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April 2014 Moms
hlm184
member
hlm184's Not Quite Natural Birth Story (PIP)
hlm184
member
TLDR: Michael Caleb was born on Sunday the 6th at 40w5d after 32.5 hours of back labor. 7lbs, 11oz, 20 inches long and super cute!
Things started around 5 am on Saturday, with back labor contractions that were regular and strong enough to wake me up and keep me from getting back to sleep. I got out of bed around six and puttered around a bit. By 9 am, contractions were every 4-8 minutes. Around 3 pm we were at every 3-4 minutes, plus I was starting to have to manage the pain with breathing techniques. I held out until about 9:30, then we headed for the hospital.
I was about 4-5 cm dilated at that point, so I just kept working through contractions with DH's help. The midwife and nurses mostly kept out of our way since we were on top of things and working well together.
By 1 am I had made it to a 7-8 and contractions were coming nearly continuously. Everyone thought we were close, and even though it was back labor I was handling it well. Things stalled out there though, and when 5am (24 hours into this process!) rolled around I was still at a 7-8. At that point, factoring in my exhaustion, we decided to start some interventions. First they broke my water, and when that did nothing we started pit. After that things get pretty hazy in my memory. I know it was the hardest things I've ever done, the worst pain I've ever experienced. DH was fantastic helping me through, but by around 9 am I was utterly exhausted and still not fully dilated, so we decided to gamble on getting an epi so that I could rest.
The epi was successful, and once it kicked in and they put me on oxygen, I passed out in an instant. A few hours later I woke up, much recovered, fully dilated, and ready to push. At 12:22, 32 and a half hours after labor began, my sunny-side up baby entered the world all in a rush. 7lbs, 11oz, 20 inches long.
Even though it wasn't the natural birth we'd planned on, I think we made all the right choices, given the circumstances. I cannot say enough good things about our support team - the midwife and both shifts of nurses were amazing. I also could never have done it without DH's help. The nurses said he was the most supportive father they had ever seen.
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Re: hlm184's Not Quite Natural Birth Story (PIP)
Natural miscarriage @ 8 weeks - 3/8/2005
Big Brother "Skippy" born - 2/28/2007
Missed miscarriage - (EDD 3/5/2013) - D&E @ 11 weeks - 8/8/2012
"Hen" (EDD 6/7/2013) - born sleeping @ 19 weeks - 1/15/2013
"G-Unit" born - 4/14/2014 and he's 100% perfection!!
BFP#1 9/5/12, MMC, MC confirmed 10/9/12,
D&C 12/12/12 BFP#2 7/30/13, EDD 4/12/14, DS born 4/14/14
He is beautiful and you did a great job!!