February 2018 Moms
sweetgirlamaris
member
Birth stories
sweetgirlamaris
member
Since the announcement thread tends to be a shorter and we don't comment 
. Can we have the birth stories here?? All the details! Induced? Barely made it? Long labor? Scheduled c-section? Tell us the nitty gritty about your miracle!
. Can we have the birth stories here?? All the details! Induced? Barely made it? Long labor? Scheduled c-section? Tell us the nitty gritty about your miracle!
Re: Birth stories
DS 2/17/15
BFP 6/12/17
EDD 2/18/17
I haven’t posted here in many months, but I really enjoyed reading birth stories while I waited for my babe’s arrival, so hopefully this can help someone still waiting! Official announcement with name and stats and photos in the announcement thread.
At my 40 week appointment I was measuring more behind than is considered acceptable, and I’d been measuring behind but within the normal range for weeks. My midwife offered a fetal assessment ultrasound early, since normally I’d wait until 41 weeks. I agreed. At 40+4 I had my scan, and all the nurse told me after consulting the dr was that baby was in 20-25th percentile and then let me go. I knew they wouldn’t let me leave and would induce if her size or anything else was a concern. The next day, however, my midwife called and told me although baby was perfect on the ultrasound, the blood flow from the placenta to her body and to her brain were showing at different levels, which could indicate my placenta wasn’t functioning properly and was overcompensating flow to the brain. Because of this, the dr advised I was not a candidate for out of hospital birth and should give birth in the hospital under constant monitoring. The plan was for me to birth at the birth centre with intermittent monitoring. I wasn’t high risk, since nothing was wrong with the baby, but the risk was that labour could make baby deteriorate quickly. My midwife wanted a second opinion and second scan before making any decisions. She called me back a short while later and couldn’t get me a second scan, but got a second opinion and that opinion was I should be induced and monitored right away. Since my midwife knew I didn’t want to be induced, she suggested we try some natural methods while we put my name on the induction wait list and hope for the best. So I went for a sweep and then came home and took the “midwife cocktail” at 4:30. I also took that induction method with my first when I was two weeks over, and it worked, but created an intense labour (all contractions were 1 minute apart the whole 24 hours) but I figured it was less intense than medical induction. By 5-5:30 contractions had started, by 6:30 they felt “real”, and I was starting to have difficulty talking and walking through them. 7:30 we called the midwife and I started to have the shakes (had these with my son too, seems to be the way hormones affect me) which was a sign things were ramping up, and we agreed to meet at the hospital at 8:30 so baby could be monitored. On the way to the hospital I received a call to come and get induced and let them know I was already on my way!
Baby was monitored for about 20 minutes and was totally perfect, and when the midwife checked I was a 6 or more, so I was able to be admitted and moved to a delivery room at 9:15. When we got there, contractions ramped up as I went from the bed to the toilet and back a few times. I felt like I constantly needed to pee, and peeing made the contractions ramp up and become closer together. This labour the contractions were all 2-3 minutes apart from the start and were becoming more like 1 minute. I found that standing was not comfortable during contractions, but being on all fours and leaning into the bed or to my husband was ok, while someone massaged my back/put pressure on my sacrum. After maybe 15 minutes in the delivery room, I started to feel like maybe I couldn’t do this natural birth I wanted if I was going to have hours of these contractions ahead of me, but didn’t say that out loud and tried to be strong. A few minutes later I had a contraction that had me yelling “no no no” and I should have known I was transitioning. Back to the bed, my midwife did some belly sifting between contractions and I said that I felt like my water needed to break and that I was getting a sensation to push to break it, but it was like I had to pee, not the feeling of needing to poop you’re told about that means baby is coming. She said to go with it, I pushed maybe three times through that feeling and suddenly just started screaming as I could feel baby go through the birth canal and she was coming out. I tried to find words to say what was happening but just kept screaming and felt her head come out! Once her head was out I had a break and said “she is coming” and the midwife said yes I am here, just lower your screaming because she is ready to come all the way out and you need to slow down. So next contraction I growled really low and pushed and she was out! I got to grab her from between my legs and pull her up right away! She was totally perfect, and 6 lbs. I couldn’t believe how fast that happened (she was born at 10:02) and just sat there saying “oh my god did that just happen” for a while. One first degree tear on my right labia that extended internal, and one “scratch” on the left side. I have zero disappointment over not being in the birth centre, and am so thankful my midwife was confident in my body to be able to do this. It was totally the birth I hoped for!
The day following my appointment I woke up in the morning and I felt like I had to clean all the pendings. I felt so energetic that I would lift heavy things, go up and down, little did I know I was nesting. After all that my mum came and we agreed to go for a walk. When we just reached outside I felt cramps in my left leg, but we walked slowly. By the time we reached home I was having contractions but they were not close together, I didn't even bother timing them.
At 8pm they started being so close and I srated timing them they were 5-6mins apart and each lasting 30-40secs. I slept and didn't tell anyone I was in labour coz I knew they'll all rush me to the hospital. Around 2am they became real and I told SO. The contractions were still 5 mins apart but lasting 50-60secs. We took the hospital bag, told my mum we were leaving, so she stay with DS.
We reached at the hospital around 4am in the morning, contractions were still the same. The midwife checked me and to my surprise I was 6.5cm. We then went to the l&d room, at 7am I was at 7.5 and my water broke, from there things got worst, contractions started coming every 1mins and they were so strong. The midwofe suggested an epidural but I refused, thanks to SO who encouraged me to go un medicated coz he knew that was my initial plan. By 11:30 I was fully dilated and started to push, with 3 contractions DD was out.
It wasn't an easy labour at all, especially the last 3hrs, the pain was like hell but soooo worth it.
Am so grateful to God for I wasn't induced and that labour started on it's own before the induction date.
Hang in there mamas who are still waiting for you LOs, you will hold them soon than you imagine. It wasn't easy for me to go past-due as my 1st came 5days earlier, so everyone woud tell me how this would come even earlier coz 2nd pregnancies go quicker than 1st but I got to see that every baby and every pregnancy is different indeed.
For those who wants to go un medicated, you can make it mamas.
Good luck to y'all
Woke up on Feb 12th (my due date) at 3am to pee (as per usual) felt kind of a weird sensation which I found out later was my waters tearing. Went to lay back down in bed and shortly started having contractions. Once in a while I'd feel very small little gushes but was more focused on timing the contractions.
Contractions started out between 5 and 7 minutes apart and I timed them until 6am when they were around 4ish minutes apart. At that point I finally woke my husband whom I'd let sleep as long as possible. We got our stuff ready and got out the door, getting to the hospital around 6:30. Was checked at 7 and was 3cm and about 50% effaced so no change from my appt a few days prior. The nurse also did a swab to check if my water broke because I wasn't sure which came back positive. But she wasn't convinced because other stuff can make it positive.
When my OB came in at 8am she used the speculum to check me and my water broke the rest of the way. At that point I was between 4 and 5am. Through this whole time I was having some pretty bad back contractions but found I felt perfectly fine between then.
At that point I was admitted and they got me hooked up to an IV for me to get antibiotics (GBS positive) and I started with gas and air mostly to help breathe through the contractions. Continued like that for a while before I asked for morphine for the pain, which I have to admit only softened the more mild contractions. About 11 am I asked for the epidural so I was rechecked and found to be at 8cm. And before the anesthesiologist even got to the room half an hour I was feeling the urge to push and was rechecked to be told I was fully dilated, so no epidural for me.
So somewhere around 11:30 or 11:45am I started pushing. I had excruciating pain/spasms in my back while coming down from the contractions. After an hour and a half of pushing I was getting really discouraged but kept going anyways. Around 2 hours into pushing they checked to see how I was progressing to find that she hadn't moved at all because she was sunny side up.
Called the Dr in (who came probably half an hour later) and turned the baby which was honestly the most painful part of my whole labour. After she was turned I finally started progressing and finally had my sweet little baby at 3pm on the dot after more than 3 hours of pushing.
The baby was put on my belly for a few minutes during which my husband got to tell me we had a little girl (we previously didn't know what we were having) before he cut the cord and then we got to have skin to skin for an hour (during which I nursed her) before they checked her weight and length. 6lbs 15oz and 21 1/4 inches long. We are both so in love with Lilliana and so is our dog.
I pushed for almost an hour, baby's heartbeat kept dropping, so they had to use the vacuum to get her out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, so that's why it was so hard to get her out, but they slipped it off and she was fine.
My sweet little Leighton was born 2/27 (1 day before due date) at 2:52pm. 7 lb 10 oz. 20".
I was worried about the process, but it worked well for me. I took the pill that jumpstarts labor. This is a gentler process than pitocin. But, it takes a while. My first pill was at 7:30 PM and I think I took two more throughout the night. I got little sleep in the hospital bed and my contractions were picking up in what felt like cramping. By morning the contractions strengthened. I took a shower with my husband which helped a lot. I also used the exercise ball and breathed through them. Once I was in active labor, my contractions came one in top if the other. There was little to no rest in between and they were pretty overwhelming. I decided to take the epidural around 3 in the afternoon. I was 90% effaced and almost 4 centimeters. It was a good thing I asked for it when I did because the anestheseologist was on her way to a csection.
After the epidural, I had immediate relief and rested for a few hours while the contractions did their work. I could still feel them but they didn't hurt. Around 6 or so, they started to slow down, so the midwife suggested a little pitocin to jumpstart them so that I could start pushing. Well, it worked. I felt the contractions pick up and felt the urge to push (which is an urge in your anus, not your vagina, by the way).
In about ten pushes, Audrey made her appearance! I looked down and saw her come out. She was 7lbs 6 ounces born at 8PM. It was incredible.
Sure enough, around 530am on the morning of the 12th, I went to the bathroom and felt a gush of fluid. At the time I thought it was discharge/mucus so I just went back to bed as usual. Maybe an hour later I was woken with decent strength cramping but no contractions. Had another gush of fluid/discharge but I couldn’t be sure it was amniotic fluid. I was still thinking discharge.
I had my first contraction somewhere between 7-730. They started coming between 7-8minutes apart, then moved to 5-7 apart. Meanwhile I was continuing to have fluid leaking, mostly that happened with a contraction. At this point, my OB office said to wait til the contractions got a little more regular and unbearable. That took maybe an hour to happen and we were at the hospital at 1030-11 am. By the time we got there, the contractions were getting way intense and were coming every 2-3 minutes.
I got the epidural about an hour after I got there (hallelujah!). I had been undecided on whether I would get it or not and thank god I did. I don’t remember what time it happened but at some point his heart rate kept dropping due to the contractions coming too rapidly and strong. They gave me a shot of medicine to weaken them a little and it worked great. I continued to labor essentially pain free. No one tells you about the massive rectal pressure! I could always feel that, even with the epidural!
About 4:00 my parents stopped by on their way to the waiting room. They were there about a half hour and they left to go to a bar down the street for dinner. The whole time they were there I kept feeling gushes of more fluid and the contractions getting a bit more noticeable and frequent. As soon as they left, I asked my husband to peek under the sheet and tell me if it was a lot of fluid or blood. The poor man looked just as a particularly large blood clot passed lol. I was bleeding pretty heavy so we got the RN, who got the OB and sure enough I was 10cm and ready to go.
Pushing started at 5-530 pm. Pushing wasn’t awful but it was definitely draining! The epidural made it a struggle for me to push with the correct muscles. At one point, they ordered up a small dose of pitocin to help my contractions strengthen just enough to help him get out. He was lodged right behind that pelvic bone and just didn’t want to make his way down.
Apparently all they needed to do was say the word “pitocin” because that seemed to get him moving. Those last few cycles of pushing were ROUGH. I was physically exhausted after over 2 hours of pushing. I could feel the pressure of his head being so close to the exit and it burns like hell, even with the epidural. Finally, at 7:37 pm, he made his grand arrival! 7lb, 15oz and 19 inches. And awfully damn cute, if I do say so myself. I have to say, he looks really good for being 2 weeks overdue.
All in all, it was a good labor experience, especially as a FTM. I’m so glad I didn’t have to be induced or receive more medicine than I would’ve preferred. I labored for a little over 12 hours and pushed for 2. Aside from the issue with his heart rate, it all went smoothly. We are so in love!