Birth Stories

Natural labor, ended in c-section (long, PIP)

Cameron Albert was born on October 31, 2008 at 9:07am, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and measuring 21 inches, and scoring 9/9 on his Apgar scores.  We are so thankful to be blessed with this beautiful, sweet, healthy boy. We got the best treat this Halloween!

Throughout this entire pregnancy, we have planned for and been looking forward to having natural, unmedicated childbirth.  We did lots of research, took a 12 week Bradley course, and even switched care providers from an obstetrician to midwives at a birth center.  We planned to give birth at the birth center in a home-like environment where we knew we would have a low intervention birth.  Medications such as epidurals and narcotics are not even an option at the birth center.

I was way past my due date and the midwives were trying all kinds of natural induction.  At 10 days overdue they inserted a Foley catheter into  my cervix to try to get it to dilate more.  I also was having acupuncture, massage, and taking blue and black cohosh (which are gross--I would not recommend). 

After the Foley catheter was inserted at the birth center on Thursday morning to try to dilate my cervix, we went home and I walked up and down the stairs, raked leaves in the yard, and went for a long walk to continue to try to get things going.  In the early afternoon the catheter came out with little resistance, so I took this as a good sign that my cervix was starting to dilate.  Around 3pm I started having contractions, but they weren?t very frequent or painful.  We decided to relax and watch a movie, but had hardly gotten into it when I started to feel uncomfortable abdominal cramping.   I had a snack to see if that would help, but after eating I realized that I was finally going into real labor.  I took a bath to see if that would help, but it was also uncomfortable.  The only thing that seemed to make me feel better was walking around.

By about 7pm the contractions were coming pretty frequently and were uncomfortable, but I was also uncomfortable in between contractions and feeling really sick to my stomach.  I figured I just had low blood sugar, so tried to eat, but even a mild snack of toast was difficult to get down and didn?t make me feel better.  Pretty soon I was throwing up between contractions.  Fortunately, I had great support from DH who was keeping me calm throughout. 

I continued to labor at home, and after awhile the nausea went away and the contractions became more frequent and regular.  At 1am, the contractions were each about 1 minute long, and 3 minutes apart, so we went into the birth center.  Unfortunately, on the way there the nausea resurfaced and I started throwing up again.

When we got to the birth center, we were a bit discouraged after the internal cervix exam, when the midwife told us that my cervix was dilated on the outside to about 4-5 cm, but the inside of the cervix, the baby?s side, was still very tight and dimpled.  She had me try laboring in several different positions to try to get baby?s head to help push on the cervix and dilate it further.

At 3:30am she checked me again and my cervix was still the same, dilated on the outside but closed on the inside.  She called on another of the midwifes to check me to make sure she felt the same thing.  After both of them had checked me, a much more painful experience than any of the contractions, they felt that the issue was beyond the scope of care that they could offer at the birth center, and recommended that I transfer to the hospital, where I could have medication to help my cervix dilate, anti-nausea meds, and maybe an epidural to help me relax and get some sleep.  They arranged to have an obstetrician come to the hospital to take over my care and help us decide what the best options would be for getting the baby out.

At around 5am, I arrived at Swedish Hospital, just up the street from the birth center.  I got checked into Labor and Delivery and received yet another painful internal cervix check, which again confirmed an undilated inner cervical opening.  I was still hoping for a natural childbirth, so I continued to labor without any medication.  Finally, at 7am, the OB arrived to examine me and inform us of our options.

After the exam, the OB gave us some heartbreaking news.  He felt that the only way to get the baby out of me was to have a cesarean section.  The inner os (opening) of my cervix was stenotic, meaning that it was very tough and fibrous and unable to dilate at all.  I had been having strong, frequent, regular contractions for a very long time, yet had no progress.  Even the external os opening hadn?t dilated more than 5cm despite all my hard work.  This is a very rare condition, especially since I have no history of miscarriages or any type of surgical procedures on my cervix.  Needless to say, we were quite upset that our child?s birth was turning into the exact opposite of what we had planned and hoped for.  However, we knew that our number one priority was for everyone to come out of the birth healthy and we agreed to the cesarean section.

At 8:30am DH and I went to the operating room where they gave me a spinal block and prepped me for surgery.  The entire thing was a bit surreal.  I was so exhausted after laboring for about 16 hours, and the sensation of the spinal medication was strange and not what I was expecting.  The nurses were great about keeping me informed as well as distracting me from thinking too much about the procedure.   DH was there to hold my hand and comfort me as well.

It hardly seemed like any time had passed and all of a sudden I heard a little wail and the announcement, ?It?s a boy!?  I was overcome with emotion although I had to settle for watching my son from across the room as they brought him straight from my uterus to an observation table where they made sure he was

okay.  Finally, they brought him over to me so he could lie on my chest and we had our first moments together as a family.

Unfortunately, this time was soon cut short as I started feeling nauseated, again.  As soon as I said I needed to throw up they quickly ushered DH and our son out of the room and tried to calm me down as I was becoming rather agitated.  I felt terrible and all of the drugs were causing me to feel weird sensations.  Finally, they convinced me to take some Fentanyl to make me feel better.  It did, but then I also felt out of it and I really wished I could hold my son again.  I knew he was safe with his dad, but I didn?t know where they were or what they were doing.  It took some extra time to finish up the cesarean because my uterine tone wasn?t very good.  My uterus was just so exhausted after all that labor, it wasn?t contracting back into its old shape very well.

Finally I went to recovery and was joined shortly by DH and our new son, who we decided to name Cameron Albert.  Albert was the name of my maternal grandfather who was a wonderful man and would have loved little Cameron.  I was able to breastfeed Cameron for the first time in the recovery room and fortunately he took to it well right away, which I was worried about since we had been separated so soon after he was born.  All three of us were exhausted and we went up to our room in the family care unit to get some well-deserved rest.

The whole experience was definitely not the unmedicated vaginal delivery that I was hoping for, and because of the condition of my cervix, I won?t ever be able to have that and will also need a c-section for any future children.  However, overall I am happy with the birth experience.  I did have about 16 hours of unmedicated labor, which was a tough experience, but one I am very proud of myself and Andy for working through.  And of course, the end result was a wonderful, beautiful baby boy who is the light of our lives.

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Re: Natural labor, ended in c-section (long, PIP)

  • Wow! You went through so much! Im so happy that your baby is healthy fine! Congrats!
  • I'm going to be having this baby at that birth center!  It's good to know that the midwives aren't scared to transfer you to a hospital if needed.  Congrats!
    Mama to Lucy (7/06), Lexi (5/09), and Max (11/11) M/C 12/17/10
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  • I'm sorry you didn't get your natural birth. I also wanted a natural birth and ended up with a Cesarean. I was ok with it at first but had a harder time as time went on- really it was a grieving process for me- and I have since found ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network- they are on Yahoo groups), and have found lots of great support.  You may also want to do some more research on your condition because it's possible it wouldn't repeat in a later birth, and that you could still VBAC. 

     Also, just so you know, I've read that it's better for babies to labor prior to a Cesarean, so at least your pain went to a good cause- getting your precious baby ready to be born, breathing well on his own!  Congratulations.

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