Piper Gray: A Birth Story

Piper Gray Titus was welcomed into our family on Sunday, September 28th at 9:24am. 

**Prepare yourself, I wanted every detail documented, so it's a long one**

But, let's back up a bit. On Saturday morning at about 3am I woke up having a contraction. Up to this point, I hadn't had any real contractions. I had had a ton of Braxton Hicks and had been feeling pretty crampy for a couple weeks, but nothing real. During the night, my contractions were pretty far apart. They started out about 45 minutes to an hour apart. Since they were so far apart, I was still able to get some sleep between contractions, but they were powerful enough to wake me up when they did hit. Josh had work on Saturday, so when he left that morning, I let him know to keep his phone close by. The day went pretty much as normal. My contractions slowly got closer and closer throughout the day and slowly more powerful as well. It was going how I had always imagined labor to go (remember I was induced with Elliott. I never had spontaneous labor with her. Everything I felt in her labor was Pitocin induced). Elliott was pretty cute throughout the day. As my contractions got to the point where I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through them, she would come up and pat me and say, "okay, mommy" and kiss me. But as they got even more powerful, she started just laughing every time one hit. Little stinker girl. :) By about 8:30pm, shortly after putting Elliott to bed, my contractions were pretty consistently about 7 minutes apart. I let Josh know to probably start wrapping things up at work and head home (he now has a 25 minute commute). I wanted to be freshly showered before we headed to the hospital, so I hopped in. I took a long one and it wasn't until the end of the shower that I realized I didn't have a contraction the whole time. What? It had been at least 20 minutes. And I didn't have one for another 25 minutes or so. I was so bummed. Was the whole day just false labor? It couldn't have been! I told Josh he could stay at work a while longer (he was closing that night) and that I would let him know if things picked back up. It didn't take too long for them to get back to about 7-10 minutes apart, thank goodness. I guess the shower was just too relaxing. :) I let Josh know that they were 7 minutes apart again and to head home so we could finish packing our last minute things and head out. Josh got home from work about 10:00pm. They were still only 7 minutes apart so he showered, ran and grabbed some late dinner for him and then we decided to wait it out a bit more. I really didn't want to get to the hospital and get sent home. So we waited until they were about 5 minutes apart and then packed up the car, grabbed the sleeping Elliott and headed out. We had to stop at Morgan and Jenn's house to drop off Elliott for the night. They were so gracious and were on call for us during labor. We really appreciated that since my mom wouldn't make it in time for the birth. This was about 2:00am (Sunday morning). By the time we got to the hospital, contractions were about 4 minutes apart and, what I considered at the time, somewhat powerful. We got checked in and hooked up and the nurse came in to check me. Contractions were indeed real and were consistently 3-5 minutes apart. Perfect. I was sure I would be quite dilated since my contractions had now been going for just under 24 hours. She checked my cervix and I was only dilated to a 3. Ah. What? I was pretty discouraged, but I was also determined to make some progress. She told me that I wasn't considered active labor until I hit 4cm, so in order to be officially admitted, I would need to progress a whole cm in an hour, or they would send me home. I got right to work. I did squats and bounced on the medicine ball. Anything I could do to stretch things out and work through the contractions, letting gravity do it's work. And guess what? It worked. She came in at 4am and I was at a 4+. Hooray! I could stay. 

The next few hours went pretty smooth. I spent no time in the bed, which was a huge relief compared to my labor with Elliott. My contractions were so powerful with Elliott (again, thanks Pitocin) that I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die. I didn't feel that way with this one. Josh sat on the bed and I bounced on the ball in front of him and through each contraction, he offered counter-pressure on my lower back. That absolutely saved my life. If he was out of the room or in the bathroom when a contraction started, I would panic because that counter-pressure helped me so much! He was such an amazing coach. I loved having his support through such a hard job. Around 6:30am the nurse came in and I asked her to check my progress. I felt like things had picked up quite a bit, and I was sure I would be seeing some progress. I was dilated 6cm. She said that with second babies she likes to have everything ready by the time they hit 7cm because unmedicated, second births typically go pretty quick. So she started to get everything set up for the delivery and let the doctor know to come soon. She also wanted to the doctor near by as soon as I hit a 7 in case transition went quick. The doctor came in at 7am and broke my water. I was still only at about a 6+ and he didn't feel like it was enough progress for the point I was at and wanted to speed things up. At this point, I was grateful. I wanted to get things going! Once he broke up my water my contractions got quite a bit more powerful and were 1-2 minutes apart. I was really having to moan through them and occasionally caught myself losing focus. I was sure this was transition phase. I let the nurse know around 8am that I was starting to feel pretty pushy. She called the doctor in and he was sure that I would be ready to push. But, unfortunately I was still only dilated 7cm! How was that possible? Those contractions were intense and I hadn't progressed at all? I didn't understand why I was feeling the urge to push if I wasn't at a 10. He explained that I should listen to my body and do what I felt was right. So I climbed in bed and grabbed my legs and started breathing/screaming/pushing through the contractions. Apparently, Piper wasn't quite engaged enough to push me through those last few centimeters so my body was telling me to push her there. Gosh, that was miserable. I'm not going to lie. That was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Elliott's labor was terribly hard and so long and so intense, but this beat it. Pushing felt good and natural, but it wasn't relieving like it would be soon. It felt so difficult and I couldn't feel the progress since I wasn't pushing her out yet and only pushing through those last centimeters. I didn't even know that was possible. Has anyone else had to do that? Yikes. Talk about excruciating. It took from 8am-9:15am of pushing and working through those intense contractions to get to 10cm. And I could definitely tell as soon as I hit it. I felt so much pressure and the urge to push was more powerful than ever. And that's when I felt like I gained my control back. I felt pretty lost during that hour. The doctor and nurse were crazy supportive and Josh was an amazing help. But I still felt pretty helpless. There is only so much they can say and do at that point. The nurse was a doll and kept me cool with a wash cloth, the doctor kept me updated on my pushing progress and Josh was there holding my hand, coaching me on through it all. What a blessing. 

As soon as I hit that 10 my pushing changed so much. I could breathe through the pushing again and I felt like something was finally happening (because it was!). That's when I felt that relief that a lot of women talk about when they get to the pushing stage. Even though it was still very painful, feeling that process made it so much more manageable. After just 5-6 pushes, Piper's sweet head popped out. I looked down and saw and just like I did with Elliott, was completely overcome with emotion. How in the heck are we capable of this? It blows my mind. I paused for a minute then pushed the rest of her body out. What a feeling. I thought I felt a lot with Elliott...nope. This was incredible. They immediately put Piper on my chest and let me hold her. The doctor waited for my placenta to deliver and finish pulsing before they clamped it and Josh cut the cord. I never saw my placenta with Elliott. Holy cow. It was amazing. 

She's here!

Sorry, I had to. It's just too cool!

One of my favorite parts of this birth was holding Piper right after. I held Elliott right after delivery as well, but not as long. And Piper took about 10 minutes or so to pink up. She was breathing fine and crying intermittently so they weren't worried, but I was surprised that they let me work her circulation and help her gain her color. They encouraged me to rub her and get her close to my skin to help that process. I loved it. After about 45 minutes I let them take her and weigh her (we were so anxious to hear her size). She was 7lbs 8oz and 18.5in. About 12 ounces smaller than Elliott was at birth. But Elliott was also a week late and Piper was 3 days early. Perfect. 

Precious little feet.

Fresh and clean after her bath.

I love this picture! Proud daddy!

I did tear just a small amount again this time, which was kind of a bummer. The doctor did using a numbing agent for that part. I wasn't going to turn that down. After I was stitched up and ready, Piper and I did some skin to skin and I let her try to nurse. She didn't latch on right away, but I wasn't worried. It took Elliott a couple days to establish a good latch, so I was prepared for that. Around 11am Josh and the nurse took Piper down to the nursery to get cleaned up. My nurse stayed and was ready to get me up and to the bathroom. This was a lot different than with Elliott. With the epidural I had a few hours of recovery before I had to get up and use the restroom so I felt pretty good. It was weird using my legs, but I felt good (blood loss wise). The nurse grabbed an assistant, just in case, and they stood me up. As soon as I was up and took a couple steps, I let them know I was super light headed and the next thing I knew they were laying me back in the bed. Uh, yeah. Passed out. Whoops. Haha. She said that I had lost more blood than they had wanted. I had in my birth plan that I didn't want Pitocin after birth unless it was an emergency, since that is normal protocol now, and I don't think it's always necessary. But at this point, my uterus was having a really hard time cramping down and I was still losing quite a bit of blood. So I took the Pitocin. I also happily took some Ibuprofen and Percocet to help with the cramping pain. It was so frustrating to have the baby and feel like you should be done and still feel like you're having really painful contractions! Ugh. After labor pains stink! And mine just kept on going. We packed up the labor/delivery room, got me into a wheel chair and we headed down to Mother/baby. I was there with just enough time to get settled and changed before Josh and Piper came back from the nursery. By this point, my medicine had kicked in and I was feeling a lot more normal. Piper took to nursing to well. She nursed for about 30 minutes right away and continued to nurse well through out entire stay. What a blessing. 

Elliott meeting Piper for the first time. 

Checking her all out. That cord really freaks Elliott out. 

Once in mother/baby, my bleeding continued to be pretty heavy. They gave me some Cytotec to help, since the Pitocin wasn't doing the best job. The Cytotec helped a lot more. I got up, used the bathroom and things seemed to be going pretty smooth. Piper was healthy and perfect. About 1am, they came in to grab Piper and check her vitals. I used that time to get up and go the bathroom. Apparently, I waited too long to empty my bladder and had some clots build up and block things up. I passed three really large blood clots and immediately started feeling kinda sick. It's not natural to see that kind of thing. Luckily the nurse was bringing Piper back just as I was walking out and so I let her know and she got me some more Cytotec. Once those clots were out and I was able to fully empty my bladder, the bleeding finally calmed down. What a relief. I was pretty nervous for a while. I didn't have any of those issues with Elliott. Everything has been smooth sailing since then. 

Piper did pretty well during our night in the hospital. She slept for 2-3 hour intervals and ate like a champ. Of course, being in a hospital and that terrible bed, I didn't sleep too great so we were anxious to get home the next day. After baby and mom checks in the morning, we got the go ahead to be discharged around 1pm on Monday morning. 

During our stay we had lots of visitors. On Sunday afternoon my mom rolled in to town from her long drive from Washington. And just 30 minutes later, Morgan, Jenn, Kendal, Matt and Elliott came! Elliott didn't nap that day and she was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing. Let's just say, she didn't want to have much to do with Piper. But I knew it would get better. Everyone left and my mom headed back to our house with Elliott around 6:30 just as Jacob and Valerie came to visit. We have such amazing friends and family that support us! We feel so blessed. 

She is such a beautiful baby. 

Haha. Pruney little feet. 

All dressed and ready to head home!

Grandma and Piper. 

Going home has been pretty uneventful. Elliott is much happier now. :) She just needed some sleep apparently. She loves "baby sitter Piper" and wants to help with everything. Only once or twice has she gotten jealous and wanted me to put the baby down and hold her, so I'd say we're doing okay. 

Piper is just eating, pooping and sleeping and getting loves and cuddles from everyone. She is one cute little girl. She's had her first sponge bath and she had a couple dr. appts yesterday. Her bellirubin levels were just barely in the low risk zone on Monday so they asked to have them double checked on Wednesday. So we did that in the morning just before her drs appointment. He said she looked great and we'll be back to see him in a couple weeks. 

We feel incredibly blessed to have Piper Gray here and I am overwhelmed by my whole experience with the labor and delivery. I heard quite often that hospitals aren't supportive of unmedicated births, but I really feel like things are changing. I went in with my birth plan in hand and my nurses and doctor were 100% on board with everything in it. I had no IV during labor (they let me drink water and hydrate myself). I did have a lock in my arm in case of emergency, which was fine and I understood. I was told I could do intermittent fetal monitoring, which was also in my plan, but since I ended up laboring on the ball the whole time, I was close to the machine and chose to keep them on most the time. I kind of like seeing the contractions on the monitor and seeing how big they are. It makes me feel empowered and capable. Not once did a nurse or doctor offer me any kind of medication during labor. If they noticed my pain level getting beyond where I wanted it, they, instead, offered me new position suggestions and Josh new ideas of ways to coach me. It was wonderful. I never once felt like what I was doing was ridiculous or silly. My nurse even told me that she had all four of her kids completely unmedicated! She was my favorite. She was so kind and supportive. I'm not going to lie and say it was easy. During transition I was pretty sure I had made the biggest mistake of my life and I couldn't believe I thought this was a good idea. But it's temporary and so, so possible! And it was important to me. And guess what, I did it! It was what was right for us and I am so glad I did it that way. I really liked it a lot more than my birth with Elliott (because of the Pitocin and the epidural). Don't get me wrong, epidurals can be amazing! I got to nap during my labor with Elliott. And during that labor, I really needed that. But without being induced, things just went so much more naturally and it felt natural not to have medication or an epidural.

Piper Gray is here and healthy and we feel so blessed. She is one mellow baby. She hardly cries and really is just what our family needed. Welcome sweet girl! We love you so much already.