s/o birth stories

sunflwr0911

I'm waiting till I get to my computer to read Stacie's, but I was wondering if anyone else would like to share? I love reading them!!
Still need to finish mine...maybe a project for today.

vnstacie

Lol I read mine and was like "was I still doped up!! What's up with my spelling? Hahah!"

jen4ny

I will play! I was just a lurker back then so I never posted mine. Sorry this got so long. That day is still so vivid in my mind! 

 

I saw my OB on Mon 9/19 and I was 1 cm dilated but that was really it so I was expecting to her the following week. I was due on 9/24. Tuesday 9/20 I went to work as usual. I was working as a nurse practitioner and saw patients from 8 am to 5:30 pm. I had no more than the usual amount of braxton hicks contractions. But at around 12 pm I went to the bathroom and saw that I lost my mucous plug and had a bloody show. I was excited but I knew that it could still be days before anything happened. My husband was convinced I was going in to labor. I finished the work day and went home. My husband was supposed to go to his friend's house about 15 minutes away that evening and I told him to go ahead because nothing was happening.

 

I relaxed, had dinner, showered and shaved my legs (thank God! lol). Around 10:15 pm my husband called me and said he was leaving his friend's house and just wanted to check in. I told him everything was quiet and I was going to bed. At 10:30 I was pulling down the covers on the bed when I felt a trickle between my legs. I was thinking did I just pee? But I had just used the bathroom. I went back into the bathroom and looked at the panty liner I was wearing and it was stained pink. I wasn't convinced- I always thought if my water broke it would be a gush! So I walked around the house a bit and then felt another trickle. My husband got home around this time and I said you are never going to believe it but I think my water just broke! He was surprised because 20 minutes ago I had told him everything was quiet.

 

So he started packing a bag to go to the hospital. I asked him what he was doing and he said we are going to the hospital and I better finish packing! lol I still wasn't convinced I was in labor. I called my mom and asked her opinion. I called my aunt. I finally called the OB after a bigger gush when I was sure my water broke. We got to the hospital around midnight (we live about 35 minutes away) and they checked me to make sure I did rupture. Then they monitored me and started an IV. I was contracting but they weren't regular or painful. Around 2 am they let me get up and walk around the floor to try and get things going. Nothing really happened so at 3 am I tried to get some sleep- I was so excited so I didn't sleep. My husband did! At 7 am the OB came in and they started pitocin which got the contractions going and boy then I felt the pain!

 

I made it to 6 cm and got an epidural around 11:30 am. I had about 30 minutes of no pain and then all the pain came back. I was like what the heck is going on? They tried to bolus the epidural with no effect. I couldn't stop shaking and was in so much pain. In the back of my mind I thought maybe I was in transition but I thought with the epidural I wouldn't feel it. They called for anesthesia to come and see me but they were in a c-section. My OB came in to see me and he said that sometimes the epidural distorts sensation so the pressure to push can feel like pain. He checked me and sure enough I was 10 cm. I went from 6 cm to 10 cm in about an hour. 

 

The OB started gowning up and I knew he thought it was going to go fast because usually at this hospital you push with the nurse to bring the baby down and the OB is there for just the last few minutes. A had been low for a while though. I pushed for about 10 minutes and he came out. They put him on my stomach and my husband and I were both crying. It was the most amazing experience of my life and I am so glad I was able to deliver vaginally. A was born at 1:14 pm on 9/21 and weighed 7 lb 2 oz and was 19 in. He looked exactly like his daddy.

 

That is it! The absolute worst part of recovery was the episiotomy- it was so much more painful than I ever imagined. I also hurt my back trying to bend down (and not pop the stitches) and that back pain lasted for a month. After that I was in good shape!  

JKGymnast

Here is mine:
Labor and delivery...
So my thoughts going into delivering a baby were centered around "ignorance is bliss". I knew it wasn't going to be easy but i didn't want to freak myself out and get tied up in the what ifs. I'm a worrier by nature so this was going to be a challenge.   Side note: We took Childbirth Classes remotely via the web... They were a great alternative to attending a weekend long course at the local hospital and since the classes were online we could go back to rewatch certain portions... BUT, everything I learned in the classes I don't think I remembered any of it come labor time, and it didn't matter either because the nurses  tell you exactly what to do!  I don't regret the classes but I don't think they are THAT necessary. Just my opinion. 

How things got going... 
I had my 1st internal on Tue 8/23 and was told i was 80 effaced and 1.5 cm.  I wasn't having contractions other than the BH I've been getting since 20 weeks.   Fast forward a few days... We had a hurricane in Boston on August 28/29 my contractions started the afternoon of the 29th.  Nothing regular but enough for me to notice them. They felt exactly like AF cramps. Nothing I couldn't handle, and I could still talk thru them. I decided to start timing them for practice using the iPhone Ap "Full Term" which was really helpful!  At my 2nd internal, Tue 8/30,  my OB said I was only 2 cm but my cervix was very thin and the baby was very low; she then told me she expected I might even go into labor that afternoon.  Why bother telling me that, btw! Just sets you up for disappointment. That obviously didn't happen but I was ok with it. DH had some big projects at work and they would keep him busy until Friday Sept 2nd. He kept joking with me, telling me to hold off on having our daughter until after Friday. 

As fate would have it, Friday night after work, a nice dinner out, and a warm bath we went off to bed and I was up at 1:30am w/ full blown contractions!!!! I let DH sleep an extra hour before waking him, then I jumped in the shower, took my sweet time shaving, and managed to blow dry flat iron my hair between contractions. Call me lame, but I was determined to look decent for my girls big day and I knew I wouldn't have the opportunity to do anything at the hospital.  Again, using the Full Term ap on my iPhone, we timed the contractions until they were 34 minutes apart, and then headed to the hospital at 4:30am!

At the hospital....
When we got there I called my OB ahead of time so they were expecting me they offered me a wheelchair several times and I refused. It was just easier to deal with the contractions standing up.  After they hooked me up and checked things out, I was having contractions that were 2.5 min apart, and i was 6cm dilated!! I was still feeling pretty good at this point, so I
walked from triage to LD. Let me just say, I was expecting far worse pain at 6cm dilated and it just was not the case... I almost considered, for about 3 seconds, not getting the EPI! When we got to LD, I was checked again and was 7/8 cm!  Within 30 minutes I got the EPI at 8cm and welcomed my eager family in to say hi. As soon as I was a 9/10, we kicked the family out so it was just DH and my twin sister.

I started pushing at 11:45 never really felt the ring of fire so to say, but there was a point when i really didn't think she was going to fit.  It was more pressure than pain until that very last minute when her head came out and even that wasnt too terrible.  I loved this process.

Sweet little Rylee Marie came out at 12:35pm on Saturday September 3rd, 2011.

So, for the other juicy details... I definitely pooped on the table... : I got one very long stitch 2nd degree.  Rylee scored on the Apgar with an 8 9.  She was slightly jaundice 11.5 but they said it was not concerning and just wanted to keep an eye on her.  

Rylee weighed 7lbs, 8oz, and was 20.5 inches long. She looks just like her dad and nothing like me... But that's ok... Just hoping this dark hair falls out and grows in blonde. Hehe!

She looks like me as a baby now and her hair is now blonde, hehe.

sunflwr0911

Finally finished mine.  Sorry it's so long, but I want to remember every detail!

 

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                  I woke up very early in the morning with pains in my lower abdomen and back.  I don?t know what time it was, but it happened a few times and the pain didn?t last very long and I went right back to sleep.

 Around 8 that morning, Greg went to Kennesaw to work on the ice cream truck with Drew.  I thought about mentioning the pains to him because they were different that any I?d felt before.  But I convinced myself that it was nothing to worry about and decided not to worry him and sent him on his way.  I stayed in bed for a while longer and had a few more pains.  They weren?t bad, but definitely noticeable.  I thought I?d get up and take a shower to see if it made any difference.  The shower felt great, but didn?t diminish the pain at all!

I still figured it was nothing to worry about and decided to get some stuff done that day.  I hadn?t washed any of Carter?s newborn sized clothes since his ultrasounds had measured him on the large side, but decided that it might be a good idea to get them ready.  I still didn?t think I was actually in labor or at the very least, that I?d be having him that day.  I also got his closet organized and labeled all the tubs in it.  I picked up around the house and did some laundry of my own.  All the while I was still having these pains in my abdomen and back.  They had picked up a little, but were still nothing alarming.

I decided to call my mom for some company and, of course, told her what I was feeling.  She was a little alarmed when I told her that Greg wasn?t home and was so far away and made me text Emily to tell her what was going on in case I needed a ride!  Of course, Emily called me right away and to make sure I was ok and if I needed anything.  I think everyone was more concerned than me!  I sent Greg an email around 1 telling him I was ?having some good cramps, nothing major though.?  That?s around the time they got a little more painful.  Just enough that it made me squirm or take a deep breath.  I tried to time them, but it was difficult because they were inconsistent.  I just kept busy talking on the phone and trying to get stuff done.  I did notice later in the afternoon that I had some bloody show and that made me think that maybe something was really happening.  But I figured that nothing would really happen till the next day.

I decided to try to take a nap around 4 to see if that would help and slept for about 45 minutes till Greg got home.  I was very surprised that I didn?t feel anything during my nap.  That really made me think that it wouldn?t be soon.  They did start back up as soon as I woke up, though.  And now they hurt a little worse.  Still nothing horrible!  Emily had suggested that we go get something to eat if I was feeling up to it, so we headed to the Mexican restaurant around 5. 

While we were at the restaurant, the pain definitely got worse!  I started timing them and they were about 3 minutes apart, but only lasting 30-40 seconds.  The midwife had given me the 5-1-1 rule, so the 3 minutes apart was throwing me off!  The pain was definitely bad enough that I couldn?t eat and had to really focus to get through them.  Everyone kept staring at me like I had two heads, lol!  By then, I really knew I was in labor, but the stubborn side of my still thought Carter wouldn?t come till the next day!  Around 6 we decided it was time to leave and possibly head to the hospital.  Emily wanted to tell the waitress that I was in labor and it was funny to see her run to get our checks!  I was really trying to not look like I was in as much pain as I was?

So we headed home and Greg started running around packing his bag.  I had a few things to throw into mine and I remember I was in the bed room when a big contraction hit and I couldn?t help but moan?I think it scared Greg and our cat, Cody, pretty bad.  I already had the car seat installed in my car, but Greg wanted to take his because it would use less gas, so I told him to put the seat and other base in his car.  I was ready to go and sat down to wait for him to get everything in the car, but he didn?t come back for a while.  The contractions were starting to get pretty intense and I couldn?t figure out where he?d gone.  I was ready to go!  He finally came back in and it turns out that he was installing the seat!  I thought he?s just put in in the car and install it later?

So we got on the road.  It?s a 45 min ride to the hospital.  I decided to call my parents to let them know they should leave so they could be there in time, but they didn?t answer the phone.  I kept trying to call in between contractions, but they still wouldn?t answer.  So I called my grandmother and told her what was going on and asked her to keep calling and let them know.  Meanwhile, the contractions were growing stronger.  I really thought that they would slowly build like a crescendo and then drop off, but they were nothing like that.  They would hit me like a brick wall and then slowly get better.  And it was all I could do to keep breathing through them.  I wondered if people in the cars next to us were wondering what was wrong with me!

We finally made it to the hospital at 8:03 and I made Greg park in the parking lot.  I didn?t want him to leave me to park the car.  I was totally ready for my epidural at that point!  We walked across the parking lot and walking helped the contractions some.  But I was having to take it slow and Greg was hurrying ahead.  At one point a contraction hit and I had to call out to him to wait and I remember there was a group of men walking past and all of them looking at me, lol.

We got to triage and the nurse told me to strip and put on a gown and the mother of all contractions hit.  I just stood there, leaning on the bed, trying to figure out how I was going to get undressed when I couldn?t even breathe.  I got hooked up to the monitors and the contractions were hitting like crazy.  The nurse checked me and said I was either a 5 or 6, but she couldn?t tell because the bag of waters was bulging and in the way.  This was probably around 8:30.  All of a sudden, there were four people in the room and they were telling me that the baby?s heart rate was decel-ing and that I had to breathe through the contractions and not hold my breath.  They put me on oxygen and it was seriously all I could to do to just breathe.  The midwife came in and said that if we didn?t get him out soon, that we may have to do a c-section.  I didn?t care as long as he was ok.

So they literally ran me down the hall to my LD room where they asked me to move from the stretcher to the bed, and I was like, ?you want me to do whaa????   The midwife broke my waters and checked me at the same time and said I was a 9!  My immediate thoughts were, ?Oh sh!t, no epidural! And I have to push NOW.?  There were 7-8 people in the room now and they all started running like crazy, trying to get ready.   A nurse got each leg and I started pushing.  I got two or three good pushed before I felt a searing pain and screamed.  I knew it had to be his head.  The midwife had me do a few little pushes between contractions, and with the next contraction another good push.  I screamed again and knew it had to be his shoulders.  One more push and he was out!  They put him on my tummy and he started crying.  The most wonderful sound I?ve ever heard!  I told him not to cry and just kept saying, ?We have a baby!?  I couldn?t believe he was finally here.  Greg cut the cord and they took him to get cleaned up.  He was born at 9:00pm.  7lbs9oz and 19? of sweetness.  His apgar was 8 9.

Unfortunately, because of his fast delivery, I tore pretty badly and it took over an hour to stitch me up.  That was almost as bad as transition.  And I was shaking like a leaf from all the adrenaline.  But it was all worth it. 

tartertots9725

I'll give mine... it's a long one and a little scary...

 

So I was overdue and was induced early at like 5am in the morning. DH and I had our families travel so they could be there for the delivery and to greet DS as soon as he was born.(in the nursery, no one was going to be in the room but DH for the delivery).

So we started out great, contractions were coming fast and strong pretty early and I was dilating beautifully. I got my epidural(I had planned a natural birth but chickened out when they gave me the pit) and it worked well at first. By 1 pm I was about 7 cms and my epidural started to not work on one side of my body. I felt everything and they kept giving me more and more of the meds until DS's heartrate kept dropping and I said to stop and I'll just tough it out. It soon started to fail on the other side as well but thank god I had prepared for a natural birth because I was able to handle the contractions very well.

I started to get a fever around 3 or so and they were wondering why I was starting to slow so much with my dilation. I was having contractions less than a minute apart from the pitocin and DS heart rate just kept dropping so they backed off on the pit for awhile. My fever kept slowly rising but DS heart rate had been stable for awhile so around 5 they started the pit back up again. I was getting contraction on top of contraction and since I had stopped my epidural meds I was feeling everything. It was exhausting but at that point I was believing it would be time to push at any moment. (a random side note, I gave birth at a university hospital and I had sooo many students stick their hand up my vag to check me! I had people introducing themselves and they shoved their hands up me. I thought it would have bothered me but in the moment it didn't at all.)

By 6pm I was about 9 cms and we were excited because it sounded like we were getting very close to meeting DS. They had thought I would have delivered already by now but DS was taking his sweet time coming out. The nurse was getting things ready for delivery but by 8pm I hadn't progressed anymore.

They called the Dr and he said to up the pit again and see what happened. I was so frustrated and upset that I was stuck at 9. I was exhausted and with the contractions coming full force I just wanted to give up. I remember crying to DH that I just wanted to drink something because ice chips weren't doing it for me, but with hospital policy I wasn't allowed anything.

By 10pm I still hadn't progressed and my fever was rising so they tried one more time to up the pit and if I didn't progress by 11 we would do a c-section. I remember the look on DH's face when they said that. DH can hide his emotions so well but right then I saw the fear on his face. He knows c-sections are safe but I don't think he ever realized we would actually need one.

11:00 rolled around and they came in to check me one last time....still no progress. DH went to go tell the families while they got me ready. I told the anesthesiologist that my epi had failed and I had complete feeling and was worried about feeling the c-section. He assured me that these were different drugs and my body would take them and blah, blah, blah. I trusted him and didn't think anything more of it. When DH came back we were wheeled off to the OR.

We got int here and were all talking and I was surprised i wasn't nervous. I was excited because I knew that we would see DS any minute. I was talking to DH when all of a sudden I felt the most intense pain ever. I yelled "omg, what is that?" and everyone freaked the f* out. They said "you can feel that???" and I said "yes!" with tears welling up in my eyes from the pain. That's when everything got scary. I heard them say "get him out of here right now!(they kicked DH out, he didn't even get to kiss me or say anything) and next thing I knew I was asleep.

I woke up with Drs and nurses all around and I was crying asking for DH and DS. They said they were in the NICU and everything was alright and to try to relax. I cried so hard, I was so confused and felt so alone...it was horrible.

DH came in to see me a few minutes later. He showed me a picture of DS on his phone and I immediately noticed he had a breathing tube. DH didn't want to tell me he was intubated because he knew it would upset me. He was only intubated because since I was sedated, he was born "floppy" and sedated. It was policy there to intubate him apparently, he was extubated within 5 minutes.

They had wheeled DS out to see my family and friends but I still hadn't seen him because my fever was so high I wasn't able to leave recovery. They were afraid I had an infection and poor DH was trying to keep it together. None of this had gone as planned and I could see he was trying so hard not to break. Looking back now, it hurts to even think about. He was so strong for me. There is a picture of him walking out to see the family right after DS was born before he got to see me and he was crying because he was so terrified and overwhelmed with everything. DH never cries, ever. The fact that he couldn't hide it then but was able to come see me and put on such a brave face was amazing. (I later found out that none of the doctors or nurses told DH why DS was being intubated at first. He was allowed back in and saw me passed out, DS intubated and no one was telling him anything. I feel so horrible because he was petrified)

After a few hours I was finally stable and able to leave and see DS in the NICU. I may have been the last person to see him but I was the first to hold him. He was perfect. He had so much hair and was so tan! He was so maazing and I was in love instantly. It was the hardest thing ever having to go upstairs and leave him down there but they had to wait for the Drs in the morning to discharge him from the NICU.

He was discharged later than expected because his O2 stats dropped when he had his first bottle(they assume this was because the breathing tube made his throat sore) but he was brought back up to our room about 24 hours after his birth. I held him all night and just couldn't stop staring at him. He was worth everything

It took a very long time for me to talk about his birth. It was nothing like i had imagined and I couldn't talk about it without breaking down. I felt so much guilt, like my body failed him and he had to go to the NICU because of me. I use to think if I just didn't say anything when I felt the incision everything would have been ok and he wouldn't of had to suffer at all. But I'm glad I was able to share it though! I'm really sorry it was so long, I honestly even left out a lot too!

I love reading all your birth stories so keep them coming ladies!