Arden's Birth Story - LONG

anvloveskme · July 2010

Hi Oregon ladies - I posted this on 3rd tri and 0-3, but wanted to let you all know that Arden arrived on July 4, 2010 (39 w 3 d), at 8:32 pm via unplanned c section. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 18.5 inches long.

My birth story:

At around 1:30 am on the 4th of July, I made my way to the bathroom (like clockwork, for the past month I had been going every night around 2 am and 5 am). Got back into bed and was almost back to sleep when at 1:57 am, I felt a sort of rupture in the middle of my tummy, going downward toward my belly button and then I heard a pop and felt a gush of fluid. I sort of hobbled out of bed into the bathroom, water running down my legs and I was sure my water had broken. I sat on the toilet for a few minutes to see if I could stop the flow and I couldn't so I was sure - it was kind of a lot of water, more than I had expected (luckily DH and I had put some towels down under the sheets a week or so earlier, just in case). I don't think any even ended up on the bed, most was caught by my underwear and I made it into our master bath very quickly.

I wrapped a towel around my waist and woke up DH to tell him it was time. I wasn't contracting at all at that time. We went downstairs to call L&D and let them know what happened - they told me to go ahead and come in. I asked if it was ok to shower and take some time at home before coming in and they said it was ok, but not to delay too long. We had our hospital bag pretty much packed, so I hopped in the shower and DH got the car and all of our supplies ready (he was scared to leave me in the shower alone, but I convinced him I would be fine - I thought it was so cute). We got dressed, took a towel with us for the car b/c I continued to leak amniotic fluid, and hit the road. The hospital ride took about 20 minutes (Kaiser Sunnyside) and I started having what felt like very minor period cramps. Once we got to the hospital, I was monitored and told those minor cramps were actually contractions - I had no idea that is how they would feel. The nurse checked me and told me I was dilated to 3 and 90% effaced, and a MW checked to confirmed my water had broken so they checked us in to our labor room around 4 am.

Contractions were still coming but very manageable. DH and I labored for a while in the room and were doing well. Our first nurse was a male nurse named Paul - it freaked me out at first to have a male nurse, but he was phenomenal - by far my favorite nurse that we dealt with. Around 9 am I was starting to feel much more uncomfortable, so I got into the soaking tub at the hospital and it felt pretty good. I stayed in for almost an hour and at that point the pain was getting worse. I had a difficult time making it back to my room and DH and I had to stop several times due to painful contractions. Once back to the room, I was checked by the MW and told I was dilated to 5 and 100% effaced. I was in a lot of pain by then and requested the epidural. The anesthieiologist came in around 10:30 am and administered the epi - it was much less painful than the contractions, only felt like a little pin prick and some pressure. I had almost immediate relief and surprisingly, still a decent amount of mobility in my legs. The epi was great and I felt complete relief and rested comfortably for about 2 hours.

Around 1 pm, the MW came to check me again and I was dilated to 9 cm and ready to go, she told us to call her whenever we felt ready to push. By that time, my nurse Paul had ended his shift and we had a new nurse with us. At around 3:15 pm, I began feeling the urge to push, so we started and did well for a while. After about 2 hours, my contractions had become irregular and I wasn't making much progress so the MW recommended we start some pitocen to get things recharged and hopefully Arden on her way. I agreed. Once the pitocen started, contractions became very strong and we started pushing aggressively. While I won't say I felt "pain" the pressure was tremendous and I could definitely tell when the contractions were there and was able to push with them - I continued to push, having contractions about 2 - 3 minutes apart. After another hour had gone by, I had been pushing 3 hours and only making very minor progress despite working very hard. Baby was not in any distress and so we kept pushing. Around that time, I started to run a fever (100.3) so they decided to administer some antibiotics in case there was an infection starting in my uterus. I pushed for another hour, baby still not in distress, but my fever had gone up to 100.7 and we were still not making significant progress, I could barely see her head just starting to peek though on very hard pushes.

At that point, the MW said she had conferred with the MD on duty, and we needed to think about our options since I had been pushing for 4 hours and my water had been broken nearly 17 hours at that point. The MD came in and spoke with DH and I about attempting a vacuum extraction and/or a c section - I was absolutely opposed to the extraction and very upset about the prospect of a c section after laboring well and pushing for so long. The MD said we could push for another half hour and think about it, but she thought we should make a decision by then. About a half hour later, I was too exhausted to continue. I felt totally defeated and couldn't stop crying. I had pushed for 5 hours and my water had been broken for 18 hours and we went with the MD's recommendation to move forward with a c section.

Within about 30 minutes, they had me in the OR. I couldn't even open my eyes by then because I was so drained. DH was at my side and we were working with the same doc that administered the epi earlier - he was great and stayed up by my head and explained the whole process. Within about 10 more minutes she was out and I could hear her, she was born at 8:32 pm- DH was with the nurse and I could see everything off to my right side - them cutting the cord, clearing her airways, etc. They brought her to me and I snuggled her little face as best I could. She was breathtaking and I couldn't stop crying. They had things done down below and me stiched up within about 15 more minutes and we were taken down to recovery. Arden rode down on my chest, skin to skin and it was amazing. She was breastfeeding with the assistance of a nurse within an hour of birth which made me so happy b/c that was very important to me.

Most of everything else was a blur, we got into our post partum room around 11:30 pm and the nurses were great. DH and I were so tired we could barely move. My fever had subsided but they kept me on antibiotics as a precaution. By the next day around noon, they took out my cath and I was able to move around on my own. We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday July 7th around 2pm. We have been home for three nights now and things have been going well, but we are of course sleep deprived. We have had two Dr appts in the past two days - one because of her jaundice and some weight loss, she lost about 8% of her body weight (down to 5 lbs 11 oz) by the time we left the hospital and was borderline high jaundice numbers. They wanted us to try to supplement with formula but she only took it once and was latching and eating very well. At our appt her levels were checked and she was back down to low jaundice levels and had gained back 3 oz (5lbs 14 oz). Yesterday we had our mother baby appointment and she was up another 1.5 oz (5 lbs 15.5 oz) and looking good.

We are so happy and madly in love with our little Arden!

) Amy

Rochelle&Matt · July 2010

Congats! I love reading birth stories. it gives me chills when you explain seeing her for the first time. Sounds like you were a total trooper throughout labor. She looks perfect! Post new pictures often, please! They really do grow so much from week to week!