I want to hear your Labor & Delivery stories!!

ajel46

So this is my first pregnancy, I’m 30 weeks & 1 day today. This is the home stretch! I’m obviously nervous and excited about having my little one and I know every story isn’t the same. I love hearing these stories & I want to hear from you guys how Labor & Delivery went for you. The good, the bad, the ugly (&beautiful); the funny things that happened, did you like your nurse? did you get to deliver with your doctor? what went well? What do you want differently this go round? Anything you’re willing to share!

BlondePeanut

My water broke at home at exactly 39 weeks. I had to call my OB and make sure that's what it was because I literally just felt like I had to pee, but kept getting spurts of clear fluid every time I tried to go. They told me to head over to Labor and Delivery.
Once there, we checked in, they did a swab to confirm it was in fact amniotic fluid, and told me since I had no contraction I would need pitocin. I was in labor 24 hours total. I ended up getting an epidural about halfway in because the contractions from pitocin were brutal. I never dilated more than 6 cm. At the 24 hour mark, they said my daughter's head was stuck/unable to fit down my birth canal and that was the reason I wasn't dilating further. I needed an emergency c section at that point.
They suited up DH and rushed us into OR, where it took maybe 10-15 minutes to get DD out and I heard her cry. After that I'm not sure how long it took to sew me back up because we were too infatuated with our daughter. I was able to hold her and bf right away and we had 1 hour of parent only bonding time before family was allowed to meet her. I did get horrible shakes after my c section that died down within an hour. 
My Dr was on vaca when I went into labor, so her associate had to perform my c section, which was fine, he did a great job and was very nice. During my labor and stay, I actually had all wonderful nurses who were very helpful and attentive and I found them super helpful as a FTM helping me learn different things about having a newborn. My hospital does the rooming in, where baby stays with you in your room 24/7 unless they go for a test or you ask for a break. I kept her with me the whole time and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
After a 5 day stay, we went home.

This time around the difference will be that we know my internal anatomy doesn't allow for vaginal birth so we already know going in we will be having a medically necessary RCS. I am nervous about leaving my 1st daughter for 5 days and not being able to sleep in the same place she is, but between DH and family I know she will be fine. The plan is that DH will sleep home with her, although he wants to feel out maybe having her sleep at his Mom's 1 or 2 nights so he can stay with me. I just want her to be happy and comfortable while her new baby sister and I are stuck in the hospital. She is very smart but since she is only 2, I don't know how much she will understand why Mommy can't come home right away.   

ajel46

@BlondePeanut Do you think big sister will get to come to the hospital to meet her? That way she can see what’s going on at least. 

BlondePeanut

@ajel46 Definitely, she will be there daily so we can start the girls bonding from day 1.

ajbook

DD1: Went in on a Monday evening at 41+1 for an induction. Started cervidil that night then pitocin in the morning. Had 12 hours of pitocin on Tuesday and dilated to 3cm. Stopped pitocin for the night and slept. Started round two of pitocin Wednesday. After about 10 hours was still at 3cm and asked for en epidural. Took four epidurals to get it to work, but once it did I was able to relax, took a little nap, and woke up at 9cm. Doctor came in around 10p. Pushed for close to four hours before meeting out daughter.

DD2: woke up motn 39+3 thinking my water might have broke. Went to bathroom, passed mucus plug, changed pants  and went back to bed. Got up an hour later and no more liquid. Around 5a couldn’t sleep anymore because of sporadic contractions. Called the hospital and they said sounded like early labor and I’d probably be having baby in the next few days. Went into school and wrote sub plans because something felt off, but Dh went to work. By about 9a contractions were consistent so I called Dh. Drove 25 minutes to hospital with 0 contractions. Thought they’d likely send us home. Got out of the car and water gushed. Signed in and went back to get checked out. Water had broken and I was about 4cm. We got admitted and settled in our room. Nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and I said no because the last one took so long I figured I had time. Next time she came to check I was at 8cm and it was too late. Kind of a blur from there, but I had DD2 med free around 2p. 

jbm925

DC1 I thought I'd pulled my back out, and spent a day kind of moaning/trying to find a comfortable position. Didn't feel any distinguishable contractions.  The next day I was having trouble eating d/t discomfort and upset stomach, and shortly after trying to eat lunch around noon, my water broke with an Oscar-worthy gush.  Contractions started right away, quite strong but not painful. I showered, shaved, and we headed to the hospital (I had meuconium and GBS so I had to go in right after waters breaking).  I kind of just laid there and didn't know what to do, my regular OB was out of town and I ended up with an on-call who was less than an ideal choice for a FTM.  Asked for an epidural after a really painful cervical check at about 4cm at the same time they started Pitocin (I had only gone from a 4-6 in about 6 hours).  By about 7-8pm I was about 7-8cm and baby had some late decels at least once, they didn't give me a lot of details.  Kind of got pushed into a C-section at this point but that's another story.  He was born happy and healthy and screaming by about 9:30 that night.  Anesthesia had been too strong for me, so I had shakes and barely remember the first 1-2 days of his life (despite having only an epidural, not general). But breastfeeding went just fine. I was young and recovery was not bad, except for MASSIVE swelling from the IVF. Total labor time: 8 hours.

DC2 is similar, but no back pain this time, just grumpy and restless for the three days or so leading up to labor. Went to the gym to try and get things started.  Tried raspberry leaf tea and primrose oil.  Went into labor that night at about 3am, again with a movie theater gush.  Again, meuconium, but GBS negative, so I had the option to stay home and I did for about 3 hours until my son woke up and my mom came to watch him.  It's a small house and I couldn't focus with everyone there, so we went to the hospital.  Contractions were unbelievably painful this time and I was unable to urinate d/t baby's position in pelvis, mostly from scar tissue from the first surgery (lots of adhesions).  Labored without an epidural for about another 4 hours, to a 6.  Then I got an epidural at the behest of my OB "in case of emergency" and unfortunately labor only progressed to an 8 after that (I think it is positional, in my case) and again baby did not tolerate contractions (I have doublet contractions that are very hard on placental perfusion).  After about 4 hours at about 8 + a lip and multiple late decels (into the 60s), swelling closed things up to a 7 again and we went for a RCS at about 7:30 that night.  Baby came out perfect, screaming and crying, and anesthesia was much lighter this time per my request so although pain was more afterwards (wore off fast), I did fine again with breastfeeding.  Recovery took longer, because of all the repairs to correct issues with the first surgery, and it was a bit hard not having hubby in the room all night (he was home taking care of DS1 - whom was still in school for the year).  Total labor time: 15 hours.

My personal opinion is that I am one of the few who is incredibly sensitive to the epidural, my BP drops, and this makes it hard for baby to tolerate labor especially with such aggressive contractions (which I was fighting, to be honest, so I'm sure that doesn't help).  I also am very small with babies on the larger size of normal (despite no GD and great diet), and positioning is not going to be ideal for me if I am in bed.  I think that if I had babies that was not in the 80-90th percentile, and opted out of the epidural so I could move around and handle the pain more in my own way, I could have had vaginal births.  BUT - I don't regret the labor because - scientifically sound or not - in my mind the labor gave the baby the heads up that it was time to come, and I personally believe that this helped them be ready to thrive once they were delivered and I also believe that my body was more ready to breast feed... and emotionally I was more ready to bond, because of the efforts I put into it.

For #3 we are keeping our options open.  We have a RCS scheduled for 6/26, but if I go into labor earlier and baby is 8lb or smaller (DC1 was 8lb5oz) we will have a TOL (for VBA2C).  The reason being I would like the option of more kids, BUT if I have to have a third c/s, this will be my last (considering tying my tubes).  3 major surgeries is enough for me.   

Like you said every labor and delivery is different.  The best part of both of mine was hearing the first cry.  And then going home from the hospital to my own bed!

ajel46

@ajbook for DD1 when they stopped pitocin overnight, were you still consistently contracting? I like that it it sounds like they didn’t rush your labor

@jbm925 i’m glad you’re keeping your options open and being more in control of your labor and delivery for baby 3.

ajbook

@ajel46 I wasn’t contracting much at all without pitocin. I LOVED my doctor and the nurses with that labor and delivery. They didn’t rush anything and we’re very upfront about my options.

with DD2 we had moved and I was at a new practice. The day before I went into labor, I had talked on the phone to my sister about my fears of the new OB not being as patient as the previous. Thankfully I didn’t need a patient doc, my body took care of all of that

wiseh

@jbm925 bit of a random questions but did they administer a saline drip before & during the epidural? Apparently epidurals are known for reducing maternal blood pressure which causes babes to go into distress but having a saline drip before & during can help prevent that. I haven't done any research into it, just going from what we were told in our birthing class. If you didn't have a saline drip it might be worth asking for one this time to see if it helps?

Griffin5413

DS came at 37 weeks exactly. We were in the middle of the house we were building being 2 months behind schedule, packing our apartment, getting ready for the holidays and year end at my work which is crazy. I was super stressed. We were supposed to sign the closing documents on our new house the next morning. Monday I had my OB appointment where she said I was 2 cm dialated so hubby immediately installed our car seats. Tuesday we had our final walk through and I called hubby to tell him that I thought I lost my mucus plug at work that day. That evening we packed until around 10, I got into bed and was woken up at 11:45 to my water breaking. After calling the on-call line we went to the hospital around 12:30. 

After checking in, we basically just walked the halls to see if that would bring on labor naturally, which it didn't. We started pitocin around 6:30am. I made it until 5cm before I got the epidural. Started pushing at 6:30. Pushed for 3 hours before OB said, "normally I would tell you that you aren't trying hard enough but you have tried every trick in the book and he's not budging." I mean, even with the epidural, I literally tried every position you could think of and my poor husband saw waaaayyy more than he ever bargained for. (I will say, the most comfortable position to push is was on my hands and knees.)We decided to do the c-section b/c by then I was so exhausted from not sleeping and no food  and everything else, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I threw up during the pushing part and also in the c-section which wasn't great fun. 

c-section was done and baby boy was born at 10:40pm. He was perfectly fine but I was so exhausted, I barely remember any of it. That's the worst part. I remember the anesthesiologist taking a few pics for my husband and I and my husband getting to help clean him off etc. I remember getting to hold him and bf in the recovery room. But other than that I don't remember much. They were worried about hemoraging so I remember them doing all of the pushing on my abdomen to get the uterus to start contracting back to normal. That was probably the worst part b/c for the next 2 days they would come in and pump on my stomach which felt like they were beating me on top of the c-section. My nurses were awesome though. They took such good care of me and helped answer all of my new mom questions. 

This time around, we have a scheduled c-section at 11am so I plan on taking a shower that morning and making sure I've eaten a good meal the night before (maybe even a small snack early am but we'll see). If I go into labor early again, I am going to try to deliver naturally but I am also not feeling the same type of pressure to do it only 1 way. We make all of these plans and baby sometimes has a different idea so I'm really good as long as she is good. I work only about 15 min from the hospital but I live about 45 min away so my only hope is to make it to the hospital on time. 

wiseh

Whilst it's sad that you don't remember much @Griffin5413 I think it's really good that you weren't forced to do anything! That's my worst fear, to have to literally fight to do things as naturally as possible. If you're going to eat before 11 make sure you're eating at least 6 hours before otherwise you could spew from the anaesthetic (so I've heard).

Griffin5413

@wiseh- If I eat anything it will definitely be something small and more than 6 hours before. I know they don't like you to eat 12 hours before surgery but I'm not sure preggy can last that long. lol!

jbm925

@wiseh yes I did get a saline drip. SO MUCH SALINE. I was a balloon, hehe. I'm just someone very sensitive to medications....