Her birth story begins
at my 37 week appointment when my OB shocked us by telling us that I was
already 4 cm dilated and fully effaced. That meant theoretically my body was
prepared for labor. I looked at Tim and then looked back at my Doctor with my
jaw dropped. She laughed at my expression. Since it was the Monday before
Christmas she advised us not to travel to my Aunt’s house for Christmas and to
get prepared to have a baby within a week, definitely within two weeks. We were
excited that we get to meet Gianna sooner than planned but more than a little
freaked out as well. Right away we told our family the news and they agreed
that we should stay close to home for Christmas.
We attended midnight Mass and I was
feeling semi-regular contractions during Mass. Could this be it? Was I going
into labor on Christmas Eve!? The contractions stopped when we got home and I
wouldn’t have regular contractions until the following Sunday. Everyone had
told us the 5-1-1 rule for going to the hospital. We were supposed to wait
until my contractions were 5 minutes apart or less , lasting one minute in
length for at least an hour. I was worried my labor would progress quickly so
on Sunday December 28th when my contractions were consistently five
minutes apart or less I told Tim we should go to the hospital. They had us walk
around for a few hours to monitor my progress and early Monday morning we were
told to go home. The nurse expected we would be back within 24 hour and I would
fully be in labor. The rest of the week continued with contractions coming and
going it was exhausting and I wasn’t sleeping. We made it to my 38 week exam
that Friday and my doctor was surprised to see that I wasn’t in labor. I wasn’t
amused. We discussed the option of stripping my membranes but decided to wait
another week for that. After my appointment I decided that I needed to relax so
I got a pedicure. My family came to visit that evening and we went to dinner.
Once we got home I had been experiencing contractions and I told Tim I wanted
to try a few things to help trigger labor, including bouncing on my exercise
ball. I was ready to get this baby out. We decided that my contractions weren’t
close enough to stay up and that we should go to bed.
After
having contractions through the night I woke up at 6 am and decided that I was
going to have this baby that day, Saturday January 3rd. It was one
day before our 1 year wedding anniversary. I started to time contractions and
they were about 5 minutes apart. I decided to wake up Tim and let him know it
was going to happen today. My contractions were not consistent but were
increasing in intensity so we decided to go for a walk and then head to the
hospital after lunch. By that point I was in crazy lady mode and told Tim that
I was not going to let them send me home, I was in labor. We got triage and
again we were going to have to pass the two hour test. We walked around and
took breaks with my contractions increasing to the point of making me want to
cry. I was excited because I knew that it was finally happening. Luckily I
dilated enough for them to admit me even though my darn contractions still
weren’t regular. I may have cried and told the nurse I couldn’t handle going
home even if it meant I might have a long labor ahead of me.
It
was about five pm before we finally got settled into our room and met our
lovely nurse. We spent about an hour getting the room set up and going through
our list of prayer intentions. I had to be on the monitors for twenty minutes
every hour. This part was my least favorite because I had to be in the bed and
it was harder to cope with my contractions. I was experiencing a lot of
pressure and pain in my back which seemed to confirm my greatest fear, back
labor. Tim was absolutely wonderful at helping me cope with my contractions, he
would rub and put pressure on my back and help me in any way he could. When my
contractions would start he would jump into place and never complained. I felt
like we were a really great team and I loved him so much for being so involved
in my labor. Since my contractions were still not very regular the nurse
suggested we walk the halls to try to speed things along. We would walk and
then I would stop and hang out to the railing when a contraction started. I
found that swaying my hips while Tim rubbed my back seemed to work the best. I
didn’t really care how silly we looked; everyone would know I was in labor anyways.
Shortly after we started walking around we ran into my OB who had just come on
duty. She told me based on my contractions and how I was coping that I wasn’t
in actual labor. This made me furious because I knew that I was in labor!
Luckily she decided to check me and realized I had dilated to 6 cm and actually
was in labor. In an effort to help me progress we decided to strip my membranes
but not break my water yet. That procedure was extremely uncomfortable but I
breathed through it and remained calm. Both my OB and Nurse said that they had
never seen someone stay so calm during that procedure. I felt vindicated that I
was actually in labor just coping really well.
I
will fast forward four hours. Over the next four hours we repeated walking
around and then going back to the room for monitoring. My contractions were
definitely getting more intense and closer together. I was starting to not cope
as well but figured I must be close to transition. I remember telling Tim that
I better be close to 8cm when my OB came back to check me. That is why I was
shocked when four hours later I was still stuck at 6cm. I felt discouraged. How
could I have spent the past four hours trying to relax through increasing contractions
for nothing!? At that point I agreed to have my water broken. After my water
broke things got really intense and fast. I was jumping around the room like a
crazy woman with Tim trying to keep up with me. My methods of coping weren’t
working anymore. The combination of not knowing how long it would be until I
was ready to push and the intensity of the pain lead me to consider an
epidural. At first it was just during contractions that I would tell Tim I
needed the epidural but after half hour it was decided and Tim thankfully
supported my decision. I was exhausted. Unfortunately it would be at least an
hour weight so I ended up getting pain meds via my IV first. Those are two
things I said I wouldn’t do.
Five
minutes before the clock struck midnight and it was our wedding anniversary I
was finally feeling some relief from the pain meds and could smile at Tim and
told him happy anniversary at midnight. We were going to have our baby on our
wedding anniversary. An hour later I got my epidural and it felt strange to be
able to rest. Tim felt useless and even got to nap half hour. Around two am my
nurse decided it was time to get the room ready for pushing. I didn’t realize
how much the room has to be prepared and how many people have to be on call for
the event. I was so naive I thought I would be pushing with my OB the whole time;
I was confused when my nurse gave me instructions and told me to start. Since I
had an epidural, the nurse had to tell me when my contraction was starting but
it actually wasn't that difficult to get the hang of pushing. However, as labor
had taught me, even though my efforts were good my baby still wasn't progressing much down the birth canal after an hour of productive pushes. My
nurse figured out that Gianna’s head was slightly tilted to the side and
confirmed that she had been sunnyside up and must have rotated during labor
just not fully. My OB was called in and helped to rotate her head. She ended up
staying since Gianna’s heart rate had been dropping slightly and I had to be on
oxygen. That was scary because I felt like it was somehow my fault. The last
half hour of pushing because exhausting but it was worth it once my Gianna
finally came out. I was beyond thankful that I did not need a C-section. Once
Gianna came out they noticed her umbilical cord had been compressed and that is
why her heart rate had dropped. She came out crying and healthy though! My
first thoughts were “wow she is really dark and looks more Filipino like Tim” it’s
funny those were my first thoughts. After
Tim cut the cord I was able to hold her and attempted to latch her. She didn't
really latch and that was just a sign of the breastfeeding struggles to come
but I was so happy to finally meet her! I couldn't fathom how she had been
inside of me moments before and now I was holding her in my arms. I was
surprised to learn that she was 19.5 inches and 7lbs 3 oz which was bigger than
I expected since she was a week early! She was quite the anniversary present
and we love her so much! Twenty four hours after I woke up determined to have
my baby she was born and amazingly I wasn’t as exhausted as I would have
expected. Gianna Rose Barbeau was born at 5:45 AM on Sunday January 4th,
2015.
