Evan's Birth Story Med Free (Long PIP)

RileyM2010 · April 2012

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Things are starting to settle down a little so I finally had time to write Evan?s birth story Smile

I was one of the ?lucky? ones who had a mixture of consistent/inconsistent contractions for weeks. During my 36 week appointment, I had an NST that showed consistent contractions every 7 minutes. I was still closed and firm so I went home and rested to try to get them to stop. They increased to every 5 minutes for a couple of hours, but were never that painful. They finally stopped around 5 that afternoon. I had a couple of more days like this. At least they got us alert enough to pack bags, etc.

At my 38 week appointment, I had progressed to 1 cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station. At 39.2 weeks, I noticed brown streaking in discharge that continued the next day. On Monday, April 16 at 39.4 weeks, the discharge increased heavily with pinkish brown and bits of the mucus plug. I had my appointment at 2 that afternoon. I had progressed slightly to 2-3 cm, but still -1 station and 80% effaced. I still had inconsistent contractions that day that felt like menstrual cramps. That evening around 5:30 we took our dogs for their evening walk. Within a block, the contractions came suddenly every 2 minutes and were painful enough for me to stop walking during them. They continued every 2-3 minutes and by 8 pm, they were 60-90 sec long and I couldn?t do anything during them and the bloody show turned reddish. We called my mom (she lives 3 hrs away) and headed to the hospital. I was 4 cm dilated and still contracting every 2 min so they admitted me and I got to my room at 9.

At this point it was really hard to concentrate through the pain, but DH was a great coach. The shower in the room really helped. The nurse checked me at 11 and I was already 7 cm. My mom arrived around 11:30. I started to feel intense pressure at midnight. I was at 9 cm, they broke my water and I immediately went to 10. I actively pushed for 3 ? hrs and the doctor was starting to push for a c-section if he didn?t come soon. They were reluctant to use the vacuum since I didn?t have any pain meds and he had a bit of caput. It was very frustrating, because he would make some progress, then fall back a little. Turns out he had a loose nuchal cord and had turned sunny side up. I ended up with a second degree tear.

Evan was born on Tues, April 17^th at 3:38 am, 7 lb 8 oz and 20 ? in. He had a good amount of caput from the long period of pushing and some transient breathing issues. He had nasal flaring with a high resp rate, so he got a chest x-ray and a couple hrs of observation. Everything turned out ok and he caught on to breastfeeding right away. He went through a growth spurt right when we got home, going from 7 lb 5 oz at discharge on Thurs to 7 lb 11 oz on Sat. The first 4 nights, he was awake every hr. Sat night and last night he only woke up every 3 hrs! Everything is definitely an adjustment, but we are slowly catching on. Smile