Quorra's Birth Story

Birth Story of Quorra Renee

Her birth didn't turn out the way I had planned and wanted, but it turned out great either way.

Back in the beginning of the pregnancy with her, I had a dream that she was going to be born on 10/17. I noted the date in my calendar so I didn't forget as the time approached.

The last week of September, at 35 weeks, I knew the countdown was on. I was achy and the braxton hicks had ramped up immensely, where positional change created a contraction throughout the day. I was also pretty stressed out at work, which created stress induced contractions as well as Quorra squirming at the adrenaline jump from the stress. I was exhausted... I had 2 days that week of contractions every 15 minutes... made me so sore. I was heavily using magnesium to keep the contractions at bay.

It was at this week I decided to do some muscle testing (applied kinesiology) on the baby to see if she could give me a date on when she was going to arrive. I had tried this months before and she wasn't able to provide a good time at that time, but since the time was getting closer, I thought I'd try again, just to see if it works.

Quorra confirmed she would show October 17... and I believed her.

At 36 weeks, first week of October, I withdrew from employment for the sake of my sanity as well as health and health of Quorra. I wanted her to come when she was ready... not because my body was kicking her out due to a stress response. I continued to have regular braxton hicks along with lightning crotch as she would engage. I sat back and rested to calm down my system and let it do it's thing.

The first part of 37 weeks was calmer. So much calmer that I mentioned to David and other friends that this was likely “the calm before the storm” on Wednesday 10/15. No braxton hicks... I felt the urge to get some things ready, like my padsicles and pack up other random things.

That night, I had some braxton hicks contractions that got down to about 8 minutes apart... I moved around a bit and it stopped.

Quorra was posterior head down... and my body kept trying to move her around and she was just not having it.

The next couple days were similar in behavior... quiet in the morning, and then contractions would start up around 5pm and quit around 9pm after I would get up and move around to either get them to be productive or stop them.

October 17 came and went... and boy was I disappointed. I was convinced it would be another couple weeks of these contractions and discomfort while sleeping. My hips, suffering with SPD, ramped up into another level of pain that day. I had a chiropractic appointment that day that I missed (David was late from work) and I was just dying... could hardly walk at all.

Saturday 10/18 was a day of laying around because 1) I couldn't walk, and 2) I was annoyed that I couldn't sleep. Contractions were pretty constant that day, but nothing painful and nothing productive. I was surfing around on the internet and found where someone had suggested the Spinning BabiesPelvic Floor release for SPD and hip pain. DEAL. I was willing to try anything and the position was easy enough... and I was not about to go possibly another 2 weeks in this much pain.

David came home from work and we performed the pelvic floor release around 8:30pm that night. I heard this nice pop... and I noticed an immediate relief from pain. Hoping it wasn't just psychosomatic, we went to bed that night and I prayed it would move into the next day and swore I'd do it every day if I needed to.

I woke to a nasty contraction at 315am that night that felt like an IBS attack. I've had these throughout the pregnancy, so I really didn't think much of it... just went to the restroom, and then as I went back to the bed, another contraction hit me. Fearing that I ate something that was going to irritate my stomach (had GF homemade pizza) I stayed up and waited the contraction out to see if I was going to need to return to the restroom. I climbed back into bed and dozed until I was woken up again at 350am by another contraction.

By this point, I was like “really...? come on stomach.” I got up again, returned to the restroom, where nothing was happening in there. Started to leave, and got another contraction. By this point, I had figured out it had nothing to do with my stomach. :) I stood next to the bed and waited for the next one, watching the clock... and in 5 minutes I got another.

So I decided to get up... went out to the living room and sat in the dark on my recliner/rocker, rocking and reading FB and whatnot. Turned on my contraction timer... contractions were anywhere between 8 min apart down to 4 and were a solid 45 seconds to about min and a half long.

From 4am to 5am, there was a break in pain between the contractions and I just waited through it. Toward 5am I had to start focusing through them, as they intensified... and the pain never quite disappeared between contractions at this point. I was starting to feel it in my back, so I changed positions to try and relieve this, and it just made it worse. Leaning forward did nothing... being on hands and knees was very uncomfortable.

By this point, the time between was shortening down to 2-3 min between contractions. I still felt like there was a bowel problem, so of course my brain starts coming up with reasons why it would be my bowel and not labor. I had issues with my bowels for the last week... so of course I was like “Maybe it's a blockage!” and combining that with the fact that there was constant pain and no break like I was taught between contractions, I was thinking it was a medical emergency and not just having a baby.

I wait until 5:30 to wake up David. Things were getting more and more intense and the pain between contractions were getting worse. Having planned on a home birth, no hospital bag had been packed... so I threw some things together... and included a couple of baby things because if I was going to have surgery, the baby was coming too.

Things were calm... there was no scramble or anything like that. I really didn't want to go to the hospital, but I was getting more and more concerned that there was a problem that might affect the baby and I wasn't taking that risk.

We drove to the hospital... we were in by 6am.

First thing they said: “Not a blockage... you are likely in labor.”

Wonderful. I fell for the first time mom newbie trick... blamed my pain on something else and ended up in the hospital when that wasn't what I intended.

So they took me to a room, checked me, and I was at 3.5cm. Went through all their questions... told them I didn't want an epidural... but maybe some pain meds to take the edge off. They told me that they would be back in 45 min to check again... if there is progression, they will check me in to labor and delivery. In the meantime, I was to lay on the bed on my left side and see if the contractions would slow down.

Yeah... no. It made the contractions SO MUCH WORSE. I tried so hard to tolerate it... and finally I was allowed to get up and move.

Unfortunately, at this point, I was unable to even THINK about walking down that hallway. I was in constant pain... and when the contractions hit, they were sharp and intense, causing me to tighten up, feeling like everything from my ribs down to my knees was going to just explode into one hot mess in that room. I couldn't even make my way off the bed. I just stood there, shaking... thinking I was going to vomit from the pain. I am NOT a puker... and this was purely a pain response. I had no nausea, just a pure body reaction to the intense pain.

At this point, I'm seriously rethinking my “no epidural” journey... a big “fuck it, I'm here anyway and this blows” was running through my mind.

Finally they came back and checked me again... I was at 5cm. It seemed like forever... even though it was just the 45 minutes they said. They agreed that I was in labor and started the process to get me wheeled up.

I told them an epidural was needed... and soon. I told David to keep that trash can handy because I don't know what my stomach is going to do.

So we get up there... all I can see is the light at the end of the tunnel. The nurse was saying the anesthesiologist was on his way to get this done right away for me and they were going to start my IV and get me on some antibiotics because I never had GBS testing. They had to do two rounds of antibiotics I guess.

I just didn't really care... I wanted relief... just some sort of SOMETHING to take the edge off.

Anesthesiologist showed up... real nice guy. I liked him even more because he was salvation for me. Haha

We got the epidural done and done quick. I barely felt the needle go in... for either my IV or the epidural. Within 5 minutes, the roar of pain in my head dimmed enough for me to think and take in my surroundings.

And boy was I thankful.

In another 10 minutes, the nurse checked me again... this was maybe 45 minutes to an hour after the last check... I was at 9cm! Looking back now, it's a good thing they got that epidural in me when they did, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to do it... I was too far along, and it was only like 830am. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't gotten the epidural, Quorra would have easily been born by 10am.

However, I got the epidural... and that took more than just the edge off. I couldn't feel CRAP. Most people talk about having some sort of measure of muscle control... yeah, not me.

The nurse and the doc came in... the nurse was the best ever, named Mary Kay. She was so close to a midwife... she was all about breastfeeding and skin on skin and all about bonding with the baby.

Speaking of... I had researched this hospital. I had a little inkling that this exact situation might happen so I wanted to make sure I went with the right hospital. This hospital has the 2 hour bonding process for the baby and they were all about avoiding c-sections... I was very happy with it.

Both nurse and doc mentioned that my body was just powering through heavy duty contractions every 1.5 to 2 min... “cranking them out”. Quorra was doing well... her heart rate was remaining normal with the normal fluctuations. In fact, she was kicking me and moving around the whole time. Earlier in the process, I was convinced she was “hiding” under my ribs like “hell no, I'm not leaving!”

About 11am, I started feeling the contractions more. I mentioned it to the nurse, in case it meant something. Come to find out, at about 1245 when she checked me again to get ready to push, my water had broken on it's own... which is likely why I started feeling the contractions again. No more cushion!

So we started the process of pushing... and wow. I didn't realize I could push so hard. Hahaha I swear I blew a few veins in my head... talk about a star burst each time that took my breath away.

I ended up pushing for about an hour... Quorra was still posterior and locked behind my pubic bone. She unfortunately bears the mark of my pubic bone on her nose... poor baby.

Toward the end, her cord came up near her head, and got locked in the cervix, and it caused a massive deceleration of her heart rate... down to 50. The nurse kicked into gear, called in the doc, got oxygen on me, and the room was then flooded with people ready to get the baby out NOW. The nurse was good... she didn't express any urgency or tell me really what was going on... I finally figured out what was happening and I started my inner dialogue with Quorra, telling her to hang on, she will be out in a bit. Right after telling her this, her heart rate returned back to the 140's, where it had been normally.

I pushed maybe 2-3 more times after this, and she finally came through with a loud garbled cry.

My reaction: “BABY!!” and burst into tears.

They cleaned out her air ways and placed her on my chest/belly in a towel... they kept rubbing her with this terry towel, which I know was way too rough for her sensitive newborn skin, so she kept crying because they kept rubbing at her. She would quiet and look around when they would stop.

David got some video... I talked to her a bit... held on to her for a bit while the placenta was being birthed. They delayed the cord cutting at my request and they were able to provide me my placenta for encapsulation without issue. David cut the cord... and when we were ready, they took her away to weigh and measure and whatnot.

At 7lbs 15oz and 21.25 inches long, she was set and ready to be a 10lb baby if she had gone to 40 weeks. She was born at 143pm at exactly 38 weeks. Her head thick dark LONG hair was crazy... at almost 2 weeks old, she has lost a minor amount but still definitely has it. :)  

She didn't quite show on the October 17 like she had intended, but I think my pelvic floor was holding her back... if I hadn't done that release, it could have been even later. 

She is the most amazing blessing and I am thankful for her presence every day. :)