Pitocin, pain-med free birth story (LONG)

TeamK07 · March 2009

Our surprise baby was born on March 7. Here is our birth story.

38 weeks, 0 days

2AM ? woke up to my water breaking. The midwife at the hospital said to come in to get checked out.

4:30AM ?Midwife confirms my water has broken and monitors my contractions, which are coming about every 5 minutes, but are not strong. Just felt like the Broxton Hicks contractions I had been having for months.

6AM ?Only 1 cm dilated, but they admit me b/c I am GBS positive.

6-9AM ? I walked the halls like crazy to try to get things moving. Contractions are getting a little stronger.

9AM ? Still only 1 cm dilated. Midwife suggests sitatec (sp?) a pill to be inserted near my cervix to help soften and dilate. We agree. I have to stay in bed for 1 hour.

10AM-1PM ? I walk the halls like crazy again. The contractions are getting so that I can?t walk through them anymore. I have to go back to my room every hour to be monitored for 15 minutes. My contractions are now about 4 minutes apart.

1PM ? Only 2.5-3cm dilated. I am so discouraged. The midwife now suggests Pitocin. I was really disappointed that I had to go on Pitocin because I thought that my chances of a med-free birth kept getting slimmer as the day went on. But my husband and I agreed that this was the best route to go ? considering I had to deliver in the next 13 hours or a c-section would be needed.

1PM-6PM ? I was able to get out of bed and try different positions like on the birthing ball, leaning over the bed, and on a rocking chair. Because of the Picocin I was not allowed to try out the tub or shower. Sitting up in bed felt the best for me. Contractions were still manageable at this point, but got increasingly worse as 6PM rolled around. They slowly increased the amount of Pitocin after starting at level 1 (I ended at level 17). Also, every four ho urs throughout the day I had to get a new IV of penicillin for the GBS.

6PM ?Only 4 cm dilated. I am even more discouraged.

6PM -9PM ? Contractions are ridiculously strong. Pitocin made my contractions start off at their peak rather than having a gradual build up. I keep my eyes closed during the contractions and really focused on yoga breathing to relax inbetween, which sometimes was very difficult b/c of the pain. During the contractions I also concentrated on breathing deeply and reminded myself that it will only last a minute or so and that I could handle it (but there were several times I thought to myself that an epidural or c-section seemed like a good idea). My body was shaking like I was cold, but the midwife and nurse say that it is b/c of all the hormones. The shaking continued even after I delivered. As it got closer to 9PM the only thing I could do to get through the contractions was hum long deep hums and I didn?t open my eyes at all even when the contractions were over. They were coming between 2 and 3.5 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. I felt pressure, but thought it wasn?t enough pressure to be able to push ? considering I was only 4 cm 3 hours ago. The nurse sat with me through a few contractions and asked me if I wanted to midwife to check for progress. Yes!

9PM ? 10cm dilated!!!!!!! I said I wanted to push immediately. They let me ?bare down,? which was pushing when I felt like it, but not in the pushing position you see on TV and it wasn?t the type of pushing that would get the baby out. She had me baring down on the toilet (very uncomfortable), leaning over the sink, and then in bed in an upright sitting position. It really felt like I was trying to push out a major BM. This lasted about 40 minutes, then I was told I could start really pushing! Pushing still hurt as did the contractions, but it gave me something else to focus on. My mother and sister each held a leg ? if they weren?t there I really don?t know if I could have held them up myself ? I was exhausted. My husband was supporting my back and letting me squeeze his hand VERY hard ;-) I thought my face was going to explode from pushing so hard and when they told me to push even harder I thought they were crazy b/c there was no possible way I could push any harder than I already was. As the baby?s head was crowning the midwife had me hold it in that position for an entire length between contractions. That was difficult and talk about a ring of fire!! Once the head came out the whole rest of the body was on me within 5 seconds. After about 30 minutes of pushing Lincoln James was born at 10:10PM. He weight 6lbs, 11oz and scored a 10/10 on his apgars. I didn?t tear at all - thank goodness b/c there was no way I wanted to have anything else happen in that area!