Bennett's delayed birth story

Firedancer1013

So, Bennett is now a few days old, and I finally have a minute to type.    

My water broke on Saturday the 5th at about 7:00p, after a full day of cleaning our house.  I was actually trying to make dinner, but that went out the window!  The doctor wanted me to come into the hospital right away, but I asked if we could stay at home for a while and he said yes, but come in no later than 2:00a.  He also mentioned that he wanted me to have this baby within 24 hours, which is great (I'm being slightly sarcastic here...) because I REALLY wanted to have a med-free birth.  We went into the hospital that night and got there before two, but I was not having contractions at all at that point.  The nurse said just to 'rest' and lay around, that walking wouldn't do anything, but DH, doula and I began to walk at every opportunity (they monitored me for 20 mins, then I got to walk for 40).  By 7:00a Sunday the 6th, they wanted me to start pitocin, because my contractions were now every 4-5 minutes apart but not close enough or strong enough for them..  I held them off until 11:00a, and we walked more, tried nipple stimulation, and pressure points on my legs, but none of it worked.  The nursing staff kept talking about infection and were super concerned about my temp (mainly because I already had a temp for a month from being so sick- it had been in the 99's for my last three ob appts) which was still in the 99s.  I also realized and kept hearing in the back of my head that the doctor wanted an outside baby by 7:00 that night and got scared that they were going to make me have a c-section, so I agreed to the pitocin.  Once that was started, my contractions got MUCH more intense, from nice hilly-looking creatures on the monitors to huge spikes.  I was only 2 cm and 80% effaced when they checked before they did the pitocin.  At that point, they wouldn't allow me to leave the room, but I could walk around the room.  I was able to labor until about 5:00p before I started reaching my breaking point with the contractions.  I was on the labor ball, the bed on all fours, walking, getting back pressure and hot rice packs from my DH and doula, in the shower, and they even let me get in the tub after much insisting but was REALLY feeling the pain.  DH and I never came up with a code word as our doula said to do previously, but it got to a point where I said my code word is 'done' and I'm there.  I felt so bad for DH at this point because there were several times where he had to step outside of the bathroom (when I was in the shower) and leave the doula in there with me because he was crying from seeing me in so much pain.  He still can't talk about it without crying, I was trying so hard to not let him see just how much it hurt but at some point you just can't help it anymore, even though I was trying to just be quiet and breathe... It made me really sad to get the epidural, which I did at 6:00, but at that point I just couldn't handle it any more and I was scared if I didn't start progressing faster, they were going to start asking about a c-section, and at that point, all I wanted to do was still have this baby vaginally, since it was 6:00p, and the doctor had initially said he wanted to see the baby by 7:00p.  When they checked me right before the epidural, I was 100% effaced, but still only 5 cm dilated.  I slept for about an hour after the epi, and then they came back to check me.  I was 10 cm and 100% effaced at that point, and we got ready to push.  This may be only because I couldn't feel anything legs down, but pushing was the easiest part for me and actually felt good.  I could still feel the contractions via pain in my lower right back and a bit on the side of my right hip, so I knew when to push.  DH and doula held my legs and I pushed for about an hour (which was only about 10-12 contractions, for whatever reason they were still pretty spaced out).  Bennett Scott was born at 10:23p and was 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 21 inches long.  He was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and I fell completely in love immediately.  I couldn't stop crying and just held him there for at least a half hour, even though they wanted to take him to check him/clean him.  He has my face exactly, and my husband's pinky fingers (DH and MIL, as well as DS now have bent pinky fingers- it is very cute!).  He has brown hair and big blue eyes and only cried a small bit when he came out.  He is now the most wonderful baby, he spits up a lot and I feel bad that he gets the hiccups a lot and is uncomfortable, but other than that he feeds well and sleeps well (my breasts are super sore and cracked- but he is always hungry and I am thankful for that!).  I know that his birth story wasn't what I wanted, especially being given a timeline from the start, but I am so enamored with this little being and so thankful just to have him any way I could get him.  Sorry for this being long, but glad I finally got a minute to share!

sclement7975

Congratulations on your baby boy!!! Thanks for sharing your story.

TiffanyTheMom

Congrats on Bennett! I'm sorry your birth didn't go as planned... maybe the next baby will be a better delivery.