Little Drazen's Birth Story
I wasn't going to share a birth story, but I remember all too well being pregnant and reading just about every birth story trying to prepare myself for the what was to come. So I should add to the list.
My Due Date
November 23rd was my due date and I really just expected a very routine checkup and for the doctor to tell me to go home and come back next week, I thought I'd go into labor early but once my due date came, I felt like the little guy was in my belly to stay! So I woke up to about 4 missed calls from my doctor's office. They had tried to call me to have me come in early because my doctor had been called into labor and delivery. This happened 4 times throughout my pregnancy so it just figures that it happened on my due date too! Anyway, I missed the calls so they told me to go to the hospital to take a non-stress test because it was my due date. I wasn't thrilled about this and I was kind of confused as to why I needed a non-stress test. Regardless, I made my way to the hospital. My fiance was oddly off from work that day so he was able to come with me. We packed my bag into the car just in case.
We got into the hospital and I got all hooked up to the monitor for the test. I had taken one before throughout my pregnancy and I was on it for about 15-20 minutes and it was done. My fiance and I were in that room for an hour and it was still going. I was wondering why. The nurse came in after an hour and said everything was great HOWEVER there was a few small "dips" in the heart rate. She said it was nothing to be concerned about but she was going to send me in to get an ultrasound. We got wheeled to the ultrasound room and again, everything looked good HOWEVER the amniotic fluid was low. It was borderline. The ultrasound tech said she was going to ask my doctor what to do but I'd most likely just go home and come back in two days for another test. It turned out that my doctor wanted me to be induced that day! I got really anxious once the news set in and I got very, very emotional. My support system (My sister) was out of the country and our phone conversation had to be cut short. They were putting me on pitocin and that was soo not in my birth plan. They started my pitocin and the contractions started...they got painful but nothing unbearable. I had a sleepless night and 5am the next morning my doctor came in and said I hadn't dilated since 12 hours of being on pitocin. They tried to break my water the night before but couldn't because I wasn't dilated enough. I was so glad they didn't because I was able to go home, enjoy Thanksgiving and come back on Sunday to try inducing again.
Sunday night came and we were a little better emotionally prepared for induction, but I still didn't want to go on pitocin. They started me on cervadil to ripen my cervix and after 12 hours on that, they had planned to start pitocin. Luckily, after 4 hours on the cervadil, my water broke!! They took the cervadil out and my contractions continued! 7 hours into it, I got an epidural. The labor pains were intense, but what really threw me over the edge was that it was back labor too. That I couldn't handle. I feel like I could have handled regular labor pains, but not back and front labor. I was miserable.
The epidural was bittersweet. I didn't want to have it to begin with, but once I got it..the pains were gone...but my little baby's heart rate dropped very low. I got so emotional and immediately blamed the epidural. I didn't get one second of sleep that night. Hearing the heart rate monitor right next to you of your baby will drive anyone nuts, especially if it dropped once. It dropped one more time low enough that the nurses came in and gave me oxygen. I was so extremely scared and nervous and was really hoping my baby was okay. The nurses were great though and kept me calm and less nervous.
Although the night was torture, it was pretty painless with the epidural. I was dilating right on schedule, about a cm an hour. Around 11am I was ready to push. I had no idea what it would feel like, but my epidural decided to fade on me. I still couldn't tell you why. I suppose it was good that I felt my contractions but I had back contractions again too and it was just painful. They didn't give me stirrups or anything so I had to hold my legs up and crunch forward everytime I pushed. This was absolutely exhausting and I hated the nurses and doctor for making me do it that way. It was so much more work than it had to be I felt. The nurse said she could see the head but I felt like they were asking me to move a desk from this side of the room to the other. I felt like I was pushing nothing. Every contraction that came I dreaded. The nurses and doctors told me to push at the wrong time of every contraction so I knew I needed to start calling the shots to make any progress. I wanted to let some contractions pass without pushing so I could take a break, but it wasn't as easy as it sounds. Not pushing hurts just as bad as pushing does. Finally my fiance started pushing my back forward in a crunch position as I pushed and I could finally focus on pushing the baby out instead of holding my entire body in a crazy position.
It was getting close because my otherwise uninterested doctor finally came in to stay and got on her "delivery clothes" I guess you could call them. I was pushing and pushing and I saw my doctor get out the scissors. She put novacain down there and snipped away. "wonderful" I thought. I felt the snipping but didn't feel the pain. I tried not to think about it, but once she did that my baby popped most of the way out. I pushed one more time to get his feet out and there he was on my chest. I was delirious and my fiance was in awe. We didn't touch the baby (we still don't know why). I just kept saying "thats my baby!???". It was surreal. He was adorable and had a full head of hair.
Everyone says that all the pain goes away once you deliver the baby....well that wasn't true for me. They were still poking and prodding and PUSHING my stomach to get the placenta out. It hurt so bad, more than pushing! They wouldn't stop pushing my stomach either. Once they cleaned and weighed my baby (He was 7lb 7oz and 21 and 1/2 inches long!) they gave him to Daddy. It took me awhile to come around and feel alive again, but even telling this story 2 weeks later, the painful labor experience has already begun to fade. I didn't think it would, but it always will. Now we have our beautiful buddle of joy and have never experience this kind of love before. It's great.
Re: Little Drazen's Birth Story