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My birth story and baby pictures!

Geekchick921Geekchick921 member
in 3rd Trimester

I'm sure this is going to be ridiculously long...

On Monday the 22nd I hadn't felt the baby move much at all since early in the morning.  That afternoon I had a big glass of OJ and a PB&J and laid on my left side for awhile and still had only felt a few of the tiniest little nudges.  I got concerned and called my OB's office, and they told me to come right in.  The doctor said her pulse sounded okay but they still had to send me to L&D for monitoring.

I got upstairs and checked into triage.  Of course, she starts to punch the fetal monitor pretty much as soon as they hook her up to it.  Still, the OB on call for my office wanted me to have an amniotic fluid index (an ultrasound to check my fluid level), as that might have been the reason for the decreased movement.  It took me HOURS to get down there because it was late and the radiology department runs on a skeleton crew at night.  The radiologist said my fluid was indeed low, and the OB decided to induce me. 

I got into a real L&D room around 11PM and we had to wait for one of the OBs to come and examine me, which they did, between C-sections.  That OB measured me at more like 2cm and 60% effaced (baby still at -2) instead of the 2-3cm and 70-80% effaced my office docs said I was, but whatever.  They hung the pitocin at 1AM.  I didn't sleep too well that night, and it wasn't really the contractions.  The BP cuff attached to the fetal monitor that got WAY too tight went off in 15 minute intervals, waking me up every time.

At 8AM they examined me and I was 3cm.  They broke my water.  After that, the contractions were awful.  I don't know how often they were before that, but they quickly became 1 minute long, every 2 minutes.  Oh my GOD, I couldn't take it.  At 9AM I asked for the epidural and had it by about 9:30.  It was heavenly.  I would just look at the monitor and rave each time a contraction popped up on the screen because I couldn't feel it. 

The only thing that sucked about that was being bedridden.  I was stuck on the monitor because I was being induced but I could go to the bathroom before that.  I tried the bedpan once, and I was able to use it, but they sat me upright to use it and the pressure of my uterus on my aorta nearly made me faint.  I came REALLY close.  Then they had to cath me.

At 2PM, I was 5-6cm dilated and 90% effaced and she had finally moved to -1 station.  Unfortunately, that's when I stopped.  They checked me again at 4PM and I was 6cm, pretty much 100% effaced, but she was still at -1.  To top it all off, her heartrate was starting to drop with each contraction.  The doctor gave me the C-section shpiel, which I knew was coming.  I REALLY didn't want one.  If her heartrate hadn't started to drop on contractions, I would have kept going, but that really made the C-section less of a choice and more of a necessity.  I started crying and signed the consent form after about 15 ? hours into my induction.

Sometime between 5 and 5:30 I was in the OR, and DH stayed with me the whole time.  I didn't even know they'd started (I asked and they were like "Oh yeah!").  She was born at 5:48PM.  She is 20 ? inches long and was 8 lbs. 4oz. at birth.  They told DH to look over the curtain to see her and he started crying.  I started crying as soon as I heard her crying.  I didn't get to see her for a few minutes while they wiped her down and everything, though they put her in my arms to be wheeled back to my room after they closed me up.  I got to try to nurse her almost right away (one of the nurses was great with helping me my first time) and they didn't take her to the nursery for about an hour.

Over the course of the day, DH agreed her name would be Sarah, but if he hadn't yet, I would have told him that was going to be her name after I needed the C-section.  Wink

I love my little girl to pieces, though I am still disappointed about my failed induction/C-section.  That said, the C-section has some benefits: my bleeding is less than I expected, and I have no tear, episiotomy, or ?rhoids from pushing.  The incision looks great and I'll probably have a very thin scar.   I'm just hoping I can attempt a VBAC with later babies.

And finally, some pictures!

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Wife, mom, Ob/Gyn resident
Sarah - 12/23/2008
Alex - 9/30/2011

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"I say embrace the total geek in yourself and just enjoy it. Life is too short to be cool." - Shirley Manson, Garbage
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