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February 2023 Moms
amccurls
member
Birth Stories
amccurls
member
Tell us all about it! As little or as much detail as you want. Just provide a TW for those who may be sensitive to certain details.
Re: Birth Stories
Married 10/28/17
Our TTC Journey
Team Green turned Team Blue 10/15/18
TTC #2 January '21
BFP June '21
MMC/Blighted Ovum that led to D&C July '21
Jan '22 - started IF testing
BFP Jan '22
MMC/Blighted Ovum that led to D&C Feb '22
BFP May '22
Now that we’re home and starting to get some stability, I thought I’d write down our birth story.
I’d been having prodromal labor off and on for a week or so, and it never progressed to anything. Saturday night (or technically Sunday morning) at 1:30, right before I went to bed, my water broke, in small gushes when I would change positions. At the time, I was having mild contractions 2 minutes apart, so I called the on call midwife line and was told I could either come in or not, up to me, but I would need to come in when it had been 12 hours since my water broke or when I couldn’t talk or walk through my contractions. I was also told that if I came in and didn’t progress, I’d have to be put on pitocin because of the risk of infection from prolonged rupture of membranes.
We opted to go in, and were triaged at around 3. By that time, my contractions had fizzled out like usual, so we started pitocin around 6, with a fairly slow ramp up (but it couldn’t be too slow because we were on a deadline). Even at a pretty high dose, contractions were manageable with movement. Even at a high dose of pitocin, there was no cervical change so we agreed to place an IUPC. With the data from the IUPC, we lowered the pitocin dose and started talking about taking a break. Around that time, I felt a pop and a gush and suddenly contractions were unbearable. We believe there was a forebag of water cushioning my cervix and preventing contractions from being effective.
I tried to power through naturally for 90 minutes, and a cervical check showed that I was dilated to 2-3 cm. I tried to get nitrous, but anesthesia was in an emergency C-section so we moved on to Nubaine, and I was able to sleep for about 30 minutes for the first time in 36 hours (because I hadn’t been to bed when we went in). At that point, I decided on an epidural and got honestly the best possible epidural - I had full control of my legs and could still feel pressure but not really feel pain. I slept for an hour or so, rested comfortably for a few more hours, then requested the peanut ball around midnight.
A cervical check around 4 am showed that I was complete, so we got ready and waited until I felt the urge to push around 5 am. We tried several pushing positions, and made a lot of progress early then stalled in spite of pushing that looked effective by all standards. I was also feeling asymmetrical pressure, which was weird. After 3 hours, the midwife wanted to talk to MFM about assisted delivery, and they concluded that the baby was likely asynclitic but not OP. Because such long pushing can cause some serious pelvic floor damage and we were at 31 hours since rupture of membranes, and because he seemed slightly malpositioned, we opted for a forceps assisted delivery.
The room was full of people, including the pediatric team, MFM fellows, OB residents, and extra nurses, and as I was pushing with contractions there was suddenly a lot of commotion and I was being told to keep pushing and not to stop. The baby’s heart rate had dropped dramatically as his head came through my pelvis, and he needed to be removed ASAP. Turns out he had a tight nuchal cord and as he through the pelvic outlet, there was a lot of pressure on the cord and he lost some blood flow. He was placed on my chest, and he was grey and not moving. Before my husband could cut the cord, someone reached in and cut it and whisked him away to the baby warmer for resuscitation. His 1 minute APGAR score was 4, with a 0 for breathing, and he didn’t cry for 6 minutes after being born. He also had a hematoma on the right side of the crown of his head, which makes sense based on the way we think he was malpositioned. It seems very unlikely that he would have made it out on his own, and we would have had either an emergent forceps delivery or an emergency C-section when he eventually failed to tolerate further labor or I eventually ran out of steam. As it was, it was a 31 hour process from spontaneous rupture of membranes to birth, and at some point I was going to lose energy.
Meanwhile, I only had a second degree tear and a minor postpartum hemorrhage that didn’t respond to pitocin because I’d been on it for so long, so I had a few additional medications administered and an ultrasound to confirm that there weren’t any plancental remnants causing the bleeding.
At the end of it all, we got to do skin to skin for over an hour starting about 10 minutes after birth, although he was too tired to latch or even take a bottle. We did syringe feed the expressed colostrum that I had brought with me. He managed to avoid the NICU and I managed to avoid needing blood products, and neither of us developed an infection from the prolonged rupture of membranes and we didn’t need antibiotics during delivery.
It was definitely a “cascade of interventions” to an extent, but I also am glad for the epidural that allowed me to rest before pushing and the forceps delivery that gave me a healthy baby boy.
I was supposed to go to the hospital on Feb 1 at 8pm, but got a last minute call telling me that too many people had come in for labor. They updated me at 9:30pm saying I still couldn’t go in due to not having enough staff, and they’d call around 11pm. They never called! I was up until 12:30am waiting on a call, and only slept for 3 hours. At 5am on Feb 2, I was told to come in around 8am.
We started the Foley Balloon at 11am and early labor contractions kicked in pretty immediately. They started the low dose Pitocin around 4pm. I was being monitored wirelessly, so I could walk around and use the birthing ball. Things were going pretty well and the balloon came out around 8:30pm. I was 5cm dilated.
At this point, the contractions were pretty rough and happening every 1-3 minutes. By 11:30pm, the pain was not manageable. I tried nitrous oxide, but it wasn’t enough. I opted for an epidural after 12 hours of labor. The epidural ended up being great! I slept for 3 hours through my contractions. My water broke around 4:30am this morning with me being 7cm dilated. Then, the pressure came. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I started pushing at 7am, and he was out at 7:27am.
They took him to the warmer and then NICU for breathing issues. He couldn’t breathe on his own. It turns out that he has two tiny holes in his lungs from the birth process. They should heal on their own in a day or two, and he’s already doing so much better!
I have a 2nd degree tear and am recovering. I think we will both be just fine. 🥰
@cpk3535, they said the tiny holes in his lungs were from delivery. I’m not sure. I think they were just punctured during the pushing process, but they are so small and will close up on their own.
Edit: They explained it to me again. He took such a first deep breath upon delivery, which caused the small holes in his lungs.
@amccurls, draping myself over the peanut ball was the only position that made contractions bearable. I had two printed papers with various labor positions and using the peanut ball this way wasn’t on either. I just kind of went with it. I’m glad you were able to have the natural birth that you wanted. I hope you are both doing well now and am wishing you a quick recovery.