I am sitting here with my precious baby girl on my chest and I'm giving thanks again to a God who answers prayer! I was hoping to go into spontaneous labor with Eva Mae but as 41 weeks came closer and closer I began to lose hope and knew that I would be heading to the hospital on Monday night, Dec 5. I prayed that if I had to go in at a certain time, the Lord would make a way for the birth to go the same as my son's 2 years ago. http://gossfamily4.blogspot.com/2009/07/christians-birth-story.html
At 9:00am on December 5th I drank a mixture of castor oil/juice/almond butter and champagne to try to stimulate my uterus into contracting and labor. It started working around 3pm and we enjoyed a relaxing day at home getting ready to head to the hospital. My mom came over around 5:30 and we went to dinner and shopping before heading up to the hospital for the induction. I was having contractions but they were really easy to work through. Just pressure and a tightening sensation.
At 9:00pm we checked into Vanderbilt and met our nurse, Sylvia. She is a wonderful lady and I'm really glad we were put in her care!!! Melissa (the midwife) came in to check me and talk about our options. I had done a lot of progressing over the past few days and was at a good 6cm and -1 station. Effacement was only 50% but she said that subsequent pregnancies are typical to not efface as quickly as first pregnancies. She allowed us to spend a few hours walking around and using the breast pump to stimulate stronger contractions and I could tell that they were getting stronger! Whenever I was hooked up to the contraction monitor they saw some great progress - Melissa even mentioned that with the progress of the contractions there was no need to worry at all about having pitocin. My body was doing what it needed to do!!! Yay! (In fact, I was also allowed to decline a Heplock IV so I had NOTHING in my arms!!!!! I was so glad to have that freedom to move around without distraction!!!)
At around 11:30 or 12:00 Melissa came in again and asked if I wanted to be checked. I am so glad that she continued to let me labor on my own without the constant "hovering" and checking that I know some women have experienced in labor situations. I knew it wasn't time to push so I asked if we could just keep doing what we were doing and check on dilation later on. She was happy to work with me and my wishes! Throughout all this time I was in such a great place mentally. I had my CD playing my Hypnobaby tracks and when we were walking outside the room I played my tracks on my iPod. The most helpful tracks to listen to were "Easy First Stage," "Birthing Day Affirmations," and "Visualize Your Birth." I love the relaxing background music and the soothing voice of Terri, the founder of Hypnobabies!
At 2:00am Melissa came back in and between a contraction she checked on progress. I had a very bulging bag of water and progressed to a 7 but I was still 50% effaced. She asked if I wanted her to break my water and ever since I arrived at the hospital I was open to having my water broken as long as the baby's head was engaged low enough to eliminate a risk of cord prolapse. I think I was a -2 station at the time and Melissa was confident labor would be quick after breaking my water so I agreed. It was a weird sensation to feel all the water gush - Nick said Melissa's face was priceless when she saw how much water there was!!! I was really happy to hear that there was so much amniotic fluid because low fluid is a side effect of gestational diabetes at 40-41 weeks gestation.
The contractions were a lot stronger after my water broke and I had to really concentrate through them. Fortunately not many were right on top of each other so I was able to walk around and keep my mind off of the discomfort. I also spent time in and out of the shower with the hot water spraying on my back and that helped a lot! Throughout the contractions I kept myself in a deep state of hypnosis using the words "Peace" "Relax" "Release" and "Open" - all those reminders helped me keep my body loose and limp throughout a contraction so that Eva Mae could descend quicker and I would dialate faster.
At 3:30ish I had several really hard contractions that were more intense but not as long. I could also tell that they were a little different - like they were lower than the others. All of a sudden during one of the contractions I knew it was time to push!!!! Sylvia and Nick were the only ones in the room and Sylvia called her team of helpers to the room while Nick tried to find Melissa.
I jumped up on the bed and yelled "She's coming!!!" and started pushing! I couldn't wait and my body knew exactly what to do! Sylvia told Nick to put on his gloves and they were still waiting for Melissa but Eva Mae's head started coming out before Melissa got there! When she came in the room I could hear her laugh and say "I thought I was just coming in to check her!!!" She came over and guided Eva Mae's head and shoulders out and right then Eva Mae started crying and shot out! She came out so quickly that she completely slid past Sylvia's hands into Nick's hands! From the time I got on the bed to push to the time she was out was 4 minutes!!!!
Melissa helped me position myself on the bed to hold Eva Mae and I was able to bond with her for 45min to an hour before they took her to weigh and get her footprints! She latched on to breast feed quickly and has been a champion feeder ever since!!! When they took her to weigh I couldn't believe she was 10 pounds! She seemed so much lighter than Christian but she ended up being longer and only a half a pound lighter!!! (10lb 1oz, 22in)
We were able to go home after 24 hours and we've been so blessed with her sweet nature and easy disposition!!! I am so in love with my baby girl and so thankful that the Lord answered my prayer for an easy, safe and comfortable childbirth!!! Just like Christian's birth in 2009, I can't thank the Hypnobaby program enough for the education and support of natural childbirth! Nick says I'm the "poster child" for Hypnobabies!!! The Vanderbilt Midwives are so supportive and encouraging and I'm thankful that the opportunity is here in Nashville to have a hospital birth with a midwife! Melissa was amazing and my primary care under Linda was such a wonderful experience!!! I pray that the Lord will allow us to have more children in the future with awesome birth stories!
-RaeAnna and Nick Goss (Christian, 2009 and Eva Mae, 2011)
