I'm writing this myself to give it my own 'flavor', and show things from my perspective, but I'm ruthlessly stealing facts from the birth notes written by my WONDERFUL doula, Delilah. 

This is the final 'planned' birth that I would be experiencing, so I wanted to put my all into getting the birth I wanted so desperately. I interviewed Dr's until I found one that suited me and had the same ideas I had. Dr. Downey didn't disappoint in any area. After taking Delilah's birth class and lining her up as my doula, I felt strong and ready to go.

At 41w3d, I started having contractions, it was a Monday evening. I'd been walking at the mall that day in hopes of getting things moving. It did. After 16 hrs (or so) of contractions, they stopped. I was heart broken. After consultation with Delilah, I found out this may go on for days. I had most of Tuesday off. Tuesday night I had more contractions, about an hour apart, the same Wed and Thurs night. There were sporadic contractions off and on all week.

I had my 42 week appointment on Friday morning. I had contractions all the way of the 30-40 minute drive to the Dr's office. I was pretty determined at that point I didn't want to go home, no matter what he said, because riding in Mike's Mustang wasn't pleasant. It was good news from Dr. Downey. I was 5 cm and 80% effaced with baby at -1. I crowed, "Hah! Told you it wasn't glued together!" The expression on his face was happily suprised and said "No, you're right, it wasn't. How about you go on over to the hospital now?" I was excited, told him I'd be glad to and he called ahead warning them I was on my way.

(Now, to preface the next section here... My dr and I had agreed on one full contraction to be monitored every 30 minutes, meaning end of one contraction to start of next. We had also agreed I would have a hep-lock in case of emergency, but wouldn't have an IV unless medically necessary and I'd be allowed to drink clear liquids. I didn't plan on having an epidural or spinal block.)

Mike and I arrived at the hospital, all calls necessary were made en route. As soon as we walked in the room, our charge nurse tried to 'take charge'. She told me to lie on the bed so she could get me strapped into the external monitors and start my IV. I told her that wasn't how things were gonna work, "Let me get you a copy of my birth plan. I've already discussed these things with my doctor and we are agreed on it, call him if you need to." She proceeded to tell me, "Um, you're in the hospital now and I'm the boss." I proceeded to tell her, "Actually, honey, no, you're not. This is my birth, my body and I will make the decisions here." She tried to argue that her license would be taken away or some such nonsense and told me 'but hospital policy' and I referred her again to the birth plan that my doctor had agreed on. She took the plan, left the room and (I assume) talked to the doctor. She returned with an attitude adjustment and offered to 'start over'. She had already become the fly in the ointment, but we continued.

At around 1:30pm the dr came in later to 'discuss' with me my 'refusal' to do monitoring. I told him I was GLAD to do monitoring as he'd requested (1 contraction end of one to the end of the next every 30 minutes) and I'd TOLD the nurse that, but she hadn't been back again in the couple hours since the first monitoring. The nurses continued to do sporadic monitoring that really didn't work. The monitors didn't catch much in the way of contractions and I had to hold the monitor down to get the baby's heartbeat.

At around 3:30 pm the 'out of charge' nurse came in to check on me. She asked if she could check my cervix and reported I was at about a 6 or 7 and 90% effaced and baby was at -1. She reported the progress to the Dr, tried to monitor some more contractions and check the heart beat. That lovely nurse left the monitors on for the 'one contraction' and went to lunch.

Around 4:00 p.m. I felt the need to puke, never did, but booooooy, did I feel the urge. The contractions where hard and heavy. They did NOT tickle. During all this, my lovely husband and doula Delilah were massaging me to keep me loose and able to concentrate on something that felt pleasant. The sudden arrival of "I can't fight this feeling any more" on our play list durring hard contractions really spoke to me. 

By around 5:00 p.m., I was at a 7cm. By 5:30, my contractions were at every 3 mins. Dr. Downey came to check at 5:46. He was worried about the inability to keep a closer eye on the heart beat, he was worried about meconium in the water, and asked if I minded if he break it. He said it might also move things along. I consented, he broke the water, put the internal fetal monitor in and was done pretty quickly. Our 'Mensa' nurse then wanted to strap the contraction monitor on (which had NEVER worked to pick up a single contraction, by the way) to watch how the baby reacted to my contractions... We told her skip it and put the internal contraction monitor in. She seemed suprised when we suggested it. By that point, the contractions were so bad I didn't wanna talk anymore, but was able to get out a confirmation to put the dang thing in.

By 6:35 p.m. we were deep into transition. My lovely guests (Mom and BF) were escorted to the door by my WONDERFUL husband after a "look" from the AWESOME Delilah. They knew that I needed my privacy at that point.

At the 7:00 shift change we were introduced to our NEW nurse, the nurse with the mostest, Liz. Liz had been a midwife in South Africa for 20 years, she was the DREAM nurse. At 7:20, things changed. I felt the need to push, but I didn't know how to relay it, thankfully the change in my moaning (putting the sounds I was making lightly) changed and Delilah read my mind. She asked if I was ready for the Dr to check me again, and I nodded, or something.

Upon examination I was at a 10, with a slight anterior lip, 100% effaced, soft and baby was at +1. As they were putting the lights down and getting the bed ready, I got "Blinded by the Light" on the music list... Ah how I love psychic computers.

7:27 p.m. was my first 'pushing' contraction. Things weren't ready, not that I was aware of that, my body just started the pushing process. I'll quote Delilah here, as I wasn't really in my right mind. I was busy pushing out a baby...

"I wished someone were supporting her perineum, but no one was really appearing to notice that she was just pushing right along. At one point, I asked Liz if she could come support Mel's perineum, that I couldn't really do it under these circumstances. When I asked that, she came over and snapped for someone to give her gloves. She only had one hand gloved, and she called for Dr. Downey. The unnamed nurse went to put on gloves herself, but Liz said, Just give me a glove! My impression was that if Dr. Downey wasn't going to get in there in time, she was for darned sure going to catch that baby! Liz started supporting Mel's perineum and cleaning her up with 4x4 squares of gauze soaked in Betadine. At this point, an amount of Beth's head about like a tennis ball was already out.

Dr. Downey came in and someone stuck a gown and gloves on him, and Liz stepped aside and he stepped in just as Elizabeth's head crowned. I told Mel that was the most she was going to stretch, and if she pushed just a little more, one more time, she'd have a baby... and she DID!

7:36pm Elizabeth Ashley was born! A full head of long hair - wide-eyed and alert and pretty covered in meconium, but one minute AGPAR of 8. Melissa was ecstatic- 'I did it!!' "

They put her on my chest immediately, so I could look at her and try and get her latched on. Delilah cut the cord after my husband pointedly refused.. He's not much into the medical stuff. As Doc began stitching they took baby to clean her off a bit and give her the shots. I got my baby back, he finished with the stitches, and the doors were opened to my daughter and parents to view the new addition.

Honestly, I never could have imagined a better birth. The snarky nurse that we got at first really did me a favor, testing me out of the gates. I stood up and fought for my rights and dignity, and boy, did it feel good.

Elizabeth Ashley, born at 7:36pm on 5/4 weighing 6 lb 12 oz and measuring 19 inches long.