Eli's Birth Story (Long and complicated) PIP

MyLittleSweetPea · July 2013

Eli Kenneth was born at 5:16 a.m. on 7/15/13 after a failed VBAC induction after my water broke spontaneously with meconium the morning before.

The morning started with DS #1 and I going for a short walk. I showered and was sitting doing my makeup when I felt a small gush. I thought maybe I just peed since it wasn't the insanity I had imagined. I called for my husband and told him I either peed in my pants or my water was breaking. When I got to the bathroom I was startled because the fluid wasn't clear- that's when I realized that my water definitely was breaking and we were going to have to move things along faster than we thought. I never did have a gigantic "gush" but I did have continual leaking as I moved around.

My water broke at 9:45, by 11:00 we had dropped off DS #1 and checked into the hospital. Since I wasn't contracting, they started me on pitocin and the induction began. Anyone who chooses an induction is NUTS, both of my c-sections AND recoveries were not as bad as those pitocin contractions. I got the epidural as soon as they would let me. Unfortunately, baby would only tolerate me laying on my right side, which meant that overtime my epidural only covered my right side- ouch!

I labored all day and night. At 2:00 a.m. the next morning I was complete enough to start pushing (still only on my right side). The baby didn't seem to make any progress (and I thoroughly un-enjoyed the nurse's hand "helping" me through each push).

Because my water had been broken for so long, I wound up with a fever and they started me on antibiotics. They also told me that LO would need to go to the Special Care nursery (NICU) for at least 48 hours after birth for antibiotics preventively and possibly up to 7 days. I think this is where I was just "done". I continued to labor and push, but the baby didn't make progress. When the doctor came to check me, the baby had heart decelerations. She also determined he was face up and "stuck" under my pelvic bone. She determined that we needed an "urgent" c-section. Everything moved very fast compared to my first scheduled c-section for DS #1. I was VERY out of it in the OR, but at that point I was so glad to be out of pain and knowing that we would have a resolution that I didn't even care.

The c-section went very well. Eli came out crying which wasn't really a good thing because of the meconium, but he seemed to do well. They finished me up and my DH went with Eli to Special Care. I went back to recovery for a couple hours and then they rolled my bed into Special Care for some skin time. It was so sad to see his little arm all bandaged up with his IV.

Eli stayed in Special Care for 48 hours. His labs all came back negative- thank goodness. I think my recovery has been better than with my first c-section. I needed to be able to get up and moving to go visit in Special Care to see Eli so I think that motivation helped. We all came home yesterday and are adjusting to life as a family of four.

Here are some photos (hopefully!) Good luck to all those mommas with inside babies still!