As many of you who’ve followed my motherhood journey- you know it’s been a wild ride. I’m so grateful to be able to share with you my story and my experiences with motherhood. It’s brought me so much joy and also appreciation to my mom (who birthed and raised 7 girls), other mom friends/family, and the online community of mothers/parents.
Now, I got to chance to experience it all over again, for another time with a newborn.
So, let me start from the beginning.
Pregnancy went well. I had nausea during my first trimester, felt baby kicks a little before 20 weeks, had Braxton hicks this time around, had pubic pain, swollen legs, leg cramps, insomnia in my 3rd trimester, and I reached 40 weeks!! We also kept Baby’s gender a surprise! I set the date to get induced at 40 + 2 days.
So, I was scheduled for induction at 6am for Friday July 22nd, 2022, but the nurse called at 5am and said they had a current delivery and pushed me to come in an 8am. So I went in and got checked in around that time.
I drove myself to the Medical Center because Tim was still tired and Jordyn was still sleeping. I walked in and checked in at the front desk with the receptionist. The nurse walked me back and did my admissions, put in an 18G IV in my left wrist. It was kinda painful, but I’m so glad she got it in the first poke. She drew my labs, and taped it. A med student came in and did my ultrasound to make sure that baby’s head is facing down.
The birth requests I had were that I wanted minimal cervix checks, for a female to be the ones doing it if possible, and to hopefully labor without an epidural for as long as I can so that I can move around and not be in bed the entire time.
The Resident came in at 9:30am to check my cervix, it was only 2cm dilated. She then talked with her attending and they deceived to give me cytotec, which is a pill that helps soften your cervix. So at 10AM: The nurse brought in the medication and I put the pill in my mouth and the pill was a small and white. It was a dissolvable misoprostol; Cytotec pill.
There was a nutritional research team that came in and asked if I would participate in a research study. The study was about how nutrients go from mom to baby. So at 11:00am I took a research study questionnaire and it helped pass some time.
After that I got to order some lunch (chicken sandwich, soup, & orange juice). I was surprised they let me eat while going into labor.
After 4 hours, the resident came back at 2:00pm to do another Cervix check. I was still 2cm dilated. They then suggested for me to start pitocin since the cytotec didn’t do much with my cervix.
So the nurse came in to start pitocin.
At 2:30pm Pitocin was started.
At 3:00 Pitocin, the nurse upped the medication.
At 4:30 Pitocin the nurse upped the medication.
They wanted me to have 5 contractions within 10 mins.
I walked around the hallways with Tim. I bounced on the ball. I swayed and danced a little bit. I went pee a few times. I had a Bloody show around 6-7:00pm.
There was a shift change and so I had a new resident that came to check my progress. So by 7:00pm I was 5cm dilated.
I continued to keep breathing and walking. I laid down, I bounced on the ball some more. I tried my best to relax but the contractions were getting more painful. I was at a crossroads of when and if I should get an epidural. The resident said he would come back to check at 10pm and wanted to break my water. The nurse advise me to just get it because once my water breaks it’ll be more intense. Since it was almost 12 hours of contractions, I decided to get it.
The anesthesiologist came and did his thing and got set up. Tim was in front of me holding my hand and letting me squeeze it when he gave me a shot of lidocaine. At 9:30pm I got the Epidural. My legs started to go numb and they laid me flat so the medicine would even out in both legs. I was much more relaxed and the pain of the contractions went from a 8 to a lesser pain of 3.
After a little while, I felt a pop and water gushed out. That was my water breaking. It was around 10:20pm. The nurse cleaned me up, placed a new Chuck pad under me and we waited some more. I was feeling the contractions a little stronger now and I bolus some epidural meds at 10:30pm. My nurse cath me to get me to pee around 11:00pm.
By 11:25pm the resident came back and checked me, I was 8cm dilated. The nurse helped me change positions to get her baby’s head to descend down further.
I tried to take a nap. About less than an hour later I woke up from uncontrollably shaking. I didn’t feel cold but my body was shaking so much!
The nurse checked my cervix since the Dr’s were busy with other deliveries and I was 9 to 9.5cm dilated!!
By 12:15am the resident finally came to check me and I was 10cm.
I started pushing around 12:30am. I had a really hard time breathing (even without a mask) laying on my back. They instructed me to take a cleaning breath in, blow it out, take another deep breath in, hold it, and push! Take another breath in right away, hold it, and push. Repeatedly we did this.
I just keep reminding myself to think that I am pooping. We did side lying pushing, we did up on all fours pushing, and a lot of it didn’t feel very comfortable to me. I suggested we do pushing like sitting on a toilet. So then the nurse brought in this handle to hook at the end of the bed with like a toilet looking container to sit on. I felt more comfortable in this position and I was able to progress pretty quickly!
I felt a lot of pressure and stretching. They told me to hold the baby in while they put on their protective gear. The baby was slipping out and I couldn’t hold it anymore. The baby’s shoulder got stuck and they all helped me from sitting position to laying down on my back to get the baby out. After a few more pushes…
Finally, at 2:27am baby was out and born!
We were waiting to see what the gender was, so the Dr. turned her around to show us— & she was a girl! Daddy got to cut the cord and eventually I birthed the placenta and they sewed up my 3rd degree tear. Even with an epidural it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. They had to get lidocaine to help with some spots.
Baby girl is named Tessa Joy Sabutis. It’s such an incredible feeling and a huge relief when baby is finally in your arms. & That was the moment I became a mom again.
Thank you for reading Tessa’s Birth Story! If you’re a mom, or expecting - I just want to say that being a mom is amazing, & we can do hard things.
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I also want to leave you with, it’s your birth and you always have a say/choice on how you want to bring your child into the world. Even though most births do not always go perfectly as planned, just know there are many resources and support for you if you want it!
I love hearing other mom’s birth stories and enjoy seeing their kids grow into beautiful humans. Connect with me if you have any other questions or would like to chat! I enjoy meeting new people.