Arden's birth story--induction turned csection (looong)
On Wednesday, January 20th, at 41w1d I was time to be induced. DH and I headed to the hospital about 4pm to have my induction started. A foley catheter was inserted to ripen my cervix overnight. Having it inserted was like having my membranes swept?like 3 times in a row.
Shortly after having the foley catheter inserted, I started having noticeable, but mild contractions. However, they mostly subsided around 10pm when we decided to try sleeping. Ear plugs were a must!
Thursday morning the foley catheter hadn?t fallen out on its own yet, so the midwife tried giving it a little tug, and it came out. It was fairly uncomfortable, but fast. They let me shower and eat breakfast before starting the pitocin about 11am.
While we waited for the pitocin to kick in, Matt and I hung out, watched a movie, and finally decided to start walking around the labor and delivery area to stretch our legs and try to get things going.
After walking for 5 or 10 minutes (after many stops at our room because the fetal and contraction monitors kept having issues), I started having increasingly strong contractions that were about 2 minutes apart. After one particularly strong one, we returned to my room about 4pm, after walking for about 30 minutes.
My mom showed up around 6pm. By then I already had to focus and breathe through contractions, while Matt rubbed my back. The midwife checked me around this time and said I was about 6cm dilated, which surprised me.
At 11pm, the midwife checked me again and said I was just under 10cm, and if I wanted she could break my water. When I hesitated (because I didn?t want to deal with more pain yet), she suggested laboring in the tub. So I moved to the tub, and had immediate relief. The contractions went from like a 7 to a 4.
After being in the tub about 30 minutes, the nurse said it was time to get out. I labored for a while more and the midwife checked me about midnight. She said my water bag was bulging, but I was still just under 10cm, and wanted to break my water to see if that would get my cervix to complete dilating. I only felt a large amount of fluid come out, which was a little strange feeling.
I labored another 4 hours through increasingly stronger contractions. My body had started shaking strongly, which the nurse said was my body just doing what it needed to do. Most of the time I would take a deep breath and try to relax and the shaking would stop, but sometimes I just let the shaking take over.
At one point I got back in the tub, but it didn?t help much. The contractions were stronger, and sometimes quite overwhelming. My mom and Matt were very encouraging and comforting. When I would have a particularly strong contraction, Matt would remind me that I was okay and praise me when I was able to relax.
At some point the nurse got out the oxygen mask, and I remember saying ?Oh no? because I knew I didn?t want to wear it?I was breathing pretty hard through contractions and sweating quite a bit, so wearing a plastic mask sounded awful. Thankfully, she said I only had to hold it close to my nose during contractions. Having control over when and where I put it helped a lot, and I found that the cool blowing air coming out of it gave me something to focus on and cooled me down slightly.
About 4am the midwife checked me again and had me do a few pushes, but I hadn?t progressed at all. Since she knew I was tired and having a harder and harder time dealing with the contractions, she suggested I get an epidural so I could rest, and my body would relax enough to finish dilating. Even though I had wanted to have as natural a birth as possible, I knew she was right.
About 20 minutes later the epidural was working. Once the anesthesiologist finished, the pain relief was nearly immediate. My legs were heavy, but I could still feel some sensation, and move my toes. The contractions didn?t hurt, I only felt some pressure/tightening with each one. The nurse suggested we all try to get a little sleep. I think we slept about an hour. I woke up to the midwife and the on-call OB waking me. My midwife explained that the baby?s heart rate had been decreasing from the 130s to the 70s with each contraction. The OB was there to check my cervix herself and determine what position the baby?s head was in and if I would be able to push soon.
The OB had me do a few pushes, and said my cervix actually went from a 9 to an 8 during a push. Because of this and the baby?s heartrate decreasing, she strongly recommended a csection. I asked some questions (I don?t remember what they were, but I wanted to make sure her reasons were sound and that the midwife supported them). They decided to put an internal monitor on the baby and watch his heartrate for a little while to see if they could determine what was causing the decrease.
I tried to rest some more, but instead I just listened to the baby?s heart beat and became increasingly concerned with each contraction. I had been listening to the 130-150 beats per minute the entire time I had been in the hospital, and then a contraction would come along and it would drop to a worrisome 70-80 beats per minute.
When the OB and the midwife came back I knew the best option for me and the baby was a csection. I had them wake my mom and Matt and explain everything to them. I felt bad to have them suddenly wake to this news, but there wasn?t really another option. I think all three of us cried, and were given a few moments to discuss the options and risks between ourselves. The nurse stayed, and answered some questions we had.
The OB and midwife returned and I agreed to the csection. They had me sign a consent form (or whatever it was) and started prepping me for surgery (shaving my abdomen, explaining things, ext) right away. They had explained that although it wasn?t a true emergency yet, they were concerned enough that although they weren?t going to run me into the OR, they would ?walk quickly.?
Before I knew it I was in the OR, having everything explained to me, surrounded by very friendly and encouraging staff. They put up the curtain and the anesthesiologist added more meds to my epidural, so I wouldn?t be able to feel anything below my ribs.
Just before they started, Matt came in and he sat at my head. During the entire procedure I felt no pain, just some tugging and occasional pressure, mostly near my stomach. Matt and I talked some while I watched the clock.
They started about 6:10am, and at 6:14am Arden Michael was born. He croaked a little, I started crying, then Matt got to peak over the curtain to see him for two seconds, and they took him to be cleaned up. After a moment we heard him cry good and strong. After another minute or so they had Matt go over to where Arden was, then Matt got to bring him over for me to see (for all of 5 seconds), before taking him to the recovery room. I noted the little mole over his right eye through my tears, and knew I would be able recognize him among 100 other babies.
The OB kept saying that I had made the right decision having the csection because the cord had been around Arden?s neck, and his head had been kinked to the side?basically wedge at my cervix?and there was no way I would have been able to push him out. She said babies are usually lower in the pelvis, but he hadn?t dropped all the way and was relatively easy to pull out.
The doctors spent another 35 or so minute finishing up the csection. About 6:50 they rolled me into the recovery room where I finally got to hold my baby. Arden weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. He scored 8 and 9 on his APGARs, and had a slightly off center cone head from having his head kinked to the side.
Post Partum (skip to bottom to see photos!)
My memory of Friday, January 22nd is rather patchy. I was so incredibly tired from the 18+ hours of labor, less than an hour of sleep in 24 hours, and going through surgery. Also I hadn?t had any food since 10am on the 21st.
While in the recovery room I got to breastfeed Arden for the first time. I don?t remember it very well, although I do remember the nurse being very helpful and friendly. I remember being so tired that holding Arden was exhausting, and after only a short time I asked Matt to take him.
After about an hour in the recovery room they wheeled me up to the maternity ward. My mom hung out for a little while, then went home to rest. My dad came by, took lots of photos and promised to send a short letter I wrote and some photos to Liam, since he is stationed in Afghanistan.
Between the labor, surgery, and all the fluids they were pumping into me, I was really swollen. I noticed it mostly in my legs and feet, but it was fairly obvious in my face too.
Throughout the day I wasn?t able to sit up much or get out of bed at all due to dizziness, which usyually led to me throwing up. The nurses said it was a side affect from the epidural, and eventually gave me some zofran to counteract the nausea. I was finally able to walk to the bathroom, with the help of a nurse, early in the evening.
The next day I was allowed to start eating solid, but very simple foods. I had a coughing fit after swallowing something wrong, which caused a very sharp pain in my incision that lasted for a couple of days. The nurse encouraged me to shower, which was painful, but refreshing. The nurses kept encouraging me to get up and walk as much as possible, so around mid day I walked to the nursery and back. I spent most of the day in bed though, since it was fairly difficult and painful to stand up and walk (because of the incision, very sore abs and back, and from the swelling).
We were in the hospital 4 days PP (spent an extra day so Arden could have his jaundice treated), each day was easier, and since being home I've felt sooo much better. Two weeks PP and I'm finally off pain meds--still taking the colace though.
1 day old:
4 days old:
15 days old:
Re: Arden's birth story--induction turned csection (looong)