Share Your Birth Story

lexilougolden · October 2021

TW: All birth is natural (med free, med heavy, c section, birth center, hospital, in the backseat of your car). But birth is also unpredictable and as such, reading stories may cause anxiety. Read with the reminder that everyone’s story will be different and healthy mama and baby is always the goal. If you’re sharing your story, think about including additional TW if you feel some aspects of your story might cause alarm.

I'm the type of person that likes to know as much as possible about something. Birthing is something I have witnessed but have not gone through. I'd love to learn and hear about your stories!

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want!

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth?

What surprised you?

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth?

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again?

JWatt5 · October 2021

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want! I went in to hospital at 10 days over due to be induced. I had lost my mucus plug after a sweep 3 days earlier when I was just 1cm dilated. I was expecting to have a Foley Cath but, I was already 3cm so didn’t need it. Got admitted, started pitocin and walked, and walked, and walked. After 4 hours I was ready for a epidural, the backed off the meds cause I was contracting strongly (and didn’t need Meds again after) - I was 4cm. 4 hours after I got my epidural they check me again and I was already 10cm! I thought it would have been a lot longer until that happened so when they told me it could start pushing I said no lol. I wasn’t mentally ready. So they gave me another hour. At that point fully dialted, fully effected so started pushing. Parker’s heart rate dropped significantly with every push no matter what position they put me in. So it got a little tense. I had to really focus on pushing or I was going to need assistance of forceps that I did not want. I got a little over eager when when the told me to slow down I couldn’t so…3rd degree tear lol. Turned out he had a very short cord & that was the heart rate issues. 40 mins of pushing he arrived at 2:44am.

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth? Only plan was give me to epidural - kid was going to come out one way or another and safety was most important. With stage 4 Endo, I knew pain. Literally it is similar to labour pains. I was so panicked when they almost couldn’t get the cath in my back. Thank you gymnastics and diving for making that hard. Loved the epidural - especially for the stitching up afterward lol.

What surprised you? The walking!! I walked for hours lol. And that honestly loved my induction. It was low stress, planned day. I was content overdue but also liked know there would be a day. I think after infertility treatments - everything is so calculated it felt more natural to me doing it this way.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth? Try to be a bit more in the moment - I was in a bit of shock, not connected really to my pushing in my mind. It was all just get him out!

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? We did a labour/feeding/car seat class. It was fairly useful but I wouldn’t do it again.

ninrms · October 2021

@lexilougolden What a good idea for a thread!

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth?

I did! But I seriously expected that it would change, so it was more of “birth hopes” lol. Wanted to avoid IV pain meds and epidural, and planned on using nitrous oxide. Was not opposed to meds or epi if I changed my mind.

What surprised you?
Well, about a month before my due date I went in for a growth scan. The ultrasound tech casually mentioned that baby was breech. (I hadn’t bothered with spinning babies or anything like that until that point; assumed most babies flip on their own so why stress about it?) At my next OB appt a week later I also casually mentioned baby was breech, but I didn’t know really what that would mean lol. She confirmed baby was breech, so we scheduled a version for the Tuesday after thanksgiving (just a few weeks before my due date). I was a little freaked about that because I knew there was a chance they’d accidentally break my waters and I’d have to deliver.

The version hurt SO bad. (I didn’t have any pain meds for it.) I didn’t realize that they actually tried three times, before I finally said i was seeing black spots, and they stopped, and then we had to schedule a c section. (They turned baby almost the full 180, but he got stuck in my ribs. So then they tried again and got him almost 360 degrees the OTHER way, and he got stuck again. They were in the middle of a last try when I almost passed out.)

As far as the scheduled c section…I wasn’t happy, but also didn’t feel like I had a choice. I did try spinning baby exercises, and we have a picture of me laying on a wooden blank upside down with a bag of frozen veggies near baby’s head lol. Didn’t work. The day I went in for my c section they did an ultrasound to make sure he was still breech, and he was, so c section it was!

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth?
A continued understanding that it’s good to have plans and be educated so you can self-advocate, but so much can be out of our control.

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again?
Oh, so many classes, lol. A local birthing class that covered a lot, then like four more specific classes at the hospital I delivered at 2 hrs away (breastfeeding, CPR, etc). No podcasts or books though, actually. Since it’s been less than 2 years I probably won’t do any classes again. However, my clinic/county has free access to a home health nurse starting in pregnancy (continuing til baby is age 5), and I meet monthly with her and have since my first pregnancy. I get a lot of my questions answered through her!

JEM2014 · October 2021

With my son I had some spotting at 31w6d, and at the time they determined that I’d already lost my mucus plug and was 2 cm dilated, but wasn’t having contractions. I was really worried he would be premature and had weekly checks after that, but I ended up just hanging out at 2 cm for almost 10 weeks and went into labor naturally at 40w5d.

I woke up at 7 am and was having mild contractions, but they were regularly spaced so we knew it was really happening. I labored at home until 4 pm or so, then we went to the hospital. By the time we got there I was 7cm (probably we should have gone sooner…). At our birthing class they’d put the fear of God into us that if you get an epidural too soon it can slow down or stop labor and you might have a much tougher delivery, so we’d agreed that I would try to hold off on the epidural until I was at least 7cm. So I was really happy to be at 7 when we got there because I got the epidural right away!

I labored with the epidural for about 90 min until I was at 10 cm. At one point I puked spectacularly all over the floor (the nurse said this happens ALL THE TIME from the labor hormones and epidural meds, but I had never heard of it!). They had me labor down for another 30 min once I was at 10 cm, and then I could do a few practice pushes before they got the doctor. Turned out baby was already crowning, so the doctor ran in. Baby must have been extremely eager to come out, because he was out in one push!

So with all that the delivery itself was really easy, but I had a 4th degree tear because he rocketed out so fast. They stitched me up but it didn’t heal properly (ultimately they determined that I may have an allergy to dissolving stitches, because they basically were gone before they could do their thing). I had to have surgery about 3 months later to repair it. So that part was all horrible, and all the issues that went with it really sucked while dealing with a newborn. Apparently 4th degree tears are already rare, and the complication that I had was even more so. This baby will be a scheduled c-section because we don’t want to risk it tearing again, so this will be an entirely different experience!

JWatt5 · October 2021

@JEM2014 - my sister had a 4th with her first. Surgery 6m later - it’s such an ordeal. She also had a CSection for her second. Sorry that happened to you. A 3rd was enough of a pain in the ass (literally). I think it really was about 18m before I felt totally “normal” again.

kaf1788 · October 2021

Mine is kind of a doozy so apologies if it’s a novel.

At 38 weeks I woke up and one half of my face was paralyzed. One of my friend’s had recently developed Bell’s Palsy right before giving birth so luckily I already knew it was a possibility during pregnancy. It was a Sunday so I called the on-call OB/GYN line and they really wanted me to go to the Emergency Room but I was able to convince them I definitely wasn’t having a stroke and went straight to L&D instead. I really thought I was going to go in, they’d give me some kind of steroids or something, and I’d go home. But when I got there I had an elevated blood pressure reading, and some funky bloodwork (something with my liver? Idk). All of it could be from a random virus OR it could be from pre-eclampsia. Since I couldn’t close one of my eyes from the Bell’s Palsyi obviously had blurry vision which is another preeclampsia sign. Since they couldn’t rule it out and I was so far along they decision should just be induced right away.

I was not dilated at all so they basically had to throw all their interventions at me. Over the next threeish days (which included Christmas 😭) I had misoprostol and cervadil which gave me brief periods of contractions that went nowhere. After a few days I was still 0cm dilated so they decided to give me a Foley balloon - for the unfamiliar they basically put a balloon in your cervix and then blow it up to manually dilate. Not pleasant. After that process the doctor was like “wow you did great! Most people need pain meds for that one!” To which I replied “wait that’s an option? Drugs please!” They gave me some morphine (I think?) which was delightful so I was able to sleep until that dang balloon fell out.

Once we were done with the balloon they manually broke my water and gave me pitocin. Finally I started having regular contractions and spent a little time walking the halls and tried bounce on the balls or whatever shit they tell you to do but
pitocin contractions suck and I was exhausted and asked for an epidural. At that point I was only 5cm and the nurse tried to talk me out of it saying it would slow labor down and I immediately started sobbing saying I just needed to sleep. That convinced her 😂. The epidural was a miracle drug and I basically just went to sleep and woke up when I was 10 cm. Highly recommend.

Pushing was another saga. After about 2 hours of pushing and not a lot of progress I got a fever and baby’s heart rate was either too high or too low- I forget which. They had to stop the pitocin and I was so tired and out of it I just remember my husband putting cold washcloths on me to get my fever down. They put some kind of IV in me- maybe antibiotics? Eventually I was able to start pushing again and it was another two long hours before he finally came. Somewhere in there there was meconium in my fluids so they had a pediatrics team waiting in the room when I finally delivered and they scooped him right up to check him out and check his lungs. I didn’t get any immediate skin to skin time so that was a little disappointing. But in the end he was perfect and I had a pretty easy recovery - 2nd degree tears with a few stitches that never really bothered me. We were admitted to the hospital on a Sunday morning and I finally gave birth early Thursday so it was a LONG process.

ninrms · October 2021

@kaf1788 Holy sh*t. That is an intense journey. I’m so glad it worked out okay!

angelz429 · October 2021

DS - 11yo

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want!

Water broke at 37+2 at 1:45am. Went to the hospital. Got epidural 2 hours later. Slept, had family come visit and then they waited in the waiting room until it was time to push. Vaginal birth, baby born at 4:08pm 7lbs 7oz. Dad cut the cord.

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth? I wanted an epidural. That’s all I knew.

What surprised you? I lost quite a bit of blood and ended up almost needing a transfusion. Passed out x2. I was only 24 and medically naïve. I did not know you had to “birth” the placenta after the baby. That was a weird sensation.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth? Epidural is good. Lol

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? Took a 1 day birthing class. Wasn’t helpful. Read What to Expect. Don’t remember anything from the book. Will not reuse them.

DD - 5yo

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want! Went into labor at 31+1. Started with back pain, turned into timed contractions. Was at my son’s tball practice. Dropped our son off at a friend’s house, and went to L&D. They tried to slow labor with tocolytics (labor arresters), and was able to pause labor for about 2 hours. Then contractions started again. Learned baby was breach so if baby was coming, we were going to have to go for an emergency c section. Once contractions restarted, I dilated to 7 pretty quickly and 45 min later, our 4lb 7oz preemie was born via cesarean.

Dad got to cut the cord. She was whisked off to the NICU. Dad followed her to the NICU, and I was sewn up. Didn’t get to hold her for about 10 hours.

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth? I wanted an epidural and assumed another vaginal birth. Planned for delayed cord clamping. All that out the window.

What surprised you? Everything.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth? I prefer vaginal to c section. Healing was so much easier with vaginal. Would prefer a vbac, but ultimately I only care about delivering a healthy baby.

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? Medical school, just talked to my ob friends/colleagues when I had questions and concerns.

modoodles · October 2021

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want! This is from my latest delivery, but they were all pretty similar. Vaginal deliveries with an epidural, no tears, no major complications, I just shared the last one with my bmb, do I don't have to remember/type it all up!

**Milo- 7/4/2020**

So, I started having contractions in the late morning that were 5-7 minutes apart, and lasting 50-60 seconds, and this went on for about an hour before I took a shower and decided to get ready to go get checked at the hospital. On the hour and a half drive to the hospital they were consistently 3-5 minutes apart. We got to the hospital at 12:30, the nurse checked my cervix, and she said I was 4-5 cm (midwife said 5cm a few days prior, but that's pretty subjective) Contractions were showing up on monitor every 3 minutes, lasting about one minute, so the midwife said to have me walk for an hour and a half and then they would re-check for progress. After walking I was at a 5-6 with a bulging bag, so they went ahead and admitted me because they didn't feel comfortable sending me all the way back home at that point. I think around 6/630 I was 6 cm, and they broke my water. I made it to 7 cm doing lots of walking and using the ball, but then kind of stalled out. Pitocin was started about 915, and about 11 pm I went ahead and got my epidural. When I was checked at 130 I was at 8 cm. This was seriously the slowest progression I had ever had. I was scheduled to be checked again at 3, but around 150 I told my nurse that my epidural seemed really light on my left side, and I was in a significant amount of pain, and lots of pressure. She checked me, and I was 10 cm and ready to push. I was able to increase my epidural for about 15 minutes while they got the on call midwife in here and everything ready to go, then I started pushing at 2:05. (Epidural still light on left side.) I pushed through three contractions and Milo was delivered at 2:19 am. After he was delivered they found a knot in his umbilical cord, and after the placenta was delivered I had a lot of bleeding, so I was given a shot and a med through the rectum to control that, and they sent my placenta somewhere to have it checked because they think I had a partial abruption that caused the immediate bleeding. The midwife also came to show us the placenta and said it was the largest placenta she had ever seen 😂. It honestly was a great labor and delivery, even if it took a lot longer than expected. I could still feel a fair amount of the delivery, definitely more (in general and pain-wise) than with any of the other kids, but the epidural made it tolerable for sure.

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth? My plan each time is to go to the hospital and deliver a baby. I'd prefer a vaginal delivery, and to have an epidural.

What surprised you? With one of my kids I was allergic to an adhesive spray they used to protect the epidural, (not a huge deal, just very itchy and was given a benadryl cream for it) and I was very shaky and vomited after delivering him.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth?
They all come in their own time!

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? I took a birthing class with my first, but I really felt like it wasn't that useful. The class I took had a huge focus on how to deliver med free, and I knew I would want an epidural, so I didn't really use it. I did, however, take a breastfeeding class that I would recommend a million times over. They went over a bunch of different latches, common questions, and I loved it.

photographerwife · October 2021

This was a great idea! Thank you @lexilougolden for posting!

Share your birth story: as detailed or succinct as you want!

At my very last ob appt, my blood pressure was high so they had me do a 24 hour urine. At my follow up, My blood pressure was high again, but not pre-eclampsia. I had been being monitored my the non stress tests for a week or so too for decels that my son was having. So I was sent to be induced at 39+3 just to be safe. I was not dilated at all, so once in l&d I was given cervadil, and pitocin. I didn’t eat before my appt because it was an early one, and couldn’t once I got there in case I needed a c-section so I was starving! And since I was being monitored, I wasn’t able to move a lot because my son was having decels anytime I got up or laid in certain positions. I did a mix of both meds for 48 hours with no progress at all. My doctor ended up trying a foley, but was unsuccessful, broke my water, and ended up manually dilating me to 1 cm to see if it would help me progress. Nothing worked. I was so uncomfortable and tired, and hungry. It was taking so long that we even had to take a break between meds to let me eat. On the 3rd day with minimal success they offered me the option to have a c-section or continue like we were. I was exhausted, and contractions were coming in strong, they just weren’t doing anything to my cervix. I was given an epidural and took the best nap of my life. Once I was awake, still with minimal progression I decided to go ahead and have a c-section. It went smoothly. But afterwards, from all of the meds and just being tired from laboring for so long I was pretty out of it. It took a bit before I didn’t feel sick from the meds before I was able to fully be in the moment. The csection was not bad at all though, my doctors were great and my anesthesiologist used my camera to take photos of the delivery, which turned out so great. It was a special time for all of us. I didn’t get to hold him then because I was so doped up on meds that I didn’t have super stable arms, but my husband brought him right up to me, and it was really sweet. Recovery was difficult for the first couple of days, but after that it just took a few weeks to regain my strength. My son ended up having his umbilical cord wrapped down around his groin up over his back and shoulders, which was why he was having stress from the contractions. He came out a healthy boy at 8lbs, 2oz and 20 inches long!

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth?
I did not, as a ftm I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into. I wanted a vaginal delivery, but was willing to do what it took to have a healthy mom and baby by the end of the day.

What surprised you? Him having stress while laboring, and my body not reacting to meds. If I had known what I know now about his cord, and it not being something more serious, I would have advocated for myself more to walk and be more mobile during the labor process. I think it would have helped the progression, but I don’t know that for sure. But I will say that my doctors and nurses were wonderful. I think we all did the best we could for my outcome. And I fully trusted them to get myself and my son out of there healthy.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth?

My hospital does not do VBAC because they don’t have a nicu, and are just a trauma 2. So I will gladly be taking my scheduled c-section with hopes or preparing myself for a more comfortable birth experience. I have a few things that I’d like to ask my doctor about. Like skin to skin in the delivery room, and to not have my arms tied down. Etc,

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? I didn’t really use much with my son. I had read and listened to others experiences and tried to prepare myself the best. This time I will be researching more on csection deliveries and recovery.

ETA: and also prepare myself to breastfeed again right off. Sometimes with c-sections your body may not produce milk as quickly as a vaginal birth will. So I’m preparing to pump a bit a few days before delivery to collect colostrum and help stimulate my milk.

angelob88 · October 2021

I'll share both of my previous births

Share your birth story: DD1 - my water broke at 39w4d at 2am. I noticed that there was muconeum in the fluid right away so I called the labor and delivery ward who told me to come in right away just to make sure things were going well with baby. I let my husband know that things were starting and to get the stuff in the car. Poor man decided to go out for his "last hoorah" with the boys that night so he was hurting and exhausted but obliged. Contractions started right before getting in the car. When we go to L&D the nurse confirmed waters were broken and checked me. She said "something doesn't feel right" and went to get the ultrasound. We discovered that she was breech and from there it was an insane whirlwind of them getting me into a C-section. She was 7lb 2oz, healthy baby. The recovery was terrible and I feel very disconnected from that birth, everything happened "to me" for lack of a better explanation and it took a long time to recover emotionally as well as physically. It took me well over 6 weeks to start bonding with her.

DD2 - water broke morning I was 33w6d. Obviously way earlier than it should have been so my midwife called ahead to a nearby hospital and after we dropped DD1 off at daycare we headed over. No real contractions at that point, just some minimal cramping. When we got to the hospital the ultrasound confirmed head down and they used magnesium to stop the contractions. I had antibiotics every day plus two 20m time periods each day to assess how baby was doing. I also had frequent temperature checks to ensure there was no infection. I was in the hospital for 6 days until I went into labor at 6am when I was 34w6d (one more day and she would have avoided NICU time). I called my midwife to come (she acted as my doula) and let the rest of my family know. I labored with just my hubby and midwife in the hospital bathroom using the tub to ease contractions. The nurse came in and used a doppler to check heartrate of baby during frequent intervals. When it was time to push I was walked out into the room and the doctor caught her. That's the only thing I would change would be the bright "vagina spotlights" and the insane amount of people in the room. She was born before noon that day so intense but relatively short labor. They gave me 10 minutes of skin to skin before they took her to the NICU for observation. She was home with us 6 days later.

Did you have a birth plan prior to giving birth? DD1- just wanted a "non-medicated" birth like my mother had with her two children. Like I mentioned this was an extremely traumatic birth for me due to many different reasons.

DD2- originally planned a home birth with my midwife team but ended up with a non-medicated VBAC in the hospital. I am happy with the birth I had, other than being early and the NICU time afterwards, I had a wonderful birth experience.

What surprised you? I think I went over the majority of it in the stories but with my second I was surprised at how nervous and finicky the nurse team was during my second birth. You can tell they weren't used to having someone up and walking around on their own terms during labor.

What lesson(s) from previous experience will you take with you for your next birth? I will always advocate for a woman to know all the options offered during birth and be able to make informed decisions on their labor plan. Not saying everything happens according to plan, but it makes a huge difference when you have a say in how you labor and birth your baby.

What supports (products, classes, podcasts, books) did you use to prepare? Will you use them again? DD1 I had a hospital led birth class. Not super helpful but good information for my husband. DD2 I did a ton of background research and read "Birthing from within" to help prep me for labor. I will absolutely do that this time around as well as focusing on breath work since that's what guided me through my second labor during contractions.

JEM2014 · October 2021

JWatt5 said:

@JEM2014 - my sister had a 4th with her first. Surgery 6m later - it’s such an ordeal. She also had a CSection for her second. Sorry that happened to you. A 3rd was enough of a pain in the ass (literally). I think it really was about 18m before I felt totally “normal” again.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it!!

makingbacon · October 2021

@modoodles Did you do anything special to have no tearing? I had 2nd degree tears with both boys, and while they weren’t the worst tears in the world, would obviously be okay with skipping that part of recovery. With DS1 I had a stitch come loose that wouldn’t fall out, and I called the doctor because something kept stabbing me. I have a huge bubble, so it was so awkward for me, but the stabbing had to stop lol.

modoodles · October 2021

@makingbacon I really don't think there is anything that I've done to avoid tearing. 😬 I've had an epidural for each one, a quick nap, and ask the nurses to check me when I start feeling a lot of pressure, and at that point, baby has just a few pushes away from being delivered. It has always been just a completely relaxed experience.

makingbacon · October 2021

@modoodles I was hoping for some magical protocol to prevent it lol. Both boys had huge heads (DS2 was 96th percentile for head circumference) so I should probably be glad I didn’t tear worse.

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