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February 2017 Moms
BlondePeanut
member
STM Labor Details
BlondePeanut
member
We did a thread on this a while back, but with all of us so close to delivering and 2 mommies already had their babies....who wants to share labor stuff? How far along you were, type of delivery, your experience, and anything you think us FTM should know!
Re: STM Labor Details
Second kid 39+4 I went into labor naturally and had a vaginal med free birth. It was scary, but no tearing and I feel like recovery was much faster. Basically she popped out and I wanted to get up to walk around and stretch my legs. Labor woke me from my sleep around maybe 6:30 in the morning and she was born at 9:20 that night. I walked into triage and much prefered that over a wheelchair ride. I declined any pain meds and was able to stay awake.
I think it's important to let your partner know, before bad labor, that you will be hurting and very irritable. And let them know things they can do to try and help you. Just picture the worst pain you ever felt times 1000 and how grumpy you are when you didn't get any sleep, then stubbed your toe after stepping in dog poop while trying to get to the bathroom. How do you want your husband to talk to you and make you feel better after all that? Tell him that before it happens. Like my husband now knows not to touch my bed, or tap his foot, because i didnt know to warn him ahead of time that id become megabitch, and those 2 things made me all sorts of angry.
Lol (I love drop dead fred)
She was 8lb8oz.
What i learned is to trust my own instincts and my own body. I told them I don't want to even hear weight guesstimates this time, induction is totally off the table and I'll let them know if I decide I need a c section based on evidence not speculation.
...Ttthenn my labs came back and my platelets were at 35k (normal is 150-400k). I had HELLP, ended up in a room at 10am with two nurses assigned only to me, they broke my water and put me on an intense pitocin drip and bags of mag to prevent seizure (pit and mag fight each other), and two platelet transfusions to try to raise my count in case of a c-section or to have an epidural. Welllllp, my count didn't get higher than 70k, and I was in excruciating pain. Was fully dilated by about 7pm, my contractions on that much pit were double-peaked and about 30 seconds apart. Started pushing then. Baby was born at 1:11am. 6 hours of active pushing with no option of c-section. The "ring of fire" felt like a relief.
Baby #2: Went into labor at 38 weeks, got epidural, pushed twice -- poof, baby.
The takeaway here is that even as a ftm, you know your body best. Speak up for it when something isn't right.
Also, don't worry about that first story. That won't happen to you. Statistics are on our side.
I was also that momma who was very nervous of how many people were in the room and people seeing my junk but when it came down to the moment of it all happening, I didn't care at all. Not one bit.
Like PPs have said: go into it open to change-whatever gets you a healthy baby!
I gave in and had an epidural placed, it took the anesthesiologist three attempts and he wasn't positive on the third try that he even had it. It didn't work and by the time he was done trying to place it I was ready to push. This time I'll be trying really hard to just forgo it.
My water broke on the sidewalk of the outlet mall!
I wasn't in a hurry to get to the hospital since I hadn't felt any contractions and started to convince myself I peed my pants. (But in retrospect I should have been since he didn't have his head engaged yet and a cord prolapse was a possibility).
Once I got to the hospital I wasn't allowed to get out of bed again, for fear of cord prolapse. Without being able to get up, I couldn't try any of the positions for dealing with pain. I lasted awhile but ended up asking for an epidural. Unfortunately mine didn't work well. Although they tried adjusting it several times, it only numbed my right side. They tried giving more medication to see if that would help, but then I couldn't feel things well to push correctly. They had to let it wear off before I could push again.
He was face up, had a hand come out with his head and was almost 9lbs.
Not fun! I didn't think I could do it, but eventually did. I had some tearing and bad hemorrhoids from pushing so long. Recovery was more than I expected. But all worth it of course!
Went in at 11am, put on the monitor. I progressed rather fast on my own. about 6cmI was put on the epidural. (somethings were a little fuzzy around this point, I got to nap on and off for a while) I think about 4pm (that same day) they had me pushing, they did forceps, vacuum, the doctor'shand. DS wasn't budging. went to surgery. Turns out he was facing my belly button and not my back, and he had a big head.5:03pm my son was born.
Hoping for slightly less drama this time! Although this baby is transverse so far!
They had the fetal monitor on my belly (if you have had the NST test yet, you know what I am talking about), and I recall being moved from side to side quite a bit based on how my son was doing.
My son was born that night at 9:03. My husband estimated that the pushing stage was no more than 15 minutes, and for me, it was actually pretty easy. My son was small (5 lb, 9 oz), and the OB had pumped fluids throughout the labor so the little guy had an easy trip out and came out screaming. If I recall correctly, the NICU team was given him first to check out before they left. Then, he went through the normal checks and went back to me for the skin to skin. Although it was pretty quick, I seem to recall that I had pushed the placenta out (easier than the baby of course), and she had already sewed me up (very minor tearing) before my son was back.
Obviously, I was bleeding a lot and for a long time post birth. I had the postpartum massage while in the hospital, and I do recall it as being uncomfortable but not super painful. I took the recommended pain killers and stool softeners, and I never had a problem with the first stool afterwards. I did have urinary incontinence, but it resolved on it's own relatively quickly.
I ended up with very extreme edema that took over two months to go away. When I returned home, I had reduced mobility from the edema (although I was able to do the walking they recommended), and all the bleeding and residual pain from the birth was nothing compared to the discomfort I felt from the edema. Two days after I returned home, I had a postpartum hemorrhage (it was like a flood of blood all at once) and ended up in the ER.
DD: RCS at 39 weeks due to breech presentation