Old School Birth Stories

calimom2524 · March 2018

There's been a lot of chatter on the questions thread about everyone's previous births and I learned I'm not the only one who LOVES birth stories.

Share yours below!! Also, ask as many questions as you want. All of the questions. All of the birth stories.

calimom2524 · March 2018

I'm bored at work today so I scoured my old BMB and found my birth story for DS2. It's kind of amazing a lot of the details I forgot, like I didn't remember at all that he was born with his arm above his head and had issues with it at first. Poor second kid.

I went in at 10pm on 11/23 to get checked into L&D to start the induction process. They inserted a Foley bulb around midnight which is meant to dilate you to 4cm. I was able to sleep most of the night with some IV pain meds even though I could feel the contractions through them. They were all in my back and pretty uncomfortable but not too close together.

ETA: due to the high volume of questions about the Foley bulb: it is insterted into your cervix and it is meant to mimic the baby's head on the other side of the cervix to get you dilated to 4cm. The insertion is like a 2 minute long cervical exam and once it is inserted it didn't hurt anymore. I requested IV pain meds to assist with sleeping because it was midnight and I wanted to rest. With the nubane I was able to sleep through the contractions although they were in my back and uncomfortable.

The doctor removed the balloon at 6am (I was 4cm) and they started me on pitocin not long afterwards. My OB came to check my progress around 10am after active labor had been going on for about 3 hours. I was 6cm and 75% effaced but baby was still -3 so she had me lay on my right side to try and get him to drop. Around 11am I thought something had gone horribly wrong with my epidural because I was in a ton of pain and my contractions were on top of each other. 3 doctors and a nurse came racing in because the baby's heart rate drastically dropped. They had me move all different positions to find one that helped the heart rate and they stopped the pitocin. They checked me and I was then at 8-9cm, 90% effaced, and baby was +1. The nurse warned DH not to go get lunch if he didn't want to miss the birth.

My OB came back at 11:50 to check me and said I was ready to push. She told me to do one practice push with my next contraction then immediately told me to stop because he was coming. She said she didn't have time to break down the bed and got everything in place for me to push with the next contraction. One contraction and four pushes later and Ethan entered the world. He latched immediately during skin to skin and ate for his first hour outside.

I got a first degree tear from his arm being up by his head when he came out and that same arm is having a little bit of trouble moving, but besides that everyone is doing great and we should be going home tomorrow.

scottishlass1213 · March 2018

At this point all I really remember is DS came at 37 weeks, my water broke at 6am and woke me up. DH has spent the night beforenin the guest room to start giving me more space in bed. We were supposed to go to his work’s baby shower for us that day. I had stopped working 2 days before because my SPD was so bad. Thought I’d get to relax for 3 weeks, ha ha.

Got it to the hospital I think around 7:30 and they determined my water did break, duh. Contractions started shortly after. I guess I sat around most of the day and then got my epidural. Around 5pm I wanted to start pushing. Their policy was 3 hours of pushing with the epidural before they make you have a c section. By 7:30 I was getting exhausted and his head was so big they finally vacuumed him out and his shoulder also was stuck in my pelvis with the cord around his neck. Sucked him out and all was fine. 8lb 8oz. Wonder what size he would’ve been if he kept baking haha

slightly terrified I’m going to have another bug headed boy since he’s measuring over a week ahead right now! I’m prepping myself for 37 weeks again too lol

calimom2524 · March 2018

I don't remember as many details with DS1. I do know that I went into PTL at 32 weeks and it was terrifying so then every little pain or braxton hicks after that I was afraid was labor again. One time I was shopping at Target, around 37 weeks, and I felt liquid gush down my legs. I left my cart full of groceries and rushed home to get DH then loaded up the bags and went to the hospital. Nope, not amniotic fluid, I peed my pants in Target.

At 39w I started contractions around midnight and realized they had a pattern. Around 4am they felt closer together so I started timing them and they were about 7 minutes apart lasting about 30 seconds. exH worked as a bartender at the time so he had gotten home around 4am and after my other "false alarms" was like hell no, I'm going to sleep and you're not in labor. I labored at home until around noon when he woke up for the day and called his mom. At this point my contractions were around 5 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds to a minute each. His mom asked him to put me on the phone and I could barely carry on a conversation with her, she made me hand the phone back to him and was like get her to the hospital now, she's in labor.

Checked in and was 4cm, no clue how effaced. They didn't have any rooms and made me just hang in triage in one of those beds that doesn't go flat. I was MISERABLE. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and super intense, I was begging for the epidural. They said I couldn't have an epidural until there was a room available so I had to just wait, I was so angry at the world at that point. They finally got me into a room and I just kept asking anyone who came in when I could have the drugs. Sometime that afternoon I finally got the epidural and my mood was entirely different. My contractions had stalled and they needed to put me on pitocin. My water partially broke around 6pm so the doctor finished breaking it and upped my pitocin. Sometime in the middle of the night, I think around midnight, I spiked a fever. I was dilated to 10cm but baby refused to drop, he was still -2 and needed to be +2 to start pushing, according to them. They then sat me up and down in the hospital bed for like 5 hours which was miserably uncomfortable. I had been up for 48 hours at that point and had been in labor for 24 hours and I was just exhausted. Around 5am they asked me to do some practice pushes. Around 7am I was still "practice" pushing which really had just turned into real pushing and it was getting harder and harder for me so they brought this bar thing in that went over the bed and had what I can only remember it looking like a water ski rope with a handle attached to lift myself up with each contraction and push that way. Finally at 7:23am he made his way out. I had a 2nd degree tear and lost A LOT of blood. He didn't cry right away so they were gearing up to take him to NICU when he decided to start crying. Because I had spiked a fever during labor I had to stay in the hospital for four days getting monitored so his first few days of life were hard. He came out sunny side up and had a big scar on his forehead, I'm still pretty sure he'll be getting his Hogwarts letter when he's 12.

elsieisamoocow · March 2018

I just went into DS's bmb fb group to find mine and omg I'm in tears reading it! It's long but I'm so glad I wrote down all of the details!

*TW* loss mentioned.

My pregnancy with Hugo was pretty textbook perfect until January 4th, when I woke up to some bright red spotting. Of course seeing the blood instantly brought me back to my traumatizing first pregnancy (I bled very heavily for about 6 weeks before eventually delivering the baby at just under 23 weeks gestation) and I cursed quite a bit through some tears while sitting on the toilet until my husband came in from walking the dog. He came into the room and I said we needed to go to the hospital. In hindsight, I would have taken a shower first and packed a bag just in case. I did think to bring my glasses, though. We got to the hospital and a trainee took forever to check us in. When I finally got a bed I kept trying not to worry, but it was very difficult. It was less than a year ago that I was in the same hospital several times over a couple of months, being told everything was okay, and then eventually losing the baby just a week before she was considered viable. Thankfully, this time was a different situation. I was 25 weeks and 4 days gestation, which meant that even if this baby was delivered that day, he would have a decent chance at living a normal life.

After an ultrasound that showed some possible separating between the placenta and uterine wall, and taking my history of placental abruption into consideration, they decided to admit me for a 48-hour observation. The plan was to see a perinatologist for a better ultrasound on Monday and go from there. The peri was lovely and answered all of our questions, and was so positive that after the 48 hours I would be able to go home. That is, until she did the vaginal ultrasound and saw that my cervix was only 9 millimeters. Since a normal cervix is 4 centimeters, this was not good news, and I wasn’t going home any time soon. And so began a lovely 5 weeks of hospital bed rest.

I bled again 7 days later. Then 6. Then 4, and so on. My doctor kept saying that I could go home with 7 days of no bleeding, which we both knew was not going to happen. Some bleeds were heavy, some were lighter, but most of the time they stopped after an hour or two, and I just had brown spotting for a couple of days after. At first these caused panic for everyone, and I was hooked up to the monitors 24/7, wearing a hospital gown, not allowed to walk the 5 feet to the bathroom (instead using a lovely bedside commode because I luckily fail at bed pans) let alone shower, and basically not feeling human for 48 hours until I was cleared to be on “modified bed rest” again. Luckily as we learned my pattern, most of the nurses and doctors would ease up, just giving me an NST when I bled and if everything looked good I was fine.

I knew when the bleeds got closer together that it was only a matter of time before the baby would come. I wasn’t horribly worried because we were in a much better place for the baby’s health every day that I stayed in there, but I knew there was no way I would make it to April. Luckily one of my close friends who I met through our baby loss support group was also on hospital bed rest with her rainbow baby at the same time, but in a different hospital. Thank goodness for unlimited texting! Once February hit, the bleeding occasionally included some clots, and soon after I realized that I was most likely losing my mucus plug as well.

On February 3rd, we had planned on having our maternity photo shoot in my hospital room. Of course I woke up and had a huge bleed, so I cancelled it because I was pretty sure they were going to put me on the monitors all day. I wish I hadn’t cancelled it, even though I wouldn’t have looked the greatest, but luckily we had taken some nice pregnancy photos ourselves while I was in there just in case. That night, I started having contractions. They weren’t huge but it wasn’t just uterine irritation anymore, which it had been with the previous bleeds. That night they hooked me up to IV fluids and gave me two shots of terbutaline, which made me shake like a crack whore going through withdrawal, neither of which really affected the contractions much. I managed to sleep and while sleeping the contractions were very spread out.

February 4th was the 30 week milestone, and day 33 in the hospital. I said the day that I went into the hospital that I would be happy if we made it to 30 weeks, so I was relieved. Though I knew it was going to happen soon, I was confident that our little boy would be healthy. They gave me an IV drip of magnesium which at first wasn’t so bad, but after a while was pure torture. At this point because I was bleeding so much, we thought that they were going to stop trying to prevent labor, because that is what our doctor and we had discussed in the weeks leading up to this – because of my placental abruption history, and that the placenta is really the only place the blood can be coming from, it could potentially be dangerous to the baby to try preventing things for too long, as you wouldn’t want the placenta to completely detach before the baby is born.

I had gotten one round of steroids for the baby’s lungs in the first couple of days I was there, and since it had been a month and I was now close to labor, they gave me a second round of them. The plan on February 5th was to keep me on the magnesium for a while after my 2nd dose of the steroids that night and then see what happens. It turned out that I reacted horribly to the magnesium after being on it for so long, though. I had possibly the worst headache of my entire life (and I deal with some nasty migraines), major body aches, and chest tightness. The stress of it all was raising my blood pressure, and mentally I was a mess. At that point, because birth was imminent even if they kept me on the magnesium, they decided to stop the magnesium 24 hours after the last steroid shot. Thankfully they gave me something to help me sleep through the night and the last of the mag.

I had another big bleed after coming off the mag on the night of February 6th, followed by contractions about every 12 minutes. Those continued while I slept, but on February 7th the bleeding picked up again and the contractions moved to every 2-4 minutes, they were just not very strong. They were monitoring me very closely all day, and around 6pm (of course when DH had gone home to shower and get us dinner) a bunch of nurses came in to check on me. They said that the pattern of my contractions looked like an abruption pattern, so they wanted to check to see if I was dilated more (I had been 2cm for a few days I believe). Sure enough, I was 4cm dilated and 60% effaced. They said the words “You’re in labor!” and prepared to move us to a delivery room.

DH was a phone call away and he came back just as my mom was gathering our bags to move rooms. Luckily we had thought ahead and when the contractions first started he packed up all of the things we had accumulated in our room for the month I had been there so it would be easy to take into another room or to take home.

The contractions were picking up in intensity according to the monitor screen, but for a few hours I only felt about 25% of them, and few were truly painful. I knew I wanted an epidural (heaven) but my first labor was much more painful from the start and got so bad that I was vomiting from the pain of the contractions, so I was waiting for a hint of that kind of pain before I asked for one this time. I realized that the reason my first labor was so painful is because I was having a very quick placental abruption (my placenta was literally ripping away from the uterine wall, much quicker than normal), and since this one was happening much slower, it wasn’t going to be as bad. I didn’t want to wait too long, though, and I knew it would help me rest, so around 2am on February 8th, when I was 2cm dilated, I got the epidural. It was heavenly, except for that the delivery room bed I swear had a metal plate under my butt, and even with the epi I had a dull soreness below my entire ass.

I woke up from a decent nap at about 6am and realized that we had gained another day, so he was now 30 weeks and 4 days. Shift change was coming soon and I knew they’d check me again. I was pretty sure it was getting close to go time, and I was a little bit nervous but mostly excited.

One of the nurses I had had many times during my stay, Sally, was my delivery nurse. She was a sweet older lady, and I wasn’t quite sure how she’d be in the delivery room, but boy did she surprise me. She came in as her sweet self and checked me, saying that she thought I was about 8cm but it was hard to tell because my bag of waters was bulging so much. She went to call the doctor to see what he wanted to do. My doctor was of course not on call, and the on-call doctor from our health group was not there either. The head honcho of the labor and delivery wing was doing our on-call doctor a favor, so he was randomly my doctor for the day. I need to provide a little bit of backstory here now – the day I was admitted to the hospital, we heard a loud guy in the hall, cussing about something and then whistling. Every day he was there during my entire stay, I would hear a loud voice and whistling. We never saw what he looked like, so we weren’t sure what to expect when he walked into my delivery room. I’m not going to lie, I was a little shocked that a guy in his early-mid 60s walks in with 2 pairs of glasses on his bald head (one a pair of ladies polka dot reading glasses), wearing shorts, flip flops, and a windbreaker. He has a big stick in his mouth that at first I thought was a piece of sugarcane or something that he was chewing on, but instead on the opposite end was the hook to break my water. He walked in and started joking around with us saying he was planning on having a lazy day and what the hell is this, etc. A very funny guy with a thick New York accent.

Anyway, so right at about 8am he broke my water. Boom, I was 10cm. He left the room and Sally got in touch with the NICU team to give them a heads up. Not even 5 minutes later I was feeling pressure, but of course everyone had left the room, so I waited. At 8:15 I was really feeling the pressure and thankfully Sally walked in so I told her and she instantly called the NICU team (I really want to say she said “NICU team assemble!” like in a superhero movie, but I’m probably making that up) and the doctor. I was pretty much crossing my legs at this point trying to keep the baby in until everyone was all set up and ready.

Finally at about 8:25 or 8:30 they were all ready and I was told to push. This is when Sally showed her true colors, almost like a drill sergeant who happens to be a motivational speaker on the side. It was crazy. In between pushes, the doctor and we were carrying on a lively conversation, joking about how my normal OB is a weirdo but a nice guy and how they’ve been friends for years. All of the sudden I felt a “pop” and DH goes “Whoa!” – Hugo’s head had popped out of me and according to DH he opened his eyes and was just looking around the room.

A few pushes later and at 8:41am Hugo was here! 3lbs 13oz and 16.9 inches long. The one thing I wanted from this whole experience was to hear him cry, as our daughter never cried. Thankfully, he came out screaming! We were both crying tears of joy the second we heard that beautiful sound! The doctor put him on my belly which I was not expecting, so I got a minute or two of bloody skin to skin before the NICU team grabbed him to assess. DH stood by the NICU team and took pictures, and proudly announced to me that Hugo was peeing all over the place. He was pretty stable so they brought him to me for a minute so I could see my beautiful baby, and then they took him to the NICU.

The doctor came back later on to check on me and make sure I hadn’t bled enough to need a transfusion like last time. We asked him if I did in fact have another abruption, and he said that yes, we are considering it another abruption. Thankfully this one had a better outcome than last time, but before we get pregnant again we will be running every test in the book to figure out what is wrong and what we need to do to have a full-term pregnancy next time. Thankfully Hugo is healthy and beautiful and most importantly after 6.5 weeks in the NICU, home!!!

livinthesunnylife · March 2018

I was induced at 8pm on a Sunday night at 40+6 I was 1cm dilated. They checked me in, gave me some cytotec and told me to sleep because it would be the last sleep I would have. At midnight they came back and started the pitocin. In the morning I woke up starting to really feel the contractions. At 7am my OB came to the hospital and checked me - I was 2cm so she broke my water to try to get things moving better. I was doing really good laboring on my own and staying active and moving around until about 20 hours. I was 6cm dilated and the contractions were becoming unbearable. My doula joined me at the hospital and kept me motivated to hold off a few more hours before she told me that if I didn't get the epidural I was probably going to end up with CS because I was going to pass out before it was time to push. So I got the epidural and got ready for the 'stuck in the bed' stage.

Unfortunately after the epi my blood pressure kept dropping which would then drop DS's heart beat down and cause everyone in the hospital to panic. They kept putting me on oxygen (an oxygen mask is super annoying when you're in labor).

At one point I remember my doula & DH going to get some dinner in the cafeteria and alarms going off and all these doctors and nurses running in my room acting like I was dead and I was so confused what was wrong. Turn off the dang lights you're cooking me under and everything will be fine.

Then they started warning me that if I hit the 23 hours since my water was broken point they would be forcing me to have a CS.

Around midnight it was time to push finally and I pushed for about 2-2.5 hours before DS made his appearance. I had 3rd degree tearing. Random fact- I had a heart shaped placenta that was apparently all the rage at the hospital. I yelled at the staff to take it out in the hallway for show in tell please.

calimom2524 · March 2018

Omg @elsieisamoocow total goosebumps reading that. What a crazy ride!
@livinthesunnylife YES to the oxygen. I had to wear the mask with both, much longer with DS1, and I kept taking it off because it's so annoying.

7425cait · March 2018

I woke up at 5:30am to pee. I thought I had finished, but it kept coming. When it slowed down, I wiped and started going upstairs to tell DH I think my water broke. Sure enough as I was headed upstairs, water broke some more. It wasn't a full on gush, just more of a heavy trickle all day long. I insisted on being clean and ready for delivery, so I took a quick shower and ate a breakfast burrito on my way to drop my dog off at my parents on the way to the hospital. Contractions started at 6:30. Checked into hospital at 7:30. Got my room around 8:30. 4cm dialated going in.

I wanted a natural birth, so they hooked me up to a mobile monitor so I could walk around. Apparently DD was difficult to monitor so they made me lie in bed for 20 min every hour. That was my undoing. The contractions got so bad every time I got in bed. Around 12 I decided I wanted an epidural since I was still at 4cm dialated. The anesthesiologist was caught up in other stuff, so I didn't get my epi until 1:30. After that, I took a nap. At 8:30 my doctor told me my blood pressure kept dropping and DD was too. I wasnt fully dialated but she told me I could try pushing. I was able to get her out, sunny side up, after 30 min of pushing.

There was meconium in my water, so we weren't able to do delayed cord clamping, but I did get a full hour of skin to skin after they suctioned her. 7lb 7oz 19 inches. Totally perfect and healthy.

Even though I didn't want an epi, it wound up being for the best. I am so happy I waited as long as I could though. I was able to eat Apple sauce and drink Gatorade up until the epi, so I had energy.

legallykate · March 2018

calimom2524 said:

I'm bored at work today so I scoured my old BMB and found my birth story for DS2. It's kind of amazing a lot of the details I forgot, like I didn't remember at all that he was born with his arm above his head and had issues with it at first. Poor second kid.

I was born with my arm above my head too, my mom's OB, who was weirdly also my parents' next door neighbor, said "must be a girl, she is reaching for the credit card!" My feminist mom did not like that, but I have heard the story a million times.

mrsbubbles-2 · March 2018

YAY!!!!! Thanks for starting this @calimom2524!

We got the call to come to the hospital on induction day and arrived about 2pm. We were the only people in the registration area so the nurses there took their time with us, we actually had a lot of fun and one nurse insisted on taking a bunch of pictures. They got my IV line started and we waited for about 13 seconds before the orderly came in with a wheelchair to take us to the birthing room.

The birthing room was nice, it had a big tub and shower and a nice tv so once we got settled and I got my first dose of cytotec and bag of antibiotics for GSB and we started our Harry Potter marathon. I wasn't dialiated at all when they inserted the cytotec so they told us to get comfy, order some dinner, we'd be there a while. I got my second dose a while later and then they started the pitocin. They gave me an ambian at that point and we fell asleep.

I woke up about 2 with relatively painful contractions. They felt like period cramps but wrapped around into my back and butt. I went to the bathroom and *TMI* saw that my bloody show had started *TMI*

I requested my epi and the anesthesiologist arrived and had it placed in about 20 min. Back to sleep.

I woke up about 7 and they checked and I was about a 3 or 4. My ILs wanted to come for a quick hello so we figured it was better for them to come earlier so they didn't walk in when I was pushing lol! They came at about 11-ish and we had some time to chat before they checked me again.

When I was next checked I was a 7 or 8 and they decided to break my water. The nurse told me that when I feel like I have a lot of pressure, like I really need to poop to call her in. The ILs came in and we chatted for maybe 5 minutes when I felt the pressure and called the nurse back in.

She said I was complete, we would do a few practice pushes before the doctor got there. I started practice pushing and she said to stop, baby’s head was right there!

They asked if I wanted the mirror and brought it over. The dr came in and I started pushing. Three contractions and he was out! I had a 2nd degree tear that they stitched up pretty quickly. After we snuggled for an hour they took him to get warmed up and check his sugars. Blood sugar was low and still low after 24 hours so we had to spend 3 days in the NICU for him to get a glucose drip.

Overall I loved my induction. We’re hoping to avoid the NICU stay this time but I wouldn’t change a thing other than that!

elsieisamoocow · March 2018

@mrsbubbles-2 I had forgotten that a Harry Potter marathon was on when I was laboring the night before DS was born! Still hoping that this means he's automatically a big fan.

ecwk · March 2018

Oh @elsieisamoocow I’m so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story. I was hooked! So very happy Hugo is here safe and sound

I went for a NST at 40+3 on a Friday. At my request my membranes were stripped and the midwife told me I was 4-5 cm dilated and she’d probably see me on her shift that night. I wish she had not said that. Nothing happened that night. Saturday morning had some contractions but they faded away. Same thing Saturday evening.
Finally Sunday morning the contractions started again. Mild in the beginning and growing in intensity. I remember driving my parents to the grocery store at one point and waiting in the car thinking to myself that this could be it. They were getting bad enough to make me catch my breath.
Got to the hospital around 1pm and when they checked me I was 6-7 cm. Settled into the room and walked up and down the halls for a while. Contractions were getting worse and worse and I asked for an epidural. All of my contractions were in my back. I would not change anything about my birth story since it brought DS into the world perfectly healthy and perfectly safely but I do hope to not get an epidural this time.
After the epidural was placed I managed to relax for a while. I didn’t sleep but I was calm. It started to wear off on one side and that side was in agony.
So it was topped up but it made me completely numb from the waist down. I couldn’t feel a thing, I couldn’t move, I hated the (lack of) sensation.
By the time it came to push (around 2 in the morning) I was feeling pain but I couldn’t identify the contractions very well. I felt shaky and I felt like puking and I felt like pooping. I pushed for two hours and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. The pain, the pain was bad. But I don’t remember the pain, I remember how EXHAUSTING it was! I was more tired than I had Ever Ever been and more tired than I ever thought could be possible. I can’t describe the feeling accurately. I just wanted them to cut him out!
He was sunny side up and kept getting stuck behind my pubic bone. I touched his head with my fingers as he was crowning. Eventually he came out, he didn’t cry right away but he was perfect. I was so wiped out I didn’t think to ask whether he was a boy or a girl! He had a tennis ball sized hematoma that developed over the next 24 hours due to the constant friction with my bone. He did not take to nursing easily but we managed in the end.

juliebird6 · March 2018

I went into labor naturally (at 41+5) around midnight on Sunday night/Monday, 1/16. I was up all night with pretty regular contractions, and was so excited because I hoped that meant we would be able to avoid our scheduled induction, which was set for Monday at 6 pm. I continued to have regular contractions all day Monday, but never close enough together to warrant going in to the hospital before our induction appointment at 6, so we headed in at that time and got situated in a room.

When they checked me, I was fully effaced and 2 cm, so we did not end up taking any cervadil or anything to ripen the cervix. They let me continue to labor naturally for a long time, but unfortunately my contractions just were never productive enough and I couldn't get past 5 cm. After powering through this (throwing up, uncontrollable violent shaking, not sleeping) for about 26 hours and hearing I was still only at a 5, I gave in and had the epidural and pitocin around 4 am on Tuesday, 1/17. I'm so glad I did too because I was able to rest a little bit finally before it was time to push. I don't think I could have done it without the rest and the epidural. I held out as long as I could, and feel proud that I made it as far as I did, but that epidural was magical.

I pushed for about 2 hours (I now know this is a long time to push!) and then she was born. I had a pretty gnarly 2nd degree tear which they tried to stitch and quickly realized the epidural had worn off - ouch!

lolog531 · March 2018

I am loving all of these! Thank you ladies for sharing!!

I woke up up around midnight with the urge to pee at 36+5, which was pretty typical at that point. But I just kept ‘peeing’ and it wouldn’t stop. When I thought it was done I stood up and a little more came out. I thought to myself ‘huh that’s weird!’. DH woke up because I had turned on the light and I told him what was happening and he immediately got out of bed and started grabbing our bags. I was in denial at this point, but was glad I’m a planner and had already packed a bag! I took a shower, had a quick snack and called my dr. They told us to make our way into L&D. I was still leaking a bit, but mostly it had stopped.

At 5am we were checked into triage in L&D to get checked out. The second the doctor checked me the rest of my water broke in a huge gush all over the floor. Oops! I was admitted, but only 1cm and 60% effaced.

I walked the halls, bounced on a ball, watched TV and tried to sleep a bit. Per the machine contractions were happening, but I couldn’t feel them. At 9am my OB came in and I was still 1cm. She suggested the Foley bulb and I was reluctant, but agreed. Pitocin was started shortly after since no progress in 8hrs from water breaking. Then the contractions picked up and things got real. Lots of TV, ball bouncing and walking, but I finally gave into the Epi. It was glorious and I tried to rest a bit. Pitocin kept getting increased and Foley bulb FINALLY fell out at 6:30pm and I was 5cm.
Now we were trying different positions in the bed, back massage, all fours, you name it, we tried it.
Around 10pm they realized he was sunny side and my contractions were right on top of each other. the epi was wearing off and I felt a lot of pressure/pain because he was wedged into my pelvis on the right side. Tried different positions to ease up the discomfort and they upped the epi.
2am they said they’d give me until 4am to progress some more because I had reached 8cm. I dozed in and out until then.
4am I was 9cm, but he was still wedged and sunny side up. All vitals for me and DS were good, but my OB recommended considering a c/s because of all the factors (time since water broke, position, I was exhausted). At 4:45 DH and I made the decision for a c/s (after I completely lost it, broke down and had the worst ugly cry of my life).
29hrs after my water broke, DS was born at 5:33am at 36+6. He cried and then peed the second they put him on the warmer and scale. Apgars were 8&9, but there was a NICU team in the OR (our hospital is connected to a children’s hospital) just in case since he was considered premature.
I got skin to skin right away in recovery and the nurses helped him latch right then, too. It wasn’t everything I envisioned, but everything went as well as it could. My OB said there was a very slim chance he would’ve delivered vaginally - she had to really pull him out and he had a bruise on his head from being so wedged into my pelvis. She said ‘you would have pushed for over an hour and we probably still would’ve ended up in the OR’. It made me feel much better on our decision.

Sorry, that was a novel! I had to go back to my FB group with my BMB to dig out my story!

lalala2004 · March 2018

I have it all written out, but it’s crazy long, so I’m going to try to go from memory.

So it was the night before my due date, and I woke up with contractions around 11pm I took a bath and they didn’t go away, so I started timing them. They were definitely regular, but not super close, so I told DH and he helped me time them for a bit. I got a little sleep here and there between contractions. Then I started loosing a lot of my mucus plug and bleeding a good amount. I wasn’t expecting the bleeding, so I thought maybe I should go to the hospital. I called the on
call doctor and she said “You can wait, or go in. Whatever you want.” Ummm not helpful. My doula advised me to go ahead.

Contractions were a bitch on the drive over, and they were way more intense once we got there and checked in. When they checked me in triage I was already 8cm! They checked me twice to be sure, because they said I was so calm to be so far dilated. By now I guess it was 4am or so.

We got a room, and I tried the exercise ball for a bit, but it was too big. I was having a hard time relaxing through contractions, so I asked for laughing gas. That really helped. Most of the pain I felt was actually in my cervix and the gas made me pretty goofy and out of it. I wasn’t drinking enough water because I just wanted to suck on the gas.

They kept asking me if I felt the urge to push, and I really had no idea. My doctor showed up, so I figured that meant it was time to push!

On my first big push my water broke and my doctor had to change her clothes. I guess after an hour of pushing (I rested between pushes). He was born. I said “He is big!” And he immediately peed all over me.

I had a second degree tear, more bleeding than they liked, and my oxygen levels weren’t great, so they gave me IV fluids and we had to stay in L&D for a bit, but DS was super healthy and I was able to have the low intervention birth I wanted. I was very thankful!

ecwk · March 2018

@lolog531 we have some things In common with the wedging behind the pelvis and the sunny side up! How were you able to do different positions with the epidural though? When I had mine I was bed ridden which is one of the reasons I would love to avoid it this time!! Can you tell me more??

@lalala2004 How much did the gas help? Like it took your pain down from a 10 to a 5? Is there a way to explain it??

lalala2004 · March 2018

@ecwk the thing about pain is that it’s worse when you are tense, so basically the gas helped me relax. I could still feel the pain, but I could relax through it. And because the gas made me high, I also cared a lot less about the fact that I was in pain. And the effects went away as soon as I took the mask off.

ecwk · March 2018

lalala2004 said:

@ecwk the thing about pain is that it’s worse when you are tense, so basically the gas helped me relax. I could still feel the pain, but I could relax through it. And because the gas made me high, I also cared a lot less about the fact that I was in pain. And the effects went away as soon as I took the mask off.

Thanks!! Didn’t you read a lot about the Bradley Method and have a Doula too? I feel like you must have been so “prepared” (as prepared as one can be when entering the unknown like this!) I was very go-with-the-flow which in hindsight may not have been the best decision! I really hope to avoid an epi this time and I hope the gas will help!

lalala2004 · March 2018

ecwk said:

lalala2004 said:

@ecwk the thing about pain is that it’s worse when you are tense, so basically the gas helped me relax. I could still feel the pain, but I could relax through it. And because the gas made me high, I also cared a lot less about the fact that I was in pain. And the effects went away as soon as I took the mask off.

Thanks!! Didn’t you read a lot about the Bradley Method and have a Doula too? I feel like you must have been so “prepared” (as prepared as one can be when entering the unknown like this!) I was very go-with-the-flow which in hindsight may not have been the best decision! I really hope to avoid an epi this time and I hope the gas will help!

Yes, I did a Bradley Method class and my
cousin was my doula. But really a lot of it was luck. However, I think my mindset was beneficial because I had done so much research, I had very little fear or uncertainty, which I think can make a big difference. Ultimately I didn’t use a whole lot of the things I learned during labor as far as positions and comfort methods. I just sat there and sucked on laughing gas

lolog531 · March 2018

@ecwk I should’ve clarified that I did different positions while still in the bed. My nurse that came on at the 7pm shift was AMAZING. She really worked with me. With my epi I could still wiggle toes and move my legs, so I was able to get onto my side and sit up (with a little help) On my side she placed a peanut shaped exercise ball between my legs. I also laid on each side for about an hour with my leg in a stirup - both of these Were trying to help open up my pelvis more. I was on all fours a lot and she just maneuvered the cords and made sure the epi line stayed put. By rocking slightly to each side she was hoping this would help him adjust. I sat indian style for a bit and had DH and her rub my back, too.

mrs_drc_rn · March 2018

Preemie story, so possible TW:

I had a rough weekend at work and decided to call out on Monday at 33+5 because I was just exhausted and having awful back pain. My supervisor asked me if I was having contractions to which I replied “I don’t know, I’ve never been pregnant!” Well, by the end of the day I could tell that they were because the pain began wrapping around to the front but it was tolerable. The next morning at 33+6 I wasn’t feeling DS move at all, even after chugging some juice and all that, so my OB’s office advised me to come to the hospital for a NST. I spent a few hours there and baby was fine despite me having minor contractions. They did an exam and told me I wasn’t dilated at all so I was sent home and just told to rest and drink lots of water. I got home shortly before dinner, DH and I ordered some Chinese and after dinner I settled in on the couch to do as prescribed.

I could not get comfortable at all! As the night progressed the contractions got worse but being a FTM and having a fairly high pain tolerance, I assumed these were Braxton Hicks and would let up soon. I even tried to fall asleep at one point! Hours past and eventually somewhere close to midnight DH and I started timing my contractions (poor guy was just trying to study for finals). Some of them were close but then others would be further apart. After maybe another hour or so, I told DH I felt hungry and went to the fridge to grab something to eat. As soon as I opened it was like “nope, I’m going to throw up” and hauled ass into the bathroom to puke. I had read that vomiting was a sign of labor so I told DH we needed get to the hospital.

I was back at the hospital roughly 12 hours after leaving my NST. I had been slowly losing my mucous plug for a few weeks and the rest came out when I was changing into my hospital gown. When the doctor examined me, he said I was 7cm dilated and I was like “what?!?” I was taken back to my room to get fluids before an epidural but I don’t think half the bag even made it in before I started feeling like I had to push. Because of how low they put the sensors during the NST I was told DS was head down, but he wasn’t. He was breech and his heart rate started decelerating so the doctor couldn’t turn him. He looked at me and said “I need to take you back for an emergency c-section, you’ll be under general, I don’t have time for you to sign anything” and looked at DH and said “and you won’t be able to be there.” I kept it together long enough to be taken to the OR and lost it before they put me under. They even had to do an x-ray afterwards because there was no time to do a proper instrument count beforehand.

DS was born at 4:10am at exactly 34 weeks, 4 lb 3oz and spent three weeks in the NICU. I had my baby shower two days before he came home!

I hope my story doesn’t freak anyone out; I think in a way it’s good for FTM’s to hear about births that aren’t so textbook. I was woefully unprepared to be in labor and can remember telling DH that they may want to stop it because I was only 34 weeks. I had fibroids when I was pregnant with DS and even though my OB had told me it was possible to go into labor prematurely, it was never discussed in great detail. Anyone can PM if they have any questions about anything!

pghctwife · March 2018

I’ll read these in a few! Here’s my oldest - warning - soooooo looooooong

At 3am on Thursday April 7, I woke up and thought that my water might be breaking. That day, I was to have an appt where we were going to schedule and induction for friday because I was going to hit 42 weeks on Monday. I so did not want to be induced and was trying some last ditch efforts friday: mani/pedi, a walk with the dogs, and accupuncture. I was so excited to see that my water was breaking and that this baby was going to come on his own!

I was not able to get back to sleep, though I tried. And water breaking at home is not the most fun way to do it, what a mess! The contractions started at 5am on the nose, when I was trying to sleep. I watched the clock to see how frequent they were and saw they were around 4min apart from the start, so I got up and grabbed a stopwatch and pad of paper to start timing them. Ryan was up by now, too. I could see that the contractions were consistently 3-4 min apart and about 40 seconds long on average, so we would be heaing to the hospital soon. Ryan ate quickly (the thought of food nauseated me!) and we both took a quick shower and grabbed the last minute things for the hospital. I called my Dr office and they said to head in. I was a little disappointed that the one doctor with whom I didnt feel a great connection was the one on call that day.

We got to the hospital at about 7:30am and they checked us in. Because my water had already broken, they took us right to our room to check me and baby. At my last appt I was 3cm and 80%, and I was 4cm 80% at check in. The baby was tolerating the contractions well, so we were able to get up and walk around. While walking the floor, I threw up all over - we were right in front of a nurses station but their backs were turned so Ryan had to ask for help. I threw up after a contraction again later, too.

The labor was all in my back from the very start, though the pain was manageable and with help from Ryan, I was able to breath through the contractions and relax. As time went on, they became more intense and difficult to stay relaxed. At about 10am I asked to try the tub they have in the L&D area. The tub was huge for me, and the nurses were so helpful in trying to work out ways for me to get positioned in it. The tub was great for helping me relax and feel good in between the contractions, which was harder for me to do out of the water, but the contrax became very intense. After about an hour I asked to get out. In the room, I tried some different positions to try to work with the back labor more effectively (hands and knees, ball, etc) but they all seemed to make it worse. By this point I was unable to relax and breathe through them, so I decided to ask for a cervix check at about noon to see if I had made much progress. When they said I was still only at 5cm, I decided to ask for the epidural. It was a hard decision to make as I had hoped to go med-free, but I knew that we likely had at least 5 more hours before pushing, and I did not think I could keep it up. I also was really getting upset and I wanted to feel more control and really, to be able to enjoy labor more.. or at least not be so miserable.

About 1pm I was ready for the epidural, and the anesthesiologist came and administered it. The epi itself was nothing, really easy. It was the strong contractions during it that were hard! Especially since at this point, there was no relaxing through them, though I needed to for the epi. The epidural started to work right away basically and I took an hour nap immediately.

At 2:30 they checked me again and I had progressed to a 7-almost-8 and 100%! I was really relieved because I knew that often, epi's can slow things down. In my case, I think that before the epi, I was unable to relax enough during the contractions to get any progress at all. Once I got the epi, I was able to get some rest and my body could relax through the contractions and get some real progress!

During this time, I was able to relax and chatted with Ryan and Crista (who was there for photos). I had been up since 3am, and I was glad to conserve some energy for the pushing to come. At 3:30 they checked me again and I was at 9.5! The nurse adjusted my position to help get the last bit to go.

Our awesome fantastic nurses shifts were up now, and I was sad to see them go. They were SO awesome. I kept hanging out, we were going to wait for me to feel the urge to push instead of just pushing at 10. Then, a familiar face! Our nurse was back! After seeing us through all day and helping wtih the tough labor, she really wanted to stay to see us through and got the OK from her boss to stay till 7. She was the best nurse we had the whole time and I am so so thankful that we had HER for the labor and delivery!

Another hour later, and we tried some pushing to see if I was able to feel the pressure needed and was able to push effectively (sometimes the epi can prevent these). I was, so they did not need to stop the epidural at all. And even better, we were almost at doctor shift change! And the replacement was one of the midwives at my practice who I really really like. Perfect!

I pushed for 2 hours total. In the beginning, the baby's heart rate dipped a little so we only went every other. At one point, I was getting some bad heartburn which was distracting me from pushing so they got me some medicine. The nurse warned me that i was nasty tasting... and it was. So nasty that I immediately threw it, and then some, up. My heartburn was helped by the throwing up luckily!

The baby was descending, and they brought a mirror over so could see the head. When he started crowning, Michelle the CNM came in and helped coach me through pushing too.

At the end, everything happened really fast and I did not know what was going on at the time. His head was born, and instead of the shoulders coming right away one at a time, they were stuck, plus his cord was coming out as well which can be dangerous. I had my eyes open and there were only the 5 of us in the room. I closed them to push, and when I opened again there were about 20 people and they were surrounding me. The nurse went to help ryan with his leg and two others held my other leg while the CNM worked on getting the baby out safely. She instructed them to pull my legs straight tehn shove them back again hard against me pushing. That worked, and our son was safely born with "The Promise" by Tracy Chapman playing, such a fitting song for the birth of our baby.

They asked Ryan to tell me what we had, and he was too choked up. A few seconds later he said "It's a boy" with tears in his eyes.

Henry Ryan was born at 6:49pm on Thursday April 7, 2011. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches long.

Because of the issues at the very end, we were not able to wait for the cord to stop pulsing etc. They had Ryan help cut the cord and checked his vitals right away. Even with all that Henry went through, he had minimal bruising and his apgars were 8 and 9! And a truly spectacular conehead! He cried right away, and had his first bowel movement immediately. Ryan got to hold him right away, and then me. I held him skin to skin, and we just stared at each other. Henry latched very quickly and was so alert and bright eyed. We both fell in love immediately!

Later on, the midwife came by to talk to me about his birth. She explained about the shoulders and said that this was a shoulder dystocia situation, and from later googling, the McRobert's Maneuver is what they did to resolve it. She said that many providers will offer a c-section for subsequent pregnancies in case this were to happen again, but that in my case she does not believe that is necessary. In our case, the issue seemed to be caused more by position than by anatomy (mine/his). Luckily, we were both safe and healthy.

pghctwife · March 2018

My secind. Again... LONG

On Thursday January 24th at 39 weeks and 5 days, I woke up at 5am with contractions. I had my membranes stripped the day before as well as acupuncture and was having some small inconsistent contractions the night before that subsided before bed. At my appointment on Wednesday, I was 4cm and thinned with a bulging bag so I knew this was it. I started timing them and they were 30 seconds and 7 minutes apart. I was hungry, so I went and made eggs and english muffin and coffee knowing that once we went to the hospital I wouldn't be eating any more.
Ryan came down at 6 and I told him that if he wanted to shower and eat now was the time. He got ready, and then we gathered henry up in the car to bring to my parents'. After dropping him off, I called the hospital on the way in to tell them we were on our way.

We got to the hospital and were brought in to be checked and were surprised to hear I was at a 7cm already. It seemed possible that this baby would come that morning at that point! I told the nurse that I wanted to try to labor unmedicated and she was really excited to try to help me do that. At this point the contractions were manageable and I was just breathing through them and relaxing. I was getting back labor like I did with Henry but it was much less intense, I think because my waters hadn't broken. The baby was handling the contractions great. I did some walking and leaned over with counter pressure from Ryan when I had contractions. At about 10, they checked me again and I was still at a 7. I was still handling the contractions fine but was disappointed that I hadn't progressed at all. Dr. Michaels offered to break my waters at that point and I declined.

At that point, we got more serious about trying different positions to try to get more progress: birthing ball, all fours, got in the shower (since I didn't have any progress they didn't want to do the tub). At 12:30, the nurse checked me again and again I was only at a 7. She really was pushing to break my waters at this point but needed to wait for the doctor. The Dr had been called into an emergency c-section so we waited. The contractions were getting much more intense at this point. The nurse was gettng really frustrated because the doctor was tied up for so long, so she called the OB group at 1:30 to tell them that we needed another dr. We were told that either Dr Grieco could come over, break my waters and leave, or we could wait until 2:30 for the midwife I had been seeing and who delivered Henry to come in early for her hospital shift. I was happy to keep laboring for an hour to get Michelle! She got there about 3pm and at this point my contractions were getting much much harder. The nurse checked me at about 2:30 and I was a 9... finally some progress! At 3, I was more like a 9-9.5 so we tried having me do a few contractions on my side to try to get to the 10. Even though I was almost there, Michelle still wanted to break my waters at this point in part because Henry was born with a shoulder dystocia.

I was focusing as much as I could on breathing the baby down, visualizing opening flowers and things, and just thinking down, breathing down. It helped me focus through the contractions and get through them. Ryan and our nurse helped me stay focused on relaxing my mouth, my shoulders, my forehead. While hypnobirthing ended up not really helping me the first time, I was able to draw from it, as well as visualization and breathing techniques from my running days, to labor this time more successfully.

Michelle had them start to run the tub for me with the plan to get me into the tub and hope that that would be enough to get the last bit done if we needed, though she wanted to deliver out of the tub to have better control due to the risks.

Once she broke my water, the contractions became even more intense and I worked through 2 on my side when I believe I was in transition. They were incredibly hard and brought me almost to tears. At this point I said that I couldn't do it (and I am pretty sure some in the room laughed because at this point, there was no turning back!). I was still not quite there though, so Michelle had me leaning against Ryan who was walking backwards half holding me with the nurse behind me into the room with the tub. It was literally about 20 feet total and was just excruciating. It turns out that walk was all it took to get me from the baby being at a 0 station and a 9.5 to crowning. We got in the room and I had one contraction where I was feeling the 'ring of fire' and was able to NOT push. The next contraction I was digging into Ryan's shoulders and the urge to push was uncontrollable.

My nurse really wanted to help keep me from tearing, and had said that we were going to work through pushing in a certain way to avoid it (II had a second degree tear the first time). So I was trying SO hard to not push and just couldn't stop it. I heard Ryan saying to them that the baby was COMING. They pushed me into a wheelchair to rush me back into the room. During my trips back and forth to the tub and back I was thinking 'I hope there isn't someone watching this getting terrified of this process!' I felt like I was just a mess at this point and while I was in control so much of the labor, at this point my body was in control. They got me out of the chair and I was half climbing into the bed when I had another contraction, and again had to push. I was told later that at this point the room was frantic with Michelle (and a resident who was shadowing her) trying to get dressed and scrubbed for birth in time to catch the baby. They got me up into the bed and had me feel the head crowning... this gave me the focus I needed to gather myself, and in that position I was much better able to control the push. They had me blow like a straw through the push and in two pushes like that out popped the head. In that moment, Michelle said she needed a really good push to get the shoulders out and I pushed as best I could to get them out. I heard her say they were through and the relief that we avoided that complication was huge.

Out came the rest of his body, and they said "Dad? What is it?" Just like with Henry, I heard Ryan say through tears "It's a boy!!" The physical relief from the baby being born was immediate. I was tearing off my gown because I wanted him on my chest skin to skin right away and they gave him to me. It was wonderful that he was able to stay on my chest until I was ready to let him go since there were no complications. After a while they had Ryan cut the cord. Isaac latched on within the first 30 minutes. We had them diaper and wipe him off a little so Ryan could hold him too, and we shared the news with our families and friends.

I ended up with no tearing at all, and birthed the placenta quickly as well. I felt great afterwards and the recovery without coming off meds and without stitches has been great. My back was pretty sore from the back labor I had throughout, and because I wanted counterpressure for basically all the contractions, I think I was a little bruised. I didn't need to take any pain medication afterwards at all, had no issues using the bathroom and walking around.

His birth was such a whirlwind and I was so glad that it went so well. The last hour was so intense and SO hard but was such an amazing thing to experience, to feel my son being born and feel the intensity of pushing him out. His head is nice and round from spending so little time in the birth canal and had great apgars of 9 and 9. A nice sturdy boy, he weighed 8 pounds 4.2 ounces and 19.5 inches long. He came out screaming and pink, and from the start of labor through his first days of life has been healthy and robust, sleeping and nursing well. He left the hospital at 24 hours old having dropped to 8 pounds even, and at 4 days old is already back up to 8 pounds 2.5 ounces!

His big brother has been great! Once we got home with our whole family, Henry was happy and his normal self and has been very sweet to his new brother, generous with gentle kisses and touches and trying to share with him already.

pghctwife · March 2018

And number 3! Yep. It’s long.

On June 8 at 39 weeks I had an afternoon appointment where I was a 3-4 cm. I had a very aggressive membrane sweep; I was very DONE and made that clear! I was crampy right away and all evening.

After the boys were in bed, we laid down to watch some Netflix. Around 10-10:30 I started timing contractions. They were long, over a minute each, but only 7-8 minutes apart. Not very intense. I couldnt sleep so I got up and picked up the playroom and drank some water to see if I could get them to pick up. They got shorter, 45 seconds or so, but got much closer together (3:30-4 min) and the intensity picked up. I still could walk through them though.

At about 12 I called Michelle, the midwife who was on call and also delivered both boys, and told her where I was and asked what she thought. She said to get the ball rolling, so I called my mom to come over to stay with the boys, and woke up Ryan. We got packed, and headed to the hospital. On the drive my contractions picked up intensity and got a little longer and closer together. By the time we were there they were just under a minute long and about 3 min apart. I needed to stop talking and close my eyes and breathe through them by the time we were halfway there.

We got to the hospital room at 1:30 am. I was checked in at a 6-7cm and very low. Baby was tolerating contractions very well, oblivious to them in fact! I stopped timing them but they were coming pretty close together, and I wasnt getting much rest between them. I was getting back labor again, and split my time between the birthing ball and leaning over on the bed. On the birthing ball I had a harder time getting through the contraction, but got a real break between them, and at the bed I had a better time during hte contraction but less relief in between. Counter pressure from ryan and the nurse and Michelle helped again.

Around 3+ my water broke, and then I threw up too. I was checked and at an 8. We thought it might help to try laboring in the shower, walked over and had a contraction, then threw up again, and another contraction. I finally got in the shower and immediately hated it and got out! We came back out and I was at a 9. She noticed that I still had some intact bag in front so she broke it the rest of the way to help get me complete. I was encouraged to bear down when it felt right to do so. I still had a small lip to go to get to 10, so Michelle had me flip over and lean over the top of the bed - I was in transition and really really intense labor at this point, said that I couldnt do that and got help to turn. After a contraction or 2 I was fully dilated, felt the 'ring of fire' and pushed and was crowning. She asked me if I wanted to move to my back or if I wanted to give birth in this position, but the idea of moving and doing anything but give birth was not appealing at all so I stayed. I could hear Michelle ask for some lubricant to help me so I held off. The crowning was super uncomfortable and tight feeling. Michelle suggested that I could reach down and feel the head and I said (I was realllllly uncomfortable at this point) "I can feel it already!" ha!! She teased me about that quip later. I pushed and got the head out, and one more really big long push and the body was born. Michelle caught the baby and handed him under to look at me, so I got to meet him face to face and see for myself that it as a boy! I said hello to our son Rory Anthony

He was born at 4:31am, after a short 6 hour labor. I only labored for 3 hours at the hospital and saw how intense and hard a shorter labor can be. I was able to avoid getting pain medication, and did not have any tearing or stitches. I recovered quickly and well from Rory's birth. He had some pretty bad bruising on his eyes and sinuses, and his eyes had some pretty bad broken blood vessels. He didnt even open his eyes until about 1pm because his eyes were so swollen from the bruising (and hard crying!)

Michelle asked if I wanted to delay clamping which I did, so she helped me turn back over so I could have skin to skin snuggles with our new son! Ryan cut the cord once the placenta was being born. Rory was born screaming and yelling and kept it up! He seemed pretty mad to be earthside at first! He latched on at 20 minutes old and nursed until he was an hour old! Rory was 8 pounds 5.8 ounces and 20.5" long. We went home after 24 hours, and only lost 4%. By Friday he was gaining back.

Danelle+Miguel · March 2018

Loving reading the stories ladies

Thought my water broke, so went into be checked around 6pm at the birth center. *Tmi* They did a test with a strip and confirmed positive it was water breaking but turns out semen also turns the strip positive and we were doing out "homework" the midwives called it to induce at 41 weeks. *Tmi* around 1am they sent me to a nearby hospital to check on baby due to low movement, about 2 cm, all was well and contractions were starting to pick up so they sent me home and got me out quick. From 2-5:30am my contractions increased and I just ordered through then at the house. Then woke my husband up around then because they were getting intense. Lol I was in denial that it was active labor, and he kept saying I think we should head back now but wasnt clicking to me, I was just focused on getting through contractions. Then midwhide called to check on us and said we should head in and beat traffic, ot clicked then, so we headed in. Arrived around 6:30 was 5 cm she broke my water. I layed in bed while my husband did Counter pressure on my back (amazing). Hated walking it moving, then around 10am I felt pushy so they had me get on the peanut ball and sauat ( a bit rough). About ten minutes late they checked me and I was ready three pushes and she was out 10:19am. Healthy baby girl and no tears. So thrilled. We did skin to skin, delay cord, then measurements and feeding. Was home 5 hours later for a good sleep. Hoping to repeat again!

pghctwife · March 2018

@elsieisamoocow oh my goodness. Tears! What a scary yet beautiful birth story.

melissaf22 · March 2018

Stole mine from my BMB and was glad it was there because after 4 years some details are hazy

my water broke at 3 am Sunday morning, I was actually awake but it was still very shocking. I had no contractions but since my water broke we headed right to the hospital. I was given pitocin pretty much immediately and was consistently given more every half an hour. The pain got pretty horrifying and I was given the epi. After that I went from 1 cm to 5 very quickly and then to 10 within the next 2 hours. The only problem was that she was still very high and she was being stubborn! It took a solid 2 hours of pushing and she was out but that's when the scary part happened. The cord was wrapped twice around her neck and everyone on staff started running in the room and she wasn't crying!! I of course was starting to panic and then what felt like an eternity later she let out a cry. They then took her right to the NICU only letting me hold her for 30 secs. They kept her overnight but I did get to breast feed her while she was there :-)

aj1327 · March 2018

Love all of these!

I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday, and I was a teacher and my last day of school was Friday. It was working out perfectly because I was planning to get a bunch of things done Monday-Wednesday. Sunday evening I went for a walk (or waddle) around the neighborhood. When I got home, DH told me our dog had sat at the front door and cried the whole time I was gone, which was weird. We laughed. I showered, threw my hair in a bun, and went to bed. It was probably 9:00ish. I started having some pain but blew it off. DH came to bed about 10:30. I didn’t say anything but by 11 I just felt like I couldn’t lay there anymore, so I told DH I was really hurting a d got up. He kept trying to be sweet and rub my hair, but I was having major back labor, and just kept telling him not to touch me. He kept insisting we needed to go to the hospital and I kept insisting it was a false alarm. Then around midnight, I started throwing up and agreed to go. My contractions started super close together so he was nervous I think.

When we got to the hospital I was only 2 cm, but they kept me anyway and I immediately got the epi. They also started me on a low dose of pitocin. The epi kept causing my blood pressure to drop so they were keeping an eye on that, but DH and I napped on and off. My doctor came in at 7am and broke my water. I think I was around 4/5cm at that point. By 11 am I was almost fully dialated abs we started “practice pushing” my doctor came in around 12 and practice pushing turned to real pushing. The baby’s heart rate was dropping with contractions and my doctor was getting concerned and, despite my nurse telling her she could go and she’s page her, didn’t leave. I was getting exhausted and I remember about 10 minutes before he was born, looking at DH, and I must have looked defeated. His eyes filled with tears and he was like, “You can do this.” At around 1:00, Colin was born. He had the cord wrapped around his neck which was causing his heart rate to drop with contractions. We did skin to skin immediately and I was nursing within an hour.

pghctwife · March 2018

Btw a tip to ftm (or s+tm!) even if you never want to share it publicly, in the first week or 2 while its still fresh, write your birth story. The details fade really really fast, and your memory of it isn’t going to be great bc it’s stressful, you are tired, etc etc.

you may want to be able to go back and read it and remember it one day, and I find it nice to have.

ashleyandjody · March 2018

At 38w4d I had my weekly checkup where we checked my amniotic fluid level because of my gestational diabetes. My doctor said it was low, but it was fine. He felt he needed to have me check into the hospital that night because if I waited another week, the amniotic fluid might be at a critical level. So, we went home called everyone (all our families lives 3+ hours away) and just relaxed before checking in at 7:00 PM. My doctor also told me to eat a good lunch because it might be awhile before I got to eat again.

We checked in at 7:30 PM (after having to turn around because I forgot my purse) and went to our room. I changed into a gown and then the nurses attempted 3 times to put an IV in my hand. After 3 failed attempts, they called the ER to have someone come and place one in my arm. The ER nurse had no issues, and the L&D nurses came back to hook me up to all the other monitors. I then had to watch a video about epidurals because I mentioned that I was interested in an epidural if the pain was too much. At 10:00 PM all our family had to leave because no visitors were allowed after this point, I was also given my first round of Cervidil. I was then told to try and get some sleep, which between the monitors beeping and the uncomfortable hospital bed, was impossible. At 2:00 AM the nurse came back in to give me my second round of Cervidil and check my cervix. I told the nurse that I was having a ton of pain about 2 minutes apart (she told me the Cervidil would only give me mild cramps). So she said that she would check, and when she did she exclaimed, "Oh my, you're 4cm, would you like an epidural", and I immediately replied "YES!". Side note: When she checked my cervix, I thought that was the worst pain in my life!

I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to arrive, so in the meantime she gave me some pain meds through my IV, which made my pretty loopy. My DH thought it was funny because I wouldn't stop talking, and I'm normally a pretty quite person. I received my epidural at 3:00 AM, and then fell back asleep until 5:00 AM. The nurses then started to come in and out of my room to move me because they said DD wasn't happy. At 5:00 AM I was dilated to 7cm and my water broke. At 7:00 AM my doctor came in and checked me again, at which I was still 7cm. he said if I had not progressed by 9:00 AM, I would have to have a csection.

9:00 AM rolled around, and my doctor came in and checked me. I was still 7cm dilated. They rolled me to the OR, and started prepping me for a csection. DH came in and said that they had already cut into me (he saw when he walked past), and all I could really feel was pressure. At 9:44 AM DD was born, and the doctor exclaimed, "Look at those lashes!". He also said that she was sunny side up which is why I might have stopped progressing. They took her measurements, and DH got to hold her. He brought her over to me, and I cried and cried. By 10:00 AM we were all back in the recovery room enjoying each other

mrs_drc_rn · March 2018

@ashleyandjody OMG the first time they checked me after the NST was SO painful! I wasn’t expecting it to hurt that bad! When I came back later and the OB said he needed to check me I was telling him how painful it had been earlier and he was so wonderful during it, just telling me to relax and breath. It was much less painful that second time!

ashleyandjody · March 2018

@mrs_drc_rn I was glad that I had an epidural after that because I couldn't imagine going through that kind of pain again. It was horrendous! And even though I was crying for her to stop, DH never woke up and he was right next to my hospital bed...

Firemanswife11 · March 2018

I went to my 38w appointment and blood pressure was slightly elevated so my doctor suggested we go ahead and induce a week later. To this day I kind of think I was induced for convenience of everyone because there was a snow storm around the time we conceived DS and there were a ton of women all scheduled to give birth at any minute about the same time. Lol.

Anyway, I was already like 3-4 cm when I went in to be induced (I had been about 3 cm for several weeks. I only got checked once, I think at 37 weeks, and it hurt so bad I refused it after that point). So we got to the hospital, checked in, started pitocin, yadda yadda.

Contractions began fairly quickly, probably an hour after I got there, and they broke my water around the same time. I quickly progressed and almost didn't have a chance to get the epidural. And, for some really weird reason, I had it in my mind that epidurals couldn't be given until 7cm so I suffered for a really long time, LOL. I had almost no break between contractions because of the pitocin and at some points wanted to get up and go home because I was sure the pain would kill me.

I felt the entire epidural and could feel the medicine going in, which the anesthesiologist told me wasn't normal. Only my legs went numb. I joked that I wanted a 50% discount for the trouble, haha. So I wasn't entirely numb where I needed to be, and I had about a 6x6 inch square above my pubic bone where I could feel EVERYTHING. At least my vag was numb, I guess.

DS' heart rate kept falling because he was on his cord and the sensation of him moving in my body without amniotic fluid + the epidural was very strange. I kept having to be turned from side to side to get DS off the cord. That was scary and a few times the nurse said we needed to keep his heart rate from falling or we'd need an emergency CS.

Anyway, after about 3 hours I was ready to push all the sudden. I only ended up pushing a few times (I think it was 12 minutes total).

When DS' head came out, my doctor chuckled about how much hair he had and...gave him his first hair-do, a faux-hawk ... LOL. It was hilarious and I will always cherish that funny moment. My doctor then stepped aside and let DH deliver the baby! That was so special. (I later joked that we needed another discount.)

Because of the epidural, I pushed too hard and ended up with several bad tears and residual scar tissue, yay.

I also forgot or didn't realize as a FTM that the placenta also had to be delivered and my doctor massaged my uterus to get that out about 10 minutes later or so ... about that time the epidural started to wear off and I was freaking out about how badly I hurt. I was so, so naive about what all would happen after birth and I was shocked at how much pain I was in.

My legs were numb for HOURS!! I couldn't walk and they wouldn't take out my IV because I couldn't pee, either. So after birth was pretty irritating because, again, I was just so naive about it all. The amount of bleeding shocked me, DS was jaundiced (probably from the pitocin), and I was soooo uncomfortable. I'm glad I know now what I didn't know then.

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights because I was just having so many problems with the pain and DS' jaundice. Also, DS' nose was almost flat when he came out because I was so dilated for a few weeks and his head was so far down in my pelvis. It stayed that way for like a month, haha.

All in all, I enjoyed (yes, enjoyed) my birth experience and I'm excited to do it again with a little more knowledge this time around.

mapleandbacon · March 2018

Short because I'm on mobile. I started having some cramps so I walked for an hour. They were light, not consistent, I was just hoping to go into labor and see my baby!! Went home, that afternoon had some bloody show. A few hours later the light cramps became a little more regular, about six minutes apart. Ok, I'm stubborn. I had a class AT the hospital that night and wanted to attend. So I went. I was really uncomfortable during the class, contractions we're about 4 mins apart lasting about 45 seconds. I was talking to one of the nurses later and told her I thought I was in labor, could she help me finish up some of the class real quick so I could be the first to leave. She was all, go get checked!!!! I told her no, that I wanted to labor at home. Left the class, on the way home my water broke. It wasn't a lot though, but it wasn't pee. I got home and my husband was home and I just burst into tears because I was scared. I stayed home for a few hours but things didn't get more intense, or lighten up, just stayed the same. My doula said I should go get checked to make sure it was actually my water that had broken, so I went in with my bags and all. It had, and my bp was high. I had hoped to have a medication free labor and my hopes were quickly dashed. I was started on mag immediately and pitocin about 3 hrs later. Oh, and best part? My water broke at 1 cm. I had been having contractions for about six hours and was at a 1. After being on pitocin for a few hours I reached the maximum doseage and still hadn't gotten an epidural. I was probably a 3. I got an epidural. I progressed so so slowly. Epidural kinked after about 12 hrs. Excruciating pain. Got another one. Overdosed and passed out/vomited everywhere. My water had been broken for 24 hrs and my midwife came in. She knew how much I wanted a vaginal birth, I was at probably a 7, she assured me that I was making progress and could keep trying. About two hours later this epidural started wearing off and I was in agony again. She had me go ahead and start pushing. 90 mins later my baby was here! Both of his arms were bent and up at his chin when he was born making it a stubborn delivery. All in all I contracted for about 33 hrs and waters were broken for 28. I was extremely grateful that I could deliver himself. Everything else was awful, lol. Goals for next time: hope my water doesn't break as soon! Haha! I'd love to be able to have a medication free labor but that's not as important as a happy mom and baby. I was exhausted from the pain and stress and I think it kick started my ppd/ppa. This time I would love to be able to hold my daughter as she's delivered. My midwife tried to help me last time but I wasn't able to sit up enough to reach my son.

juliebird6 · March 2018

You guys, all these stories are bringing back so many memories. Like I had totally forgotten how painful the cervical checks are. I'm DREADING that.

calimom2524 · March 2018

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/g5/ytm4fzg654tp.jpeg

Awww this just showed up in my Timehop! Not sure why cuz this wasn’t 5 years ago but it shows the scar I mentioned above.

ETA aaaaaaand I see on my computer screen the scar isn't showing up haha. Oh well, here's my big kid as a tiny kid.

mrsbubbles-2 · March 2018

@calimom2524 - OMG!!!!!! Adorable

7425cait · March 2018

The cervical checks were not pleasant at all! I requested them to stop after a while. The resident doctor's kept coming in and wanted to check me, but I told them I wanted to wait for my OB to show up. They also wanted to start me on pitocin only a few hours after labor started. Hell no.

I have a question about membrane stripping and manual breaking of water. Do they hurt? I was supposed to have my membranes stripped on Monday, but went into labor on Sunday (thank God).

calimom2524 · March 2018

7425cait said:

The cervical checks were not pleasant at all! I requested them to stop after a while. The resident doctor's kept coming in and wanted to check me, but I told them I wanted to wait for my OB to show up. They also wanted to start me on pitocin only a few hours after labor started. Hell no.

I have a question about membrane stripping and manual breaking of water. Do they hurt? I was supposed to have my membranes stripped on Monday, but went into labor on Sunday (thank God).

MEMBRANE STRIPPING HURTS!!!! It's like a cervical check only the doctor then swirls their finger alllllllll around your cervix. I went into labor the night she did it though so I mean, there's something to be said for it. It doesn't work for everyone but if your body is close to labor it's supposed to work. The two times I've had my water broken I had already had the epidural so it definitely didn't hurt for me.

livinthesunnylife · March 2018

@7425cait Membrane stripping sucks. Cervical checks hurt less once I went to a hokey chiropractor and got him to get into position and he wasn't so posterior. I swear before that my OB had to put her whole arm in there.

Breaking the water felt FANTASTIC. It was like a magical pressure release. It was messy, but I felt like I lost 10 lbs.

calimom2524 · March 2018

haha @livinthesunnylife you probably did lose 10 pounds, that's a lot of "water" in there!

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