Sydney's Birth Story - repost from Dec. 11

I love reading everyone's birth stories, so I wanted to share mine as well. With a due date of Dec. 8 I definitely did not expect to be a November mom, but my LO had other ideas for me. Sydney was born on November 22, at 37w5d.

I woke up around 2 on Tuesday when my water broke. Shock is about the most accurate description of how I felt. I called L&D and they wanted me to come on in, but no rush since I wasn't feeling any contractions. We got there about two hours later, still no contractions, and I got checked - really no progress. I was 50% effaced and just a pin prick dilated (essentially just enough to let the water out). We had a long way to go. I can't even say I labored on my own for a while, because there was just no labor to be had. I was also a bit of a guinea pig that day - I had a resident doctor following me most of the day, reporting back to my doctor on everything, as well as a nurse in training following my nurse.

My doctor suggested we try something to get my cervix to perk along, so I opted for cytotech. I did NOT want the pitocin so early on, but I knew that I was "on the clock" before the 24 hour broken water mark. The cytotech helped the contractions for sure! Almost immediately they were ranging from 2 to 4 minutes apart and never let up.

After about 7 hours the contractions started getting very painful. After 12 hours I was checked (and hoping for some progress!) and was 1.5 cm dilated and about 60% effaced. Progress, but definitely disappointing. My nurse suggested hoping in the whirlpool tub to help cope through some contractions and try and help dilate a bit more, and then maybe start thinking about something for pain. **warning to all! The tub is awesome, but make SURE it isn't too hot!! It felt great for a while but then I overheated. It was horrible. I threw up, in the tub, during a contraction. It was probably the lowest point of my labor.

The nurses helped me out of the tub and I was checked again. I was up to 2 cm dilated. My doctor started talking about putting me on pitocin, but before trying that I opted for an IV med to try and just take the edge off. The nubain made me really woozy and definitely only took the edge off the contractions -  they were still extremely painful. I asked for another dose about an hour and a half later but hobbled to the restroom while the nurse was calling the resident doctor about it. I felt constipated and had some urges to push, but since I was just barely dilated I didn't think anything of it.

I mentioned it to the resident doctor when I was getting checked before getting the next dose of nubain - turns out I was an eight, fully effaced, and her head was dropping fast! The contractions were horrible, I wanted the epi but there was NO time. Next thing I knew I was fully dilated and ready to go. We had to wait for my doctor to get to there before I could push - the resident wouldn't deliver without her there. I had to breathe through a half hour's worth of contractions and force myself not to push. Finally my doctor got there and about 12 pushes later Sydney was born!

18 hours after my water broke and being almost completely closed up I was holding my daughter. I wish I could describe my emotion to you, but I barely remember. My honest first thought when they held her up to me was "I'm not pregnant any more!" I don't remember much anything after that, that must be about the time my blood pressure plummeted - DH had to fill me in on all the following. I was about 50/30 and I all but passed out. My doctor and the resident were trying to finish stitching up my few small tears and the nurses were hooking me into an IV drip to try and get my blood pressure back up. One of my tears was badly placed and my doctor needed to insert a catheter to ensure that nothing was stitched shut (yikes!).

It was a long night of being unable to sit up at all, attempting to nurse while barely conscious myself, and trying to get my blood pressure up to a stable level. We made it through though. Breast feeding has been hit or miss - she is a champ when she is awake, but if she is asleep when it is time to eat it is incredibly hard to get her interested. She has had a couple 4-5 hour stretches where she would just not nurse. We're still working on that, but it will come. The bleeding isn't bad, and I ended up just needing three stitches that can be sore, but are very manageable.

Things I learned - don't worry about packing too much for yourself. I didn't touch my hospital bag until I dug out some clothes for coming home today. The only thing I REALLY wish I had with me was my boppy. DH, on the other hand, was the one that we should have packed more for. Make sure your DH has slippers or flip flops for walking around the hospital.