Birth Story

I have a confession. I LOVE reading birth stories. I’ve had a secret obsession with reading them even before I was ever pregnant. So it only seems appropriate that I share Finn’s birth story. Click the “read more” link if you want all the details.

My due date was April 15th. I had to be at school that day and it was really hard for me. I was super uncomfortable and felt like I was having more contractions than usual. I even had Jeff pick me up from campus because I didn’t want to walk to the bus stop. That night is when it all began. 

My contractions started at 1:30 a.m. on April 16. I wasn’t sure if they were the real thing because I’d been having contractions for weeks. But these were bad enough that I couldn’t stay in bed and try to sleep through them. Since we were planning on a natural birth I figured we were in for a long day so I tried to just let Jeff sleep while I labored in our apartment. I kept busy by doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, eating small snacks, walking around, doing homework, and taking a hot shower. At 6:30 a.m. I was tired of being alone so Jeff got up and told work he wasn’t coming in. At this point my contractions were anywhere from 5-12 minutes apart. 

The day progressed just as I wanted it to. We took a walk. I tried to sleep (didn’t work too well). We made lunch. Really it just felt like a normal day hanging out in the apartment except that I would have surges of pain every few minutes. At 5:00 p.m. we finally decided to drive to the hospital in Park City. It was getting harder to talk through my contractions and they were coming every 3 minutes. 

When we got to the hospital we walked in and I felt kind of silly because I could walk just fine-it wasn’t at all like the movies where everyone’s running and screaming. They hooked me up to the monitor and checked my cervix to see how far I was dilated. The nurse said I was at 4cm and I was definitely having regular contractions so I was in labor! Yay, we could stay! I couldn’t believe we were going to get to see our baby (that night I thought). We proceeded by walking the halls and trying to keep things moving. 

An hour later the doctor came in and told me I was dilated to 7cm. I was really surprised because I felt like I hadn’t had many contractions in that time and they weren’t that painful. I was thinking labor was easy. I seemed to be progressing so the doctor went home to have dinner and we continued to do our thing. I was able to take a warm bath, use the birthing ball, and walk up and down the hall. 

The nurse checked me a couple more times in the next few hours and I was still at a 7 and the baby felt pretty high. We started talking about having the doctor break my water. I thought it was a good idea since I knew I had a little extra fluid and I thought it might help him move down. I’d been in labor for 21 hours now and I was starting to get a little tired after getting no sleep the night before. 

The doctor came in at 11:00 p.m. to break my water. After she did that my contractions starting feeling more intense. I continued to walk the halls. Jeff was an amazing support and provided me with pressure on my back and counter pressure on my knees. By midnight I had only dilated one more centimeter to an 8. They put in an IUPC (Intrauterine Pressure Catheter) to see how strong my contractions actually were. They were only about half as strong as they should have been to get the baby into the birth canal. That’s when they started talking about Pitocin. 

I had really wanted to avoid Pitocin at all costs because I wanted a natural birth and I knew if I had Pitocin I’d need the epidural, knowing what Pit does to your contractions. My contractions were feeling way strong now and I was getting desperate to get the baby out so they called the anesthesiologist on call and he had to come up from Salt Lake. He got there in 30 minutes. Jeff was starting to get scared so he called my mom to come to the hospital. She got there in 15 minutes. It was such a comfort to see her walk into the room. I was a crying mess at this point. I felt I had somehow failed and I was going down the intervention path so many women do these days. 

After 2 epidurals (the first one didn’t work) I had some comfort from the pain, although I hated the feeling in my legs. I still felt a lot of pressure and Finn’s bum was really high in my ribs, but I was able to get little bits of sleep in the next few hours. At 6:00 a.m. the doctor checked me again. I was still only at 8cm and the baby’s head was still pretty high. There was also some meconium in the fluid which isn’t a great sign. That’s when we started talking seriously about a possible C-section. She said she’d give me another hour but if he didn’t descend more a C-section would probably be the best thing to do. 

At 7:00 a.m. I still hadn’t progressed and they started to get the team ready for the C-section. This was probably the hardest part of all my labor. I couldn’t stop crying. My dad rushed over to the hospital and him and Jeff gave me a Priesthood blessing. The one thing that made it ok was that I knew within the next hour I would see our precious little boy. By 7:30 I was in the OR and being given a spinal block. I quickly numbed up, they set me up, and let Jeff come in. 

After some very strange sensations in my abdomen Finn Turner O’Driscoll entered the world at 8:04 a.m. on April 17th. He weighed 9 pounds 13 ounces and was 22 inches long. He let out a little cry when they first pulled him out. He was so healthy and strong. The doctor said “You gave birth to a 3-month old”. From then on he was the talk of the hospital the rest of our stay. After I was stitched up and returned to my room I was able to do skin-to-skin with Finn and feed him. He latched on like a champ (and has ever since). 

I’m so grateful to be Finn’s mom. Although his birth didn’t turn out how I was planning I’m so grateful it ended the way it did with my healthy boy. When he came out he had bruises on his arms from being pushed up against my pelvis and I know it was such a blessing that I never progressed far enough to start pushing him out because he may not have fit. I’m so grateful for modern medicine and doctors and nurses that are knowledgeable. I’m so grateful for a wonderful husband who stood by me the entire time and provided all the encouragement and comfort I needed. I seriously think husbands deserve a reward for helping their wives through labor and birth-it’s hard work. What an amazing experience it is to bring a child into the world-no matter how it is done. Thanks for reading. :)