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XP from April 13: NB with Pre-E - yes, you can!

cheesecakerunnercheesecakerunner member
in Natural Birth
At my 38 week appointment on Monday 4/15, my blood pressure was high and my midwives sent me to labor and delivery. After some monitoring, I was sent home on strict bed rest and asked to return the next day. Tuesday (4/16), blood pressure was still high, and a few other tests labeled me as having pre-eclampsia, which was frustrating because I felt completely fine. After more monitoring in labor and delivery I was told the midwives would no longer be able to work with me and was transferred to an OB. The plan was to give me a few hours at home before coming back later that night to be induced. This was really hard because I was afraid that all of our plans of a natural med-free birth were about to go out the window. 

My doula suggested spending my break at the chiropractor and acupuncturist's offices. Those two treatments plus a few other remedies (pineapple, parsley, raspberries, bouncing on the birth ball) definitely worked and I was having mild contractions about 10 minutes apart when we left for our 7:30 induction appointment. 

When we got there, the nurse tried to push the cervadil immediately, but we bought ourselves some time and asked to meet the doctor first (shocking of us to request this!). Right before the OB stopped by, my water broke! The OB was actually fairly on board with our birth plan and now that labor was going on its own, we didn't need chemical induction.

After that, contractions started becoming much stronger and closer together. The nurse did need to place a hep lock in case I needed magnesium sulfate to avoid a seizure brought on by high blood pressure (I ended up not needing any of that, thank goodness!). I also had to be monitored 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off throughout labor. Luckily, this and a nursing staff change allowed me to labor out of the bed, in the tub, in any position that felt good with the support of MH and our doula. It didn't seem like too long before the doula was telling me I was in transition. We got the squat bar set up on the bed, and I was able to try pushing. When that position got too hard,  I turned around and delivered  on my hands and knees, pushing when I wanted, making the noise my body needed to make. Although we had asked for essential staff only in the room, I remember overhearing the crowd of nurses saying how cool it was because they had never seen anyone deliver in that position. 

When LO was born, MH was able to announce to me that it was a boy and also stopped the OB when she tried to immediately clamp the cord. This means we had exactly the fast (6 hours from water breaking to delivery), natural and beautiful birth we envisioned despite being labeled as "sick." The only thing that did not go according to plan, is that despite being told that we wanted to encapsulate the placenta, the pathology lab treated it with formaldehyde rendering it unfit for consumption.

We are home now. My blood pressure is good, LO is a nursing pro and we could not be happier.
 
Here is my sweet, sweet Baby.
 
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