Ewen Henry's birth story
shutupanddance07
member
So, I had my son 8 days ago and have been so overwhelmed by new motherhood that I'm just posting this now. Ewen's birth story, as abbreviated as possible:
I went into labor on Sunday the 18th. Contractions wouldn't normalize and make a pattern, but when they were between 2 and 5 minutes apart, the midwife said to come on in to the birth center. We called the in-laws to come get the dog, and made our way in. I got there and was dilated to 1.5 cm. Ugh. I didn't make much progress over the next few hours, so they sent me home with some vistaril to help me sleep. I woke up the next morning with contractions at 30 minutes apart. We went for a long walk and tried a bunch of things to get things moving again. They increased throughout the day until that evening, we hit that beautiful 4-1-1 point. So back to the birth center we went. They checked me: 2cm. 80% effaced. These contractions were far more intense than the night before. Midwife suggested that my body was in its own way and offered me a morphine injection to knock me out and let things progress. I had two. I didn't sleep much, and I didn't make much progress. Labor never slowed down. They sent me home Tuesday afternoon with instructions to try to relax. I took a nap, I ate, and all hell broke loose. Contractions intensified significantly, coming anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes apart. We called the midwife, she said we should come in and get checked, and consider augmentation of labor if I still wasn't making progress. We got there. I was at 3cm, still 80% effaced. She suggested an epidural, said there's a difference between pain and suffering, and that in my birth plan my top two priorities are healthy mom and baby, and vaginal delivery. She said the best way to get those things were probably at the hospital. So off we went. After the epidural was in, I started making more progress, but my cervix just wouldn't stretch nicely, and at 5 cm I still wasn't fully effaced. she manually stretched me, ad we agreed to try some pitocin to get those contractions to organize. Finally, at around 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon, I was pronounced fully dilated. We let me labor down for a little while before I started to push. At 4:22 pm on November 21st, after 2 hours of pushing and nearly 72 hours of labor, Ewen Henry was born. He weighed 7lbs 12oz, and measured 20 in long.
I was pretty upset about having to give birth in the hospital, and the hospital was not a pleasant environment for me at all. They let me go home by noon on Thursday, and that was great because I honestly don't think I could have stood to be there much longer.
Anyway, sorry it's late, but the last week has been pretty crazy...
Re: Ewen Henry's birth story
BFP #1 5/4/11 EDD 1/12/12 natural m/c 5/17/11
BFP #2 8/9/11 EDD 4/18/12 ectopic pregnancy (methotrexate) 8/24/11 ruptured tube and removal 8/29/11
BFP #3 3/9/12 EDD 11/19/12 Logan born 11/18/12
~*~*Everyone Welcome*~*~
I'm sorry your birth experience was so haywire. But I'm happy you and Ewen both came out healthy and happy in the end!