birth story (induction, forceps, 2 failed epi's!!!)

EmilyBowes

sorry it's taken me so long to write!

my son jalil was born on 12 june at 1018pm. 7lb 6oz, 9/9 on his apgars.

we went in for my scheduled induction at 40wks 4 days that morning at 8am. checked in to my room and doc checked me. i was only 2 cm dilated just like a couple of days previous. so she gave me an oral hormone--don't even know what it's called--and sent us across the street to a city park with gorgeous rose gardens and swan ponds. it was very civilized! me, hubby and my parents walked around for 2 hours, just enjoying the flowers and sunshine to get my contractions kick started. i started to really cramp up. doc gave the go-ahead to eat lunch so we then bought some sandwiches and went back to my room to eat. afterwards doc checked me again and i was only dilated to 3cm. so they gave me an epidural (didn't hurt by the way) and started me on oxytocin. after about 30 minutes of resting i started to feel the contractions on my left side BIG TIME. pain was intensifying. so the anestesiologist decided to reset the epidural. i had to sit still while they removed the first one and put in another. not easy. she also gave me a spinal block shot at the same time and upped the epi medication. i was pumped full! pain went away and i was finally able to rest. but a few hours later i started to feel it on my right side and i was transitioning--doc said i was 8cm by 8pm and dilating fast. pain was really awful at this point and i would have taken anything for it to go away. i just had to focus on my husband's face and the breathing techniques we learned in our childbirth prep class. ANOTHER anestisiologist came in and offered to reset again--after i was dilated to 10 and ready to push! contractions were AWFUL at this point. all i wanted to do was push but instead had to sit still again for another epi and spinal shot. that was extremely difficult and exhausting.

pushed for a couple of minutes and baby was getting distressed. so they wheeled me in to the operating theatre to try for a few more minutes with the forceps but be in there already in case i needed a c-section right away. but i didn't need it--five pushes and our little angel was here!

i needed an episiotomy to help with the forceps delivery. honestly recovery from that has been worse than labor and delivery actually, because it's very difficult to move around and jump up when he's crying and needs something. enormously frustrating, but every day gets better and better. i can't wait to be able to run around like i used to and get everything done that i want to.

breastfeeding is HARD at first. i didn't have trouble with positioning so much as just dealing with the first couple days of really sore nipples. also, it's VERY frustrating that colostrum isn't always enough to keep the baby satisfied. so you just see them losing weight and getting upset when they're hungry. but when my milk finally came in when he was 5 days old he starting eating like a champion. he's a sleepy eater so we have to pump and feed him breastmilk from one breast after he's fed from the other breast--helps speed things along and keep him from going into a deep sleep while he feeds. god bless the medela in style advanced. best money we've spent yet!

wanted to get baby into a routine (yes, i was one of THOSE people!) but i've realized that our lives are so much more peaceful if we kind of let him run the show. if i tried to push him into a schedule he'd be too tired to eat and then too hungry to sleep when we wanted him to. we've been able to sleep for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours at a time and we have three sets of sleep. this stuff takes over your life, but the baby brings more joy than you could possibly imagine.

good luck to all of you, and thank you thank you thank you for providing me with so much information, laughs and just entertainment over the last couple of months. see you on 0-6!!!

Dan&Maggie

Wow, what an exciting birth story! Congratulations! Hope your recovery is going well.

Sunny70

Congratulations!

trennad

congrats!

cala09

Congratulations!  Thanks for sharing your story.  I'm glad to hear that the vaginal birth worked out.