Birth Story
On March the 12, after a couple of days of really not feeling well (nauseous, heart pounding, high blood pressure) I went to the L&D triage. I actually bawled before going since I thought they would end up inducing me and in my head inducing meant eventual C-section. I came to terms ith it really fast though when I thought something might happen to the baby and drove myself to the hospital.
It took about 6 hours to get a Dr decision (there were 2 emergency C-sections happening plus other active labours) but the Dr there said that there appeared to be something happening to my kidneys causing the swelling, high BP and protien. It wasn't Pre-E yet but there was a chance. She reccomended inducing me with the warning that since my body wasn't ready (no dialtion and only partially effaced) that it had a high chance to end with a C-Section.
At 3:30pm I got gelled to soften my cervix and sent home. I came back at 10:00 pm to check and I hadn't dialated at all. They wanted to wait until the next day to gel again so I went back home.
I felt crampy all night and barely slept, but I thought that was from the three cervical checks I got. When I got to the hospital the next day, I had dialted to 1 cm and since I was dialted, there didn't put on any more gel. I was sent to walk.
I walked the halls most of Saturday. I was so determined to get dialated that after every fetal heart rate check I was up and walking. By nighttime I was having contractions but was not regular or getting stronger. About midnight I was checked again and was dialted between 2/3. The Dr sent me to an L&D room to start the pitocin process.
At 3am on the 14th I had my water broken. They also put a fetal clip on the head since the baby moved so much we couldn't keep the monitor on the heart beat. They were going to start the pitocin but another emergency C-section called away the nurses and they said they had to wait until the next shift came in. I got maybe an hour of sleep at this point. I was having contractions but they weren't that intense or regular.
At 9am on Sunday they started the pitocin. It took until about 10am to start to feel stronger contractions. By 11:30 I asked for the epidural. The Drs (by then I had seen 3) all recommend it in case we had to have a section. Yet another c-section delayed me getting the epidural until 12:30. I just had started to breathe through the contractions at this point. They had also gotten strange - instead of in my abdomen they were in my upper thighs and hips. Not what I expected.
Getting the epidural was the worst part of the entire process. It took an hour and a half. They tried I believe 6 times or more, I lost count. Halfway through I was absolutley covered in sweat from the pain. My leg started shaking uncontrollabley. I had contractions every other minute lasting for a minute and had to stay in that not helpful position absolutely still. I do have to say that my nurse and the Dr were extrememly helpful and encouraging to get through it, but overall it was the worst part.
After the epidural was in, I had a hard time breathing and got a mask. By that point I had an IV in with antibiotics, fluids and pitocin, the fetal clip, a catheter, blood pressure cuff and the epidural. I was hooked up. I actually slept for about 20 mintues. When I woke up the contractions were coming right after each other. It felt very strange like I was a tube of toothpaste being squeezd from the top of my uterus down and with some fluid leaking out at the end. I asked to be checked but the Dr thought it was too early.
About 3 pm the pressure I was feeling was very intense. I told my nurse several times, and she finally said she would check since the Dr didn't seem to think it was time. Before she had a chance the Dr relented and surprise, I was fully dialated but "high up". He said it would be a good while yet and to let my body push the baby down for a bit. My parents thought it was a good time to grab lunch and left.
Within 5 mintues I was moaning and huffing through the contractions just trying not to push it was amazing how strong the feeling was. My nurse said it would take another 2 hours of pushing and didn't want me worn out and said to resist. Another nurse saw how much trouble I was having and asked me to try just one push. After I did she told me to go for it. Suddenly there were 3 nurses all running around calling for the Dr. My legs were up and they were counting hard and fast for me to push. I was in a lot of pain - I can't remember when the Dr came in. I do remember at one point when they started the ten count again, thinking holy crap I can't do it, but they said to so I did. I was confused because I didn't want to keep up that amount of pushing for the hours they said it was going to be. There was no progress report like "I see the head" - turned out there wasn't any time for it. From the first push the nurse asked me to try to the baby coming out was 13 minutes. He was sunnyside up.
My fiance got to announce the sex - we didn't know. He cut the cord. They cleaned baby up, and passed him to daddy. I was getting cleaned up and stitched (2nd degree, 3 stitches), but all I can remember is seeing him.
He barely cried, he had his big blue eyes wide open and was calmly just looking around. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces, 21 inches. Apgar scores 9 and 9.
The staff at the hospital were just amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better birth considering the circumstances. I stil can't believe what I did, it happened so fast at the end. I'm so happy I got to push him out.
We're home and adjusting. I just got my milk in. I'm so in love - he's amazing. He's super strong, and just as squirmy out of the womb as he was in it. I'm learning his cries, how he likes to be fed and held. Still haven't slept much, maybe 1-2 hours a day. My back is super sore from the epidural ordeal. So I'm pretty much recovering, but overall not too bad, on cloud nine!
Jude Anthony Thomas!
X-posted due date and pregnant