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Natural Birth
Suern9870
member
Pain med free, high risk, induced, hospital birth (sorry, long)
Suern9870
member
Last Monday I had my 37 week OB appt. My appt was with a midwife I don't typically see, I told her the week before, my regular midwife had mentioned a non stress test due to my age (41) and polyhadramnios (i was measuring 43cm at 37 weeks). Although there was no note from prior week or order for test, she agreed to do a NST. The baby did not look good on the monitor. She sent me off for a level 2 U/S that same day. At the U/S they saw my polyhadramnios had gone from moderate to severe in a matter of 3 weeks, and the baby had fluid in his kidneys. My midwife called that evening to say I needed to see the perinatologist the next day.
The next day the perinatologist did his own u/s and told me to pack my bags and head to the hospital for an induction that afternoon. He was concerned about the baby's kidneys, and thought the extra fluid could be caused by a fistula in the baby's esophagus. Needless to say, my husband and I were pretty shaken up. So, we were admitted to the hospital around 3pm. That evening I was given 2 doses of misoprostol orally. I only experienced some mild cramping. My cervix was just soft, and only a fingertip dilated. The next day they started a pitocin drip. I explained to the midwifes I wasn't interest in an epidural due to the fact they didn't work well for me for prior 2 deliveries, and I was really hoping to be up and out of bed. So throughout the day I was on the pit drip, just experiencing moderate cramping, on the birthing ball, walking in room, then around 4 pm, the babies heart rate dropped. They held the drip for 2 hours and resumed around 7pm. After 2 more hours on the drip, with little progress, the midwife asked if I wanted to continue, or get a good night sleep and try again in AM. I opted to sleep.
The next morning we resumed the pit drip (oh, and the penicillin for GBS) after 2 doses of penicillin, they broke my water (OUCH), and things really started to pick up. My L&D nurse was phenomenal. In speaking with her (we had her both days) we found out she actually is a midwife (graduate degree CNM) but hasn't taken her boards in MA because she's moving back to OR in the fall. She clearly was very pro natural birth. She was showing my husband how to rub my back, helping me with my breathing, encouraging me to get out of bed. And the midwife that was on call was also very supportive of pain med free birth.
Around 4pm the midwife checked my cervix and I was 6cm dilated, she said dilation can take up to an hour per centimeter. I didn't know how I would go another 4 hours. They put me in the tub (even with the fetal monitors on, apparently they're waterproof) . The tub was heaven. I was in there for 40 min when I had the extreme urge to push. They got me out of the tub, put me on the bed on all fours, and low and behold, I was crowning. The midwife was telling me not to push, she has to put her gloves on (he was coming that fast). It took 2 pushes to deliver my baby boy, 9lbs 9oz.
The neonatologist took him and did an X-ray on his esophagus and they were able to rule out a fistula. He does still have fluid in his kidneys and a dilated ureter. We'll need to follow up on that at Childrens Hospital. Otherwise, he is a perfect, healthy little boy.
If you're still with me, thank you for reading this far. If you're unsure of your plans for a natural birth, I say if I can do it, you can, too.
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Re: Pain med free, high risk, induced, hospital birth (sorry, long)
blog! thescenery.net
Thank you. I'm a big believer in power of positive thoughts and prayers. I appreciate any you send his way.