Birth Stories
klynn86
member
Blake's Birth Story
klynn86
member
had an induction booked for June 5th, when I was 40w6d. I had had false labour 2 times before that, contractions that were timeable and sore, but never got close enough together and eventually would drop off. At my last appointment the day before, I was 2cm and 75% effaced.
We arrived at the hospital at around 8am. I was given cervidil at 9am and almost immediately started cramping. They told me they would probably send me home for 5-6 hours until contractions start. But, after only about 45 mins, the cramping had turned into contractions so I stayed. They were hard and did not give me a break, lasting 1-2 mins and only giving me 1 min break. For about an hour or so I could make it through them by concentrating on a focal point and breathing, but soon that wasn't cutting it. I loved the shower and stayed in there and in the rocking chair most of this time, focused on a point and on my breathing and was coping really well.
Around 11am the contractions started getting more intense so I went into the shower, and the shower just wasn't cutting it anymore. While bent over the seat in the shower, I heard and felt a loud pop, and thought maybe it was my water. I got out of the shower and sure enough it had broken on it's own. They checked me and I was 3cm so no Epi was available yet. I needed something though since my contractions were hard and on top of each other (which I was told would happen), so the nurse went to check if I could use the tub that's available. She came back and said she actually could give me Demerol to take the edge off and so I could rest a bit between the contractions...I took it in a heartbeat. It helped for maybe an hour, and I still could feel the peak and had to breathe through it, but it was bareable. I stopped talking around this time and barely said a word until later on.
The Demerol wore off and I requested the epidural. They checked me and I was 4-5cm, so I could get one. I asked for the laughing gas while waiting and was given it (it was in my room already, it was used to check me internally since I have vaginismus). The gas was wonderful and I would breathe it in super deep over and over until I felt relief. My mom said I looked like an addict by the way I was huffing it in!
The Dr came in to give me my epi. This is where things started to sort of turn to the crappy side. The Dr had a brace strapped on to one of his hands/arms. I struggled to sit at the edge of the bed but got there. Contractions were still on top of each other and super painful when sitting. The Dr started inserting the Epi. I felt sharp pains shoot down the right side of my spine and told the Dr. I felt him spin the needle between his fingers and still felt the pain. All of a sudden an immense stabbing sharp pain hit my right thigh and it involuntarily jumped. I got yelled at by the Dr who told me not to move, and I cried and told the nurse who was holding me that I didn't do anything. The Dr was a jackass and the Epi ended up taking about 40 mins to get in.
I finally laid down and waited for it to start working.....and it never really did. It numbed the top part of my tummy, but my left pelvis, lower abdomen and thigh would feel the contraction completely. I kept "topping up" the Epi as I was told, but it was clearly not working, and after an hour it actually started to wear off in the other areas too. They had started me on Pitocin to get the contractions to regulate a bit more, and I had no real pain management. I asked for the gas back and huffed that while going through contractions. I went through 3 bottles of gas and my OB came in and told me I couldn't have any more. I cried and kind of panicked.
I was 9cm and the nurses offered another Epi since my first had failed. I declined. The first one hurt so much and it didn't work...I really didn't want to sit on the edge of the bed if it wouldn't work again. They reassured me, told me it would be better for delivery and that they would get the other Dr to put it in (my mom and Troy said you could tell the nurses were not impressed by the first Dr either). I finally agreed.
About half hour later, who walks in but the jackass Dr who put in my first Epi. My mom said she was so pissed off...I just sat up and tried to concentrate on breathing through the contractions and pressure I was having, thinking about it all going away with the Epi this time. I again felt the pain on the right of my spine and told him again. Again he spun the needle and it wasn't resolving. It was quicker this Epi, but I could tell as soon as I laid down it was the exact same thing as before...same area wasn't numbed.
I was checked and I was at 10cm, so my nurse got me to start pushing. I pushed for an hour when my OB came in, took a look and told me the baby still had a way to decend and to leave me for awhile. From then I laboured at 10 cm, with no pain management for FIVE hours.
I finally had the strength to look up at my mom (whose hands I was crushing everytime I got a contraction) and told her that I wanted a c-section. She started to try and remind me I wanted a vaginal birth and c-section recovery is not fun (she had them) and I looked at her in the eyes and told her 100% I wanted the c-section, I don't have the energy to keep doing this.
The nurses came in and I told them the same thing. I told them I wanted to see my OB asap. My mom said they got very strange after that and almost got cold because I had asked. My OB came in and I begged her to give me a C-section and that I had no energy...I wasn't close to pushing, had been labouring for 16 hours with hardly any pain taken away and with contractions that were on top of eachother and really intense from the very beginning. She agreed since Blake still had not descended enough yet and told me they would start prepping.
The nurses turned off my pitocin, and the Epi that was barely working and left me for 45 mins. No one checked on me after that. I just kept concentrating on the fact that soon I would not feel a thing.
I really really didn't want to sit up on the side of the bed for yet another spinal, especially since the last 2 failed, so I told my mom I just wanted to be put under and get it over with. When I was finally wheeled into the OR at 12am, I looked at the Anaesthesiologist (the one that was supposed to come in the second time for my Epi) and told him the same thing. He told me that going under increases chance of death by 16 times and to just relax and try and he would get it right. I agreed and sat up on the side of the bed, 10 cm, contractions non-stop and immense pressure. He did the spinal and it took. They laid me back down and as I started to numb up I was in complete heaven.
They brought DH in, and I was smiling from ear to ear. Smiling because I finally had relief and because I knew I would meet my baby so soon. We chatted about nonsense and at 12:27am I heard my baby cry. I looked up at the lights and saw in the reflection of the glass that he was still half in my stomach but already crying. They took him out and we watched as the nurses worked on him and weighed him and listened to him cry. He was shown to us very quickly and brought to the NICU. They said although he was crying well, he was also gurgling and was filled with mucus so they wanted to observe him. I didn't get to hold him or give him kisses, just a 5 second "look here" and he was gone. I was ok since I knew I would see him soon.
They finished up and I was rolled into recovery. My parents came in and the nurse arranged for DH and my parents to go see him in the NICU. That was the hardest thing ever, since I couldn't go to see my baby and everyone else was. DH came back with pictures which was bittersweet.
I was told at 1:30am that he would be up with me by 3am since he was doing well. The story changed later and I was told he would be with me after shift change (7:30am). That didn't happen either and at 8am DH went down to see what was going on. I sat there texting him asking what was going on, and when he texted me to tell me that he was holding him for the first time I started crying. I just wanted to see and hold him. The nurses in the NICU told DH they were just waiting for the Pedi to release him and it shouldn't be long. DH told them not to feed him anymore formula (they guilted me into agreeing to ONE bottle at 2am since his sugar was high, but they were giving him more when he went down at 8), and my nurse arranged for me to go down in a wheelchair to finally see him and hopefully try and feed him.
We went down twice to see him before he was finally released and brought to our room at 3pm....12 hours after we were told he would be back with us since he was 100% fine. The second time I got to actually hold him and as soon as I started talking to him his eyes and head went crazy trying to look at me.
He is gorgeous, and weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20" long. We struggled with breastfeeding for the first week or so, but he has mastered things now and at 12 days old was back up to his birthweight!
As hectic and frustrating as the birth experience was, it was totally worth every minute of it, and I still do not regret asking for or getting the C-section. During the surgery, my OB actually realized and said out loud that there is no way he would have descended, so I felt less guilty asking for it knowing I would have ended up with one anyway.
We arrived at the hospital at around 8am. I was given cervidil at 9am and almost immediately started cramping. They told me they would probably send me home for 5-6 hours until contractions start. But, after only about 45 mins, the cramping had turned into contractions so I stayed. They were hard and did not give me a break, lasting 1-2 mins and only giving me 1 min break. For about an hour or so I could make it through them by concentrating on a focal point and breathing, but soon that wasn't cutting it. I loved the shower and stayed in there and in the rocking chair most of this time, focused on a point and on my breathing and was coping really well.
Around 11am the contractions started getting more intense so I went into the shower, and the shower just wasn't cutting it anymore. While bent over the seat in the shower, I heard and felt a loud pop, and thought maybe it was my water. I got out of the shower and sure enough it had broken on it's own. They checked me and I was 3cm so no Epi was available yet. I needed something though since my contractions were hard and on top of each other (which I was told would happen), so the nurse went to check if I could use the tub that's available. She came back and said she actually could give me Demerol to take the edge off and so I could rest a bit between the contractions...I took it in a heartbeat. It helped for maybe an hour, and I still could feel the peak and had to breathe through it, but it was bareable. I stopped talking around this time and barely said a word until later on.
The Demerol wore off and I requested the epidural. They checked me and I was 4-5cm, so I could get one. I asked for the laughing gas while waiting and was given it (it was in my room already, it was used to check me internally since I have vaginismus). The gas was wonderful and I would breathe it in super deep over and over until I felt relief. My mom said I looked like an addict by the way I was huffing it in!
The Dr came in to give me my epi. This is where things started to sort of turn to the crappy side. The Dr had a brace strapped on to one of his hands/arms. I struggled to sit at the edge of the bed but got there. Contractions were still on top of each other and super painful when sitting. The Dr started inserting the Epi. I felt sharp pains shoot down the right side of my spine and told the Dr. I felt him spin the needle between his fingers and still felt the pain. All of a sudden an immense stabbing sharp pain hit my right thigh and it involuntarily jumped. I got yelled at by the Dr who told me not to move, and I cried and told the nurse who was holding me that I didn't do anything. The Dr was a jackass and the Epi ended up taking about 40 mins to get in.
I finally laid down and waited for it to start working.....and it never really did. It numbed the top part of my tummy, but my left pelvis, lower abdomen and thigh would feel the contraction completely. I kept "topping up" the Epi as I was told, but it was clearly not working, and after an hour it actually started to wear off in the other areas too. They had started me on Pitocin to get the contractions to regulate a bit more, and I had no real pain management. I asked for the gas back and huffed that while going through contractions. I went through 3 bottles of gas and my OB came in and told me I couldn't have any more. I cried and kind of panicked.
I was 9cm and the nurses offered another Epi since my first had failed. I declined. The first one hurt so much and it didn't work...I really didn't want to sit on the edge of the bed if it wouldn't work again. They reassured me, told me it would be better for delivery and that they would get the other Dr to put it in (my mom and Troy said you could tell the nurses were not impressed by the first Dr either). I finally agreed.
About half hour later, who walks in but the jackass Dr who put in my first Epi. My mom said she was so pissed off...I just sat up and tried to concentrate on breathing through the contractions and pressure I was having, thinking about it all going away with the Epi this time. I again felt the pain on the right of my spine and told him again. Again he spun the needle and it wasn't resolving. It was quicker this Epi, but I could tell as soon as I laid down it was the exact same thing as before...same area wasn't numbed.
I was checked and I was at 10cm, so my nurse got me to start pushing. I pushed for an hour when my OB came in, took a look and told me the baby still had a way to decend and to leave me for awhile. From then I laboured at 10 cm, with no pain management for FIVE hours.
I finally had the strength to look up at my mom (whose hands I was crushing everytime I got a contraction) and told her that I wanted a c-section. She started to try and remind me I wanted a vaginal birth and c-section recovery is not fun (she had them) and I looked at her in the eyes and told her 100% I wanted the c-section, I don't have the energy to keep doing this.
The nurses came in and I told them the same thing. I told them I wanted to see my OB asap. My mom said they got very strange after that and almost got cold because I had asked. My OB came in and I begged her to give me a C-section and that I had no energy...I wasn't close to pushing, had been labouring for 16 hours with hardly any pain taken away and with contractions that were on top of eachother and really intense from the very beginning. She agreed since Blake still had not descended enough yet and told me they would start prepping.
The nurses turned off my pitocin, and the Epi that was barely working and left me for 45 mins. No one checked on me after that. I just kept concentrating on the fact that soon I would not feel a thing.
I really really didn't want to sit up on the side of the bed for yet another spinal, especially since the last 2 failed, so I told my mom I just wanted to be put under and get it over with. When I was finally wheeled into the OR at 12am, I looked at the Anaesthesiologist (the one that was supposed to come in the second time for my Epi) and told him the same thing. He told me that going under increases chance of death by 16 times and to just relax and try and he would get it right. I agreed and sat up on the side of the bed, 10 cm, contractions non-stop and immense pressure. He did the spinal and it took. They laid me back down and as I started to numb up I was in complete heaven.
They brought DH in, and I was smiling from ear to ear. Smiling because I finally had relief and because I knew I would meet my baby so soon. We chatted about nonsense and at 12:27am I heard my baby cry. I looked up at the lights and saw in the reflection of the glass that he was still half in my stomach but already crying. They took him out and we watched as the nurses worked on him and weighed him and listened to him cry. He was shown to us very quickly and brought to the NICU. They said although he was crying well, he was also gurgling and was filled with mucus so they wanted to observe him. I didn't get to hold him or give him kisses, just a 5 second "look here" and he was gone. I was ok since I knew I would see him soon.
They finished up and I was rolled into recovery. My parents came in and the nurse arranged for DH and my parents to go see him in the NICU. That was the hardest thing ever, since I couldn't go to see my baby and everyone else was. DH came back with pictures which was bittersweet.
I was told at 1:30am that he would be up with me by 3am since he was doing well. The story changed later and I was told he would be with me after shift change (7:30am). That didn't happen either and at 8am DH went down to see what was going on. I sat there texting him asking what was going on, and when he texted me to tell me that he was holding him for the first time I started crying. I just wanted to see and hold him. The nurses in the NICU told DH they were just waiting for the Pedi to release him and it shouldn't be long. DH told them not to feed him anymore formula (they guilted me into agreeing to ONE bottle at 2am since his sugar was high, but they were giving him more when he went down at 8), and my nurse arranged for me to go down in a wheelchair to finally see him and hopefully try and feed him.
We went down twice to see him before he was finally released and brought to our room at 3pm....12 hours after we were told he would be back with us since he was 100% fine. The second time I got to actually hold him and as soon as I started talking to him his eyes and head went crazy trying to look at me.
He is gorgeous, and weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20" long. We struggled with breastfeeding for the first week or so, but he has mastered things now and at 12 days old was back up to his birthweight!
As hectic and frustrating as the birth experience was, it was totally worth every minute of it, and I still do not regret asking for or getting the C-section. During the surgery, my OB actually realized and said out loud that there is no way he would have descended, so I felt less guilty asking for it knowing I would have ended up with one anyway.
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Re: Blake's Birth Story
Phew!! Im eshausted just reading that. ::Gulp:: Sorry you had such a jerk dr. to give you the epis. Not to mention Id like to know where you live and at what hospital you were at just to make sure its not mine!!!! Ive had 2 friends deliver recently with same hospital and same ob and they had a wonderful experience so Im praying for the same.
Congrats on your baby!!!! Enjoy every minute, and good for you for demanding what you knew you needed!!!
Congrats!! I didn't know they can give gas to you during labor, wow! I too screamed at anyone and everyone for a C-section only they didn't listen to me. After I was dilated to a 10, I pushed LO out in 15 minutes.
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