Birth Stories
CelticWife
member
In short: Nathan was born on Monday, Nov 24th, the day after his due date. He was 7 lbs, 3 oz, and 20 in long.
Long: On his due date (DD), I felt odd; wasn't hungary, lost my mucus plug, and had spotting. After we picked up my mommy in law, had dinner, and all went to bed, I started having contractions. At 2:30 AM we started timing them; 4 minutes apart, about 40 sec in length, and we were just waiting to see how long they lasted.
Around 5:00 AM I called the hospital. The nurse told me to drink a glass of water, lay on my left side, and if I still had 5 contractions in the next hour to come on in. By 5:30 we started packing up to go.
By 6:30 we were at the Hospital in our triage room. Generally, you stay in the same room the entire time you are laboring/delivering; unfortunately, their 6 rooms were already full. By the time I had Nathan, there were 11 women in labor on the floor.?
?Baby boom anyone?
At admission, I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and at 0 station. I had two nurses; awesome new lady named BJ, and polite but cranky Colleen. So far so good.
Then they had a lady come draw my blood. I think she is evil incarnate. For the first draw, she stabbed the needle into my arm; the needle was literally perpendicular to my arm. Then, she didn't draw all the vials she needed so she had to re-stick (re-stab?) me, in the process raking the needle across the top of my skin; there is a scratch on my arm along with a nasty yellow bruise. Those two blood draws hurt worse then labor.?
How to describe contractions? Well, for me it was like a menstrual cramp; it started in the front of my abdomen and would spread towards my back and hips. It was the pain in my hips that was the worst.?
Also, stretch marks get worse during labor. No one ever told me that before! When the nurses put the baby's heart beat monitor on my belly, I noticed that I now had stretch marks all the way around my belly button. When I mentioned it, Colleen was like, "Get over it. They will be 10 times worse by the time you deliver." Thanks cranky butt.
As soon as I got all my fluids, I got an epidural. I think it was around 11. It took the anesthesiologist three tries to get it in place; the first was my fault because I moved, the second it just wasn't in the right place, and the third time was golden! For an epi, you have to sit on the edge of the bed, curl over a pillow, and try not to move when they stick you in the back. It doesn't really hurt, other then the pressure of them placing the tubing.
Epidurals are beautiful things, lol. Your entire lower body goes numb; although I could still feel the toes on my left foot... But it allowed me to take a nap, which I desperately needed!
Around noon they broke my water (I was still at 4 cm). It just feels really wet.?
Around 2 they inserted an internal monitor to keep track of the strength of the contractions and they gave me pitocin.?
The most irritating thing about my labor was the automatic blood pressure monitor cuff. It took my BP every 15 minutes. Gah. And, after a few hours the stupid thing started breaking. It would over-inflate and then an alarm would go off and then a nurse would have to come in and reset it and then it would repeat. I kept trying to convince DH to let me chuck it out the window. He wouldn't though...?
Around 4:30 my doctor came in; I was 9.5 cm, 100% effaced, and almost ready to go! They said they would give me about an hour, would check me again, and then I might get to start pushing!
As my nurse was finishing the charting, I began feeling some pain and serious pressure with my contractions. I mentioned it to her, and she told me to push the extra dose button on my epi (you have control over your epi there). Then the alarm on my epi pump started going off. My nurse tried to fix it and had to call the anesthesiologist. Apparently, my vertebrae are really tight and pinched off the tiny epi tube. So, yeah it wasn't going to work but guess what? Pushing time!
And yes, I pooped, lol.?No big deal though.
Anyways, I pushed for an hour and a half; average for a primip like me (first baby). It hurt like the devil, especially since my contractions went from barely able to feel the contraction to I can't breathe through them will someone just pull him out already contractions.At the end, Nathan's heart-rate dropped and wouldn't go back up. I then had to push between contractions as well. The docs actually used the vacuum to help him come out. (I had no idea until much later that they used one.) He was here at 6:49 pm.?
He wasn't crying when he was born, so they took him over to the warmer and I couldn't see him. His initial Apgar was 5, then 8. I had a tear, and they gave me stadal so they could fix it. I could barely keep my eyes open. They brought Nathan over to me but I couldn't really look at him. Then he was gone to the NICU.
It took about an hour to repair my tear; when he was finishing the stitches the first time and tying it off they broke so he had to start over. My stadal wore off by then so more pain. Yay! (The thing about Stadal is that it doesn't take away the pain, it just makes you loopy so you don't care. Give me the epi over the narcotic.)
After that they gave me a crappy turkey sandwich (not allowed to eat during labor and the cafeteria was closed by that point). My nurse left for a few moments and then I had to pee... badly. I buzzed her three times before she came back and I could pee. She was in shock that I was standing, doing the pee dance when she came back. lol
Then I switched rooms to my recovery room. Took a shower.?
Then we got to go see Nathan in the NICU. It was the first time I really got to see him. He was so cute!
He came back to our room around 9:30. He was so perfect!
Wrap up: It really wasn't that bad! I thought it would be horrendous, but in actuality, it wasn't bad! I never needed pain meds (after labor was over), had no really bad after pains, and it just wasn't as terrible as people told me. I already want another one!
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13
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Nathan's Birth Story- long
CelticWife
member
In short: Nathan was born on Monday, Nov 24th, the day after his due date. He was 7 lbs, 3 oz, and 20 in long.
Long: On his due date (DD), I felt odd; wasn't hungary, lost my mucus plug, and had spotting. After we picked up my mommy in law, had dinner, and all went to bed, I started having contractions. At 2:30 AM we started timing them; 4 minutes apart, about 40 sec in length, and we were just waiting to see how long they lasted.
Around 5:00 AM I called the hospital. The nurse told me to drink a glass of water, lay on my left side, and if I still had 5 contractions in the next hour to come on in. By 5:30 we started packing up to go.
By 6:30 we were at the Hospital in our triage room. Generally, you stay in the same room the entire time you are laboring/delivering; unfortunately, their 6 rooms were already full. By the time I had Nathan, there were 11 women in labor on the floor.?
?Baby boom anyone?At admission, I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and at 0 station. I had two nurses; awesome new lady named BJ, and polite but cranky Colleen. So far so good.
Then they had a lady come draw my blood. I think she is evil incarnate. For the first draw, she stabbed the needle into my arm; the needle was literally perpendicular to my arm. Then, she didn't draw all the vials she needed so she had to re-stick (re-stab?) me, in the process raking the needle across the top of my skin; there is a scratch on my arm along with a nasty yellow bruise. Those two blood draws hurt worse then labor.?
How to describe contractions? Well, for me it was like a menstrual cramp; it started in the front of my abdomen and would spread towards my back and hips. It was the pain in my hips that was the worst.?
Also, stretch marks get worse during labor. No one ever told me that before! When the nurses put the baby's heart beat monitor on my belly, I noticed that I now had stretch marks all the way around my belly button. When I mentioned it, Colleen was like, "Get over it. They will be 10 times worse by the time you deliver." Thanks cranky butt.
As soon as I got all my fluids, I got an epidural. I think it was around 11. It took the anesthesiologist three tries to get it in place; the first was my fault because I moved, the second it just wasn't in the right place, and the third time was golden! For an epi, you have to sit on the edge of the bed, curl over a pillow, and try not to move when they stick you in the back. It doesn't really hurt, other then the pressure of them placing the tubing.
Epidurals are beautiful things, lol. Your entire lower body goes numb; although I could still feel the toes on my left foot... But it allowed me to take a nap, which I desperately needed!
Around noon they broke my water (I was still at 4 cm). It just feels really wet.?
Around 2 they inserted an internal monitor to keep track of the strength of the contractions and they gave me pitocin.?
The most irritating thing about my labor was the automatic blood pressure monitor cuff. It took my BP every 15 minutes. Gah. And, after a few hours the stupid thing started breaking. It would over-inflate and then an alarm would go off and then a nurse would have to come in and reset it and then it would repeat. I kept trying to convince DH to let me chuck it out the window. He wouldn't though...?
Around 4:30 my doctor came in; I was 9.5 cm, 100% effaced, and almost ready to go! They said they would give me about an hour, would check me again, and then I might get to start pushing!
As my nurse was finishing the charting, I began feeling some pain and serious pressure with my contractions. I mentioned it to her, and she told me to push the extra dose button on my epi (you have control over your epi there). Then the alarm on my epi pump started going off. My nurse tried to fix it and had to call the anesthesiologist. Apparently, my vertebrae are really tight and pinched off the tiny epi tube. So, yeah it wasn't going to work but guess what? Pushing time!
And yes, I pooped, lol.?No big deal though.
Anyways, I pushed for an hour and a half; average for a primip like me (first baby). It hurt like the devil, especially since my contractions went from barely able to feel the contraction to I can't breathe through them will someone just pull him out already contractions.At the end, Nathan's heart-rate dropped and wouldn't go back up. I then had to push between contractions as well. The docs actually used the vacuum to help him come out. (I had no idea until much later that they used one.) He was here at 6:49 pm.?
He wasn't crying when he was born, so they took him over to the warmer and I couldn't see him. His initial Apgar was 5, then 8. I had a tear, and they gave me stadal so they could fix it. I could barely keep my eyes open. They brought Nathan over to me but I couldn't really look at him. Then he was gone to the NICU.
It took about an hour to repair my tear; when he was finishing the stitches the first time and tying it off they broke so he had to start over. My stadal wore off by then so more pain. Yay! (The thing about Stadal is that it doesn't take away the pain, it just makes you loopy so you don't care. Give me the epi over the narcotic.)
After that they gave me a crappy turkey sandwich (not allowed to eat during labor and the cafeteria was closed by that point). My nurse left for a few moments and then I had to pee... badly. I buzzed her three times before she came back and I could pee. She was in shock that I was standing, doing the pee dance when she came back. lol
Then I switched rooms to my recovery room. Took a shower.?
Then we got to go see Nathan in the NICU. It was the first time I really got to see him. He was so cute!
He came back to our room around 9:30. He was so perfect!
Wrap up: It really wasn't that bad! I thought it would be horrendous, but in actuality, it wasn't bad! I never needed pain meds (after labor was over), had no really bad after pains, and it just wasn't as terrible as people told me. I already want another one!
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13
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Re: Nathan's Birth Story- long
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13