Pau Josep Cabanillas was born on July 3, 2009 at 4:31 p.m. Pau's arrival into the world was long and laborious. We went into labor on Thursday morning at 1:30 a.m. Jose and I went to the hospital only to be told that I had yet to dilate to 1 cm. They sent us home and so we labored at home with the help of Maggie, our doula until about 5 p.m. at which point we went back to UCSD. I was between 3 to 4 cm and so they decided to admit me. Jose and I had envisioned an unmedicated, vaginal birth, however, we were thrown several wildcards that made adjustments to our birth plan necessary. We labored well throughout the night and into the next morning, unmedicated. At 4 a.m. Friday morning, Dr. Bowman had told me that I had only dilated to somewhere between 4 and 5 cm. "You've gotta be kidding me!" He then broke my water and ordered the administering of pitocin. Both of these things were contrary to what I had written as part of my birth plan. We weren't given much of an option to try alternatives before this was to be done. Also with the breaking of water, it meant that we would have to deliver within 24 hours to prevent infection. Once the pitocin set in, I tried to endure the labor pains but the pitocin had increased the severity of my contractions significantly and at this point, we all were operating on very little sleep. Jose and I discussed being open to the use of an epidural in such a circumstance so we decided to order one at about 5:00 a.m. I couldn't help feeling very emotional about this decision. I wanted to labor and deliver free from the use of medication and I felt that this was something of a personal failure. It's cliche, but this was something I was determined to do. I found myself apologizing to Maggie, Jose and most especially to our son because I couldn't endure. For several hours after the epidural, the pain was muted and I was able to get some much needed rest. A little later, I realized that I was feeling the labor pains on the left side of my body and not on the right. It took a few hours and 2 anesthesiologists to discover that the epidural catheter had been placed in too far. The result, was a numb right side and feeling on the left. This needed to be adjusted, which it was and then we were back on track. At 2 p.m., Dr. Seelander came in with more bad news. The baby's face was looking up as opposed to pointing downward. This would make it more difficult for baby to come through the birth canal. Her suggestion was a C-section. Again, not at all a part of my birth plan. My reaction was to cry, then cry some more, and finally to say that I wanted to try and deliver vaginally so long as baby was doing alright. She consulted with the other attending Dr. Kingston who said I could have one hour to deliver vaginally, otherwise I'd have to be open to other options. She said she'd have liked to offer a vacuum extraction but the baby was too far up the birth canal and its use could lead to trauma to the baby's head. After both doctors had gone, Maggie and Tiffany (our nurse) reassured me that they thought I could bring this baby out. I had amazing support from Jose and the four of us worked to push this baby out. At about 3:30, Dr. Kingston returned and saw that the baby was more in a great position for vacuum extraction. I was progressing well, however, so she said that she would work with us to deliver without. Together we all pushed and brought Pau into the world at 4:31 p.m. It's hard to explain how wonderfully emotional and challenging this experience was. I still cannot believe what we went through to give birth to this little guy, but like all mom's I would say that it was absolutely worth every moment to have my beautiful son!
