Birth Stories
AwBeth
member
team green - traumatic beginning but happy ending!
AwBeth
member
On Monday, June 6th, I woke up about 3am and thought, I need to go the bathroom NOW. As I rushed to the bathroom, I could feel pee dribbling out, and I was trying so hard to get to the bathroom first. (and as a side note, that is not something that happens to me, thank you very much. I have bladder control.) So I get to the bathroom and pull down my underwear as fast I can and GUSH!! Blood. Everywhere. Splattered on the wall, towels, down my legs, soaking my underwear. It looked like a crime scene. I yell to DH and tell him to come now. I start freaking out, crying, saying this shouldn't happen. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I worried about placental abruption (https://www.babycenter.com/0_placental-abruption_1425791.bc), and I knew that was very serious (as in 40-50% of those babies don't make it). I called my doctor, who is usually extremely laid back, and he said to rush to the hospital. We called DH's cousin, who is staying down the street at their grandparents, to come stay with Edie.
I cried the whole way to the hospital. We went to the emergency room, but they just sent us up to Labor and Delivery. I was practically running through the hospital. They got me into a room and immediately pulled up the heartbeat. Strong. A small sigh of relief. My doctor met us there shortly after and said, "You had me really worried." He went on to explain that because the heartbeat was strong, I did not need an emergency c section, but that I would be having the baby that day. Preferably sooner rather than later. They checked me and I was 2cm and 70% effaced and he wanted me to labor for a couple hours to see if I could progress on my own. I used the restroom and again had another HUGE gush of blood. At the point the doctor said I couldn't get up again. After two hours and some mild contractions, I hadn't progressed at all, so they began pitocin. I should say here that in all my reading about labor and delivery, the one thing I was most opposed to was using pitocin. I was worried that it was just asking the body to do something it wasn't ready to do. However, given the circumstances, I didn't really see another option. We began with a small dose, and after a few hours of contractions, I was at 4cm. My doctor broke my water, backed off the pitocin, and had me labor a while longer. The contractions were much stronger at this point. Not really needing one yet, but curious, I asked when I could get an epidural. He said since I was 4cm, I could get one then, but that he wanted to keep things moving (read: don't get an epidural). I didn't feel like I needed one yet, but I could tell things were moving along.
After some pretty strong contractions and about an hour and a half, they checked me again. 5 cm. Slow progress, but progress. I labored another 2 hours, and another check: still 5 cm. Major bummer. I asked about my options for pain management. Andy encouraged me to try nubain rather than go for an epidural. Nubain is an IV drug that helps take the edge off of contractions. It is said to be like having a glass of wine. I felt immediately better. I could most definitely still feel the contractions, but I was able to deal with them much better. The nubain lasted about an hour, and once it wore off, I was asking for more. The nurse warned that most people consider the second dose to be ineffective, but we tried it anyway. And she was mostly right. At this point, I'm only 6cm, my contractions are still 1-2 minutes apart, and I'm starting to wonder how much longer I could go like this. It had taken me FOREVER to progress 4cm. How much longer would it take to get another 4cm? DH would encourage me to get through 5 more contractions before getting an epidural, then 15 more.
I asked for an epidural and the anesthesiologist was there right away. While he was there, my mom, who was in and out during this process, asked the nurse for a time frame for baby. It was 2:00, and she answered that the baby would be there before 3:00. I thought, this lady has no idea what she's talking about! I'm still at 6cm, the contractions, although crazy strong, are still kind of spaced out and random. However, as the anesthesiologist was finishing up, they pulled the bottom of the bed out for me to start pushing. I couldn't believe it -- except I could because I could still feel the contractions, the pressure to push, and the "ring of fire." In fact, I asked DH, the nurse, and the anesthesiologist why I could still feel everything!? The doctor just said that the epidural needed a minute to reach that area. But I didn't have a minute. I asked if I could push, since I could feel that I needed to, and they said to. My doctor gave my first push a C-. The next push, everyone said was great, and I could feel what to do. They asked if I wanted to feel the head, something that totally grossed me out with DD1, but I did and it was amazing! I asked if I could have a mirror to see what was going on, and my doctor said, "We can get you a mirror or you can just give me a few more good pushes and you can hold your baby." So that's what we did. I couldn't believe my pushes were working (since I pushed for three hours with DD1). Less than 10 minutes of pushing, at 2:35pm, the baby arrived! It's a GIRL!! Charlotte Rae. 5lb, 10oz. 18.5in.
I had two or three stitches, just a "skid mark" as the doctor called it. I felt great! My recovery from this delivery has been about 1000x easier! I used to see people's photos from the hospital or hear about them going out to eat a week after having their baby and I just thought, how is that possible? Because it wasn't with DD1 -- I was really beat up from the pushing, forceps, episiotomy. I was really swollen for a long time and the bleeding was much heavier.
Oh and the heavy gush of blood at 3am -- it was a partial placental separation. So not the full on abruption that I was fearing, but related. I don't fit the typical profile of someone with a placental separation - older, after several children, cocaine/alcohol use, etc. It does make it more likely for it to happen to me again in the future, which scares me. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
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