Thank you ladies!

Discordia1030 · June 2012

I've never posted here but I've lurked and learned a lot. I just wanted to share that I was able to have my daughter by successful vbac last Friday and I honestly don't think I would have been able to accomplish it without the resources here. Thank you so much for all support you guys provide (even if you don't realize how far it reaches Smile ).

honkytonk_kid · June 2012

Story! Story! Story!

Congratulations, mama! She is lovely.

Discordia1030 · June 2012

honkytonk_kid:
Story! Story! Story!
Congratulations, mama! She is lovely.

Its in the blog, but I'll c&p.

Discordia1030 · June 2012

Birth story for those interested.

I woke up at 4am on Friday to my first contraction. A few minutes later, I felt another. I started timing them and realized they were about 3 mins apart. I timed them for about an hour and noticed they were increasing in intensity and frequency, between 2 and 3 mins apart. I woke up M, he helped me through them for about 15 mins, and then we decided to head to L&D. He jumped in for a quick shower while I grabbed the last things for our hospital bag. M grabbed Liam and then we all went downstairs. The boys moved the car out of the garage while I waited inside, I had a feeling my water had broken and when I checked, I wasn?t gushing but I was definitely leaking fluid. Away we went!

We get to the hospital, I go straight into L&D triage while M checks me in. I get hooked up to the machines, the nurse goes to check if I?m leaking AF and the test turns positive immediately. Less than 5 mins later, I get taken to my delivery room!

I get all situated in my room while M takes Liam to get some breakfast. My parents show up and take turns taking Liam for walks around the hospital. All this time, I?m having contractions 1-3 mins apart and they?re starting to really hurt. Because we had shown up at the hospital around 6:30, we got a new nurse due to the shift change. {{Completely coincidentally, we actually had the same nurse we had for Liam?s delivery and we all remembered each other, which was really cool.}} I get checked out by one of the MWs and discover I?m at 4 at 7am. I get hit with a bunch of really strong contrax on top of each other, can barely breath or move, and ask to get checked again, just out of curiosities sake. In half an hour, I moved to 5cm and completely thinned. I?m getting really discouraged by the pain but don?t want to give into pain meds yet. I?m having a really hard time controlling my breathing and pushing away the pain, I try different laboring positions and using a birthing ball, but it got to the point that it was too much for me to be able to handle. I was having a lot of pain in my right hip as each contraction came on and it lingered as they left and I couldn?t take it anymore. I ask for an epi. The nurse checks me before it gets administered to find I?ve moved to 7cm in about an hours? time.

I get the epi around 8:45, and felt relief almost immediately. I was still having bad pain in my hip with each contraction, although I couldn?t really feel them in my pelvis anymore. They propped me up on my right hip to help relieve some of the pressure. It worked for the hip pain, but I ended up getting more of the meds into my left leg and it became completely dead. I could wiggle my toes, but that was it. I had to have help moving it around to get comfortable, but I found it completely fascinating rather then annoying. My MW (they switched at 8am and I ended up getting the one I absolutely loved!) wanted me to get some rest since we?d be having the baby soon. I was able to take several catnaps and definitely felt refreshed and rejuvenated.

I ended up getting really sick and vomited a few times. The nurse gave me a Zofran to help with that, because any time I moved I felt like I was going to get sick again. By now it was about 11am. I got checked again and was completely dilated and effaced, but the baby hadn?t moved down yet. I labored down for about 15-20 mins and then it was time to push! I was no longer propped up on my hip, as my legs were in the stirrups (mainly because I couldn?t hold my left leg up at all) and so while I couldn?t really feel the pain of the contractions, I was able to feel the pressure in my hip and used that to know when to push. I could feel her crowning and kept asking if she had hair, they said yes and I actually reached down and touched it, it was a really cool! Less than an hour of pushing and Molly Elizabeth was here! We had given her a deadline of making her arrival by noon but she decided to come at her own time at 12:09. She immediately went on my chest for skin to skin and I couldn?t stop staring at her, she was beautiful! She looks so much like Liam when he was a newborn but at the same time she?s completely her own person. M cut the cord once it stopped pulsing, and then I snuggled her some more. The nurse and MW let us take as long as we wanted to just sit there with her, it was an amazing time. They finally took her, cleaned her up, weighed her, all that good stuff. 6lbs, 13oz, 19in long and perfect. While that was happening, I was getting my 2^nd tear all stitched up.

It turns out that the intense contractions and hip pain were due to Molly facing my right hip almost the entire time. She didn?t turn until her head was about halfway out. Knowing that now, it makes complete sense.

Once we were both all set, Liam came back in to meet his baby sister. He immediately climbed onto the bed next to us, leaned over and gave her a big kiss! Then he sat back and just stared at her, giggling at all her little movements. It was the sweetest thing and completely made me melt.

Once Liam went home with his aunts, we waited to get into our postpartum room. I really wanted to take my IV out, but the nurse wouldn?t let me until I peed twice. Due to the effects of the epi on my left leg, I couldn?t bear any weight on it. I ended up having to take a wheelchair to the bathroom. She took me to get cleaned up and try but my bladder was literally too full. I ended up having to get a cath and apparently I have ahuge bladder. She compared it to bladder of a person at least twice my size. Once that was done, it didn?t count and I still had to do it twice on my own. I did end up getting it out around 2am on Sat though, mainly because I had to wait until the nurse did another check on me vs just checking the baby. By 8pm Fri night, I was able to completely walk on my own and didn?t need assistance. Granted, it really hurt to walk due to the stitches, but it was nice to have the freedom to move.

Molly has been a fantastic nurser, as of right now, no issues with her latch or anything, which has been a nice change from newborn Liam. We were able to go home on Sat, when she was about 26 hrs old. It?s been so nice to not be stuck in the hospital.

Looking back, labor was not what I had envisioned at all. I had wanted to go pain med free and I wasn?t able to achieve that, however once I got the epi, my whole attitude and outlook on delivery changed. I realized that I WAS going to have my VBAC and it was going to be amazing. I don?t feel that I gave up by getting the meds but rather I did what I needed to in order to get what I wanted. Molly?s birth experience is probably one of the things I am most proud of being able to accomplish and I would do all again in a heartbeat!