely tired.  I decided to take a nap around 4:00 pm and woke around 5:00 to my water breaking. 

Stephan was still at work, so I called him and then while waiting for him to get home, gathered together the things we would need for the hospital.

After he came home, we drove to the hospital and arrived at about 6:00 pm.  I was just starting to really feel the contractions.

We went to the Kreißsaal (delivery ward) of the hospital and were brought to a small room where I was hooked up to the CTG so the baby’s heart rate and the strength of contractions could be monitored for about half an hour.  Here’s what the monitor looked like:

(It shows the baby's heart-rate was 119 beats-per-minute at that moment, and that I was between contractions, since 1 is the lowest measurable level.)

After determining the contractions were not close together, I was shown to my hospital room, and then we went to the dining room and had dinner.  We walked around the hospital, up and down the hallways, looking at pictures and posters on the walls.  We also sat in the hospital room timing the contractions, and I remember they were about 7 minutes apart.  

It was decided that I would not be in active labor anytime soon, so the midwife said I should try to sleep between contractions and go back to the Kreißsaal when needed.  She said she thought I’d be back to the Kreißsaal before morning.  Stephan went home to get some last-minute sleep. 

I was sharing my room with a woman who had given birth a few days earlier and was now trying to sleep.  (By now it was quite late.)  I proceeded to also try to sleep but with each contraction could not lie still so had to sit up or pace around the room.  I felt sorry for my roommate, knowing I was probably disturbing her.  She seemed really tired. 

When I felt I couldn’t deal with the contractions by myself anymore, I went back to the Kreißsaal, and they hooked me up to the CTG again.  I called Stephan to come back to the hospital (a little less than 2 hours after he’d left.)

At this monitoring, the contractions were stronger and closer together (but I was still a long way from delivery.)  I was shown to the room where I would be delivering.   

The midwife asked if I wanted to try a warm bath; I agreed, and she went to set it up.  She also went to get hot coffee (for Stephan) and tea (for me), and I tried sitting in the bath for a short while, but I found I could not sit comfortably in one position and needed to keep moving around.  So I got out and returned to the delivery room.

To deal with the contractions, and help the baby rotate (he was head down, but not facing the right direction), I had to try being in different positions, including standing, and rotate my hips around.  It was tiring, but he made slow progress rotating.  The goal was for him to be facing my spine by the time we were at the pushing stage of labor. At one point, the midwife and a doctor brought a portable ultrasound machine into the room to determine his position and exactly how low he was.  They were optimistic that he would rotate as needed.

After awhile, when I was about 4-5 cm dilated, I decided it was time to request the epidural. They called in the doctor who would place the epidural, and I also had to get a hand I.V. line. 

The doctor was a very nice woman with brown hair and glasses.  I was glad to have already filled-out and signed the consent form ahead-of-time. She looked it over and wanted to make sure I understood the risks (since they were all in German), and I explained I had gone over the form with my husband, so she also asked Stephan to sign the form. 

I remembered having read that it’s important to let the doctor know if you have scoliosis before they place a epidural (I have a mild case), so I talked with her about that.  Then she gave me something in my I.V. to temporarily stop the contractions.  The contractions stopped right away, and she asked me to lean forward and stay completely still, while she placed the epidural. It took less time than I expected, and right away, I could no longer feel the pain.  It was such a peaceful relief. Before she left, the doctor commented that she expected placing the epidural it to be more difficult, (due to my spine having a slight curve), and we were all really happy together that it wasn’t.

Then Stephan and I were left alone and told to try to get some sleep.  It was perhaps 5:00 a.m.  They dimmed the lights, although quite a bit still came into the room through the (translucent) door, and we could hear a woman down the hall screaming.  I said, “It sounds like she’s having a REALLY hard time.  I feel sorry for her,” and Stephan answered, “She’s probably doing some screaming therapy.” 

Between the screaming-therapy-lady and the light, neither of us slept much, but it was  nice to be able to relax for a few hours.  The midwife came in periodically to check on things and added more medication to the epidural at one point. 

With an epidural, they also do continuous fetal heart rate monitoring, and I remember someone coming in at one point when the monitor started tracking my heart rate instead of the baby’s.  The sensors had to be placed back on a few times, because they easily came out of the bands that held them.  I found the monitor really distracting, because of this, and also because I kept wanting to watch the numbers change.

I also remember at some point another doctor saw our snacks and told me I needed to eat, but I had absolutely no appetite.  I didn’t mind drinking the coconut water we brought but really did not want to eat.  The doctor left the room, and the midwife said it was all the same to her, but we should get rid of the snacks before the doctor came back and saw them again.  So I forced myself to eat a little and Stephan ate the rest.  I really felt like I had no desire to eat anything until after the birth.

After a number of hours, as I approached 10 centimeters, they let the epidural wear off.  I didn’t ask why but assumed it was to allow for a (hopefully) more effective pushing-stage of labor.

At some point, the midwife was in the room and then said the baby’s heart rate had dropped into the 70’s, and I needed to get up off my left side and roll over onto my right side.  It seemed like seconds before the doctor was in the room, too, and the midwife told her what was happening. 

The doctor put something into my I.V. to help the baby’s heart-rate go back up.  I felt afraid for the baby and could feel my heart pounding, as I pondered whether there would be enough time for an emergency caesarian-section, to get the baby out, if his heart-rate didn’t go back to normal. 

Luckily the medication worked, his heart-rate returned to normal, and they said we should not worry anymore, that he was fine.  The midwife explained that occasionally when a baby hits the bottom of the pelvis, they go into shock, and the heart-rate drops.  I felt very grateful that she was in the room when this happened, knew what to do, and the doctor came so quickly.

Now that the epidural had worn off, the contractions came back full-strength, and I needed to start pushing with each contraction.  I was feeling all three types of contractions: the type that feel like lower back pain, that feel like severe cramps, and the type that are an overwhelming urge to push.  At first, they told me not to push yet, but I felt like it would be impossible not to, so I tried to just push as little as possible. 

Finally, I was allowed to push with each contraction.  In the beginning, they said I wasn’t pushing hard enough.  Later, they said I was pushing better (stronger).  I didn’t understand why, since I felt like I was pushing the same both times. 

I remember feeling like the labor was turning surreal.  It felt like being in a dream, and I wondered whether that was from the epidural, the Oxytocin in my I.V., or just from being in labor.

The pushing stage felt like it was lasting forever and was also the most painful.  I asked if there was anything they could give for the pain at this point, but they said there wasn’t. 

Toward the end, another doctor came in the room.  I also remember a young midwife-student sitting on the floor, to watch the birth.  I thought that it was pretty cool that she was just sitting calmly cross-legged on the floor, waiting to watch a baby be born. 

Although I could feel very slow progress (of the baby moving downward) during the pushing-stage, it seemed like it wasn’t going to end. The doctor said it would be over depending on how well I pushed, and I told her it wasn’t my fault it was lasting so long.  She said she didn’t mean that it was my fault.  She also said to keep pushing, because she could see the baby, and he had a “full head of hair.”  She said I should trust her, that he would be born soon. 

And after a few more pushes, his head was out!  I asked, “Is he okay?” and she said yes, and I should reach down and feel him, so I did.  And then with the next contraction/push he was born! 

(The pushing stage ended up lasting just under 2 hours.)

I thought they would hand him to me, but she said (nicely), “You delivered him.  Now you can be the first to pick him up.”  So I carefully picked up our little Sebastian, and they wrapped him in a warm towel.  I brought him to my chest, and we looked at him, and he looked back at us with big open eyes. 

Unbeknownst to me, Stephan took some photos of him just born, and I’m so glad he did.  I love having that moment captured on film.

I remember everyone leaving the room, and Stephan and I were able to be alone with Sebastian for awhile.  I don’t remember much of what we talked about, just the magic of holding him and looking at him, and looking at him, and him looking back at us.  And how warm and slippery and beautiful he was.

Here we are shortly after the birth.  I wanted to hold him close, skin-to-skin, but keep him warm.  

 Later, the doctor and midwife came back into the room so we could cut the umbilical cord (Stephan and I cut it together) and to deliver the placenta, and to bathe and weigh the baby.

Eventually we were shown to a temporary room to spend more time together as a family, and the midwife came in to check on us and to ask if we had any questions about the birth, which I appreciated.

After about an hour, it was time for baby Sebastian and I to go to our regular hospital room again. Our hospital does “rooming in” with the baby, so the baby stays in a bassinet (or a side-bed cosleeper, for those who had c-sections) next to your bed the whole time.  You may request that the nurses take the baby at night (and bring him or her to you for breast-feeding), but I was determined to keep Sebastian near me at all times. 

I had very little sleep for the first few days, but the hormonal changes that occur during labor make it so you can go without sleep for a few days and still feel okay (just tired).  I found being in the hospital very stressful by the end, though, and walking out of the hospital to the car to finally bring our baby home was a great feeling. 

Sebastian is now 6 weeks old and has outgrown many newborn outfits and gained a few pounds.  He has “found his voice” (started speaking baby-talk or "cooing"), smiles, and is making more eye-contact.  

Here he is today, sleeping on his activity-gym, while I finish posting this blog entry:

I feel like I could write about nothing but babies all day, but I will end this story for now, the Story of Sebastian’s Birth.