Birth Story: Held Up at Triage
Our third child, M, was born at ___ Hospital. All in all everything went well. We were able to go naturally, which was great! We were a little concerned about some stories we had heard about the Hospital’s policies in triage for the couples to be separated. I was separated from my husband for forty five minutes in order for them to ask me one question that lasted less than five seconds. Very frustrating and disappointing. I chose to be have a vaginal exam to see how far along I was and was disappointed at my progress and I really needed some support at that time. But I sat by myself, in the triage room, talking myself through my contractions. Not and ideal beginning to our hospital stay. However, the nurses were phenomenal and very accommodating. My labor was thirteen hours long (the longest of all three pregnancies), and my contractions were very intense and difficult to deal with. In hindsight, I don’t think I stayed at home laboring long enough, because I was nervous that with the third pregnancy, I would go faster and wouldn’t get to the hospital fast enough. So we were at our home for about eight hours and I was four cm when we arrived at the hospital. The other six cm seemed to crawl by. I feel like I was able to use my relaxation techniques and meditation very well at some points, but at others I became very overwhelmed and threw everything I learned out the window. But there were points when I was 7 or 8 cm that I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep in between contractions. I was getting very disheartened toward the end because I felt I wasn’t progressing fast enough and didn’t know how much more I could take. Finally I went to sit on the toilet to urinate and my body let out a giant push, my water broke, and I barely had time to get back on the bed because two minutes and a couple pushes later M was born. My midwife was down the hall in another patient’s room, but it all happened so fast that a nurse caught my baby in just the nick of time, rather than my midwife. My recovery was very speedy, with no complications, I only had to receive one stitch, and M was as healthy as could be at 8lbs. 12 oz. He is a very happy baby, very mellow, and very chubby! Our family is doing great!