BrendaAD: Breanna's Super-Fast Delivery

Posted Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:48 AM

"That's when my water broke...ALL over her.  I thought for sure she was going to freak out, but instead she threw her hands up and chuckled."

Getting ready for baby

Breanna June Drinkard was born on 09/11/2009 at 10:46pm, weighing in at 6lb 2oz and 19 inches long. I went to see my midwife for my checkup at 1pm that day and told her I noticed some irregular contractions earlier that week. I was curious to see if I had dilated any more since the last time we checked.  I was 1cm dilated earlier in the week.  My midwife leaned down to check and she looked stunned. She said that I was pretty much 3cm dilated and I was really thinned out.  When I asked her what that meant, she said there was a possibility that I could have my daughter in the next few days...maybe even that evening.  I thought she was kidding but boy was I wrong!
 
That afternoon I picked up my son and a friend's son from school. It was about 3pm and I started to notice some pressure-like cramps, but I didn't think much of it.  I was still spotting a bit from the exam earlier and thought that might have had something to do with it.  I didn't take much notice until my friend returned from work around 5pm.  I was cramping a bit more and wondered if maybe I was just having more irregular contractions.  Wrong! 6pm rolls around and I start to notice the contractions becoming more regular.  I knew I was in labor, but was completely unsure of how to handle it all.  (When I was pregnant with my son, I never went into labor on my own...I had to be induced when he was a week overdue.) All of this was a bit new to me.  By 7:30pm, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart.  Since I was determined to have her med free, I did the only thing that I knew to do...say "Oooooooooooh!"  The vibrations from saying it helped so much with the pain.  I called my midwife to let her know what was going on.  She told me to call her back when the contractions were about 4-5 min apart. 

By 9pm, I decided to take a shower to help dull some of the pain...it didn't work.  In fact, my contractions got closer together...about 5 min apart!  I came out of the shower, got dressed and headed to the living room.  I leaned on the arm of the couch with my legs spread and started swaying from side to side, moaning to the pain. By this time, my friend's husband was home from work and he started timing my contractions, which were now 3 minutes apart.  I was panicking by this time...worried I would pop out my mini-me in the living room of my friend's home! I called my midwife again and told her I thought the contractions were about 3 minutes apart.  She talked me through a few of the contractions and noticed that they were closer than that...about 1 min apart!  I was really starting to freak out.  She told me that she'd meet me at the hospital at 10:30pm (it was 10pm). 
 

Off to the hospital

We gathered my hospital bag and hopped (well...I wobbled) into the truck.  My friends drove me to the hospital and the whole way there I arched my back in pain while screaming profanities.  When we reached the hospital, I slowly made my way to the registration counter of the ER. Since I was already registered, they notified Labor and Delivery of my arrival.  They asked me if I wanted to be wheeled upstairs, but because I was having such back labor, I wanted to walk off the pain.  (Oh...I wish I had taken up that offer.)  Halfway to the elevator entrance, I stopped and swayed, moaning about how close the contractions were.  When we entered the elevator, the contractions were so close together that I couldn't move out when we reached our stop.  Everyone had to lift me out and flag a nurse to help. 

When I got to the double doors of Labor and Delivery, I found out my room was all the way at the end of the hallway.  I called it the “Green Mile”.  Halfway down the hallway, the pain was so unbearable that I crouched down and started to sob.  I started begging for pain meds even though I knew it was too late for that.   Next thing I knew, I felt like I had to push and I was overly nauseated.  I looked at my friend and told her I how I felt.  The nurse next to her was quick thinking and with a flash of confidence, reached over and tore the plastic off of a clean wash bucket and tossed it under my chin.  I started upchucking immediately.  Knowing we had to get me to my room NOW, the nurse gave up trying to locate a wheel chair and instead had me hop on for a ride on a rolling office chair.  All the way to the room, I threw up in my "special" bucket.

Here comes Breanna!

When we made it to my room, they rushed me to the bed and tore my underwear off.  I was screaming about the pain and how I wanted pain meds. I leaned to my right and grabbed the railing as though I was going to fly away somehow.  I saw my midwife make it into the room and head over to wash her hands.  All the while she's telling me to hold on until she finished washing her hands.  My midwife turned to me and asked me if I wanted to push and I told her yes.  She said to stop pushing when she tells me.  This whole time, I'm screaming "RING OF FIRRREEE!  RING OF FIRRREEE!" "I want pain meds!"  My midwife turned to me, smiled and said..."Sorry hon, it's a bit too late for that...her head is pretty much there."  All I could do was scream "NOOOOOOOO!"  She stood at the end of the bed and moved my left leg to expose it all. That's when my water broke...ALL over her.  I thought for sure she was going to freak out, but instead she threw her hands up and chuckled. 

She told me to push when I was ready and in two good pushes, my daughter's head was out.  (I noticed the Ring of Fire was gone!) I was told to stop and hold.  She guided out the rest of my daughter and as soon as she came out, immediately placed her on my naked chest. I had the wonderful opportunity to hold my daughter on my chest, close to me, for a whole hour before they removed her to clean her up and give her the necessary checkup.  Breanna had a hematoma on the top of her head (from when she was inside and pressing on my pelvis) but she was beautiful.  She had a full head of dark hair and beautiful blue-gray eyes.

The delivery was so fast...no one made it to the hospital in time. Geez, the friends that drove me there would have missed it all if they didn't turn around in the room in time! I found out later that the hospital had timed me from my arrival all the way until I gave birth to Breanna...it was 7 min.  Just imagine: I could have had her in my friend's truck!  It was the most wonderful and unusual experience.  I wouldn't change it for anything.