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February 2012 Moms
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Birth story - tried a little of everything (long!)

avalovesartavalovesart member
in February 2012 Moms

The last week or so of pregnancy, I was doing just about everything to get labor started -- walking often, eating a fresh pineapple every day, taking homeopathy prescribed by my midwife, sex every other day or so, and spicy food. At 40.5 weeks pregnant, I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. I also had my membranes swept to try to stimulate labor...nothing. At about 6am on Wednesday February 8, my water broke with no other signs of labor. Because my water broke, I was given a deadline of 24 hours for labor to start or otherwise it would be necessary to go to the hospital. All that day my midwives, doula, DH, and I tried every natural way to get labor started -- breast pumping methods, acupuncture, and castor oil. Finally, I went to bed (waking every few hours with awful bowel movements from the castor oil.) At 2am Thursday, I realized I was having contractions every 5 minutes. I called the doula and she confirmed that it was a good time for her to come over and labor was likely beginning. I woke up DH so excited! Estelle would be here soon and labor had started before the 24 hour deadline!

 

Labor progressed quickly, at 3:15am I was having contractions every 3 minutes, lasting for 1 minute each. By 4:30am they were 2.5 minutes apart and it became obvious I was experiencing back labor. At 5am we left for the birthing center, and at this point I was in the "do not disturb" mode of serious labor. At arrival at the birthing center I was 5cm dilated. I started in the birthing tub, which felt awesome and really helped alleviate the pain. Then it was suggested I try the shower, which also was awesome. However, as time progressed, the contractions became more and more painful. By 8am I was in extreme pain and begged for something to help. The midwife gave me some kind of pain med that also made me sleepy. Even though contractions were frequent, I totally feel asleep between each one, then awoke to work through the next. I was also given a dose of antibiotic at this point, since my water had been broken for over 24 hours.

 

By 9am I was 7 cm dilated and around 10am definitely began feeling the "sudden urge to push." By 1pm, it became clear that baby was not in a good position to come out and I was encouraged to avoid pushing. DH and the doula had to help me with breathing exercises to try to keep me from pushing. Labor became very intense at this point and the pain was becoming unbearable. My body began involuntarily pushing for her to come out, but her head was tilted on an angle and just hitting the pelvic bone. We did a lot of hands and knees positions, rebozo techniques, and massage to try to help baby move into a better position.

 

At 2:30pm, the head midwife attempted to manually move baby's head. At first it seemed baby was responsive, but within seconds she would return to her original position. That was our last option...so, it was finally suggested that I needed to be transferred to the hospital where I could have an epidural, in hopes that it would relax me and baby enough to encourage her to change positions. As soon as the suggestion to transfer was mentioned to me, I said "yes!" I was more than ready to go after 13 hours of active labor; I was really in extreme pain and beginning to feel exhausted. I was also given another dose of antibiotics.

 

At 3pm everything was set for me to transfer, I couldn't have been more willing. I was given a shot of Tributaline to reduce the pain for the car ride...unfortunately, it didn't seem to have much effect on me and that was the longest 15-20 minute ride ever. We arrived at the hospital and did not have to wait to be admitted, since everything had been pre-arranged before I arrived. My nurses were awesome and were able to coerce the anesthesiologist to come immediately to administer the epidural. I had heard that epidurals were painful when given, but it felt like little more than a strong pin prick to me. The effect was immediate and relief was immense. I slept on and off for the next 4 hours, waiting to see if baby would change her position and/or I would become more dilated.

 

By 8pm, nothing had changed and the nurse inserted an internal contraction monitor to better gauge the intensity of the contractions. This proved my contractions were actually lessening rather than strengthening. We agreed to try Pitocin to stimulate contractions, hopefully causing me to become more dilated.

 

One hour later, no change; the nurse upped the dosage of Pitocin. 2 hours later still no change; the Pitocin was turned up to highest level. By midnight, still no change. Also, my temperature rose to 101?, possibly indicating infection. We felt all possibilities had been exhausted and time was running out on safety (my water had been broken for 40 hours by that time.) After consultation with the obstetrician, nurse, and doula, DH and I felt a c-section was necessary.

 

So, at 2:08am on February 10, Estelle was born via c-section! She came out a whopping 8lbs and 6.9oz, and 20" long! Because it was an unplanned c-section, I was quite nervous about the operation, but all went well. We were still allowed to keep the placenta (for encapsulation) and DH was able to cut the umbilical cord. Skin-to-skin was slightly delayed, but about 10 minutes later we got to do that too. Because of the medications, I was extremely shaky and going in and out of consciousness after the surgery, so I was barely able to hold baby long enough for her first nursing and a photo before totally falling asleep.

 

DH, baby, and I were moved to the mother/baby unit for the next 20 hours of bliss. However, that soon changed when her pediatrician and NICU doctor came to our room to announce the blood samples taken after birth returned a positive result for an infection for baby. To avoid complications or serious infection, she was moved to the NICU to start antibiotics immediately, until it could be determined exactly what type of infection she had (it has to be grown in the lab for several days to make that determination.)

 

That night we were moved to the same floor as the NICU so that it would just be a short walk (or, in my case, wheelchair ride) to visit her in the NICU. We were allowed to see her anytime 24/7 and I was encouraged to breastfeed her as often as I wanted. She also had to be supplemented on formula in addition to the breast milk because the antibiotics dehydrated her. After 2 or 3 days it was found that the infection was something related to my water breaking early and she only had to be on one antibiotic from then on.

 

Estelle was in the NICU for a total of 7 days, while I was only allowed to stay in the hospital as a patient for 4 days. It was really hard to come home and not have our baby with us. However, all the time she was in the NICU she was very strong and alert. She was definitely the biggest and healthiest baby in there! That kept me encouraged that she would come home soon. In a strange way, the NICU was a beneficial experience. The nurses really helped me get comfortable with breastfeeding, assisting in being sure she was properly latched. Also, not having to watch over her constantly those first few days I think has helped me recover from the c-section surgery a little more quickly than some women.

 

Estelle finally got to come home one week after her birth, and it has been such a joy! Like all new parents, we're learning how to interpret her signals and care for her the best we can. Because of her time in the NICU, we've had to slowly wean her off of formula...but that seems to be going well. Also, we discovered the Miracle Blanket and it really has been amazing to help her with going to sleep!

 

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