I went to my 37 week appointment and was told I needed to have a baby.. Doctor swept my membranes because I was completely closed. I got to the hospital that night and was 2 centimeters. At 6:30 the next morning we started my pitocin drip. At 8:30 the doctor broke my water. And at 10:30 I got my epidural at 3 centimeters. At 7 pm I was only 5 centimeters and 70% effaced. The doctor decided that it was too risky to continue my labor and I needed to have a C section. At 8:05 my son was born on March 23rd. He was rushed to NICU shortly after birth because he had techypnea. An hour after he was born he stopped breathing, had he not been in NICU he would have died. When he was 6 days old he was finally discharged. Tripp William owns my heart!
I was chatting on Skype with SO when I felt something warm trickling down. I jostled myself out of bed, a gush of pink tinged liquid was on my bedroom floor. Proper movie style gush. I rolled a towel put it between my crotch and told SO on the computer to get his ass over here cause my water just broke. SO was six hours away from the hospital.
I donned a Depends and took a taxi to the hospital. Nurse checked for dilation and said I was 1cm dilated. I told her I had no contractions or pre-labour symptoms. I felt like an idiot explaining that I still haven't felt the difference between BH and baby movements. She checked me into my post-labour room and told me to come down the 2nd floor once contractions are 4-5 minutes apart. I had my TENS machine unpacked and began listening to some relaxing meditation. My contractions came fast and strong, 2-3 minutes apart and approximately 1.5 minutes long. WTF, I thought it was a gradual increase in length and intensity?! I was paralyzed with fear and the Hypnobirthing techniques I learned just went out the window. The electric stimulation from the TENS were no match for the contractions. I was already anxious cause SO wasn't with me and labouring alone proved to be too difficult. I went down to the 2nd floor after 2 hours and was dilated to four. Asked for the epidural and embraced the drugged out calm. I was able to feel my legs and the pressure of the baby coming down but there was no pain.
After 3 hours I was dilated to 10. The midwife was concerned because SO was still not at the hospital and I was technically ready to push. She said it could wait another half an hour and I told her that the safety of the baby was the most important. I started pushing at 7 and SO arrived at 7:30! Baby slowed down at this point and I had a hard pushing. The doctor did a vacuum extraction and LO was born at 7:50. My vagina aftermath was a 1st degree tear. I was up and moving the same day and haven't felt any repercussions from the epidural.
I think I had an okay birthing experience. The midwife was amazing and I think it went by pretty fast since I skipped the pre/early labour part. Best thing of all is that I'm no longer pregnant. And I have a brand new nugget! Y
545am: I was laying in bed and felt 2 semi uncomfortable contractions and on the second one I heard two pops then a gush of fluid went everywhere. I got up and showered because I was still leaking and I thought that would get it all out not realizing that once your water breaks it doesn't just stop. 8am: Got sent home from the hospital because I wasn't having any contractions so they said to do stairs and be active to make them start 1pm: finally started having contractions and they progressed very quickly 3pm: contractions were 3 mins apart and what I thought were very intense so we went back to the hospital only to be sent home because I was only 2cm and 75% effaced. As soon as we got home they got even more intense and close together. 7pm: I couldn't take it anymore so we went back to the hospital. I was 8cm and moved straight into the delivery room. I got laughing gas for all of 20 minutes and it was time to push. I pushed for a little over an hour. 8:51: little baby Nash arrived! Weighing 6lb 3oz and 18.5 inches long.
I'm so happy I got to have a completely natural and drug free labour and he was born happy and healthy. He is nursing like a little pro and we can see him chunking up already.
Woke up went to work. Spent about 5 hours there. Joked around with all of my managers. Since the 18th was my official last day. Left at two to go spend time with my family (uncle was taken off ventilation while I was at work. So we were gonna sit with him until he passed) left to get food was at my grandparents house and my water broke at 4:15ish. Drove from there to the hospital to get my car. (My hospital is 20 minutes from the hospital my car was at.) My dad drove us to my house, dropped off my car and drove to the hospital in the patents car. Got to the hospital and up to the L&D floor at about 5:30ish. We got settled into the room and hooked up by 6. I was at a 5. And the contractions were five minutes or so apart. After an hour they were one right on top of the other and terrible. I ended up getting an epidural at three hours in even though I was going to go without. Afree the epidural kicked in they checked me again and I was at a seven. A couple of hours later I was at a 9. Finally hit a ten at 10:45 but Roo was still too high. Pushing started at a bit after midnight and out came Roo ten til 1. That was probably the worse pain I've ever been in. Even with the epidural. But I had minimal tearing and was up and walking by 2 with little to no pain. I'm just so glad Ive got him. And he's safe and beautiful. And hairy. Like a monkey. But all mine and daddy's.
I was due April 1st, but LO decided to come a day early. On the 30th, I was feeling very achey and my belly felt heavy, and generally it hurt to move. I thought I had done too much at work the night before, because I was convinced I would end up going past my due date. The 31st was going to be my last day at work, but I called out because I felt so achey. Good thing too, because I work up at 1:30 am on the 31st to use the bathroom and saw what I thought was my mucus plug. I immediately started feeling contractions, so I jumped in the shower (I wanted my hair to be clean while at the hospital, haha). Woke DH up and I called my OB practice and the on call Dr told me to wait till I was having 12 contractions in an hour before coming to the hospital. Well mine were coming every few minutes. While on the phone with him, liquid ran down my legs and it was green. I told him and he said if it only happened once, it was probably just runny mucus plug, but if it kept coming out it was probably my water. Well now I knis it was my water that broke and it was meconium.
DH and I packed a bag and left for the hospital, which was an hour away from where we live. After I got off the phone with the Dr, I started timing my contractions, and they were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting for a full minute. Luckily there was no traffic on the interstate since it was in the middle if the night. We were halfway to the hospital when I got scared thinking we might not make it and I would have the baby in the car. Each contraction was worse than the last and at one point I felt baby move down some.
We got to the hospital at 3:30 and the RN first said I was fully dilated (insert second moment of panic, thinking I was going to have to give birth med free) but she rechecked and said I was at 4cm. It took an hour and a half before I could get the epidural. The pain was awful, but I sat on the edge of my bed and tries to breathe through them as best as I could. DH was a great support too. At one point I actually started crying uncontrollably because I was so scared. I had to calm myself down, but I had imagined labor would start off with mild contractions that gradually increased, but mine started so fast and I had no time to prepare for the pain. There was no gradual increase, lol! Finally got the epi and my God it was bliss! They checked me 30 min later and I was fully dilated. I pushed for 2 hours, and they had to give me pitocin because my contractions were slowing down a little. LO's heart rate was slowing down after each push. The Dr ended up using a vacuum to help LO out. Once he was born, they whiskedhim over to the warmer to suction him because of the meconium. There were about 10 people in the room when he was born. Baby had trouble eating the first 2 days in the hospital, and was almost admitted to the NICU, but luckily he finally started eating from the bottle. The neonatal nurse said it could have been that his throat was irritated from all the suctioning, because he made a pained face each time he was offered a bottle.
He only lost 4% of his birth weight even though he barely ate the first 2 days. We've been home a week now and he is doing great and making up for lost time with his eating. Overall my birth experience was not what I expected, but went just fine. My mom was in labor with me for 32 hours, so I expected to be in labor for a long time. DH and I joke that if we have another baby, we have to pick a hospital that is much closer, since labor progressed so fast, lol!
Isabelle arrived at 37 weeks, 2 days due to signs of pre-eclampsia. I went in for a biophysical/NST and after getting the results of that combined with a 24 urine test result showing major spilling of protein I was admitted into the hospital on April 5th to begin induction.
I was given three doses of cytoteck over night and my water broke at 5:30 a.m. Pitocin was started around 9 a.m., by noon I was 3 cm and asking for an epidural. No regrets on that one. They check me at 3:30 and I was 5 cm. The baby's heart rate was getting low so the nurse checked again and I was 10 cm (went from 5-10 in an hour!). The doctor made it and I started pushing and baby had to be vacuumed out. Her birth was quick and we are so happy she is finally here!
On 4/6/16 I went for my 39 week apt and growth scan because LO had been measuring large all along. U/S tech est her to be about 8lb1oz but mentioned lots of fluid. When I went in to see my dr she said my BP was high and I had protein in my urine. She mentioned how my BP had slowly been creeping up these past couple of weeks after great BP readings all along and with the protein she was sending me to L&D for observation.
DH and I went home to get our bags and get everything in order with our dogs and headed to the hospital. We were there for a couple of hrs and my dr who was on call made the decision to induce based on inconsistent BP readings and protein increasing. Right after midnight I had began the cytoctec and was given a balloon. I was told when the balloon fell out I would be at 4cm. A little over an hr later the balloon fell out and nurses had assumed I was at 4cm and the cyctotec was working at softening my cervix and let me sleep.
The next morning the nurse checked and I was only at 1 1/2 cm. They continued with the cytoctec a few more times and started me on Pitocin around noon. I was slowly progressing but had really bad back labor and contractions, I was given a pain reducer but once it wore off I got the epidural so I could sleep a bit. Within minutes of being given the epi, DD heart rate dropped and the resident dr along with a bunch of nurses came rushing in. I was so out of it, I couldn't comprehend what exactly was going on ( i have horrible reactions to pain meds). The resident Dr came in and told me she was breaking my waters, being I had extra fluid I was gushing to the point the dr was even shocked. Another Dr/nurse was giving me an injection, another giving me oxygen along with others in the room. My dr then came in and thankfully DD started to stabilize, I saw my husband come in the room (he had to step out when I was given the epidural) and by the look on his face I knew there was something wrong. Again the epi completely knocked me out and I was in a fog, I had no idea that this was going on for 8 min. Once everything stabilized, my dr told me that DD heart rate is back to normal but they were beginning to prep me for a C-Section. After processing what I happened I broke down in tears and wasn't sure if I would be able to handle what was yet to come. My BP was low for the rest of labor to the point it kept setting of the monitors. After a few more hours I was fully dilated but not fully effaced on my right side to start pushing. I was given a "peanut" shaped ball to put in between my legs and lay on my right side to help.
A little while later I was ready and my nurse started to coach me while I started pushing. After several pushes my Dr was called in and called for them to "break the table". As she was prepping I started telling them that DD was coming and i needed to push, after 2 sets of 3 pushes DD was out! We did skin to skin as the dr was stitching me up. After awhile they took DD to clean her up and weigh her. My dr was still working on me, and without DD in my arms to distract me from the pain and discomfort I noticed my dr was still working down below. When I asked how bad I tore, she said it wasn't bad at all but I had a large cervical tear that she was working on. She told me we needed to go to the OR to finish stitching me up because I kept bleeding.
Looking back labor was such a scary and crazy experience for me. I now understand why woman don't want to be induced. I'm home now and beyond obsessed with LO who has made this experience totally worth it!
I went in on the 31st of March for my last ob visit. Everyone in the office apparently thought I would go before then. I had been 1cm dilated and 80% effaced the week before. She checked and I was the same. I really didn't want an induction because I knew there would be no possible way for me to try doing it natural. i had gestational diabetes so they weren't going to let me go too far past my due date and scheduled me for the induction prep on my due date April 3rd. We went in that Sunday night to get the prep drug put in and low and behold I was 3-4cm dilated and 90% effaced. It took two nurses to check... They were highly uncomfortable and drew blood... But hey, I didn't have to have the ripening agent! They told me to sleep and they'd start the induction at 7:00 in the morning. That was the first of my sleepless nights. If they offer you a sleeping pill, take it! You aren't going to be sleeping for a while.... I had contractions for most of the night, but they were still pretty much in the Braxton hicks category.
At 6:30, they finished hooking me up to the monitors and the IV. Another cervical check right before we started put me at 5cm and 100% effaced. LO was station -1. They started the pitocin at level 2 and would increase it by two as needed. I was told that they normally had to go up to 20 for most pregnancies or 40 for stubborn ones.
Contractions weren't bad at all. They were like weak period cramps. I mean they hurt sure, but they'd go away. My doc came in and broke my waters at almost 9. After a couple hours of this I had to go to the bathroom. There was a lady down the hall who was going natural and screaming her head off. They were so high pitch screams! Kind of disturbing to be honest. I suddenly thought, I don't want to want to push without and epidural. I had to get back in bed and hooked up to the monitors again. Then the real pain started. I was in transition. It was around 13:00. The nurse came in and said she was thinking about upping the pitocin. I said that before she even thought about it, I wanted the epidural! It took about an hour to get the drugs, the guy who put it in was amazing! He did it in the middle of a contraction and I didn't feel it or ever see the needle! At that point I was 8cm From there things got easy. I played cards with my family... I did get the shakes pretty bad, which were annoying, but honey, compared to labour they are wonderful! She ended up leaving the pitocin at 8 and I progressed to 10cm by 2:00 My hospital does something called labouring down. This is when you have an epidural and you are fully didilated, but they allow your body to continue with labour to bring th baby further down the birth canal. They hardest part is to ignore the great urge to push. I had to keep adding more of the epi( it was on a pump and I could add an extra shot as needed ) so I wouldn't push. after about an hour and a half of that, it was time to push... Pushed for 15 min and out popped my baby Eliot! 2nd degree tear, minimal hemroids and two stitches in my urethra... Not bad all considering! He was born at 4:04 on 4/4/16 in room 4 of the birthing center... Which is funny... So that was my labour... I thought with all the induction horror stories, this board needed a success story. Really 9 hours of labour and 15 min of pushing, with pitocin, doc breaking my water, epidural... The only regret is not getting the epidural an hour sooner. Best darn invention ever... Seriously. If you are the type who doesn't like to be touched when in pain and can't move from the bed due to monitors, get the epi! It's wonderful!
I was due on March 28th, but that day came and went! My scheduled induction was for April 5th at midnight. I had my usual weekly checkup with my OB on April 4th around lunchtime. She checked my cervix and said that I was still only about 1cm and 50% effaced. I had been that way for a month! Fortunately when I got home I started having contractions around 2pm. I laid in bed and watched a movie until they began to get 3-5 minutes apart. My husband and I decided to head to the hospital, but first we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for some nuggets so I'd have something in my system! I ate about half of them in between contractions.
Once we got to the hospital around 8pm, the triage nurse checked me, but I had made no progress since my OB check earlier that day. They decided to admit me anyway because I was having painful contractions and I was due for an induction at midnight anyways. Once I arrived in the Labor & Delivery room, things got intense. Contractions came extremely fast and painful to the point that I puked Chick-Fil-A nuggets all over DH! They checked me again, and still no progress! By midnight, they decided to start with the induction by giving me half a pill of Cervidyl. About an hour later, my water broke. The nurses checked me, but I still had barely progressed to 2cm. At this point, I was having very strong, painful contractions, and the nurses suggested that I take some IV painkillers to take the edge off so that maybe I could dialate a little easier. The painkillers worked for about 20 minutes, and although they didn't ease the pain of the contractions, they helped me relax between them. By this time it was about 2am, the drugs had completely worn off and I was dying for an epidural. Suddenly, I felt this crazy sensation- as though someone had grabbed my belly and crushed it into my pelvis. The nurses checked me again, and *oh shit* I was fully dialated and 100% effaced. No call for the doctor yet, and no anesthesiologist for the epidural yet! By the time my OB and the anesthesiologist arrived 20 minutes later, it was too late for an epidural. They offered a spinal tap, but I decided to just go all natural and have my baby! Twenty minutes later, and about eight pushes, and my beautiful baby boy was born! It was such a sense of overwhelming joy that I didn't care about the placenta or the two minor stitches I needed. The pain was unbelievable, but your body has a way of protecting you so you don't remember the pain so well after the fact. I would do it natural again in a heartbeat!
For those of you that are overdue- I was eight days overdue with my son and he was only 7lbs 9oz. I'm glad that I didn't jump the gun and induce sooner, because he would have been pretty small. Hang in there- you'll be glad you did!
All of the previous week I had been struggling with low amniotic fluid, and had been told to drink 15 cups of water a day and keep careful kick counts. Sunday morning, I felt my son's kicking was slightly low and decided it couldn't hurt to get checked out. My local hospital is close and they see you very promptly.
So I went in, expecting a normal visit and maybe IV fluids since I was still just 37 weeks. They checked my blood pressure though and it was sky high! Over the course of the next hour the readings continued to show up ridiculously high, despite no history of BP issues at all. Since I have epilepsy, and high BP can cause seizures, they made the call to induce me then and there.
I had nothing packed, so I sent my husband into a blind panic at home putting things into bags (even though I told him this would take a while) for myself and our little man. My mom caught the next flight from Cali to Miami, and they began Cytotec on Sunday night.
First they started me on Magnesium Sulfate, which was horrible. My BP plummeted immediately and I had to be put on O2. Way to start the day, right? Luckily the dosage was stabilized after that first bag, and the only side effects I felt after that were just that I was SUPER hot. From there on out, my room was kept at 60 degrees. Everybody visiting just had to deal!
Monday I had no change, no dilation at all. They continued with the cytotec through FIVE rounds of it, four hours a round. The contractions were showing up on the NST monitors, but honestly I wasn't feeling anything. By Monday night I still had no dilation, and they suggested Cervadil.
The problem seemed to be that my magnesium sulfate is a muscle relaxant, while the cytotec is supposed to be making things (i.e. the uterus) contract... So we had two things playing against each other and my body not really ready at 37 weeks.
Anyway, cervadil is the same hormone, and also a vaginal suppository, but only slightly differently applied. It would be 12 more hours if I chose to try that. I still wanted to give my son a chance at a vaginal delivery, so I went for it. Around 2am, a nurse came in while I was about 28 hours in to the induction process, completely sleepless, and my vagina was swollen like a balloon from all the cervical checks... And she and I had a long chat. She kind of said that while my OB practice is a "babycentric" practice and will keep pushing for this induction, she could see I had given my son everything I had and my body was not cooperating. She said it was up to me to put my own foot down if I wanted something other than more induction attempts.
I thought about it, and by 32 hours in, I had made peace with the idea of a c-section. I was even looking FORWARD to it! Now convincing my doctor was another story...
She suggested I nap, and we try a "mechanical induction" with a foley bulb. Then Pitocin. I had to basically insist I was no longer willing to be experimented on, and have a mini tantrum before she agreed to the C section.
The c-section went beautifully. I was anxious beforehand, but a shot of Valium beforehand made it a breeze. The smell (like burning) was a surprise, I'm glad I had read about it beforehand. My husband is a little bit of a gruesome freak and was watching the whole time, and flipped out when they pulled our son out. He was so excited to cut the chord, and I think bonded with him even more instantaneously than I did!
They gave him to me in the recovery room and a lactation nurse pretty much came up and milked me during that time, which was awkward but I was so out of it that I was happy to put forward minimal boob effort and maximum snuggles.
The very first night, however, the nurses noticed that he was very hard to rouse from sleep. Since I had been on the magnesium sulfate from Sun-Tues, they were concerned it had transferred to him. A blood test unfortunately confirmed this was the case, and earned him an immediate residency in the NICU. All week Daddy and I have been in there feeding him, snuggling, and monitoring as they weaned him off. We've been loving watching him grow perkier, and seeing his personality grow each day as that nasty stuff leaves his system. Fingers are crossed that both he and I get to leave tomorrow, together!
Late birth story, but wow has it been so crazy and amazing with a newborn. Every day I cannot believe that he is actually here, and I get to keep him! On April 11th about 3am I had my bloody show. I had some sporadic not too bad contractions, so I decided to go to work and hope it would progress labor. That did the trick! I worked from 8am to 4pm and had to call hubby to take me home, contractions were getting painful and 6 min apart. I really wanted to shower and prepare before we went in, so I was home until 9:30 ish when I couldn't take it anymore. I convinced myself n hubby that I would probably get sent home and I would be happy to have dilated to a 1. Got checked and I was at a 5! I was getting admitted and I was so happy, none of the nurses believed that I could be doing that well in labor, but I was so relieved to find out baby was coming soon! After being admitted I got in the jacuzzi tub. Stayed in tub for 1 hr and contractions were more painful. I agreed to a check and I was at a 7! After that, pain took over and I laid in the bed, or walked, or cried, or just laid on either side. At one point I asked for a pain med, was given fentynal (sp?) I was told it would relieve pain for 30 min, and not work very well if I was given it again. I didn't care, and took it! Got 30 min of sleep, after that, back to painful contractions! Near the end I kept telling them I had to poo, but I was stuck at 9pm for awhile and some of my cervix was still in the way. When I got to 10, my nurse was able to move remaining cervix out of the way and waters broke. After that we had to wait for dr for me to push, which was hard! But dr finally got there and I had to push! At that point I didn't think I could do it, I didn't say it out loud but kept thinking I wanted a c-section instead! But bodies do some amazing things, and after 20 minutes (I thought I reached my 2hr limit haha!) Head came out, and shoulders were luckily easier than his head! I had 2nd degree tear, which stitches were not too bad when she did them, all I cared about was my baby! He screamed for what seemed like 1 hr straight! I held him first when they cleaned him off, but Dad got to have him while I delivered placenta and got stitches. Wyatt James was born 4/12/16 at 8 lbs 4 oz (also 2 days before due date) . He is so stinking amazing
Love these birth stories, and all these squishy babies!!
On 3/23 I ended up going to the hospital at 36 weeks for preterm labor. They managed to stall my labor with rest and IV fluids and sent me home the next day. From that point on, my LO moved less and less... At 38 weeks I had a growth ultrasound to help determine if I should have a c-section versus a vaginal delivery because of my history of shoulder dystocia. The tech even commented on how little he moved, which was great for her. At my next appointment, my doctor scheduled an induction at 39 weeks, since he felt a c-section would be overkill. He never told me what my LO's estimated size was.
On 4/11, I noticed a wet spot on my underwear right before bed that didn't look or smell like VF or pee. I wrote it off as paranoia. The spot returned when I woke up. I decided to go to work anyways. At around 9 AM, I decided to go check on the wet feeling I had. Halfway to the bathroom I felt a small gush. I spent a decent amount of time in my work bathroom, putting my butt back on the toilet when a small gush happened when I tried to stand back up. No contractions at that point, so I went on the hunt for a pad. After checking two differ net bathrooms, I gave up and went back to my desk to work on a gigantic stack of paperwork. Contractions started shortly after sitting down and were 5 minutes apart.
I finished one stack of paperwork and called L&D. They told me to come in. One of my coworkers helped me stand up, and my water broke in a gigantic gush that soaked through my jeans and left a puddle on the floor. He stood there, freaking out, not knowing what to do. I finally got him to snap out of it and call the supervisor over. The supervisor had me sit down while I called my MIL and he grabbed a golf cart to take me to the front of the building. DH wasn't answering his phone. Apparently he had left it at his desk while at a meeting. My MIL took me to the hospital, my water breaking in small gushes with each contraction.
My labor was fine until about 7 PM, when the contractions had slowed down but had increased in intensity. They gave me the option of pit to speed things back up. I reluctantly said yes, since I was sick of being at a 6 for so long. After the pit was started, I asked if I could take a bath, since the pit contractions were far worse than the normal labor contractions had been. They said yes, but only after double checking my dilation. Apparently someone had drained the tub while I was waiting to be checked, so I had to labor in a filling bathtub... By the time the water may have been high enough to help, I knew it was time to push.
I asked the doctor to turn off the pit while I pushed. She was against it, but did it anyways.
Just as I feared, LO got stuck at the shoulders. This time around, I knew my baby was stuck. I tried pushing as hard as I could, but my body wasn't responding. The four medical professionals in the room were yelling at me and trying to give me instructions. Eventually they flipped me over, pulled my legs up, started pushing on my stomach, and telling me to push. LO had been stuck for a minute and had broken his left clavicle on the way out. They had to get him to start making noise. For a few seconds, he looked so lifeless on my chest. I thought he wasn't breathing, until they got him to start crying... Which got me crying. Af that point, DH was sitting, shaking, panicking... He was beyond relieved when he heard our baby start to cry. I had to actually call him over to say hello to his son. He was so shaky getting up.
I was actually the one to cut the cord, since DH can't handle those kind of things.
After letting us relax for two hours, the doctors came back to do measurements. It was then that they noticed that I was having excessive bleeding. I had to hold onto the nurse from dizziness. The doctor then swept out as much nasty as she could from my uterus, which was incredibly painful, even with the pain medication they gave me right before. They preformed an ultrasound to make sure that there weren't any more gigantic clots or a piece of placenta left inside. It wasn't conclusive, so I was heavily monitored for my bleeding. Thankfully, it eased up after the exam. I think I left the hospital bleeding less than I did with my first.
My baby boy was born 4/12/16 at 9:35 PM. 8 lbs 9 oz 20.25 inches long.
The doctor highly recommended that I only have c-sections from here on out, since all of my births involve shoulder dystocia.
On 3/23 I ended up going to the hospital at 36 weeks for preterm labor. They managed to stall my labor with rest and IV fluids and sent me home the next day. From that point on, my LO moved less and less... At 38 weeks I had a growth ultrasound to help determine if I should have a c-section versus a vaginal delivery because of my history of shoulder dystocia. The tech even commented on how little he moved, which was great for her. At my next appointment, my doctor scheduled an induction at 39 weeks, since he felt a c-section would be overkill. He never told me what my LO's estimated size was.
On 4/11, I noticed a wet spot on my underwear right before bed that didn't look or smell like VF or pee. I wrote it off as paranoia. The spot returned when I woke up. I decided to go to work anyways. At around 9 AM, I decided to go check on the wet feeling I had. Halfway to the bathroom I felt a small gush. I spent a decent amount of time in my work bathroom, putting my butt back on the toilet when a small gush happened when I tried to stand back up. No contractions at that point, so I went on the hunt for a pad. After checking two differ net bathrooms, I gave up and went back to my desk to work on a gigantic stack of paperwork. Contractions started shortly after sitting down and were 5 minutes apart.
I finished one stack of paperwork and called L&D. They told me to come in. One of my coworkers helped me stand up, and my water broke in a gigantic gush that soaked through my jeans and left a puddle on the floor. He stood there, freaking out, not knowing what to do. I finally got him to snap out of it and call the supervisor over. The supervisor had me sit down while I called my MIL and he grabbed a golf cart to take me to the front of the building. DH wasn't answering his phone. Apparently he had left it at his desk while at a meeting. My MIL took me to the hospital, my water breaking in small gushes with each contraction.
My labor was fine until about 7 PM, when the contractions had slowed down but had increased in intensity. They gave me the option of pit to speed things back up. I reluctantly said yes, since I was sick of being at a 6 for so long. After the pit was started, I asked if I could take a bath, since the pit contractions were far worse than the normal labor contractions had been. They said yes, but only after double checking my dilation. Apparently someone had drained the tub while I was waiting to be checked, so I had to labor in a filling bathtub... By the time the water may have been high enough to help, I knew it was time to push.
I asked the doctor to turn off the pit while I pushed. She was against it, but did it anyways.
Just as I feared, LO got stuck at the shoulders. This time around, I knew my baby was stuck. I tried pushing as hard as I could, but my body wasn't responding. The four medical professionals in the room were yelling at me and trying to give me instructions. Eventually they flipped me over, pulled my legs up, started pushing on my stomach, and telling me to push. LO had been stuck for a minute and had broken his left clavicle on the way out. They had to get him to start making noise. For a few seconds, he looked so lifeless on my chest. I thought he wasn't breathing, until they got him to start crying... Which got me crying. Af that point, DH was sitting, shaking, panicking... He was beyond relieved when he heard our baby start to cry. I had to actually call him over to say hello to his son. He was so shaky getting up.
I was actually the one to cut the cord, since DH can't handle those kind of things.
After letting us relax for two hours, the doctors came back to do measurements. It was then that they noticed that I was having excessive bleeding. I had to hold onto the nurse from dizziness. The doctor then swept out as much nasty as she could from my uterus, which was incredibly painful, even with the pain medication they gave me right before. They preformed an ultrasound to make sure that there weren't any more gigantic clots or a piece of placenta left inside. It wasn't conclusive, so I was heavily monitored for my bleeding. Thankfully, it eased up after the exam. I think I left the hospital bleeding less than I did with my first.
My baby boy was born 4/12/16 at 9:35 PM. 8 lbs 9 oz 20.25 inches long.
The doctor highly recommended that I only have c-sections from here on out, since all of my births involve shoulder dystocia.
I can relate to your story and it makes me think about my next child and be more viligent about growth scans ( which I never even really got) My LO got stuck at the shoulders as well- and they were ready with an pediatric orthopedic doctor to break her shoulder if need be. With my pushing and the assistance of 3 doctors they were able to get her out without breaking anything.
I am very glad you and your baby are okay and thank you for sharing your story.
On 3/23 I ended up going to the hospital at 36 weeks for preterm labor. They managed to stall my labor with rest and IV fluids and sent me home the next day. From that point on, my LO moved less and less... At 38 weeks I had a growth ultrasound to help determine if I should have a c-section versus a vaginal delivery because of my history of shoulder dystocia. The tech even commented on how little he moved, which was great for her. At my next appointment, my doctor scheduled an induction at 39 weeks, since he felt a c-section would be overkill. He never told me what my LO's estimated size was.
On 4/11, I noticed a wet spot on my underwear right before bed that didn't look or smell like VF or pee. I wrote it off as paranoia. The spot returned when I woke up. I decided to go to work anyways. At around 9 AM, I decided to go check on the wet feeling I had. Halfway to the bathroom I felt a small gush. I spent a decent amount of time in my work bathroom, putting my butt back on the toilet when a small gush happened when I tried to stand back up. No contractions at that point, so I went on the hunt for a pad. After checking two differ net bathrooms, I gave up and went back to my desk to work on a gigantic stack of paperwork. Contractions started shortly after sitting down and were 5 minutes apart.
I finished one stack of paperwork and called L&D. They told me to come in. One of my coworkers helped me stand up, and my water broke in a gigantic gush that soaked through my jeans and left a puddle on the floor. He stood there, freaking out, not knowing what to do. I finally got him to snap out of it and call the supervisor over. The supervisor had me sit down while I called my MIL and he grabbed a golf cart to take me to the front of the building. DH wasn't answering his phone. Apparently he had left it at his desk while at a meeting. My MIL took me to the hospital, my water breaking in small gushes with each contraction.
My labor was fine until about 7 PM, when the contractions had slowed down but had increased in intensity. They gave me the option of pit to speed things back up. I reluctantly said yes, since I was sick of being at a 6 for so long. After the pit was started, I asked if I could take a bath, since the pit contractions were far worse than the normal labor contractions had been. They said yes, but only after double checking my dilation. Apparently someone had drained the tub while I was waiting to be checked, so I had to labor in a filling bathtub... By the time the water may have been high enough to help, I knew it was time to push.
I asked the doctor to turn off the pit while I pushed. She was against it, but did it anyways.
Just as I feared, LO got stuck at the shoulders. This time around, I knew my baby was stuck. I tried pushing as hard as I could, but my body wasn't responding. The four medical professionals in the room were yelling at me and trying to give me instructions. Eventually they flipped me over, pulled my legs up, started pushing on my stomach, and telling me to push. LO had been stuck for a minute and had broken his left clavicle on the way out. They had to get him to start making noise. For a few seconds, he looked so lifeless on my chest. I thought he wasn't breathing, until they got him to start crying... Which got me crying. Af that point, DH was sitting, shaking, panicking... He was beyond relieved when he heard our baby start to cry. I had to actually call him over to say hello to his son. He was so shaky getting up.
I was actually the one to cut the cord, since DH can't handle those kind of things.
After letting us relax for two hours, the doctors came back to do measurements. It was then that they noticed that I was having excessive bleeding. I had to hold onto the nurse from dizziness. The doctor then swept out as much nasty as she could from my uterus, which was incredibly painful, even with the pain medication they gave me right before. They preformed an ultrasound to make sure that there weren't any more gigantic clots or a piece of placenta left inside. It wasn't conclusive, so I was heavily monitored for my bleeding. Thankfully, it eased up after the exam. I think I left the hospital bleeding less than I did with my first.
My baby boy was born 4/12/16 at 9:35 PM. 8 lbs 9 oz 20.25 inches long.
The doctor highly recommended that I only have c-sections from here on out, since all of my births involve shoulder dystocia.
I can relate to your story and it makes me think about my next child and be more viligent about growth scans ( which I never even really got) My LO got stuck at the shoulders as well- and they were ready with an pediatric orthopedic doctor to break her shoulder if need be. With my pushing and the assistance of 3 doctors they were able to get her out without breaking anything.
I am very glad you and your baby are okay and thank you for sharing your story.
My oldest was only stuck for 30 seconds and had no broken bones, so my last doctor figured that the outcome would be similar or better with a vaginal delivery. Since he was wrong, I'll be taking the hospital doctor's advice and making sure precautions are taken early instead of at 38/39 weeks for any future pregnancies. DH thinks that any future children that we have should be delivered via c-section, since neither one of us want to risk that scenario (or a worse one) again.
LO is doing well and taking comfort in lots of breastfeeding sessions and mommy snuggles.
We checked in at 10am and prepped for the c section. Things went ok. Every one was friendly. The spinal was a tad painful but not as bad as others I had received. During the process DH cut the cord and recorded many things he was not expecting to witness. We both cried once they placed him on my chest. The whole process took 38 mins! Things started off well during recovery and after going into our postpartum room. Around 10pm we noticed that one of my staples were leaking. After trying to apply pressure and dress it again it continued. OB had to be called in to remove the staple and cauterize the leak. Some of these nurses/assistants had no bedside manner and moved me around in painful ways. Finally got fix and have tons of painful bandages I need to keep for 48 hrs. LO is doing great with BF and pooping tons. He spills up more while laying instead of when I burp him. DH has officially had more sleep than me which upsets me a bit (I've only had like 2 hrs and some dozing off while feeding. But he deals with all the diapers. Hopefully I feel better today and things go well with visitors (aka my mom). I have only had a bit of crackers and apple juice since midnight before the section. I'm starving!!! Oh and LO already made me bleed
I had a precipitous labor- just under 3 hours- and it was the most intense and painful time of my life. DH and I went to bed at 9 and 5 minutes after laying down, I had a hip shattering contraction. 4 minutes later I had another one. Something told me we needed to go to the hospital right away. We threw a sleeping DD in her car seat and called my mom to meet us at the hospital. We got there at 945. I told the ER triage nurse that I needed to go up to L&D NOW. I was screaming in pain while a full ER waiting room watched. Sitting down made contractions hurt more do I opted to walk myself. We got to L&D triage. They had to get a 20 minute monitoring strip before I could go back to my room. I stripped off my clothes and labored on all fours while my DH watched in horror. I got to my room a little before 1030 and got right in the tub. It definitely helped calm me down. At 1115 I jumped out of the tub and got on the bed on all fours again. I was the only labor happening at the time so my midwife was there for the whole thing. She said she had to check me one more time. I was complete and could push if I wanted. I screamed like a banshee through each contraction totally throwing out all of the hypnobabies stuff I practiced. DS was facing my right hip and pushing was excruciating. I started almost falling asleep in between contractions. My water broke and then he came flying out with the next push. He stayed on my chest for 90 minutes while I got stitched up internally and externally. I had excessive bleeding so I was given a shot of pitocin in my thigh. The whole process was terrifying, surreal and awesome at the same time. I was the lady that could be heard screaming down the halls.
We went in for scheduled induction at 6A on 4/18 at 39.1. Started at 3cm, 70% effaced. They waited to start pitocin until 7:15 since babe was being lazy. OB came in and checked me at 8:30, I was at a 4, and she broke my water. Contractions got incredibly intense and were lasting 1 min plus, with only 1-2 min inbetween. I asked for epidural and got it placed around 10:30. The nurse went to check me a few minutes later because I was still having pain and ridiculous about-to-shit-a-bowing-ball pressure.. go figure, I was at a 10 already. Epidural never actually took. I had a little bit of numbness upper abdomen and tops of feet, but that was about it. (We had problems with my epi with my son too, as it only took on one side initially. One side is definitely better than no sides, I must say.) I definitely pooped on the table and didn't care (let's just say I was terrified prior), and the feeling of crowning was unreal, but the power I felt with pushing was so much more effective IMO. It felt almost impossible to wait for them to set up for delivery, she and I were both ready. My OB was only in the room for 2 minutes before Lucy was born at 11:30. I had a 2nd degree tear and my OB didn't even know that my epidural hadn't taken until I told her I could feel her doing my stitches.
I never planned on going basically unmedicated with a pitocin induced labor, but we all survived to tell the tale. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it, honestly.. but I'd rather not do it again, haha. My PP healing has been better this time around, and I feel as though that may be partially why.
I was sound asleep and had this dream involving going down a waterslide into water and trying to swim to the surface for air. I woke up at 5:30 am from this feeling the huge gush that was my water breaking. It got all over my pajamas but luckily only a little got on the bed. A whole bunch more got in the toilet and I was so glad I had bought Depends because I soaked through 3 pairs of them that morning. I was really scared and didn't have contractions quite yet but I knew going back to sleep was not an option. As I was eating breakfast shortly after I started to get painful contractions that were really frequent and about 30 seconds long. They hurt so much I decided to go to the hospital and got there around 7:30.
I was only dilated to a 1 but they gave me the epidural. I didn't want one of those originally but I was hating the nauseated feeling and going to poop feeling of the contractions. Unfortunately, I did not know the pooping feeling doesn't go away with an epidural and giving birth still hurts like a bitch. Once I got the epidural I got super shaky and terrified. I was having some sort of panic attack and felt like I couldn't breathe. It was terrible. Then I felt normal again and watched Golden Girls for a while until I was more dilated.
Then came 4 hours of horrible pushing. Maybe it could have been faster but I was holding back at first because I thought what I was feeling was poop but apparently it was the baby and giving birth really is like taking a huge shit. No one really explained this stuff to me before. I was so exhausted and miserable and I felt like it would never end. I got a bad tear and hemorrhoids! It was so crazy when my son was finally out though! I'm so glad he is here and the labor is over.
Story is a little late but as you can imagine it's been a little busy with a newborn. My due date was 4/11 and as we slowly moved towards that date I was starting to feel like I was going to go well past my due date. I had been at 1 cm forever and one of my docs was talking about inducing on the 18th. So the 11th came and I was feeling a little sad and anxious LO wasn't here yet. I went to bed that night and woke up around 2 with some of the same cramping I had previous nights. My BF woke up shortly after to see if I okay and I told him it was just a lil pain. I decided to take a shower to help with the pain but it didn't. At this point I accepted the fact that I was having contractions and they were about 3-5 mins apart. I was feeling like I had to poop and I really just wanted to go to the bathroom but even with the urge it didnt seem possible. My BF called the OB around 3 to let her know we were headed to the hospital. I only had 2 somewhat mild contractions on the 15 minute drive to the hospital and I was hoping I wouldn't get sent home. However with each contraction I still had this strong urge to poop. We got to the hospital and I was wheeled up to L&D. I had to provide them with all my ppw again before getting in a room. During this moment I had another contraction so I became annoyed with this process that really only took a few minutes. I get to the room and get hooked up to the monitors and the nurse leaves and says someone will be in shortly to check me. Well I waited what seemed like forever as the contractions suddenly got worse and was screaming for meds. ( Even though I'd planned to go natural) Yes I was that screaming lady, which I was embarrassed about later but oh well. But the nurses must have heard me because they finally came, checked me and I was ready to go. I was in so much pain at this point and told the nurses that I needed to push, I can feel him coming. But I dont think they were taking me seriously and one of the nurses told me to calm down. Seriously!! Lady needed to go. They rushed me to delivery and two pushes later my LO was born right at 4AM. So it was a rush. Everything moved so quickly. LO had pooped prior to delivery so when he was born they immediately took him to clean him up and make sure his lungs and everything were clear. I tore so had to get stitches. Also because I was never checked, they didn't have the opportunity to hook up my IVs so I had to get a potocin shot in my leg after birth so my uterus would continue to contract. LO checked out fine and we had our boy just 4 hrs late weighing 7 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. 4/11 is his cousin's bday so we joke that he just wanted a day of his own. Also, had I waited just a lil longer like I wanted to we could of had our baby on the car.
I was sound asleep and had this dream involving going down a waterslide into water and trying to swim to the surface for air. I woke up at 5:30 am from this feeling the huge gush that was my water breaking. It got all over my pajamas but luckily only a little got on the bed. A whole bunch more got in the toilet and I was so glad I had bought Depends because I soaked through 3 pairs of them that morning. I was really scared and didn't have contractions quite yet but I knew going back to sleep was not an option. As I was eating breakfast shortly after I started to get painful contractions that were really frequent and about 30 seconds long. They hurt so much I decided to go to the hospital and got there around 7:30.
I was only dilated to a 1 but they gave me the epidural. I didn't want one of those originally but I was hating the nauseated feeling and going to poop feeling of the contractions. Unfortunately, I did not know the pooping feeling doesn't go away with an epidural and giving birth still hurts like a bitch. Once I got the epidural I got super shaky and terrified. I was having some sort of panic attack and felt like I couldn't breathe. It was terrible. Then I felt normal again and watched Golden Girls for a while until I was more dilated.
Then came 4 hours of horrible pushing. Maybe it could have been faster but I was holding back at first because I thought what I was feeling was poop but apparently it was the baby and giving birth really is like taking a huge shit. No one really explained this stuff to me before. I was so exhausted and miserable and I felt like it would never end. I got a bad tear and hemorrhoids! It was so crazy when my son was finally out though! I'm so glad he is here and the labor is
Story is a little late but as you can imagine it's been a little busy with a newborn. My due date was 4/11 and as we slowly moved towards that date I was starting to feel like I was going to go well past my due date. I had been at 1 cm forever and one of my docs was talking about inducing on the 18th. So the 11th came and I was feeling a little sad and anxious LO wasn't here yet. I went to bed that night and woke up around 2 with some of the same cramping I had previous nights. My BF woke up shortly after to see if I okay and I told him it was just a lil pain. I decided to take a shower to help with the pain but it didn't. At this point I accepted the fact that I was having contractions and they were about 3-5 mins apart. I was feeling like I had to poop and I really just wanted to go to the bathroom but even with the urge it didnt seem possible. My BF called the OB around 3 to let her know we were headed to the hospital. I only had 2 somewhat mild contractions on the 15 minute drive to the hospital and I was hoping I wouldn't get sent home. However with each contraction I still had this strong urge to poop. We got to the hospital and I was wheeled up to L&D. I had to provide them with all my ppw again before getting in a room. During this moment I had another contraction so I became annoyed with this process that really only took a few minutes. I get to the room and get hooked up to the monitors and the nurse leaves and says someone will be in shortly to check me. Well I waited what seemed like forever as the contractions suddenly got worse and was screaming for meds. ( Even though I'd planned to go natural) Yes I was that screaming lady, which I was embarrassed about later but oh well. But the nurses must have heard me because they finally came, checked me and I was ready to go. I was in so much pain at this point and told the nurses that I needed to push, I can feel him coming. But I dont think they were taking me seriously and one of the nurses told me to calm down. Seriously!! Lady needed to go. They rushed me to delivery and two pushes later my LO was born right at 4AM. So it was a rush. Everything moved so quickly. LO had pooped prior to delivery so when he was born they immediately took him to clean him up and make sure his lungs and everything were clear. I tore so had to get stitches. Also because I was never checked, they didn't have the opportunity to hook up my IVs so I had to get a potocin shot in my leg after birth so my uterus would continue to contract. LO checked out fine and we had our boy just 4 hrs late weighing 7 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. 4/11 is his cousin's bday so we joke that he just wanted a day of his own. Also, had I waited just a lil longer like I wanted to we could of had our baby on the car.
I can't believe you were at home at 3am and having your baby at 4am!! That's crazy. It sounds like you did really great :-) Congrats on your little one!!
My due date was April 14th. I had my last scheduled OB appointment on 4/12, and she commented that my fundal height hadn't changed in 3 weeks. She said we could run an ultrasound just to check up on things, but I was already dilated to a 4, at 90%, and due in two days, so she said I was a good candidate for an induction, and scheduled it for 6 AM on the 13th. I had had a funny feeling when I left work that morning that I wouldn't be back, and had actually packed up and taken all of my things with me (duly noted by my co workers). It was the weirdest feeling knowing that I would be having a baby the next day! My house was already pretty clean, but I went around doing some last minute dusting, laundry, and cleaned out the refrigerator. My alarm was set for 4:30 AM, but I ended up getting up at about 4, checked my phone, and realized that I'd missed a call from the hospital. They left a message saying that my doctor wasn't feeling well and that the induction was postponed until I heard from them. DH and I went back to bed with the phone close by, but when we still hadn't heard anything by 8, we went on with our day. At 8:30 AM the phone rang, and the scheduler asked if we could make it by 9:30. Everything was ready to go, so we quickly showered, I put my hair up and put on a little waterproof mascara (because hey, why not) and we were out the door! Induction began at 10 AM. I was dilated to a 5, and my OB broke my water easily. Pitocin and penicillin (for GBS) were started soon after. I was annoyed that I had to have an IV! I hated being hooked up and it freaking HURT. Contractions didn't start until 10:45, and they were fairly mild. DH and I walked the halls a bit. As contractions increased a little, we went back to our room and watched the Office until my contractions grew strong enough that I couldn't/didn't want to focus on the television any more! It was around 1 PM when I wussed out and asked the nurse for an epidural! I'd said over and over that I wouldn't have pain medication, but here I was, almost crying with pain. She checked me and said that I was STILL at a 5, and I needed to actually progress a little before I could have the epidural! That was not what I wanted to hear, but as contractions increased I actually kept having to poop! Pooping during contractions (on the toilet, NOT on the bed, mind you) actually made me feel a lot better. The nurse checked me again at about 1:30, and I was dilated to a 7! Oddly enough, the pain was gone and all I felt was pressure. At about 2:30, I was at an 8.5 and contractions were about 2 minutes apart. Still no pain, but I was actually falling asleep between them, I was so exhausted! By 3:15 I was at 9 and contractions were 1 minute apart. They called my OB and she was already on her way. No more sleeping, but I was so drowsy! I vaguely remember looking at the clock right before I started to push and being shocked that it was only 3:20! I though it had to be at least 6 or 7 by now. I had a few productive pushes, but then baby's heart rate dropped dangerously low and he wasn't coming down fast enough. My OB put her hand up inside of me to make sure there was actually room for baby to come out, and determining that there was, gave us the option of going straight into a C-section or doing a vacuum assist. I had been so against vacuums, but she was confident it would work, and three pushes later Dietrich Alastair was born at 3:47 PM!
Honestly, the most painful parts of my pain medication free birth was 1) my OB sticking her hand up there (I mean OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING kind of pain and 2) being stitched up afterward! My OB actually commented to one of the nurses how well I was handling my stitches, and the nurse suddenly realized with shock that I didn't have an epidural! I had a newborn on my chest and was doing my best to stay relaxed and calm so that he could regulate easily, but my goodness. Ouch!
I didn't even feel the episiotomy, tearing or his head crowning; pressure beats pain! Overall, I didn't have quite the birth that I had planned, but I am certainly glad that it was nice and short and that our son is perfectly fine and healthy other than a small hematoma on his head from the vacuum.
My due date was 4/1 but I was have high blood pressure issue starting at the end of February. At 36wks I had my Dr appointment which they found protein in my unine so they sent me to the hospital just to be checked out, but at the hospital I had no protein in my unine (probably BC it was about a half hour apart from each other samples) so they sent me home to do a 24hr unine sample (this was my second one). So the following day when back to the hospital (this was also with 6th trio in 2 wks) and this time my protein was just high enough for them to start to induced me(that was on a Thursday). By Saturday I was only a cm and I talked them in to letting me go home for a bit. Left the hospital at noon on Saturday and had to be back on Sunday at 5pm. Sunday started to process again and Monday morning I was 2cm and they broke my water at 12:35pm. By 7pm I was only 3cm and miserable from the contractions so they gave me my epidural and once I had that, I slept till after 11pm. My doctor came and check me at 11:30 and I was 6cm and she told me that I would have most of the night to sleep. Not even 10 minutes later I'm calling the nurse saying that I'm having a lot of pressure and they all came rushing in and my doctor told me that my ready to push. I started to push at 12:05 and I had she at 12:25am in 3/15 which is also daddy's birthday.
Re: Birth Story Thread
Married: May '15
M/C: May '15
Expecting DS: April '16
I was chatting on Skype with SO when I felt something warm trickling down. I jostled myself out of bed, a gush of pink tinged liquid was on my bedroom floor. Proper movie style gush. I rolled a towel put it between my crotch and told SO on the computer to get his ass over here cause my water just broke. SO was six hours away from the hospital.
8am: Got sent home from the hospital because I wasn't having any contractions so they said to do stairs and be active to make them start
1pm: finally started having contractions and they progressed very quickly
3pm: contractions were 3 mins apart and what I thought were very intense so we went back to the hospital only to be sent home because I was only 2cm and 75% effaced. As soon as we got home they got even more intense and close together.
7pm: I couldn't take it anymore so we went back to the hospital. I was 8cm and moved straight into the delivery room. I got laughing gas for all of 20 minutes and it was time to push. I pushed for a little over an hour.
8:51: little baby Nash arrived! Weighing 6lb 3oz and 18.5 inches long.
I'm so happy I got to have a completely natural and drug free labour and he was born happy and healthy. He is nursing like a little pro and we can see him chunking up already.
DH and I packed a bag and left for the hospital, which was an hour away from where we live. After I got off the phone with the Dr, I started timing my contractions, and they were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting for a full minute. Luckily there was no traffic on the interstate since it was in the middle if the night. We were halfway to the hospital when I got scared thinking we might not make it and I would have the baby in the car. Each contraction was worse than the last and at one point I felt baby move down some.
We got to the hospital at 3:30 and the RN first said I was fully dilated (insert second moment of panic, thinking I was going to have to give birth med free) but she rechecked and said I was at 4cm. It took an hour and a half before I could get the epidural. The pain was awful, but I sat on the edge of my bed and tries to breathe through them as best as I could. DH was a great support too. At one point I actually started crying uncontrollably because I was so scared. I had to calm myself down, but I had imagined labor would start off with mild contractions that gradually increased, but mine started so fast and I had no time to prepare for the pain. There was no gradual increase, lol! Finally got the epi and my God it was bliss! They checked me 30 min later and I was fully dilated. I pushed for 2 hours, and they had to give me pitocin because my contractions were slowing down a little. LO's heart rate was slowing down after each push. The Dr ended up using a vacuum to help LO out. Once he was born, they whiskedhim over to the warmer to suction him because of the meconium. There were about 10 people in the room when he was born. Baby had trouble eating the first 2 days in the hospital, and was almost admitted to the NICU, but luckily he finally started eating from the bottle. The neonatal nurse said it could have been that his throat was irritated from all the suctioning, because he made a pained face each time he was offered a bottle.
He only lost 4% of his birth weight even though he barely ate the first 2 days. We've been home a week now and he is doing great and making up for lost time with his eating. Overall my birth experience was not what I expected, but went just fine. My mom was in labor with me for 32 hours, so I expected to be in labor for a long time. DH and I joke that if we have another baby, we have to pick a hospital that is much closer, since labor progressed so fast, lol!
I was given three doses of cytoteck over night and my water broke at 5:30 a.m. Pitocin was started around 9 a.m., by noon I was 3 cm and asking for an epidural. No regrets on that one. They check me at 3:30 and I was 5 cm. The baby's heart rate was getting low so the nurse checked again and I was 10 cm (went from 5-10 in an hour!). The doctor made it and I started pushing and baby had to be vacuumed out. Her birth was quick and we are so happy she is finally here!
DH and I went home to get our bags and get everything in order with our dogs and headed to the hospital. We were there for a couple of hrs and my dr who was on call made the decision to induce based on inconsistent BP readings and protein increasing. Right after midnight I had began the cytoctec and was given a balloon. I was told when the balloon fell out I would be at 4cm. A little over an hr later the balloon fell out and nurses had assumed I was at 4cm and the cyctotec was working at softening my cervix and let me sleep.
The next morning the nurse checked and I was only at 1 1/2 cm. They continued with the cytoctec a few more times and started me on Pitocin around noon. I was slowly progressing but had really bad back labor and contractions, I was given a pain reducer but once it wore off I got the epidural so I could sleep a bit. Within minutes of being given the epi, DD heart rate dropped and the resident dr along with a bunch of nurses came rushing in. I was so out of it, I couldn't comprehend what exactly was going on ( i have horrible reactions to pain meds). The resident Dr came in and told me she was breaking my waters, being I had extra fluid I was gushing to the point the dr was even shocked. Another Dr/nurse was giving me an injection, another giving me oxygen along with others in the room. My dr then came in and thankfully DD started to stabilize, I saw my husband come in the room (he had to step out when I was given the epidural) and by the look on his face I knew there was something wrong. Again the epi completely knocked me out and I was in a fog, I had no idea that this was going on for 8 min. Once everything stabilized, my dr told me that DD heart rate is back to normal but they were beginning to prep me for a C-Section. After processing what I happened I broke down in tears and wasn't sure if I would be able to handle what was yet to come. My BP was low for the rest of labor to the point it kept setting of the monitors. After a few more hours I was fully dilated but not fully effaced on my right side to start pushing. I was given a "peanut" shaped ball to put in between my legs and lay on my right side to help.
A little while later I was ready and my nurse started to coach me while I started pushing. After several pushes my Dr was called in and called for them to "break the table". As she was prepping I started telling them that DD was coming and i needed to push, after 2 sets of 3 pushes DD was out! We did skin to skin as the dr was stitching me up. After awhile they took DD to clean her up and weigh her. My dr was still working on me, and without DD in my arms to distract me from the pain and discomfort I noticed my dr was still working down below. When I asked how bad I tore, she said it wasn't bad at all but I had a large cervical tear that she was working on. She told me we needed to go to the OR to finish stitching me up because I kept bleeding.
Looking back labor was such a scary and crazy experience for me. I now understand why woman don't want to be induced. I'm home now and beyond obsessed with LO who has made this experience totally worth it!
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Nov siggy challenge: animals eating Thanksgiving food
Rhys - born 04.17.2013
Harry - born 04.18.2016
We went in that Sunday night to get the prep drug put in and low and behold I was 3-4cm dilated and 90% effaced. It took two nurses to check... They were highly uncomfortable and drew blood... But hey, I didn't have to have the ripening agent! They told me to sleep and they'd start the induction at 7:00 in the morning. That was the first of my sleepless nights. If they offer you a sleeping pill, take it! You aren't going to be sleeping for a while.... I had contractions for most of the night, but they were still pretty much in the Braxton hicks category.
At 6:30, they finished hooking me up to the monitors and the IV. Another cervical check right before we started put me at 5cm and 100% effaced. LO was station -1. They started the pitocin at level 2 and would increase it by two as needed. I was told that they normally had to go up to 20 for most pregnancies or 40 for stubborn ones.
Contractions weren't bad at all. They were like weak period cramps. I mean they hurt sure, but they'd go away. My doc came in and broke my waters at almost 9. After a couple hours of this I had to go to the bathroom. There was a lady down the hall who was going natural and screaming her head off. They were so high pitch screams! Kind of disturbing to be honest. I suddenly thought, I don't want to want to push without and epidural. I had to get back in bed and hooked up to the monitors again. Then the real pain started. I was in transition. It was around 13:00. The nurse came in and said she was thinking about upping the pitocin. I said that before she even thought about it, I wanted the epidural! It took about an hour to get the drugs, the guy who put it in was amazing! He did it in the middle of a contraction and I didn't feel it or ever see the needle! At that point I was 8cm
From there things got easy. I played cards with my family... I did get the shakes pretty bad, which were annoying, but honey, compared to labour they are wonderful! She ended up leaving the pitocin at 8 and I progressed to 10cm by 2:00
My hospital does something called labouring down. This is when you have an epidural and you are fully didilated, but they allow your body to continue with labour to bring th baby further down the birth canal. They hardest part is to ignore the great urge to push. I had to keep adding more of the epi( it was on a pump and I could add an extra shot as needed ) so I wouldn't push.
after about an hour and a half of that, it was time to push... Pushed for 15 min and out popped my baby Eliot! 2nd degree tear, minimal hemroids and two stitches in my urethra... Not bad all considering! He was born at 4:04 on 4/4/16 in room 4 of the birthing center... Which is funny...
So that was my labour... I thought with all the induction horror stories, this board needed a success story. Really 9 hours of labour and 15 min of pushing, with pitocin, doc breaking my water, epidural... The only regret is not getting the epidural an hour sooner. Best darn invention ever... Seriously. If you are the type who doesn't like to be touched when in pain and can't move from the bed due to monitors, get the epi! It's wonderful!
Once we got to the hospital around 8pm, the triage nurse checked me, but I had made no progress since my OB check earlier that day. They decided to admit me anyway because I was having painful contractions and I was due for an induction at midnight anyways. Once I arrived in the Labor & Delivery room, things got intense. Contractions came extremely fast and painful to the point that I puked Chick-Fil-A nuggets all over DH! They checked me again, and still no progress! By midnight, they decided to start with the induction by giving me half a pill of Cervidyl. About an hour later, my water broke. The nurses checked me, but I still had barely progressed to 2cm. At this point, I was having very strong, painful contractions, and the nurses suggested that I take some IV painkillers to take the edge off so that maybe I could dialate a little easier. The painkillers worked for about 20 minutes, and although they didn't ease the pain of the contractions, they helped me relax between them. By this time it was about 2am, the drugs had completely worn off and I was dying for an epidural. Suddenly, I felt this crazy sensation- as though someone had grabbed my belly and crushed it into my pelvis. The nurses checked me again, and *oh shit* I was fully dialated and 100% effaced. No call for the doctor yet, and no anesthesiologist for the epidural yet! By the time my OB and the anesthesiologist arrived 20 minutes later, it was too late for an epidural. They offered a spinal tap, but I decided to just go all natural and have my baby! Twenty minutes later, and about eight pushes, and my beautiful baby boy was born! It was such a sense of overwhelming joy that I didn't care about the placenta or the two
minor stitches I needed. The pain was unbelievable, but your body has a way of protecting you so you don't remember the pain so well after the fact. I would do it natural again in a heartbeat!
For those of you that are overdue- I was eight days overdue with my son and he was only 7lbs 9oz. I'm glad that I didn't jump the gun and induce sooner, because he would have been pretty small. Hang in there- you'll be glad you did!
So I went in, expecting a normal visit and maybe IV fluids since I was still just 37 weeks. They checked my blood pressure though and it was sky high! Over the course of the next hour the readings continued to show up ridiculously high, despite no history of BP issues at all. Since I have epilepsy, and high BP can cause seizures, they made the call to induce me then and there.
I had nothing packed, so I sent my husband into a blind panic at home putting things into bags (even though I told him this would take a while) for myself and our little man. My mom caught the next flight from Cali to Miami, and they began Cytotec on Sunday night.
First they started me on Magnesium Sulfate, which was horrible. My BP plummeted immediately and I had to be put on O2. Way to start the day, right? Luckily the dosage was stabilized after that first bag, and the only side effects I felt after that were just that I was SUPER hot. From there on out, my room was kept at 60 degrees. Everybody visiting just had to deal!
Monday I had no change, no dilation at all. They continued with the cytotec through FIVE rounds of it, four hours a round. The contractions were showing up on the NST monitors, but honestly I wasn't feeling anything. By Monday night I still had no dilation, and they suggested Cervadil.
The problem seemed to be that my magnesium sulfate is a muscle relaxant, while the cytotec is supposed to be making things (i.e. the uterus) contract... So we had two things playing against each other and my body not really ready at 37 weeks.
Anyway, cervadil is the same hormone, and also a vaginal suppository, but only slightly differently applied. It would be 12 more hours if I chose to try that. I still wanted to give my son a chance at a vaginal delivery, so I went for it. Around 2am, a nurse came in while I was about 28 hours in to the induction process, completely sleepless, and my vagina was swollen like a balloon from all the cervical checks... And she and I had a long chat. She kind of said that while my OB practice is a "babycentric" practice and will keep pushing for this induction, she could see I had given my son everything I had and my body was not cooperating. She said it was up to me to put my own foot down if I wanted something other than more induction attempts.
I thought about it, and by 32 hours in, I had made peace with the idea of a c-section. I was even looking FORWARD to it! Now convincing my doctor was another story...
She suggested I nap, and we try a "mechanical induction" with a foley bulb. Then Pitocin. I had to basically insist I was no longer willing to be experimented on, and have a mini tantrum before she agreed to the C section.
The c-section went beautifully. I was anxious beforehand, but a shot of Valium beforehand made it a breeze. The smell (like burning) was a surprise, I'm glad I had read about it beforehand. My husband is a little bit of a gruesome freak and was watching the whole time, and flipped out when they pulled our son out. He was so excited to cut the chord, and I think bonded with him even more instantaneously than I did!
They gave him to me in the recovery room and a lactation nurse pretty much came up and milked me during that time, which was awkward but I was so out of it that I was happy to put forward minimal boob effort and maximum snuggles.
The very first night, however, the nurses noticed that he was very hard to rouse from sleep. Since I had been on the magnesium sulfate from Sun-Tues, they were concerned it had transferred to him. A blood test unfortunately confirmed this was the case, and earned him an immediate residency in the NICU. All week Daddy and I have been in there feeding him, snuggling, and monitoring as they weaned him off. We've been loving watching him grow perkier, and seeing his personality grow each day as that nasty stuff leaves his system. Fingers are crossed that both he and I get to leave tomorrow, together!
On April 11th about 3am I had my bloody show. I had some sporadic not too bad contractions, so I decided to go to work and hope it would progress labor. That did the trick! I worked from 8am to 4pm and had to call hubby to take me home, contractions were getting painful and 6 min apart.
I really wanted to shower and prepare before we went in, so I was home until 9:30 ish when I couldn't take it anymore.
I convinced myself n hubby that I would probably get sent home and I would be happy to have dilated to a 1.
Got checked and I was at a 5! I was getting admitted and I was so happy, none of the nurses believed that I could be doing that well in labor, but I was so relieved to find out baby was coming soon!
After being admitted I got in the jacuzzi tub. Stayed in tub for 1 hr and contractions were more painful. I agreed to a check and I was at a 7!
After that, pain took over and I laid in the bed, or walked, or cried, or just laid on either side. At one point I asked for a pain med, was given fentynal (sp?) I was told it would relieve pain for 30 min, and not work very well if I was given it again. I didn't care, and took it! Got 30 min of sleep, after that, back to painful contractions!
Near the end I kept telling them I had to poo, but I was stuck at 9pm for awhile and some of my cervix was still in the way. When I got to 10, my nurse was able to move remaining cervix out of the way and waters broke.
After that we had to wait for dr for me to push, which was hard! But dr finally got there and I had to push! At that point I didn't think I could do it, I didn't say it out loud but kept thinking I wanted a c-section instead! But bodies do some amazing things, and after 20 minutes (I thought I reached my 2hr limit haha!) Head came out, and shoulders were luckily easier than his head!
I had 2nd degree tear, which stitches were not too bad when she did them, all I cared about was my baby! He screamed for what seemed like 1 hr straight! I held him first when they cleaned him off, but Dad got to have him while I delivered placenta and got stitches.
Wyatt James was born 4/12/16 at 8 lbs 4 oz (also 2 days before due date) . He is so stinking amazing
Love these birth stories, and all these squishy babies!!
On 4/11, I noticed a wet spot on my underwear right before bed that didn't look or smell like VF or pee. I wrote it off as paranoia. The spot returned when I woke up. I decided to go to work anyways. At around 9 AM, I decided to go check on the wet feeling I had. Halfway to the bathroom I felt a small gush. I spent a decent amount of time in my work bathroom, putting my butt back on the toilet when a small gush happened when I tried to stand back up. No contractions at that point, so I went on the hunt for a pad. After checking two differ net bathrooms, I gave up and went back to my desk to work on a gigantic stack of paperwork. Contractions started shortly after sitting down and were 5 minutes apart.
I finished one stack of paperwork and called L&D. They told me to come in. One of my coworkers helped me stand up, and my water broke in a gigantic gush that soaked through my jeans and left a puddle on the floor. He stood there, freaking out, not knowing what to do. I finally got him to snap out of it and call the supervisor over. The supervisor had me sit down while I called my MIL and he grabbed a golf cart to take me to the front of the building. DH wasn't answering his phone. Apparently he had left it at his desk while at a meeting. My MIL took me to the hospital, my water breaking in small gushes with each contraction.
My labor was fine until about 7 PM, when the contractions had slowed down but had increased in intensity. They gave me the option of pit to speed things back up. I reluctantly said yes, since I was sick of being at a 6 for so long. After the pit was started, I asked if I could take a bath, since the pit contractions were far worse than the normal labor contractions had been. They said yes, but only after double checking my dilation. Apparently someone had drained the tub while I was waiting to be checked, so I had to labor in a filling bathtub... By the time the water may have been high enough to help, I knew it was time to push.
I asked the doctor to turn off the pit while I pushed. She was against it, but did it anyways.
Just as I feared, LO got stuck at the shoulders. This time around, I knew my baby was stuck. I tried pushing as hard as I could, but my body wasn't responding. The four medical professionals in the room were yelling at me and trying to give me instructions. Eventually they flipped me over, pulled my legs up, started pushing on my stomach, and telling me to push. LO had been stuck for a minute and had broken his left clavicle on the way out. They had to get him to start making noise. For a few seconds, he looked so lifeless on my chest. I thought he wasn't breathing, until they got him to start crying... Which got me crying. Af that point, DH was sitting, shaking, panicking... He was beyond relieved when he heard our baby start to cry. I had to actually call him over to say hello to his son. He was so shaky getting up.
I was actually the one to cut the cord, since DH can't handle those kind of things.
After letting us relax for two hours, the doctors came back to do measurements. It was then that they noticed that I was having excessive bleeding. I had to hold onto the nurse from dizziness. The doctor then swept out as much nasty as she could from my uterus, which was incredibly painful, even with the pain medication they gave me right before. They preformed an ultrasound to make sure that there weren't any more gigantic clots or a piece of placenta left inside. It wasn't conclusive, so I was heavily monitored for my bleeding. Thankfully, it eased up after the exam. I think I left the hospital bleeding less than I did with my first.
My baby boy was born 4/12/16 at 9:35 PM. 8 lbs 9 oz 20.25 inches long.
The doctor highly recommended that I only have c-sections from here on out, since all of my births involve shoulder dystocia.
LO is doing well and taking comfort in lots of breastfeeding sessions and mommy snuggles.
I never planned on going basically unmedicated with a pitocin induced labor, but we all survived to tell the tale. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it, honestly.. but I'd rather not do it again, haha. My PP healing has been better this time around, and I feel as though that may be partially why.
I was only dilated to a 1 but they gave me the epidural. I didn't want one of those originally but I was hating the nauseated feeling and going to poop feeling of the contractions. Unfortunately, I did not know the pooping feeling doesn't go away with an epidural and giving birth still hurts like a bitch. Once I got the epidural I got super shaky and terrified. I was having some sort of panic attack and felt like I couldn't breathe. It was terrible. Then I felt normal again and watched Golden Girls for a while until I was more dilated.
Then came 4 hours of horrible pushing. Maybe it could have been faster but I was holding back at first because I thought what I was feeling was poop but apparently it was the baby and giving birth really is like taking a huge shit. No one really explained this stuff to me before. I was so exhausted and miserable and I felt like it would never end. I got a bad tear and hemorrhoids! It was so crazy when my son was finally out though! I'm so glad he is here and the labor is over.
Induction began at 10 AM. I was dilated to a 5, and my OB broke my water easily. Pitocin and penicillin (for GBS) were started soon after. I was annoyed that I had to have an IV! I hated being hooked up and it freaking HURT. Contractions didn't start until 10:45, and they were fairly mild. DH and I walked the halls a bit. As contractions increased a little, we went back to our room and watched the Office until my contractions grew strong enough that I couldn't/didn't want to focus on the television any more! It was around 1 PM when I wussed out and asked the nurse for an epidural! I'd said over and over that I wouldn't have pain medication, but here I was, almost crying with pain. She checked me and said that I was STILL at a 5, and I needed to actually progress a little before I could have the epidural! That was not what I wanted to hear, but as contractions increased I actually kept having to poop! Pooping during contractions (on the toilet, NOT on the bed, mind you) actually made me feel a lot better. The nurse checked me again at about 1:30, and I was dilated to a 7! Oddly enough, the pain was gone and all I felt was pressure. At about 2:30, I was at an 8.5 and contractions were about 2 minutes apart. Still no pain, but I was actually falling asleep between them, I was so exhausted! By 3:15 I was at 9 and contractions were 1 minute apart. They called my OB and she was already on her way. No more sleeping, but I was so drowsy! I vaguely remember looking at the clock right before I started to push and being shocked that it was only 3:20! I though it had to be at least 6 or 7 by now. I had a few productive pushes, but then baby's heart rate dropped dangerously low and he wasn't coming down fast enough. My OB put her hand up inside of me to make sure there was actually room for baby to come out, and determining that there was, gave us the option of going straight into a C-section or doing a vacuum assist. I had been so against vacuums, but she was confident it would work, and three pushes later Dietrich Alastair was born at 3:47 PM!
Honestly, the most painful parts of my pain medication free birth was 1) my OB sticking her hand up there (I mean OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING kind of pain and 2) being stitched up afterward! My OB actually commented to one of the nurses how well I was handling my stitches, and the nurse suddenly realized with shock that I didn't have an epidural! I had a newborn on my chest and was doing my best to stay relaxed and calm so that he could regulate easily, but my goodness. Ouch!
I didn't even feel the episiotomy, tearing or his head crowning; pressure beats pain! Overall, I didn't have quite the birth that I had planned, but I am certainly glad that it was nice and short and that our son is perfectly fine and healthy other than a small hematoma on his head from the vacuum.