I know a lot of women have decided not to share birth stories on TB; however, I have found these stories helpful as I prepare for birth even without sharing person information like names or pictures and thought we could have a thread for anyone willing to share.
***Please do not comment on this thread unless it is your birth story*** LOVE-ITs are a great way to say congrats without clogging up this post.
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Originally team green here! Original due was 7/12.
Baby BOY was born on 6/6/19 (@ 34w6d) 7lb 2oz, 20”. Natural childbirth (Bradley Method). Luckily, no NICU dispute being early and we were home after 3 nights in the hospital. What an awesome experience and so much love to give!
@colleenm82 see below.... ***Please do not comment on this thread unless it is your birth story*** LOVE-ITs are a great way to say congrats without clogging up this post.
Original due date 7-6, born 6-12 at 36.5 weeks, baby Nicholas was in the NICU for two days to get his blood sugar stable but came home when I did and is doing great! Despite his gestational age he was born at 8 lb 3 oz 😱water started leaking on 6-11 and labor was slow even on max dose of pitocin for the first 30 hours - then the “forebag” broke and then it really got going and he was out in under three hours!
I'm nearing one week as a parent! My daughter Helena was born last Thursday evening within ten hours of checking in at the hospital. If there was any karma or justice in the world, I would have been in labor for days with a huge heifer of a baby (my poor mom labored 26+ hours with giant me), but it all happened very quickly and she is tiny and perfect and didn't even have to go to the NICU, which was a real possibility. I had to stay in the hospital until Saturday night to finish up my rounds of antibiotics (GBS+, and also Dr had to go in after my placenta bcs my body wouldn't let it go after giving birth), but there appear to be no complications from any of it. Now I'm just adjusting to being a round-the-clock milk factory on no sleep and having this tiny helpless person in my life. (Oh yeah, and the hormones. Ohhh, the hormones.)
Baby boy was born on 6/9/2019, weighing 6lbs 3oz and 19 inches long. Late on Saturday, I noticed bleeding like I started my period. I called the nurse line for my doctor and she told me to in to be monitored. I was bleeding pretty heavily at the hospital and had to have an emergency c-section. Turns out, I had a placental abruption and the placenta had almost completely detached by the time they got to baby. Despite the scare, we are both great. Baby was born at 36w 5d, but spent no time in the NICU.
((Motherofdogs)) Incase my username is still wrong. I’ve been a lurker since the app doesn’t work for me anymore.
Mr. B. Moon arrived at 9:40am on 6/18 I was 37w5d so my shots bought me a term baby yay!
I had been feeling really off for about a week with us going in to triage after some bloody show and contractions. I was sent home after not moving past a 3 even with contractions every 2 min. I was pretty frustrated and for a couple days I felt pretty depressed but I know it was from exhaustion.
Monday evening I started feeling some contractions and we called my MIL over to come spend the night with DD by 7 they were picking up, by 11 they started to hurt. I took a shower and laid back down to time them better. They were about every 4-5 min but I was still frustrated from being sent home before. By 2 am the contractions had me in tears and I decided to head in. Hubs drove way too fast in a heavy rainstorm under a full moon to the hospital.
Triage was super empty or maybe just quiet quiet but I was in pain and annoyed that it took 30 min for them to even come hook me up to the monitors. By 3 they told me I wasn’t going home and by 4 I got moved up to l&d because I was literally howling in pain. I went from a 3 to a 5 really quick and asked for an epidural immediately.... it didn’t happen for another hour 😑
The epi lessened my contractions and I finally had to have my water broken and a slight dose of pitosin. After that I went from a 5 to a 10 very fast. A little position change and they asked if I felt pressure yet and I didn’t do a pancake flip over to the other side and there it was. The dr was called and I couldn’t even do a test push because he was very much ready to go. Dr came in and 2 pushes later he was here.
Our hospital took his quick vitals while while we had an hour of skin to skin time and then we found out he was 6lbs 7 oz.
even though i used less epidural than last last time I still had trouble getting feeling back to my right leg for almost the rest of the day.
My boy hasn’t passed his hearing test in one ear but it’s nothing we are worried about.. other than that we are in love and thrilled to have our family complete.
Monday, I went to the doctor absolutely miserable because of the itching from Cholestasis. I was scratching so bad I was bleeding. My doctors decided to not wait for the tests and scheduled my repeat c/s for Wednesday at 36+1. Walked in Wednesday morning, got the spinal, had everything go well until Lily came out. She needed a little love in the nursery with oxygen but quickly recovered. I however hemmoraged pretty bad 2 hours after. We went home after 48 hours in the hospital and we’re both doing great!
Meet Leilani Rose, our little bundle of joy ❤ She was born 6/20 at 3:38pm 37w4days weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 3/4 long!
We were originally due 7/7 with a rcs scheduled for July 1st. This past Monday we went for a BPP and my amniotic fluid was on the lower side of normal. They rechecked Thursday and levels dropped but still border line. I ended up going to L&D to have 2 bags of IV fluids and rechecked again which at that point my fluid was at a 5. They ended up doin the csection that day and our little baby girl is here and we are both doing great! Still in the hospital but we should be discharged later this morning. She is a breastfeeding champ which we are both getting adjusted with and I couldn't be happier! Can't wait to bring her home and have family snuggles with my 3 year old who is missing us terribly as are we!
Short version: Baby H arrived on Friday June 14 at 2:11 am weighing 6lbs11oz and 20 inches long (I was 37+1)
**TW maybe... there was a short while he was in distress mentioned**
So I guess it all started on Tuesday the 11th i had a regular scheduled ob appt, my blood pressure was high and even after rechecking after having me rest for 30 minutes, it wasn’t coming down. My dr scheduled me to come back Thursday the 13th for a blood pressure recheck (id officially be 37 weeks)and more labs. (She advised me to bring my bags packed and said if my blood pressure hasn’t come down, I’d be sent directly to labor and delivery for induction) that Wednesday dh and I rotated and installed the car seats, put together the swing and bounce chair and I stocked up on groceries for if I’d be gone (there’d be food for our sitters at the house)
Thursday the 13th my aunt got to our house to watch the girls but I was confident I’d be home in an hour, gave them kisses and said see you soon
Well my blood pressure was high.. even went higher after 30 minute recheck. When my ob told me to go to l&d I started bawling (I knew this was a possibility, I cried to her telling her I didn’t properly get to say bye to my girls) I called dh who left work, he went home to shower and grab stuff and get the girls situated. Got checked in, my room and cytotec inserted. They didn’t think cytotec would do much, but it was enough and my contractions picked up quickly. I knew I wanted an epidural no later than 5cm so that’s when I got it. It was heavenly... I could still feel “pressure” with each contraction, which I know helps with pushing, but absolutely no pain. Things were smooth sailing but then i stalled around an 8/9 for close to 4 hours
They started a low dose of pitocin and 30 minutes later upped it to a “4” . During this time both dh and i dozed off. I woke up to 4 nurses running in, turning on all the lights and throwing the oxygen mask on my face. Baby’s heart rate was dropping and he was in distress from the pitocin at this point. They ripped the monitor off me and were having me toss and turn from side to side trying to find his heart rate (I tried to remain calm and tell myself nothing was going To happen to this baby, it just couldn’t, thinking that got me through it) what seemed like forever, was probably a minute at most, they found his strong heartbeat and checked me I was still a 9. They had already called the dr so she was on her way... I kid you not, less than a minute later I told the nurse I had an insane amount of pressure, she checked, well looked and I was fully dilated and baby’s head was right there. I had the strongest urge to push, the nurses were gloving up Incase dr didn’t make it. Fighting the urge to push is the hardest thing. She got in, they were throwing her scrubs on as she walked in. They told me I could push with my next contraction.
I pushed once and they said ok, stop .... heads out 1 more little push and baby was out. Officially at 37+1. They placed him directly on my chest and dh asked if it was for sure a boy still 😂 he was
I had the worst cough for 4+ weeks leading up to his birth so I have 2 funny stories about my cough.... 1. I coughed the catheter right out (so they had to straight cath me every so often after the epidural) and 2. I literally coughed my placenta out, DR was like, well you just delivered/coughed out your placenta
My blood pressure started trending down and all labs were normal and no protein, until 24 hours after his birth protein showing so that’s when I was started on magnesium for post partum preeclampsia. After 6 days in the hospital I sure was happy to be home.
Also I was induced all 3 pregnancies and while i think this one went relatively smooth it was definitely the hardest and longest.
We welcomed Ethan Gregory on 6/26 at 8:51AM via RCS. He weighed 8lbs exactly and was 20” long. He had a 14” head and had a hard time coming out. They had to use the suction cup on him, which ended up coming off 2x before a successful 3rd try. He ended up with a small bruise due to this, but nothing is permanent!
Day 2 in the hospital found me in excruciating pains on my right at the incision site. My incision ended up opening and they couldn’t get my pain under control for about 3 hours. I stayed one more night in the hospital just to be sure my pain was under control, and this was absolutely the right call.
We’ve been home for a few nights now and all has gone well! Ethan is a great sleeper and a pro at breastfeeding already!
Good of luck on the rest of your pregnancy journeys, ladies! Thank you for all the love and support! 🥰
Ni.kola A.va arrived via RCS on the afternoon of 6/26. Surgery was pushed back almost 5 hours due to EVERYONE in the area going into labour that morning and the hospital running out of room to accomodate everyone and having to close the ward.
The surgery went well and was super quick (20 minutes total). She started nursing like a champ immediately and my milk came in pretty quickly this time. I opted to use assisted lactation starting day 1 which I think helped my milk to come in faster and which got us home in less than 48 hours. I am planning to continue with the combo feeding since it works well for us.
Day 5 today and the pain is almost completely gone. I still look 6 months pregnant but I'm not complaining since I have a sweet little squishy girl to snuggle with. DD1 is in love with her too:)
Our baby boy was born 6/30, 15 days early, at 6lbs, 6oz, 20inches. My water broke in the middle of the night, and it was a total shock to deliver early because there were no signs i was close, but fortunately we had the carseat installed and checked as well as some newborn clothes washed (hospital bag wasn’t packed - had to do that in a panic)! We’re adjusting at home now, figuring out what our son needs, and what I need to recover from delivery, day by day. Thank you everyone on here for the support. Wishing you all the best for your labor and delivery, and with the new additions to your families!
Henry Luke was born this morning at after a super quick and easy induction.
We got checked into the hospital at 5:30 and by 6 I was all hooked up and ready to go. I was 3cm and about 50% so they started me on a low dose of pitocin. That quickly got things going and by 8 I was having pretty intense (though not terribly painful) and regular contractions about 3-4mins apart. Around 8:45 the Dr came in to check me and I was only at 4cm and 50% so she went ahead and broke my water to really get things going. Contractions picked up and intensified quick! At 9:55 H got up to go pee and of course all of a sudden I had a crazy urge to push and started yelling for him and called the nurses and Dr in. One contraction and two pushes later Henry was born at 9:58.
Our biggest kiddo yet weighing 8lbs6oz and 21in long.
We are so in love! 😍
Wife. Boy mom x6. Expecting #7. Wannabe homesteader. , 💙💙💙💙💙💙
Layla Rose born 7/4/19 @ 8:08 am. 8lbs 12oz, 20.5" long. She spent about 4 hours in the NICU to look for possible shoulder or collarbone injuries and to get help breathing. By 1pm everything was good and the family is all together!
Team Green turned Blue this past Saturday, June 29th. My water broke Saturday morning at 37 weeks 2 days. Baby was born at 9:37 that night at 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long.
Long more detailed birth story:
I woke up at 8:30 on Saturday morning and felt wet between my legs. I stood up and liquid was leaking down my leg. I went to the restroom and got a pad on, which filled up almost immediately. I called on call OB and he said to come into the hospital. I didn’t have my hospital bag packed—just had stuff sitting on top of the bag, so I finished putting stuff in there (including a hard cover book because the OB doctor said they might have to try and ripen the cervix since on Thursday I was wasn’t even dilated, which I did NOT need to bring that stupid book)
I got checked into triage at 9:30, the nurse said she didn’t even need to run a test, she could tell my water had broken after I had been lying on the bed for a bit. Nurse checked me (which was very uncomfortable because the cervix was so far behind baby’s head). I was maybe 1 cm. They transferred me to my L&D room. I was told I was having contractions about 4 minutes about but I couldn’t feel anything. They let me order breakfast, since I hadn’t eaten anything that day. I ate a banana, bagel with cream cheese and some yogurt.
Around 12:30 I was checked again and was maybe 1.5 cm, so Pitocin was started. (I tried to remember thinking to write down the levels but I forgot to—I got up to 10 at max I believe). We walked around the hospital, I did some bouncing on the birthing ball, and the contractions increased. On one walk I made MH and I walk quickly back to the room and puked up any of the breakfast I had eaten earlier. I wanted to get in the shower but the blue tooth monitor died and it got too complicated. I was trying to wait until 4pm and get checked again but around 3:30 I asked for the epidural as the contractions were (IMO) very painful and I couldn’t imagine the pain for when the contractions “really got going”.
Epidural was placed around 4:30pm and my amazing nurse said she wouldn’t check me since it was so hard to measure and I was only at 1.5 before. The pain was gone so quickly it was incredible. I was able to relax and take a nap. At 6pm she checked me and I was 3 cm. During this time I drank a lot of water and promptly puked it up. They did move me side to side with the peanut ball between my legs every hour. I had pretty good feeling/movement in my right leg but my left leg was pretty much dead weight.
There was a nursing change at 7:30 and at 8pm the new nurse went to check me (they check every 2 hours when on Pitocin). The new nurse couldn’t find the cervix. She was so stunned she had a second nurse check—much to everyone’s surprise I was fully dilated! The nurse went to go eat dinner to prepare for pushing. She talked us through the pushing and what I was going to do and what MH was going to do plus explaining on average it’s 1-2 hours but sometimes can be 4-5. Thn call OB came in and we started pushing at 9:22pm—5 pushes and 15 minutes later out came our little boy. I should say after 5 pushes the OB was like—why don’t you just push a little (even though I wasn’t having a contraction) and out came the baby. I’m sharing this next comment for complete transparency: I definitely could have had him out sooner—I think I was trying to save a little energy for the “marathon” I had prepared for, I was also still a little sleepy.
We had delayed cord clamping and they brought him right to my chest. MH cut the cord. LO did try to latch a little which was exciting. I was in complete shock—literally said to MH “we have a baby!” with the most shocked look on my face. MH got a pretty funny picture with my surprised face. After an hour or so they took him and got his stats, Hep B shot and vitamin K. Then MH did skin to skin, which really melted my heart.
I drank some water and ate some milk and graham crackers—promptly threw that up too…
We were discharged around noon on Monday. I originally was kinda hoping for a 12:30am baby so I got two full days/nights in the hospital but I’ll take a speedy labor & delivery over an extra night in the hospital.
Over the first 36 hours we had a few instances of him spitting up the amniotic fluid, the first he made a noise and I heard it and called the nurse in. The next the nurse just happened to see him arch his back but he didn’t make a noise. So we decided on the second night it was best to send him to the nursery while we tried to sleep. We were told it works itself out in the first 24-48 hours. Well—I woke up during our first night at home and noticed him arching, called MH who is sleeping on the couch (we decided to have LO in bed with me in the dock’n’tot) and we got him on his side and sucked out all the fluid. So that was a scary moment but since then he’s been good.
Breastfeeding is challenging and we had a rough day yesterday but MH has been amazing, we are supplementing a little since on Tuesday he was down 10% but Wednesday he gain .5 oz so the doctor is pleased. MH is helping is nipple placement and keeping me stay calm and keep perspective. Still hoping for my milk to really come in, based on what I have read, I’ll know when it comes in…but it does seem more milky than gold. Right now I’m doing skin to skin and typing this up. Loving my new normal.
If you made it through this novel—I hope you enjoyed it. I know I always soaked up all the birth stories with lots of details.
We welcomed our sweet baby girl on 7/5/19 after a pretty easy and quick induction!
We got to the hospital around 6am, and got settled and started with some pitocin around 8:30am. I was 4cm and 50% effaced. Contractions never got super strong or consistent on pitocin, and my dr came in at 11:30 to check me again. I was 5cm, 70% effaced, so not a ton, but some progress. My dr went ahead and broke my water, and stopped the pitocin to let my body labor on its own. By 12:15 contractions were 1.5/2 minutes apart, so I asked my husband to let them know I wanted the epidural, and asked to be checked again because she felt super low. The anesthesiologist came in to get everything ready, and the nurse checked me, I was 8cm and almost complete. Somehow we got the epidural in, but as soon as they laid me back down, I told the nurse I needed to push. She checked and I was 10cm, and on the next contraction I pushed without even trying. The anesthesiologist put a dose of meds directly in my IV, because the epidural wasn’t going to take effect in time while I pushed. It was just enough to take the edge off and keep me calm. The dr came in, put a gown on, and told me to push on the next contraction. I pushed through it and she crowned. On the next contraction I pushed once, her head was out, and my dr told me to stop pushing, that baby was coming out on her own, and she did! We immediately got to do skin to skin, and it was just perfect. My mom and grandma who had been in the waiting room while I got the epidural were brought back right as I was pushing, and were able to be with us when she was born. After she was born, the epidural was in full effect, so even though they stopped it right away, I still had to wait a bit for it to wear off lol. I didn’t tear, and she’s nursing great! We’re so in love with her, and I’m so thankful for a quick and smooth delivery. Thank you for all of your support!!
Emerson was born on Tuesday July 2nd. I was scheduled for a repeat cesarean on July 3rd. I woke up at 630am with him just being active. I just laid in bed for an hour playing on my phone. Around 730 I had the urge to go to the bathroom which was normal until I actually got up and had to rush to the bathroom. I made it and there were gushes of fluid. I sat there for a minute to see if it would stop and it didn't fully stop. I yelled to wake up dh and for him to let the dogs out. I called the hospital to give them a heads up and called my mom since dd didn't have camp that day to meet us there. I took a shower and finished getting everything ready and got checked in at the hospital at like 845 am. Since I was getting a rcs, we just sat in our room waiting for my OB and the or to be free. They started my blood work and the whole paperwork stuff. We went back to the OR at 1pm. It took a minute to get started bc they were having trouble with the spinal so we had to wait for the head anesthesiologist. Got everything going and Emerson was born at 156pm weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and 20.75" long. We got back to our room with my mom and dd and everything was great. We were released on Saturday, the 6th.
Now the reason we stayed longer in the hospital.
I'm going to start off saying that I'm a sickle cell carrier so I'm always slightly anemic which doesn't cause me any problems. They started the normal vital checks on me and on Wednesday my heart rate was above 130 bpm and my blood levels dropped drastically after surgery. Which put all the docs and nurses in a panic mode. So I ended up staying a few more days for an ekg, vital checks through out the days, and a blood transfusion to get my blood levels up a bit. Which I finally realize and told the doctor that I was sickle cell carrier. I got the go ahead to leave on friday if my levels were steady which they were. But then little mister needed to be checked for bilirubin which came back in the high intermediate level so we stayed another night for him to be on light therapy.
We welcomed sweet Tatum Audrey into the world at 4:12am in July 3rd, 2019. She weighed 8 lbs 0.2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. (A whopping 2 lbs bigger than her older brother!)
I started having contractions lasting 10 minutes apart around 6:30pm last night. Were fairly strong but I assumed they were still false labor as they stayed between 7-13 mins apart until around 10:00. I called the on-call OB around 10:30 to discuss the possibility of them being real labor but she was unsure. Told me to go in anyway. I still waiting until around midnight thinking they were false, but they started to get stronger and more painful so I went ahead and headed to the hospital around 12:30am thinking I’d get sent home anyway. By the time I made it in, they were fairly painful and about 6 minutes apart. Once I got checked in around 1:30am, the midwife here checked my cervix and was surprised I was already at 7cm! They ordered me the epidural shortly after (experienced some bad contractions in between, ouch) and by 4:00am they came in to break my water, baby was right there, and I immediately started pushing. I joked that I wanted to beat my record of a 5 minute birth with my son. Sure enough, she was out in 4 minutes of pushing so I got my wish 😉
We had an awesome full hour of skin to skin and she latched right away and chugged for about 30 minutes. She’s barely cried or fussed yet. Recovery is going so well, no tears, minimal bleeding and pain.
DS was so excited to meet his baby sister and did absolutely wonderfully with her. Grandparents have already come and gone.
Couldn’t ask for a better experience or sweeter little babes in my life. Feeling more than blessed at the moment.
It’s Day 4 now and everything is going so smoothly. She’s almost back up to birth weight and only waking about 3 times a night. I’m loving having a daughter!
Beckham Dean came in with a bang yesterday 7/8. Went in for scheduled induction at 9am. Wanting to avoid pitocin, I had them break my water first to try to get things going. My water was broken at 1020 and contractions started within 5 minutes. He was here by 1249pm weighing in at a whopping 9 lb and 11 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. I was able to go pain medication free, as well like I had wanted. He is almost a whole 2 more pounds than his 2 year old sister was at birth. He has a heart murmur, so we are watching that very closely. We are so very blessed!!
Baby Jack was born 7/9 at 5pm after an elective induction. My due date was 7/8 and I was getting antsy so we did a membrane sweep that day with a plan to put me on the induction list just to see if there was room and if I would get called. After spending the day walking around ikea and then reorganizing the garage without any luck we got called in for induction the next morning. I was started on pitocin and reached regular contractions but things really picked up after rupturing my membranes! I went from comfortable to omg epidural to baby in about 2.5 hours. Mom, dad, and big sister are all in love. He's latching well but I don't have much to offer him yet so hoping my supply will come in soon!
Corbin Martin Eugene was born July 3 at 3:33pm after a long but easy labor. Weighed in at 7 lbs even and 20.5". He's doing great at home with big brother trying his best to help out all the time.
Isaiah Elliot was born July 11 at 11:31am. He came 2 days early. I was getting impatient since my girls were 6 and 5 days early and I really thought something was happening on the 9th and 10th. Anyway, I had them go ahead and strip my membranes at my appointment on the 10th and I was already 4cm. I got really excited and we sent our two girls home with my in-laws that evening. However, aside from cramping nothing was happening. The next morning my husband was going to go into work but asked if I wanted him to stay. I decided I could use the company. Well God knew what we needed, because my contractions started about half an hour later! Even though they were mild, they were pretty consistent so we called and headed in. We live about 40 min from the hospital, and I was afraid things would happen quickly so I was thankful that we made it! I was 7cm when they checked me in triage. They said I have an efficient uterus since I was still sporadic in my contractions! The nurse also called me a warrior for having pushed 5.5 hours with my first and 3.5 hours then a cs with my second. So I wanted a vbac this time, and a natural delivery. However, labor was lasting just a bit longer then with my girls (before pushing) and things were getting intense. I told my DH I was considering an epidural. I felt like with my previous history I deserved one😉 I wanted to enjoy this delivery! Well pushing time came almost right aftee the epidural, so even though it took the edge off the contractions, I felt like pushing was just as hard and painful! And with my previous history, I think my pain tolerance gets lower each time. I was getting discouraged and saying I couldn't do it. Then when they started being able to see his head, I asked for a mirror. Oh my goodness! My whole perspective changed! I got more determined and knew I could get through it. Watching my son enter the world and getting to hold him on my chest (something I never experienced before!) Was so amazing. They did have to take out my placenta in pieces which was nearly as bad as the birth😏 But other than that, it was such a good experience! I was crying today thinking about it and my husband keeps telling me how amazing I was❤ Isaiah was 7lbs6oz and 19in. All the nurses and midwife were sure he was bigger because he looks chunky lol. We are in love and so are his big sisters😊
Lola Jane made her appearance 5 days early on July 10, 1:54am. She’s 8lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. Seriously the sweetest & most calm baby I’ve ever met.
I started having noticeable/timeable contractions around 7:30pm last night. Decided not to tell my husband until around 10 that I’m pretty sure I was in labor. Brought the boys to my moms, went to Walmart (in full on active labor 🤣) got home & packed everything else we needed. Got to the hospital around 11:30.. was 6-7 cm. I decided to get an epidural just because my body was exhausted and I could feel it. Less than an hour later she was born in just a short 3 minutes of pushing. I didn’t tear & I got to pull baby out myself.
We are now home, she’s breastfeeding like a champ and still don’t know what her cry sounds like because she doesn’t make a peep!
Baby Warren was born Saturday, July 13th a little after 9am, 39w1d. He came into the world at 6lb 8oz and 19.5in.
My my water broke on Friday, late afternoon driving in rush hour traffic. The only warning was a few very tight BH that had me thinking “that’d be weird if my water broke” since I was just discussing it with my sister earlier yet still opted out of bringing a pee pad or towel for the drive. Unfortunately, traffic was atrocious and it took another hour of gushing onto the drivers seat and trying to stay cool with DS in the back before I reached home.
My midwives arrived around 545 to check me and everything looked good so I settled in for a long night.
Contractions started around 630 but when I laid down to get some rest at 9, they became intense. I kept talking to my midwives and eventually had them come for a recheck around 1130pm.
Bu then, the contractions had become unbearable and I felt like I had the flu, which later revealed a steadily rising temp. Because I was gbs+ and my water had been broken, we knew there may be an infection, and with the unbelievable pain I decided to transfer to the hospital.
Our sibling doula arrived around 130am and we took off and we’re checked in by 2. I could not deal with the extreme pain and so while my CBC was run, they tried to take the edge off with fentanyl, which did nothing but make me more tired. I think it took until 330 or 4 before they were able to do an epidural followed by a cervical check by the nurse midwife who was my transfer of care provider. I was only 4cm but 90% effaced and she explained the extreme labor pain as a result of the infection. But since I had the epidural she felt that pitocin needed to happen to speed things along because the baby was showing signs of distress from the hours of erratic and strong contractions.
The epidural had finally kicked in well enough to use the pitocin, so we just rested and waited. At 9am the next nurse midwife on round came in to check me and baby was descending and needed to be pushed out ASAP. He’d apparently been doing this for a while but no one was available to check, so although pushing only lasted 10 min, his heart rate plummeted and he had a scary moment before he was out.
So team green turned team team blue with a very successful vbac and minimal tearing. I’m hopeful to go home Sunday since baby and I are doing well.
I’m ok with not having the home birth I planned because I did what I needed to do to bring LO thru safely and the team here at the hospital has been mostly really supportive. I will continue postpartum and newborn care for 6 weeks with my midwives and then back to regular life.
Baby Oscar was born en caul July 15 at 2:19pm weighing in at 6lb 14oz.
I started noticing some uncomfortable contractions around 8:30am so I started timing them while going about my day. Got my kids ready for daycare and dropped them off, noticing contractions were coming about every 5 min. They weren't painful but were getting more uncomfortable. Decided it might be smart to head toward the hospital in case things changed, so I called my husband at work to make lunch plans near the hospital. Stopped home and threw some laundry in before driving North. As I got closer I had a few intense contractions that made me turn on the hazard lights just in case I was driving unsafely and not keeping a steady speed. Once I got near the hospital, I decided to park and cancel our lunch plans and tell DH to meet me at the hospital instead. Checked myself in around noon, and between contractions I could walk and talk just fine. Told the nurses I preferred the room with a tub and asked how soon I could get in. They wanted about 30 min of heart rates and contractions on the monitor before I got in the tub. DH arrived and we went over the birth plan and drew blood for testing. I got into the tub around 1pm - as soon as they let me - and at that point, contractions got intense fast. I had to keep lifting myself off the seat because my body felt ready to split open. I was shocked at how hard the contractions were, even without pitocin. I was breathing through them, and when they got closer together I went into that internal mental zone again. I shook my head and told DH I changed my mind: I wanted an epidural. He reminded me that I didn't want it but why not try nitrous. I shook my head and said over and over, "I don't want to do this again. I don't want to do this again." I felt like I already did this natural birth thing. And the pain was every bit as intense as the times I was induced with pitocin. It wasn't "supposed to" hurt as much as pitocin! I was over it and wanted to give up! I said I CAN'T DO THIS and the nurse asked to get me out of the tub and check me. She said just when you can't take anymore it's usually over. Hardly any time had passed - it was only around 2pm - so I didn't believe it was close to being over. I walked to the bed and fell to my knees for one last contraction before climbing onto the bed. She told me I was complete and I didn't believe her. With the next contraction I felt pressure to push and felt the head descending. The next contraction I pushed out the head and it was an immense relief. One more contraction and the body came out, and the nurse caught the baby since the doctor hadn't made it to the hospital yet. Baby was on the bed when DH announced, "It's a boy!" And I didn't even have the strength to turn around or look. I just put my face into the pillow and breathed and breathed. Finally I held the baby while I got two stitches for a small tear - not enough to even numb me. Baby was born en caul which ruptured as soon as it was out but I didn't get to see it intact. He's trying to nurse with his tiny little mouth. I'm just in disbelief that this happened so fast and was so intense. I got my true natural/uninduced labor, I got my tub labor, and I had no IVs, finally. After 7 years, 3 girls and now this boy, our family is complete and I'm officially done bearing children! Hallelujah!
Alyssa Mae Hampton was born on July 10 @ 4:07am at 7lbs 13oz and 19in via natural birth. On July 9 I woke up feeling crampy and had a feeling something was going to happen. So of course I spent the day cleaning and prepping! Around 10 pm I began losing my mucus plug and had bloody shown (none of which I had with my son) but still just crampy. Called OB and she said to try and relax since it was the early stages. So I took a hot shower and tried to lay down when I felt a pop and yep, my water broke. Called bf since he works 2nd shift and told him to get home so we can get to the hospital. I started timing contractions at 12:30 am and they were already 30 sec long and max 3 min apart. We made arrangements for big brother (3 years old) and we headed to the hospital. We were checked in at 2:15am and my contractions were still as steady and intense and I was 4 cm dilated. They started my fluids for an epidural and moved to me to my room around 3:00. Now I conteemplatednot having an epidural bc it only took on my right half with my son's birth and I felt a lot of the labor. But I was in a lot of pain already so opted in. My contractions were getting very intense and closer together. I was feeling a lot of pressure as well. Around 3:55 my nurse checked me and I was 10 cm! She immediately called for my doc and informed me I was not getting an epidural. No meds at all! This little girl was ready. I was relieved to hear from the nursing team that she was a midwife and she assured me she has delivered tons of babies and was ready. She was AMAZING! She coached me through the most painful 10 min of my life and delivered my beautiful baby girl. My OB walked in 3 min later and the anesthesiologist came in about 4 min after that! I was in awe for days as to how all of this happened! So fast and so painful but also so amazing. I was discharged from the hospital on July 11 around 2 and recovery has been so much better than with my son 3 years ago who was not a long labor (9total hours) and had an epidural. A week later, I feel pretty good awith minimal bleeding and baby girl is adjusting well to her new world!
Kennedy Elizabeth 7/13/19 at 3:39 pm 8lb 3oz 21.75 inches long 14 in head
Thursday I had an appointment with my OB and we did a membrane sweep and made plans for an induction on Saturday. A lot of cramping and passing of my mucus plug on Friday. We decided to drop our son of with the grandparents. I spent all of Friday cleaning our house and finishing up last minute preparations. Went and got a pedicure then me and hubby had a relaxing night. Woke up and got ready and grabbed a nice Caribou coffee before checking in at the hospital at 8. I declined IV fluids as I knew I 100% wasnt getting an epidural. We were 4.5 cm and 70%. At 9:30 doctor came and broke my water and contractions started up within 15 minutes. I had to stay on the monitor for an hour and then I was able to get up and walk the halls. Contractions were 4-5 minutes but not strong. Another hour on the monitor and at noon we were 5.5 cm and 4 min apart. I decided to bounce on the ball and work on my daughter's baby book while watching Tommy boy of all things. At 2 we hadn't made any progress even though my contractions had gotten to 2 min apart and felt stronger, but after eating in the monitor they showed down to about 4 minutes apart again. We decided to start Pitocin at a 2 and never had to increase the rate. Within 15 minutes I was like wow those are contractions! At the 3 pm check I was 7 cm 2-4 min apart, and decided I met my goal and wanted the pain meds. My nurse gave me fentanyl at 3:05 and warned me it was gonna speed things along. The pain relief lasted about 15 minutes before I was really feeling it. I pushed my call light and my nurse came in and checked me. I was complete and really feeling the need to push. They paged the doctor and a second nurse came in saying the doctor wasn't answering her page. They both exchanged the look of "who is catching?" They quickly broke down the bed and pulled the supplies over and the doctor walked in just as they were assisting me into position. She thankfully can gown and glove fast. On the first push baby's head came out along with a massive gush of amniotic fluid. I literally had to stop and apologize to my OB. One more contraction and she was out and they immediately placed her on my chest. We wanted to delay cord clamping but my placenta started to tear so they had to speed things along. My husband cut the cord. I didn't tear at all. We did skin to skin and worked on breast feeding until about 5:30 before I got up and headed to the bath and the nurse and my husband have her a bath. We were able to discharge the next day around 5pm and have been adjusting well to our new life at home.
My baby girl Huma was born on 7/17 at 1758, almost exactly 24h after we started our induction. She was 7lbs, 12oz and 21in. 🥰
So we were supposed to be induced at 1000 on the 16th when we were 41 weeks. They called at 0730 that morning and asked us to come in after lunch instead bc it was so busy. Got there at 1300 and it was clearly still super busy. Didn't get brought back til 1600! (More than 60 babies were born at our hospital the 2 days surrounding her birth!)
Got put on the monitor and was already contracting irregularly, though I couldn't feel it. Started pitocin at 1810. Started contracting regularly and frequently almost immediately, but still couldn't feel it. Walked the halls all night and was super disappointed to be unchanged from admission at 4/50%/-2 at 0600 / 12 h later.
They ruptured my membranes at 1045 and I could definitely feel the contractions shortly thereafter. Asked for my epidural around 1230, when they became quite painful, especially low in my pelvis. The epidural worked great; couldn't feel the contractions at all and got to take a wonderful nap! When I woke up, I felt a lot of pressure in my vagina. I didn't want to tell them bc I was so disappointed in my slow progress earlier and was afraid they'd check me and I'd barely have changed. But after it continuing to be quite significant pressure/pain, I told them, got checked and thankfully was complete!
Started pushing about 30 minutes later, pushed for like 20 minutes, (PS, y'all who've pushed for hours should be nominated for sainthood) and got my baby girl with the help of a wonderful nurse, an amazing doctor, and my awesome husband!
They plopped her on my belly, my husband cut the cord after it stopped pulsing, and then discovered that she pooped ALL OVER ME. Cleaned us up, repaired a 2nd degree tear, and we just hung out skin to skin for like an hour. Then let grandparents and aunt come see her and went to the post-partum unit. We've been doing great and are waiting to go home now!
Trinity Jade was born July 18th at 2:07 PM. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long.
I went in Wednesday night to start cervidil because I was overdue and only 30%. My body responded well and I was 5 cm by 5 am with not much felt on my end. Doctor broke my water at 7:30 am when I was at 6 cm. The contraction intensity really picked up from there and when my epidural was placed at noon, I was still at 6 cm. I hung out and took a few naps waiting for my body to do its job. I felt a slight gush and thought was amniotic fluid. I also felt the urge to push, but it wasn't intense and I thought it'd get more pronounced when it was actually time. Nurse was going to start pitocin to get things moving, but when she went to check the pad I was sitting on, she discovered the gush was bloody show. Checked me and sure enough I was ready to push.
I pushed for 30 minutes and ended up getting an episiotomy. H thinks that her head wasn't coming out without it since I didn't seem to be tearing naturally.
I cried my eyes out when they placed the ugliest, most beautiful creature on my chest and my heart grew instantly. I can't believe how instantly in love H and I are. I truly wouldn't change a thing.
Arya was born at 9:03am on Friday 7/12. She was 21 inches long and 8lbs 3 oz. at birth.
I was supposed to be induced Wednesday evening, but our hospital was overwhelmed - women were delivering in the evaluation rooms! The doctor from my practice who was on call said that this never happens two days in a row, so we agreed to coming the following day (Thursday).
That night, I started feeling irregular contractions for the first time. I was timing, but The Hubs and I were not convinced that these were THE contractions we were waiting for.
When Thursday's doctor called to tell us that the labor and delivery unit was still overwhelmed, we were pretty upset at the thought that the induction was once again going to be postponed. We were asked to call back in the evening - if they could take us in, they would prioritize us.
When we called back, they asked us to come in for 8:30pm. We showed up early because we were so concerned we would lose our space. They settled us into an evaluation room, got me hooked up, and then we waited. At just past midnight, they finally inserted the Cervidil. I don't think it was much past then that we were moved to an actual labor and delivery room (which was such a relief - I did not want to deliver in that eval room!).
I was told to expect to ride out the Cervidil for about 12 hours and to try to sleep. The Hubs quickly passed out in his chair, and I never made it to sleep between the blood draw and getting my antibiotics started (GBS+) and the intensifying contractions. I’m not sure what time it was when the Hubs woke up to my discomfort sounds (still dark out), and he went to ask the nurses about the in between pain management options. I’m thinking I’m being a bit of wimp with these early contractions. They put me on something fun while waiting for the doctor to return. We then find out that I’m much further along than expected, and they call for the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural. The Hubs called my mother, and she headed over to join us in the delivery room.
I don’t recall much between the time I was giving the epidural and when I was pushing. Apparently there was an issue with my bladder not emptying properly, so they had to work that out for me, and then I pushed for two hours (and did tear). The after birth experience was everything I hoped for, expect for when they needed to recatherize. Baby girl was looking darn near perfect though!
During our two day hospital stay, the pediatrician noticed that she had a heart murmur. We were told not to worry, but we took her to a pediatric cardiologist yesterday where she was diagnosed with two Venticular Septal Defects (VSD). They are minor holes between the left and right ventricles of the heart.
I’m not sure how interested you’d all be in following our journey on this, but the cardiologist is very experienced, and now that we know what we are facing, we do feel a lot better. His diagnosis is very low on the urgent heart defects list, and other than this meaning that her heart will have to work a bit harder, she should never really feel any impact. The holes are expected to shrink as she grows and may even close completely. There are some medication options if it looks like she needs a little help, and she is unlikely to require any surgery.
We did start formula supplementing because she dropped just over 10% of her birth weight and she needs to keep growing to strengthen her heart. After the first day, she gained 7oz! She and I are still working on latching well, but we are getting better (she loves putting her hands in the way and then gets mad).
She also is rocking tummy time, pulling her head up since day one, and can roll onto her side on firmer surfaces (like her bassinet, which was terrifying for me at first). This kid is going to have us on our toes!
Our sweet babe, Ryan Patrick, was born on 7/19 @ 9:12am. 7lbs 3.5 oz and 19.5" long via scheduled C-section. Everything went pretty smooth. A week out and he is still doing great. However, he needs to sleep at night instead of all day 😆 contact to all the July mommies!
I can’t post a photo on here or I would because my squishy baby is so freaking cute!
Amadeus Quincy Cole Hatcher was born at 3:33am on 7/29/19 weighing 6lbs 6oz.
I went in on 7/28 about 2 hours or less after my water broke at 3:12 am. From the moment I got to out of triage, nothing went according to plan.
I had a birth plan but it was actually very realistic up to and including c-section because I like to be prepared for any situation. At 7am, I wasn’t dilated anymore than the 4CM I came in at. I consented to the pitocin and we stayed at a low dose apparently 2mgs for a little while and I didn’t even know that. And because my water was broken they didn’t want to check me. So since I started having contractions and they got stronger and closer together, I left it there. At noon, they were much stronger so I stopped pitocin. No one said anything or checked me until 3pm at the 12 hour mark.
No progress.
the doctor who wasn't my usual Ob/gym came in and yelled at me on an easily 15 minute tirade in the mask of conversation but basically accusing me of putting my baby in danger. She hadn’t spoken to me since 7am when she first came in. When she told me I hadn’t progressed, I was immediately willing to go back to pitocin and increase it but she wouldn’t even stop to let me reply that and when I did, she kept going another 5 minutes. When she was finally done, I gave back the same attitude I was given and asked if I could finally speak now. She still acted like a jerk.
after several more hours on the pitocin, I made it up to 10mg and only made it to 4.5cm when they rechecked me. The new nurse came on at 7pm and she wasted no time in berating me as well. My doulas set her straight.
We did everything we could out of bed to labor and I thought the contractions were intense so I consented to the epidural so they could up the pitocin.
Instead, they took me off the pitocin to place the epidural- which they didn’t have to do. At this point, being GBS positive and my water being broken over 12 hours, they wanted to do a c-section but were supposed to be helping me give it one last shot. I felt sabotaged because when they took me off the pit, they then had to start over on the dose back to a 2 and baby had to have variability of 5-25. Baby was having no real variability so they administered pit to see if he would react and because I was having no actual contractions without pitocin. By the time they even got me back to the 10 dose, it was 24 hours and baby was still not really reacting.
I had to have a c-section. The nurse asked if my birth plan was the reason I was crying was because of my birth plan. It wasn’t. I didn’t want my baby away from me. This whole time from the 12 hour mark and on, they’d treated me with no respect answer i felt like they were telling me I was a bad mother. I had cried several times throughout this at that thought. My tears were because I was thinking of my son first. I was scared for him. I didn’t want them to take my baby from me. I wanted to hold him and that wasn’t allowed while they were stitching me. I made my mom promise never to leave my son’s side weeks ago and I made her promise again before we were wheeled back. She followed through.
He was born at 3:33am and I saw him through the plastic divider. I didn’t get to him him til 4:45a and he immediately stopped fussing. My room was ready at 6:15 and we will be here for a few days.
Gabriel Carter was born July 2nd at 7:36 am. We went in to be induced on June 30th and my cervix was still hard so we had to start with 16 hours of softening before we were able to even place a balloon to get me dilated past the 1 cm that I had finally made it to.
Re: July 2019 Birth Announcements
Baby BOY was born on 6/6/19 (@ 34w6d) 7lb 2oz, 20”. Natural childbirth (Bradley Method). Luckily, no NICU dispute being early and we were home after 3 nights in the hospital. What an awesome experience and so much love to give!
see below....
***Please do not comment on this thread unless it is your birth story***
LOVE-ITs are a great way to say congrats without clogging up this post.
Boden Gray 8-13-16
BB Girl Expected 7-10-19
If there was any karma or justice in the world, I would have been in labor for days with a huge heifer of a baby (my poor mom labored 26+ hours with giant me), but it all happened very quickly and she is tiny and perfect and didn't even have to go to the NICU, which was a real possibility. I had to stay in the hospital until Saturday night to finish up my rounds of antibiotics (GBS+, and also Dr had to go in after my placenta bcs my body wouldn't let it go after giving birth), but there appear to be no complications from any of it. Now I'm just adjusting to being a round-the-clock milk factory on no sleep and having this tiny helpless person in my life. (Oh yeah, and the hormones. Ohhh, the hormones.)
Late on Saturday, I noticed bleeding like I started my period. I called the nurse line for my doctor and she told me to in to be monitored. I was bleeding pretty heavily at the hospital and had to have an emergency c-section. Turns out, I had a placental abruption and the placenta had almost completely detached by the time they got to baby.
Despite the scare, we are both great. Baby was born at 36w 5d, but spent no time in the NICU.
((Motherofdogs)) Incase my username is still wrong. I’ve been a lurker since the app doesn’t work for me anymore.
Mr. B. Moon arrived at 9:40am on 6/18 I was 37w5d so my shots bought me a term baby yay!
I had been feeling really off for about a week with us going in to triage after some bloody show and contractions. I was sent home after not moving past a 3 even with contractions every 2 min. I was pretty frustrated and for a couple days I felt pretty depressed but I know it was from exhaustion.
Monday evening I started feeling some contractions and we called my MIL over to come spend the night with DD by 7 they were picking up, by 11 they started to hurt. I took a shower and laid back down to time them better. They were about every 4-5 min but I was still frustrated from being sent home before. By 2 am the contractions had me in tears and I decided to head in. Hubs drove way too fast in a heavy rainstorm under a full moon to the hospital.
Triage was super empty or maybe just quiet quiet but I was in pain and annoyed that it took 30 min for them to even come hook me up to the monitors. By 3 they told me I wasn’t going home and by 4 I got moved up to l&d because I was literally howling in pain. I went from a 3 to a 5 really quick and asked for an epidural immediately.... it didn’t happen for another hour 😑
The epi lessened my contractions and I finally had to have my water broken and a slight dose of pitosin. After that I went from a 5 to a 10 very fast. A little position change and they asked if I felt pressure yet and I didn’t do a pancake flip over to the other side and there it was. The dr was called and I couldn’t even do a test push because he was very much ready to go.
Dr came in and 2 pushes later he was here.
Our hospital took his quick vitals while while we had an hour of skin to skin time and then we found out he was 6lbs 7 oz.
even though i used less epidural than last last time I still had trouble getting feeling back to my right leg for almost the rest of the day.
My boy hasn’t passed his hearing test in one ear but it’s nothing we are worried about.. other than that we are in love and thrilled to have our family complete.
Monday, I went to the doctor absolutely miserable because of the itching from Cholestasis. I was scratching so bad I was bleeding. My doctors decided to not wait for the tests and scheduled my repeat c/s for Wednesday at 36+1. Walked in Wednesday morning, got the spinal, had everything go well until Lily came out. She needed a little love in the nursery with oxygen but quickly recovered. I however hemmoraged pretty bad 2 hours after. We went home after 48 hours in the hospital and we’re both doing great!
Meet Leilani Rose, our little bundle of joy ❤ She was born 6/20 at 3:38pm 37w4days weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 3/4 long!
We were originally due 7/7 with a rcs scheduled for July 1st. This past Monday we went for a BPP and my amniotic fluid was on the lower side of normal. They rechecked Thursday and levels dropped but still border line. I ended up going to L&D to have 2 bags of IV fluids and rechecked again which at that point my fluid was at a 5. They ended up doin the csection that day and our little baby girl is here and we are both doing great! Still in the hospital but we should be discharged later this morning. She is a breastfeeding champ which we are both getting adjusted with and I couldn't be happier! Can't wait to bring her home and have family snuggles with my 3 year old who is missing us terribly as are we!
Good luck to all the other mommas out there ❤
(I was 37+1)
Jennings was due July 10th and born 3 weeks early on June 24th at 14:23. He was 8lb 12oz and 21 in long. He is sweet as pie and we are in love!
We welcomed Ethan Gregory on 6/26 at 8:51AM via RCS. He weighed 8lbs exactly and was 20” long. He had a 14” head and had a hard time coming out. They had to use the suction cup on him, which ended up coming off 2x before a successful 3rd try. He ended up with a small bruise due to this, but nothing is permanent!
Day 2 in the hospital found me in excruciating pains on my right at the incision site. My incision ended up opening and they couldn’t get my pain under control for about 3 hours. I stayed one more night in the hospital just to be sure my pain was under control, and this was absolutely the right call.
We’ve been home for a few nights now and all has gone well! Ethan is a great sleeper and a pro at breastfeeding already!
Good of luck on the rest of your pregnancy journeys, ladies! Thank you for all the love and support! 🥰
The surgery went well and was super quick (20 minutes total). She started nursing like a champ immediately and my milk came in pretty quickly this time. I opted to use assisted lactation starting day 1 which I think helped my milk to come in faster and which got us home in less than 48 hours. I am planning to continue with the combo feeding since it works well for us.
Day 5 today and the pain is almost completely gone. I still look 6 months pregnant but I'm not complaining since I have a sweet little squishy girl to snuggle with. DD1 is in love with her too:)
We got checked into the hospital at 5:30 and by 6 I was all hooked up and ready to go. I was 3cm and about 50% so they started me on a low dose of pitocin. That quickly got things going and by 8 I was having pretty intense (though not terribly painful) and regular contractions about 3-4mins apart. Around 8:45 the Dr came in to check me and I was only at 4cm and 50% so she went ahead and broke my water to really get things going. Contractions picked up and intensified quick! At 9:55 H got up to go pee and of course all of a sudden I had a crazy urge to push and started yelling for him and called the nurses and Dr in. One contraction and two pushes later Henry was born at 9:58.
Our biggest kiddo yet weighing 8lbs6oz and 21in long. We are so in love! 😍
, 💙💙💙💙💙💙
20.5" long.
She spent about 4 hours in the NICU to look for possible shoulder or collarbone injuries and to get help breathing. By 1pm everything was good and the family is all together!
Team Green turned Blue this past Saturday, June 29th. My water broke Saturday morning at 37 weeks 2 days. Baby was born at 9:37 that night at 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long.
Long more detailed birth story:
I got checked into triage at 9:30, the nurse said she didn’t even need to run a test, she could tell my water had broken after I had been lying on the bed for a bit. Nurse checked me (which was very uncomfortable because the cervix was so far behind baby’s head). I was maybe 1 cm. They transferred me to my L&D room. I was told I was having contractions about 4 minutes about but I couldn’t feel anything. They let me order breakfast, since I hadn’t eaten anything that day. I ate a banana, bagel with cream cheese and some yogurt.
Around 12:30 I was checked again and was maybe 1.5 cm, so Pitocin was started. (I tried to remember thinking to write down the levels but I forgot to—I got up to 10 at max I believe). We walked around the hospital, I did some bouncing on the birthing ball, and the contractions increased. On one walk I made MH and I walk quickly back to the room and puked up any of the breakfast I had eaten earlier. I wanted to get in the shower but the blue tooth monitor died and it got too complicated. I was trying to wait until 4pm and get checked again but around 3:30 I asked for the epidural as the contractions were (IMO) very painful and I couldn’t imagine the pain for when the contractions “really got going”.
Epidural was placed around 4:30pm and my amazing nurse said she wouldn’t check me since it was so hard to measure and I was only at 1.5 before. The pain was gone so quickly it was incredible. I was able to relax and take a nap. At 6pm she checked me and I was 3 cm. During this time I drank a lot of water and promptly puked it up. They did move me side to side with the peanut ball between my legs every hour. I had pretty good feeling/movement in my right leg but my left leg was pretty much dead weight.
There was a nursing change at 7:30 and at 8pm the new nurse went to check me (they check every 2 hours when on Pitocin). The new nurse couldn’t find the cervix. She was so stunned she had a second nurse check—much to everyone’s surprise I was fully dilated! The nurse went to go eat dinner to prepare for pushing. She talked us through the pushing and what I was going to do and what MH was going to do plus explaining on average it’s 1-2 hours but sometimes can be 4-5. Thn call OB came in and we started pushing at 9:22pm—5 pushes and 15 minutes later out came our little boy. I should say after 5 pushes the OB was like—why don’t you just push a little (even though I wasn’t having a contraction) and out came the baby. I’m sharing this next comment for complete transparency: I definitely could have had him out sooner—I think I was trying to save a little energy for the “marathon” I had prepared for, I was also still a little sleepy.
We had delayed cord clamping and they brought him right to my chest. MH cut the cord. LO did try to latch a little which was exciting. I was in complete shock—literally said to MH “we have a baby!” with the most shocked look on my face. MH got a pretty funny picture with my surprised face. After an hour or so they took him and got his stats, Hep B shot and vitamin K. Then MH did skin to skin, which really melted my heart.
I drank some water and ate some milk and graham crackers—promptly threw that up too…
We were discharged around noon on Monday. I originally was kinda hoping for a 12:30am baby so I got two full days/nights in the hospital but I’ll take a speedy labor & delivery over an extra night in the hospital.
Over the first 36 hours we had a few instances of him spitting up the amniotic fluid, the first he made a noise and I heard it and called the nurse in. The next the nurse just happened to see him arch his back but he didn’t make a noise. So we decided on the second night it was best to send him to the nursery while we tried to sleep. We were told it works itself out in the first 24-48 hours. Well—I woke up during our first night at home and noticed him arching, called MH who is sleeping on the couch (we decided to have LO in bed with me in the dock’n’tot) and we got him on his side and sucked out all the fluid. So that was a scary moment but since then he’s been good.
Breastfeeding is challenging and we had a rough day yesterday but MH has been amazing, we are supplementing a little since on Tuesday he was down 10% but Wednesday he gain .5 oz so the doctor is pleased. MH is helping is nipple placement and keeping me stay calm and keep perspective. Still hoping for my milk to really come in, based on what I have read, I’ll know when it comes in…but it does seem more milky than gold. Right now I’m doing skin to skin and typing this up. Loving my new normal.
If you made it through this novel—I hope you enjoyed it. I know I always soaked up all the birth stories with lots of details.
Boden Gray 8-13-16
BB Girl Expected 7-10-19
We are now home, she’s breastfeeding like a champ and still don’t know what her cry sounds like because she doesn’t make a peep!
My my water broke on Friday, late afternoon driving in rush hour traffic. The only warning was a few very tight BH that had me thinking “that’d be weird if my water broke” since I was just discussing it with my sister earlier yet still opted out of bringing a pee pad or towel for the drive. Unfortunately, traffic was atrocious and it took another hour of gushing onto the drivers seat and trying to stay cool with DS in the back before I reached home.
My midwives arrived around 545 to check me and everything looked good so I settled in for a long night.
Contractions started around 630 but when I laid down to get some rest at 9, they became intense. I kept talking to my midwives and eventually had them come for a recheck around 1130pm.
Bu then, the contractions had become unbearable and I felt like I had the flu, which later revealed a steadily rising temp. Because I was gbs+ and my water had been broken, we knew there may be an infection, and with the unbelievable pain I decided to transfer to the hospital.
Our sibling doula arrived around 130am and we took off and we’re checked in by 2. I could not deal with the extreme pain and so while my CBC was run, they tried to take the edge off with fentanyl, which did nothing but make me more tired. I think it took until 330 or 4 before they were able to do an epidural followed by a cervical check by the nurse midwife who was my transfer of care provider. I was only 4cm but 90% effaced and she explained the extreme labor pain as a result of the infection. But since I had the epidural she felt that pitocin needed to happen to speed things along because the baby was showing signs of distress from the hours of erratic and strong contractions.
The epidural had finally kicked in well enough to use the pitocin, so we just rested and waited. At 9am the next nurse midwife on round came in to check me and baby was descending and needed to be pushed out ASAP. He’d apparently been doing this for a while but no one was available to check, so although pushing only lasted 10 min, his heart rate plummeted and he had a scary moment before he was out.
So team green turned team team blue with a very successful vbac and minimal tearing. I’m hopeful to go home Sunday since baby and I are doing well.
I’m ok with not having the home birth I planned because I did what I needed to do to bring LO thru safely and the team here at the hospital has been mostly really supportive. I will continue postpartum and newborn care for 6 weeks with my midwives and then back to regular life.
I started noticing some uncomfortable contractions around 8:30am so I started timing them while going about my day. Got my kids ready for daycare and dropped them off, noticing contractions were coming about every 5 min. They weren't painful but were getting more uncomfortable. Decided it might be smart to head toward the hospital in case things changed, so I called my husband at work to make lunch plans near the hospital. Stopped home and threw some laundry in before driving North. As I got closer I had a few intense contractions that made me turn on the hazard lights just in case I was driving unsafely and not keeping a steady speed. Once I got near the hospital, I decided to park and cancel our lunch plans and tell DH to meet me at the hospital instead. Checked myself in around noon, and between contractions I could walk and talk just fine. Told the nurses I preferred the room with a tub and asked how soon I could get in. They wanted about 30 min of heart rates and contractions on the monitor before I got in the tub. DH arrived and we went over the birth plan and drew blood for testing. I got into the tub around 1pm - as soon as they let me - and at that point, contractions got intense fast. I had to keep lifting myself off the seat because my body felt ready to split open. I was shocked at how hard the contractions were, even without pitocin. I was breathing through them, and when they got closer together I went into that internal mental zone again. I shook my head and told DH I changed my mind: I wanted an epidural. He reminded me that I didn't want it but why not try nitrous. I shook my head and said over and over, "I don't want to do this again. I don't want to do this again." I felt like I already did this natural birth thing. And the pain was every bit as intense as the times I was induced with pitocin. It wasn't "supposed to" hurt as much as pitocin! I was over it and wanted to give up! I said I CAN'T DO THIS and the nurse asked to get me out of the tub and check me. She said just when you can't take anymore it's usually over. Hardly any time had passed - it was only around 2pm - so I didn't believe it was close to being over. I walked to the bed and fell to my knees for one last contraction before climbing onto the bed. She told me I was complete and I didn't believe her. With the next contraction I felt pressure to push and felt the head descending. The next contraction I pushed out the head and it was an immense relief. One more contraction and the body came out, and the nurse caught the baby since the doctor hadn't made it to the hospital yet. Baby was on the bed when DH announced, "It's a boy!" And I didn't even have the strength to turn around or look. I just put my face into the pillow and breathed and breathed. Finally I held the baby while I got two stitches for a small tear - not enough to even numb me. Baby was born en caul which ruptured as soon as it was out but I didn't get to see it intact. He's trying to nurse with his tiny little mouth. I'm just in disbelief that this happened so fast and was so intense. I got my true natural/uninduced labor, I got my tub labor, and I had no IVs, finally. After 7 years, 3 girls and now this boy, our family is complete and I'm officially done bearing children! Hallelujah!
On July 9 I woke up feeling crampy and had a feeling something was going to happen. So of course I spent the day cleaning and prepping!
Around 10 pm I began losing my mucus plug and had bloody shown (none of which I had with my son) but still just crampy. Called OB and she said to try and relax since it was the early stages. So I took a hot shower and tried to lay down when I felt a pop and yep, my water broke. Called bf since he works 2nd shift and told him to get home so we can get to the hospital. I started timing contractions at 12:30 am and they were already 30 sec long and max 3 min apart. We made arrangements for big brother (3 years old) and we headed to the hospital.
We were checked in at 2:15am and my contractions were still as steady and intense and I was 4 cm dilated. They started my fluids for an epidural and moved to me to my room around 3:00. Now I conteemplatednot having an epidural bc it only took on my right half with my son's birth and I felt a lot of the labor. But I was in a lot of pain already so opted in. My contractions were getting very intense and closer together. I was feeling a lot of pressure as well. Around 3:55 my nurse checked me and I was 10 cm! She immediately called for my doc and informed me I was not getting an epidural. No meds at all! This little girl was ready. I was relieved to hear from the nursing team that she was a midwife and she assured me she has delivered tons of babies and was ready. She was AMAZING! She coached me through the most painful 10 min of my life and delivered my beautiful baby girl. My OB walked in 3 min later and the anesthesiologist came in about 4 min after that!
I was in awe for days as to how all of this happened! So fast and so painful but also so amazing. I was discharged from the hospital on July 11 around 2 and recovery has been so much better than with my son 3 years ago who was not a long labor (9total hours) and had an epidural.
A week later, I feel pretty good awith minimal bleeding and baby girl is adjusting well to her new world!
So we were supposed to be induced at 1000 on the 16th when we were 41 weeks. They called at 0730 that morning and asked us to come in after lunch instead bc it was so busy. Got there at 1300 and it was clearly still super busy. Didn't get brought back til 1600! (More than 60 babies were born at our hospital the 2 days surrounding her birth!)
Got put on the monitor and was already contracting irregularly, though I couldn't feel it. Started pitocin at 1810. Started contracting regularly and frequently almost immediately, but still couldn't feel it. Walked the halls all night and was super disappointed to be unchanged from admission at 4/50%/-2 at 0600 / 12 h later.
They ruptured my membranes at 1045 and I could definitely feel the contractions shortly thereafter. Asked for my epidural around 1230, when they became quite painful, especially low in my pelvis. The epidural worked great; couldn't feel the contractions at all and got to take a wonderful nap! When I woke up, I felt a lot of pressure in my vagina. I didn't want to tell them bc I was so disappointed in my slow progress earlier and was afraid they'd check me and I'd barely have changed. But after it continuing to be quite significant pressure/pain, I told them, got checked and thankfully was complete!
Started pushing about 30 minutes later, pushed for like 20 minutes, (PS, y'all who've pushed for hours should be nominated for sainthood) and got my baby girl with the help of a wonderful nurse, an amazing doctor, and my awesome husband!
They plopped her on my belly, my husband cut the cord after it stopped pulsing, and then discovered that she pooped ALL OVER ME. Cleaned us up, repaired a 2nd degree tear, and we just hung out skin to skin for like an hour. Then let grandparents and aunt come see her and went to the post-partum unit. We've been doing great and are waiting to go home now!
I went in Wednesday night to start cervidil because I was overdue and only 30%. My body responded well and I was 5 cm by 5 am with not much felt on my end. Doctor broke my water at 7:30 am when I was at 6 cm. The contraction intensity really picked up from there and when my epidural was placed at noon, I was still at 6 cm. I hung out and took a few naps waiting for my body to do its job. I felt a slight gush and thought was amniotic fluid. I also felt the urge to push, but it wasn't intense and I thought it'd get more pronounced when it was actually time. Nurse was going to start pitocin to get things moving, but when she went to check the pad I was sitting on, she discovered the gush was bloody show. Checked me and sure enough I was ready to push.
I pushed for 30 minutes and ended up getting an episiotomy. H thinks that her head wasn't coming out without it since I didn't seem to be tearing naturally.
I cried my eyes out when they placed the ugliest, most beautiful creature on my chest and my heart grew instantly. I can't believe how instantly in love H and I are. I truly wouldn't change a thing.
Arya was born at 9:03am on Friday 7/12. She was 21 inches long and 8lbs 3 oz. at birth.
I was supposed to be induced Wednesday evening, but our hospital was overwhelmed - women were delivering in the evaluation rooms! The doctor from my practice who was on call said that this never happens two days in a row, so we agreed to coming the following day (Thursday).
That night, I started feeling irregular contractions for the first time. I was timing, but The Hubs and I were not convinced that these were THE contractions we were waiting for.
When Thursday's doctor called to tell us that the labor and delivery unit was still overwhelmed, we were pretty upset at the thought that the induction was once again going to be postponed. We were asked to call back in the evening - if they could take us in, they would prioritize us.
When we called back, they asked us to come in for 8:30pm. We showed up early because we were so concerned we would lose our space. They settled us into an evaluation room, got me hooked up, and then we waited. At just past midnight, they finally inserted the Cervidil. I don't think it was much past then that we were moved to an actual labor and delivery room (which was such a relief - I did not want to deliver in that eval room!).
I was told to expect to ride out the Cervidil for about 12 hours and to try to sleep. The Hubs quickly passed out in his chair, and I never made it to sleep between the blood draw and getting my antibiotics started (GBS+) and the intensifying contractions. I’m not sure what time it was when the Hubs woke up to my discomfort sounds (still dark out), and he went to ask the nurses about the in between pain management options. I’m thinking I’m being a bit of wimp with these early contractions. They put me on something fun while waiting for the doctor to return. We then find out that I’m much further along than expected, and they call for the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural. The Hubs called my mother, and she headed over to join us in the delivery room.
I don’t recall much between the time I was giving the epidural and when I was pushing. Apparently there was an issue with my bladder not emptying properly, so they had to work that out for me, and then I pushed for two hours (and did tear). The after birth experience was everything I hoped for, expect for when they needed to recatherize. Baby girl was looking darn near perfect though!
During our two day hospital stay, the pediatrician noticed that she had a heart murmur. We were told not to worry, but we took her to a pediatric cardiologist yesterday where she was diagnosed with two Venticular Septal Defects (VSD). They are minor holes between the left and right ventricles of the heart.
I’m not sure how interested you’d all be in following our journey on this, but the cardiologist is very experienced, and now that we know what we are facing, we do feel a lot better. His diagnosis is very low on the urgent heart defects list, and other than this meaning that her heart will have to work a bit harder, she should never really feel any impact. The holes are expected to shrink as she grows and may even close completely. There are some medication options if it looks like she needs a little help, and she is unlikely to require any surgery.
We did start formula supplementing because she dropped just over 10% of her birth weight and she needs to keep growing to strengthen her heart. After the first day, she gained 7oz! She and I are still working on latching well, but we are getting better (she loves putting her hands in the way and then gets mad).
She also is rocking tummy time, pulling her head up since day one, and can roll onto her side on firmer surfaces (like her bassinet, which was terrifying for me at first). This kid is going to have us on our toes!
Amadeus Quincy Cole Hatcher was born at 3:33am on 7/29/19 weighing 6lbs 6oz.
I went in on 7/28 about 2 hours or less after my water broke at 3:12 am. From the moment I got to out of triage, nothing went according to plan.
I had a birth plan but it was actually very realistic up to and including c-section because I like to be prepared for any situation. At 7am, I wasn’t dilated anymore than the 4CM I came in at. I consented to the pitocin and we stayed at a low dose apparently 2mgs for a little while and I didn’t even know that. And because my water was broken they didn’t want to check me. So since I started having contractions and they got stronger and closer together, I left it there. At noon, they were much stronger so I stopped pitocin. No one said anything or checked me until 3pm at the 12 hour mark.
No progress.
the doctor who wasn't my usual Ob/gym came in and yelled at me on an easily 15 minute tirade in the mask of conversation but basically accusing me of putting my baby in danger. She hadn’t spoken to me since 7am when she first came in. When she told me I hadn’t progressed, I was immediately willing to go back to pitocin and increase it but she wouldn’t even stop to let me reply that and when I did, she kept going another 5 minutes. When she was finally done, I gave back the same attitude I was given and asked if I could finally speak now. She still acted like a jerk.
after several more hours on the pitocin, I made it up to 10mg and only made it to 4.5cm when they rechecked me. The new nurse came on at 7pm and she wasted no time in berating me as well. My doulas set her straight.
We did everything we could out of bed to labor and I thought the contractions were intense so I consented to the epidural so they could up the pitocin.
Instead, they took me off the pitocin to place the epidural- which they didn’t have to do. At this point, being GBS positive and my water being broken over 12 hours, they wanted to do a c-section but were supposed to be helping me give it one last shot. I felt sabotaged because when they took me off the pit, they then had to start over on the dose back to a 2 and baby had to have variability of 5-25. Baby was having no real variability so they administered pit to see if he would react and because I was having no actual contractions without pitocin. By the time they even got me back to the 10 dose, it was 24 hours and baby was still not really reacting.
I had to have a c-section. The nurse asked if my birth plan was the reason I was crying was because of my birth plan. It wasn’t. I didn’t want my baby away from me. This whole time from the 12 hour mark and on, they’d treated me with no respect answer i felt like they were telling me I was a bad mother. I had cried several times throughout this at that thought. My tears were because I was thinking of my son first. I was scared for him. I didn’t want them to take my baby from me. I wanted to hold him and that wasn’t allowed while they were stitching me. I made my mom promise never to leave my son’s side weeks ago and I made her promise again before we were wheeled back. She followed through.
He was born at 3:33am and I saw him through the plastic divider. I didn’t get to him him til 4:45a and he immediately stopped fussing. My room was ready at 6:15 and we will be here for a few days.
We went in to be induced on June 30th and my cervix was still hard so we had to start with 16 hours of softening before we were able to even place a balloon to get me dilated past the 1 cm that I had finally made it to.