Birth Story (sorry it's late and long...)

Brief overview:

I was due on March 22, 2013. Baby Simeon was born on March 7, 2013 at 6:34 am via emergency C-section. He weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I am EBF and he is healthy and happy.

Extended version:

Around 11 pm March 5, I get up to use the bathroom and feel a small gush of water. I was afraid my water may have been leaking so I called L&D at my hospital and they told me to come in since I was GBS + just to see if I was leaking fluids. First, I have to wake up my 4 year old and my fiance and we called MIL to take us to the hospital. I wasn't really panicking but SIL was. She thought I was going to have the baby in the car. The hospital is about 10 minutes away.

Anyway, we get to the hospital and I am taken to L&D emergency. They ran some tests, and sure enough, I was leaking amniotic fluid. The ER nurse comes in to do my blood work and start the IV. I told her I have small, deep veins. She pushes this giant needle into my arm near the crook of my elbow and I told her it hurt but she wouldn't take it out. I was crying at this point!!! (I ended up with a bruise 3 inches long and 1 inch wide that lasted for 2 weeks in that spot) Eventually another nurse was called and she had no trouble finding a vein in the back of my right hand.

I get started on the antibiotics and they monitored me every 2 hours. I was trying for VBAC. I tried to sleep, but it was hard with nurses poking at me all night long. I get to 4 cm dilated by 9 am on March 6 and then it seemed I wouldn't progress any further. The OB ordered a pit drip for me. The nurse on shift at the time (bless her heart, I loved her) refused to give me more than the absolute minimum dose since I was contracting fine and she firmly believes in letting women labor on their own. I manage to sleep and nothing exciting happens until shift change that night.

I get 2 new nurses who crank up the pit. I started feeling the contractions coming harder and faster. Still nothing really painful, but sleeping was out of the question. I get on the labor ball but now I have to be monitored constantly, so no more unsupervised bathroom trips lol.

Oh, and my fiance was sleeping most of this time or on his phone on Facebook. He even brought food into the room, which made me mad since I couldn't eat anything.

After a few hours (it was after midnight on March 7 by this time) the OB checks my progress. Turns out, the leak had sealed back over. So she decides to break my water without warning me first. I feel this warm gush of fluid and at this point I ask for an epidural. I think I knew that I was going to have to have surgery again.

The anesthetist comes in and the pain goes away. I got lucky - the anesthetist on duty was the head instructor. (My hospital is a teaching hospital) I could still feel the pressure from the contractions but I couldn't feel any pain. He gave me a nice button to push if I started to feel pain again.

I start to feel baby descend and I really feel like I need to push, but the OB tells me not to. I was only 8 cm dilated. The OB and both of my nurses were in the room because baby's heart rate kept dropping. They tried to reposition me but it only caused a huge drop in his heart rate so they rush me to the OR, where I had to be put to sleep. That was terrifying and I could not stop shaking.

The problems don't stop there. I wake up in the recovery room at shift change. The new nurse has no idea how to administer my pain medicine and the night nurse just wants to go home so they input one number incorrectly. This means I couldn't get the medicine I need. So I was in hella pain when the nurses tried to change my pads. Eventually it got sorted out.

Then Simeon doesn't want to nurse. He's just too sleepy. So I pump and we feed him the colostrum by finger. He ends up losing almost a full pound by the time we leave the hospital.

All in all, it was a terrible experience but I am glad that I have my beautiful baby. He is eating well now, gained his birth weight back by the end of the first week home. He is now 12 lbs. My 4 year old is adjusting well to being a big brother. He wants to be involved in everything for baby Simeon.

Now if only I could get some sleep...