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Natural Birth
clariknittist
member
Natural Birth Story with Gestational Diabetes
clariknittist
member
I thought I would write out my story since natural birth was one of my main concerns when I was first diagnosed with GD. Maybe my story might help someone else with the same concern (sorry it is long):
At about 1:00 AM Dec. 21, I finally went to bed after a really fun date night with DH - we drove around looking at Christmas lights in the snow, and rented a movie then snuggled on the couch. I'm glad we got that couple time in, because the second I lay down, I felt a rush of warm liquid. He was out turning off our lights, and when I got up to check in the bathroom, it started dripping onto the floor - definitely left a trail. I was soaked and it seemed like he was taking FOREVER to get back in...when he finally did, I said "Uh...my water broke..." and he immediately kicked into high gear, rushing around the house trying to get everything ready to go. Of course, when I called the dr. on call, he wanted to wait until I had contractions 5 minutes apart, or about 6 AM, whichever came first. I didn't feel anything for about 1-2 hours, and tried to sleep, but I was soaking through towel after towel and was getting really cold. Then, I definitely started to get contractions. I've always had severe menstrual cramps, and in retrospect, I can say aside from transition when they were telling me not to push, I never felt anything new in labor that I haven't felt before, contraction-wise. DH timed them, and they were ranging between 7-10 minutes apart. Over the next couple hours, they got closer together, and luckily I was able to doze in between - that would continue throughout almost all of labor. When they were 5 minutes apart at about 5:30 AM, we decided to pack up and start heading to the hospital. The roads were really bad since they hadn't been cleared yet and it was still snowing, so our usually 15 minute drive was more like 30. In the car, the contractions got even closer together - about 3-4 minutes. I was starting to wonder if this was going to go faster than we thought...the answer? NO.
We checked in and were taken to OB triage. About an hour's worth of tests/exams (yes...my water HAD in fact broken...) and being hooked up to a monitor, and my contractions had really slowed - almost stalled out. The dr. on call came in and started immediately mentioning pitocin and that we would need to consider it before too long. That wasn't something I wanted to hear, and was hopeful once we got settled I could get out of bed and get moving to help things along. Once we moved to our room, I was hooked up to intermittent monitoring and we started a pattern of off the monitor for 40 minutes, back on for 20. I started at about 1-2cm, 50% effaced, station -1 or so. When I was up walking the halls or moving in our room, first of all I felt better, like I could be proactive. Secondly, I did move along, but not fast enough for what they wanted. About every hour, they would come back and say the contractions weren't close enough together when I was lying down in the bed and I wasn't in active labor, and every hour we had to talk again about pitocin. When it got to be about 11 AM I had thinned out a little more to about 85%, about 2 cm, station somewhere around 0, and my doctor had taken over and wanted a "deadline" from me on pitocin. At that point, DH and I talked privately and he asked (so he would know what to say) why I didn't want pitocin. I said I was afraid I wouldn't be able to manage that level of progression and pain, which would lead to an epidural, which might lead to a c-section, and that's what I really didn't want. I was really feeling pressured by the doctor and the nurse, so when they came in at my "deadline" around noon and asked one more time, I said I didn't want the pitocin, and was able to articulate exactly why. My husband chimed in "She REALLY doesn't want it." After that, they left the whole topic alone. I also had progressed at that point, and was about 3-4 cm, I don't remember how much effaced, and baby's head was very low. I labored until about 11PM, and during that time I felt so weak and dehydrated, they did hook me up to an IV for fluids. I initially was resistant to the idea, but realistically I couldn't take in enough water/juice/broth by mouth plus rest in between the contractions to stay strong. I also labored for a couple of hours in the tub which was almost like having pain meds - it almost eliminated the pain for me. I think that gave me enough relief to get some more naps in, and at some point maybe 10 or 11?, they started talking about pushing soon - except they didn't feel like I was dilated enough. For at least an hour, they kept checking after every round of contractions, and there were two spots that just weren't budging. Not pushing when my body wanted to push was by far the most uncomfortable part of my labor - it made my whole body just buckle down and the only thing comfortable for me was standing on a mat by the bed to catch the fluid/blood/going to the bathroom. I felt like I did this for hours - I don't know how long I actually did. By about the fourth or fifth exam I finally just said "When is this going to change??" And they brought the doctor in, she checked and said "I think everything has progressed enough you can just push past this and you'll open up fine" and they put the footrests up and got me into position. It all happened so fast that my original idea for using the birthing bar on the bed flew out the window, and I figured I would just go with what they were doing. The thought of repositioning was also extremely repugnant to me at that point. I pushed for a while, kind of learning what a good contraction felt like and what a good push felt like. They asked several times if I wanted a mirror, and I really didn't. DH and I had talked about that before, and knowing me, it would have frustrated me more if I saw progress with the head, but then it drew back, which is what I have heard can happen. After several of these and making it past the pubic bone, they broke down the end of the bed and spread out a giant table and some instruments just in case - luckily episiotomies are not routine here - and then I really started pushing - 3 for every contraction. I don't know how many there were before I could feel the head, but that really motivated me through the final stages. At a certain point, I wasn't putting my legs down to rest in between, and I remember feeling amazed when we got to the final set of 3 - like, "That's it?" I could feel when it was the last set and was so relieved when the whole baby slid out. We had not found out the sex, so when my doctor announced "It's a .. boy!" I had to cry a little bit, I was so happy. I had felt he was a boy all along, but people tried to convince me otherwise. Henry was born at 1:25am on Dec. 22, a little over 24 hours after my water had broken.
I did have a second degree tear that required stitches right after the placenta was delivered, and I really hadn't seen the baby other than the brief couple of moments he was on my chest right after delivery. Because of my GD, he had to have his blood tested right away. They wanted it to be 45 or higher, and his was 39. The nurses let me feed him and he ate for about 15-20 minutes. They tested him again and sent it to the lab instead, and since it was 44, they decided he didn't need to go to the NICU (Thank God, I don't think I could have handled it after everything.) - he weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches long at 38 weeks 2 days. He had to have his blood sugar tested the next couple of times we nursed, and he passed every one just fine.
I had been so concerned I would need to be induced or have some other kind of intervention because of the GD, and am so thankful we got to have the delivery I had wanted. Henry Alfred is perfectly healthy and was worth every minute of those 24 hours - I would do it again for him everyday if I had to.
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Re: Natural Birth Story with Gestational Diabetes
TTC #1 since 10/2012.
BFP#1 11/28/12, MC, BFP #2 CP
BFP #3 10/21/2013, EDD 7/3/2014
Beta #1 (4W6D): 1768 Beta #2 (5W1D): 5255
1st US at 6W4D HB of 112 BPM!
1/20/2014: IT'S A GIRL!
6/30/2014: Happy birthday baby M!
Over-40 parents...what we lack in vigor, we make up for with cunning.
What a terrific story -- thank you for sharing!
Such a good idea to articulate exactly why you didn't want the pit. I'm glad they didn't continue to bring it up to you after that.
Congratulations
Welcome to the world, Henry!
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Congrats! I wish I had been as strong as you about the pitocin! I gave in the second time they pushed it, and my labor was still 22 hours, you did good mama!
Also, I LOVE the name Henry. My nephew is a Henry :-)