Vegan Birth Stories

Please read our collection of birth stories. If you'd like to submit your own, please submit your story here. Vegan or vegetarian birth stories are welcome.

Kyle Alexander Pavlina's Birth Story

My due date was August 6, 2003. On August 1, I woke up to find that I was losing my mucous plug. For hours afterwards I had a lot of discharge. But I knew labor could still be days away.

Around 3pm I started noticing that I was getting painless contractions that were coming every 4 minutes. Steve thought it was the beginning of labor since our doctor told us to go to the hospital when the contractions were 5 minutes apart or less, but since they were totally painless, I decided we'd better wait and make sure it was the real thing before going anywhere.

At 4pm, the contractions stopped and I resigned myself to the idea that I was not really in labor.

At 8pm, I went to the bathroom to empty the trash and when I bent over, there was a pop and a gush. My water broke! I was totally shocked; I didn't expect this to happen. I immediately told Steve that my water broke and he knew what that meant… we'd be having the baby very soon!

My toddler, Emily, was out with her grandparents, so I called them and told them we'd be off to the hospital before they brought her home. They were ready to stay with her so there was no problem there. Steve and I packed up the rest of our bags, including a lot of snacks for both Steve and me (for after the birth). I had no contractions at this point, but I was gushing fluid every few minutes.

We got to the hospital at 9pm. At 9:15 we checked into our labor and delivery room and I changed into a gown. Then the contractions started in earnest. I was blindsided by a really painful contraction. Before I could get my wits about me, I was hit with another contraction just one minute later. While giving the nurse all of our information, I was hit with yet another painful contraction. The nurse commented that my labor seemed to be progressing very rapidly. She checked my cervix and I was 4cm.

The next 20 minutes were a blur of pain. My contractions were coming every minute and were lasting 30 seconds. I was surprised by this. I figured my contractions would be several minutes apart at this point. We headed to the shower, which was my big plan for pain management. It was a slow process getting the shower to reach a good temperature and getting me settled. I spent an agonizing 20 minutes in the shower and reluctantly had to conclude that it wasn't going to help me much. My contractions were so painful, far more than anything I had prepared for. I started to fear I was going to lose the pain management battle.

I dried off and went back to the bed. It was now 10pm. The nurse checked my cervix and I was 5cm. She told me that a saline drip might slow the labor a little bit so that I could rest more in between contractions. At this point, I was willing to try anything to give myself a chance at having a drug free labor. She couldn't get an IV started because I was dehydrated and my veins were all collapsed. Meanwhile, I was starting to panic. Steve did a great job of keeping me focused on getting through one contraction at a time. I clung desperately to two of his fingers and he counted out the contraction for me. I knew that when he reached 27 that the contraction would subside. I prayed fervently for him to reach 27 faster.

Another nurse checked my progress a short time later and said that during a contraction I was 8cm, and then after a contraction it shrunk back down to 5. I couldn't imagine another few hours of this level of pain. I was starting to be very vocal (okay, I was screaming) and finally I told everyone who looked like they worked at the hospital that I wanted an epidural.

I was told that they needed to do a blood test and it would take an hour to get the results from the lab and that I couldn't have the epidural until then. I said, "Well, then someone please just punch me and knock me out, or kill me and put me out of my misery." And I was pretty serious about that too. I also remember offering a $1000 cash bribe to anyone who could put an end to my pain.

Meanwhile, the nurse finally found a vein for my IV so at least that was taken care of. At 10:30pm the nurse told me they were going to go ahead and give me the epidural even though my test results weren't back yet. That was the first bit of good news I'd had.

They sent Steve out of the room and it took about 20 minutes to get the epidural going. At 11pm, I was finally pain free. I can't tell you what a relief it was! I had truly wanted a drug free labor, but at this point I realized that it just wasn't in the cards for me. I started shaking and trembling very violently, which also happened during my first labor when I got the epidural. Still, it was a lot better than agony.

Also at 11pm they checked my cervix and found I was 8cm. I asked them if my doctor was on his way and they said they hadn't had time to call him yet. I was in a much better frame of mind and actually started to enjoy the labor and even made a joke at one point. At midnight I was 9.5cm dilated, just a small lip was left. They finally called the doctor and set me up for pushing. The baby's heart rate was becoming tachycardic and I mentioned to them that I was starting to get a headache. The nurse took my temperature and it was on the high side at 101.5 degrees. They were concerned for the baby.

At 12:30am my doctor arrived. We did a few practice pushes and found that I pushed pretty well. I had a decent amount of feeling even with the epidural. We found an excellent position for pushing. The nurse also set up a mirror so I could see the baby's progress. It didn't take too long until the baby's head was crowning. I was pushing so effectively that I had no idea that the baby was so close to coming out. The doctor told me to stop pushing and to just let the baby's head make it's way out on its own. This was wonderful!

His head came out and the doctor suctioned him. Then he asked if I wanted to pull the baby out and I said, "Yes!" I reached down and pulled him out of me and up onto my belly. He was born at 1:15am. What an amazing experience! I held my precious bundle for a good long time. The doctor didn't have Steve cut the cord until it had stopped pulsating, and the nurse performed nearly all of her assessment while I held the baby on my chest. All seemed pretty good.

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of a fair number of problems. After delivery, my temperature soared to 104 degrees. My headache was intense, and I started hallucinating. I could hear people talking and realized with some surprise that one of the voices was my own. And they also told me that they baby had a fever. I was concerned as I was Group B Strep positive but didn't get any antibiotics during labor. No one had to say what we were all thinking… Did the baby have a Group B Strep infection?

They took Kyle to the nursery and Steve went with them to make sure they didn't perform any tests we didn't want done. They took me to my post-partum room and started me on antibiotics and Tylenol to bring my fever down. I took a much needed nap. At 4:30 they brought Kyle back to me and told me his temperature was now normal. We all went to sleep.

The next morning (well, a few hours later) my fever broke and I was feeling much better. We decided to start breastfeeding. While we were working to get him latched on, I noticed that his feet were purple. I mentioned this to the nurse and she said he might be cold. So I decided we had better wrap him up and let him rest a bit before trying to breastfeed again. We swaddled him and put him back in the bassinet. The nurse came back a few minutes later and took one look at Kyle and said, "This baby is blue!" Sure enough, as I looked him over, I realized his entire body and face were a dark shade of purple. The nurse looked more closely and gasped, "He's not breathing." She snatched him up immediately and ran with him out the door. Steve and I stared at each other for a moment and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was thinking, "Was our baby going to die?" I couldn't move. I was literally scared stiff. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only seconds, Steve ran out the door and said he was going to find out what was happening to our baby.

I sat in bed with my hand on my mouth, utterly unable to move or think. Ten minutes later Steve came back and told me they got him breathing again and he was doing okay. A whole bunch of doctors and nurses came into our room and we were told that the baby could indeed have the Group B Strep infection, that they needed to admit him to the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit), and that his situation was potentially very serious, even life-threatening.

The short story on Kyle's stay in the NICU is that he did not actually have an infection, though he did remain on antibiotics for 10 days. During the time he was in the NICU I visited him during the day so we could work on breastfeeding. It was heart-breaking to leave my baby there without me. I went home every evening aching for my child. But he was finally released from the hospital and we all settled in at home.

Our precious baby boy is a welcome addition to our happy little vegan family. Emily is pleased as punch to have a little brother, and we are all re-adjusting to life with a newborn. I'm sure I'll get some sleep soon…

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