L&D Experiences

disgruntled_pelican · February 2021

Hi all!
I apologize if this has been done before and I missed it, but I thought it might be fun for STM+ to discuss their previous L&D experiences/birth stories. If you are interested in birth stories, in general, I would suggest the Birth Hour podcast. There are all kinds of stories featured on the podcast, I think they do a pretty good job covering things. For a more "natural" repository, there are many featured in Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth. (CW: my SIL said that book was a little intimidating for someone unsure of her birthing decisions).

I typed out this survey, but feel free to expand or leave out details as you wish. I am a former doula (currently unable to practice due to family scheduling), so I, personally, love to hear them all!

Child #:
Birth month:
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route):
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?):
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc):
Any false labor?:
Labor length:
Delivery type:
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

marebear15 · February 2021

Child #: DD1
Birth month: September 2017
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): MD, I thought he was pretty good. He was pretty quick to offer inductions, but let me decline them until I was ready.
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): I had an induction scheduled for 41+0, but went into labor the day before.
Any false labor?: No false labor, my first contraction was the real thing.
Labor length: 24 hours
Delivery type: emergency c-section
Techniques used/special practices: vacuum-assist tried 3x during pushing
Birth details/story/anything else: Spoiler because it's long

I went into labor at 1am at 40+6, and had consistent contractions every 15 minutes for about 12 hours. They weren't super strong, and I was able to sleep in between and got up and did my normal morning routine. After lunch, I went to lie down, and they ramped up. I took a shower and slowly got ready, labored on my birthing ball for awhile. Around 5pm, the contractions were coming about every 7 minutes, but the intensity had changed. We finished getting ready and went to the hospital. I checked into triage around 6pm, and was measured at 6cm.
After getting a room, I asked for some IV pain meds which lasted all of 30 minutes. About an hour later I asked for another round, which again wore off quickly. I hopped into the tub for maybe 45 minutes and the jets were nice against my back (all back labor), but they weren't able to get good readings of the baby while they were on. I got out and was measured at 8cm.
Around midnight, they decided to break my water since I had stalled for a good 3 hours. They broke my water and noticed meconium (poop). The NICU team was alerted, and an experienced nurse took over. She noted that the baby was sunny-side up (I'd already known this and done spinning babies to try to turn her). She placed me in several different positions, but the baby started having decels. They put an oxygen mask on me to try to help her, and that was agony because my breathing exercises were the only thing helping me through transition.
My OB had arrived that point, as well as the entire NICU team, and my room filled up fast. He told me the baby was not doing well and had already made the call to the OR, but I would have 3 chances to push the baby out before we went that route.
I pushed, and he vacuumed, but it slipped off every time (she had a ton of hair). We went straight to the OR and I was put under general since I didn't have an epidural. DD1 came out with a body cord tight enough to bruise her chest and meconium aspiration. She had an APGAR scale of 1 and took her first assisted breath 90 second after birth.
I was able to see her in the NICU after about 12 hours, and by that time she was already breathing on her own and had pulled out the trach and feeding tubes. My hospital was great at getting me a pump early and I was able to latch her about 18 hours after birth. Amazingly we had no issues exclusively breastfeeding for 13 months. She was released from the NICU three days later and was discharged with me.
All in all, we had the best possible outcome to a very scary situation.

Child #: DD2
Birth month: January 2020
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): MD, but a different one from my first. My first changed to a hospital that didn't have a NICU, and I wasn't going to risk that. I loved him!
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): Pitocin
Any false labor?: None
Labor length: 8 hours? (see birth story)
Delivery type: VBAC
Techniques used/special practices: amnioinfusion
Birth details/story/anything else: Spoiler again

Because of my first birth, I didn't want to reach 41 weeks again as the risk of meconium aspiration goes up around this time. My provider was completely on board with a VBAC, waiting as long as I wanted, and an induction if favorable (per Bishops score). I got to pick the induction date that would allow my husband the maximum days off with me, and I chose 40+4.
I again woke up the night before with a few contractions but it ended up stalling around the time we went to the hospital for the induction (5am). The nurse that checked me in was awful and rude, and refused the breast pump stimulation that my doctor wanted to start my "natural" induction with. She admitted me in at 5cm. I waited until my OB came in around 8am, when he broke my water. I walked around, did my hair, did my makeup, and not even a trickle was coming out. We waited until 10:30 when we got the go ahead to start pitocin. About an hour later, I finally started having contractions, and my OB came back at lunch to try breaking my water again. Again, not even a drop came out.
The contractions started ramping up, lasting 1 minute with a minute break in between. They were brutal, and I was basically frozen sitting in bed the whole time. Nothing was helping. Around 2:30, I got checked again and was 4cm. I had literally gone backwards. I told my husband I was done, just give me the repeat c-section. We'd been at the hospital since 5am and nothing had gone right, doctors and nurses were squabbling, and I was over it. He gently reminded me that I could opt for the epidural.
Both labors I'd opted out of the epidural because of 3 reasons: the lack of mobility, a potential stall-out, and the cascade of interventions that often ends in c-sections. But here I was frozen in bed, stalling out, and asking for a c-section. I got the epidural.
Right after the epidural, the baby's heartrate started dropping, so my OB gave me an amnioinfusion since I had either minimal or no amniotic fluid. She stabilized and within 3 hours I had gone from 4 cm to ready to push. I pushed for 45 minutes (she had a big head), had a successful VBAC!

legallykate · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: July 2018
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): An OB from my practice, but not my OB
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): Foley bulb (ack)
Any false labor?: Nope, induced at 37 weeks due to preeclampsia
Labor length: 12 hours
Delivery type: Vaginal
Techniques used/special practices: Haha, see spoiler
Birth details/story/anything else:

I went to my OB for an emergency appointment at 37 weeks because out of nowhere I started feeling bad. I was having very mild and sporadic contractions but was also really lightheaded and out of it and overall anxious (it did not help that I was facing overlapping tight work deadlines or that it was 112 degrees here in Texas that day). I had been fine a few days earlier at a scheduled appointment, and just 3 cm and 30% effaced, but I wanted to check and make sure everything was still okay.

My BP was high which it had never been before, so they transferred me directly to the hospital for further testing, and when some protein showed up in my urine they told me it was a close call but since I was 37 weeks they would go ahead and induce. DH was NOT prepared for this, lol, but I was pretty miserable at 37 weeks pregnant and 60+ lbs heavier than normal in the Texas heat, so I was ready to get the show on the road and meet her.

I was admitted to the hospital around 5 and the foley bulb went in around 7. I was NOT a fan of that. Also I had a really hot male nurse and felt hella awkward lol. By then my contractions were too close together (so I guess maybe I was kind of already in labor, but they were not productive?) to get me Cervadil (the cervix softener they usually use with the bulb), so the bulb hurt like a B. They gave me some IV anesthetic but it really didn't do much. Finally they were able to do the Cervadil and at around midnight my water broke which was the best feeling in the world and they took the bulb out. At 2 they (finally) gave me an epidural. The first one did not take at all (I think I have a very high tolerance to narcotics) but the second one did for a while so I was able to get about 4 hours of sleep. Then at around 6 I was 10 cm and ready to push.

As I started pushing, I developed a "hot spot" (where one of the nerves is not getting any of the epidural meds) and it was like someone was stabbing me with a hot knife in just one spot in my abdomen. I pushed for about 45 minutes in excruciating pain, and they kept insisting she was coming out, but I was looking in the mirror and could swear her head was not getting any bigger. As one major wave of pain came, I told them I needed to take a break to throw up, and they all stepped away and brought me a bucket to use. I violently dry heaved into the bucket, and the force of that pushed her right out, much to everyone's surprise - for the rest of my stay, various nurses came by asking if I was the mom who "puked out her baby"

Anyway, that was right around 7 am, so the whole ordeal was miraculously only 12 hours.

Sadly I only got to hold her for like a minute before they figured out she had some fluid in her lungs and belly from her sudden violent eviction, so DH went with her to the NICU while they delivered my placenta and stitched me up (I had second degree perineal and labial tears, ouch). But we all reunited in the recovery room and she was a-okay other than some jaundice and is now a healthy (and off the charts large!) 2.5 year old.

sgrn18 · February 2021

Child #: 1

Birth month: March (due in April though)

Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital

Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): MD. She was my top choice OB and I saw her NP up until my AFP came back elevated then we started seeing the doctor herself.

Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): no induction baby was breech.

Any false labor?: nope

Labor length: lol 3 hrs from water breaking to baby.

Delivery type: c section

Techniques used/special practices: nope

Birth details/story/anything else:

We were scheduled for an ultrasound at 37 weeks to confirm he was still breech but my water broke on it’s own at 36+6. They confirmed he was breech at the hospital and got me set up for a csection. They were super busy in L&D that night and since I wasn’t contracting (other than minor super irregular ones which barely felt like period cramps) and baby was fine and being monitored I ended up waiting about 1.5 hrs to get back to the OR. My OB wasn’t on call but my current OB was (which was why I chose her after mine retired). I got a spinal which was weird but worked super quickly. My nurse waited until I was numb to insert the catheter (the real MVP here lol). DS was so wedged up in the horn of my uterus that they had to extend the cut to get him out. Usually cut to baby is super fast but it took about 25 mins for them to get him out.

TW: scary moments

When DS came out he was purple and had to have a lot of stimulation to get that first cry/breath. I kept asking why he wasn’t crying and I had to tell MH like 50 times to go over to him (he didn’t understand what I was seeing). I started sobbing then he finally cried. Everyone in the room was trying to assure me that everything was okay but I wasn’t buying it. He ended up getting suctioned and some oxygen but was fine in the end. END TW**

DS and MH went to the nursery and I went to recovery we were all reunited about 2 hrs later when I got a room in the post partum unit. After some time on the bili lights we all came home on day 4.

ramzlau · February 2021

This might be an interesting thread. So many different stories I am sure, and with DD I expected mine to go as smoothly as my moms 6 deliveries did. Going into labor at home, going to hospital when ready and delivering in a few hours with no complications. But here is my story:

Child #: 1
Birth month: Feb 2018 (and since I was on here, Feb seemed drilled into my mind. My daughter was going to be born in Feb) but on Jan 26th, after a blood pressure reading over 140 at my 36 week appointment, they sent me straight to the hospital to be induced.
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): MD, group practice, I thought I liked my OB during the pregnancy, but turns out I wasn’t ready for the changing opinions every 12 hours and the manipulative comments.
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): everything. See story below
Any false labor?: No, not even Braxton Hicks
Labor length: 78 hours, 2.5 hours pushing
Delivery type: Vaginal
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

One of the most important things I learned in our birthing class is that it is good to ask questions. Ask for understanding, ask for other options, ask if it is an emergency procedure. So at that 36 week appointment that sent me to the hospital, I asked the doctor on call (who I had never met before) why she was planning on inducing me and if I had other options. I asked for a second opinion and reached out to a pediatrician to get an opinion about delivering at 36 weeks with no steroids for lung development. I am so glad I did because turns out, I had many options. Overnight observation showed that it was a fluke high reading and the high risk OB said there was no cause to induce. Over the next week I went every other day to the hospital for monitoring, and at my weekly appointment my OB said I was putting my daughters life at risk by not inducing. I was a mess. Crying all the time. I had to stop working immediately because of the high blood pressure reading, and we were not prepared at all (no clothes, no diapers, no crib or bassinet, nothing). My husband was ecstatic to meet her, but I just wasn’t ready. Not wanting to put our daughter in danger we agreed to induce at 37 weeks. I checked into the hospital at 10:30 am on a Friday morning. They gave me cervadil to soften the cervix and hopefully get contractions started. We did lots of yoga ball and walking, but after 6 hours no real progress. What they didn’t tell me is cervadil will make you feel like you have rocks up your vaginia, and every time they would check my cervix I would scream (seriously at one point I thought the nurse had left a huge diamond ring on her finger when she checked me). So next we tried miso. It is a medication you let dissolve under your tongue, but you can’t get out of bed for 4 hours or something. So I laid in the hospital bed waiting for something to happen. Still not much progress. By this point we were on doctor 2 of the rotation and this OB was much more patient about explaining options and risks. He wanted to do a balloon foley, but with the pain from the cervadil and how long it was looking it was going to take he recommended an epidural first. Having already been in labor for over 12 hours, I relented. We did the epidural and foley. The foley stayed in for 8-12 hours I think. When they removed it, I was finally 3 cm dilated, but DD had not moved down. Shift change again and this OB didn’t want to break my water because DD was still at stage 2 and she was afraid it would put her in shock. So we started pitocin. Throughout all of this DD kept chilling and they would get worried if she shifted off the monitors so they had to readjust the monitor straps every few hours. And my epidural ran out. It took them 2 hours to bring in a refill, and I was in so much pain. When they went to refill it, they also gave me a booster of the medication to reduce the pain. The nurse and doctor didn’t check my chart and so they didn’t realize I am super sensitive to pain meds. I felt so sick after the shot, I told H to go for help. When they came in my blood pressure was bottoming out and I was passing out. They administered more fluids to get it back up to normal. Also they forgot to tell me when you are on an epidural for days, you have to rotate sides every 2 hours, otherwise the medication will settle on one side. So I would wake up in excruciating pain on just one side of my body. After another shift change and another OB (they changed every 12 hours), it was finally Monday morning. This OB like all the others, I had never met before. She decided that DD was going to be born that day and broke my water at 7:30 am without my consent and ignoring the other doctors recommendation that it might put DD in shock. After breaking my water (at this point I hadn’t eaten or slept more than 30 min at a time since Friday night), my contractions finally got stronger, but DD still was not moving down the canal. My epidural ran out again and they refused to refill it. At 1:30 pm the nurse suggested that we try pushing to see if it would help her move. It took 2 hours of pushing and me begging for pain meds, but finally at 3:48 pm she was born. I was completely exhausted from not eating and my blood sugar was completely wonky. DD was so exhausted from the 3+ days of labor when they didn’t let her rest, that she didn’t even cry when she was delivered. She just laid on my chest. I was not clotting so they gave me an injection in my leg (I asked after what it was because I had an allergic reaction to it and they nurse didn’t even remember administering it). After 30 min I asked if H could take her because I was throwing up. I finally convinced them to let me have something to drink to stabilize my blood sugar and things got better after that. We were released to go home just 36 hours after delivery. They never gave her a bath or anything. I ended up developing some complications a few days later and had to get narcotics for the pain. I did ask for my medical records, but the hospital said they wouldn’t release them unless I signed something saying I wouldn’t sue them. I am thankful that everyone was healthy in the end, but not something I want to repeat by any means.

mc0303 · February 2021

@ramzlau WOOF! That is so similar to my experience. I hated everything about it. I’m trying my best to plan as much as I can to avoid a situation like that again and how to firmly decline unnecessary interventions. I’m pretty much at the point where if I can’t do it normally without interventions, then I want a c-section.

DoubleUp8 · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: October
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): OB from my practice, but not my OB
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): no induction
Any false labor?: No real contractions until my water broke
Labor length: 20 hours, 1 hour pushing
Delivery type: Vaginal
Techniques used/special practices: nope
Birth details/story/anything else: Sorry this is so long, but I still had the birth story from my old BMB saved to my computer.

At 39+2, I woke up around 4:30 a.m. couldn't get comfy. I went to the bathroom around 5:45 a.m. I stood up I noticed a slight pink tinge to the paper in the toilet bowl. Then I felt a gush of fluid. Had I peed myself? That would have been a new pregnant lady low. I sat back down and maneuvered around my huge belly to get a pad from under the sink, as I stood up to affix it to my underwear another gush. Hmmmm, could that be my water breaking…..nah, wishful thinking I’m sure. I crawled back into bed and tried to get comfy. A little after 6 a.m., I felt a cramp that was a little stronger than the ones I was having before my latest bathroom expedition. I thought about timing, but it was just one, who knew how long until the next one. I had two more of these stronger “cramps” by 6:15 a.m. So I pulled up the contraction timer app on my phone, just for curiosity’s sake. I love me some data. I continued leaking fluid, leading me to believe my water had broken. By a little after 7 a.m. my contractions were between 5-7 minutes apart for 45 min, so I called the overnight number for my obstetrician. I then went upstairs and woke up DH to let him know what was going on.

The doctor on call, got back to me and said it sounded like my water had broken and we should get ourselves pulled together and head down to the hospital that morning so I could get checked out. We got ready, got some breakfast, and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital before 9 a.m. and parked. I had two contractions on the way in from the parking lot. One at the car and one in the hospital lobby. I could still walk and talk through them at this point. We met the on call OB from my practice at the maternity ward check in on the 3rd floor. First thing that struck me was he looked like my Father-in-law, and I had to decide not to let that be creepy.

The nurse took me back to the triage room where I got to don a very stylish blue hospital gown and provide a urine sample. (Let me just add, it is hard enough to pee in a cup while 9 months pregnant, the belly is a huge obstacle, it is even harder to pee in a cup while 9 months pregnant and having contractions. The nurse hooked me to a monitor to measure the contractions and track the baby’s heart rate. The triage doctor told me they would need to do an exam with a speculum to see if my water had actually broken. My word that I had been soaking pads since 6:00 a.m. wasn’t enough. The last position you want to be in while you are having contractions is flat on your back with a doctor’s tool in your you-know-where. Lucky for me, when the doctor got in position and saw the damage my broken water had done to the bed sheets he said, “your water has definitely broken and you are 2 cm.” I had been 1.5-2 cm at the doctor’s office on Tuesday, October 21, so 2 cm was not very exciting after 2+ hours of timed contractions. They kept me on the monitor for a while longer wanting a baseline for my contractions and the baby’s heartbeat.

At 10:30 a.m. we were moved to a delivery room. My OB, was there. She had been visiting another patient in the hospital and heard I had checked in. “You couldn’t have waited one more day?” she said. Her hospital shift started Monday at 8am, so if I could have waited one more day, she would have been my delivery doctor. I tried to relax in the jetted tub. By 11:45 a.m., I was no longer comfortable in the tub. Sitting in the tub during a contraction felt confining. I tried laboring standing leaning on the wall for a bit with DH pushing hard on my lower back to help with the pain. I started to lose track of time at this point. I know I threw up from the force/pain of the contractions, twice. Maybe it was three times. It sucked. The worst was getting onto the bed for them to put the monitors on to check on the baby’s heartrate. The contractions were coming harder and faster together. Our nurse told me I was doing great with my breathing and I know by 1:30ish p.m. they were setting up the table of doctor’s tools for the birth. The nurses kept asking if I felt “poopy pressure”, but all I felt was the strength of the contractions. At 3:00 p.m. I asked if the resident would check to see how much further I had dilated. My mental fortitude was starting to fray. That’s when the depressing news was delivered, I was 3 cm. In 6 hours and all that pain, I had gone 1 cm. I had been mentally prepared for 5 cm, maybe 4-4.5 cm, but 3 was a devastating blow to my determination to labor without pain control. With the support of a very relieved DH, I made the tough decision to get the epidural. It was done by 4pm, just in time for the start of the afternoon football game. I started to relax. I had a Popsicle or two. I was pleased the epidural still allowed me to roll over and I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, just not the pain.

At 7 p.m., I was 4 cm, only one more cm in 3 hours. At this rate, I would be here for days. Plus, 18 hours after your water breaks the risk for infection begins to go up, and 24 hours after, the doctors like to have the baby out. 7 p.m. was 13 hours into the window for me. The doctors wanted to start Pitocin in my IV. They would start the drip at 1 and increased by one every half hour (I guess they can go as high as 40+). The hope was the Pitocin would even out my contractions. I had been having double contractions all afternoon, which was why my pain was so high and the breaks between contractions seems so brief. The chart tracking the contraction looked like a camel hump, or is it a dromedary that has two humps. Anyways, mine were two medium peaks back to back then a break rather than one big long contraction that could get things going. The shorter but strong contractions were not moving the process along and putting additional stress on the baby.

Every half hour the Pitocin went up and by 9pm at pitocin level 5, my contractions had turning into nice text book big long peaks. But now there was another issue. DS’s heartbeat had been dropping after contractions. The resident and nurse were a little confused because he was moving around a ton between contractions and his readings looked great, but after a contraction there was a deceleration (drop) of his heart rate. They suspected this was because he would stop moving when he got squeezed by the contraction and his heart rate would drop back to its resting rate, but decelerations can be a sign of the baby being in distress. A sign the labor or the Pitocin strengthened contractions are too much for the baby. The resident said they wanted to put a sensor into the uterus between the baby and the uterine wall so they could better read the contractions. If the baby was in distress and it wasn’t because DS was being a little wiggle man, they doctors said we might need to consider next steps (aka unplanned C-section. The very last thing I wanted). They also wanted to see how far along I was because if I wasn’t dilating that was another reason to start to consider C-section. I was 15.5 hours into labor.

The resident prepared to insert the sensor. She got down into position and said the best news ever: “your 9-9.5 cm!” In fact, I was so dilated; she had problems inserting the sensor. Now, we would just let my body continue to move the baby into position so I didn’t have as much work to push. About an hour later, I began to feel twinges on my right side, crampy, contraction like twinges. I told my nurse about it and she called Anesthesia. I made the tough decision to get an epidural. Now that I have agonized and made the decision, I don’t want to feel a thing! The anesthesiologist gave me a second dose of medicine in my epidural around 10 p.m. No better, I could still feel the contractions creeping up my right side and getting stronger. I had a big fear of the epidural only working on half of my body, so I would be trapped in the bed unable to move, and still feel all of the pain of labor. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me another dose around 10:30. That one worked and then some! I was so numb I couldn’t move my legs anymore and I could barely wiggle my toes. The OB came in to see if we could start pushing and I had to confess, I couldn’t feel a damn thing from mid-torso down; he was not please. This was the start of my dislike of this OB.

I hated being so numb. It made me feel bigger and fatter than I already felt at 9 months pregnant. I now needed the nurse’s help to roll over side-to-side, and my independent streak was rubbed a bit raw by that. Finally a little past 1am (19 hours in), I thought I might be feeling a little “poopy pressure” (though I may had said it just to stop getting what felt like disapproving looks from the OB.) Note to self: if there is a next time, try rolling to the other side before getting the epidural boost. The nurse, resident, and the OB really wanted me to get pushing. The resident, Med student, and nurse, all women, got started teaching me how to push. It was embarrassing because my big huge pregnancy thighs were so numb I couldn’t hold them up on my own. Jeff took my left leg and the nurse took my right. The nurse would let me know when the contraction was starting and I would do three big pushes. It was tricky because I was pushing with muscles I was too numb to feel. The ladies were really encouraging. I made bad jokes about “poopy pressure” and they humored me enough to laugh. (I figured we could be at this for a few hours, might as well keep it fun).

After about 15 minutes, the OB came in to see me push. He told me I was curling my hips up to much and to push lower. He said I was pulling my legs to the side too much and to pull them back toward me instead. He placed his fingers you-know-where and told me to push his fingers out, which I had a hard time doing since I could barely feel them due to the epidural. This began a cycle. Push, laugh, joke with the ladies and DH. Get serious when the OB entered the room. He said to push lower. He told me to push his fingers out. He told me to “get angery” and push which really went against the vibe I was going for and mental state I was in. He told me again to stop curling my hips up, so I pressed them down. He went “no, no, the baby is regressing back up.” Ok, hips not up, hips not down, pull the legs back. I felt like I was being instructed in a new exercise and had too many things to focus on. He would enter the room every 5-10 minutes and I could just feel the energy in the room change. I think the ladies were picking up on how unreceptive I was to the OB’s presence.

The severe numbness of the epidural boost began to wear off, and I could feel a bit better where I was pushing. I came up with a solution to the OB factor, I just tuned him out. I would focus on what I had been doing well when it was just Jeff, the ladies, and I and ignore the OB. Anyway let’s see him try to push out a baby while holding his hips neither up nor down and pulling his legs back and not to the side. Oh right, he can’t birth a baby. I got into a zone where my pushes were productive enough to make the hard to please OB happy. As the baby began to crown, the OB got settled into position for the final push (pun intended). DH was even brave enough to peak down at the head crowning. Once the head was out, it only took two or three more pushes to deliver the rest of DS a little after 2 a.m.

Glad I re-read my birth story. There were some things I forgot and will definitely remember for Baby #2.

mc0303 · February 2021

I ended up writing novel 😂 But I’ll put a blanket TW. Don’t read if you only like happy endings. I was in the very low percentage for complications happening. Inductions aren’t so bad for most people. For me it was a combo of complete surprise and pain that made my body go into a very tense agitated state.

I am being very diligent about my birth plan this time and am practicing being more forceful and plan on having a doula for support.

Child #: 1

Birth month: nov ‘19...but was born October ‘19

Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital

Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): I like my OB but he wasn’t on call that weekend 😖 Ended up being a bunch of strangers

Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): All

Any false labor?: Maybe? I had been having preterm contractions all the time and was on meds to stop them

Labor length: 24 hrs ish...15 minutes of pushing

Delivery type: Vaginal

Techniques used/special practices:

Birth details/story/anything else:

I had a rough pregnancy and seemed to be in the 1% of every stupid complication. Near 26-28 weeks I went into preterm labor 2x and had to go to OB triage to stop it. I was also experiencing white coat high blood so I was regularly taking my BP at home to make sure it was normal. I was under EXTREME stress from work and had really bad anxiety too.

The first day of maternity leave (1 month before due date) I woke up feeling agitated and just off. I checked my BP and it was like 160/100 and I kept rechecking it and it didn’t budge. I texted my OB and he said to head to the hospital bc I may have to deliver the baby.

I got to the hospital and the nurses at first were really chill and seemed like they’d just give me more meds to reduce the BP and I’d be fine. But then I didn’t respond to the meds or the injections so they started an IV placement “just in case” 🙄 I had SUPER painful cervical checks since my cervix was NOT ready for birth and also had an ultrasound.

At this point no one was giving me a clear answer about what was happening. I thought I’d be sent on my way home. Then a random nurse from L&D came in and was like ‘I hear that you’re here for your induction!’ . I was so confused I told her she had the wrong room. Then I heard a huge commotion outside bc she was like ‘how has no one told her?!?’

At this point the on-call OB comes in and is like you’ll likely need to be induced for severe preeclampsia (?!?!) but I can’t say that since I’m an OB in triage and not in L&D!?!? And plus also your baby is stopped growing 6 WEEKS AGO which is really bad for him and he needs to come out ASAP. Also you’re already in early labor since you’re having rhythmic contractions (?!?)

At this point, I’m just like WHAT IS HAPPENING?!? My baby hasn’t grown?!? I have severe preeclampsia?!? Wtf does that mean?! My parents live across the country so literally dropped everything and jumped on a plane. I was given a steroid shot for the baby’s lungs and hooked up to an IV for magnesium and antibiotics since my GBS test wasn’t back yet. Mag is NO JOKE. It makes you feel so foggy and flu like and cold and just AWFUL.

I was told that I’d have to do the foley bulb - It didn’t feel like an option and I didn’t ask questions bc I was so freaked out. Let me tell you, my cervix was closed TIGHT from all the progesterone I had been shoving up my vagina to avoid preterm labor AND I wasn’t given anything to soften or ripen my cervix. So when the OB tried to place it, I couldn’t handle the pain. I was so tense and screaming and he was so shitty and was like well I can’t place it bc she’s screaming.

I felt like the OBs were just so non comforting and cold. The original nurse I had was so wonderful and snuck me food and water and before she left she told me ‘You have to right to say NO to anything. Please remember that’. And then my new nurse started and she was the exact opposite. She was guilting me for taking meds to soften my cervix and was like you really should just suck it up do the bulb, your baby needs to come out. I flat out refused and then agreed to an epidural then the bulb.

Epidural placement was fine, didn’t hurt for me. And then the OB tried to put the bulb in again and apparently it wouldn’t take so he just broke my waters. WITHOUT ASKING. Just did it. And I was started on pitocin. Again, none of these felt like options and I’m sure a lot of it was a lot bc I was uninformed.

Everything seemed fine from then on. The Mag made me feel awful, I had bad nausea but was just glad it would be over. I was shaken up from the pain of the induction and cervical checks and just wanted to leave that place. I slept for a few hours and woke up the next day. I dilated super quickly to 10 cms and then waited an hour to labor down and pushed for 3 contractions. It was actually the easiest and most fun part of the experience.

The NICU team was there since it was a preterm birth so there were like 12 people there staring at my vagina and butt hole 😑

I was so out of it from the Mag and meds that I couldn’t really focus on the new baby. He seemed fine enough to stay out of the NICU but they did take him to the nursery. Eventually they told he’d have to be admitted to the NICU bc he was having issues regulating his temperature and breathing.

I was like okay as long as he’s being taken care of. Everything seemed to settle down and then on one of my routine trips to pee with the nurse... I started hemorrhaging like A LOT.

**TW** And it was pure chaos. 10 people swarmed into my room and had to hold me down while they pushed on my stomach and a (super hostile) OB stuck his WHOLE arm into my uterus and scooped out blood clots the size of my head. I cannot express how terrifying and violating and PAINFUL it was. I was shrieking and writhing in sheer pain and panic and confusion. Since it was an emergency there wasn’t much time to tell me what the eff was going on. One of the nurses was crying. Then it was over and there were a million people counting up all the blood that was all over the room and I was given morphine for the pain and to basically knock the fuck out.
**End TW**

The next morning was pretty much the beginning of just awful weeks for me. I woke up feeling like I had a bad nightmare and then remembered everything. I was in such emotional shock from the hemorrhaging and not having my baby and just feeling so violated and not in control of what was being done to my body.

DS was released in 7 days and I could tell something was wrong with me bc I couldn’t cross the room without wanting to pass out. I was so weak and then had horrible pelvic pains. I kept getting on call OBs that told me it was ‘normal’. I was like NO. I am in severe pain and have a high fever and recent bodily trauma. Then I went to the ER where they told me I had a raging infection and showing early signs of SEPSIS. I was admitted for a few days for IV antibiotics and narcotics.

And then I went home. The end.

DoubleUp8 · February 2021

@mc0303 that's awful! I'm so sorry, and I'm so glad you are going to have a doula there to help you stick to your plan and advocate for you.

ramzlau · February 2021

@mc0303 Ah! Your story makes me so angry because I know there has to be better ways to deliver! A friend had a horrible first delivery and used a doula for her next two and said it was life changing and made the deliveries so much smoother. I think everyone just thinks delivery is routine and they forget that delivery is anything but routine, especially for new moms. I hope your next story is everything you dream and it goes smoothly!

mc0303 · February 2021

@doubleup8 @ramzlau thanks y’all! ❤️ It’s taken a lot of therapy to process my feelings (still actively processing). I hesitated to share bc I don’t want to scare anyone, especially new moms. I just think that everyone should be fully informed going into childbirth of different possibilities because I certainly wasn’t. I def skipped over those parts in the books and classes. And when things started going awry, I panicked which amplified everything.

I thought I’d just go into labor and get an epidural and be on my way. It never occurred to me that it would go differently. I definitely put too much trust in thinking I’d be explained everything fully along the way.

That’s why I’m planning on either doing a spontaneous unmedicated birth or a c-section. I just want absolutely no interventions or inductions or augmentations.

wanderlustsoul · February 2021

Ugh @mc0303 I’m sorry your birth was such a hot mess. I hope this one can be so much better for you!

laurad75 · February 2021

@marebear15 It sounds like you were so calm before you finally went to the hospital. Amazing. That’s quite a story and sounds really scary. So glad DD pulled through quickly.

@legallykate ‘puked out your baby’ OMG. I remember that you went early. I feel like everyone in our Aug BMB went early I was just sitting around waiting for my kid to show up.

@sgrn18 It’s so scary until they cry. I hated those moments.

@ramzlau that sounds awful. Are you changing OB/ hospital this time around? How traumatic.

@mc0303 WTF that’s awful. I remember early on you were talking about changing hospitals. Is that what you decided to do? What a nightmare. ☹

mindyb2019 · February 2021

@mc0303 dear God women!! That sounds terrible. You poor thing 😳 its stories like these that make me fear labour and birth as a FTM. If this was me in that situation I honestly don't know I would have made it through so high five to you girl. My anxiety would be through the roof that whole time and I would be crying from that alone nothing else. God im scared shitless im not going to make it through labour. 😢

laurad75 · February 2021

Child #: DS 1
Birth month: August 2018
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): OB
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): pitocin
Any false labor?: I thought that my water broke a few days before I actually went into labor but it was just my mucus plug.
Labor length: about 3 days
Delivery type: unplanned cs
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

I'm so annoyed that I either never wrote my birth story or didn't save it. Oh well...

I went into labor on my due date in the morning but it was all in my back and contractions were long and far apart so I was waiting for them to get close together before going to the hospital. I was uncomfortable the whole day and didn't sleep at all that night. I had a scheduled visit with my OB the next morning and I was in so much pain I was crying. The nurse asked if I tried Tylenol and I almost slapped her. My OB examined me and confirmed that I was in labor then during the exam my water actually did break so I was admitted but was told we could take our time. This was Tuesday late morning and my OB told me that she would be on the delivery schedule Wednesday evening and I would 'obviously' have the baby by then so she would come and see us (her confidence jinxed us). We went home before checking in to the hospital to get our bags and eat.
When we checked the did another exam and I was barely dialated so they put me on Pitocin and I was able to move around through the contractions (still all in my back). With the pitocin they were getting much stronger and uncomfortable but I still wasn't progressing so I didn't want to get an epidural yet. They gave me something else and I can't remember what it was but it was a pain med that just knocked me out. I slept for several hours on it. We are in Boston and the hospital is across the street from several restaurants and bars so while I slept my husband went across the street to meet up with friends and have dinner. I texted him when I woke up and we were anticipating that the next exam would be better news but I still wasn't progressing much. After an hour or so of just hanging out in pain they told me they could give me another shot of mystery med (I really wish I could remember what it was) but the second dose usually doesn't work. We tried it anyway and I slept for another 4 hours.
So now it's Wednesday and if I was progressing at all it wasn't much so we just waited all day for different doctors and exams and nothing was happening. The pain was getting worse so eventually I got the epidural and that helped a ton but now I couldn't move around. I was so uncomfortable I couldn't really move anyway. Wednesday afternoon we saw a new doctor and while I had progressed a little bit it wasn't enough to assume I would be pushing soon and now it had been a long time since my water broke so we decided that in a few hours my OB would be coming on and those two doctors would examine me together and decide if I had a shot to push or if we would do the cs. I didn't care at that point. I just wanted to hold my son as soon as possible.
My OB came on and we all decided that a cs was the best option so they got me ready for the OR. As soon as I got in there I got sick. I remember turning to my anesthesiologist (his name was Stephen and I loved him) and telling him 'Stephen, I think I'm going to be sick'. He said 'okay, I'll get you..." and then I started vomiting all over poor Stephen. Once that was under control I began freaking out that my husband wasn't there. I was sure they were going to forget to bring him in. Stephen reassured me that he would be there soon but I just kept asking for him.
Next thing I remember they finally started the incision and my OB said 'Oh my gosh Laura! He's looking right at me!' He was posterior and cock-eyed so while he was ready to come out he got stuck which is why I wasn't progressing. Once they had him out they showed him to me and then took him away to the other side of the room really quickly so I assumed something was wrong but they told me he was fine. I must have asked Stephen a million times if he was okay and when he would cry.
The baby was fine and he did cry soon but I was bleeding a lot and still throwing up and I was so swollen from the Pitocin and other drugs that they couldn't fit my organs back inside me for a bit. My weirdo husband watched the whole thing and said it was completely insane, like trying to shove a sleeping bag in the storage bag (ew.) I was freezing and my jaw was clenched so hard I couldn't focus. I couldn't tell you if that lasted 10 minutes or an hour I just remember that it was really uncomfortable. eventually DS was all clean and wrapped up and in my arms and the pain all went away. He was born around 10:30 at night and I have no recollection of that night after he was born.
I did keep getting sick the next few days and while he was latching and feeding it was a bit of a struggle and then he was losing some weight so we all decided to supplement with formula and hope that my supply would get better. It did not but he was healthy and after several days I was able to eat again.
I really wish I wrote this all out at the time because my memory is garbage from those few days.

wanderlustsoul · February 2021

Definitely some TW in my story so don’t read if you don’t want to see that.

Child #: 1
Birth month: Due August ‘19 but born September ‘19
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): midwives and then OB who I met that day on the spot. None of my regular midwives could attend the birth as it was a hospital birth.
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): All.
Any false labor?: Yep for weeks.
Labor length: 43 hours
Delivery type: c/s
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

Ugh I had this written down and now I can’t find it. 😫 saving this rewrite now. Super long!

So I went in on Saturday night to get induced (I was some percentage effaced and 1 cm dilated) because I was done being pregnant and after weeks of false labour, I had reached my limit. They started with the foley bulb. I got to go home for a bit and then go back to the hospital early in the AM. Immediately within placing it, I started having heavy contractions. They stopped though around 4 AM so I was nervous it didn’t get me to the 3 CMs needed to break my water. But I was so I got admitted to the hospital and transferred to my room. I wanted the room with the water tub as I intended to have a water birth but a lady had got there just before me and had it. So into the other room I went. They broke my water around 9 AM. I waited to see if natural labour would start. If it did, I could have my midwives and if not, then I had to start oxytocin and my birth was officially considered medical. I convinced the nurse to give me an extra hour but it didn’t help. So pitocin it was. And from there on was just increasing oxytocin and cervical checks. I had a student midwife who said I was at 6cms. 2 hour later, the OB checked and I was at 4-5 cms. So that was great. 🙄

Meanwhile in the next room that lady’s labour was going as slow as mine but eventually she decided that she didn’t want a water birth so they cleaned the room and transferred me there. That was the last high of this whole ordeal. I got to labour in the bath and it was great. Oxytocin was at like 80%. Eventually, we all realized something was wrong. The OB came in to check and they realized he was facing the wrong way. He kept trying to turn and engage but he couldn’t. In retrospect, every time I had a midwife Appt, he would go from engaged to disengaged and this was probably why. So they maxed out the oxytocin and had me switch from side to side every 15 mins in hopes that he would move. I really wanted to avoid a c/s and they did everything they could to help me.

By 6 AM, I was in horrific pain from the oxytocin contractions. They were every 1 minute with no break in between. It was awful. And they finally told me that it was time to get the epidural. So I agreed. But there’s a 1 hour window where there’s no anesthesiologist in the hospital. Finally around 9 AM, he came and I was able to get the epidural. But seriously trying to sit still and not move during these intense contractions was a mission. We did it and it took effect immediately. They then told me try to sleep as neither my H or I had slept in 27+ hours. While I was sleeping, baby’s heart rate dropped and I woke up to a swarm of people. It came back up but we all knew where this was heading. They said they’d give it 1 more hour but then the decision had to be made.

Baby’s heart rate kept dipping so finally at 1:30, we all said it was time for a c/s (at this point, I was in labour since Saturday at 8 PM and it was Monday afternoon). They gave me antibiotics and got me ready for a c/s. While I was waiting to be moved over to pre-op, I started shivering really badly and was feeling awful. They checked and I was spiking a fever. They then rolled me down to pre-op. While in pre-op with all these Dutch people standing around me, I looked at my H and said “I’m going to be sick” and promptly threw up all over him. And then again. I was still shaking horribly.

They took me to the OR and transferred me to a table there. I begged for more blankets because I was freezing. They began my C/S. Mid way through I had to ask them to stop so I could throw up again. Finally they pulled him out, put him on my chest, and my H cut the cord. He was born at 3:29 PM. They whisked him off to clean and do their checks. Brought him back for me to quickly see (but I was just too sick) and off he went with my H. I was shaking so hard they thought I could feel them but it was from the intense cold. I asked if I could sleep and then passed out.

I woke up 3 hours later in recovery by myself. I had lost a TON of blood in surgery and my fever had spiked to 40 degrees. All I wanted to do was meet my baby boy properly. Around 6:30 the maternity nurse came and they said my blood pressure was back up and fever gone so I could go to my room. And I finally got to meet my son at 7 PM. He latched on to the boob immediately. My H was thrilled I didn’t die because he had no idea if I did or didn’t. From there out, we had a smooth journey for a bit. He breastfed well, I was up and walking the next day, and I had a great c/s recovery. I had serious birth trauma but I worked to overcome it and not feel like I failed (my “goal” birth was an unmedicated, water birth).

Afterwards, I asked the midwives to find out the antibiotics used and I found out that one of them was contraindicated with a penicillin allergy. Which I have. So that’s why I reacted so severely to it. My sole goal of planning a c/s this time is to prevent this from happening again.

mc0303 · February 2021

@mindyb2019 Noooo!! That’s the exact opposite of what I want for you 😭 I think it all wouldn’t have been as bad if I had been prepared. I super recommend taking a childbirth class OUTSIDE of the hospital, even if you’re going with an epidural. It’ll prep you for early labor and inform you of what happens when things don’t go as planned.

I’m reading this book and it’s AMAZING. It’s so detailed about every aspect of birth, coping mechanisms, medicine, induction, c sections, EVERYTHING. It’s called ‘Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn’. Highly recommend it.

I’m afraid of childbirth too! This will hopefully the first time I experience spontaneous labor. This book is really helping.

@laurad75 I didn’t end up changing hospitals bc it’s still the best one in my area. I had thought about going to a free standing birth center, but because of the unforeseen complications last time, I want to be in a hospital in case something goes super south again. I am changing literally everything about my plan (starting with making one!) though. And having a doula to help me navigate. I’m taking childbirth classes...either Bradley Method or Hynobirthing. Still haven’t decided which.

marebear15 · February 2021

@mindyb2019 - I think the best thing you can do is educate yourself about what can and might happen during birth, and make a plan as to how you'll cope with this. I really wanted an unmedicated vaginal delivery, and so I prepared for that. I learned breathing techniques, taught my husband counterpressure, learned my hospital had a labor tub, brought my own birthing ball to the hospital.
But at the same time, I realized that 25% of births end in c-section, and my own mom had 3/7 babies by c-section. So I also educated myself on what a c-section might look like, what I needed to pack in my hospital bag in case of a c-section. And most of all, told myself that a c-section was okay. If I did everything I could to avoid it (with all my other education), and it happened, then it happened. I wasn't going to waste mental energy beating myself up about it.
That being said, a NICU baby was not in my plans, and I wish I had read up more about that. I also wish I had allowed more people to be in the hospital, not for me, but to support my husband during the 2 hours I was in the OR and he had no idea if me or the baby were okay.
But reading birth stories like this, might just give you a plan on what you can do, and what is just out of your control and how you just learn to roll with the punches and be okay with it.

MelissaMay82 · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: May
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): OB
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): None
Any false labor?: No
Labor length: See birth details
Delivery type: C-section
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

I had a planned csection for 39 weeks. The night before I had stayed up until midnight so that I could take more time before falling asleep. Sometime between midnight and 1am I started having some cramping/ abdominal pain. I thought that I just needed to use the bathroom, I tried, it didn’t help. Through the night the pain started to increase. I think I woke DH up around 4 to tell him about the pain. He asked if I was timing, I was like no I’m not in labor. 😆 I started timing and the pain aka contractions were coming every 3-4 mins. We got up and both got ready. My labor was now all in my back. We got to the hospital an hour early. I was checked and was 5cm. An IV was started and I was given morphine for the pain. It didn’t help and just made me feel high. My OB was called and she came in a little early. I walked back to the OR around 7:30, one of my favorite anesthesiologists did my spinal. DD was born at 8:15. My csection recovery was super easy. I was up walking as soon as I could feel my legs and made them take my Foley catheter out. I even checked out of the hospital a day early (the bed was so uncomfortable. I had more pain in my tailbone form sitting up in the bed than I did in my incision).

ramzlau · February 2021

@laurad75 I did change both OB and hospitals. My OB delivers all his patients babies, so no group practice and he is chief of OB at the hospital where I will deliver. I also had a very frank conversation with him about DD’s birth. He assures me this will not be a repeat. When you wrote about your husband watching them trying to get your insides back inside it made me laugh because H would have done the same. Sorry you had trauma during your delivery though! I hope this one goes much smoother!

@mindyb2019 I love Mc0303’s and marebears advice about taking classes and learning about the birthing process. It helps me so much to understand what is going on with my body so I can better express concerns or ask better questions. I really expected someone to walk me through the delivery process in the hospital, but found that they often talk around you or make
assumptions that you know.

@mc0303 Thanks for the book recommendation! I will read it!

wendy838 · February 2021

Reading this thread has definitely grounded me. I never expected it to be easy, but I also never would’ve anticipated all the “what-ifs” that could happen 😳 I think it’s time to educate myself
So sorry that some of you went through scary (and traumatic) experiences. Especially @mc0303 - thanks for the book recommendation, I will definitely take a look

mindyb2019 · February 2021

Thanks all ladies for your recommendations. I definitely plan on looking into birthing classes and have been doing alot of reading and watching videos on labour and birth. I will educate myself on what to expect with it and my body etc. I want to be fully prepared and so I can ask questions when that day comes at the hospital and or know what the nurses/dr are talking about or wanting to give me. I'll make it somehow 😆

rvamom90 · February 2021

Child #: 1-DS
Birth month: Due in August but gave birth in July
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): OB. Loved all but one OB in the practice and of course got stuck with him.
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): Foley and pitocin.
Any false labor?: None
Labor length: 27.5 hours but it felt like an eternity.
Delivery type: Unexpected c-section
Techniques used/special practices: Blood transfusion and oxygen were needed.
Birth details/story/anything else: See spoiler

The day my water broke, I had my weekly appointment and we discussed an induction in about a week as they were concerned with how big I was measuring as well as the weight estimate of DS and my narrow pelvis. I had gotten home from work and was waiting on the couch for DH to get home since he was working late and hour away. I munched on chips and salsa then stood up to go back to the kitchen when I heard a pop and a huge gush came out. I thought I'd peed myself...nope, just my water breaking.

Cue freaking out as we hadn't finished the nursery, washed baby clothes, nor had we packed our hospital bags. I called DH and he left work then I called my parents who had just gotten back from a business trip and they'd actually driven past our exit several hours before (we lived in NC at the time and they were in VA). Next, I called the hospital and the nurse advised to wait until contractions were close together or if they hadn't started in a couple of hours. Contractions never started so we went in.

I was not dilated and my cervix was still high. I was started on the Foley bulb in the morning once they found one with no latex. I ended up needing pitocin too since the contractions that happened weren't effective. I was allowed only ice chips and a popsicle - should have eaten before heading in the night before. Got an epidural.

OB comes in around noon and was happy with whatever progress I was making so he wanted me to keep going. Finally got to 10 centimeters and pushed for awhile just to try and get DS engaged. The OB came in multiple times and kept saying 30 more minutes but DS still wouldn't descend. I had had it and it was 10pm or so. I was starving, exhausted, and having back labor.

He finally agreed with a c-section so they take me back, I'm shaking and ended up vomiting multiple times. I'm in and out of consciousness and the only thing I remember about DS being born is asking if his head was going to stay like that as it was a cone. He was sunnyside up and his head was tilted back and stuck in my pelvis. Vomited a few more times then hemorrhaged. Ended up on oxygen and had a blood transfusion.

I didn't get back to my room until after 1am and was so thirsty. My nurse finally caved after an hour of monitoring but wouldn't let me have any food yet. DS was doing well and we ended up staying in the hospital 3.5 days. Besides being traumatized, the gas pain following the c-section was worse than the c-section itself. Oh, and the OB came in the day after the c-section and apologized for not cutting me earlier like he had considered. On the plus side, our insurance classified the ordeal as a birth injury and we paid $0 for the birth.

Sorry for the novel!

wanderlustsoul · February 2021

@mindyb2019, I agree with the others. Prepare yourself and know everything. Even though everything went off from what I expected I was able to really go with the flow and advocate for what I wanted for the most part.

dogmom5 · February 2021

My stories would be so long so let me summarize the best I can haha.

baby 1–I was in labor starting around 1am. By 5pm it was getting worse and I was getting major back labor. I planned to do this without an epidural but as soon as I got to the hospital, my back labor was so intense I couldn’t take it anymore. It was finally time to push around 4 am. I pushed hard for an hour and the baby’s oxygen dropped so they put an oxygen mask on me and they were going to try to vacuum the baby out. If that didn’t work, it was to the OR for a csection. The vacuum worked and I got a 4th degree tear....that’s another painful story and long recovery....I’ll just say thank God I got the epidural with such a bad tear.

baby 2-contractions started around 2 am, these were more manageable throughout the day. Around 5 pm we headed to the hospital and I was admitted. I opted for an epidural as much as I was managing my pain this time bc of the horrible tear I got last time. Pushed around midnight for a lot less time and baby! I still tore but not as bad as the last.

baby 3-contractions kept coming and going for a few days. Finally on day 4, (I was 6 days overdue) I called the hospital since I woke up feeling more off and they said come in. I was walking around at 5cm for who knows how long. They decided to admit me, I got pitocin, an epidural (because I’m traumatized from the 4th degree tear) and I labored until it was finally time to push. Around 6 pm, I pushed for a bit and there was baby!

dogmom5 · February 2021

I should add to this thread for any first time moms. Trust your body. It does amazing things to have this baby. Also, trust your caregivers. The nurses especially and the doctor are your coaches and they are going to be there along with your support person to cheer you on and do what is best for you and baby. I tried to shorten my stories as much as I could and I will say childbirth is not Easy but it’s worth it. It might not go as you planned it and that’s ok too

toesinthesand-2 · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: 04/18
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): Midwife & MD
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): Water broke on it's own, induction followed with pitocin
Any false labor?: No
Labor length: 27 Hours - if you include once my water broke
Delivery type: C-section
Techniques used/special practices: None
Birth details/story/anything else: My water started leaking around 8pm, 11 days early, while out to dinner. Had some slight cramping and went home to see if anything progressed. Up and down all night checking the leak but contractions never started. Called the midwife at 8am the next morning, and she advised me to head in since it had been 12 hours. At the hospital they confirmed it was my waters, but decided an induction was needed because I just wasn't progressing. Spent most all day on Pitocin, had an epidural somewhere in there, and still didn't progress. Finally ended up with a c-section just before midnight. My midwife was so sweet and encouraging and let me go way longer than probably needed, although I was never at a risk. Hindsight I know she just wanted the c-section to be something I was completely OK with, knowing we'd exhausted our options, but looking back I actually wished she'd suggested that route much earlier. I think she knew very early on I'd need a c-section but wanted to give me the chance.

With baby #2 both my midwife and OB have suggested I'm a good candidate for a repeat c-section and I'm 99% sure that's the route I'm going to go.

_orchid_ · February 2021

Edited bc of spacing... Can't fix the 2nd half ugh

Child #: 1

Birth month: fall 2013
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): MD, loved her!!
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): cervadil, foley bulb/Cath, pitocin
Any false labor?: Nope
Labor length: 36 hours
Delivery type: emergency c
Techniques used/special practices: see below

Birth details/story/anything else:

Just going to put what I remember bc if was a while ago... I was induced at 41 weeks and was 0% dialated and ds was up high. Cervadil was placed at 6 pm, and my Dr said usually people who are induced at that time have their babies by the next afternoon (ha!!). A resident placed the cervadil and honestly it was so painful, almost the worst part of the whole thing. The Foley bulb got placed at some point too (I don't remember now). I was bleeding a lot at that point, and pretty much just stayed in the hospital bed bc it wasn't as bad when I was laying down. Did that happen for anyone else? It was really surprising to me.

Sent dh home for sleep, and didn't really sleep myself. He came back the next day, and I hadn't progressed at all. At that point I really just wanted to go home and wait to go into labor on my own. Got hooked up to pitocin at some point (aka the devil). Eventually ended up on the highest level, had contractions a minute long/minute apart for about 12 hours. I had a hard time recovering between contractions bc they were all on top of each other for so long. I had iv pain killers that made me really trippy- like lucid dreaming. I felt like I would sleep for the minute btw contractions and then be awake for the contraction. DH was there and said I was just really spacy and not talkative. I had 0 progress, and eventually they stopped the pitocin to give me a break.

I had a leep a few years before, and my Dr told me that the scar tissue on the cervix can either make it easier to open, tougher to open, or not affect it at all. At this point she said mine was probably the tough category and it was likely once I started dialating, it would go pretty quick. I was having contractions on my own at this point- not as close as with the pitocin, and not as intense, but still something. Around 9 pm I sat up to go to the bathroom and heard/felt a pop when my water broke. Contractions got closer together, still at 0 dialated.

Around midnight my Dr let me have an epi (I'd been asking, but they kept saying no bc I wasn't dialating). Finally got it placed around 1:30, and it was amazing. Fell into a real sleep at 2 am, still at 0. Someone came in to check me at 4 am, and I was at 9 😳 DH woke up out of a dead sleep too the nurse saying "I'm going to call the Dr" and was like wtf how long was i asleep??

Dr got there, and I was at 10. Also spiking a fever at that point. It was around 6 am and the staff was getting the room ready, and I could see the sun rising. It was an absolutely perfect moment bc I knew that by the time the sun set that day my life would be forever changed ♥️ it was a moment of peace I'll never forget.

I pushed for 2 hours in several different positions (and pooped 🙈) ds was stuck- instead of having his chin tucked to his chest, he had his giant 99 percentile head turned so his chin was touching his shoulder. In between pushes my ob kept trying to turn his head but no luck. My fever kept rising and eventually DS1's heart started skipping around so I went into an emergency c.

Since I already had the epi placed the prep was pretty quick. At this point I was super high and out of it. My ob had to use suction to pull ds1 back into my uterus bc he was so far down into my pelvis. I got to see him briefly and then he went with dh to get checked bc his heart decels during pushing. Ultimately he was ok!

I got stitched up for some amount of time I had no concept of. Recovery was tough bc I labored, pushed, and then had the emergency c. I needed IV antibiotics bc the fever and have no memories of the rest of the day. I didn't eat or drink that day- after eating an early dinner Wednesday at 5 pm, my next meal was Saturday am. I was super swollen- maybe bc of the pitocin?- and bruised but I don't remember why. The gas pain after c section sucked until I started getting gasx. My nurses/ob didn't get me out of bed for 24 hours after the surgery bc I was so out of it mentally. About 10 days pp I had a day where I peed non-stop like every 30 minutes and the swelling went down significantly.

Child #: 2

Birth month: winter 2017

Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital

Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): Md
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc):
Any false labor?: Nope
Labor length: none
Delivery type: RCS
Techniques used/special practices:
Birth details/story/anything else:

After ds1 I did not want induction or an emergency c. Thought about a vbac bc ds2 was measuring smaller and at my 34 week ultrasound he was head down in perfect position. He flipped breech at 34+1 lol, so rcs it was!
Scheduled at 39+1. Supposed to start at 1pm, got pushed back 30 minutes and I spent those 30 in a full panic attack. Went back to the or, told the anaesthesiologist I was panicking, and she gave me something to calm me. Spinal was placed, no pain or problems. The nurses had some music on and the atmosphere was really pleasant. Had a similar moment of peace about ds2 coming.
My ob came in with another Dr he had seen in the hall and had to talk to, and asked if it was ok if he stayed. I said yes, and was so glad I did! My Dr started the surgery, and everything was fine until he tried to get ds2 out. Ds2 was footling breech, so his feet were by my cervix and his body/head were up by my stomach. He did NOT want to come out, and kept curling into a ball so my ob couldn't get a good grip on him. They lowered the table 3 times, and eventually the extra Dr had to lay across my upper body to squeeze ds2 down (like toothpaste). The nurses were hysterically laughing at them, but both drs were sweating. DH and I were laughing too, so we were ok with the nurses laughing.
Ds2 came out and was pissed lol. Yelling so loudly. I'd asked for a gentle c, and was able to hold/nurse him while getting stitched up. Mentally I was completely with it and remember much more, which was a relief after DS1's birth. My ob was very serious talking to me afterwards, and said that delivery was very humbling for him- he anticipated an easy rcs and it wasn't for him.

Recovery was so much easier- I was up 14 hours later and barely spent any time in the hospital bed (mostly standing, walking, or in the rocking chair in the room). No intense swelling. Still took the gasx but that pain want as bad either. Doing another rcs this time!!

disgruntled_pelican · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: Aug 2011 (due in September, came 5 days "early")
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): Midwife
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): None, some membrane sweeping
Any false labor?: None with #1
Labor length: 8.5 hours
Delivery type: Vaginally, no meds except Zofran
Techniques used/special practices: Labored in the tub for a while, but that's about it!
Birth details/story/anything else: The night before our LO made her appearance I felt no movement and was in L&D until late getting checked out. Everything was fine, but they kept me on the monitor for 2 hours to make sure. It was just a strange fluke. We got home after midnight and I finally drifted off around 2. I woke up the next morning around 6:30 with diarrhea. It was really intense and I took about 4 trips to the bathroom before I woke my husband up to tell him I thought I might have been in labor. We started to time the contractions and after the 3rd one, I couldn't lay in bed anymore. We called my midwife and she said it sounded like labor, but since I was just in the hospital hours before with no contractions at the same 1.5cm that I had been sitting at, she guessed it would be a while. She told me to come into the office for a check sometime that morning, but to try and relax and enjoy my morning. I got into the shower and 5 minutes in I couldn't handle it! I moved on to doing dishes and with one bowl in I dropped the sudsy bowl in the sink and was like, "I just want to go in now and see what's happening!" The car ride into the office was awful! I couldn't sit in the waiting room and paced like a feral cat. We got in the room and waited for a while, 30ish minutes. My midwife's partner came in to check me and she said, "wow, okay you are at a 5 right now!" I think it was about 9:30 around that time. She asked if we had our bags with us or if we would have to go home, when we told her they were in the car she seemed relieved and told us to head into L&D. We called my mom, who lives about 6 hours away, she was like, "okay I'll leave after work!" and I was like, "mmmmm... Maybe leave sooner?" She said, "I was in labor with you for 36 hours, you're not getting that baby out any time soon!" Check-in went smoothly at the hospital and I could tell things were intensifying quickly. When we were in our room I used the restroom and saw blood in my panties and started sobbing. My nurse ran in and assured me it was normal. I knew it was, but it was very surreal! As she was asking me check-in questions I asked for a blanket because I was shaking and shivering. This was 10/10:30? She asked my permission to check my cervix because of my symptoms and I was at an 8.5! She told me to do what I needed to get comfortable. They had filled up the tub and I was free to use the shower or birthing ball. She called my midwife in who told me she was there for the day with me and someone else. The rest is a little blurry. When I got into the tub it was GLORIOUS. So much better. I was able to handle the contractions so much better. An hour or two later, I think 12:30 pm my midwife asked to check me. I was at a 9.5, but she thought I would be complete if my water broke. I gave her my permission (regret regret regret) and 3 things happened: (1) I, sure enough, went to complete, (2) my contractions intensified in an unholy way, and (3) we discovered meconium in my fluid. Because of the meconium, hospital policy did not allow me to deliver in the tub and since I was so close it was advisable for me to get back in. At this point, since I lost my cushion and no comfort from the tub, I lost my cool. Managing became almost impossible. I screamed. Loud and shrill. I bit the sheets on the bed. I begged for an epidural. I didn't realize that what I was experiencing was back labor and for some reason, I had it in my head I should be laying on my back. My midwife advised me to get on my knees, with the bed reclined. She also told me that I was working against my contractions and to adjust my sounds, and sink into them. I bowed my head against the bed and prayed for help. I am a believer and truly had a divine moment! It was almost an out-of-body experience as I was able to deal with the pain in a new way. Pushing in total was about 2 hours and when it was done my baby was whisked away by the NICU team for an in-room exam due to the meconium. I was facing the back of my bed so it was several minutes before I got to see any part of her. As I lay in the bed and the team was checking her for aspiration, my midwife told me we needed to deliver the placenta and I remember asking her to just pull the cord. Keep in mind I only had a few hours of anxious sleep the night before. Turns out, that is a no-go! LOL. Placenta delivery wasn't that bad, but it did me in energy-wise. Then it was time for skin to skin, but I had a cami on that was soaking wet with water from the tub (and probably sweat) so I asked the nurses to just cut it off. Note: I've now done this with all 3 deliveries with zero regrets. I purchased huge camis from Walmart for $2/3 for delivery and just discard them after. Our baby was perfectly healthy, although a little stained from the meconium. She came at 2:15 and was 8lb 4oz. My mom arrived as we were transferring to our recovery room, eating a little crow about her 36 hour comment lol.

ruemcclanahan · February 2021

Child #: 1
Birth month: September 2016
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): I love my OB, she visited me every morning and every evening of my 6 day hospital stay. Baby was delivered by another doctor in the practice, she was fine, no complaints

Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): all the meds, a little foggy on the details

Any false labor?: No but I thought my water broke but really I just peed all over myself

Labor length: started my induction Friday September 9th, he was born MONDAY September 12 at 4:07pm.
So. Very very very long.

Delivery type: vaginal
Techniques used/special practices: epidural?
Birth details/story/anything else

Had GD, they wanted to induce at 38 weeks and I said no my numbers are great let's go to 40.
I was 2cm at my 38 week appointment so I was hoping I would go into labor on my own but nope lol. Even with 2 membrane sweeps.

Checked in on my due date, 9/9/16, I was 2cm dialated. they inserted the cryotec(cervadil? Idk what it's called). I tried to get some.sleep but I was too excited/nervous.
They checked me after 12 hours. I was still 2cm
They gave me an oral medication and inserted the Foley bulb.
Checked me again. 2cm.
I'm having wicked contractions at this point.
Baby was doing great, he was super comfy.
They keep checking me..I'm 2cm through Saturday. Bulb comes out. I'm still 2cm.
More medicine.
Check me again. 2cm
Labor through Sunday.
2cm.
I'm DYING I'm so exhausted. I'm in so much pain
I refuse pitocin because I was scared of a c section.
I refuse all pain medications I wanted to go med free.
It's now Monday morning, 10 am

I'm still 2 FREAKING CM.
I've been in full blown painful labor for almost 36 hours at this point.
The doctor comes in and says they are going to break my water and start pitocin.
I freak out and ask for the epidural.
My husband was like uh you said to not let you get it under any circumstance. I said yeah no I need it I'm so tired.
They check me at noon. I'm still 2cm.
While waiting for my epidural my water breaks all on it own!!!
They place the epidural ( didn't feel a thing I was in so much pain I would have let them cut off my leg if it would help lol! )
It was MAGICAL. I immediately felt so relaxed.
They check me again and I'm 10 cm dilated!!
I went from 2-10 in an hour 😨😨😨
I started pushing slowly for an hour to move him down a little lower and then I pushed real pushes for another hour and he came out at 4:07pm ❤️❤️❤️ I can say that when I was pushing it was the best moment of my entire life. It was adrenaline rush like no other.
It was like everything in my life had led up to this one moment and this was the reason for everything. Ugh I can't wait to do it again.
I wanted to pull him out myself but his cord was too short. They handed him to me and we did skin to skin immediately.
He was 8lbs 1oz 21inches long. Perfect perfect little baby.
We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday, he had lost almost an entire pound (all water weight from the induction).

Overall it wasn't horrible but I definitely am trying to avoid being induced again

I know that not everyone takes 3 days lol but still.

disgruntled_pelican · March 2021

I just remembered I never did #2 or #3 so I am bringing this back

Child #: 2
Birth month: Aug 2013 (due in July, came 8 days "late")
Birth setting (e.g., hospital, home, birth center, en route): Hospital
Provider (e.g., midwife or MD, how did you like them?): Midwife
Induction method (e.g., none, AROM, foley bulb/cath, pitocin, etc): None, some membrane sweeping
Any false labor?: Yes, about a month of prodromal labor
Labor length: 4.5 hrs
Delivery type: Vaginally, no meds except Zofran
Techniques used/special practices: None, really.
Birth details/story/anything else:
I had prodromal labor, off and on, for about a month leading up to birth. My first baby came 5 days early so I assumed this one would be a little early too... WRONG. My due date came and went, with contractions every night like clockwork: 5 minutes apart for about 2-3 hours, but always ending with no baby. Our anniversary is 8/7 and at our celebration dinner I started to get contractions again. My husband asked me several times if I wanted to go home and I declined, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good night out. We made it home, put our toddler to bed and I sat on the labor ball. Sure enough, contractions went away. I went to bed defeated and grumpy. At 3:54 AM I woke up with a lot of discomfort. I knew I was having a contraction, and with all the prodromal labor I was well practiced in timing them. The next one came about 3 minutes later. By the 3rd one, which I was writhing in bed and had to pop on hands and knees, I woke my husband up to tell him I was in labor. He told me to give it a few minutes since we'd had so many false alarms. I agreed but when the next one started he popped out of bed and said, "lets go!". I wanted to wake up our toddler (she was a few weeks shy of 2 years old) and when I did we had the SWEETEST moment. Her big brown eyes popped open and she said, "baby coming!?" and I said "yep!" and she started singing happy birthday. Our saint of a sitter met us out in the driveway of her house (at 4-something in the morning!) and I had a hard time saying goodbye to our LO. My contractions were very close together so my husband kind of pushed me back into the car. On the way there my contractions were sooo close and so uncomfortable. Mumford and Sons was playing on the radio, "I Will Wait" and I remember saying, "please wait till we get there, baby!". We got to the room and things de-intensified a bit. I think I was just glad to be in professional care! I was at 8cm and baby was low. I walked around the room and enjoyed the relaxation of the shower. We didn't fill the tub and I was okay with that. I was 9 cm and my MW offered to break my waters, but I declined, remembering how tough things got last time once my waters were gone. I hung out at 9 cm for a while, and ended up getting in the bed on my knees. I was then full and asked my MW to go ahead and break the waters. She did, and once again there was meconium in the fluid. I pushed a little in that position, but my MW suggested I get on my side. That didn't seem comfortable to me so I stayed on my knees for a while. She came up to me and said, "I know this position is comfortable for you, and worked great last time, but I really think if you get on your side that baby will be here." Enough said! I turned on my right side and I was crowning, apparently there was nuchal hand that my MW took care of, and then baby was out. Ahh that sweet relief. Nothing better! She was born at 8:24 AM- exactly 4.5 hours and was 9lb5oz! Ooof. My biggest baby, but also my easiest birth. I had a 2nd degree tear (likely because of the nuchal hand), but it must have been in a better spot that my 1st degree with my 1st because it did not hurt nearly as badly!

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