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3rd Trimester
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(Finally) Had our baby! PIP and loooong birth story
Gage Gregory was born on Thursday June 24th at 8:11pm
8lb11oz, 21 inches long
My birth story:
We went in for a 42 week induction Wednesday evening, just cervidil to start with. I was 2cm to start with, 75% effaced and -3 station. Baby's failure to drop into the pelvis had been the issue with me going into labor on my own (no pressure on my cervix) and he was also a little crooked. But we were still hoping for a vaginal delivery and that he's get into place once things got going.
To my extreme relief, I started having contractions shortly after the cervidil was inserted. I asked for something to help with the pain so I could still get some rest that night, and had a very drunken-like sleep on Stadol for about 2 hours. The next morning, i got up to shower and to my extreme relief my water broke on its own and I immediately had bloody show. My midwife came by shortly after and I was thrilled to find I had dilated overnight to a 4 and was now 90% effaced and -1 station. It looked like I was going to be able to have a natural, vaginal birth after all!
My doula arrived soon to help me through the contractions. She was absolutely the best money I could have ever spent. There is NO way I could have done it without her! I had a pretty easy time laboring with her assistance, putting pressure on my shoulders and back as needed and helping me relax and kind of 'sink in' to the contractions.
It only took about 3-4 hours to get to 7cm, however I was still 90% and -1. After this labor started to get a lot more difficult. The pain because intense and it started to cross my mind to ask for an epidural, so I knew I was in transition.
We kept up this difficult labor for about 2 hours, and moved fromt he birthing ball to leaning over the bed. At the end of 2 hours my MW came back to check me again. To my utter disappointment, I had made no progress at all. I told my doula I didn't think I could do it any more and I might need an epidural. She told me not to give up until we'd tried everything, so I got in the shower and I put the hot water sprayer right on my belly (I felt the pain in the front, not the back like some girls do). My doula encouraged me to do "ah breaths" (basically very long and loud exhaling UHHHHH!s during the pain) and to visualize the baby sinking into my cervix. My midwife encouraged me to embrace the pain and even try to make the contractions more intense and more productive. After about an hour in the shower, I filled up the tub and moved there to just try to pass the time until I could be checked again. It was a brutal hour. The contractions were incredibly painful and almost on top of each other, lasting a good 2-3 minutes with only 20-30 seconds break in between.
Finally it was time to be checked again. And I was devastated to find out absolutely no progress had been made at all over the last 4 hours of what I thought was transition. I told my doula I really couldn't do it any more and needed the epidural if I was going to continue. She agreed at this point, but told me she was skeptical that it would help me progress because usually the reason women progress after the epi is because they are tensing up during contractions - but according to her I was relaxing perfectly with each one. Regardless, I'd hit my wall to where I could no longer see any pros of going pain med free, and getting some pain relief was the next step.
So at this point I was got the full hospital ride, having to get hooked up for continuous monitoring and a full bag of IV fluids before I could get the epi. The entire day I'd been really annoyed with the intermittent monitoring of the baby and it was the one part of my labor experience that I truly hated. I didn't find the L&D nurses helpful in any way, only a pure annoyance. But anyways, I finally got the epidural and almost immediately the pain was gone. However I got very cold and a little shakey and I felt like all my appendages were numb and asleep. So while it was great to be rid of the pain, I still didn't feel comfortable by any means.
After about an hour my MW came back to check me again. No progress, and actually my cervix was starting to swell. Not good. My labor had also slown down from the epidural, and the baby's heart rate wasn't as great as it was prior either. The on call OB said the next step was pitocin to see if strengthening the contractions would help things any more. However at this point I was resigned to the fact that something was preventing the baby from dropping and I was going to need a c-section. At my last ultrasound the tech had suspected there might be a short cord keeping him from dropping. I told the doctor what I thought and she agreed with me, that she did not expect Pit to work. However there was no reason to not at least give it a shot just in case, even though it was a long shot.
So I got some Pitocin, and the baby didn't tolerate it very well and his heart started deceling more during contractions. We only let it go about 20 minutes before the OB recommended we go to c-section. I immediately agreed. It was of course a huge diappointment to go from a plan with a 100% natural birth, have it taken away, then given back, and then taken away again. But at this point I couldn't have cared less. All I wanted was my baby out safely.
So at this point I had to get more drugs and I got the shakes BAD. My entire body was practically convulsing from the spinal. I was freezing and had my jaw and shoulders completely clenched up just trying to keep myself still - but it was impossible. So I was pretty much miserable and couldn't even think about my baby or get excited at all because I was such a mess from the drugs.
So finally after the prep work was done (about 30 minutes) the procedure began. I think it took about 10 minutes to get the baby out but it felt like an eternity. My husband was extremely scared by the way I was shaking but when he heard our baby's cry he immediately started crying too and went over to meet his son. I couldn't go (obviously) as I had about an hour more on the table to be stitched back up. I could see our baby getting bathed across the room, however I couldn't focus on him because I was still shaking so badly. My doula stayed with me and rubbed my shoulders to try to get me to relax and my husband went back and fort between me and our son.
I think I passed out or dozed off a little bit, and when I woke up the procedure was done and I wasn't shaking any more - thank god. I was still really out of it though - kinda woozy like I was drunk, seeing double and slurring my words. They brought the baby to me to breastfeed and he was just gorgeous, but I needed help holding him as I was so out of it I didn't trust myself. By this time he'd had lots of screenings done, the eye drops in his eyes (something I'd asked to have delayed until our feeding/bonding time), etc. But with the c-section my entire postpartum plan also went out the window. A nurse was checking me out and turns out I was running a fever and my blood pressure had plummeted. The nurse asked us to stop breastfeeding so she could give me fluids and antibiotics to get me back in shape. I was a little scared at this point and my husband was a lot scared. Our parents were all out in the lobby and I told him to go and tell them everything was okay and their grandson was here. We'd been back in the OR for probably 2.5 hours and I knew they must be freaking out.
So finally my blood pressure recovered enough that I was starting to feel somewhat normal again and they moved us to a postpartum room. I had to be hooked up to all kinds of machines for fluids, blood pressure, these things on your legs that stimulate the circulation, more spinal meds, etc. Our baby was fast asleep and I was hoping for some good sleep myself (as I only had gotten 2 hours the night before and had been through quite an ordeal that day), however the nurses were in and out of our room checking me and the baby probably every 30 minutes. Necessary, but extremely frustrating.
By the next morning I was tons better. Baby was looking good too. By midday we'd gotten rid of most of the machines and the leg wraps. And by the evening I was unhooked to everything and able to walk around. By night #2 baby and I were back to 100% (other than the soreness in my belly of course) and we all got a lot of rest. Tonight is night #3 and we're all doing great. Baby is a great sleeper and nurser (it was slow going the first day, but he finally go the hang of it at about 2am on day 2 and once he got the hang of it - he got it!)
So back to the reason why baby wasn't dropping. My midwife came yesterday with a model pelvis and fetus to show us that he was in "brow presentation" - meaning forehead first. According to her, it is pretty much impossible to have vaginal birth with a baby in this position. She said delivering breech is actually much easier. He was crammed into my pelvis with his head tilted all the way back almost 90%, and they couldn't even pull him out of my belly without doing some maneuvering. He had lots of nicks and bruises on his forehead because he was basically getting rammed against a pelvic bone for the entire labor.He nose is also slightly smushed to one side which I wouldn't expect of a c-section baby, but it just indicates how he was crammed in there in such an awkward position.
So as much as I wanted a natural birth, it turns out I really was one of those cases where a c-section was absolutely necessary. I am glad I had the experience of labor, and with kid #2 as long as he's positioned normally I think pushing him out will be a piece of cake compared to this one!
And here's the pic of our beautiful son! Hope you all have much smoother L&Ds than I did! Everyone was right, in the only thing that matters is my and my son's health and safe arrival! I never knew I could feel this kind of joy! Hang in there girls - it is soooo worth it!
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Re: (Finally) Had our baby! PIP and loooong birth story
Fun with Santa!
Tara! Congrats on your pregnancy! I certainly hope your L&D go more smoothly than mine did!
Thanks! I have 6 weeks left - we'll see how it goes.
Btw, Gage is our name too!
Fun with Santa!
Congrats! Look at those big eyes! Adorable.
We delievered within 15 minutes of each other!
How are you feeling now?
I'm going to have to get caught up on all the births!
I'm feeling really good. Sore and it's hard to get out of bed, but otherwise completely normal.