my *almost* med-free birth story - very long
snowybride08
member
On Thursday, March 24th, I went in for a non-stress test to see how the baby was doing. At this point, I was at 41 weeks 2 days. She passed the test with flying colors, but the midwife set me up for an induction, because they didn?t want me going past 42 weeks. She asked me when I wanted to do it, and at that point I was so uncomfortable that I just wanted to get it over with and asked to go in on Friday. She checked with the hospital and they did have space available for me that day. She told me to call in between 6:00 and 7:00 the next morning to see what time to come in.
On Friday morning, DH and I got up at 6:30 and I called in. Based on what the midwife had told me the day before, I figured we?d be asked to come in at about 8:00 or so. The woman I talked to told us to come in right away if we didn?t want to have to call and reschedule. We immediately jumped into the shower and got ready to go as fast as possible. We got there about 7:30 or so and started the paperwork.
We got up to labor and delivery at 8:00 or so and they got things going. The nurse hooked me up to monitors and they monitored the baby for about a half hour before giving me the cytotec to get labor started. After receiving the pill, they monitored the baby and contractions for another hour or so. After that, I got some breakfast and then we were told to walk around for a while. Before we left to walk around, my midwife came in and told us the plan for the day. She told me they?d probably break my water around 2:30, so I called my doula and told her what the plan was.
We walked around for about an hour or so, then we came back and I was hooked up to monitors again. I was having too many contractions, so they couldn?t give me another cytotec until things calmed down a little bit. That probably took about an hour or so, then the nurse gave me another pill. I had to stay hooked up to the monitors for an hour longer, then we were told to walk around again. My doula showed up at that point and we let her know what was going on. We walked around for a while and DH got himself some lunch. When we came back from walking, my lunch had made its way into the room.
I got hooked back up to the monitors and had to sit for quite a while because I was contracting too much again. I thought this was kind of interesting, because it didn?t hurt much at all. Finally things slowed down and they gave me the last dose of cytotec. We did the monitor and walk around thing again after that.
When we got back, the midwife came in to break my water at about 6:00. It was totally gross, and leaked everywhere all over the bed. The nurse gave me a pair of mesh underwear and a huge pad to put on so I could walk around. DH, my doula and I walked around the labor and delivery floor. Almost immediately after beginning to walk, I started having pretty serious contractions. It was so much more painful than what had been happening before my water was broken. The contractions were happening every minute or two, and I didn?t feel like I was getting any kind of break between them.
We walked back to the room when I didn?t feel like I could take it anymore. We were in a room not made for delivery; mostly they?re just used for inductions and stuff like that. They were getting a room for me in one of the labor and delivery wings, but it was taking forever. We just moved around the room trying to find comfortable positions for me to labor in. It became increasingly difficult, and I was having a hard time breathing through the pain. At one point, our nurse came in and told me it was shift change and she was going home. A new nurse came in and had me sign some paper related to shots for the baby, and all I wanted to do was stab her in the eye with the pen. I couldn?t believe she was asking me to sign paperwork at that point.
Finally they had a room ready for me, and they took me over in a wheelchair, because I didn?t think I?d be able to make it over there walking. Immediately after I got to the room, I got in the tub. It was so much better to be sitting in the tub, and the contractions didn?t seem quite so bad. I started feeling really sick, and I eventually threw up whatever I had eaten at lunch. At that point it was probably about 10:00 or 11:00. I tried to get out of the tub once and couldn?t do it because my legs were so shaky and I was afraid that I wouldn?t be able to handle the contractions once I got out. I eventually got out, and decided that I couldn?t take the pain anymore.
I had it in my birth plan that I didn?t want anyone to offer me pain meds. I actually had to say explicitly that I wanted some relief from the pain. My midwife came in and asked if I wanted to try some IV pain meds. That sounded perfect to me, because I wouldn?t have to get an epidural but I would get an opportunity to rest between the contractions. It felt like it took forever for them to get in with the meds, but it probably didn?t take longer than 10 minutes or so. It was almost instantly better. I got to lie on my side and close my eyes and I could breathe through the contractions again.
Not too long after that point I felt like it was time to push. The nurse came in to check me and said I could start pushing. It was about 12:00 or 12:30 by then. I pushed and changed positions until 4:14 and Annie was finally born. I?ve never felt so much relief in my life as when she finally came out. The placenta was delivered a couple of minutes later, and Annie spent the next hour or so on my chest. I got sewed up (I had an almost 3rd degree tear) while we got to bond. After the midwife was done with me, they finally weighed and measured Annie. She was 21.5 inches long, weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces and had a head that measured 15.5 inches. That really helped explain why things were so difficult. My midwife told me that if I had gotten an epidural, I would have ended up with a c-section, because I wouldn?t have been allowed to push for much longer.
A while later, they moved all of us down one floor to the recovery floor. We got situated in our room and a nurse checked out Annie and me. After a little while, I started to feel a lot worse. I wasn?t able to pee, and it was harder and harder for me to move because of pain from my stitches and swelling. A nurse came in to look at me and told me that if I couldn?t pee, they would have to hook me up to a catheter. I was totally okay with this, because it was completely impossible for me to pee. They went to put the catheter in and realized that I had an insane amount of swelling. They called in a midwife and she then called a doctor. The doctor came in and told me that I would need to have surgery, because I had developed a hematoma inside, behind my stitches. They needed to relieve the pressure and redo my stitches. They took me back up to the labor and delivery OR and I had to be put under general anesthesia for the operation. This was really hard for DH, because he wanted to be with me, but he had to stay in recovery with Annie, because our parents had come to visit. The surgery didn?t take very long, and I was taken back downstairs to recover after I woke up. Things got a whole lot better at that point, but it did lead to some problems breastfeeding. We?re still working on that!
I was disappointed that things didn?t go just how I wanted them to, but I wasn?t surprised that things turned out differently. I?m glad that I got my *almost* med-free birth, and that I didn?t have to have a c-section.
Re: my *almost* med-free birth story - very long
congrats! I hope healing and BFing are better each day