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Almost 2 weeks overdue but only 7 hour long labor & delivery

Miss.ModularMiss.Modular member
in Birth Stories

I finally went into labor on my own on Monday,  1/5/09.  I was due 12/26/08.  Do the math on that one!  I was very against induction until I absolutely had to-- which was 2 weeks past due. I was going to hold out until the following Thursday, luckily I didn't have to!   Not to say I wasn't miserable, because I was-- I was uncomfortable, huge and had nightly cramping/contractions for THREE weeks up until this point.   Some nights were extremely painful, but got me nowhere.  Up until then I was 1 cm and 70% effaced since 39 weeks.  

The night before, i went into frantic nesting mode and took down all of our christmas decorations and set up the swing.  I was up until 2 am doing all of this, which was unusual since I was usually so tired I was in bed by 11.  Throughout all of this, I had some braxton hicks and some cramping,
which was nothing new.  Actually the cramping was less intense than it had been up until this night.

Monday morning I woke up at 7:30 and felt a bit wet down south.   I got up to go to the bathroom to check and felt leaking instantly.  When I got to the bathroom it gushed and I knew this was it!  The first issue that I noticed though was it was not clear fluid, so I knew i was probably dealing with meconium, which worried me.  

I yelled for my husband , (who was half asleep and confused hehe), called the Dr, and showered.  Almost immediately I felt contractions start.   We were on our way to the hospital within a half
hour and arrived at 8:30.  I was definitely starting to feel uncomfortable, but not anything unbearable. It was just strong period cramping at this point.  Once into L & D, the meconium was confirmed, and I was 2 cm, 80% effaced.  

My parents and in-laws arrived around 9 and I actually said they should all leave in a few hours since it would be "such a long wait."  Little did I know how wrong i was about this!   My contractions
started almost immediately coming every 2-3 minutes, and were gaining in intensity.  With each one I felt like I had to pee intensely, and kept asking to go to the bathroom.  I had to go in with my
half open hospital gown and my IV along with me. It was a production!
 My nurse was just humoring me i think.  heheh.  The second time I went in, it felt so much  better to sit on the toilet for some reason, i did NOT want to leave. My contractions were not feeling as intense there for some reason.  But when I was lying down, they hurt!! My nurse and mom had to come ask me toget back in bed. ha haaaaa.

By this point it was about 10:30am (just three hours after water breaking),
my contractions were getting closer, about 1-2 minuts apart---and I was asking for the epidural which I wanted this from the beginning, no natural birth for me!  My nurse had called for it, so I just had to wait a bit longer.  I was having to concentrate through the contractions at this point, and REALLY uncomfortable. My contractions were so regular, they didn't start me on pitocin yet.  I finally got the epidural around 11 am, which was not bad at all.  The only part that was bad, as everyone says, is sitting still during the contractions.  My nurse had me do the lamaze breathing which actually helped tremendously.    Once it was in
I could still feel my legs and move them, but no more pain!  

Right after the epi my contractions slowed quite a bit, so they started the pitocin on a low dose.Around 11:30 I told my husband, mom and MIL to go get some coffee and food since we were going to be there awhile.   When they left, my nurse checked my progress around noon (My first check since I arrived at 8:30-- when i was 2 cm).   Her face changed and she said, your cervix is completely effaced, and you are 9 cm.  I was *shocked*, and so was she! she said she was getting my Dr to come in to double check. The Dr. showed up at 12:30 and i was 10 cm, and the baby was at 0 station.  My family came back around this point
and didn' t believe me when i told them.

The Dr. wanted me to labor down for an hour or so, and had me sit up to use gravity in my favor.  A half hour into sitting up i started to feel REALLY sick to my stomach and dizzy.  I looked at my
husband and mom and said i was going to get sick. Luckily i had not eaten anything  since the night before. Thank god we didnt stop at dunkin donuts that morning as I had wanted to!  I ended up barfing, which
really sucked.  The nurses ran in ( i think my  BP dropped?), and lowered the bed and had me lay on my left side.  The nurse said I was probably transitioning with the baby was dropping fast, combined
with the epi which can cause BP fluctuations or something.    She checked me and I was ready to push! It was around 1:30 at this point, so we did some 'practice' pushes (i have no idea what the deal is with
these) for a half hour.  I had NO idea how hard and exhausting pushing would be.  It was the biggest shock of the whole ordeal. But my husband was a HUGE support and got me through each push.
 
Around 2:15 the Dr came in and we got down to business. The baby's heart rate was dropping, but rebounding quickly so they weren't worried.  However, around 2:45, a half hour into pushing  the Dr said she might have to use forceps. I was completely astounded and said no way!  The next contractionI pushed three times and the baby was out at 2:56 pm! The cord was wrapped around his neck once, hence the HR dropping... NICU was there because of the meconium, but they took one look and said he was fine. He scored 9 and 9 on his apgars.  He was 7 lbs 2 oz, 19 3/4 inches long with a full head of hair!  The entire process from water breaking to delivery lasted only 7.5 hours. Aside from a 2nd degree tear, recovery was pretty easy.   

 It was the most overwhelming, amazing experience of my life!

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