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Natural Birth
(LONG) my hypnobirth, doula-assisted, 40hr labor turned NICU stay... birth story
Monday morning I had my 40wk appt where i had made no
progress, i was 0cm and 70% effaced, posterior (same as i'd been for
weeks). well that night, i started having contractions which woke me up
about 10 times throughout the night, and i had them sporadically
throughout the day Tuesday (nothing major and no pattern to them). i
ignored them thinking it was most likely just practice-contractions as
i'd been having them for weeks. Tuesday DH came home around 6pm and not
too long after i started having contractions more frequently. We decided
to time them and they were consistently 5 min apart, and about 45 sec
long. They started to pick up in intensity and i got to a point where i
couldn't rest. I ended up being up all night, in and out of the tub,
pacing the house, using the birth ball, etc. i had called my doula at
around 9pm to give her a heads up, and she came over around 7am. The
contractions really started to pick up at that point and they were
getting much more difficult for me to work through.... unfortunately
they weren't getting any more frequent than 3 min apart, but they were
getting more intense. We finally decided to go to the hospital around 6pm.
Got there at 630, and at 7 i was checked and was 4-5cm and 90% effaced
but my cervix was still really posterior. we got set up in our L/D room
and it was really great. they dimmed all the lights, lit lavender aroma
therapy, had calming music playing and i got to labor naturally. i used
the tub a few times, too which was really nice. i was getting really
tired though. Around 11pm i was checked and was only at 6cm, so i agreed
to let the mw break my water. Sometime late that night (its all a blur,
my doula took notes and will help me sort it out later for my birth
story... but i think it was around 1am) i asked to be checked because i
was feeling the urge to push. was checked again and was 8cm. at this
point, my body would involuntarily push at the end of each contraction.
what ended up happening is my cervix got swollen and when i was checked
again at 2am it was back at 6cm from being so swollen. At this point
everyone agreed that i go ahead and get an epidural so that the involuntary pushing would stop and my cervix could progress. i had been up and
in active labor for 36 hours and i was exhausted. because i hadnt had an iv
placed upon admission to the hospital, i had to get iv access and a bag
of fluid before i could get the epi. even though i had been eating and
drinking, i was still really dehydrated and it took 3 tries to get the
iv going. ive got some nasty bruises to show for it! after the epi
kicked in i was able to get some rest. i ended up needing a little bit
of pitocin because my contraction pattern was still irregular.... they
were able to keep the dose pretty low so it didn't bother me too much.
my midwife checked me at 630am and i was at 9cm, but the baby's head was
acyclitic ( it was cocked to the side instead of being chin
tucked) and she didnt think i would be able to get to 10cm with his head
that way. also even with pitocin my contraction pattern was really
irregular. she said she'd give me an hour and if i didnt make any
progress she was going to recommend a csection.
at that point, i asked for my epi to be turned down so i could try to get in some different positions to get the baby to move. i also sent out a mass text asking for prayers, and DH got in the bed with me, i laid on my side, and we talked to our baby and told him to tuck in his chin and visualized him moving down. when i was checked again at 730, i was between 9/10cm with just a lip of cervix left, but baby's head was still acyclitic. also my contraction pattern that hour was really good.this bought me a bit more time before having to get a csection. (i argued that since baby's hr was fine and i didnt have a fever -there was no rush and mw agreed) at this point my midwife had to leave to go see patients in her office, and said she would be back in a few hours. about an hour later, the epi was starting to wear off a little bit to the point that i could feel when i was having contractions. i called my nurse in because i was feeling serious pressure like the baby was coming down. she checked me and said i was 10cm and she could feel the baby's head right there. she called the midwife to come back and we started pushing around 920am. at first pushing was a challenge, because i was so used to having full sensation that the numbness from the epi was making it hard to me to feel what i was doing. i asked for the anesthesiologist to come in and turn off the epi. he wouldn't turn it off completely, but turned it down 50% which was enough for me to have full feeling with each contraction. i pushed for an hour and a half, and i seriously didnt think this kid was ever going to come out! he was born at 1050am and he looked huge! everyone was eager to find out his weight because he just looked so big! our plan was to do skin to skin and nurse right away but he ended up being taken away to the nursery team, because. he had the cord wrapped around his body, and as the midwife was untangling it, they found that he was covered in meconium. the nursery team was not prepared for a meconium birth since my fluid was clear there was no sign he had passed it (must have happened during pushing). he was taken over the nursery team and had a dingy color, and wouldnt cry. they had to call in respiratory therapy to work on him. he scored a 4 on his first APGAR and an 8 on his second. next thing i knew he was being whisked away to the nursery. i sent my husband to follow him, and my doula stayed with me. i ended up with a significant labial tear which required numerous stitches (it is torn horizontally from one side all the way into my vagina).
The baby ended up having to be transferred to another hospital for the Level III NICU as a precaution. there was a spot on his chest xray that was a questionable cyst, and his head had significant bruising that they thought could have possibly been bleed into his skull. since i work at the hospital i delivered at, i was able to pull some strings and get myself transferred later that day. luckily the next day, the swelling went down in his head and the repeat xray was negative, so he had no significant issues. they kept him to complete a round of IV Antibiotics because he had aspirated so much meconium, and then had to start him on feeds since he was on only iv fluids for the first 36 hours. unfortunately, because they needed to measure his intake, we had to supplement w/formula because i wasnt pumping out enough (since my milk hadnt come in yet). we also learned that he has a long frenulum (tongue-tied) so its affecting his latching.
i was discharged on sat, and was told the baby would be cleared to go home sun, so i was allowed to "nest in" and that night we got to have the baby in the room with us.
we got home last night (sun) and are now exlusively BFing (along with some pumping... but no more formula).
we are seeing the pedi today to hopefully have his frenulum snipped and then making another appt with the LC to get his latch corrected.
oh you probably want to see a pic of my handsome man, dont you?
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Re: (LONG) my hypnobirth, doula-assisted, 40hr labor turned NICU stay... birth story
Matthew Kevin
7/31/83-7/20/11
Met 1/8/00
Engaged 4/21/06
Married 9/29/07
Two beautiful legacies: Noah Matthew (2 yrs) and Chloe Marcella (8 mos)
Day Three
BFP#2: EDD 2/11/14, MMC confirmed 7/15/13 (growth stopped at 6 weeks), D&C @ 12 weeks 7/25/13
oh yeah! he was 8lb 3oz 21" long (he's down to 7lb14oz now)
here's a pic of him today at the pedi's office.
we got his frenulum fixed and he;s nursing like a champ now!
And you really are a champ.