The Birth Stories Thread

starphish18 · January 2017

This thread is for moms to share their experiences during labor. Feel free to be as lengthy and detailed as you'd like. Thank you for sharing!

chickyclg · January 2017

I was in Antepartum and my contractions got back down to 5 minutes apart so they transferred me back to L&D. I was 34 weeks and my hospitals protocol is basically fluids to try and slow contractions at that point, I had previously been on Magnesium for a week and received 2 rounds of steroids to help lung development. My OB came in and I was 4cm dilated so we started discussing waiting vs delivery since I was still earlier than we would have liked. He gave us time to think about what we wanted to do and less than 10 minutes later Baby As water broke so we decided we would deliver. The OB came back in and we started talking about a vaginal vs CS since DS (A) was head down even though DD (B) was breech. During our talk, DS's heart rate dropped and it was then decided that they needed to come ASAP.

I got an epidural and as they were strapping my arms down I started having an anxiety attack so I was then sedated. DS was assessed and taken to NICU 3 and DD was taken to NICU 2 and I was able to see them 12 hours later.

Yiggle09 · January 2017

Let me stretch my fingers out

So I started having contractions which just felt like I had to poop then I didn't on the way to work on a friday. I worked till about noon when my friend talked me into going home. I called the drs office and they said to just keep a close count on them and to let them know if they increase etc. Next day saturday I am lounging at home feeling the poop no poop feeling and trying to decide if these are contractions and how to actually count them and using an app lol it was annoying. My husband called me on the way home from work and I felt like they were increasing. I still was having no pain with contractions and really not feeling what is normally described as contractions. When he got home I told him I think me might need to go to the hospital from what I thought was contractions and the counting etc. He went upstairs to shower and change and I made myself dinner. During making dinner I felt a sharp pain down inside my vag. After that we went to the hospital. I was 4 cm dilated with contractions every 4 mins. The dr was debating on whether to send me home or to admit me so they said they would let me walk around and see in a little bit. Well that didn't happen. They brought me into a room and put an IV in, attached me to monitors in the room and admitted me then they said I could walk around.... Yes walk around with a mobile monitor hung on an IV pole that also had two pumps for epidural use and drag that around on the carpet. I had patience to do that for about an hour and then went back into the room. With the IV was peeing like crazy and would get up and pee then go back to bed- every time I peed blood would rush out of the iv due to gravity and then go back in (this becomes important later). So around 2 am on sunday I went to sleep. Woke up by nurses sometime around 8 for vitals they told me that my contractions had slowed to 2 an hour over night and that the dr would come in later that morning after she woke up to see if I should stay or go home. I was still on the IV drip and portable monitor and I waited till the MD came in around 11 after all the discharges that had to happen that day. Even though I wasn't really contracting I was now at 5 cm and they no longer felt it was safe to send me home. We then decided to try pitocin. I said before we start that I want to eat something because I was seeing stars at this point; so they gave me a burger and then we got on with the pitocin. The pitocin was hung going into the pump which would control its administration to me while the saline bag was still hanging free from any pump but the lines connected below the pump and to go to one line and into me. They eventually got me up to 12 not sure if its cc an hour or what. The nurses kept saying your having contractions how do you feel? I wasn't feeling anything and they said I should be the subject of their next birth video to show other moms how to do it blah blah. Well a new nurse came on and noticed I had some staining from the blood that had gone in and out of the iv the other night and she wanted to clear it out and after she did she also changed something with the iv and pitocin lines. Now the line was completely clear and I got hit by the pitocin all at once for the first time. I had a 7 min long contraction and during this we lost my son's heartbeat. They rushed into the room turned me onto my hands and knees ( apparently this helps relieve contractions). One nurse realized the portable monitor had run out of batteries she immediately moved me to the room monitor and we got his heart back they also gave me a shot to stop the contraction as it was causing my son distress. If the contraction had been 3 mins longer i would have been on my way to the emergency c section. So after I got this shot and they stopped the pitocin my heart wouldn't stop racing. Another awesome side effect of the medicine. My husband and I ascertained the pump was pushing the pitocin up into the saline bag and when the nurse cleared the line I was hit with a ton of pitocin. After this I was scared, heart pounding uncontrollably despite having calm breaths. They now had to wait 4 to 6 hours for the medicine to wear off to start giving pitocin again. They also wanted to break my water. I said I wanted an epidural because if a c section was needed I would need it and after my scare I was feeling like I should get one and I was scared to have my water broke as well so I wanted some relief during that. They called the anesthesia guy and then had to give me a liter of fluids prior to the epi. The guy gets there and starts getting me ready and they escort my husband out because they no longer let husbands stay as one stayed in the nation and passed out and hit his head and died as the women was getting the epi. Anyway this horrible nurse hooks her arms around my neck and pulls me down to curve my back for the anesthesia guy. He has to try twice to get it in and then shoots medicine into it which almost makes me pass out. My ears ring my vision blurrs and it wasn't pleasant. Then because of the nurse my neck muscles spasm so bad I cannot lay on my back which is required after the epi. I tell them I am in so much pain with my neck I have to lay on my side. they start the drip on the epi and ask me to raise my legs tell them how i feel I say I feel absolutely no different. I have no numbing or loss of sensation and I can move my limbs normally. He goes well you had no pain to take away so I can't tell if this is working or not and leaves. My husband comes in asks how it went I cry about how much pain my neck is in and he rubbed it for me. Really they thought it was funny I was more concerned about my neck then the pain in my vag. Next the dr comes in to check me and break my water well she thought id be numb and wasn't too careful with her hand. She grinded her pinky into the space right behind my vag and I told her to stop what she was doing it hurt too much. She goes you shouldnt feel that. She goes well we will leave you alone and start the pitocin your about 6 cm. I kept peeing and my husband said to tell him not the nurse when to get the bed pan so somewhere in the next hour my water broke as I was peeing. I told my husband I think my water broke and he goes you would know if it broke.... yeah cause I have done this a thousand times.... Things moved quick after that I still had pitocin going and I went through transition pretty quick. I finally felt pain and it was unlike anything I had ever felt, inescapable. They bolused me with epidural stuff it did nothing like I kept telling them earlier anyway finally got to the push stage and had to roll onto my back for it which caused the pain in my neck to escalate. It is really a special kind of torture to have not only birth pain but neck spasms that you have to keep re injuring when you have to curl up to push. They put a o2 mask on me why i don't know and during rest times between pushes my husband would tap it to "wake me up" and the nurses and I yelled at him. They said to let me rest between contractions. I ignored two sets of contractions so that I didn't have to put myself through the pain of curling up and pushing with my neck the way it was. The nurse said you know we can tell when you are having contractions you sure you didn't feel that one. DH kept telling me I needed to see the baby coming out and things like that I was like you are nuts leave me alone. The dr said at one point shed tell me to stop pushing so she could adjust my sons shoulders. As she was about to say it I gave one final push and ripped and then he was out. an hour of pushing and I had my son monday 545 in the morning. I had been in the hospital 1.5 days before he came due to everything. The placenta literally slipped out after I had my son on my chest. Nurses didn't have to push on my belly or anything

All and all my suggestion is to wait to go to the hospital until you are certain your ready

bacorrea · January 2017

At my 39 week appointment I had high BP. Midwife made me do the 24 hour urine catch to check for protein in my urine. I went to Starbucks on my way to turn it in (LADIES please eat before every appointment at 35+ weeks, you never know when they are going to keep you and when you will be allowed to eat again). Turned pee into lab and went upstairs to L&D. They hooked me up to the
monitors and I did not have HB and everything looked great. I was chatting up with the nurses when another nurse came in and said "we are keeping you, the doctor will be in soon to explain more." Doctor comes in, saying that there is protein in my urine and they are going to induce me. I said bummer, but ok! Then they took me to a deliver room and hooked me up to everything. Fortunately my pre-e was mild and I did not have to have the mag drip, but I did have to keep the BP cuff on (the worst!). Dr checked and said I was high/closed basically my body was not ready for labor. He told me it would probably be a couple days before DD showed up. I called my DH to let
him know and told him to finish out work stuff because nothing exciting would be happening anytime soon and then I called my family to let them know. This was Thursday morning.

They immediately started me on a low dose of pit and then cervadil. I was told if the cervadil could get me to a 3 I wouldn't need a Foley Bulb. I was hoping that would happen. I was basically on cervadil for 10ish hours. The nurse was super great and let me eat dinner and watch Grey's Anatomy. DH eventually came to the hospital and we were basically at a waiting game, hoping the induction methods would work. In the middle of the night a new doctor came in (military, I went through several doctors and nurses). Pulled the cervadil out and said I was at a three, but he wanted to do the Foley Bulb. I was bummed but complied.

I had the Foley Bulb in for a few hours, I started having some pain and they did give me some medicine, but I don't remember what it was. I'm also still on pit. The Foley Bulb got me to a 5. When they pulled it out of me it was the weirdest feeling ever. The doctor said that they were going to break my water and if I was thinking about having an epidural I should do it before they break my water because it's uncomfortable. I really was hoping to get through labor without it, but at this point it's been over 24 hours and I'm exhausted and obviously my body was not ready for labor. I decided to get the epidural. That wasn't a big deal, but pretty much immediately I can't feel my legs. It just felt super heavy. Then the doctor came in and broke my water. After that things still progressed slowly. I started having some more pain. I had a hot spot in my back where I could still feel everything. It was very frrusting to be in all this pain in my back and not be able to move my legs. I can't remember when I started pushing, but I know I was definitely pushing at 10pm. I joked that it would be fun if she was born on "April 25th, the perfect day from Miss Congeniality" my nurse had no idea what I was talking about.

The pit was upped to whatever the max is and even though I was in constant pain I couldn't feel the contractions so the nurse had to watch the monitor the whole time and told me when to push. I was in a lot of pain, I threw up in my hair and was
crying. The doctor came in and told me I hadn't to get it together and push or I would have to have a Csection. (At the time I was livid, but I was very loud and upset so I think he was just trying to
give me some tough love). I knew I had already tore because I had asked the nurse so I did not want to have a tear AND a csection. Eventually they said they could see her hair and the doctor came in and DD finally came out. She was born at 1:58am on Saturday, April 26th. She was 9.9lbs and was perfect. Everybody told me it doesn't hurt to push out the placenta, but that was super painful. Once the epi wore off we were moved to another room and went home a couple days later.

pshaortao · January 2017

I had three more days of work left. On a Wednesday morning at 4:30am I woke up and I had to go pee. Laid back down and just couldn't fall asleep. Then all of a sudden, by 5am, I felt a pop and a gush of fluid as my water broke. I had these pee pads under the sheet to protect the mattress. I immediately woke DH and he grabbed me a towel so I could go sit on the toilet and leak there and had him fetch me a pad.. He called L&D to inform them. I was already having contractions immediately but they were for the most part pretty tolerable and not close enough together. I made DH go back to sleep since we didn't know what was ahead of us. I showered, had breakfast, made sure my hospital bag was pretty much ready to go.

When they got more painful, we headed out by 10am for L&D. They said in order to admit me officially, they had to test my fluid to make sure they were amniotic fluid. I had the same pad on all morning (I think?) and was clearly in discomfort from the contractions at that point. The stupid test failed and I was ready for an epidural. They were like well let's see what we can do etc. It was SO frustrating. The nurse assigned to me was paying attention to the timing and was like screw this, let's get that epidural. The guy came in and put it in. It took awhile for it to work its magic. I could still feel contractions on one side, so they had me turn to my side so gravity could do its work. That eventually did the trick. They finally checked me after it got put in and I was at 6 cm. I have no idea why they didn't just check me in the first place!

DD's heartbeats dipped during some contractions but not to a dangerous point, but enough to inform me that they were keeping a close eye, and they had me wear an oxygen mask. I ended up with a low grade fever of 101.4 or somewhere around there. After starting the epidural, my contractions had also started to space out and become less severe and with the fever, they seemed anxious to get things going. They went ahead and had me started on pitocin. While I tried to relax and nap, DH left to move the car from a "30 minutes" parking spot that we had completely forgotten about and while he was gone, I all of a sudden started to feel the urge to poop. I went ahead and put in a fresh dose of epi (which in hindsight I wish I hadn't, but I was alone and freaking out). When he came back, I had him get a nurse to check me and she confirmed I was fully dilated, but DD was still high up. They wanted me to start doing "practice pushes" which started around.. 5pm? The nurse basically left DH and me alone with instructions to do pushes and to leave the epidural alone. I couldn't feel shit, DH had to tell me when a contraction was starting. And this part would be perfect for the TMI thread but he also had to clean me up because I was pushing out little poos. We joke about it now, it really was no big deal. I think by 7pm she was finally starting to make her way down the canal so the nurse took over and when DD was getting close, the OB that I had been seeing all along got to come in (yay), so it was nice to see a familiar face.

She did these stretches to help DD out, and at that point I could feel things and I just wanted to scream at her to leave my vagina alone. It really hurt and I still feel a little bitter about it to be honest. She was born at 7:37 pm, 7lb7oz, 39w1d and she was perfect. They wiped her quick and put her on my chest right away, and DH got to cut the cord. I could feel everything at that point. I had a 2nd degree tear and the stitching up of the tear hurt, but the afterbirth I didn't notice. The next few hours were a blur. Because I had a low grade fever during the labor, they said it was recommended to keep her for another 12 or so hours to make sure she was okay. I was free to check out the next day but I chose to stay a 2nd night and am SO glad I did. I had that extra time to use their LC for help with breastfeeding and to ask questions anytime.

onebadmotha · January 2017

I never did write one on my N15 BMB, so here goes!

When I was 40+2, my husband and I went to my OBGYN for a doctor's appointment. The doctor was concerned about baby's frequent heart decelerations and sent us to the hospital for further monitoring. After an hour or so of monitoring, the doctor on call basically said the baby was fine, but having heart decelerations depending upon how I was laying. She suspected it was just due to the baby laying on the cord a bit. The placenta was also showing signs of calcification. Considering the fact that I was (barely) overdue, the doctor said she felt safer keeping me and inducing. Being a worrier, I definitely felt better about that than I would have if I'd been sent home.

On Tuesday at 2 PM, I had my last pre-baby meal, Cervidil was inserted, and the waiting began. After 12 hours (at about 2 AM) the amazing nurse let me take a shower and snuck me a popsicle. Then, the Pitocin began! I kind-of-sort-of slept, but it was difficult as I had a blood pressure cuff set to go off every 15 minutes. Mainly, I watched movies while my husband slept (Dirty Dancing, Juno, and Garden State, to be specific). The next day was something of a blur, but mainly consisted of constant monitoring, chatting with the amazing nursing staff, and playing board games with my husband (Settlers of Catan, I won every time).

At about 9 AM on Thursday, my doctor broke my water. My husband almost fainted, and insists to this day that the water being broken was the grossest part of this whole adventure. It was pretty uncomfortable, but not gross for me- although I was shocked at how much came out! My contractions were getting super strong at this point, and I was debating an epidural. The anesthesiologist was about to be tied up with c-sections for the next couple of hours, so I jump at the chance to catch him before that! Getting the epidural placed was scary, since it was hard staying still when the contractions kept coming. It didn't hurt much, and once it took effect....it was magic. Magic. The rest of the day was spent lounging, trying to rest, and being incredibly hungry.

At about 9 PM that evening, when my husband stepped out to grab some food, I fell asleep only to be awakened a few minutes later by six nurses sprinting into my room and turning me onto my side. When that didn't work, they had me get on all fours for a bit. Apparently baby's heart rate had dropped. The repositioning worked, and when they checked me, I was at 10 cm! Husband returned, and I started pushing! My epidural had worn off by then, and I was not permitted to have any more (which I didn't know!). The nurse assured me that I'd likely only be pushing for about 30 minutes. Well, 3 hours later, I was exhausted and in tears. Apparently I was silent throughout the pushing, but I turned to my husband and screamed "GET IT OUT!" Baby's heart rate was great, and the nurse said I was pushing perfectly, but baby was stuck. At this point my OB was summoned (and took her sweet time). When she arrived, she had me sign a consent for a c-section and handed my husband some scrubs, without explaining anything. One of the amazing nurses suggested that the doctor try the forceps first, as I was pushing very well and she thought it may work. The doctor was incredibly rude to the nurses staff the entire time, but relented. She said I would have 3 pushes to get baby out, and if that didn't work, we would be having a c-section. One push later, baby was out!

Second degree tear was repaired sans pain meds, as the doctor was under the impression my epi was still working- after the numbing shot, it was totally fine, and I was able to snuggle my new baby, who turned out to be a sweet 6lb 10oz baby boy!

emilyalso · January 2017

I'll start my story Sunday night (before my Thursday due date). I had maybe felt a few contractions that evening but not enough to worry about. The fun came when I tried to go to bed... I ONLY had contractions when I was lying down. Sitting up in bed? Fine. Walking around? Fine. The only position that would allow me to sleep was the one where the pain would come back. So I was up all night. Monday was fine and dandy (except that I was exhausted) and I did give the Dr a call just to ask about the night I had. They said it was backwards that the contractions were worse lying down but since they DID stop with a change of position that it wasn't go-time.

Monday evening, I had a really bad pain in my abdomen (rlp? mystery pain?) and it made me throw up - gave the Doc a call and they said not to worry unless I had bleeding with large clots. Bedtime was the same as the night before, and I was miserable! On one trip to the bathroom I did notice bleeding and some clots in the toilet, so I put in another call. "Are the clots as big as a golf ball?" No. "Then you're probably fine - wait it out." Around 1:00 the contractions were getting closer (used an app to track them) and I got in the tub for a while. They kept coming and got to be every 5 minutes, so I called again. "I thought I might hear from you again tonight - you can head on in." Got hubs up, milled around a bit, made sure we had everything we needed and headed to the hospital...arriving around 4:00 am.

Check in was pretty easy as we had pre-registered, and we got all checked into a room and hooked up to ALL THE THINGS. By this point, I knew my contractions weren't as bad or close and I was so scared they would send me home. I was embarrassed because I felt like I may have jumped the gun, but I was also scared because I hadn't slept in 2 days and I didn't know how much longer I could wait! I got up to go to the bathroom, and my husband said the nurse did a double take at the bed where I had been sitting. Apparently, it was basically a pool of blood, so they decided to keep me (I think I was around 2-3cm). When the new Doc came on at 7:00 am, they decided to start Pitocin to 'augment' my labor. Then the contractions were NO JOKE! I felt like it was a little too early to ask for an epidural, but I did ask for other pain options. I got a dose of Fentanyl in my IV and could tell an immediate difference - it made me pretty woozy, but it was a help. Around 11:00 am, I was 6cm, Doc broke my water, contractions got crazy, and we went ahead with the epidural (11:45?). (The only bad part of it to me was the numbing medicine they did ahead of time. It was like 1,000 bee stings.) Once I had that, I was able to snooze a little which was HEAVENLY! Around 3:00 (pm) I was 9cm and they thought it was about to be GO TIME! (ha. ha.)

The problem was that DS hadn't made his way down far enough yet. So from 3-6 (pm) I sat with propped up in bed (sometimes with my legs in a frog position) waiting for him to come on down - he didn't. Around 6, they said we could try pushing. A sweet nurse was there helping me and she would say 'Alright, there's a contraction coming - let's push with this one..." And she would count and she was supportive and wonderful. I pushed with her for about an hour before the Doc came in (a new one now). When I was pushing with her, she would say "Um... Don't you feel that contraction???" Yes... "Well, you're missing a chance to push!" She was horrible and condescending, and at several points was literally turned around from my hooha watching the TV in the room. My sweet husband had to take over the counting because she had clearly checked out. At some point I asked how long we would keep doing this. (I KNOW some women push for hours, but they had told me he hadn't moved AT. ALL. And it just seemed pointless. And they had turned down the epidural and up the Piticon and the contractions were back with a vengeance!) She said we would go for another 20 minutes (a total of about 1.5 hours) and see where things stood. At the end of that time, she was like "Yeah... he hasn't moved at all and you're just crushing his head." So we all agreed that a C-section was where we were headed. (7:30 pm)

So we waited for the anesthesiologist to come back around with extra meds for surgery (45 mins), got shaved, moved to the ER, and they got him out of there (9:07). I honestly think I was asleep for part of the surgery, and I KNOW I was asleep when they were putting me back together. We were in the recovery area for a while - hours? and I was in and out during that time. My husband says he kept saying - look at your baby - and I would turn my head for half a second and then go back to sleep! And I apparently told the nurses that he had an ugly cone head.

I don't remember much from that time, and we didn't get to our room until close to midnight. (He was 8lbs and 21 inches long.)

The end! (I have a LOT more to say about C-section recovery and the like, but I feel that is more appropriate for a specific C-section thread which maybe can get started up closer to our delivery days!)

WombThereItIs · January 2017

Let's see what I still remember!

I went in for my 39 week appointment at 38w6d. My BP had been getting close to 130/90 or whatever the cutoff for gestational hypertion was but that day I blew it out of the water. I was inttally like 160/110 or something. I started babbling about how I would have to pee in a jar for a day and husband was like uhhh no. Doc comes in and we retake it after I had been sitting for a bit but I was still like 138/92 or something and he said I was going down to L&D for an induction. No pee test, it didn't matter. It was time.

I remember losing my shit hysterically crying because that wasn't the plan. Also it was midterm elections (wine in grocery stores was on the ballot!) and my plan was to vote on my way back to work and wrap up a few work things I tried negotiating for a couple hours to do those things and everyone thought I was crazy. I left tohead downstairs and demanded I take the stairs in case of the elevator. My husband was about to lose it on me (I didn't understand I was nearing magnesium and stroke territory) but I trudged down to L&D in tears anyway.

I sign in and sit in the waiting room silently crying and still pissed because this was not the plan. I'm a real peach! The nurse comes to get me all excited "we are having a baby today!" And I'm just like ugh, fine I guess since I don't get a choice. Thankfully this was the best nurse I had all stay and she realized I was just a change averse type A control freak and she helped me chill out. If I have this kid at the same hospital I hope she's on the deck when I go.

About an hour later once the IV and BP cuff are placed my doc comes up inbetween seeing more patients upstairs. He rules. He placed a foley bulb for dilation and holy fuck that hurt! I envy ladies who got cervadil instead! He tells me I have until 9pm for it to fall out at which point I'll be at about 4cm and we can start pitocin, it was maybe noon at that point. Husband leaves and brings me back Mac and cheese since we expect it will be my last meal.

Shift change at about 7pm and cool nurse leaves me with a warning that night nurses are a whole other animal and I wont like her. She is very right. This one is quite aggressive about coming in and tugging on my foley bulb and taping it down with traction periodically. Sometime before this my doc came back to check on me before he went home for the night. That hurt so bad every time but thankfully it comes out around 7? Sometime that evening my doc came back to check on me before he went home for the night and said I was at a 4 and it was pitocin time. They hook me up to pitocin and husband brings me dinner since nothing is happening anytime soon.

I am a blessed unicorn and feel NOTHING as they ramp up my pitocin. By maybe midnight it is on full blast and I am oblivious. I sleep okay except for the constant BP readings and my pump always beeping for more fluids or antibiotics (GBS positive).

Doc comes in to see me in the morning while my husband is gone. He decides to reuptire me since I only advanced to about 5cm overnight. Pretty much instantly I FEEL EVERYTHING. Going from no contraction ever to full blast pitocin contractions in about 90 seconds was kind of terrifying. I am alone in my room and call my husband super freaked out, he tells me to quit being an idiot and call anesthesia. I ask the nurse for the nurse anesthetist and he is in the room in 20 minutes. We had a chat with him the night before so he had my wholemedical history and it was just go time. Maybe 15 minutes later it is in place and life is good. This is when my husband comes back, good timing!

We watch more episodes of Scrubs and all of Elf and I get checked by my doc at lunch. I think I was at a 6? I am denied more food but I got a clear liquids tray of 2 kinds of broth, ginger ale, and 2 jello cups. It tasted like heaven. If you get cut off on food ask for this!

Doc comes back up sometime maybe around 4 and says I am nearly complete so he's going to eat and be back in an hour. They break down the bed and I guess this period was called "laboring down" and we get ready for pushing.

5pm doc comes back and says I have 2 hours to get this kid oit or it is cesarean time. Baby was measuring massive at nearly 9.5-10lbs less than a week earlier so we kind of anticipate things might not work out. Push push push, they keep turning down my epi and I push push push. We try a ton of positions and grab bars and towels and all sorts of gymnastics but they can only ever see the top of his head through my cervix, his head won't advance through. By 6:45 the writing is on the wall and everyone starts to get ready for the OR. Best theory is he was acynclitic (try to touch your ear to you shoulder and it's that position).

Upon hearing the news news of the c section I promptly lose my shit again. Once I am able to stop crying I space out and stare at the ceiling and refuse to talk to anyone. Doc comes in to consent me and I continue staring away and mumble yes. Fine. Yes. Ok. Ok. I really am a treat

7:00 I am in the OR and we get ready to go. 7:17 a perfectly not gigantic 8lb 7oz boy comes out (we were ram green). Dad and baby peace out and I start to hemmhorage a little because of all the pitocin so I get loadeddown with sedation and forget everything from here until about 5am the next day.

hp_momma · January 2017

DD1 Birth Story
I was still teaching at this point and from about 30 weeks on I had horrible sciatic pain. Physical Therapy was barely helping and he determined that baby was basically situated right on my nerve. Every time she would move just the right way, my whole left leg would just give out and collapse. Not only could I barely walk from, but randomly having my leg collapse in pain was not easy at all teaching kindergarteners.

From my first cervical check at 36 weeks, I was 2cm and 80% effaced. I walked around like that the entire time and had absolutely no noticeable contractions. However, my cervix was still very posterior and it was VERY painful during my cervical checks or when he tried to sweep my
membranse at the 38 and 39 week appointment. My OB told me that he could barely reach my cervix. We had talked about induction as my back pain was not improving and it wasn't safe to be walking around at 9 months pregnant with my leg just collapsing at any moment. From 38 weeks on we would calculate my Bishop Score (it determines your favoribility for a successful induction) as my hospital required a score higher than a 6 for a "elective induction" and since I didn't have pre-e or needed any emergency induction, I was in the elective category. My Bishop Score was always right at a 5 because my posterior cervix was knocking me down in points. Everything else was in my favor; dilated, effaced, soft cervix.
At 39+6 my Bishop Score was finally at a 6 as I was pretty much 100% effaced and 2cm dilated. My OB set me up for an overnight induction with cervidil.
DH and I checked into the hospital at 6pm on Dec. 20th and the induction process starts in triage in case you don't progress they just send you home. The nurse told us to settle in for a long night as most FTMs end up getting sent home anyways. They started with one dose of cervidil and I had to lay in the bed for an hour before I could get up and walk. We walked for an hour and then the contractions really started. The triage nurse was surprised that it took so quickly and told me to hang out in triage and try the peanut ball while she gets the second dose ready, as she thinks I haven't progressed enough.
By the time she came back with the second dose I was literally climbing up the wall in so much pain. DH says he's never seen someone clench on to a bed rail so hard. I didn't want anyone to talk or touch me, the contractions were right on top of each other. The nurse was surprised and wanted to check and see how dilated I was. Last check I had was when I checked into the hospital and was 2cm. She checked me and shot right up and said "woa, your at an 8-9 we better get you to a room!" So from a 7pm cerividal dose to about 9pm I had progressed from a 2 to 8!
The nurse quickly brought over a wheelchair and as I stood up my water broke all over the floor. On our way to the room she paged anesthesia to meet us in our room to see if it was even possible for me to get an epidural before baby time. I hadn't even seen a single OB since I had checked in. They called my OB (who was at home but on call) and he said to call him back when I was ready to push. Apparently his house was less than 5 minutes from the hospital and he assumed with a FTM he'd have plenty of time.
The anesthesiologist met us in the room and quickly got started. He was amazing. My contractions were literally non stop and he just had me hug a pillow and the epidural was in so quick. It worked pretty quickly and I remember just being so calm and relaxed from that point. I could feel a slight pressure every time I had a contraction but it wasn't anything painful.
After the epidural was placed the nurse checked me and I was at a 9 almost 10. She said she would let me rest now that I had the epidural and "labor down" as DD1 was still pretty high up. This was about 11pm.
At about 1am the nurse came into check me again (my OB was still at home sleeping) and I was fully dilated and she wanted me to try some practice pushes to see how I would do. I did one push and she said "Stop! If you keep pushing I'll be delivering this baby instead of Dr. E***!" Feeling the need to push and having someone tell you to not do it is awful. She quickly called my OB and told him to hurry in as this baby was coming. The nurses set up the room for delivery and my nurse was coaching me through some small pushes as I had the urge and you can only hold back for so long before your body just starts working. My OB literally walked in, got his scrubs/gloves on, sat down, I pushed and he caught the baby! DD1 was born at 2:12am on 12/21 (her due date!) and was 7lbs 12oz. I had a second degree tear but I didn't feel any of the afterbirth or stitching. DH cut the cord and I got to snuggle with DD1 right away.

erinh2005 · January 2017

Just gonna copy and paste from my exact post off A14 message board:
Woo hoo we did it!!!

Short version: Ariana Soleil born by natural vaginal delivery (2nd deg. tear) on 4/22/2014 (39w5d) At 8:08pm weighing 7lb11oz and 20in long!

Long version: Following my OB appt. Mon. where my Dr. checked me and said I was a stretchy one cm (but it would be optimistic to say I would go into labor this week as a FTM: due date 4/24/14) I went to get up to pee at 2am Tues morning. I felt a little gush and saw that I lost the rest of my mucous plug. I wasn't sure if the extra fluid was water bag or something else so I laid back down and attempted to time my contractions. But no luck as they were not spaced evenly (but annoying enough I wasn't able to go back to sleep all night). So with just 2 hours of sleep I got up and showered early Tues. a.m. I had a wax appt. and planned on attending a breast feeding class in the afternoon. And DH was finally packing his stuff for labor with the possibility that my water was leaking. I wanted to give myself the best chance for a med-free vag. delivery so since my contractions still weren't evenly spaced I decided to go about my day. With the car finally packed DH drove me to my wax appt. at 11am so we could be ready to go to the hospital together if needed. I called my Dr. to let her know about the possible amnio leak, and she said to go ahead and get checked to be safe. So it is now 1:00pm and after getting signed in the midwife checks me to say I am now a 3-4cm but water bag was intact. (The fluid turned out to be from a yeast infection I didn't know about?). They had said since I was hoping for a natural birth I should go walk around for a while and get rechecked at 3:30 (two hours later). So DH and I walked around the Beverly Center for two hours. I had to stop for each contraction (which seemed like 3mins apart) but it freaked me out to time them since we were going back to the hospital either way. So we checked back in and she said I was now a 4-5cm! Contractions were coming frequently and the nurses kept making comments that I was the calmest patient on the floor and I was managing really well. This was very encouraging for the birth plan I wanted! So as I labored the hours kept going by... I would be checked every once in a while and each time I had made progress! There was finally a series of two contractions where I felt the BM sensation that everyone talks about. I told the nurse and upon checking I was 9cm. Dr. finally broke my bulging water bag and instructed the nurse to allow me to start pushing. This was HARD work. Not only the most pain I've ever felt, but the hardest work I've ever had to do. The nurse was great at coaching me through since I've never done this before! And she finally calls in the Dr. And from there it was only a matter of minutes before Ariana was placed on my belly while I was being stitched up from a 2nd deg. tear. Such an amazing experience for this proud mama!!!

hp_momma · January 2017

DD2 Birth Story
New state, new hospital/OB.

I didn't have any sciatic pain with DD2 which was much appreciated! At 36 weeks I had my first cervical check and was again 2cm and 80% effaced. My cervix was still very posterior (just like DD1) and cervical checks were super painful. I walked around like that again for weeks. The membrane sweeps were super painful and not effective. At 39 weeks we began discussing induction past 40 weeks as I had a very successful induction with DD1. Again, my Bishop Score was always holding me back. OB agreed to induce me no matter what if I went past 40wks as DH had
some military training coming up and would be out of town. At my 40wk appointment things were still hanging out as the same but OB scheduled me for an induction the next day.
We checked into the hospital at 7am and this OB preferred pitocin over cervidil. I got all hooked up to IVs and expressed to the nurse that I wanted an epidural as soon as I was having active contractions as my first labor progressed very quickly. By the time I got all the IVs in and medical history reviewed it was 8:30. I started on the smallest dose of pitocin and instantly the contractions started. The anesthesiologist was in the middle of a c-section so I was going to have to wait.
The OB came in during that time. He said to up the pitocin even though I was having contractions. Looking back on it, I would have asked for them to leave it at the small dose but when your in the middle of contractions it's hard to concentrate on anything else. I trusted my doctor so I didn't really pay attention.
The anesthesiologist came in about 10am and he was working sooooo slow. I wanted to punch him. He was annoyed that I was shaking, the contractions made me tense up a lot and I didn't really have any breaks in between. He kept yelling at me to hold still and I wanted to yell at him "when men learn to understand what childbirth feels like THEN you can tell me to hold still during a contraction!). My nurse tried her best to hold me as still as possible and the anesthesiologist kept working very slow. Finally he placed the epidural and it was working. The nurse checked me and I was at 6cm.
With DD1 I had no control over the epidural dosing, only my nurse could adjust it. With DD2 they gave me a little button to push and said I could push it whenever I needed a boost of epidural. While this seemed great, looking back I wish someone else had control over it! I pushed it all the time and it made my contractions literally impossible to feel and my legs completely numb. With DD2 I could feel some pressure and legs had feeling, but no pain. It made it much easier to push as I could still feel the sensation.
The nurse let me labor for an hour and said she would be back to check. At 11:30 she came in and my water had just broke. I was at 10cm. She called and let the OB know.
At 11:45 the OB came in and I got all settled up in the stirrups. I had absolutely no sensations from the epidural which made it super difficult to push. I couldn't feel any of what I was doing. The OB asked for the epidural to be turned off so I could start getting some feeling back.
While I was "laboring down" and waiting for the epidural to wear off, DD2 was rotating all around in the birth canal. The OB kept calling the nurses, DH, and my mom over "Come look! This one just won't sit still!" I think at one point he even had a nurse from in the hall come in and take a look. There is apparently no shame when your legs are up in stirrups for everyone to see!
I finally started to feel some contractions and began pushing. At 12:20pm, DD2 was born! 8lbs even and another second degree tear right along the same scar tissue I had from DD1. DH cut the cord, she got cleaned up a little and we snuggled right away! 4 hours of labor from start to finish!
My dad brought DD1 in a little bit later to see the baby and she got to help the nurses give her sister her first bath and comb her hair, so sweet to watch!

*For those who are about to have baby #2, listen to the nurses when they tell you that the uterine contractions from second babies are WAY worse than baby 1! I mean it's like contractions all over again. Keep up on your Motrin until your uterus is back down. I hear that they keep getting worse with each delivery so I'm not at all looking forward to that!

JCWhitey · January 2017

#1: I was 38w4d with no signs of labor when DH and I went to barons 10PM. At 2AM exactly I rolled over in my sleep and suddenly I was peeing my pants. I tried to make it stop and realized I couldn't, and more was coming out. In my sleepy fog I realized my water had broken. I sprang out of bed and ran down the hall to the bathroom and cleaned myself up. I went back to our room and woke DH up to tell him that my water had broken, but to not get ready yet because I wanted to labor at home for as long as I could. Instead, he sprang out of bed and started packing a bag and insisted we go right away. He made me call the hospital to ask them what they thought. Since we were coming from 30 miles away the nurse suggested we come in, they'd let me do my thing in the room into labor really kicked in and not disturb us. So we decided to go in.

I went to my office to print off my birth plan while DH packed a hospital bag since I hadn't done that yet. An hour later we were leaving. I had one very mild contraction prior to leaving. Then the distance between our driveway and the highway was less than half a mile. By the time we hit the highway my contractions were one on top of the other.

I opened the timer on my phone thinking there was no way I was counting the contractions right. But they were a minute long and only 45 seconds apart. Worst 30 minute drive EVER! I almost made DH pull over a dozen times but we barreled through.

Upon on arriving at the hospital I was only 4cm but in active labor so I decided to get in the tub right away. 20 minutes later the nurse checked me and said I was 7 cm. I then heard her outside the room frantically calling the doctor to tell him she was wrong, he didn't have time, he had to get to the hospital ASAP. I then hear her tell DH that if the doctor didn't make it she was fully capable of attending the birth. All SUPER reassuring to hear when you're in labor! My mom also showed up around this time. She was my doula so I relieved she was there.

After about 30 minutes in the tub it became very constricting and I had to get out. I then announced that I really had to poop and wanted everyone to leave the bathroom while I did that and dried off. Everyone yelled "Noooo!" And the nurse had me get on the bed and checked me. I was 9 cm and pushing. I had a cervical lip so the nurse told me not too push but I told her I couldn't help it and burst into tears. The nurse ended up going up there's and moving the lip, bringing me to 10 cm. I started pushing which was the most amazing feeling ever!

After about 3 pushes I looked down and there was a strange guy sitting at the end of the bed. The doctor had made it! He introduced himself then said I should just continue on, I was doing great. I decided to stand up for the next couple of pushes, which really amused the doctor. He told my mom he'd never seen a mom get up in the middle of pushing like that before. But it didn't the trick. The head came out on the next push and the body the push after. DH announced that our baby was a boy (we were Team Green). We wanted to delay cord clamping but the cord was ridiculously short and he could only reach my pelvis. After a few minutes I got impatient and asked the cord to be cut and got to snuggle my baby.

After a bit everyone left left the room and the two of us just hung out and he nursed then fell asleep. My husband brought me my first PP meal- a summer shandy and a subway sandwich. It was about three hours after my son was born that I finally handed him over to be weighed . 7lbs, 13oz, 19.5" long. And very healthy!

#2: PTL at 32 and 34 weeks that brought me to 4cm dilated, but it was stopped with a ton of mag, lots of fluids, and a pill whose name I cannot remember now. Also steroid shots were given, those are so much fun, let me tell you! PTL at 35 weeks was not stopped, but decided to stop on its own after 8 hours. I was 5.5cm. Though all of this I had two ambulance transfers to a NICU hospital and spent 6 days in the hospital.

Then at 36w6d my water broke and I rushed to the hospital thinking labor would go super fast since I was already over 5cm dilated. It didn't.

9 hours later they got concerned about the baby and my lack of contractions once my water broke, and the decision was made that I would be transferred via ambulance again. A 2.5 hour ambulance ride. Fun! Of course, we hit one pot hole on the way out of town and full blown labor starts. I begged for them to turn on the lights and GO and they did! We made it to the hospital in 2 hours instead of 2.5.

i thought for sure I'd be 10cm and ready to push. I wasn't. I was 5.5cm. I basically said "F all of this! Give me an epidural!" 15 minutes later it was placed. Only worked on one side, but it was enough that I felt good enough to sleep. I was frustrated and exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

Just as I dozed off I was overcome with the overwhelming urge to take a poop. I remember saying "Crap!" And my mom asking what was wrong. I said either I was pooping or the baby was coming. My mom lifted the sheet and said "Well, you're not pooping!" While DH ran out into the hall to say we needed the midwife right away.

Midwife, 2 nurses, and, like, 10 med students entered. I was just annoyed that I didn't get a chance to sleep so I refused to push. But I realized it was happening anyway. Her head was out. A couple more contractions later and she was born, This time we delayed cutting the cord for about 5 minutes. I asked to cut the cord, it was kind of cool. Snuggling and nursing ensued. DH went and got me my PP meal of Sierra Nevada Winter Ale and French toast (super weird combo but it was yummy!).

Despite being 3 weeks early my daughter was 7lbs, 10oz, 22.5" long. Big baby for her gestation. She had some raspy breathing the first day, but it cleared up by the second and they let us go the next day.

saric83 · January 2017

Here's my condensed version.

Tuesday:

Water broke at home at noon (when I was trying to fan a towel at the smoke alarm going off in the middle of my steamy shower - haha!)
Pitocin started around 6pm to kick things into gear
Slooooooow and boring labor at the hospital from 3pm-2am (more and more pitocin)

Wednesday:

Epidural at 2am (yea!) and awesome sleep the rest of the night (despite being woken up every hour to flip positions)
Epidural wore off at 9am (whew!!) and got another kind
Dilated to 9 3/4 (Harry Potter baby ) from about 8am-5pm with no change
Epidural wore off again around 4pm (booo!) and decided not to get more as we were hoping I could start pushing at any time once I finally got to 10
My heart rate started skyrocketing around 1pm and was too high and meds weren't working to lower it (I had preclampsia), and I started to have a panic attack when Sebastian's heart rate crashed a few hours later, but by moving my position they were able to have it be okay. We kept checking to see if I had hit 10 yet, but everything has just stopped for nearly nine hours, and then different positions weren't helping his heart rate, and it was time for a c-section.
They had him out within seven minutes at 6:16pm, but from 28 hours of labor, I was exhausted and throwing up the entire surgery. I ended up hemorrhaging a lot, which thankfully, we didn't know at the time. They finally got it under control after an hour or so, and I was good to go. (A few blood transfusions a few days later made me feel like a brand new woman!)
I then got to enjoy cuddling with our new little human while eating pizza from my favorite restaurant.

Jkp7749 · January 2017

I taught up until the school year ended in May, and I was due in July. I think that put me finishing around 34 weeks which ended up being perfect because after that I had braxton hicks- which were really deceiving because they came consistently every 5 minutes and lasted a minute ALL NIGHT EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. up until I finally delivered at 40+2. My advice would be to have a list of Netflix shows to watch because it was crazy staying up all night every night by myself only to have them stop around 8 am. I saw midwives and at my 38 week appointment my midwife said she'd strip my membranes at 39 weeks and try to get the ball rolling, she also said at that point we could go ahead and schedule an induction date for anytime after 40 weeks just so I'd have an end in sight since I was SO uncomfortable. My 39 week appointment came and I had accidentally scheduled with the super all natural midwife (which I wasn't thrilled about) and she refused to strip my membranes. She also said she didn't believe me that Lisa was going to schedule the induction and refused to do that, so I left in tears because I was extremely over this whole thing. I was a WHALE and everyone commented how my due date must be wrong, but sure enough I my due date came and there was no real action. I was walking around target and the cashier asked me when I was due and I remember saying "right now..." and being so bummed.

At my 40 week appointment we scheduled the induction for the following Friday, however, they called early and asked if I'd like to come Thursday. My body finally caved and real labor began. While having braxton hicks Wednesday night, I decided to hop in the bathtub and read. While I was sitting there, I started to realize that these felt different. By 3:45 am (the morning of my 7 am induction) they were under 4 minutes apart and getting pretty painful. I woke my husband up around 5 and he thought I meant it was time for the induction but he quickly realized it was actually baby time

We got to the hospital around 5:30 I think, and they mixed up our orders so still processed us as being here for the scheduled induction. That meant rather than going to triage right away, I labored in the check in area until seven, and once I was all set up they still gave me pitocin and when I asked why they said "because we already have the orders" - I probably should have argued the point that I was already in labor and progressing but whatever. It all gets blurry from here, but I quickly progressed to an 8 without much going on. I did get staydol at some point in there which was a miracle drug. It made me so relaxed that I even napped and I was so happy that we were joking around and actually enjoying it. Around 8 the pain got real! I had hoped to do the Bradley method, but wasn't too set on anything and just figured I'd go with whatever I felt I needed, so at 8 I asked for the epidural. After having to wait over an hour for the epidural (which I probably could have just forgotten about by then anyway since I'm pretty sure I was already near a ten) it was finally administered and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. My mind was so preoccupied with the contractions that were one on top of the other so I barely noticed the needle, except I was amazed he could do it with me writhing in pain. After the epidural I felt better and they checked and I was at a 10 but my daughter had not descended so they figured I should "labor down" for a bit instead of trying to push her all that way. After 2 hours she was low enough so they decided I should push. I started pushing and I was bawling at that point because of the pressure in my butt and I thought the epidural would fix it so they put more in (i can't remember the medical term) but it did NOTHING for the pain there, which was the only thing I was concerned about. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed! We were making progress, but after 3 hours of pushing I was completely done. I was crying my eyes out because the epidural was giving no relief where I needed it and the midwife was being ugly at that point. She was obviously frustrated that I hadn't pushed the baby out and she was resorting to fussing at me which I do not respond well to (think hard workouts with the coach yelling at you). Finally she told me to push and I just refused... three hours was too long. She ended up arguing with me and saying "fine do you want me to get a doctor?" to which I was like "yes please! I don't know why you didn't two hours ago!" (I honestly think the midwives at our practice have a pride issue where they don't want to get a dr even when needed because they let a few things go undiagnosed with me that really shouldn't have). They got the dr on call, Dr. X , and he came to check but had an emergency (who turned out to be a close friend of mine having her son) so he went to check on her. They called in another dr (Dr. Y) from our practice (who is the ex bf's dad who gets such high praise for being the best in town) and after considering both of our situations, they were going to have Dr. X work with me and Y with her. However after coming in and talking to us, my daughters heart rate went up over 200 and some other stuff but I was too distressed at that point to know anything except that it had now become necessary that she get out soon. My husband says it was a little scary for a bit. They decided I needed to go first and needed to have the other dr. The dr's switched again, and Dr. Y came and made me sign some papers just in case and said he was going to try to get her out with forceps or the vacuum but that she was stuck and in distress, so he tried one time and said there is absolutely NO way that she was coming out (which I don't know why it was so hard for the midwife to tell that). My pelvis was too narrow (makes sense bc I am shaped very straight and my hips just never spread much). We rushed to have a c section and they couldn't get me numb so I can't remember what all they gave, but it was a butt load of medicine. I remember joking with the anesthesiologist because the medicine was starting to kick in and I finally felt better knowing this was all going to be over. When they finally got me numb, I ended up just passing out. When my water had broken sometime earlier, there was meconium in it so they were trying to get it out before she cried but she cried right away. It ended up being fine and I don't remember anything except a ton of people swarming around us in the room, bright lights, cutting my bra off, and then waking up to a nurse pushing on my uterus. Ya'll, that is worse than contractions honestly. My daughter was born around 7 pm, I saw her around 9, and we were finally moved to our room and allowed family some time around midnight. The nursing staff was incredible and after the trauma of pushing for so long and being whisked away for emergency surgery, I was just so happy that they were nice and that they fed me lol. Nursing went wonderfully and we stayed until the 4th morning (honestly, we could have left on day 3, but the nursing staff was so incredible we wanted their help just one more night).

My sweet DD weighed 8lbs13oz and was 20 inches long

My friends son was born two hours later and weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long

They celebrated their first birthday together in July! It was so cool to have a friend have her baby a few doors down and a few hours apart. We walked the halls together some after while recovering

Hansolosparka · January 2017

I was at 1cm weeks 38-39 and worked up until 39 weeks until I just just over it. I was also up every night with Braxton Hicks that were 5 minutes apart but didn't produce anything. My doctor said I could be induced on my due date or later so I said on my due date would be just fine

I ate 3 donuts on the way to the hospital and got there around 7am. They hooked me up to pitocin and I got to about 2-3 cm and felt a few contractions. Then the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural because he has about to go do two C-sections and it was get it done then or wait a few hours and I had "experienced" enough contractions. Got the epi with no issues, it worked great and we hung out and watched a few movies. A few times baby HR dropped during contractions so I had to turn on my side, had some oxygen (bring cough drops to the hospital in case this happens- it dries your throat out like a MF and coughing after 2nd degree tears is no joke) and eventually an internal monitor to make sure baby was ok. I felt
like I was threatened with a C section every hour and if I had said "Ok let's do it" they probably would have. But each time the HR resolved itself and things were fine. I wasn't at a 10 until around midnight. I pushed for about 45 minutes and DS was born around 12:30. 2nd degree tears but I just tried to focus on DS while the doctor was stitching me up. I wound up getting my least favorite doctor in the practice but she was awesome and I remember in that moment thinking this is where OBs really shine! DS was 8lbs 7oz so I was glad I didn't wait too long to be induced or he would have been a 9 pounder!

It it was a very relaxed and easy birth. I feel lucky and hope that the next one goes as smoothly.

redheeler · January 2017

Schedualed induction at 38weeks on the dot due to pre E concerns

friday: arrive at 5pm, have cerdavil inserted at 8pm to be left for 24hrs. Cerdavil is awful!

saturday: 8pm have cerdavil removed, dilated to 2cm offered foley bulb but declined.

sunday: 6am waters broken, 8am pitocin started dose doubled every hour.
9am contractions were on top of one another, tried gas and air, ended up throwing up with every contraction and my BP sky rocketed. Epi was recommended at 10am, second cannular was placed for magnesium drip around 11am.
epi was finally placed around 12pm, active labour was technically established at around the same time. BP dropped and magnesium wasn't required. I was allowed something to eat and drink, finished my lunch and H went to get something to eat around 12:45, 1:10 I commented to the midwife that the catheter felt really uncomfortable, she checked 10cm, ready to go, I was told to wait while she got everything ready and another midwife, H finally returned around 1:15 and I was told to start pushing. DS was born with an APGAR of 9 at 1:25pm on Jan 19th 2014. H still hasn't been able to eat his lunch lol.

bgrant172 · January 2017

I was 40 weeks and 3 days and had been to the doctor two days earlier where she swept my membrane (she didn't tell me she was going to do it or that she had done it but i began losing my mucus plus right after and I felt her do it, also another OB confirmed it later). At 9am, right after my husband left for work I was brushing my teeth and lifted my foot to use it to put down the toilet seat he had left up and about two tables spoons of water splashed onto the floor (I was wearing pajama shorts with no underwear). I called dh first and then the dr who told me to come in and see if it had actually been my water breaking. He didn't make it sound urgent so I ate breakfast and took and shower and headed over. He did the test but it was inconclusive so they decided to send me to the hospital and have them check, since I was GBS positive if it had been my water they needed to start antibiotics. Again there didn't seem to be a huge rush so I went home, had my husband walk the dog, finished packing and then we went over (at the time we lived in brooklyn and were around the corner from the hospital which was awesome). Once I was there they hooked me up to various monitors, did the test and again were stumped, but did tell me I was having contractions (I felt them but I had thought it was the baby shifting from side to side because it just felt like pressure high up in my belly). Well apparently they don't mess around with GBS so they decided to admit me and get things really started with pitocin just to be safe. It took a few hours for the real deal pain to start so for a while I thought I was going to be one of the lucky ones who don't suffer as much, even though the admitting OB had said "with pitocin it's not really a matter of if you'll get an epidural but when." Once the pain came though it was pretty rough and I decided to get an epidural, which I loved. I was afraid of having that dead weight feeling in my legs and not being able to move but instead it was a warm tingly feeling like someone had covered me with a blanket and I could move my legs pretty easily. After that dh slept and I rested as best I could with all the monitors and IVs, until all the sudden it felt like the baby was wiggling his head really low down in my pelvis. That's not what I thought the need to push would feel like but I had them come check anyway and I was 10cm and pretty ready. This is where things got tough though. My doctor preferred that the epidural get shut off so I could feel more of when to push which would have probably been fine except that shortly after taking it away he and all the other OBs on staff got called into some kind of big emergency c section and they wanted me to wait to push until he could return. So I laid there, epidural worn off, needing to push but not allowed to (they can tell when you try even if they aren't in there with you because of the monitors) for an hour. It. Was. Brutal. The nurses would come in and check to make sure he wasn't crowning and assured me if he was they could get someone there but that was all the help they could give me and I honestly thought that my hips were going to shatter. Finally the doctor was able to join us and after that I only pushed for an hour (which is more than long enough). They did need to cut a third degree episiotomy to get out my giant headed 9lb 6oz 21 inch baby boy, which isn't super fun to recover from. I thought the sensation of delivering the placenta afterward was pretty unpleasant, but also I think I was just so ready to have it all finished and had run out of patience. They did give me lidocaine to stitch me up which helped but that was no picnic either.
Overall it was an uneventful birth but there were a lot of suprises even though I felt like I had done so much to prepare. It was probably the most rewarding thing I've ever done though and my little boy is so much the love of my life that after all that I kind of can't wait to do it again.

mcvgal · January 2017

DS1:

I went in for my 30 week appointment, on a Thursday, and my blood pressure was really high. I had no symptoms and was still teaching a fitness class so I really had no idea or reason to believe it would be high. My OB sent me home to be on bedrest for one day and scheduled a follow-up appointment for the next day. She even told me to prepare a hospital bag just in case. I went home watched Netflix and relaxed, so I thought. I had no idea that bedrest meant really not doing anything, so I washed dishes and a load of laundry. For some reason I did not take her suggestion to prepare a hospital bag seriously. The next day I had my mom take me to the follow-up appointment and they barely checked my blood pressure and decided to admit me right away. I was told to be prepared for best case scenario of 8-10 weeks of hospital bedrest. My bp was around 152/90. I had proteins in my urine and was diagnosed with preeclampsia. I still had discomfort or anything at all. My bp was steady for a few hours but it would not decrease so they told me that our goal was to take it one week at a time. That is when I started to get concerned. I couldn't wrap my head around my baby arriving so early.

I immediately called my sister and had her pack my hospital bag and bring me my supplies to finish the baby blanket I was working on. The following morning, Saturday, they did not want me even walking to the bathroom anymore, so I got a catheter (which I was not mentally prepared for). I finished my blanket that day and watched several movies. I also got the surfactant shots for the baby. By Sunday I was so uncomfortable from "resting" so much I just wanted to get up and move.

In the middle of the night I start feeling pains along my right side, I believe that is when everything moved on to full on HELLP. At about 430AM on 30w3d, the doctor came in and said I would need to be transferred because their NICU could only handle 32weekers. They let me rest a few more hours. The ambulance arrived at around 830AM. It was my husband's first day as restaurant manager so I told him to go on to work since they were only transferring me to be prepared to mostly likely deliver that weekend. My sister followed the ambulance and was in the check in with me. Everything was so chaotic. Since I was basically a band new patient I had to go over all my medical history and the take in nurse was not very friendly. While I was providing the information I overheard the doctors mention I was being induced that same day, since the pain was getting worse in the ambulance ride. My bp had risen to 201/100. I mentioned that my first prenatal appointment mentioned possible needing a C-section since my pelvic bones were so narrow. The new doctors did not check me at all and just took it as a fact and scheduled me for the very next c-section. I called my husband and told him that It was happening a lot sooner like in a few hours. He rushed to the new hospital from work.

My sister called the family and let them now what was going on. While I am in the prep area waiting for an OR to become available I had about 3 family members come back and visit. Unbeknownst to me we had about 30 family and friends in the waiting area, just waiting to hear anything. A nurse went out to the waiting areas and asked for my mom, everyone got excited thinking I asked to give her the news. Except it turned out to be my estranged sister called the hospital to ask for my mom to call her with any information (she had everyone's cellphone numbers yet called the hospital instead).

I was rolled into the OR around 2pm. The anesthesiologist was so friendly and helped calm my nerves. I remember all the people in the room talking about the Twilight movie that had just come out that weekend. I didn't want to be rude and tell them to stop talking, but they totally spoiled the movie for me since I was waiting to see it. DS1 was born at 2:52PM. They said it's a boy. There was no cry or anything. He weighed 3lbs 10oz. I barely got to see a glimpse of him before he was taken to the NICU. Since all of this was so unexpected, the hospital did not have a room ready for me. Therefore, after putting me back together, I was wheeled back to the prep room and waited an hour for my room to be ready. The doctors where taking care of DS1 and I was given several of consent forms before I was finally able to visit the NICU at 7PM. He was the smallest, furriest, and cutest baby I had every seen. He had tubes all over and eyes covered due to his jaundice treatment, but as soon as we opened the isolette door, his little fingers wrapped around my finger and I knew he was a trooper.

Everyday I went to visit him in the NICU and on day 4 I was well enough to be discharged, luckily my insurance covered 5 days so I stayed one more day to be close to him. On the 5th day, I was actually able to hold him for the first time. We did kangaroo care and I did not want to leave at all.

DS2:

I went in for my 36week appointment at 10AM and had already been monitoring my bp for several months. I knew I was most likely going to be admitted early because I had 3 days of 152/90 ish bps. They immediately admitted me because in addition to the high bp, they found a small trace of proteins in my urine. I really wish I would have eaten before my appointment because I was not allowed to eat for the next few hours. The doctor was trying to decide if based on my history I would have a C-section that day or if I could wait one more day. At around 3pm my bp was stabilized and I was allowed to eat. The RCS was scheduled for the next morning at 9AM. Just like with DS1, I never felt any odd symptoms other than tracking the increasing bp. The next morning I showered they came in and prepared me for surgery and rolled me into the OR. DH was not allowed in the room while I had the spinal and anesthesia. I was totally calm until that moment when he was not by my side, for some reason that seemed like the longest 5-10 minutes of my life. He said that during that time they introduced him to all the NICU staff that was present and prepared to see to the baby's needs. At 946AM DS2 was born, they said it's a boy and I heard the most beautiful cry ever! All the doctors looked him over and he was a healthy 7lb 2oz baby. The quickly wiped him and gave him to my husband for him to hold for me to see while they started to put me back together. DH and DS2 were taken to a recovery room while they finished working on me. After about 15-20 minutes I was rolled over to them and we had about 2 hours of bonding time without any visitors or interruptions. He nursed like a champ.

psherman42wwsa · January 2017

I was 4 days over due and still working... on a Friday morning at 7am I went to an appointment and decided to get a "membrane sweep".. It was pretty uncomfortable. After the appointment I went to work and felt sort of crampy. I had some spotting and notice my mucous plug around lunch time. After work I went home, took a little nap then went out to eat. Came home and took a long walk around the neighborhood and then bounced on the yoga ball for a bit. Around midnight I tried to go to bed.. laid there for about 5 minutes and then got up because I was feeling nauseous and thought I was going to have diarrhea. Went to the bathroom and my water broke.

I sat on the toilet for awhile and then got in the shower. Then I started walking laps around my house and sitting on the yoga ball. I did this for about 2 hours until the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I called the hospital and they said to come in.

Got to the ER. I insisted my husband park the car and that I would walk in normally. We got in and there was another lady that was in labor and was getting dropped off at the door. The man working in the ER said he would get 2 wheelchairs and we would all go up to L&D together once the other woman's husband came back from parking the car. I said no that's ok I don't want to wait and I don't want a wheelchair, so we walked upstairs. I had to stop several times throughout.

Once we got up to the unit we had to check in at the front desk. I was very annoyed about how long this was taking and had to stop talking/signing papers for contractions. Then I was told to have a seat in the waiting room until I was called back. 10 minutes later got called back into triage. They checked to make sure I was in labor. I was 5cm dilated so they said they could start working on my epidural. First they needed to draw blood and wait for the results.. and start an IV. The nurse made several attempts and finally got it. About an hour later they said the room was ready and once I got there I could get my epidural.

Got to the room. Immediately got the epidural. Then they put in a catheter and said I should rest. It was around 4am at this time. About 7am or 8am they checked me and said I was complete if I wanted to start pushing. I didn't really have the urge to push so they said we will wait until that happens. At 11am I still didn't have the urge but they said I needed to start pushing because of when my water broke. For 3 hours I pushed in every position possible and he finally was born! I was so exhausted and thirsty I couldn't wait to drink something. During my labor I developed a slight temperature, when baby came out and was put on my chest he also had a fever. He then was put on another table so he could cool down. About 10 minutes later they took him to special care nursery to get IV antibiotics. While he was gone I was getting stitched up and then I went in the bathroom and got myself together. Baby ended up being perfectly healthy and so was I.

Kipperoo · January 2017

Reading these birth stories takes me right back to when my son was born...I don't recall the experience in as much detail as most of you, but here it is...

I went in for my 36 week appointment on a Friday, everything looked good with the baby and at the end I causally mentioned to my doctor that my skin had been itching--not the typical palms of hands/soles of feet you are told to look out for, but a general, all over arms/legs/torso itch that didn't seem to respond to lotion. She sent me down for blood work but told me it was probably nothing. Saturday morning, I got a call from a doctor on the staff (because my doctor was on a flight to Paris) telling me that my blood work looked positive for cholestastis and I would need to report to the hospital on Sunday evening for an induction on Monday morning at 37 weeks on the dot. I was totally unprepared for this (note to first time moms, seriously pack your hospital bag long before you think you will actually need it--trying to pack a bag while wrapping your head around an unplanned induction is not the best--I totally spaced things that I needed on my list, like a hair tie...).

Arrived at the hospital Sunday night to find that I was already dilated to a 2, so we went straight to pitocin around 10:00 pm. By 4:30 am or so, my water broke and then the contractions starting coming down fast and heavy. The pain was suddenly so intense and all consuming that I literally couldn't say a word. I requested an epidural--10 (excruciating) minutes later the anesthesiologist arrived with his little cart and told me that a woman down the hall needed her epidural first because she was about to give birth to twins. As much as I wanted to (totally inappropriately) yell at the man, I literally couldn't, so I just stared at him as he wheeled the happiness cart away. The nurse tried to help me with a few pain techniques, which really did very little--I couldn't catch my breath and I honestly remember thinking at that point "no way in hell am I doing this again...ever". About 20 mins later, the happiness cart came back and the epidural changed my life. An hour later, at 6:00ish, I felt like I was ready to push (in hindsight, I probably should have waited). I loved the first doctor/nurse team that handled my from 6-7:30, but then there was a shift change and a nasty nurse and doctor arrived to finish the last 1.5 hours. 3 solid hours of pushing was just too much. I've never been so exhausted in my entire life. They gave me oxygen for the last hour and the experience was just very unpleasant. When I finally pushed him out shortly after 9:00 am, the doctor told me that there were times that he didn't think I'd be able to do it. Nice bedside manner...

Skin to skin, nurse pushing on my abdomen (WTF...that is some painful stuff), transferred to our room. We spent 2 nights in the hospital and it was lovely. Limited visitors, nice bonding time, room service, I was in a lot of pain, so it was just nice to have everything we needed right at our finger tips. DS had a little bit of jaundice, but it cleared itself up in a few days. Nursing seemed to be going really well at the hospital, but after we left, he began dropping more weight than was ideal and we had to start supplementing with formula. But the nursing drama is a story for another day... :-)

Yiggle09 · January 2017

@Kipperoo I love you call it the happiness cart

nda_roxybabe · January 2017

Love these! I'm getting all misty eyed. So excited for us all to meet these new babies (not anytime too soon though!!)

vrj0522 · January 2017

I have 2 so I'll try to keep them to the point.

DS:
At my 39 week (I was 39w1d, on Thursday) checkup my cervix was starting to soften but I was still not dilated at all. Sunday early morning I woke up to a few irregular contractions and had them all that day (between 8-10 minutes apart but irregularly), so I pre labored for a whole day. I never had BH contractions so I'm guessing that's why pre laboring took so long. Slept wonderfully that night. Monday morning I wake up to a few irregular contractions so I went to the gym and walked 3 miles. Got home and called midwives and they asked me to come in to check how far dilated I was. While showering the contractions started to come closer together and with more intensity. Went in at 1 pm to be checked and they told us I was at 4 cm and to head to the hospital but we didn't. Went home and had lunch and DH ran a couple errands and got his bag ready.

Finally got to the hospital at 4:30 pm and they were waiting for us (oops!) and wondering where we were. By then I was at 5 cm and over the next 3 hrs I got to 8 cm. Then I started to shake so I asked for the epidural. That slowed everything down but at 12:15 am I finally had the need to push. The nurse checked me and said I was at 9.5 so I couldn't push yet and to wait 30 minutes. I could've ripped her head off right then because trying not to push was extremely painful and had me shaking horribly. So 15 minutes later I called her back and told her I was pushing whether I or they were ready or not. She checked me and by then I was at 10. Epidural worked great, where I felt the pressure from the contraction and the need to push but it wasn't painful. Pushed for an hour and a half and started to get exhausted so they put me on oxygen and the midwife finally cut me and out came our boy. And yes, I'm pretty sure I pooped during labor.

They put him on my chest for a few minutes since we did delayed cord clamping and then took him to get cleaned up while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up. They also fed me right then, which was pretty nice. Then baby came back and we breastfed and did skin to skin until it was time to move rooms. Normal length of stay and everything went well except I got a fever from a UTI the 2nd day so they treated that. I don't know how some women choose to go home immediately. I loved getting the attention from all the nursing staff right after just having delivered. We had quite a few visitors which I regretted and did differently the next time.

DD:
I had been dilated to 2 cm for a couple of weeks. I had been having quite a few BH contractions for some time and had been feeling pretty tired for about 3-4 days. I went to bed one night and somehow I could just tell something was changing. I was more uncomfortable and even told DH that I hoped baby would wait until morning before I went into labor so that I could get some sleep.

A little before 3 am I woke up and contractions were coming regularly at 3-4 minutes apart. I jumped in the shower and woke DH up. My parents had already come out for the birth so we didn't have to wake DS up. At 4:30 am we showed up at the hospital and got checked in. Because checking in for a birth can easily take up to 2 hrs, as soon as we got to L&D I let them know that I was b-strep positive and they got me on antibiotics. It was almost 6 am by then. I was 5 cm dilated and in so much pain already that I quickly asked for the epidural. A little before 10 am they gave me the 2nd dose of antibiotics and started to prep for delivery because I was at 9 cm. Doctor came in and we got going. I pushed through 2 contractions and OB had me feel DD's head and shoulders which were already out (I think she was trying to motivate me to push really hard the next contraction) and DD came out on the 3rd contraction. So I pushed for about 5 minutes, which was so nice compared to the first time.

DD came out with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around her neck and looking a little purple which scared me so much. They unwrapped it and she started to cry and regain color and I just lost it. I think between the relief that comes from giving birth and also the relief of seeing my baby purple but then okay, it was all too much so I cried. Hospital was great though and we really limited visitors. DS came over after his afternoon nap every evening with my parents, and we had my brothers and SILs all come on the same day/time so that it would only be one visit between all of them. Staff was great and they fed DH pretty much every meal. DH would go home at around 7 pm each night and come back the next day at around 9-10 am. DS was happy to be with grandparents so that really made me feel much better while I was in the hospital and DH was also there most of the day.

achays11 · January 2017

Not to high jack this thread, but @vrj0522 how was it not having H in the hospital with you overnight? MH was so uncomfortable sleeping on the hospital cot last time that the plan is for him to go home after the first night. My only worry is that since I will probably be having a RCS I may have to call the nurses all night to help me get baby.

hp_momma · January 2017

@achays11 I was just going to ask that same question! DH hates the little beds and it's not like he does much work in the middle of the night anyways, so I'm curious about sending him home...

WombThereItIs · January 2017

achays11 said:

Not to high jack this thread, but @vrj0522 how was it not having H in the hospital with you overnight? MH was so uncomfortable sleeping on the hospital cot last time that the plan is for him to go home after the first night. My only worry is that since I will probably be having a RCS I may have to call the nurses all night to help me get baby.

FWIW my husband did absolutely nothing to help at night in the hospital and I muddled through on my own after a c section. It wasn't that bad.

achays11 · January 2017

@h&pmomma and @WombThereItIs I was very lucky that MH was very helpful in the hospital. I just felt bad that he was so uncomfortable. We live less than two miles from the hospital, so it's not like he has to drive very far.

vrj0522 · January 2017

achays11 said:

Not to high jack this thread, but @vrj0522 how was it not having H in the hospital with you overnight? MH was so uncomfortable sleeping on the hospital cot last time that the plan is for him to go home after the first night. My only worry is that since I will probably be having a RCS I may have to call the nurses all night to help me get baby.

I hope it doesn't sound bad but I actually loved it. I felt like nighttime was just DD's and my time for focused bonding. Plus the hospital would take her to the nursery for 2 hours during the night which was great. The rest of the time she nursed or we slept. With DS' birth I felt like DH and I kept each other up because if baby was awake we would talk and then it was hard to go back to sleep and there was just too much excitement. With DD, nighttime truly was quiet time.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about needing help from the nurses, it's not like they would be sleeping or just resting otherwise. They'd be just as busy anyway.

kat81 · January 2017

I know I've written these both out somewhere but I couldn't find them quickly on my computer, so I'll go ahead and re-type.

Birth #1 -- DS, Dec 2010:
tldr: early labor 5am-10:30am. Active labor 10:30-1pm. Transition 1pm, birth at 2:30pm, not too long of pushing (20 min, maybe? or less?) Epidural at 9cm. Crappy OB/doctor experience, but nothing bad happened. 6lbs, 6oz, 19in.

Convinced that first children go past their due dates, DH and I planned a housewarming party (4 months after we moved in) the Friday night before the Wednesday that DS was due. We also said to ourselves, "ok, we've got the weekend to finish getting ready." We had not packed our overnight bag. The party went well and I think the last people left around 11pm. I believe we went to bed shortly thereafter.

At 5am or so, I started having infrequent, mild contractions. I woke DH to tell him "something is different" but told him he could sleep more (I had been sleeping terribly for at least the past month so it was normal I was awake.) Within an hour or two it was more obvious I was in labor, so I woke DH again and told him such. We called my parents who lived locally at the time to tell them the news around 7 or 8am. We asked my mom to come over with a stopwatch and we started to record times on a sheet of paper. This was before the smartphone/app era. I believe we still have that sheet of paper. My dad went to work, as he worked at the hospital, and he said "see you later." Instead of packing the bag, I remember DH putting together the stroller. The contractions were coming faster and faster, but not regular, so we didn't consider going to the hospital, even though I was GBS+ and it was recommended we did not wait too long.

At one point (10:30am) my mom though I was maybe making negative progress, so she suggested I get up and walk around the apartment. I made it halfway around the dining table and felt a little crunch high up on the left side, just below my rib, and I ran to the toilet and a gush of water came out, but not a continuous/perpetual gush. I said, "we need to go to the hospital now" because if your water breaks that is the rule for GBS+ especially. But...the bag was still not packed! DH and my mom frantically packed it and I remember them asking me which pair of shoes I wanted. I was like "I DON'T CARE LETS GO!" because as soon as that little break/gush had happened, the contractions had immediately gotten much worse.

We finally left, but it took us a while, because I know it was 12:30 when they checked me at triage and it only takes 10 min to get to the hospital. Granted when DH was driving he sort of forgot how to get there (he was so nervous and distracted by his screaming wife), so my mom had to help navigate! Anyway, the crappy OB on call was surprised to find I was 6cm already (I think he thought I was probably overdoing the pain and he paternalistically said my water had not broken, I must have peed myself. I have since talked to other moms and healthcare professionals who have stated my water probably did break but it was a high leak and the baby probably plugged it up. Anyway, the OB was a total ass.

They took me to L&D in a wheelchair and checked me again, 7cm. I could feel that transition had started--it was a total difference. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes. By the time they were ready to do it they checked again and I was 9cm. I still decided to do it because I was in a lot of pain, obviously! haha And I figured it would be nice to skip the "ring of fire." DH was scared of it and didn't want me to do it, but didn't dare say anything, either. When it set in, it was awesome. I didn't feel like it numbed me too much, either; I could mostly feel contractions.

Then the stupid part happened. I got to 10cm and they said I could "labor down" if I wanted to and just rest. So I did. I just hung out there at 10cm. Then all of a sudden the OB was like, "we're going to have to do vacuum removal because the baby's heartrate is down and you're taking too long to deliver." I was all, "WTH? I haven't even TRIED pushing yet!" So I refused the vacuum and tried pushing, but they went out to get the equipment anyway. Luckily DS came out on his own right when they were about to suck him out. I don't know how long pushing took but I do remember trying HARD because of the stupid vacuum thing.

Another stupid thing that happened was that they banned my parents from being in the room until I had my epidural and they actually listened to me and DH that I was happy to have them in there. DH's alternative hypothesis is that they were trying to protect my parents from the worst pain parts. Maybe...it all worked out anyway because they did get to help with and see the birth. My mom said it was one of the best experiences of her entire life.

kat81 · January 2017

Birth #2 -- DD, Sept 2013
tldr: early labor 5pm to about 10pm, active labor & transition 10pm- (don't really know when I hit transition), birth 1:15am. Midwife practice located in the hospital (best of all worlds, IMO), water birth. Only took two pushes to get DD out!

With DS having come 4 days early, I expected DD to come around 4 days early, too. We lived away from family, but each grandparent was coming on a separate weekend to help and take care of big brother DS. The first one was targeted to the birth, surrounding the due date, and was the longest, like 5 days. Well, that grandparent came, passed over the due date, and then left with no baby. I was so sad! On the last day DH's dad was there, I remember waking up early (who sleeps well when pregnant anyway?) and going for a walk (to try to induce labor) around my neighborhood, crying. I was so sad to be overdue, sick of being pregnant, and sad most of all that FIL was leaving. We had a 3 day gap before the next grandparent was coming. DS had a weekly evening sitter on the days I taught at night, and so we had her "on call" for an overnight if needed. There were two days of the week she could not do and we didn't really have a plan other than possibly dropping DS with his best friend (a family we didn't even know THAT well.) Anyway, DD did come in the gap between the grandparents, but the sitter was available that evening.

We went to pick up DS from daycare that afternoon and I had a good idea that I was probably in labor. It was harder to tell the start, though, because I had been getting a lot of painful BH contractions for the previous week or two...not quite false labor, but given that I was overdue it did mess with my mind. We decided to have family dinner out. By the time we were going out it was more clear I was in labor. I used an app to time contractions. Sometime during the dinner we called the babysitter and the midwife. As I was GBS+ again and knew I labored pretty quickly the previous time once things got going, we didn't want to wait long.

We took DS home, set up the guest room for the sitter, met up with her, and then pretty much got on our way. The experience of driving and arriving at the hospital was SO different this time around. I was peppy and coherent. I was totally prepared. I could have conversations with people.

When we were all checked in they checked me and I was 3cm. They said they could not officially admit me at only 3cm, so I should walk the halls for an hour. I did that. I was still feeling peppy and all, but in retrospect I can remember a big difference from the start to the end of the hour, as could DH! When I came back, they checked again and I was 5cm. They gave me the antibiotic and the midwife said, "you won't get your second dose" (4 hrs later). "You'll have the baby by then." She was right, because I think it was about 10pm at this time. Shit got real, and I puked up my dinner from pain. An aside -- I did the same thing with #1 -- ate a meal I didn't even really need in early labor, and then puked it up in active. Maybe I'll learn my lesson this time and at least don't have the kind of food that's bad to puke up? (It was mac & cheese the first time, and a cheeseburger the second time.)

I labored on a birthing ball in the shower, and DH saved me from the worst pain by pressing on my back hard with a heating pad every time there was a contraction. I definitely want to do that again this time (the heating pad part; the shower wasn't that necessary.) The next couple of hours were hard, of course, and stupidly I had just read about someone who had stalled at 8cm. My midwife was not checking me and was very hands-off (I still liked her). She did apparently indicate she thought I was going into transition at one point, but I missed her saying it. I wanted an epidural, and she said, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." I didn't realize I was so close at that point.

Then at one point I felt a stinging sensation and a gush, so my water had broken. There was also some blood. At this point I sat sideways on the ball and the midwife said, "the baby is coming." I didn't even feel/realize this but she knew from how I changed the way I was sitting that it was time to push. They filled the tub and I glanced at the clock. It was a little bit after 1am.

I got in the tub and felt better instantaneously. I could feel it when I got to the ring of fire but I knew that it was better than if it was not in the tub. The midwife was all, "there's the baby's head!" as if she was telling me something I didn't know, haha. I'm pretty sure it was just two contractions to get DD out after the initial crowning--one for the head, one for the body. I really hope it goes that smoothly this time!

After all of the testing and whatnot they left us alone to enjoy our baby as a family (minus DS, who was at home.) I then had shitastic afterbirth pains with no nurses around to complain to (in all fairness they had already given me ibuprofen in preparation for this, but it still sucked royally and was something that I missed the worst of with #1 because I still had some epidural in me then.) I remember DH was holding DD and was all, "isn't she so amazing?" and I couldn't even look at her / pay attention. FWIW I'm going med-free again this time around, but don't necessarily buy into the whole "epidural means you can't bond with your baby," cause you know, being in pain also means you can't bond with your baby.

We had decided on DD's first name but not her middle name yet, but wanted to update our parents, whom we had already told before everyone went to bed that I was in labor. DH sent this text to his mom: "I have a baby!" He didn't include the name because we didn't have one...but also failed to include, you know, sex of the baby. Then we all slept, and we slept late because we had been up until 3 or 4. Poor DH's mom went to work not knowing whether she had a grand daughter or grandson until she could check again at her lunch break. She is still mad at DH for this. :-)

mamatowildones · January 2017

I'm just now getting around to this now that I'm at my desk. So with DS1 I had pregnancy induced hypertension(high blood pressure, only to be resolved by delivery) So my OB scheduled me for induction at 39 weeks. I went in around 8/9am and had my pitocin started right away. They also gave me my epidural within the first hour or so. I literally never felt a thing. About an hour into it I was dilated to 2.5(came in at 1cm) and I told DH to get the nurse because I thought I peed myself, however, it was my water breaking. Things moved steadily throughout the day until I delivered at 6:12pm after one hour of pushing. It was truly an easy induction.

DS2 was totally different. He came on his own at 37 weeks. I had always measured ahead with him as far as my stomach measurements were concerned and I just always felt like he would come early. I was watching tv at 11pm one night when I started having contractions. I was scared because I never got to experience labor with my first and I knew I wanted to this time, but was worried about it and worried about recognizing when to go. I timed them for a few hours and called L&D around 2am. They told me to take a shower and rest and see if they maintained their same intensity or got worse, which they did. I took a hot shower, did my hair and makeup(haha yes even with baby number 2 I was silly enough to do that) We called SIL to come stay with DS1 and left for the hospital which was 40 minutes away(not doing that this time!) We got there and I was dialated to 1.5 and the nurse told me to walk the halls for 40 minutes but prepared me to go back home because she said I wasn't in enough discomfort and pain to truly be in labor. After 40 minutes of pacing the halls they checked me and I was at 3.5! They admitted me and stretched me to 5cm by about 6am. I was moving so quickly but hit a wall at 7cm at 2pm. I had my epidural given to me at 6cm and I was definitely thankful for that. Unfortunately it wasn't pretty after 7cm. The nurse gave me some juice and jello to try to use sugar to increase my dilation. I had never heard of that but of course was starving and thirst and I downed the sugary treats. Well, it worked to speed it up because I went from 7 to 10 in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, and fortunately, I only pushed 3 times, but vomited profusely each push all over myself and the nurse. It wasn't pretty and despite having fixed my hair, there is a nice photo of vomit covered mama and baby to negate my efforts. DS was grunting when he arrived and after lots of efforts by the nurses to clear him to stay with us, he ended up being taken to the NICU. That truly sucks and I have a whole new respect for NICU nurses and parents of NICU babies. He only stayed there for 2 days and during that time we did lots of skin to skin and nursing session(failed). However, by the time we got home our nursing persistance truly paid off and by 9 months he was a fat and happy nurser with 300+ ounces stored in the freezer.
Both very different experiences but both truly perfect in their imperfection. I won't even try to imagine what number 3 will have in store, because I'll inevitably be wrong.

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