"This was the hardest, most painful, but rewarding thing I have ever done in my life." Birth Story!

Thank you Karissa for sharing your amazing birth story of your beautiful son Banx. What an exceptional arrival! Special thanks to Mindful Birth doula Tara for her support.

"The longest 2-3 weeks heading up to the arrival of baby Banx, I got the sickest I had been in a very long time. I came down with strep throat and a double ear infection. Being so sick caused my body to not progress and go into labor. My due date of April 15th came and went and there were still no signs of baby coming. I tried everything to go into labor naturally.

My doctors appointment after my due date passed, I was told I would need to have an induction if he had not made his arrival by April 22nd. April 22nd again came and went and still no baby Banx. My body was dilating but he would not make his way down.

On April 26th at midnight NCH gave us a call and let us know it was time to come in. Daddy and I got ready and went to the hospital and got in around 1:30 in the morning. They started all the preliminary blood work and putting in my IV’s. The needles were too big for my hands and blew out two of my veins before they could find one to make it work. After they completed that, I had a cervical check and was at 4 cm. Due to being 4 cm, we would need to go straight to pitocin for the induction.

I got hooked up to the monitor and the nurse let us know that I was having contractions but was just not feeling them. I tried to get as much rest as possible while they upped the pitocin by 2 every 30 minutes. Daddy and I tried our best to rest but it was hard. We were nervous and I was starting to get uncomfortable.

At 5:40 am they checked the monitor and told us that they were going to hold off on increasing the pitocin because the babies heart rate went down. At 6:30 am the nurses performed another cervical check and Banx was still pretty high and we were still at 4 cm. Daddy and I walked around the room and did some abdominal lifts in hopes to bring him down a little.

7:30 am came and it was time to get the epidural before the anesthesiologist had to go for a scheduled c section. Tara arrived right before my epidural. The anesthesiologist did not have the best bedside manner whatsoever. After the epidural I was able to relax, close my eyes, and sleep for a while. At 1:00 pm I received another cervical check were they stated we were still at station -1. The doctor felt that it was time to break my water in order to get things to move a little faster. At 1:30 pm the doctor broke my water.

After this, it all seems like a blur and I do not recall many time stamps. I do know that my contractions began to ramp up.

Throughout the hours of 2:00 pm and 3 am into April 27th my epidural failed and was not working 3 different times. 3 different times the anesthesiologist had to come in and manually administer the epidural again and different narcotics through the epidural because I could feel all the pain. During this really rough time, Tara, Daddy, and I tried different positions on the bed to cope with the pain and try to bring Banx down into the birth canal. We flipped from side to side, we used a peanut ball, got on hands and knees and rocked back and fourth. I did my best to control my breathing and breathe through the contractions as that was all I could do at that point. I could not have done this without the support of Tara and Austin by my side. I was not prepared for the epidural to not function the way that it was suppose to.

At around midnight of April 27th the doctor and nurse came in and let us know that due to the baby not coming down and my dilation being very slow, we would need to start planning/mentally preparing to have a c section. I stood my ground and told the doctor that I understood her professional opinion but I needed more time to see what my body could do. The doctor said she would give me 2 hours to progress at when she came back at 3:00 am it would be time to have a c section if there was no progression. I said ok and Tara and I got to work.

We kept at the position switches for the next two hours, even with the amount of pain of the contraction due to the epidural not working. At around 3:00 am the doctor came back and completed a cervical check. I was completely dilated but the baby was still not coming down and was at station 0. She said it was time to have the c section. We asked if there was anything else we could do to buy more time and try to get the baby out vaginally to avoid a c section. She said that she would give me 1 hour to push if I wanted to even though she knew it wasn’t going to work. The doctor said baby was way too high to be pushed down that far and have a vaginal delivery.

The nurse, Tara, Austin, and I began the process the start pushing at 3:00 am. Tara and the nurse walked me through how to push and where to feel the pressure. I began pushing and the baby's heart rate again started to drop. They brought in an oxygen mask to help me be able to breathe in between contractions and stabilize the babies heart rate. I continued to push and push and the nurse said she could feel the baby beginning to come down. I still wasn’t all the way confident that he would make his way all the way down.

Around 3:55 am the nurse yelled that she could see babies head and hair. She yelled down the hall for the doctor and told here we were ready to have a baby. I could hear the doctor down the hall yell “WHAT?!” She could not believe that we were about to deliver the baby vaginally. I stopped pushing waited a couple minutes for the doctor and other nurses to come in and get ready.

The doctor arrived and I pushed about 5 times before Banx Roman Mellaci was finally born.

On April 27th 2023 at 4:07 am, he was finally earth side.

He weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21.4 inches long.

This was the hardest, most painful, but rewarding thing I have ever done in my life."

Thank you Karissa for sharing your story!

Welcome to the world, sweet baby Banx!

In Doula Love,

Tara + The Mindful Birth Doulas

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