Community› The Bump Local Boards› North Dakota Babies
North Dakota Babies
New Discussion

Hi! + Birth Story

Mrs_B_Sept08Mrs_B_Sept08
in North Dakota Babies

Hi girls! Sorry I've been MIA for a while, but Ash has kept you posted on my whereabouts :-)

First of all, Sam and I were released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon, and we have been adjusting to our new "everyday" life. Now Sam is born, Lars has Fridays off, which is really nice.

As for my birth story....please read on, unfortunately after a WONDERFUL pregnancy, I had nothing going according to plan when labor started.

First things first. My membranes we stripped on Monday 24 May. I was 75% effaced and 2cm dilated. Nothing really happened that day, night or even in the early hours of the next morning. On Tuesday 25 May, Lars went to work. Around 8am my water broke, but since it can take up to 24hrs to start labor, I didn't call him right away. My mom came by and we tried to have breakfast, but at 9am I already noticed some contractions, so I never finished breakfast.

I called the midwife, said I thought my water broke and wanted to know what to do next. So, as per her advice, I started timing the contractions. I was supposed to call when I had 60 sec contractions every 5 minutes for an hour. Once timing them, I noticed they were coming already every 2-3 minutes, so I called Lars and then called the midwife again. Lars was home at 11.15 and the midwife followed at 11.30 at which point my mom went home.

The midwife checked my uterus and I was already 6cm dilated! We went to the hospital, and things kept progressing very fast. By 1.15pm I was 7-8cm dilated. And then the progress stopped. I had strong contractions and after 2hrs of huffing and puffing, they put me under a hot shower to see whether that would speed things up. After being under the shower for an hour, the checked me again, and I was still at 7-8cm. My midwife called in the hospital midwife to see what they could do for me. She put me on the CTG monitor and since there was still no progress by 16.30 they called in the hospital gynecologist. He was a bit worried about me being so hot and checked my temperature, I had a 102.5 fever!

Then they put electrodes on Sams head to check his heartbeat more accurately. They also scratched his head to check his blood for any signs of infection. (Everything while he was still in the womb). The gynecologist asked me to push with the contractions, even though I wasn't fully dilated. If Sam was to drop a bit further, he could try and deliver him with the "vacuum pump". However after 40 minutes there was still no progress. He decided at 5.15pm for me to have an emergency c-section b/c the baby just wasn't coming out. Due to my fever, the baby's heartbeat was continuously high (160-180bpm).

At 17.30 I was in the OR and around 5.45pm they gave me the epidural! OMG, that felt like heaven, I had push-contractions all the way into the OR, so pain relief was really welcome at that point. Lars came into the OR and at 6.02pm Sam Johannes Wilhelmus was born.

He only had an APGAR of 6 the first time, but the second and 3rd were 8 and 9 so he recovered quickly. After the pedi checked him out, they brought him into the OR and placed him on my shoulder for about 2 minutes, then he was transported to neonatals. Lars never left his side, and only came to see me after 2,5hrs when I was well enough to leave the recovery room. They took me up to see Sam, and he was just perfect. Sam weighed 7.7lbs and measured 20.5inches at birth!

Unfortunately, they diagnosed me and Sam with the Streptococ Group B bacteria and we had to stay in the hospital for 7 days. Sam got his AB through and IV and I had AB 48hrs via and IV and 5 days through pills.

On top of that, I'm not able to breastfeed Sam. After 7 days of intense trying to get my production started (5 of which pumping after every feed and 2 days of pumping every 2 hrs) it stalled at 10cc per feed....So, after talking to nurses and a breastfeeding professional, we decided it just wasn't going to happen. I probably didn't make enough milkduds during the pregnancy, thats why my production is so low.

Now for the good news! Sam and I were released from the hospital last Tuesday and he's doing very well on the formula. He rarely cries, only when hungry or crampy and lets us sleep for a good 3,5 hrs between every feed, even during the night! He's just such a pretty, healthy and happy baby. I couldn't ask for more. He's more than worth all the stuff we've been through the last 11 days. Now, we can finally just start to enjoy our family life!

Love Hanneke, Lars & Sam

Report Reply to Post

Re: Hi! + Birth Story

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"