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XP: 8 days in the hospital and 2 days of induction; the bad, the ugly and the reward
MarriedBestFriends
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Here is my birthstory from yesterday- I wanted to be sure to remember it. This is not a wonderful, happy labor, and although I am a very unique case (see next paragraph re: pPROM), I write this to let you know what can happen--although I hope that all of your births are exactly as you've planned them!! 
??Quick background: I woke up on Sunday, 3/15, at 34w4d with pPROM. I was shocked. I was put on hospital bedrest, antibiotic IV, the works, and they expected me to go into labor soon and prepared me for a 34 weeker. Well, my body never quite picked up on the whole "we should get the baby out part." So, sparing you a ton of the details of the week in a hospital prison cell (never outside, sleeping on a labor bed in sheer pain with my hips, woken-up every night for vitals, IVs, ?etc.) here is what happened from Saturday morning on, when I spoke to an OB about the chances of infection from having been ruptured for so long and they agreed, along with my MW, to start the induction process at 35w3d:?I was so nervous to start the induction-- I never wanted a pitocin induction, and my plan was to gomed-free in a lovely water tub birth. I had to accept when my water broke earlythat my birth plan was shot,??butthis was so far from what I had imagined! They hadn?t checked me my whole stayto avoid infection, so the MW finally did to determine if I started on pit orcervadil on Saturday, around 12. The IV was the second one I'd received while in the hospital, and if you've never had one, I want to warn you that if you're sensitive like me you might swear like I did. They are awful- just awful.???I was about 1.5, 60% and-3. She said it was borderline but to start the pit. I labored for over 8 hourswith the pit and no drugs. It was awful but I was so proud of myself; Ibreathed through each contraction (which were so strong very soon into the process-- I felt like I was being squeezed with iron chains) and whenthey stopped it at 9 PM to check me and declared me 1.5, 60% and -2 I was sofrustrated and heartbroken. I was also scared out of my mind because I feltlike they were going to give up there and give me a c-section. But, I am at an amazing hospital that has a very low (~11%) c-section rate and they often take 2-3 days for inductions. ?They justwanted to wait until I was done contracting to insert the cervadil for thenight, for fear that it would send me into back-to-back, counterproductivecontrax, so we didn?t insert it until 2:00 AM (meanwhile I continued to havecontrax every 2-3 minutes that were not slowing down). The cervadil insertionsucked, but after laboring all day on pit it didn?t feel too bad. It did driveme into contractions that were just as strong as the pit, but longer. I dealtwith it all night. They kept offering me morphine but I declined. That scared me, for some reason. ?The next morning t 10 they checked and I was 2, 90% and -1.They said that was exactly what I needed to have the pit be successful. I didnot believe them.??I thought Iwould do it all over again and not go anywhere. I was crying and screaming to H that I couldn't do it anymore.??I took a shower, contracting every 2 or so minutes very, very painfully, and they started me on a ?high-dose? pit, which at this hospital isstill relatively conservative but starts things with a bang. After 1 hour of contractionsthat made me grip the side of the bed and think to myself ?Well, it can?t getany worse!? I asked for an epi. I had been laboring for 23 hours without anydrugs, and after being in the hospital with no sleep for 7 nights previously Ijust couldn?t do it anymore. They agreed, and the anesthesiologist came in.I am still not sure on my decision to get the epi. All of myfriends call them so magical, but mine was not. The first needle made me screamas the Novocain felt like it was literally going into my spine. Then I did feelthe actual epi needle, and the Dr. was just astounded by my sensitivity. Mypain receptors were so heightened,?that I wasn?t surprised, but it was not fun. Immediately my left footwent to sleep. In fact, the medicine worked more on my left side the entiretime. They kept flipping me to try to prevent that but while my right side wasperfect- I couldn?t feel pain but could move it, etc., my left-side felt like someonehad shot the entire thing with buckets of Novocain. It was so asleep andanytime somebody touched my foot I started to scream; it felt like when yourfoot is very asleep and you try to step on it--you know the feeling. My MW checked me 2 hours laterand I was at a 5. I was shocked, but while I could feel the contrax still alittle bit (every minute so they were turning the pit down to try to stop that)she put it an internal monitor to measure them. Meanwhile my BP dropped and Ihad to have oxygen and a shot of some kind of boost in my IV. I was soscared and hated the Epi.???After about 75minutes or so more I began to feel the contractions in a painful way. The nurse wasjust shocked at my experience and as we were trying to up the epi with myvoluntary bolus button, another nurse came in and said that my MW would like toput an internal monitor on the baby as its heart rate was steady but notaccelerating at all. I asked if we had to and the MW said yes. She came in toinsert it- lifted my sheet and said ?You?re ready to go!??Suddenly there were other people in the room- the neonatalnurse practitioner and an additional nurse due to the baby?s gestation. And Iwas told to hold my legs back (with H and the labor nurse? help) and push. Ittook me a few contrax to figure out how to push, and on the 16th?one(about 30 minutes) there was a huge ?POP!? and out came baby?s head. Absolutely zero, and I mean, zero, pain through the whole pushing process. That epi was strong. No ring of fire! The cordwas wrapped so tightly that I heard my MW say to H ?Dad, I need to cut this-sorry,? and she cut it right there.?I pushed one more time, slowly with her, and then she held up a baby!I was so astounded by the fact that there was a real baby atthe end that it took the MW to ask ?Now, What do we have here?? I was convincedsince I conceived that it was a boy. In fact, I had convinced everyone else ofthe same and throughout labor everyone said that it was a boy based on theheartbeat! When she said ?it?s a girl? I about died. I could not believe it.She was put on my chest for a minute and then the neonatal NP took her. She wasscreaming right away, APGARs of 7 and 8- which for a pre-term baby is awesome.They wrapped her up and I got to hold her for a few minutes before H followedher to the special care nursery where she might get to come home tomorrow with me, I just learned!!! ?She was born at 35w4d and exactly 1 month before her EDD.It?s very hard to have her there, but I am so grateful thatsomeone is watching her in a way that we can?t. She already breastfed a bit,which is awesome, and everything looks good except her BP is a bit low- butthen again, I told them mine is always low (it was 90/60 sometimes in labor!)so maybe she?s mine.?JShe was 5 lbs. 5. Oz, 17 inches long and has red-hair likeme.??I had a first-degree tear,probably from the head popping. My right thigh has been extremely numb sincethe epi and I was worried last night about nerve damage but it?s actuallybetter (not totally) this morning. This could be from pulling my legs back toofar when I couldn?t feel them while pushing- please be aware of that!! I alsowas able to pee and take a BM without much pain- I highly suggest the stoolsoftener! Thanks to everyone who always recommended it.So there you go. My daughter is amazing and her birth wasprobably the antithesis of what I planned. I write this to let you know that while yours might be too (and I hope for all of you it's exactly what you imagined, of course!), and while you might cry in frustration as many times as Idid during the last week+, just know that there is a reward. I forgot thatsometimes, and I?m so very happy now. Also, be an advocate for yourself! Iconfirmed with a nurse who used to work at a different hospital in the areathat most would have given me a c-section that first night. I am so gratefulthat that didn?t happen- and if they had pushed it I would have asked myalternatives...you know your body.??
??Quick background: I woke up on Sunday, 3/15, at 34w4d with pPROM. I was shocked. I was put on hospital bedrest, antibiotic IV, the works, and they expected me to go into labor soon and prepared me for a 34 weeker. Well, my body never quite picked up on the whole "we should get the baby out part." So, sparing you a ton of the details of the week in a hospital prison cell (never outside, sleeping on a labor bed in sheer pain with my hips, woken-up every night for vitals, IVs, ?etc.) here is what happened from Saturday morning on, when I spoke to an OB about the chances of infection from having been ruptured for so long and they agreed, along with my MW, to start the induction process at 35w3d:?I was so nervous to start the induction-- I never wanted a pitocin induction, and my plan was to gomed-free in a lovely water tub birth. I had to accept when my water broke earlythat my birth plan was shot,??butthis was so far from what I had imagined! They hadn?t checked me my whole stayto avoid infection, so the MW finally did to determine if I started on pit orcervadil on Saturday, around 12. The IV was the second one I'd received while in the hospital, and if you've never had one, I want to warn you that if you're sensitive like me you might swear like I did. They are awful- just awful.???I was about 1.5, 60% and-3. She said it was borderline but to start the pit. I labored for over 8 hourswith the pit and no drugs. It was awful but I was so proud of myself; Ibreathed through each contraction (which were so strong very soon into the process-- I felt like I was being squeezed with iron chains) and whenthey stopped it at 9 PM to check me and declared me 1.5, 60% and -2 I was sofrustrated and heartbroken. I was also scared out of my mind because I feltlike they were going to give up there and give me a c-section. But, I am at an amazing hospital that has a very low (~11%) c-section rate and they often take 2-3 days for inductions. ?They justwanted to wait until I was done contracting to insert the cervadil for thenight, for fear that it would send me into back-to-back, counterproductivecontrax, so we didn?t insert it until 2:00 AM (meanwhile I continued to havecontrax every 2-3 minutes that were not slowing down). The cervadil insertionsucked, but after laboring all day on pit it didn?t feel too bad. It did driveme into contractions that were just as strong as the pit, but longer. I dealtwith it all night. They kept offering me morphine but I declined. That scared me, for some reason. ?The next morning t 10 they checked and I was 2, 90% and -1.They said that was exactly what I needed to have the pit be successful. I didnot believe them.??I thought Iwould do it all over again and not go anywhere. I was crying and screaming to H that I couldn't do it anymore.??I took a shower, contracting every 2 or so minutes very, very painfully, and they started me on a ?high-dose? pit, which at this hospital isstill relatively conservative but starts things with a bang. After 1 hour of contractionsthat made me grip the side of the bed and think to myself ?Well, it can?t getany worse!? I asked for an epi. I had been laboring for 23 hours without anydrugs, and after being in the hospital with no sleep for 7 nights previously Ijust couldn?t do it anymore. They agreed, and the anesthesiologist came in.I am still not sure on my decision to get the epi. All of myfriends call them so magical, but mine was not. The first needle made me screamas the Novocain felt like it was literally going into my spine. Then I did feelthe actual epi needle, and the Dr. was just astounded by my sensitivity. Mypain receptors were so heightened,?that I wasn?t surprised, but it was not fun. Immediately my left footwent to sleep. In fact, the medicine worked more on my left side the entiretime. They kept flipping me to try to prevent that but while my right side wasperfect- I couldn?t feel pain but could move it, etc., my left-side felt like someonehad shot the entire thing with buckets of Novocain. It was so asleep andanytime somebody touched my foot I started to scream; it felt like when yourfoot is very asleep and you try to step on it--you know the feeling. My MW checked me 2 hours laterand I was at a 5. I was shocked, but while I could feel the contrax still alittle bit (every minute so they were turning the pit down to try to stop that)she put it an internal monitor to measure them. Meanwhile my BP dropped and Ihad to have oxygen and a shot of some kind of boost in my IV. I was soscared and hated the Epi.???After about 75minutes or so more I began to feel the contractions in a painful way. The nurse wasjust shocked at my experience and as we were trying to up the epi with myvoluntary bolus button, another nurse came in and said that my MW would like toput an internal monitor on the baby as its heart rate was steady but notaccelerating at all. I asked if we had to and the MW said yes. She came in toinsert it- lifted my sheet and said ?You?re ready to go!??Suddenly there were other people in the room- the neonatalnurse practitioner and an additional nurse due to the baby?s gestation. And Iwas told to hold my legs back (with H and the labor nurse? help) and push. Ittook me a few contrax to figure out how to push, and on the 16th?one(about 30 minutes) there was a huge ?POP!? and out came baby?s head. Absolutely zero, and I mean, zero, pain through the whole pushing process. That epi was strong. No ring of fire! The cordwas wrapped so tightly that I heard my MW say to H ?Dad, I need to cut this-sorry,? and she cut it right there.?I pushed one more time, slowly with her, and then she held up a baby!I was so astounded by the fact that there was a real baby atthe end that it took the MW to ask ?Now, What do we have here?? I was convincedsince I conceived that it was a boy. In fact, I had convinced everyone else ofthe same and throughout labor everyone said that it was a boy based on theheartbeat! When she said ?it?s a girl? I about died. I could not believe it.She was put on my chest for a minute and then the neonatal NP took her. She wasscreaming right away, APGARs of 7 and 8- which for a pre-term baby is awesome.They wrapped her up and I got to hold her for a few minutes before H followedher to the special care nursery where she might get to come home tomorrow with me, I just learned!!! ?She was born at 35w4d and exactly 1 month before her EDD.It?s very hard to have her there, but I am so grateful thatsomeone is watching her in a way that we can?t. She already breastfed a bit,which is awesome, and everything looks good except her BP is a bit low- butthen again, I told them mine is always low (it was 90/60 sometimes in labor!)so maybe she?s mine.?JShe was 5 lbs. 5. Oz, 17 inches long and has red-hair likeme.??I had a first-degree tear,probably from the head popping. My right thigh has been extremely numb sincethe epi and I was worried last night about nerve damage but it?s actuallybetter (not totally) this morning. This could be from pulling my legs back toofar when I couldn?t feel them while pushing- please be aware of that!! I alsowas able to pee and take a BM without much pain- I highly suggest the stoolsoftener! Thanks to everyone who always recommended it.So there you go. My daughter is amazing and her birth wasprobably the antithesis of what I planned. I write this to let you know that while yours might be too (and I hope for all of you it's exactly what you imagined, of course!), and while you might cry in frustration as many times as Idid during the last week+, just know that there is a reward. I forgot thatsometimes, and I?m so very happy now. Also, be an advocate for yourself! Iconfirmed with a nurse who used to work at a different hospital in the areathat most would have given me a c-section that first night. I am so gratefulthat that didn?t happen- and if they had pushed it I would have asked myalternatives...you know your body.?? This discussion has been closed.
Re: XP: 8 days in the hospital and 2 days of induction; the bad, the ugly and the reward
Proud Mama to Mickey (12.03.09) and Nemo (06.06.13)