Birth story. DS now 2.

I just found Jacob's birth story from almost 2 years ago.  How fast time flies!! Thought you all might enjoy reading it.  I know I read a ton when I was waiting for him to get here. 

I was due on Christmas Eve 06'. Let me start this by saying that just because you are huge and everyone tells you that you'll go early--does not mean that you will.
At 37 weeks the Dr. ordered a u/s because he was concerned about the baby's size. Well we found out that Jacob was 7 and 1/2 lbs and breech. That was a huge shock to us both. The Dr. said I was not a good candidate for a version, so we went ahead and scheduled a C-Section for 12/19/06.
At my 38 week appointment the Dr. was doing the internal and got a confused look on his face. He said that he thought the baby turned over by himself and took me to the u/s room. Sure enough, Jacob flipped back around and was now in position for launch! Yay! I was measuring 1 cm dilated. I lost most of my mucus plug on 12/9 and the rest of it the week following. I also had diarrhea for a few days in week 38 and thought for sure labor would start anytime. I was wrong.
At 39 weeks, there is nothing happening. I had my 39 week appointment and learned that the baby was still huge. I was measuring 2cm dilated and was getting frustrated. The Dr. told me that they'll go 2 weeks past the due date before inducing so I was hoping that it would not get to that point. That next day I had a huge amount of fluid in my underwear when I stood up. I waited for a few hours to see if contractions would start-but they never did. I called the dr. and they told me to go to the hospital anyway to get checked. I was positive that I was not in labor, but DH wanted to go anyways. When we got to the hospital they had me put on a gown and strapped me to a monitor. I was having slight contractions, but nothing regular or strong. I had been having these for days and days. Finally the resident dr. came in to check and see if my water had broken....this hurt like hell. She used a steel spectulum (sp?) WITHOUT any lubrication. It was really painful. After she got a swab of the fluid she left and came back about 20 minutes later to let me know that I could go home. Nothing was happening.
The 40 week appointment was on a Wednesday. I saw my regular Dr. as I had for the past few weeks. (my office has 4 different dr.'s that alternate) He was still concerned about the baby's size so he ordered another u/s. Unfortunately I had to wait until the next day to get it done. Thursday morning I had the u/s. The u/s nurse said that he was measuring a normal newborn size--around 8lbs. I had to go to a room and wait for the dr. to come in. This was a different dr. than I had seen the past few weeks. I heard the dr. and the nurse talking outside my door. They were really scaring me because the u/s nurse was saying things like " we should have caught this before" and "the last u/s was the same thing, but the nurse wrote it down as normal" etc. I had no idea what could have been wrong. The dr. came in and explained that my baby wasn't big--I had a TON of fluid and that I really should have been watched much more closely. She explained the risks of having high fluid and told me to go home and rest for another week and I would have him by the following Wednesday. Well on the way home everything she said started to sink in and scared the shit out of me. (One of the risks was my water breaking so forcefully that the cord could come out before the baby and possibly strangle him.) So I called DH and told him and he told me to call the dr. back and tell them that I was not waiting another week. I talked to one of the nurses who assured me that I'd be fine-but I would not take that for an answer. I did not carry a baby for over 10 months to risk his life over something that we could control. So that afternoon my "regular" dr called me and said that after he read the results of the u/s he did not think that the risks were worth it and for me to be at the hospital at 8pm. WHAT? That was a shock. It was about 4 pm at that time. I had my bags packed already and they had been for the past month. I really had nothing to do but walk around in nervous excitement with DH. I couldn't believe that in just a few hours-labor would be starting!
We got to the hospital at 7:30 and checked in. Thank goodness they did not come at me with the speculum this time. They hooked me up to monitors and did an internal to see where I stood. They then inserted the cervadil and gave me an ambien to sleep until morning. DH stuck around for a little while but the sleeping pill started to take effect and he went home--making sure that the nurses had his number. I only slept for about 5 hours and woke up feeling crampy. Like menstrual cramps. I hung out like that until about 7am. At that time I only measured 3cm. I was disappointed. The nurse came in a bit later and started my IV-which hurt by the way. They gave me a bag of fluid and then started the pitocin at about 8am. My contractions were already regular but the pitocin made them stronger. I lasted until about 11am without any pain meds. I was 7cm at that point. The epidural guy came and gave me the good drugs. The epidural did hurt-not a lot-but it did. It also took a long time to do. Maybe 10 minutes but it felt like an hour. When he put the medicine in-it sent a shock through my legs. It didn't hurt, but it definitely felt weird. Also, I could feel the medicine go through my body. It was a cold sensation. I continued to get that sensation every time I pushed the magic button he gave me to control the medicine. After that, DH and I took a nap until about 12:00 when the nurse came in and checked me. DH decided to go down to the cafeteria to get some lunch with his mom at that time. He no sooner got out the door and my water broke. That was a weird sensation. Also let me say that fluid went EVERYWHERE!! Thank goodness it never broke at work or anywhere else. There would have been no hiding it! Unfortunately that meant no lunch for Dh. The dr. came in and said that I was fully dilated, but the baby was still high so she gave us the option of starting to push or waiting a little while longer to see if he'd come down on his own with the contractions. We opted to wait it out a little longer. I think I drifted back to a half sleep at that point. At 1:30 I had the urge to push and the contractions were getting much much stronger. I also felt like I was going to throw up. The dr. came back and asked me if I wanted to try pushing--which I did. I could not feel anything though and my pushes sucked. So we turned off the epi and turned up the pitocin. OUCH! Labor pain did not feel like what I thought it would. The contractions were coming one on top of each other and I could not get my breath. It felt like someone was squeezing my chest/stomach in a vice. It was really hard...especially when I started pushing. I started actively pushing at about 1:50pm. The dr. told me that I would probably be pushing for a few hours because of the size of the baby and how high up he was. She said that there was a good possibility that I would end up in a c-section. That was a very disappointing thing to hear. I really lost all motivation at that point and the dr. left. I continued to push with the nurse and my Dh though. I was really pissed at Dh during that time period. He kept telling me what a good job I was doing--how did he know if I was doing a good job or not? He also was holding onto the back of my head and every time I pushed-he pushed forward on my head. That made me so mad. Later he told me that he helped me push by doing that. Whatever. : ) The nurse told me I was doing a great job and about 20 minutes into it she told me that she could see the head. I thought she was just saying that because I was exhausted and ready to give up. So she told me to take a break and went to find the dr. When they came back I started pushing again and they said they could see the head no problem and even showed DH. I still thought that they were lying though...I had been saying over and over that I just could not do this anymore. I really thought that they were trying to motivate me to hang in there. About 5 minutes later I could feel the head! It was unreal!! Once I felt him I wanted him out of there so we could meet. I really gave the pushes all I had--the dr. was just getting ready with her gloves and little blue outfit when I popped his head out. Everyone was shocked. They told me to stop pushing immediately which I did not understand at the time, but did anyways. The nurse helped me breath through the contractions in the meantime. Later I found out that the cord was wrapped around Jacobs head 2x. The dr. tried to cut it off but her scissors broke. She threw them across the room and grabbed another pair and cut the cord. I couldn't take the pressure anymore and told her I had to push so she said I could. Well he came out like a bullet with about 10 gallons of fluid behind him. The fluid went EVERYWHERE. It was even on ceiling. I don't know how it got there, but it was there. The dr. sat him on my chest for a minute and then the nurse came over and took him. At 2:40pm I had a beautiful baby boy laying on my chest crying as loud as ever! It was wonderful!!
He was 8lbs 2oz and 21" long. Not nearly as big as everyone said he was. He was happy, healthy and nosey. He was instantly alert and looking around at everyone. Dh was so proud and got to show him to everyone. I on the other hand was still experiencing contractions. I still had work to do. It took about 10 minutes before I delivered the placenta. It was really gross. Once that was done the dr. told me I had a 3rd degree tear. Thank goodness I didn't feel any of it during the labor. It took them about 20 minutes to stitch me up and that was really irritating. I wanted to see my baby!! That afternoon went fast. I was really hungry and they let me eat. I honestly felt really good. I wanted to get up but the nurse thought we should wait a little while longer. DH left to get some dinner and the baby went to the nursery to give me some rest and so I could get checked. It was about 6pm. The nurse helped me sit up and swing my legs over the bed. She said that I didn't look good. The next thing I remember is her yelling for another nurse and her slapping my face and asking me to say something. Dh happened to be walking up the hallway to my room when they called for more nurses to come in. He was really scared but all was ok. Turns out I lost a lot of blood and has passed out. I was not allowed to get out of bed after that. My blood level was 7 and should have been closer to 14. I have no idea what that means...just thought I'd throw that in there. If I had lost anymore they would have done a transfusion. Dh and I spent time alone with our baby that evening and he left around 9pm. I fell asleep for a few hours but kept getting woke up by the nurses coming in and checking me. Around midnight another nurse helped me up. I didn't pass out this time, but was really dizzy. I wanted a shower more than anything though so I didn't say anything. She helped me into the bathroom to see if I could pee or not. I could. She also helped me out of the hospital gown and got my shower things together. When I tried to stand up off the toilet-I about passed out again. So she would not let me shower. She did help me get cleaned up though. She put me in a wheel chair and then helped me get moved to another room. They needed my room because there were 3 more ladies on their way to deliver that night. I was really thankful because the bed in my original room really sucked. My new bed was nice and comfy. I was in the hospital until Sunday. I was still really weak and they thought it may have been best to keep me another day, but I wanted to go home. My blood level kept dropping so I had strict instructions to eat lots of red meat and take iron supplements.
It was really great to be home. Dh took the week off to be with me and really helped a lot. The dogs and cats took to him really well. I was worried about that, but it was a pretty easy transition. These past few weeks have been tough. I was really swollen for about 2 weeks. My back also hurt where the epidural was. I have only lost 20lbs of the 40 I gained. The stitches hurt and my skin is having a reaction to the pads after all these weeks. I went for my 6 week appt. yesterday and learned that I am still not healed and the stitches stay. I have to wait another two weeks to see what happens. My blood level is also still very low so I need to make sure I am taking my Iron pills. I bled for about 4 weeks. I still have fluid leaking out but it is not bloody and can be controlled with a panty liner.
I am completely in love with my son. He is a great baby--hardly cries, sleeps & eats really well....and of course he is the most adorable baby ever born. All in all it was a really great experience even though it was really hard work. I honestly cannot wait to do it again. Being induced was also a great experience. It really went fast and it was comforting being in the hospital--that way if anything went wrong we were already there. >


There are a few things I can tell you:
1) pack lightly for the hospital. you are not going to feel like wearing your nice pj's. plus the nurses check you so often it would be a pain (literally) to pull your pants down each time.
2) if you are not breastfeeding-wear a tight fitting bra. I wore a tight sports bra for the delivery and for the 3 weeks after. I never had any breast problems.
3) buy old granny panties that you don't care about ruining.
4) take extra of those pads they give you at the hospital with the ice pack inside and use your spray bottle thing!! it feels so good!!
5) you will be doing a lot of laundry when you bring your baby home. it is amazing.
6) you will not use all of those cute outfits you bought. I was one of those people who said I'd dress him up everyday...it just is not worth it. He is most comfortable in a sleeper or a onsie. plus they really do grow out of things fast.
7) the designer diaper bag is not worth it. I have two and haven't used them yet. I have been using the Enfamil one they give at the hospital. it is the best!
8) buy things ahead of time--such as colace and tucks pads. you won't feel like going anywhere for awhile.
9) the car seat is really heavy-especially with the baby in it! so don't park too far away from the doors of the places you go! Like the pediatrician?s office. It's tough!
10) develop a routine!! so important!! pay attention to your baby and watch for clues. Jacob has been really easy on us. he developed a routine early on. we encouraged the routine once we saw the same things happening at about the same times every day.


I am sorry that this was so long, but I wanted to write down everything I could remember and any tips I could think of. Thanks for reading my story!