Birth story (lesson: expect the unexpected)

DCMerged · July 2012

My little boy was born a couple weeks ago and thought I'd share his birth story, which is a lesson in expecting the unexpected. At about 4 am I woke up from my water breaking and contractions were immediately 3-4 minutes apart. We checked into L&D and I was still contracting like crazy, 2 cm, and got an epideral. Two hours later I was at 8 cm and the doctor said this is great, you'll probably have your baby before lunch!

Then things stalled...5 hours later, finally got the green light to start pushing. Pushing was moving the baby but really slowly. I was pushing for more than three hours and getting really tired. The doc said she doesn't usually let pushing go for more than about three hours and to prepare myself for c-section but that she thought I could go a little longer if I was up for it. I really wanted to get baby out vaginally at that point because I had invested so much effort. After another hour and a half of pushing (!) the doc said the baby was far enough down to try vacuum assist for three contractions and if that didn't work, they would do c-section. I got an episiotomy and on the third contraction, I pushed like hell and he came out. I've never been so exhausted and relieved.

But that isn't the whole story...My uterus was being difficult getting back to size and I developed large blood clots. The doc had to literally stick her arm up me and pull the clots out by hand. It was the most pain I have ever experienced and get the chills when I think about the pain. I was screaming it hurt so bad. Because of the bleeding I was kept in L&D overnight. The next day, they moved me to recovery but my blood cell count was still so low that I was lightheaded and my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Because of that I needed a blood transfusion overnight. The next day I felt much better and was able to go home with baby.

So even though things started out promising and easy, it was a very difficult journey. The gift is a beautiful baby boy who has been really great at home (I think he knows he needs to go easy on me now!). He needed some formula at the hospital while I was getting treated but that hasn't affected breastfeeding at all. Anything can happen ladies!