lrobi13 birth story (PIP)

lrobi13 · October 2014

So after a few "challenging" days, I am finally able to get to the actual computer instead of my phone to write down my story before it is lost in the mush that I used to call my brain!

TLDR: Had a successful vaginal delivery after being induced due to GD at 39 weeks and 1 day. Bryan Elliot was born 17 hours after the pitocin was started and 12 hours after they broke my water. I pushed for 2 hours and had a 2nd degree tear to deliver my 6 pound 13 ounce little boy.

Long version (sorry for the novel in advance)

So I knew that I was headed for an induction early once my OB and MFM realized that my gd was not going to be diet controlled back in July. All along I knew that they wanted me to deliver between 39 - 40 weeks in order to avoid the risk of my placenta failing.

So a few weeks (38.1 ) ago my ob told me that she would strip my membranes and schedule me for my induction. That was a Thursday and we jad to wait to hear from her. Got the call last Wednesday (9/24) that she had me scheduled to go in on Thursday to be induced (9/25). Cue the water works at my desk.

I mean it is not like I didn't know that my baby was coming but all the sudden shit got real and I had to wrap my head around my baby would be arriving very soon. So my bosses took my to lunch and they made some jokes about how long it was going to take (no one was even close!)

So DH and I spent our last night at home as a twosome and I think I got 2-3 hours of sleep due to my mind racing. Rookie Mistake!

I called L&D at 4 am to make sure they still had room for me so we loaded up and made the quick trip over to the hospitol. It was so surreal and so unlike what I had imagined it would be like my whole life. Causally strolling into admitting with zero pain was just odd. It felt even more strange to not be escorted up to my room. We were given our room number and allowed to head up by ourselves. After checking in upstairs we had to make sure the nurses that we were moving in!

It took until 5:30 am to get my iv placed (GBS+) and the they pitocin started flowing. I was a "loose" 2 upon check-in which was up from 1 cm the Thursday before.

I was feeling great until 9am when my sweet nice OB became the devil and put in the Foley Bulb to help me manually dilate since I had very little progress from 5:30-9.

It was also at this point that I got to "eat" my only meal of the day. Chicken broth and lemon jello.

My OB as well as you fine ladies encouraged me to get up and move around so we got them to hook me up to the mobile montors and I made it as far as the bathroom before I got super nauseous. They hit me with so zofran and I decided that I couldn't move from the sink area in the bathroom and chose to labor right there. The contractions started to come within 2-5 minutes and I was trying to breathe through them.

I want to thank all the med-free mamas for all the tips. I used so many of them while I labored in that bathroom. I wanted to let gravity help some before I got the epidural and would be stuck in bed. I managed to work through the contractions from 9:30 until 12. I was holding out to see my ob again but since the bulb hurt less and less I knew that I was progressing (bulb falls out once you reach 4 cm) and the nurse was super sweet and reminded me that it would take 15 minutes to prep for the epi so whenever I was ready she would prep me (they have to run a bag of fluids prior to the epidural being placed).

I decided I was ready and that I now can say I have felt labor pains. I was very lucky and the anesthesiologist arrived quickly and I held so still while he did his work. They told me it may take some time for me to feel relief but honestly I felt it instantly. From that point I was so relaxed and happy and I had decided to let my body do its work.

I had a steady stream of visitors so I still didn't sleep much (another rookie mistake) and next thing I know it was 7pm and time for Grey's Anatomy. We had a viewing party with even my nurse hanging out some to watch!

They checked me at 8pm and I was only at 6cm (boo) and the I started to shake uncontrollably. It was truly miserable. I wasn't in pain but my whole body was out of my control. Again I turned to some breathing techniques to gain control over the shakes. At some point my DH thought I was hyperventilating. I had some success but if I spoke they would come back instantly.

They check me again at 9:45 and they said I had already gone to 9cm in that short time (so basically the shakes were part of my transition) and they wanted me to start my practice pushing. It was at this time I felt some pain in my abdomen and they worked with me on giving me some more pain killers.

So I was completely numb and my legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. My mom had one leg and my DH had my other but I was so numb I couldn't left my upper body so I had to get DH to get behind me to help. I had to tell my mm to stop talking and I just focused on my nurse's instructions.

Around 11:45 the whole team was called in and I finally regained some control of my body and the stirups came out. Little Boy was turned wrong (towards my right leg) so we spent some time working on that and then my temp started to spike. I was at 101 and then got up to 104. Thankfully since I had been hooked up since 5:30 am I had received all the doses of the antibiotics.

The nurse also spent time playing with lo's hair for the longest time as he would come down and then go back up. We were really "pushing" to beat the clock to midnight but we just missed it as he didn't make it all the way out until 12:03.

They immediately placed him on my stomach and I was at a loss to pin point the emotions going through me. (relief, joy, fear, exhaustion). DH cut the cord and walked over the the baby station were they did their thing while I delivered the placenta (didn't feel it! and stitched me up). Then we were able to nurse and we were declared a god match. He had a great mouth and latch and I apparently have really nice nipples (score).

Finally at 2:20 we made it to my recovery room and that is where I was in for more surprises. They were worried about his low blood sugar so I gave him formula before we could get the all clear and since I had that fever I had to be on iv antibiotics for 48 hours post-delivery.

The next few days were such a pain as we were visited by too many hospital people. Bryan failed the hearing test in one of his ears and we have to get it retested in a few weeks. We also think they have his blood type wrong and they need to re-test his thyroid levels. I am hoping to go to the lab this afternoon to get that bloodwork done.

We have had some days where is cries for hours on end and it has been really challenging. Today has been my first day completely alone with him and I am happy and relieved to report that he has been so so good and sweet all day!

Sorry for the long read but I had to put it in writing for my own sake! And now for the pictures. I handed the camera over to my mom and she really did a great job capturing his birthday! Oh and he cried for the first 45 minuets of his life so all the first pics are so dramatic!