Baby Emmet Birth Story

Baby Emmet Patrick Brown was born on 2/27 Wed at UCSD in Hillcrest San Diego. He was 8lbs 7 ounces, much larger than we had expected. (Midwife told me he would be about 7 lbs). It could be because he was 2 weeks over due or my gestational diabetes. 

I'm still in a bit of a shock regarding the turn of events on the day of delivery.

Emmet was way 'overdue' and I had been pressured into scheduling an induction on Friday 3/1. In order to avoid it, I took 2 tblspns of Castor Oil around 1pm as a last ditch effort despite the mixed reviews about it . I tried everything from drinking raspberry leaf tea, climbing stairs, eating spicey food, etc. 

Around 3:30pm, I started to feel mild cramps and thought they were Braxton Hicks or false labor. Then at 5:00pm, I started having surges that became really intense suddenly. They were nearly 1min apart and lasting 1min each. We called the doula at 6:30pm and she told me she'll come in 2hrs, but after Peter told her about the intensity and the fact that I started grunting already, she headed over to our direction.

My husband called UCSD at 6:30pm and after hearing my moans and grunts in the background, they told him to bring me in. At this point, I was gushing water during every contraction but I thought that I was peeing : / This stage is perhaps where my hypnobirthing practice came in handy. I really tried to breathe through my contractions and make low noises instead of high pitched ones. The low noises help vibrate the uterus and make the muscles relax so the contractions will be more effective. 

We went to UCSD at 7pm and eventhough the ride was 5min, it felt like an eternity. I was so vocal that people on the street were staring at me and Peter. I didn't care though.

I brought a cute robe, lavender spray, led candles, etc to help 'prep' the room for delivery. According to hypnobirthing, making the hospital room feel at home and cozy makes the labor faster. But in my case, there was absolutely no time for any of that. 

After I got on my bed and they checked me, I was fully dilated and ready to push (hence the grunting). I thought I was near the end so I agreed to proceed. I was pushing in various positions and using birth breathing for 2 hours until 9:00pm but baby couldn't get past a certain spot in my birth path. The midwife thought he was Occipital Posterior (faced up) and the OB confirmed. I was so shocked because a few days before that, he was in a perfect anterior position (faced down - the optimal position for birth) according to the ultrasound. The really intense sudden set of contractions may have turned him the wrong way (according to the midwife).

The OB came in and told me if I needed help getting him out, we could use forceps and an epidural. He told me about all the risks of using forceps for me and the baby (including bruising of the baby's head and tearing of my rectum!) and I really didn't know what to do. Plus, I was delirious from the pain in the pelvis and all the pushing. Then Peter stepped in to ask if we could try pushing for a little longer. The OB said he'll be back later.  

I started pushing even harder and the baby started coming down. He came down far enough and baby Emmetturned himself so that he could come out. Smart baby! He came out a little after 10pm looking white covered with vernix and crying. The OB came in the room ready to pull him out but baby came in the knick of time! Since he was overdue, he pooed meconium in the womb so we had to cut his cord right away and the pediatrician looked at him. Unfortunately, we couldn't delay the cord clamping. 

It was a really short labor at 5hrs but very dramatic and so much pushing! The nurses and midwives at UCSD were amazingly supportive of me wanting to do a natural birth and I really couldn't have done this without Peter and the doula. I feel bad but I asked my mom to wait in the waiting room during the pushing since it was so chaotic in there. But she came in and held my hand while they sewed me up and stopped the bleeding in my uterus by sticking their hand in there (that was ridiculously painful).

That's my very long birth story of baby Emmet Patrick Brown. 

Mom thought she was taking  photos but she was actually videotaping. There's her voice in the background and Emmet after his goopy eye drops. Also a beautiful shot of me at the end looking very confused and delirious.