Carter Thomas is here - Birth Story (long) - PIP

amy21tom · May 2011

Carter was born at 38wks 5 days on May 21st at 6:44am. He was 8lbs 5oz and 21 1/4 inches.

Friday morning I felt a small gush when I got up from bed. Very very small though, not at all the type of "gush" I had been reading about. I really thought I had peed myself and started laughing. While I was working that day I kept thinking, "I wish that had been my water breaking." As the hours dragged by while trying to get work done I thought I'd do some of the "was that my water that broke?' tests even though I knew I was getting too excited about nothing. I got off my stability ball that I had been sitting on the past 2 weeks in hopes of avoiding a past due baby (I wanted to keep him as small as possible to avoid talk of a c section!) and I laid on my bed for 30 minutes (I work from home). When I stood up I waited for a promising gush, but nothing. Not even a little trickle. "Yup, I definitely peed myself this morning" I thought the baby must have been pressed against my bladder. As the day continued I kept feeling "wet" but never even got close to soaking a pad. I went through every baby book and everything seemed to tell me this was not my water, Carter that had broken. My mom called around 3pm and suggested I call the Dr. just to be safe. I was reluctant because my BIL and SIL were coming for dinner and I wanted to make sure I was back in time, and didn't want to waste my afternoon at the Dr because I had peed myself that morning. Well, erring on the side of caution I decided to call since I knew I was GBS+ and I knew it wasn't anything to mess with.

Luckily DH had gotten out of work early that day. He drove with me to the doctor. We packed the car with our bags before we left "just in case" and the whole way I was saying "please don't get too excited, I'm going to feel so dumb when they tell me I'm peeing myself, don't tell anyone." My MW did the swab test for the amniotic fluid and it turned blue. I was shocked. Then she came back in and said she was confused because the swab was blue but she couldn't find ferns on the slide. She seemed doubtful that it was amniotic fluid: no ferns, no pooling, and my cervix was closed. She sent me to the hospital for an AmniSure test "just in case." She said normally she wouldn't have me go, but since I was GBS+ she recommended it. We got to the hospital, had the test, and there were ferns! By this piont I was already 2cm dilated!!! As I was sitting in triage my contractions started. Talk about good timing. The hosital is right across the street from my MW's office and it took us literally less than 5 minutes to get there, so ladies, those of you who have not made progress, it can happen in an instant! Don't let it get you down!

We were checked in, walked the halls, used the jacuzzi tub, birthing ball, you name it we did it. DH was awesome getting me through my contractions (we had read Dr. Bradley's Husband Coached Child Birth--totally recommend it!) At one point my progress slowed and they gave me pitocin (uugghh!!) I declined it at the beginning but accepted later because they were a little concerned that we didn't actually know how long my water had been broken and with the GBS again I wasn't taking any chances. I ended up getting IV pain meds after the pitocin (after being at 7cm for two checks, which IMO are THE WORST PART) because my contractions became unbearable and I wasn't relaxing so still was not progressing. DH told me my contraction peaks literally went "off the charts." I do not believe anyone who says pitocin does not make contractions worse than they would be naturally after having felt the difference! The IV meds helped me to relax between contractions, took away my nausea and took a bit of the edge off, but definitely just a bit! I never considered an epidural because the thought of not feeling my legs just did not appeal to me. I had wanted a natural birth but didn't let myself get upset over the IV meds because I hadn't planned on the pitocin either. I also wanted to be able to squat during some of the pushing because I knew I had a good sized baby in there!

After 12 hours of labor and 1 1/2 hours of pushing Carter Thomas was born! We are in love.

I had quite a few second degree tears, difficulty delivering my placenta, and lots of bleeding but all worked out OK! Breastfeeing is going awesome and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful baby! I have also never been more in love with DH! : ) Good luck to all of you nearing the end! YOU CAN DO IT! : )