Landen's Birth Story

Landen’s Birth Story

            Landen’s birth story really begins on Saturday, March 25, 2017. Amy was here and I started having contractions. To distract myself, we went on a walk, and Amy and I went to the pool just to put our feet in because the water was too cold. The contractions were all over the place but they were getting more and more intense and some closer. So, we called for the birthtub and I went to bed. I woke up with no contractions the next morning.

            Amy had stayed the night so we went on another walk to get things moving. Amy is my best friend/ midwife/ doula. Afterwards, Amy went to hear her sister talk in church and my contractions became constant at 8 minutes lasting for about a minute, if not more.

            Lily was adorable. She is my 2 year old. She would bring me water after a contraction and was feeding me pretzels and hummus. After a contraction she would come over and give me hugs and I loved it. Amy came back over and it SEEMED like labor was progressing. Prior to having any contractions I was already 4cm.

            After 7 hours of “contractions” that to me felt like they were increasing in intensity, I would get in the tub and they would start spacing out. I was checked again and I was still only 4cm. I wasn’t in labor. I had pretty much forced Amy to stay with me because my last birth was only 4 hours. I took a Benadryl to sleep, and Amy went home so that I wouldn’t anticipate the birth so much.

            On Wednesday, I had more of the same. Those ones stopped after 4 hours.

            Friday morning, March 31, 2017,  I woke up at 12:30 AM with very intense contractions every 2-3 minutes apart that would last a minute. I called Amy and gave her our code word and she was on our way. Having your best friend be your midwife has it’s perks J.

            After 5 hours, the contractions stalled started to space out and I was able to get about an hour of sleep. I woke up and prayed for the millionth time in just the past few days. I asked to guidance and strength to know what to do and for everything to be ok. As soon as I was off my knees, I knew. I knew with every fiber of my being that this baby was not going to come out at home. That scared me. I didn’t know if I felt that way because it was true or if I was just scared and wanted it all to be over. Then I had an overwhelming feeling that everything was going to be ok. I knew I wasn’t feeling what I was feeling out of fear. I wasn’t scared of birth. I had already had 1 natural birth and I had complete faith in Amy and her preceptor Tiffany.

            When Amy woke up (in my guestroom), I talked it over with her and she is truly amazing. There are definitely some people who are divinely called to certain careers and I believe Amy was destined to be with women during birth. Her instincts at births are amazing and just from hearing her talk about things, I know that she is guided with each situation. I told her that I felt like the baby (we didn’t know the sex, even though I was 95% sure it was a boy) was trying to tell us something. She agreed and said she wanted me to go get a biophysical profile done to see what was going on. Luckily, I already had a previously scheduled appointment with Dr. Harter that day.

            I called my neighbor Kaitlin to see if she could watch Lily for us and then Sean, Amy, and I grabbed some breakfast at Baby Stacks on my way to my appointment. Dr. Harter said everything looked great but he wanted me to get the no stress test done as well.

            I went over to the hospital immediately after my appointment. I wasn’t even hooked up for 10 minutes before I knew they were not going to let me leave. The baby’s heartrate was non variable. I called Amy and she came immediately. I was in tears. I knew I needed to be there but I was heart broken over the fact that this is not how I wanted it to go. I had a terrible experience in the hospital after my daughter was born and I didn’t want to be there.

            Dr. Harter met me in my room and gave me the option to break my water or start Pitocin. When he came in the room and saw my strip (heartrate) himself he said they were pretty quick to consider me a category 2 and he wasn’t concerned because by then we were seeing some variability. I wanted to see if the Pitocin would be able to get me into active labor enough that I could get off everything and let my body do it’s thing. They started me at 2. My contractions would start and then I wouldn’t be able to feel them after an hour or so. The same thing happened when they turned the Pitocin up to 4, and 6. I finally told Amy I wanted them to break my water because it was the same cycle over and over.

            Amy brought in Dr. Harter and he broke my water at 7:00pm and my first contraction immediately pushed baby from a -2 station to 0 and I went from 4cm to 6cm. Dr. Harter said that he was impressed and that he would stay close by. I was finally in labor!

            All this time baby’s heart rate was on and off concerning. I had some decels through out everything leading up to this. They then had to put in an internal monitor because my contractions were moving the baby so much that they couldn’t keep up with it.

            I was laboring leaning over the bed with Sean or Amy in front my me holding my hands and the other doing counter pressure on my hips.

            After several excruciating contractions, I wanted to quit. I told Amy and Sean that and they kept encouraging me and telling me that it was almost done. I then felt that overwhelming urge to push. The nurse told me to stop pushing but my body literally wouldn’t. Amy kept telling me to do what I felt like I needed to do and when the nurse checked me she said, “oh!... ok.” Harter was right outside and heard because he was immediately by my side. Amy put the back of the bed up so I could squat against it and support myself. Dr. Harter, being the awesome doctor he is, got on the bed behind me so I could push however I felt comfortable.

            I kept pushing but I felt the baby crown a few times (which sucks) and I heard Amy tell me to keep pushing and to give it all I got. It is hard to describe in here, but I know Amy and I have been to births with Amy. She was calm the entire time but I know that tone that she used and I knew what it meant. Something was going on and I needed to get the baby out so I HAD to keep pushing. Soon, everyone was yelling to push as hard as I can. To be honest, I was terrified because I didn’t know what was going on I just knew something was. I pushed as hard as I could and Landen James Simmons was born at 7:59 pm. Harter said to turn around and see what I had. When I turned and saw him, I was scared. He was floppy and blue. By the time Harter put him in my arms, he was making some little efforts to breath. Amy told me to talk to him and he did come around. His APGAR score was still 7 and 9.

            They had to take him to the warmer but then brought him right back. He was 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long.

            After things calmed down, Harter was so sweet. He got emotional and was saying how blessed he was to be apart of this experience and he know what this one lucky kid to be with us. Before he left, he gave me a hug and a kiss on the head and Landen as well.

            I then asked Amy what happened. Landen was a complete shoulder dystocia. That is where both shoulders were stuck behind my pelvis so Harter had to go in, hook both shoulders with his fingers and corkscrew Landen, he also had to pull one arm out first to get Landen out. It took about 2 minutes for Harter to get him out.

            It all started to make sense. For days, my body was trying to get Landen out but his shoulders were so wide, I had a lot of fluid, and he couldn’t get enough pressure on my cervix to dilate me more OR to break my water bag (mine are strong), so then my body would stop contraction to protect him from going into distress. That is the amazing thing about our bodies. They are so smart. They know what to do. Every birth I went to was amazing, beautiful, and different. Once the baby was born the “different” labors would make complete sense.

            Everything happened how it was supposed to. Harter was leaving the next morning and I know no other Dr. would have been as respectful for my wishes and would have flipped me over and given me an episiotomy when Harter worked with me and my comfort. I know that if it got to the point where he was concerned he would have probably done that too but he knew he had time to try to give me the experience I wanted and I appreciated that so much. We need more doctors like him.

            Anyway, Landen nursed right away and was a champ!

            My birth did not go how I wanted it. I didn’t get the peaceful homebirth that I have witnesses so many times. I didn’t even get my waterbirth that I wanted and loved with Lily. It took me a long time to not feel like my body was broken or failed me because I needed more help. I don’t believe Landen would have handled any more Pitocin based on what his heart rate was doing at such low doses. I know that my water needed to break. I know what God was definitely with me through this process because I could feel the help and comfort and also it all worked out too perfectly to not be the Plan. Another part of the story, Amy had another client in labor. She was literally down the hall from me. Even though she got to the hospital before me, she didn’t need Amy until Landen was barely born. It all happened how it needed to and I am so grateful I had my amazing and supportive husband with me as well as my best friend Amy, my respectful doctor, Dr. Harter and an awesome nurse for the majority of my time there (which was a nice change from last time).

            It was one of the most emotional days of my life and the most intense hour for sure. I couldn’t have done it without Sean AND Amy. It changed how I will be able to approach any future pregnancies. I will HAVE to find out the gender next time to know what precautions to take and it could possibly effect where I decide to give birth too. No matter what happens in the future, this was Landen’s journey and it was beautifully intense, and unexpectedly perfect for what he needed.

P.S. Lily did NOT like "baby"