May 2014 Moms
pistolpackinmomma
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S+TMs: Can we talk birth stories?
pistolpackinmomma
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I love reading birth stories!!
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pistolpackinmomma
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Re: S+TMs: Can we talk birth stories?
DD2: I was 38 weeks and had already been on bed rest for a week due to high BP. I had my membranes stripped in the office. I was determined to go into labor that night so I went and "curb walked" for 2 miles and then went home and had sex
DD2- induced at 38 weeks due to suspected IUGR, went in Thursday night at 7, started pitocin at 7am, got epidural at 9:00am at 4cm. Told nurse an hour later that I felt ready to push and she said "there's no way you're at 10 yet!" She checked me and sure enough I was ready. Doc barely made it. I pushed twice and she was born at 10:30. Kinley weighed 6lbs, 6oz.
BFP#3 9-4-13 Benjamin Lee born 4-28-14
I was induced that night (5 pm) with Foley bulb (I think that's the name?) + pitocin. Labored for 18 hours (most of it on the toilet) before asking for an epidural. Had a perfect epidural, loved it.
Rested, another 12 hours of labor, finally was ready and started pushing. Pushed for almost three hours in a variety of positions. The doctor with me was awesome, she was very encouraging. Baby never came down past +2 station. Frustrating doesn't begin to describe it.
By then I had spiked a temperature and baby's heartrate was up and down. Uterine infection. Of course. I was too tired by that point to be upset. Had a C section in the middle of the night. Didn't see my son for four hours after he was born. He had to go to the NICU for evaluation and another baby was having an emergency and requiring immediate attention. But when I did see him he nursed immediately and latched well from the beginning!
Overall not the birth I necessarily would have chosen but it was just one day.
I was ten days overdue with my son and had a nighttime induction scheduled. I woke up just after midnight of the day the induction was scheduled and wasn't sure if it was contractions or if I had to go to the bathroom. I tried the bathroom twice, then went to lay on the couch with the stop watch because I didn't want to wake DH if it wasn't 'for real.' He's a really light sleeper and came out to see what was up, then gave me a look and said if I thought it might be labor at 41 1/2 weeks pregnant, then it's labor.
We went to the hospital at about four in the morning. I wanted minimal interventions and no pain meds. One of the nurses really early on watched me white-knuckling the bed rails and writhing, trying to fight the contraction, and said something about how my plan wasn't going to work if I couldn't relax through the contractions. It was like a light switch, 'duh, this is what all those books were saying I should be doing now.'
The next eight or ten hours were kind of surreal. I laid on my side a lot, breathing deeply and focusing on relaxing as much as I could. Contractions felt totally different than I thought they would, kind of like ocean waves in my involuntary muscles. I remember breathing in and whispering to myself about relaxing on every exhale. Afterward DH said it was kind of freaky to watch, but in the moment he started whispering the back what I was telling myself, and it was perfect. The nurse and midwife seemed impressed with my focus and tried to minimize interruptions and just leave us to it.
I remember at some point starting to shiver and not knowing what was up with that. The midwife said it was a good sign of dilation and I should just keep working on relaxing. I also remember getting up to pee a couple times and throwing up in the bathroom. Thank goodness there was a big trash can right by the toilet. Then they said I could get in the tub and labor in there a while since I wasn't sure I could relax through the shivering anymore. It felt awesome, but after a while I realized part of the reason I was feeling so good was because the contractions were farther apart. I thought about just enjoying the tub a little longer and hoping labor would start back up without saying anything, but I told the nurse and they got me out of the tub. That's about where everything started to feel kind of wrong and awkward. My memory isn't well-ordered about the next hour or so.
At some point they started pitocin. At some point the midwife had the student break my water, and then later she said I was 9.5 dilated and she thought it was just my tissue bunching over my son's head like a turtleneck and started trying to help me figure out how I wanted to push. I didn't feel any urge to push but I figured she was the expert and getting it over with would be good. None of the positions felt right. Mostly I kept thinking about pooping in labor, and if it felt like I couldn't poop in that position then I assumed pushing wouldn't work either. My whole body was starting to feel awkward and almost foreign. Then somewhere in there a shift change happened and there was this peppy, pushy woman that DH thought was a resident. I tried to tell her to please be quieter, because I'd been in a nice dim, quiet cocoon for hours and hours, but I don't think she heard me, or understood if she did hear. She checked me and said I was 10, told me to lay down and grab under my knees with my feet propped on this bar and push. I'm kinda fat, and grabbing under my knees was uncomfortable with my fat legs and my huge belly, and then trying to keep my feet on that stupid bar was making my hips cramp up. The shaking was getting pretty intense again and I was trying to tell the stupid perky woman to stop it and that the position was all wrong. She checked me a couple times and it seemed like nobody could decide if I was 9 or 10, push or not push, do this position and go for it, STOP PUSHING! And it just sucked.
At some point she came up and said something like "This is what I would tell you if you were my own sista." (She seriously said it 'sista' and my already low opinion of her went down a few notches.) "I would tell her to get an epidural because then you won't need to be knocked out if there's a c section." I felt totally defeated, like 'well shit, here comes the c-section' and agreed to the epidural. Then I felt like a stupid weenie because holding still for the needle was easy, and I felt like if I could hold still then I shouldn't be agreeing to the epi, but didn't say anything.
I must've fallen asleep for a little while. When I woke up the room was dim and quiet again, and there was one nurse kind of watching over me. She said they'd turned off the epidural and were monitoring the contractions, I was 10 and the baby had progressed a little more down the birth canal while I was resting, and she was going to help me push. When I first woke up, the contractions felt like the baby pushing into my ribs with his feet, and I kept trying to rub and press to get him to shift. It took a while for me to realize that little discomfort that seemed so similar to baby movement was actually a contraction on epidural meds. I pushed for about three hours, gradually getting more feeling back. I remember a couple times a nice lady coming in and doing really quick checks and saying as long as I was progressing she was fine with leaving me alone with the nurse and not intervening. It sounded a little like there was an argument happening about me outside the room and some people wanted to just do a c/s and get it over with, but the nurse was an old pro and the doctor had every confidence in her. They had me on oxygen and IV fluids for a while, I think because my son's heart rate was a little low, but even that was pretty mellow. That nurse was completely amazing. I sent her a thank you card later.
Then it was show time and a bunch of people were in the room and all the lights were on. Benjamin was crowning and they asked if I was ok with an episiotomy, and they actually waited for me to answer thank goodness. I remember accidentally saying I didn't want the epidural twice, then just said the cut, I'd rather not have the cut, and the nurse repeated it to them to make sure they heard. Then Benjamin was born and it was totally strange. I wanted a little water but nobody could hear me ask for it except my husband, and we're both quiet people. It was just weird. There was a learner doing my stitches and a doctor guiding her through it, and I could hear them murmuring to each other but they couldn't hear me at all. They didn't do most of my postpartum stuff, presumably because of meconium in the fluid. He was 9 lbs 7 oz, 22 1/2 inches, born just before one a.m., and he'd been facing towards my hip on the way out. After they did all the checking and measuring and wiping they handed him to us all bundled up and we got to begin the postpartum adventure.
Only July 17, I wake up at 5am, decide I can't sleep with the apt in such disarray, so I get up to unpack a little before I needed to be at work at 8am. I go to the bathroom and seemingly can't stop peeing. It finally hit me that my water broke and by 1:30 that afternoon DS was in my arms. (Forgot to add that I finally requested an epidural around 5-6cm, but it never took - I felt everything. I'm leaning towards a functional epidural this time.)
Me: 31, DH: 34, Married 5/29/05
BFP #1: 6/22/10, EDD 3/6/11, DS born 2/25/11 @ 38w5d
BFP #2: 7/27/13, EDD 4/9/14, CP 8/3/13
BFP #3: 8/31/13, EDD 5/10/13, DD born med-free 5/9/14 @ 39w6d
Late in the evening the nurse decided to try to stretch my cervix a little when she checked me. She didn't warn me and I was immediately in tears. After I calmed down, I slept awesome. I woke up about 6 am with period like cramps and felt something trickling down my leg. I told the nurse and she said it was probably just melted gel. I got up to go to the bathroom and it gushed down my legs. Sure enough my water had broken and I was dilated to 4. Apparently the contraction monitor hadn't been on me very well while I was sleeping. When she put it back on my contractions were right on top of each other. The nurse was clearly frazzled that she had missed this and was trying to cover her ass before her shift ended. She started some fluids and my uterus calmed down. Thankfully, her shift was over and we got a much more attentive nurse for the day shift.
Within the hour I asked for my epidural and anesthesia came right away. I thought it was pretty painless and I felt immediate relief. I relaxed and napped for a few hours.
Around noon I tried to roll towards my right side and immediately felt a lot more contractions. It felt like my epidural was gone. The nurse called anesthesia and they came right away again. They attempted giving me a bolus off of the pump which did nothing but make me puke. Eventually they replaced the epidural. At that point I was dilated to a 6 or 7.
Again I was able to nap off and on for a few hours. By 4pm or so I was a 9, almost 10 with a little lip of cervix that didn't want to budge. The nurse was worried that it would swell if I tried to push. She sat me straight up in bed for an hour. My doctor showed up and I was a 10.
The nurse helped me with a couple "practice" pushes and after a few I got the hang of it and she called my doctor back in (apparently she was sitting at the nurses station online shopping). At some point the nurse had turned off or turned down my epidural. I could feel enough pressure to know where to push but it wasn't exceptionally painful. I pushed once with my doctor and she said ok stop and she started getting her garb on. A couple more pushes and DD was out!
My husband was ready to cut the cord but it was super super short. My doctor couldn't even put her on my abdomen with her attached, so she quickly cut the cord and suctioned her mouth and nose. She weighed 6lbs 1 oz and was 19.5 inches. She was born at 5:46pm.
She laid DD on my chest but it was pretty clear that she wasn't pinking up or breathing very well. She had some pretty deep retractions. The baby nurse took her to the warming bed and called the NICU. They gave her CPAP for a few minutes and that got her going. She was back on my chest, breastfeeding by the time my doctor was done delivering the placenta and stitching me up.
I was up, walking to the bathroom within an hour. They transferred us to the postpartum room shortly after. We got settled and my parents brought us a pizza. I was starving! The room had a queen size bed so DH didn't have to sleep on an uncomfortable couch again. In the morning I showered and put on my own clothes and underwear! My pain and bleeding were both minimal after the first few hours.
Overall, we had a pretty good experience. Other than the nurse I had the night I was induced, we had great nurses and wonderful care. This time I hope I don't have to be induced but I will be delivering at the same hospital with my same doctor.
Nora - 10.26.12
Henry - 5.9.14
At 130am on 12/1, I got up to pee and realized I was having some cramping. It was enough to keep me from being able to sleep so I spent the rest of the night on the couch.
For the remainder of that day/evening, the contractions weren't unbearable or even all that painful, but they took my breath away. They stayed anywhere from 8-20 minutes apart. I camped out on the couch that night.
Around 5am on 12/2, they jumped to 4-6 minutes apart and were pretty intense. We left for the hospital around 745am. Admitted around 830am at 2cm. An hour later I was 4cm, they broke my water. An hour or so after that I asked for the epi and was 5-6cm after it was in place. I napped a bit and by 2pm I was fully dilated. Started pushing around 230, DD was born at 252pm. 7lbs15oz, 20 inches. They put her on my chest right away and she latched on an nursed within half an hour.
I had a second degree tear. And almost passed out in the bathroom when they had me get up after the epi wore off.
Overall, I had a great experience and I hope this one is the same or better!
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
LCT - 5.15.14 ~ 9lbs, 22.5 inches
We got admitted and were given the most wonderful and supportive nurses based on the fact that I wanted to attempt a med-free birth. Then we sat around and twiddled our thumbs all day. I walked the halls and tried to relax in bed, but I still wasn't feeling much despite the continued frequent, mild contractions being reported by the monitors. By 4:00pm, I was still only 1-2 cm dilated and was reluctantly talked into some pitocin. The nurses knew I was afraid of the pit and started my on the lowest possible dose and only increased it my 1mL/hour at a time.
At 8 or 9pm, the OB on call stopped in. She said I was 2-3 cm, but I was feeling discouraged and called her bluff, and she admitted I was pretty much just a two. She gave me permission to order some dinner and told me to get some rest.
Active labor finally started overnight, maybe around 2am. I was able to sleep between contractions until about 5. At 5:30, I woke DH to help me deal with the intensity. The nurse stopped in to check me at 6am, declared me to be 5-6cm and said she felt a bulging bag of waters--a big surprise since things began the morning prior with a huge gush. My water was broken for the second time at 7 and things went quickly from there.
Sometime after 9 I started getting the urge to push. The nurse asked me to try a practice push and quickly told me not to do that again as she hurried about trying to prepare the room. My OB was at her office and had told us that she would be there around 10:30 after a few appointments. The doc was called and told to come ASAP, and I was told to resist the urge to push (if anyone tells me to do that with my upcoming labor, I'm telling them to go to hell). My OB finally arrived, not sure what time it was, and DS was born at 10:04--only 10 contractions after that practice push.
Dr- Have we determined what position you are in
Me- ummm sitting on your table (we joke a lot and I like to smart off to him)
Dr- no I mean the baby
Me- head down last week
Dr- well I don't feel anything
Me- you have half of your arm up there, you must feel something
Dr- Nope. I don't think you're really pregnant.
Me- you caught me. I ate a watermelon seed.
Dr- I told you not to do that. Let's send you back for an ultrasound (he has his own equipment) and then we'll talk some more.
He walks out and I start freaking. DH asks what's wrong and I freaked out and said "The baby is breech. This damn kid is breech and now I'm going to need a c-section. And as far along as I am it will need to be by the end of the week so you better be ready!" My husband assures me he is ready but that he's sure it's not as bad as I'm thinking. The sonographer comes to get us and asks what we're looking for today so I told her the baby was breech. DH corrected me that the dr thinks he is breech. She reassures me that we don't pay him to think (obviously a joke but this is why I love my OB office) and that everything is probably just fine. 2 seconds into the ultrasound it's confirmed, breech baby. She goes to get the dr. He walks in and this was that convo:
Me- when?
Dr- when what?
Me- baby is breech?
Dr- yes
Me-c/s?
Dr-yes
Me-when?
Dr- I'd like it no later than Wednesday or Thursday
Me- can we just do it tonight and get it over with so I can get my tax deduction? (It was NYE)
Dr- ummm yeah if you really want
DH- Thursday will be fine. (Guess he wasn't so ready after all!)
We get to the car and that was when I lost it. I bawled my eyes out. I called my mom and asked if she could take Thursday off and she said yes but asked why. I started crying again and DH had to take the phone to let her know what was going on. Pretty sure my mom's mind went to the worst at that point. We instructed our parents to tell nobody that I was going in for a scheduled c-section. We scheduled the c/s for 1/3 at 8 AM. I showed up at 6 (they want you there 2 hours early) to get settled in and paperwork out of the way. They asked about and preferences I had so I told them and the nurse wrote them down. I was wheeled back at 7:45 where they started my spinal. Once they had the spinal in and I was all set up they let DH in to sit by my head. The spinal made me dry heave and they kept waving alcohol pads under my nose and DH wiped my face with a cool cloth. The dr asked if I could feel anything and I said I could tell he was touching me but not what he was doing. He said good because he was cutting. This was 8AM. It was so weird to feel everything but yet nothing. At one point the dr told the nurse to pull harder and that she should have ate her wheaties that morning. He got the butt pulled out and offered DH to be able to stand up and look and he did. I still have not asked him what it looked like. At 8:05 I heard the most beautiful cries come from DS. I had to remind DH that he needed to go take pictures so he went snapped a few and kept coming back. I probably looked like a mad person in there yelling at him to get more pictures. They took DH and DS to the recovery room while they stitched me up. When I got there DH was holding him and explaining the world to him. We were able to BF immediately but did need some help with the latch. After 2-3 hours we let our parents back and other visitors we held off until regular hours (3-8 pm) so we didn't get overwhelmed. DS was 9 lbs 3 oz and 18.5". We took 36 hours to name him even though we only had 3 names on our list when we walked in. The spinal took 24 hours to wear off and it sucked being bed ridden and not feeling my legs for that long.
Bonus: my last bump pic, the morning of my c-section! I look horrid but this was also 5 AM and I had been up all night freaking out.
But I could totally be the odd one out. I have had friends bitch about that. And I just thought to myself "Why?"
I like hearing all of it, the good the bad and the ugly.
Got to the hospital at 2cm with regular but mild contractions, they started pitocin at 9 (I think they were quick to do it since they already had my iv bags ready and labeled for my induction that afternoon). Seemed to stall at about 4cm. Asked for epidural at around 11:30. I was getting frustrated and was so uncomfortable. The constant feeling like i needed to use the bathroom was awful for me.
While getting the epidural my husband said my eyes rolled to the back of my head, my blood pressure plummeted and the anesthesiologist said, "wow, she really doesnt like needles". I was still happy i got it. 10 minutes later the nurse asked if I was having contractions. I said no. .. the monitor said yes. I slept for a while then.
I started pushing at 2:50pm. Only pushed every other contraction because they were right on top of eachother Started crying when the dr. threatened a csection. Figured out how to push better. Baby boy was born at 6:18pm. Episiotomy and 3rd degree tear. I feel like they were stitching for eternity. He was 9lbs 5oz. at 39 weeks with a 99%ile head circumference. I don't want to think about his size if he had been born at 41 weeks and will want to be induced with this one if he is measuring similarly.
Aubrey Lynn was born at 4:21 am on 9/6/12 (our 3 year wedding anniversary and one day after my due date) weighing 7 lbs 13 ozs 20 inches long!
I am probably not going to write a full on birth story because it's just not my style but I am so completely in love it's indescribable and I wanted to share.
Here are my highlights:
1. Drugs are AMAZING, I slept most of the night waking up for them to see if I wanted to roll towards the other side and then to push.
2. My husband is AMAZING. He was a lot more involved than either of us thought he would be, we both cried when he announced "It's a girl" and everything even the hemmies (ouch) were/are totally worth it! And then just to make sure I had no time to dry my eyes this was his Facebook announcement:
3. Nothing will ever prepare you for what a "conehead" actually looks like. I have never seen anything like it and it was ummmm... scary, I thought there was something wrong, but everything is normal now!
4. Breastfeeding is painful, challenging and not for the weak at heart.
5. This has been the best three days of my life and I cannot wait to see what is to come.
On Friday, April 30th around 7 P.M., I started feeling very mild contractions. Though I wasn’t totally sure I was actually in labor since I was about a week and a half overdue already! Around 10:30 PM, I called Valerie (our doula) to tell her that I thought I was in early labor. Then I went to bed and tried to sleep. (Chad was able to sleep, I wasn’t.) My contractions got stronger throughout the night and made it really hard to sleep, although they still weren’t too bad. I was able to doze a little between them.
By Saturday morning I still wasn’t sure I was really in labor b/c they contractions were spacing out more. So we went about the day keeping things low key and I tried to rest as much as I could. We ordered pizza for dinner and I soaked in the tub for awhile before trying to go to bed again.
It was pretty much impossible to sleep at this point. I had Chad call Valerie around 1:15 A.M. to tell her that labor was getting stronger. By 3 A.M. the contractions were coming closer and were stronger, so even though I wanted to stay at home as long as possible, we went to the hospital b/c I was sure I was in active labor and didn’t want to have the baby at home!
At the hospital we had a great nurse who helped me breathe through the contractions that were getting even stronger as I was laying down on the bed. Even the nurse thought I’d be admitted b/c of how strong and close the contractions were coming, but when the resident OB checked me, I was only dilated to 2 cm, but was 80% effaced and baby was at -2 station. Since I wanted to do a natural birth, I was sent home to labor.
So around 7 A.M. we headed home and I rested on the couch while we waited for Valerie to get there. She arrived around 9 and I was still having really strong contractions, but they’d spaced out to 8 minutes apart. I was able to doze for 8 minutes and then it was like having a waking nightmare. I had decided that I couldn’t go though another night w/o sleep, so we would go back to the hospital and hope that I’d made more progress.
It was about 4 P.M. when we headed back to the hospital. When the resident checked me this time I was 4-5 cm dilated and 100% effaced, so I was admitted. Our nurse, Arlene, was great and allowed me to labor using intermittent monitoring, so I was able to walk around. 2-3 hours later, I was checked and hadn’t dilated much more. We asked if the Dr would break my water, but said that since it was buldging, it would probably break on its own. It was frustrating b/c I knew my labor would speed up if it broke.
When I was walking back to the bed, another contraction hit, so I hung on to Chad. It was then that my water broke. This was around 8 P.M. The Dr checked and I was now dilated to a 6 and my water had in fact broken on it’s own. This meant that I was restricted to the bed b/c they were worried about cord prolapse. This is something that continues to anger and frustrate me. The chance of that happening is sooo rare.
After a few hours I started to feel ‘pushy’. I was checked again and was only dilated to 7.5 cms. Since it was getting hard for me to not push and I wasn’t dilated enough to push, I was started on a low dose of pitocin to speed up my contractions and get me dilated. Labored while laying on alternating sides for some time. Next time I was checked I was 9.5 cm, so I still couldn’t push although it was manageable to breathe through the contractions.
Soon though it became almost impossible to not push, so I was checked again and only had a just a lip of my cervix left in the way. Dr. tried to stretch it to move it out of the way, but it wasn’t stretchy enough. I was okayed to do little pushes with the contractions, but to hold off as much as possible.
Eventually I was dilated to 10 cms, but since my Dr. wasn’t here, I was told not to push yet. WTF??? We were all irate at that! I flat out said, “ I’m pushing now. I don’t care. One of you can catch the baby.” So everyone got into place and helped me push.
I continued to push for 3 hours w/o any progress. Then the birth bar was put into place, so I could try to use gravity to help me bring the baby down. It felt good and like I was finally working with gravity. That didn’t work though, so we tried using the balance ball. At this point though, I was losing focus and was completely exhausted. It seemed as though everyone had given up. The mood in the room was very deflated. At some point while I was pushing, my Dr finally showed up. She checked me again and the baby was +1 when I pushed but moved back up after. She also found that baby was OP or sunny-side up.
We discussed letting me ‘labor down’, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to rest during the contractions – the were too strong, even though the pitocin had been turned off. So eventually, I made the decision to so a c-section. I just couldn’t push any longer!
At 6:45 A.M I as wheeled into the OR and a spinal was placed in my back. The relief from contractions was immediate. Everything felt tingly like my body from my chest down was falling asleep. Chad came in and sat at my head. At 7:14 A.M., Chad looked over the curtain to announce that we had a BOY! Lucas William had finally made his entrance into the world.
Chad was able to go over and see Lucas while I was being stitched up. Those were the longest minutes of my life. They finally brought him over to me and I was able to see and kiss him. Chad went w/ him to the NICU while I lay in recovery. It was then that I was finally able to process what had just happened to us. While I was glad we were both healthy, I cried over what had just happened and the fact that I wasn’t able to feel my baby come out of my body. It was about 2 ½ hours later that I was finally able to bond with him and breastfeed him.