Matthew's Birth Story - PIP - Long

jennakg · October 2012

On Friday, September 28^thI had a doctors appointment at 10:30 am. My ?due date? was 9/27 and since I had passed it my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay with the baby. My plan was to go into labor naturally, and if I didn?t then I would be induced at 42 weeks.

During the ultrasound, the doctor noticed that the amniotic fluid was grainy. Dr. Farley told me that this can be a sign that the baby has passed meconium, which can be a sign that the baby is/was in distress. Dr. Farley recommended that we induce, but he ultimately left it up to me.

Since DH wasn?t able to come with me to the appointment, I called him from the doctor?s office to ask his opinion. I called 3 times, no answer. So I tried him at work. Finally, I got a hold of him and we talked about what the doctor had said, and what we should do. Ultimately, we decided to play it safe and to get induced.

I was really bummed because already a good portion of my birth plan had been thrown out the window. I still wanted to have as natural a birth as possible, but I was unsure of how it would go. I decided that I wanted to be able to enjoy the birth, and if I felt like I was suffering then I would have to reevaluate my plan.

I met DH at home and we threw everything in the car (thank goodness I had packed everything weeks ago), and went to the hospital. We were admitted at about 12:30 and at 1pm they broke my water. The amniotic fluid was really cloudy, but it didn?t have meconium in it, thank goodness. They said that the cloudiness of the fluid could be from vernix, or an infection in my uterus. However, the fluid didn?t smell bad so they didn?t think it was an infection.

Before arriving at the hospital I was already dilated to a 4 and 60% effaced. My surges were coming, but not regularly. They wanted them to be coming every 2 minutes, and they were coming every 2 to 4 minutes once they broke my water. So, they started me on the lowest dose pitocin. My surges were still coming every 2 to 4 minutes, so after a while they turned the dose up.

Let me add here that for the most part my nurses were very kind and mostly supportive. I had 3 nurses throughout the labor and delivery. My first nurse was very nice however she told me that they legally have to ask how much pain I was in every 2 hours. I asked her if they could just use different wording and ask if I was uncomfortable? She didn?t respond to that, but she didn?t ask me about pain either. My second nurse kind of got moody with me when I asked her why the pitocin was getting turned up again. However, besides that she was really kind, friendly, and helpful. The third nurse was great and I didn?t have any issues with her.

I had DH grab my iPod and headphones out of my bag, and I started to listen to the affirmations and Rainbow Relaxation. This really worked great and I was able to stay relaxed.

After a while, however, the surges started to get more intense, and I started to have back labor. I was not prepared for back labor. I asked DH to rub my back for me and to do light touch massage, but it wasn?t helping. I felt better when I would change position, but that would only last a few minutes. Ultimately, I started to suffer through the labor, which is exactly what I said I did not want to do. So, I asked for the epidural. I was really disappointed that another part of my birth plan had been lost, but I felt like that?s what I had to do.

I did not like the epidural. I had always heard people talk about how much of a relief it was to get the epidural, and I did not feel that way at all. I wasn?t experiencing back labor anymore, for which I was grateful, but I felt disconnected from my body. That?s not something I enjoyed, and hopefully not something I?ll have to experience again.

When Dr Farley came to check me again, he noticed that the baby was not positioned correctly. He was facing my side instead of my back (this explains the back labor). They positioned me a really weird way on the bed to try to get him to turn. I was lying on my right side, with my left leg in the right leg stirrup. (Can you picture it?) Like I said, weird position. However, I did start to feel more pressure, which they said was a good sign that the baby was turning.

During this time, I was trying to relax as much as possible. I was very sleepy. DH and I watched some TV, and part of a show on Netflix. As 9pm rolled around my doctor came in again and checked me. I was at a 9+ and he said I could start to push. I was surprised because I wasn?t at a solid 10, but I was ready to deliver my baby.

I started pushing. I was trying to breathe the HypnoBirthing way that I had practiced, but the nurse and doctor were instructing me to breathe/push their way. Eventually, I started to do it their way, with a few exceptions. I pushed for about an hour, and Matthew was born at 10:03pm, after only 9 hours of labor. Not bad for my first baby! The cord stopped pulsing and DH cut the cord. (One thing in my birth plan that stuck!)

Dr Farley did tell me that my pelvis is more flat than ?normal? so that made it a little harder for him to maneuver around. The dr also said that if I hadn?t had an epidural I probably would have been very uncomfortable with the way the baby was positioned and the prolonged pushing. Poor little Matthew?s head was a little swollen from all the pushing, but regardless he was just perfect. He weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz, and 20.5 inches long. He is absolutely adorable and we are so in love with him.

I am disappointed that the birth didn?t go as I had hoped. So many things in my birth plan had to change all at the last minute, but I am truly happy with how things turned out. I have a happy, beautiful baby boy. I was concerned that with the pitocin his heart rate might drop if it was too intense for him, but he did great the whole time. I feel like with the circumstances, I made the best decisions I could.

I do wonder how different things may have been with a midwife, as they are usually more willing to let things happen. However, I really appreciate that Dr Farley was concerned about the baby and just wanted him to be born healthy.

So, even though pretty much nothing went as planned, I do feel like HypnoBirthing was crucial in my birthing experience. I was able to remain calm and have a clear head during my decision-making. I was not making choices due to fear, but with as much knowledge as possible. I hope that with the next baby I am able to have the birth experience that I hope for, but I feel positively about how this one turned out.

LaurelBee · October 2012

Gah! He is absolutely adorable! Congrats mama!

Also, I'm really interested in learning more about your "cloudy" AF. I've never heard of that happening before! Did they definitely rule out an infection after your Ds arrived??

3GirlsMama · October 2012

Congratulations on your baby boy! What a cutie! It sounds like you've done a great job of assimilating your birth experience and how it differed from your ideal plan, and are happy with the outcome! A healthy baby and mom. Congratulations.

mAnYaSha · October 2012

Congratulations mama !

jennakg · October 2012

LaurelBee:
Gah! He is absolutely adorable! Congrats mama!
Also, I'm really interested in learning more about your "cloudy" AF. I've never heard of that happening before! Did they definitely rule out an infection after your Ds arrived??

They decided it was just vernix that had liquified. Weird, huh? I think they would have been more concerned had the fluid smelled bad, but since it still smelled normal, they weren't concerned. They thought it was strange, but it never came up again after breaking my bag of waters.