Water broke at home, nothing as planned

bakedlaurabean

It's a long one!  The short version is that DS was born on April 26 at 9:04am, 6lbs 8 oz, 19.5 inches and nothing went as I had planned, but I'm completely ok with that! On Sunday evening, April 25 I was feeling really worn out bythe end of the day. I was surprised at how tired I looked and DH even commentedon it. I also had a really difficult time getting to sleep that night becausemy pelvic pain was worse than usual and I could not get comfortable, making fora restless night. At 2:30, I got up to pee and felt a trickle come out of mewhen I sat up in bed. It kept coming, so I knew it was my water breaking andmade a mad dash to the bathroom where it fortunately gushed when I got to thetoilet. I decided not to wake DH yet because I was hoping to laborat home for awhile and my contractions hadn?t started yet. I thought it wasbetter that he get some rest, so I went on the bump and posted about it, andthen emailed a few close friends of mine just so I could get the big news offmy chest! Unfortunately, the contractions never started on their own.I woke DH up just before his alarm went off at 5 and we both showered and gotready. We took a few last belly pictures before heading out and arrived at thehospital at 7am. Since my fluid was brown, meaning there was meconium in it,my doctor had me start on pitocin right away to try to push my body over theedge and start labor. She knew I didn?t want to do that, but at that point itwas what was best for baby. Ideally, they would?ve liked me to deliver the baby within 24 hours, but they weren?t strict about the timeline. So I got hooked up to the pitocin and the monitors andstarted walking the halls with DH. I was only 1cm dilated and not feeling athing even though according the monitor I was having contractions 6 minutesapart. After a few hours, the contractions were 2 minutes apart andI wasn?t feeling much besides my uterus tightening. No pain, though. They checked me again and I was only 2cm, but they said I was softer and my cervixwas in a better position. I was disappointed with the progress, but the nursesaid my doctor was happy with it. I continued to walk and eventually started feeling somepain. I thought back to Ina May?s book and imagined the contractions as?rushes? and pictured ocean waves crashing. The pain was mild and manageableand it really was just like a wave. To make a long story somewhat shorter, they kept upping thepitocin and checking me every few hours and I was not progressing like Ithought I was even though my doctor seemed satisfied. By 9pm they were reallystrong and extremely painful, but I was hanging in there. The monitor on mybelly was so uncomfortable and would stab my stomach when I was having acontraction. They had to keep moving it back in place when I would move in away to deal with the contractions and that was really annoying too. I alsohated that my water had already broken because it made going to the bathroom somessy and I had to change my pad every time and go frequently so I wouldn?tleak. Doing that while attached to an IV pole was not easy! By midnight, the contractions were nearly unbearable. A newnurse came in to check me and she was so rough and it hurt so bad that Istarted crying. And then she told me that I was dilated just the same as I was4 hours ago. I was so disappointed. I thought I had been doing my best to walkand relax through the contractions so they would do their job, but they hadn?t done anything. Then the nurse told me that the baby?s heart rate was alittle low, so my doctor wanted to put more fluid in me. The thought of goingthrough that procedure (and being hooked up to yet another bag of fluid), plusthe nurse with the rough touch, plus the fact that I hadn?t progressed at alland the contractions were awful made me request the epidural. I was just doneand I could not stop crying. I got the epidural and, let me tell you, it was heaven. Iloved not feeling a thing and was so glad I got it before they did the fluidprocedure. Fortunately, DH was able to get some rest after this and I tried to,but it was hard since I was going to have a baby soon! Plus, they kept comingin to roll me over every hour. The good thing was that I was progressing morequickly?2 more cm right after getting the epidural  I really thought I would have my baby that night, but itwasn?t until around 7am that I was a full 10 cm dilated. I was glad they let mego past the 24 hour mark. Even though I was 10 cm, they wanted baby to comedown a little more before they had me start pushing. Around 8:30ish they had medo a practice push and realized that the baby was right there, so they calledin the doctor. Once the doctor was there, I pushed through 3 contractions andReece Michael was born at 9:04 am. Best of all, I didn?t feel a thing! Because of the meconium, baby was very green, so he only gotto be on my belly for a second while DH cut the cord. Then the NICU nurse whohad been in the room put him on the warmer and started suctioning him out.Reece was just fine, so they gave him right back as soon as they finished suctioning and wiping him off. The moral of this birth story is that you may have certainideas of how you want your birth experience to be, but you really just have togo with the flow and do what?s best for you and your baby. I had wanted tolabor at home for awhile, attempt a drug-free birth (which is why I waited solong on the epidural), delay cord cutting and do skin-to-skin for awhile, butnone of that happened and I?m completely ok with it all. I wasn?t able to doany of those things because of my water breaking long before my body really went into labor and there being meconium in it. My doctor acted in mine and baby?s best interests and I?m happy about that. My son is beautiful, but the recovery and first few weekshave been much more difficult than I expected. Giving birth takes such a tollon your body and emotions. I encourage you ladies to spend some time on 0-3 soyou know what you?re in for and not taken by surprise.  Good luck!

mr&mrswelch

he's a cutie--thanks for sharing (:

OliveBaby

He is positively gorgeous!

 I'm sorry to hear the nurse was so rough! Congratulations though!