my mother's pregnancy and birth experiences

BostonGayGal

When my older sister was born she didn't have the soft spots on her head so when she was a week or two old they broke her skull front to back. That must have been really scary, but my sister was fine.  When her hair grew in it grew along the crack and they called her skunky.  That is how we can tell our baby pictures apart.  She still has the staples in her head and she can feel them.

It took my mother a long time to get pregnant with me.  The entire pregnancy, her second, I rarely kicked and she rarely felt me.  Apparently she was convinced I was sick or that something was wrong. 

I was born via c-section at her due date weighing 5lbs 2oz, perfectly healthy.  

That must have been scary, and I wish she had been able to enjoy her pregnancy with me and births.  Between the trauma of my sister's birth and her pregnancy with me, she opted not to have more bio-kids.  

**What do you know about your mother's pregnancies, birth experiences? 

WaitingOnTwoPinkLines

They broke her skull?!? Wow. That's scary.

It sucks she didn't have better experiences with pregnancy/birth. You say she didn't have more bio-children, did she foster/adopt (sorry if I missed that part!)? 

BostonGayGal

Yeah, I have two adopted siblings.  Both came from extreme trauma and as a result have major mental health problems and limited executive functioning.  I only maintain a relationship with one of them, my younger sister.

 

Mama_SAS

My mother claims she was allergic to me and her nose was stuffed up her whole pregnancy. She said it made it impossible to eat or sleep.

Oh, and she smoked through both her pregnancies because her doctor told her it was better to smoke than to gain too much weight from quitting smoking. 

JenniferJaneC

Breaking the skull...I can't imagine!

My mom had my brother in 1958, when she was 18 years old.  Her only form of pain management was hypnosis, and it worked well for her.  

I was born in 1976.  My mom had no idea she was pregnant.  She injured her back and when it wasn't getting better she went in for x-rays.  She denied being pregnant but they insisted on testing her before the xrays, and that's how she found out about me.

Mama_SAS

Oh, and my brother was born with a broken collar bone, which must be hell to deal with. They had to keep his arm wrapped at his side for a long time.

zeesbride

My mom had all three of us naturally in under 3 hours! I did NOT have the same experirence as her and I think she is dissapointed She had my next sister 9 years later and my third sister 13 months after that. Needless to say the two of them were raised very, very differently than me. 

Re: your mom....holy moly that must have been super scary to have to break an infants skull...I am glad your sis is okay  

heather527

My mom had awful experiences, luckily I shouldn't have the same issues. My sister and I are RH factor babies. I was born about 6 weeks early and my mom had complications during delivery (they actually asked my dad to choose his wife or the baby). I was airlifted to a children's hospital, had a couple of blood transfusions and jaundice.

When she was pregnant with my younger sister, she went in to labor extremely early, so she was on bed-rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Luckily my sister wasn't as sick as I was.

What has me confused is RH is not supposed to affect a first pregnancy, and I am the first born. So either my mom had a m/c before I was born, or there are some serious skeletons in the closet.  

Mama_SAS

JenniferJaneC:

Breaking the skull...I can't imagine!

My mom had my brother in 1958, when she was 18 years old.  Her only form of pain management was hypnosis, and it worked well for her.  

I was born in 1976.  My mom had no idea she was pregnant.  She injured her back and when it wasn't getting better she went in for x-rays.  She denied being pregnant but they insisted on testing her before the xrays, and that's how she found out about me.

What a crazy age difference!! 

melodylb

My mom had it super easy, the only scary thing is that she almost didn't make it to the hospital for my birth. (they got there at 5 am and I was born at 5:50am)

She always says she is a "baby making machine"

Me on the other hand, I have an easy time getting KU but my body doesn't want to carry children. I know if I had been alive 100 years ago I would never have a successful pregnancy. So I am for sure a sucky baby making machine.

BostonGayGal

Mama_SAS:

Oh, and my brother was born with a broken collar bone, which must be hell to deal with. They had to keep his arm wrapped at his side for a long time.

Apparently this is actually pretty common.  Scary though.

Mama_SAS

BostonGayGal:

Mama_SAS:

Oh, and my brother was born with a broken collar bone, which must be hell to deal with. They had to keep his arm wrapped at his side for a long time.

Apparently this is actually pretty common.  Scary though.

Did she smoke through that pregnancy as well?!  Your mother appears to have started her bad habits that have led to your frustration at a very young age.

She did smoke through that pregnancy too. She claims she knew my brother was a boy because she could breathe through that pregnancy. 

war_eagle

I don't know much about my mom's pregnancies, but she had two boys before me via c-section.  One died shortly after birth (he was full term and I believe he had encephalitis)--heartbreaking.  She became severely depressed after that.  Her doctor did not want her to get pregnant again and have to have another c-section, but she did and here I am.

joanithegreat

I was my mom's first baby. Her water broke but I refused to come out so she ended up having an emergency c-section, even though I was a fairly small baby (6 pounds).  She said I was just to stubborn to come out, and I am still stubborn.

With my younger sister, her second pregnancy they induced her because I was such a difficult birth.  My mom never had any pain medication, she was playing cards with my dad and she told the nurse " I need to push now"  They didn't believe her and told her that she hadn't gone into hard labor yet.  She kept insisting that it was time to push and finally they checked.  The nurses freaked out and said " You are fully dilated, hold it in while we find the doctor".  As soon as the doctor showed up it my sister was out after a couple pushes. 

My youngest sister was also an easy delivery again my mom had no pain meds, but this time she wasn't induced.

I really hope I am as lucky as my mom (other than the c-section the first time)

swimrbride

My mom had had 3 m/c's before she got pregnant with me. She was worried the entire time, but the dr called her pregnancy with me vanilla. Apparently it wasn't normal back then to have u/s's so she didn't have any, but was so convinced I was a boy that she told people she was having a boy and ended up with a lot of boy clothes (although she did the nursery in yellow).

The day before I was born she was helping my dad set up for a wedding he was catering the next day and was carrying watermelons around all afternoon. That night her water broke in the middle of the night so they went to the hospital. They were thinking it would be a while before I was born so my dad went do the wedding. My mom wasn't progressing past 4cm so they decided to do a c/s (although my mom found out later that he dr had a tennis match at 5pm that he didn't want to miss). My dad was on his way but they were taking my mom back to the OR before he was there so a nurse went in with her. My dad got there about 2 minutes before they started.

Melaneigh1

My mom went into labor with me three weeks early, and the doctors wouldn't listen to her, and sent her home.  She and my Dad ate at Quincy's that night, while she was in labor.  She didn't have an epidural with either me or my sister, but she had Demerol. 

I know she had an episiotomy (sp?) with one of us, maybe both.   Overall, I think both pregnancies/births were rather uneventful.

 

Chatham2007

Mama_SAS:

Oh, and she smoked through both her pregnancies because her doctor told her it was better to smoke than to gain too much weight from quitting smoking. 

THIS!! Also, my mother's OB told her to have a martini every afternoon to keep her blood pressure down.

Amazing how much can change...

Mrs.EliK

swimrbride:

My mom had had 3 m/c's before she got pregnant with me. She was worried the entire time, but the dr called her pregnancy with me vanilla. Apparently it wasn't normal back then to have u/s's so she didn't have any, but was so convinced I was a boy that she told people she was having a boy and ended up with a lot of boy clothes (although she did the nursery in yellow).

The day before I was born she was helping my dad set up for a wedding he was catering the next day and was carrying watermelons around all afternoon. That night her water broke in the middle of the night so they went to the hospital. They were thinking it would be a while before I was born so my dad went do the wedding. My mom wasn't progressing past 4cm so they decided to do a c/s (although my mom found out later that he dr had a tennis match at 5pm that he didn't want to miss). My dad was on his way but they were taking my mom back to the OR before he was there so a nurse went in with her. My dad got there about 2 minutes before they started.

I would be SO upset!

danlexi04

My mom ate White Castle for the first time the night she went into labor with me. She kept telling my Dad something wasn't right and she thought she was in labor, I think she was 38w, My Dad kept telling her she wasn't in labor that's just what White Castle does to people. I guess at some point in time he gave in and took her to the hospital. I was born shortly after that, not breathing (I'm not sure why). She didn't see me for hours after that and had no clue what was going on until my uncle threatened to kill staff if they didn't update my family. But clearly they fixed me because here I am.

war_eagle

Chatham2007:

Mama_SAS:

Oh, and she smoked through both her pregnancies because her doctor told her it was better to smoke than to gain too much weight from quitting smoking. 

THIS!! Also, my mother's OB told her to have a martini every afternoon to keep her blood pressure down.

Amazing how much can change...

The doctor prescribed my mom DIET pills to take with my brother.  We joke that those are the reason why he was such a fast runner. 

magdalina.h

My mom got pregnant easily with my sister and had a normal pregnancy. When my sister was about 9 months old my mom got pregnant with twin boys. She said she always felt like something was wrong with her pregnancy with the twins. They were born when my mom was 26 wks.  Matthew passed away a few hours after he was born and Frank passed away a few days later. It took my parents 3 years to get pregnant with me. She said being pregnant with me was super easy.

crownedbee

My mom got pregnant with twins when she was 18.  She bled a lot early on and was convinced she miscarried.  She did, but only one.  I was born 9 months later.

My mom had a couple miscarriages after me, and my sister was stillborn at 28 weeks.  I was almost 4.

My sister was born about 5 weeks early via unmedicated c-section because the placenta was 90% detached.  If my mom wasn't so hyper-aware of what was going on with her body she would have lost my sister too.

Lyssapee

My older sister was a diaphram baby.  4 hours of labor.  2 weeks early.

Miscarriage 2 years later

2 years later I was born 3 weeks early , 2 hours of labor almost born in car.  My dad had to help the midwife get dressed (gowed up) because she just woke up.

5.5 years later my brother was born on due date 45 minutes of labor he was also akmost born in the car.  I remember my dad trying to wake me up and I Didn't want to come out of my bed tent.

swimrbride

Mrs.EliK:

swimrbride:

My mom had had 3 m/c's before she got pregnant with me. She was worried the entire time, but the dr called her pregnancy with me vanilla. Apparently it wasn't normal back then to have u/s's so she didn't have any, but was so convinced I was a boy that she told people she was having a boy and ended up with a lot of boy clothes (although she did the nursery in yellow).

The day before I was born she was helping my dad set up for a wedding he was catering the next day and was carrying watermelons around all afternoon. That night her water broke in the middle of the night so they went to the hospital. They were thinking it would be a while before I was born so my dad went do the wedding. My mom wasn't progressing past 4cm so they decided to do a c/s (although my mom found out later that he dr had a tennis match at 5pm that he didn't want to miss). My dad was on his way but they were taking my mom back to the OR before he was there so a nurse went in with her. My dad got there about 2 minutes before they started.

I would be SO upset!

She didn't find out for a couple of years so she was but I think she was mostly over it by that time.

TwoSkis

danlexi04:

My mom ate White Castle for the first time the night she went into labor with me. She kept telling my Dad something wasn't right and she thought she was in labor, I think she was 38w, My Dad kept telling her she wasn't in labor that's just what White Castle does to people. I guess at some point in time he gave in and took her to the hospital. I was born shortly after that, not breathing (I'm not sure why). She didn't see me for hours after that and had no clue what was going on until my uncle threatened to kill staff if they didn't update my family. But clearly they fixed me because here I am.

This is the funniest (and truest!) thing I have heard all day.  Thanks for making me LOL!