Eleanor's Birth Story-A Bit Long

maddie&stephen · May 2012

I took myself out of work and started my maternity leave on May 7, one week before my due date. On May 10 I was laying in bed discussing dinner options with DH around 6:45pm when I felt a big "pop." I quickly got up and ran to the bathroom just in time for the start of my bloody show and my water slowly breaking. It was just a trickle at that point so I told DH to go pick up dinner and then we'll slowly make our way to the hospital. We ate and headed out the door at 8:30pm arriving in about 15 minutes at the hospital. While checking in at the reception desk my water REALLY broke-I was mortified! It was all over the floor but the ladies at the desk were so sweet and told me it happened all the time-things really started to move from there.

At 11:00pm I was admitted to our labor room with contractions about 4 minutes apart-after a hour the doctor decided to start me on pitocin. I had wanted a natural labor and made it until 5:00am when I asked for an epidural. The difference between the contractions with and without pitocin were like night and day and I was exhausted and still at about only 4-5cm. After the epidural-which was a picnic and no pain compared to what I was feeling I was able to doze in and out and they checked me again at 11:00am and I was at 10cm. The doctor let me push a few times but the baby wasn't moving so they decided to let her labor down a bit more on her own. Had the same results at 12:30pm when pushing and when they came back in at 2:00pm to let me push for another 30 minutes I could tell something wasn't right. I finally asked the doctor if we were making any progress and she said let's try one more time. Still nothing so it was off to a c-section.

I didn't know it at the time (very smart not to tell a stressed out first timer!) but every time I would push the baby's heart rate would skyrocket and she just wasn't coming down the birth canal-apparently I'm not built for a vaginal birth. My c-section was an emergency-it was started at 3:03pm and Eleanor Ann made her way into the world at 3:09pm at 21 inches and 8 lbs 2 oz.

Recovery has been very hard and my doctor attributes that to the fact that I essentially went through two labors. Upon discussion in recovery he let me know that if I were to have any other children they too would have to be c-sections as my body cannot handle a vaginal birth.

I'm OK with that decision; all the staff was wonderful that we were with our five day stay at the hospital. Eleanor is starting to put her weight back on and at her 2 week appointment yesterday showed no sign of the jaundice that kept her an extra day in the hospital. All in all it was a crazy hectic ride, it's wonderful to be home with her and I'm dreading going back to work, so I'm trying to enjoy every second and hope they all pass by slowly. If anyone has any weight loss tips for a pumping/c-section mama I would love to hear them!

Best of luck to everyone with their LO's-motherhood truly is as wonderful as they say!! Big Smile