Birth Story

12/14/10: Well, Ivy will be 4 weeks tomorrow if you can believe it! I want to write my birth story before it’s a distant memory.

We were induced at UCSD starting on the 16th (Ivy’s due date). I was on the Labor and Delivery floor instead of in the birth center but I still had natural friendly nurses and was with the Midwives.

They started the pitocin around 5pm. Keith and I kicked back, listened to some jazz, and played Yahtzee until the surges became more noticeable. I called in our doula, Care Messer at about 6pm because I really expected things to go quickly. They didn’t. At least not as quick as I expected when I expected. We all just sat around talking until about 10pm when Keith decided to take a nap. Care and I talked and I listened to my hypnobirthing scripts off and on. Care massaged my feet and walked me through the surges as they got stronger. I was mostly on the birthing ball through the whole labor. I would walk a little just to mix it up. Whenever I decided to get into bed the surges were way more intense so I decided early on to stay off my back. This went on until about 4am when I decided it was time to wake up Keith. I was afraid he would miss the whole thing. I was having more intense surges and Care was talking me through them, helping me to stay as relaxed as possible and she told me to try “shhhhing” through the hard parts. I kept sobbing and shhhing through the surges. Around this time I was kind of moaning/screaming and Care was trying to keep my pitch low and relaxed.

The midwife finally came in at about 5am and checked me. I was really disappointed to learn I was only 7 cm dilated but 100% effaced. They asked if I wanted them to break my water and I said yes, given I was still worried the water would break and the cord would slip out. So, they broke my water.

Afterward, I got up and went to the bathroom, the surges were right on top on on another and I was having trouble standing and walking. I was almost back to the birthing ball when I had a surge and tried to lean on Care. I was afraid I was leaning too hard on her and she asked Keith if he wanted to step in. I was leaning on Keith, dance partner style and I started to feel Ivy’s head. I was screaming that she was coming and screaming for help. Care and Keith were trying to get me to the ball but I yelled I couldn’t sit down. Care reached down and felt Ivy’s head and yelled, “She’s crowing!” the nurse ran out of the room to bring the midwife back. I heard later the midwife didn’t believe Ivy was ready and said she was going to make a note in the chart and be right there- but then she heard me screaming and decided to come and check. I think they basically dragged me to the bed where I collapsed sideways. Half on, half off the bed the midwives and nurses held my legs and told me to push. I pushed once and Ivy’s head popped out. One more push and she was all the way out and immediately on my chest. It was 5:14am. She was 9 pounds 10 ounces and 22 inches long.

We waited for the cord to stop pulsing and Keith cut it. Ivy immediately latched on and nursed for about 45 minutes. Her blood sugar was low so they wanted to supplement with formula but I convinced them to wait and check it again after she nursed. She was fine. I was able to hold her for a couple hours before they took her to weigh her and poke her some more. She had a few tests and we were at the hospital for 3 days waiting on test results and waiting for her weight to come back up. We had to jump through a lot of hoops to prove I could feed her. They would weigh her naked, have me nurse and then weigh her immediately after. They had me pump and then nurse her while syringing the expressed milk into her mouth so they could see she was getting it. She was gaining slowly so after we made a next day Doctor appointment to check her weight and they finally agreed to let us take her home.

She’s been awesome ever since. Growing fast. Nursing constantly. Sleeping well. She’s a pretty mellow baby, I think. Not that it’s not a ton more work. Having two is crazy harder than one. There’s rarely a moment that I’m not needed, that no one is on me or needed me for something. But there’s so much joy that it’s all worth it.


We’ve been out and about pretty much immediately, but it’s getting even easier to get around. Today we took our first hike with Ivy and Miles in Mission Trails. it was a beautiful December day in the 70s and clear. Miles did great and it was wonderful to see him back in nature and so in his element. Ivy did great in the Ergo baby carrier/front pack. She basically slept and/or nursed through the whole hike. I’m so looking forward to more adventures with the both of them as Ivy becomes more aware of her surroundings and her awesome little personality begins to really shine.