My Christmas present, he'll hate his birthday?
kimmlet
member
At 2:30 am Christmas morning as I was putting the "Santa" presents under the tree my water broke suddenly. I hadn't had any real contractions prior to that so I was quite shocked. After that the contractions were irregular between 4 and 7 minutes apart. They never really hurt, they felt more like rapid fire braxton hicks than anything else. DH and I opened our presents at 3:30 in the morning so we'd be able to have a little Christmas celebration before spending the day in the hospital.
At 5 I called my OB and she said to go straight to the hospital so we were on our way. When we got there at 6 I was still just 1 cm dilated. My doctor checked me at 8 and it was still just 1 cm, 50% effaced. They started me on Pitossin to try to get everything moving. Wow, did the contractions become real... That stuff is no joke.
I went from 3-5 minutes apart to 1 minute apart in next to no time and the intensity of each was at 100 on the little monitor. By 11ish I was 3 cm and 50%; for how intense the contractions were I was expecting to be further along. My doctor did a quick ultrasound to confirm that he was head down since he was still so high she wondered if it was his butt instead even though it felt like a head. Thankfully, the ultrasound confirmed it was his head so they continued with the course of action. The pain was so intense and constant; the contractions never really ended, one just led immediately into the next, that I got an epidural a little after noon. They didn't load me up so I still had feeling in my legs and could move them and still felt the contractions but they weren't nearly as intense.
Side story... (skip if you are uneasy about epidurals)
The doctor who gave me the epidural was some variety of Easter European and I decided that she must have been trained in a gulag before coming to the States. The numbing medication before inserting the epidural hurt like crazy and I swear I felt fluid spurting out and hitting my back. They put a little plastic shield over your whole back so I'm sure it was more likely a hose or something grazing my back but that isn't as dramatic in the story. She numbs me and inserts the catheter (which I couldn't feel at all aside from the pressure) and hits the nerve that goes down my left leg. My whole leg started spasming and there was the craziest twinging pain all down my leg. She told me it would subside but it didn't so she wiggled the catheter to relieve it. It did no good even though she told me that it did. I'm glad she could feel my pain better than me. After shouting OW enough times she gave up and went up a thingy (lumbar, disc, I don't know the parts of the spine) and tried again. Luckily, that time it worked just fine and I didn't have any crazy sensations in my leg. All this as I'm having the most intense pain and discomfort ever and I couldn't move while she was doing it. Yikes! For those who have never had an epidural, this experience is by far not the norm, the last one I had I didn't feel at all and it was magically great. Do not fear unless Gunta the Gulag doctor walks into your delivery room.
So, back to the main story...
They keep increasing the Pitossin which makes the contractions so much stronger but didn't check on me until 3. I was expecting minimal progress when very nonchalantly my doctor said that I was ready to go and told me to start pushing. I was really caught off guard by the speed in which he progressed. I think that when he heard them commenting about how he was still high and hadn't dropped yet he decided to really take action and that explains why the contractions were so very intense. Just before he was born his heart rate started dipping so the NICU doctors swarmed the room ready for him and they used a vacuum to help him in the final stretch because they were afraid of what too many more contractions would do to him. I pushed for a little over half an hour and little Oliver was born at 3:38 on Christmas day weighing 5 lbs 12 oz, 19.5" long.
He is doing well, he is perfectly healthy, amazing little guy. I've been having a lot of trouble breastfeeding and he lost 12% of his weight after 3 days so we are now feeding every 2 hours, first it was formula but now that my milk has come in we are alternating between formula and breast milk to get his weight back up. When we went back to the pediatrician for a weight check he gained 2.5 oz in one day! Such a great improvement and some relief for a terrified momma. He still won't latch, he just screams and cries when I try to nurse but at least I can pump and give him my milk which he definitely prefers over formula.
I always had a feeling he'd be early, I didn't think it'd be at 37w 5d. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Christmas gift.
Re: My Christmas present, he'll hate his birthday?
My Blog: Sewing, crafting, motherhood, computers, and random musings... Sleep is for the weak
He won't hate it. He won't really know any different. When family and friends go out of their way to make sure it's special then it's special no matter what. Little traditions can help. My mom always made a big special breakfast on Christmas morning. We would always go out to a fancy dinner with my grandparents Christmas Eve and my grandmother (also a Christmas baby) would make darn sure the waiter knew to bring us both some cake with candles. Just think about starting some new traditions for your family to make it extra special.
When I got older my college roommate would go out of her way to find a bar open Christmas day. My god some of the dives we ended up at were hilarious! We could always muster a good crowd too of people trying to escape their families! They loved having the excuse.
Lots of love TBBFF lobosabby!! Always rooting for the TTGP girls
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Congratulations!
Definitely seek help for the breastfeeding issues with a lactation specialist. It can/will get easier if you get the right guidance.
Good luck!
4 losses- MC in 2006, MMC in February 2012 at 12 weeks and MMC (twins) August 2016 at 12 weeks. Pregnant again- 11/7/16. Another loss on December 28, 2016.
BFP April 23, 2017. Our triple rainbow baby! EDD: January 2, 2018. It's a boy!
She must have been trained at the Gulag!!!! HAHAHAHAHA I about died when I saw that. Sorry about the difficulties with the EPI.
He will not hate his birthday. Just make it special for him or just do it a few weeks earlier. I really do not think it is as big a deal as some people on here make it out to be.
Congrats!!