October 2019 Moms
galentine
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Birth Stories from the STMs+
galentine
member
Since some people are already sharing bits and pieces of their prior kiddos' birth stories in the Randoms thread, I thought it might be nice to put them in a dedicated thread.
Moms who have been through childbirth before, share your birth stories here! The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between.
***I think it's safe to assume a TW for this thread, and maybe don't read it if scary stories may bother you. ***
Moms who have been through childbirth before, share your birth stories here! The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between.
***I think it's safe to assume a TW for this thread, and maybe don't read it if scary stories may bother you. ***
Re: Birth Stories from the STMs+
Tl;dr- DS1- 9 hrs, 45 minutes. Less than 20 minutes of pushing. 2nd degree totally internal tear. I walked into my induction in active labor.
DS2- 2 hrs, 15 minutes. 2 pushes. My induction triggered active labor (pitocin was turned off). No tearing
DS1-
I was due 1/15. When I went to my app that day, we scheduled an induction the morning of 1/19. My OB did a check and membrane strip that day.
1/18, I spend the day with some cramps, nothing major. I take some Benadryl to sleep (we were to report to the hospital by 6am) and turn on the heating pad to the lowest setting to help soothe the cramps. I wake up at 11:30p with an early labor contraction and don’t sleep the rest of the night.
1/19- at 3:30a, a switch went off and active labor began. Contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting about 40 seconds. An hour later, we’re told to report to the hospital since we’d need to be there by 6 anyway. I check in and the receptionist is all confused because they had never had this happen before. I get the epidural around 8:30 when I’m at a 5. I nap after this. My OB breaks my water shortly before noon when I’m at an 8. He plans to go to lunch and suspects i’ll be ready when he comes back. At 12:45, I tell the nurses I’m feeling pressure. She checks, I’m at a 10. She calls my OB back. While he’s on the way, I get the urge to push. She tells me to do some practice pushes, says FTMs with an epi will often push for an hour. Surprise! 2 pushes and he’s moved down to prime time. She pages the OB, who is changing. Nurse realizes that the baby isn’t going to wait and prepares to catch DS1 herself. My OB runs in, still in his suit, and checks. I’m told to not push so he can remove the cord around DS1’s neck. Two more pushes, and he’s out.
DS2-
I’m due 4/30. We did a membrane strip on 4/17 that didn’t work (they’ll do them at 38w). I had been in early labor for 2-3 weeks at that point. I go in for my weekly app and NST on 4/24, where we planned to choose an induction date for later in the week as my MFM instructed that I’m not to go past my EDD. DS2 epically fails his NST and I’m told to head to the hospital for eviction. I’m at a 3 and given something to sleep while they run the pitocin at a 2 all night.
4/25- the nurses, under instruction of the MW on duty, up my pit by 2 every half hour starting at 7:30a. MW comes in at 9:45. Pit is at a 14, I’m not feeling anything other than my normal light contractions here and there, and still at a 3. She breaks my water at 9:50, tells me I can get my epidural whenever I’m ready.
11am rolls around, and I’m finally starting to feel contractions, but they ramped up really fast. By this time, pit is at an 18. My nurse comes in around 11:30 and says they’re going to up it to the max of 20. I beg her not to and ask for the epidural. She agrees to wait until I get it to up it the last step. Less than 15 minutes later, multiple nurses come running in and go “you just had 6 contractions in less than 10 minutes.” No shit, Sherlock. They knock down the pit to a 14. I’m sitting on the ball thinking “okay, 10 minute half life. These should be slowing down to not being painful soon!” Surprise, they keep coming fast and furious. They turn OFF the pit and say they’ll turn it back on when the epi is placed. Well, guess what? I had gone into active labor, much to everyone’s surprise.
12:45- my epidural is finally placed. They check me. I’m at a 8, almost 9. I go “is this where I tell you I went from an 8 to a baby in an hour last time?” They go “yes! We’re going to call the MW!”
12:50- my catheter isn’t working and I desperately need to pee (you automatically get one with an epidural). They wouldn’t let me pee before the epidural was placed- wanted me to wait for the catheter. Also, unlike with DS1, they slowly titrated the epidural up instead of instant relief 😒. I send DH to tell the nurses.
12:55- nurse walks in with the MW. MW sets up her table and checks. I had jumped to a 10 and DS2’s head was blocking the catheter. Epidural still hasn’t fully kicked in. She gets my bladder emptied and goes “okay, you can have this baby whenever you feel like it!” 2 pushes, and he was out.
The MW had guessed I’d be having him at dinner time 🤣🤣 instead, we interrupted lunch again!
We are actually evicting DD at 39w because of DS2’s rapid entrance.
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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Saw my Dr at 39wks and I was slightly dialated but nothing reall major. He made a comment about seeing me the following week and added "if I dont see you sooner".
2 days later (Sat) contractions started but super inconsistent. This continued on over the weekend. Monday I woke to some bloody discharge and stronger contractions. I called DH as he was already at work to let him know I was calling L&D. When I called them they recommended staying home from work for an extra hour to time the contractions. I got ready and while I did they were not labor quality in the time frame so I dropped N off at daycare and went to work. I had told my boss that labor was starting and she made a comment about that not being possible, no way I could be having contractions and working. At 1 point i told my Executive boss that I likely wouldn't be in the next day for a meeting. Nothing changed through the day or evening. Contractions were growing in strength but not in timing or consistency.
At 1am things changed. I got up for my usual bathroom trip and as I was headed back to bed felt a pop and gush of fluid. Went back to bathroom with a clean pair of underwear and threw on a pad. Woke DH up to get N ready. He called his mom so we could drop her off while I called L&D (I was positive for Strep B so had to go on antibiotics immediately after waters broke) and away we went.
Things ran smoothly once we got to the hospital. Nurse was absolutely amazing. I do remember the contractions hurting but they were tolerable until they were not. It happened fast. I got up to use the bathroom again and the pain was so intense I vomited. The nurse, being highly experienced, knew it was time for the epidural. I think this was around 3/4 am. The anesthesiologists was an ass. He was cocky as all hell and NOT someone a woman in active labor wants to deal with. Even the nurse wanted to slap him.
Once I had the epi I was able to rest for a while. I remember being almost asleep and a hoard of nurses ran in. Apparently DSs heart rate had dropped. After that there was a lot of blur of bustling around. After 3 hrs of pushing and a failed attempt to strengthencontractuons with pitocin, a nurse checked and discovered that DS was not facing 6 and stuck on my pelvic bone. I think it was only 2 or 3 vac assisted pushes and he was out. He had a nice hickey like ring from the vac and a bruise from my pelvic bone but perfect every other way ar 1215.
ETA a few details lol
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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Go in for normal appointment at 36eks. Told baby is dangerously small, they’d been noting size but never mentioned it was a big deal. That was Wednesday evening. They forgot to call Thursday after my monitoring at L&D. I call Friday and my doctor is out. They squeeze me in to see a doctor I met once before, I loved him though. He said I needed to be induced that weekend. Never talked to my own doctor.
Go to hospital Sunday night for cervadil to soften my cervix. My doctor comes in at 6 and we decided to break my water. At 8 I had still made no progress, so we start pitocin. I got an epidural sometime around noonish, even though the contractions still weren’t bad they said the anesthesiologists was going into an afternoon surgery, then she scolded me about doing it to early. I did not like the epi at all. The inability to feel the lower half of my body made me super claustrophobic. Also I had been getting IV penicillin every 2 hours and it was making me sick but nurses were less than caring about it. At 8pm Monday, 13 hours after starting the process I’d only dilated to a 3. We decided to do a C-Section at that point. I threw up three times during the section.
DS spent part of first night in nursery because he wasn’t breathing or sucking well. But he was fine after night one. He was only 5lb at birth so we ended up staying an extra night.
Needless to say this baby will be a scheduled C-Section.
HX
DSD: 17
DS: 4(Nov'14)
MMC:8/17
MMC: 1/18
BFP: 2/7/19 EDD:10/16/19
Tickers
With my first I was approaching 10 days late when they decided to induce due to my prior apts. coming back with high blood pressure. It wasn't alarmingly high but enough that they didn't want me to go to a full 2 weeks late. I went in for an apt. the morning of 9 days late and she did a membrane sweep (even though I was only like a .5cm and she wasn't sure it would even work). She scheduled an induction for the following day. I got home that day and was super crampy. By around noon I had my bloody show and contractions started becoming consistent. By 7:00pm we headed to the hospital. As a new mom, I was so unprepared for labor and birth. I went into it so blindly thinking, meh I'll just get an epidural and everything will be fine. Besides my mom having 5 unmedicated births, everyone else I knew got an epidural and told me I would be so insane not to. ( Again wish I did so much more research, common theme here ha).
Got to the hospital and I was 4cm, they told me the anesthesiologist was right next door and it would be perfect timing to just get the epidural then. I was definitely uncomfortable but it wasn't to the point where I didn't think I could make it but I agreed anyway. Once they placed it I still felt a lot of discomfort. I was like hm maybe this takes awhile to kick in. I've always been a people pleaser and never wanted to "bother" any of the nurses so I didn't say anything. A couple of hours went by and the pain was getting a lot more intense. I finally broke down and said something to the nurse, it was discovered that my epidural did not work and they were not able to replace it. I wasn't progressing as quickly as they liked so they started pitocin. I immediately started throwing up uncontrollably. Time became blurry- the next day came and I still wasn't moving that fast. They broke my water at 6cm and discovered a good amount of meconium. Continued to labor in such pain (again having no coping mechanisms or any idea I was going to be doing this med free) - the baby was having a lot of heart decels but they were able to keep it under control with continuing to move me. At around 9:00pm I was ready to start pushing and pushed for 3 hours before she decided she needed to do an episiotomy. He came out and was completely silent. The NICU team was there because of the meconium (standard procedure)- the room was silent as they suctioned him and tried to get him to cry. It felt like forever. I kept screaming asking if he was ok but nobody would answer me. The room was silent as they watched and worked on him. FINALLY he let out a little cry. It was the most relieving, happiest moment of my life. (Total of 33 hours of labor) He spent the next 2 days in the NICU because his lungs were not clear and he needed steroids to clear it out. We were discharged a few days later and the recovery from the episiotomy was rough! At 6 weeks PP I was still not healed. It took a good 10 weeks.
Baby 2, I'm at a new practice due to moving and am 8 days late. At this practice they do not "let" you go past 10 days late. I had an induction scheduled. I went in the night before and started cervidil. That started the contractions and by the morning I felt ready for an epidural. The epidural was placed and immediately I was completely numb. I couldn't believe this is how it was supposed to feel! However it was so strong that I completely had no movement of my legs and felt so out of control. I did not like feeling so out of control. I laid there and just waited to be fully dilated, it was such a strange thing to me like I wasn't present for my own birth. At 8cm she came in and broke my water. Immediately the baby's heart rate dropped and she went into full panic mode. I tried explaining this had happened with my son when we broke his water. She didn't care. She was panicked. She started flipping me over and the heart rate was not increasing. She started screaming "this kid is going to give me a freaking heart attack!" She immediately called some code and called for an emergency c. There was no discussing it with me. I started crying hysterically for 2 reasons- 1 , a c section was the LAST thing in the world I ever wanted, 2, feared for my baby because of how hysterical she was. Within minutes she was flying me down the hall and the baby was out super fast. I asked her what the problem was and she just said so calmly at that point "Oh I don't know, he was just tucked up there pretty high". I'm obviously super grateful that my baby was safe however, I feel if I had more support and time, we wouldn't have needed to do it. I did not find the c section recovery to physically be very difficult ( I guess compared to my episiotomy!) but emotionally I felt terrible. I kept replaying the birth over and over in my head and wish I had done so many things differently. I wish I had a voice (which I know I do now), I wish I had more support (which I will now) I wish I had a better birth provider (which I do now). It took me a long time to mentally heal from that birth. However, that birth led me to where I am today..
With this pregnancy, I switched to an all midwives group that I can go to 42 weeks with before talking about a c section. The level of care I received already compared to my OBGYNS, is incredible! They are so supportive, want the same outcome as me and most importantly believe in the mother's instinct and her ability to birth a baby. I spent the past couple of years researching birth and became a bit obsessed with it ha. I wanted to know my body and it's abilities as much as I could and trust this most natural process. I will absolutely go med free as I hated the feeling of being out of control with the epidural but I am so much more prepared now and have the resources to do it the way I want and look forward to the day.
Ahhh so sorry this is so long and winded. I just want to get across the importance of educating yourself as much as you can or if you want to go into it blindly like I did, then to be ok and accepting of the outcomes.
With my son, I saw several OBs who were pushing me to schedule a c-section because of my injury from my last birth. My urogynecologist (who will perform my surgery once I'm done having kids) insisted that it should be my decision and that there are inherent risks either way. I ended up delivering with a group of hospital midwives that he worked closely with and it was the best decision. 3 days after my due date, I started having cramps. Our plumbing was out, and MH wouldn't call a weekend plumber because $$ so I was really hoping to hold the baby in a couple more days. When the cramps got timeable I was still in denial, but couldn't sleep so I started cleaning. When they got to be 3-5 minutes apart I finally woke MH, and called my MIL to come stay with our daughter. She lived about an hour away. By the time she got there I was in full blown labor. I couldn't even sit in the car, so I climbed into the trunk (SUV) on my hands and knees. We were about 45 minutes away from the hospital so MH was freaking out about car baby potential. Got to the hospital at a 9, put a rush order in for epidural (needed for my injury), popped baby boy out a couple hours later with no complications. 8 pounds 5 oz. 21 inches. 10 hour labor.
I had an awesome pregnancy and was planning a homebirth. Everything went perfectly right up until my 41st week appointment, when my blood pressure came back just barely in the hypertension range. I had to do a 24 hour urinalysis and monitor my blood pressure at home. I went back the next day and could tell by the look on my midwife's face it wasn't good news... My initial urine sample showed tons of protein and I was getting high blood pressure readings at home as well. (once you get 2, you are risked out) they allowed me to go home and pack, but I had to head to the hospital right after for an induction due to pre-eclampsia.
I was a complete wreck for about 24 hours while they tried non-pitocin induction methods. This was the absolute opposite of what I wanted and it was just really hard for me to handle... I was really thankful that my hospital and nurses were so understanding and didn't shame me for attempting a homebirth and that they were so kind during the entire process. They tried a Foley bulb first and misoprostal (?) first and that came out that night. The next morning we did another dose of miso and when that didn't work they broke my water that afternoon and found quite a bit of meconium present... When that didn't work, they started the pitocin.
My contractions went from very manageable to breathtaking pretty quickly and I was happy labor was progressing. I had an amazing doula that worked with me on positions and massages and convinced the nurses to stop pitocin for a bit to see if my body would take over and let me hop in the shower/bath. Around 10pm, my contractions were all in my back, incredibly intense and double peaking. I was having a really hard time coping and my doula and nurses suggested a drug which I can't remember the name of, but it would take the edge off for about an hour. I decided to take it, but right around that time my blood pressure started getting dangerously high (I believe when I looked at the monitor it read 195/145) and the nurses said we couldn't continue like this. They gave me the option of an epidural or magnesium. My doula looked at me and said it's time for an epidural. She made me realize we had exhausted all other options and it was the only thing left to do.
I took the epidural and got the shakes, but finally got some rest. It was honestly amazing as much as I didn't want it lol They turned me all night to get baby into a optimal position. Around 6am it was almost time for a shift change and my nurses warned me that the next Dr was "cut happy" and jumped to c-sections very often. I absolutely loved the current Dr. so we decided that if I hadn't progressed by 8am (shift change was at 9am I believe), I would just get a c-section by the current Dr. because I felt much more comfortable with him. Thankfully I progressed a ton and we decided to continue! At 9:45am it was time to push! It took 20 minutes and he was out.
*TW* They immediately cut his cord and called a code blue. He was so grey and limp and tiny... They worked on him for 4 minutes before they were able to get him suctioned and intubated and then they whisked him away to the NICU. My husband followed them down and I was left upstairs to wait for my epidural to wear off. It was the longest 2 hours of my life... I never got that womb to chest moment I had always looked forward to. I didn't even get to see a tiny bit of him before they started working on him... I remember asking my mom if he had hair and what he looked like 💚 my husband sent me pics and let me know he was doing okay.
After 2 hours I was able to get wheeled down to him and he was just getting his ventilator removed. I'll never forget getting to hold him for the first time, it was magical. He was only 6 lbs 5 oz at 41+4 and my placenta was super tiny, so I'm pretty sure I also had undiagnosed IUGR. We spent 4 days in the NICU weaning him off oxygen and dealing with mild jaundice, but he did great and we were so excited to bring him home!!
I constantly get comments about how this proves homebirths are a terrible idea and what if that had happened at home. It drives me crazy. To me, this proves the system works. I was going to do a homebirth until I became high risk and then I was transferred. Even if they didn't catch my pre-eclampsia, I would have risked out when my water broke. And if they for some reason missed the meconium in my waters, I would have been risked out when my blood pressure reached dangerous levels. I really wanted to do a homebirth again, but my husband was hardly on board the first time, so we've compromised with a birth center that is less than 10 minutes from the same hospital I gave birth at with my first 💚
Sorry that was so long 😬 thanks for reading if you got this far!!
DD was due 9/30, and I went into labor on 10/4. I started feeling strong contractions at about 11 pm, and they were very quickly strong and 3-5 min apart. I called my hospital at about 2 am and they said to stay home and call back around 6 am. So by 6ish the contractions were still strong and 3-5 min apart, so they told me to come in at that point. When I checked in, I think I was only at 2 cm, so they had us go walk around for a couple hours. H and I walked around downtown by the hospitals, even going to get breakfast, while I stood and paused every few min trying to breathe through my intense contractions (I was having all back labor and it was so painful).
After a few hours i was still only at 4 cm, so they sent us out to walk some more. More of the same, just trying to breathe through these things. They finally let me stay in a room later that afternoon even though I was still progressing so slowly. I think I was finally at 8 cm later that evening around 7 pm, and that’s when I got my epi, which helped so much of course, I still had a lot of pain with contractions though.
Fast forward throughout the night, my body was stuck around 8 cm and they broke my water at some point the next morning. When I finally got to 10 cm on the morning of 10/6 I pushed for 4 hours, with no progress. The nurse kept thinking she was progressing because they could see her head, but after 2 hours the OB said there had been no movement, but that I could keep trying. By 4 hours the OB checked again and said that her head was swelling so much and that’s why they could see it, not because she was progressing.
So we headed into emergency surgery, DD had meconium in her fluid when they broke my water, so they knew there was a chance she had aspirated some. During surgery, I had SO MUCH PAIN and also thought I was going to pass out and/or throw up, and I was terrified. DD was finally born at 2:15, her APGAR was 1 and she was not breathing due to a meconium plug deep in her airway. (Or course I didn’t know this at the time, I just was confused because I didn’t get to hold her). She was intubated and whisked off to the NICU, where she spent her first 3 days.
To be totally honest, I still have guilt over how long I pushed and I wonder if I had agreed to c section sooner, if she would have been breathing/had a less traumatic birth. She ended up healthy, thank goodness, but those first few days were so scary! All in all 40 hours of labor, 4 hours of pushing, and emergency c section.
Both boys were around 8 pounds, and other than a hemorrhage with DS1 that required some intervention, I recovered quickly and breastfeeding went well. However, breastfeeding for both was still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Way larger of a time and energy suck than I could have anticipated.
Found out DD1 was breech at 33 weeks, did everything in my power to flip her (spinning babies, Chiropractic work, moxibustion, handstands in my mom’s pool). She was double footling breech and totally stuck there. Ended up scheduling my CS for 40 weeks with the OB. It was calm and they do gentle CS - drop the sheet so you can watch your baby come into the world instead of being disconnected, and I got to hold her right away. That was nice, but I felt so foggy in the days after. The pain meds were necessary but made me feel distant, I had awful pain from an air pocket in my chest, and I feel like I lost some detailed memories.
I hated CS recovery - I felt like my guts were going to fall out and still had pain and numbness on and off for months after.
DD2: Knew as soon as I was pregnant that I wanted to avoid a CS. Threw my back out at 20 weeks and started chiro care, which helped so much to get her and my body into optimal birth position/alignment. Thankfully, the practice I had DD1 with has the highest VBAC success rate in IL. I felt 100% supported the entire pregnancy. They let you go to 42 before scheduling an induction - so many OBs won’t do this for VBAC moms.
Due date came and went, and I went in for an NST at 40w5d. The midwife offered to sweep my membranes that day and I said why not? Went home and felt crampy, a different kind than I had been feeling, so I took a long walk with DD1 because I just had a feeling it was the last day we’d ever be alone! I knew I was in labor an hour or so later but chose to stay home as long as I could since we only live 5 min from the hospital. Felt a pop and a gush and then really couldn’t get off the toilet because I was leaking so quickly, and decided to go in!
My midwife got stuck by a train and told me later that I sounded so calm on the phone that she didn’t think I could be as progressed as I was. I was 8cm when I got to the hospital and trying not to push. My body just wanted to. I spent a little time soaking in the tub, but most of the time on my knees, hanging on the back of the bed, and finally couldn’t stop myself from pushing. The nurses and my doula were amazing, but the on-call doctor started scrubbing in and was telling the nurse that I had to get on my back to push. I loudly told DH that I didn’t want that doctor to touch me, and right then my midwife ran in. I pushed a couple times, and she was out - 90 min after we got to the hospital. In the minutes/hours that followed I felt this crazy adrenaline surge like nothing I have ever experienced before. I had a very mild 1st degree tear and was discharged like a day and a half later since she was born just before midnight.
Labor wasn’t traumatic for me. It was intense but to me the contraction pain felt intentional. It didn’t feel like the same type of pain you feel when you break your leg. And that’s true - every contraction is productive. One step closer to baby coming. That was my mindset. I really loved being able to move the way my body wanted to and that I wasn’t confined to the bed.
Eta: detail
I showered, packed my bag (I enjoyed having something to do to distract from the pain) and attempted to eat breakfast...which ended up coming back up. We got to the hospital around 11 and I was in triage for awhile bc all of the L&D rooms were full. I was managing to get through the pain while balancing on a yoga ball in there. Finally the midwife did a cervical check and I was at 6 cm. They moved me to a room and at that point I gave in to an epidural. Looking back I wish I had tried a few other natural techniques first but I was running on fumes. At that point I was able to nap. It took a few hours to get to 8 cm and I got stuck there. They broke my water, which sped things up.
One thing I was happy about was that my epidural didn’t 100% work, so I was able to feel what I was doing without being in all the pain. I pushed for 23 mins and got 3rd degree external tears and 2nd degree internal tears. The bleeding wouldn’t stop so they had to take me to the OR to be stitched up. They put me on additional pain meds that made me feel SO out of it and I hated it.
The only thing I’m really unhappy with from my stay is that after we were moved to a regular room and ready to sleep a nurse came in to bathe DS. I was so tired and barely remember it. If they try that again this time I will kindly tell them to F off until we’ve slept.
ETA: DS was born at 8:15 pm
and they did DS2 MOTN after his hearing test. I asked them to do DS2’s in the morning when we were up, but hospital policy or some screwy thing. They don’t do them for the first 12 hours, though, which is the current recommendation
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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with DS1, I saw a rheumatologist who monitored me. At 38w, she noted my platelets were dropping. At 39w, they dropped even more. They were still high enough for the epidural, but not by much. It’s suspected to be the reason behind why I hemorrhaged when my OB pulled out my placenta (it didn’t want to come out on its own right away).
btw, once you birth baby, you still have to push out the placenta. It feel a like a giant ass slug coming out your vagina
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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I was past my due date and scheduled for an induction at 41+4 but my water broke at 1 AM the day before. My contractions started within 45 minutes and were fast almost immediately: 60 seconds long and 6 minutes apart then jumped to 2-3 minutes apart so we headed to the hospital and arrived just before 4 AM. I was 5 cm upon arrival and after laboring for 90 minutes with nitrous gas for pain management I was 10 cm at 5:30 AM and they wanted me to start pushing.
I pushed for 90 minutes but could only push on my knees as his heart rate kept dropping in any other position. It was exhausting and finally at 7 AM the doctor told me that she was worried about the baby and wanted to try to get him out with forceps and if that didn't work they were going to give me a cesarean.
She warned me it would be very painful and that I would likely tear so they gave me a spinal tap. The meds kicked in fast thankfully and he was out two pushes later with the forceps at 7:43 AM. Turns out his arm was up beside his head and had the umbilical cord wrapped around it which was causing the heart rate to drop when I pushed. He was a little bruised when he came out but luckily nothing major and I had second degree tearing and stitches. It was an exhausting but relatively fast delivery and left me feeling like I’d been hit by a train.
According to the pediatrician, the nurse apparently made an error on the initial birth weight (9 lbs 4 oz) as they said he had lost 17% of his weight in the first 24 hrs and the staff was alarmed and wouldn’t discharge us. The ped said it was impossible to lose that amount without having other health issues (which there were none) so we were told to use 8 lbs 4 oz as his birth weight and they finally let us go home.
Normally, platelets are only run when there’s an issue, as part of your initial OB workup, and when you are admitted to and discharged from the hospital
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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I was induced on Feb 14th 2018 (Valentines Day).
my original induction was set for 5:00 am, but they called us at 4:30am saying that there were no delivery rooms open, so they would call back when one was available. Anyways, my hungry ass went to McDonald’s and I accidentally left my phone at home. Lol. It was fine. I missed the call by 10min.
So, by the time we were able to go in it was 7:30am.
When I got into the room, I was super nervous. My BP was through the roof. FYI, They make you take a shower with an antibacterial soap, get in a gown and lay down.
I was monitored pretty hard just because of my BP, but after an hour, it went back down to normal. They basically put two and two together, knowing it was my nerves.
They started the Pitocin once I laid down and everything was fine.. I even took a nap a few times. I had very minor contractions, but nothing crazy.
Around 12pm my OB came in and they broke my water. After that, all hell broke loose. It’s the oddest feeling ever, not the act of breaking, but the feeling of all the fluid.
I’m very hippie dippy. I originally wanted a natural birth (no epidural). I wanted to be like an Indian in the woods. Lmao! Well, I changed my mind about 3 hours in to my contractions that were happening about every 1 1/2 minutes. Oh, and you’d be surprised how much fluid keeps coming out every time you have a contraction. I look at my SO and said “I want an epidural”. He ran out of that room so quick, trying to flag down the nearest nurse. Lol!!
3 minutes later, I was getting an epidural. What a life saver. OMG.
Once again, I was able to nap.
Around 8:00pm I was about 9cm dilated and it was time to start getting into position. Around 8:30pm, I started to push.. about 10 minutes into pushing, I was told by the nurse to stop, my OB had to assist a lady who was in labor and her delivery Dr. was not there. Honestly it was at the worst time, I needed to push SO BAD! Even my SO said “if you need to push, you push. Luckily, my OB didn’t take much longer. I had a episiotomy for my last push and I finally delivered my son at 9:09pm.
All I can say is, you might have a birth plan, and that’s great. I had one to an extent, but sometimes things don’t always work out the way you want it, or at least expect it to. Just be open minded and know that everyone there just wants the baby to be as healthy as possible and you too, momma.
edited for this.
let me just say this... no matter when you give birth and no matter how you feed your child, they’re going to have you write down the time of feedings, poops and pees... the MOMENT you start getting that schedule of when they eat. You need to be very clear about when the nurses should come into your room. They will screw up your sleep more than the baby will. Lmao!
This. I will not be afraid to be asked to be left alone for a stretch of time to sleep. I remember the next morning it seemed like a never-ending line of people coming in. I think I ended up being rude to the poor girl who was offering to take newborn photos bc I just wanted to be left alone for awhile. Oops
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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The birthing experience was good. I loved the nurse I had and the doctor was great. I'm going to try to go without an epidural again this time (hopefully it'll be quicker since its #2). i was so ready to go home the next day because I would have been so much more comfortable, but since I had my baby late in the day, the made me stay 2 nights. Hoping that doesn't happen with this one. My biggest disappointment was the postpartum care. They didn't do any teaching, had just given me a packet of info before I had the baby that I forgot I even had. Sorry, I've never had a baby before but I didn't know what was normal and what wasn't after delivery. Not to mention the postpartum nurses I had were just very poor overall.
@jcbh2018 I wanted natural too. It just didn't end up that way. I was fine with it though. I think if I was in your position, being induced with Pitocin I wouldn't have even attempted without an epidural. Pitocin is no joke!
@melanier26 Yes, platelets are checked with regular blood counts when you go in for delivery. If for some reason your platelets are low (usually less than 90) they will not give you an epidural due to bleeding risks. This is not the case for most women though, low platelets isn't very common.
I tracked once we were home with DS1, but once I realized our pediatrician didn’t care as long as he was eating and going, I never did again🤷🏼♀️
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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I always tell expecting moms to be stern with the nurses. I definitely know for this time around. I felt like every time I fell asleep, someone was coming into the room.
I’m not sure. I tracked everything with my son until he was 10 months old. I think it helped (especially in the beginning) cause you’re so damn sleep deprived. The hours just seem to slip by.
Plus, I thought it was really helpful when I started doing solid foods (3 day rule) and helped with babysitters or SO if they ever questioned “when does he eat next?” I’ll definitely do it again.
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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Total time of actually having to focus on labor and not do other things: around 11 hours
Time in hospital before baby: around 4 hours
Did most of my laboring at home. Dealt with pain with breathing, bouncing on a yoga ball, counter pressure from DH, walking around and changing positions. 7 cm when I arrived at hospital. Got an epidural right away. It took away most of the pain but I could still feel the pressure when I had contractions which helped me know when to push. 10 cm when doctor arrived. He broke my water. Pushed for 60-90 minutes. Episiotomy, baby on chest, lots of stitches.
It all went about as perfectly as I could have wanted except for the episiotomy. But episiotomies get a really bad reputation so I want to talk about mine a little bit. TMI warning but that probably applies to all birth stories...
I had been pushing for awhile and baby’s head was so close to coming out but I just couldn’t push it out that last little bit. Doctor spent a long time doing counter pressure, trying to stretch me out with lube, etc. Finally he said something like “I know you didn’t want this, but you’re going to tear very badly. Can I give you a small cut?” I was so ready to be done and I agreed. One more push and baby came out, head, shoulders and all. It was a really odd but cool feeling. The stitches took awhile.
Here’s what I didn’t appreciate at the time - my tearing was happening upward, not at my perineum. People don’t talk about this very much, but it happens. I ended up with a couple tiny upward tears - maybe not even first degree they were so shallow. After the first week (maybe? Postpartum time is a blur) those tiny tears hurt so much more than my episiotomy site. They hurt when I peed. They hurt when I sat. They eventually healed but it was slow. I’m so grateful that I didn’t have a second degree tear there, or worse, that needed stitches.
I agree that episiotomies shouldn’t be done routinely or just to speed things along. But done compassionately and with your consent, episiotomies can be a very good thing. So, just another reason to have a doctor you trust and a willingness to be flexible about your plans and preferences.
Initially on the Pitocin, I was managing fine and they were ramping it up slowly as promised. Then we got a new nurse who started upping it by 2 every time and more frequently. I felt like all of a sudden everything was awful and I was vomitting and having a ton of trouble coping with the pain and frequency of the contractions. We tried the nitrous, which did nothing for me, and they were coming so fast and furious that I begged for an epidural. DH and I had a codeword for the epi so he knew I was serious when I asked for it and I couldn't have been more sure. Luckily the anesthesiologist was in quickly and placed the epidural super fast. Instant relief. But then, the baby immediately had his HR decelerate and everyone panicked and got me on my hands and knees to try to get him stabilized. We went through a lot of that through the night. Baby would have decels, they would reposition me and then he would be fine. Even though I no longer was in pain, it was very stressful. They were talking seriously about the possibility of c-section due to all the decels and that they found meconium during one of their checks.
By morning, they checked me again and I was fully dilated, but baby's head was at an angle. After a lot of consulting with the OB, they agreed to let me try to push, but they didn't have a lot of confidence and thought we would for sure end up going for a c-section. They brought a ton of people in at this point. I delivered at a university hospital, which means there are students observing everything. I had the midwives, pediatricians and OB teams and all their respective students in the room. But at this point, I didn't care, all I wanted was my baby delivered safely. To everyone's surprise I pushed him out in literally two pushes. One for the whole head and one more for the rest. They immediately brought him up on my belly and everyone was silently waiting for DH to announce the sex (we were team green). This was the one thing in my birth plan that actually went according to what I wanted. He got lost in the moment and forgot, so needed reminded and finally he said "It's a boy!". It was the best moment. After a bit they took baby across the room to weigh, measure, etc and they delivered the placenta and stitched me up. Since baby was out so fast, I had significant tearing and needed 14 stitches!
Me 39 - DH 41
Married 8/26/07
TTGP #1 Jan '15 -
BFP 9/11/15 - DS born 5/31/16
TTGP #2 July '17 -
CP July '17
Blighted Ovum MC Dec '17
CP June '18
BFP 1/30/19 - EDD 10/13/19
They didn't make us track anything in the hospital. Didn't realize that was a thing.
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BFP #2 5/4/14, EDD 1/15/15, DS1 1/19/15
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My DS was due 6/26 which was third due date we got. His original was 7/1, much closer! I was at 40 weeks even at my appointment, my doctor office dos residency doctors, so my OB at the time actually graduated on my DS due date! So we had a plan if she was gone on me. However, definitely didn't need that! The next week came, I had an appointment, no contractions or dilation. I had lost my mucus plug pretty early. Made a plan for induction. Since it was 4th of July weekend, the only Dr on call was one that has a not so good reputation around here(first baby she'd ever delivered she dropped😳 she also had high CS rates) I told mine I would be waiting til after the weekend as long as baby agreed as she was gone and so was the other Dr I had worked with. We went in Monday 7/6 at 5am. Got to the hospital and set up our room and got settled. Started cervadil(sp) at 630, and did three doses of that. Mind you that they put me on a liquid diet right away and I'm not someone that copes without food well😭 so it's 9 am, I'm barely effaced, barely thinned, no dilation again. I was 41 weeks and 5 days so we had to continue induction. Started pitocin, and walked around a while. I worked in a library while pregnant and researched every darn thing I could even think of. I knew I didn't want an epidural, I really hadn't wanted to be induced and I was already really crabby(had a room full of people by that point, all SILs, my mom, my best friend). My first contractions I could feel were strong and took my breath away. I'd only read descriptions of contractions, had no idea what to expect. They upped my pit every 2 or 4 hours, I don't remember. I got into active labor around 5 and got a dinner of nasty beef broth. The rest of that night was quiet and they shut my pitocin down at 9 so I could sleep. The next morning we started right back up at 6. Upped every two hours. I caved right away and got a epidural around 5cm. My anesthesiologist was an older man with a thick accent and I did not understand him at all. He yelled at me to arch my back but wasn't timing to my contractions. The nurse and my fiance are the only reason I got it really. He ended up picking too thick of an area at first and the muscle didn't work so he had to begin all over. Ugh. As soon as I had that epidural though, I zonked out. I was out cold for about 2 hours, my water broke mostly while I was asleep. I awoke to intense pain in my back from laying down so long. I couldn't feel my legs at all though so I just got a heating pad. I had very slow progress all day. I hit theax for pitocin and my Dr was ready to shut it down again at 9. I said no way. I had the contractions but not the dilation, I was stuck at 7. She finished breaking my water and around 11 I got this insane urge to poop! I called my Dr and she told me do not push at all she'd be back. For 15 min while I waited I pushed enough to relieve the pressure. When she came back I told her I was and she goes alright well we better have a baby before you do! They kept saying they could feel his nose when they would check, so they thought he was facing the side. We got set up to push and it took about 40 minutes, it was 4 sets of pushes, and he came out. Turns out it was his ear, poor kid was face down and they raised him right into the spotlight as he opened his eyes! He was born at 12:10 am, 6lbs 14 oz and 19.5 in. Shut off the pain med and gave me some food and did the tests. I was able to move my legs and walk within a half hour which my Dr said was really good.
DD was due 1/16. Again, 40 weeks, no signs of labor. I hadn't even lost my mucus plug yet, no thinking, no dilation, no contractions. Dr decided that we could induced that week then, and we went in on Tuesday at 130 pm after they called to tell me a room opened up. Started with the pill and did 2 doses of that. Started the one with the string, had a dose of that before calling it done for that day. Next morning, did the string for 3 doses. After the third fell out and I hadn't done anything, they were gonna send me home. I wasn't up for that. My doctor decided to do pitocin. Started really slow with that. It took 3 nurses and 8 different pokes before someone got an iv in me. I was ready to call it quits there (I hate needles!!!!). Finally began that and got up to a four in about 3 hours which seemed great. We shut my pitocin off for the night Wednesday and started it back up on Thursday. Thursday was a rough day. I made it most of the day with no epidural. Lots of walking and bouncing around. Thursday was the day they put me on a liquid diet so I had a lot more energy for those contractions. All my labors we're back labor and felt like insanely painful back cramps. Never cried during either til my epidural with DD. Was about 7 or 8 and I was up to 8cm and way to fast of contractions. Anesthesiologist comes in and this man was awful. He was Russian with a VERY thick accent. He freaked me out something awful. Kept telling me I wasn't sitting still enough and that he couldn't see well cause I was bleeding too much. That's when he hit the first nerve. My whole right side shot with pain and I felt like he had shocked my leg. He moved really quickly and hit the other side and my left side was worse than the right. I was out right crying now. SO wanted to punch a wall but I was holding his arm so tight his hand lost feeling. The nurse was trying her best to help and this Dr is just basically yelling at me to sit still so he can get it in. I told him to stop I didn't want it anymore and as soon as I said that he was done and I went fully numb. I could see my legs but they were not attached to me. I didn't have that with DS. I was terrified my nerves were shot. I laid down and slept for about and hour and my water was leaking. They woke me and broke it at 930 and I went into full force labor. They let me labor for about an hour. My Dr was worried that since I couldn't feel my legs at all I wouldn't be able to push, so we set up to do practice pushes. By the time we finally we're set up, she told me just to push cause her head was literally right there. She flew out so fast and they tossed her up on to me. SO practically helped catch her, she came so fast. It was 12:08 am and she was 7 lbs 7 oz and 19.5 inches long. It took me about an hour before I felt steady enough to walk from my bed to the bathroom. I could hardly stand.
I am hoping this baby just comes on its own and I can avoid an epidural. I still have back issues and nerve issues from DDs 2 years ago and don't want to add to it if I can avoid it. Sorry this was so long. Also sorry if I kinda started this in the other thread 😂
Edit: cause I totally forgot, with DD I spent the better part of Thursday in and out of the shower. The hospital had a huge shower that got really warm and it was the best thing ever. They even told me I could deliver I'm there if it came to it! I had the water heating pads with both kids too. If I could buy one of those I would immediately. Best thing ever.
My biggest take away from giving birth to DD1 was that when you get that “OH SHIT I CANT DO THIS!” feeling you are in transition and for me that means I’m super close to baby being born.
DD2 and DS’s labor and births were both much smoother but I believe because I knew what to expect. DD2 was an induction at 39 weeks due to PIH and Pre-E and DS was an induction at 37 weeks due to PIH and Pre-E. I went in for cervidil at 8:00pm with both and started pitocin at 7:00am. I had epidurals with both and both were born before 4:00pm.