GTKY: Share your previous birth stories

[tiffbot]

At my 32 weeks appointment everything looked great, he was measuring on time, I wasn't dialated, all my vitals were normal. My doctor was so pleased she said I could wait until closer to 36 weeks to come in again.

I was, however, getting highly uncomfortable and in pain with SPD at this time, so after this appointment, I began working every second day (as my job required a lot of standing and getting parts for people).

33w2d, July 4 (I'm Canadian so it wasn't a holiday) was a normal work day. 5 minutes before I left work, I went to the bathroom and noticed my underwear was pretty wet. I had a 10 minute highway drive home. Then I felt more of a wave of wet. I got home, told H, but otherwise wasn't feeling any different and at so early I didn't even consider it being my water leaking. I honestly thought I was having bladder issues. 4 hours later, it hadn't stopped. I called the on call doctor, and she told me to immediately go to the hospital (we live an hour away).

Got to the hospital around 10:30pm. They took a swab, came back, and told me that yes, my water had broke, and I was hospital ridden until the baby came. I cried. They told me we would be fine. They hooked me up to everything, and I was surprisingly calm the rest of the night.

It was around 6:00am July 5 that I started feeling light contractions. They were every 8 minutes, but not real strong so they gave me a morphine pill and I didn't feel much for a few hours.

8:00am rolls around, and I tell H he should phone our parents and my boss. My mom fainted when he called. My MIL was upset because her 3rd baby was a 22 weeker that didn't survive. H was so emotional by the time he called my boss that he said 'she's never coming back to work' in a fit of tears, and they actually had a moment they thought something tragic had happened. In hindsight, my mom and bosses reactions we could all laugh about haha.

My parents came in as soon as they could, as did my brother and sister. By around 11-11:30am my contractions had gotten stronger but nurses weren't concerned with a fast labour, and my parents took H out to get some real food. While they were gone in that hour, my contractions were coming on fast and strong. My poor, untrained, single sister did everything she could to keep me comfortable. I finally told her she needed to call H and I called the nurses and told them I needed help. They checked me, and I had very quickly gotten to 5-6 cm in that time. They sent me immediatly to delivery. H was walking in the door as they were getting me into a wheelchair.

The hospital was overfull. The nurses were frantically trying to find any doctor by this point (mine was on holidays) get the NICU staff up, and set up a recovery room for delivery as they had no more rooms open. I kept asking for an epidural. They were trying, but the anaestesiologist was so busy he never made it to me. They were literally standing in the hall asking if there was any doctor available, I could hear them. There was an on call one on the way, but they were suddenly realizing they didn't know if she would make it. I said I needed to push. They told me not to. Right then, the doctor came in, opened my legs, and announced 'She's pushing now!'. I have never met this woman in my life, we introduced each other after DS was born, haha.

At 2:21pm he was born at 5 pounds, 11 ounces. NICU took him to another side of the room to get cleaned, check his vitals. When they saw he was breathing, they told H he could come over. I then realized I didn't even know, and asked H the sex. He was crying so hard he could hardly say boy. I called him by our boys name, and H nodded. He went over and held his hand while they wrapped him up. He was healthy enough they let him sit on my chest for about 10 seconds before they took him downstairs to NICU. I don't remember if I said anything to him, or what I was thinking, but I remember his little face. My parents, brother, sister, and BFF all came in the makeshift delivery room after he left. I announced his name, and that I did it med free!

We got to go down to the NICU a few hours later and visit him. Just the two of us did that day. It was crazy, and amazing. He only needed to spend 13 days there despite his age.

And that's my novel I'd be ok with a little bit less of a dramatic entrance from this one!

ETA- I should add, because of the overfull situation, they put me back in my pre delivery room after I gave birth, so that whole night I listened to women going into labour. To make it worse, they then put a couple who had their baby in the same room as me and I could hear it's little baby noises and cries, while mine was downstairs. The nurses apologized a lot for that. I got released by noon the next day so we spent the rest of the day in NICU.

[honeybunches101]

I woke up the morning I was 39w5 days and went to the bathroom and was leaking a little bit. I had had no signs of labor before, no contractions, no mucus plug, wasn't uncomfortable or anything so I was sort of in denial that my water had broken overnight. DH came home from work, I took a shower and was basically freaking out and tryin to eat breakfast when there was a huge gush of water. I could tell there was meconium in it because it wasn't clear. I had already called the doctor and they called back and told me to head in right away.

I wore depends on the way to the hosptal and started to get small contractions. Every time more water would gush out, it was really gross and I was still in denial that I was in labor. I got checked in and was 3cm, they told me to walk around for a while. After about an hour, contractions were pretty painful so they hooked up an IV (took 3 nurses several attempts and numbing both arms, ug!) so I could get fluids for an epidural. We had been trying to call our families all morning but no one was answering the phone!

I got the epidural when I was about 6cm at noon and it was amazing. Around 7 I was fully dilated but it was shift change and I wasn't feeling an urge to push so I just hung out for a while. DS was still face up and they were hoping he would flip around. Unfortunately my epidural wore off while I was pushing and the anesteciologist was in back to back emergency c-sections so he couldn't come back to give me more drugs! It was my worst nightmare and I was sobbing in pain. Finally after about 3hrs of pushing he was born. He didn't cry and they rushed him over to the nicu team, they had been called because of the meconium and I had a fever. But after a few minutes they had suctioned him out and he was fine and I got to hold him while they stitched me up. Not the pain-free birth I had been hoping for, but we were both healthy and it was more than worth it!

[ktbear]

Love the idea of this thread! I love reading birth stories

I was induced at 41w4d. I wanted to go to 42 weeks, but DS was due on a Sunday and they wanted him out by the end of the week. I had been dilated 2-3cm since my 36 week appt. Went in at 7am, started Pitocin around 8. Not much happened until they came in and broke my water around noon- then the contractions really amped up. I labored though some pretty intense contractions for a few hours, and asked for an epidural around 4pm and was 8cm at that time. This was perfect for me. I wanted to do the best I could without an epi, but told DH all bets were off because I was being induced. My biggest fear was getting one too early and then stalling labor.

I reached 10cm an hour later, 5pm, but the nurses told me not to start pushing yet because he hadn't come down enough and I would tire myself out before I could get him out. So I basically sat around for an hour, getting madder and madder at the induction situation. In my mind, if he had come when he was ready, I wouldn't have to wait for him to drop, stuck in bed with a million wires stuck to me, on oxygen (his heart rate was dropping with contractions and it was a precaution). Haha you could say I was grumpy ;-)

I finally got to start pushing around 6pm, and DS was born at 6:51. He was 8lbs 4oz, on the big side but not huge for being an almost 42 weeker. We did skin to skin right away. I couldn't believe how perfect he was.

This time around, I really want to avoid induction if I can. I really didn't have a horrible experience, but I don't think there was any reason he needed to come out when he did. I had a non stress test and fluid check at 41w and he was fine. My practice doesn't let you go past 42 weeks, so hopefully this one will cooperate!

[tatersalad]

I went in for a non stress test at 40 weeks 3 days and decided to schedule an induction for 41 weeks. I'd had the "bloody show" mucus plug loss around 39 weeks and nothing was happening.
Started having some very mild contractions around 3am at 40 weeks 5 days so I did a spin class hoping my water would break. It worked. About an hour after class my water broke (very small dribble, not what I had expected) and contractions started picking up. Doc confirmed that I could head to hospital, so I sent my hubby out for a much needed haircut, walked the dog, and did my hair and make up for the first time in weeks.
Got to hospital and was dilated to a 5 and definitely ready for my drugs by then. Unfortunately it was a blue moon and the place was packed with moms in spontaneous labor. A bitchy midwife kept trying to make me hold off on the epidural and I will kill her if I ever see her again. By a 6 I was seriously losing my cool with every contraction so my nurse bumped me up in line and got me the epidural. Pure heaven after that. I relaxed and visited with my mom and best friend who had shown up for about 2 hours, then decided I needed to get the show on the road so I kicked them all out. I did throw up a lot while progressing from an 8-10 but other than that labor was great with an epidural. My husband kept trying to fall asleep while holding my leg. I also had meconium staining so the Pedia-trons as my doc affectionately calls them were called on but little buddy was just fine. I let my husband hold DS until I was all stitched up and had them give him a bath too. He latched right away and nursed for 45 minutes. Total labor time was about 12 hours from my water breaking, but I had to wait an hour to push while my doc returned with his team of residents. I was perfectly happy with my birth experience and hope it goes as well this time around.

ETA: He weighed 8lbs 7 oz and was 20.5in

[tulips114]

DD1: went for my 38w appt and my belly measured 36 weeks for the 3rd week in a row, so Dr was concerned. I was dilated to 3cm so she stripped my membranes but sent me for an u/s to check fluid, if it was too low I'd be sent for induction. It was normal range so I was sent home.

Had lots of contractions that next day, but I have BH constantly so didn't think too much of it. Went to a baseball game with work friends that evening, felt a weird feeling, not what I would call a pop, but just felt like the baby moved funny, but then some leaking, went to bathroom and undies were wet, I wasn't positive if it was my water that broke but decided to head home and alert DH. By the time I got home I knew I was in labor bc contractions were getting stronger and regular. We took showers packed the last few things, got BIL to come stay with the dogs and headed to the hospital. Got there about 10/11pm, confirmed it was my water, contractions were 5 min apart, lasting about a min. I was 5cm and 90% effaced.

It took forever for them to get me admitted, which I couldn't have anything for pain until I was admitted. Finally got the epi placed and working about 4/5 am, still at 5cm. At 7am, the nursing shift change, I was 10cm, but they wanted to let the baby come down more. About 1030 am they said I was ready so they went to get the doctor and get all set up. Started pushing about 11:15 and she was born at noon. I had one small tear that needed a few stitches.

ETA: we did delayed cord clamping and skin to skin right away. She got to stay on me while the cleaned and stitched me up. She latched and we nursed, it was a couple hours before they weighed her and all that. She was 6lbs 9oz and 21 inches.

DD2 in new post bc this is too long.

[tulips114]

DD2: went for my 39weeks appt and I was about 2cm, doctor stripped my membranes. Timed regular contractions at 10 min apart for a while that evening, but decided to go to sleep. Woke up about 2am with contractions, timed them at 6 min apart for almost an hour, when it all the sudden spread back out to 10/12 min. Got up and folded laundry timing contractions anywhere from 6-12 min for a while. Decided to try to lay back down, but then they started coming 2-3 min apart, but only lasting about 45 seconds. But I got freaked out by the 2-3 min apart so I woke up DH, we took showers and headed to the hospital. Lucky my mom was here visiting, so we were able to just leave DD1 right in her crib.

In the car the contractions spread back out to 10-12 min and I was sure we'd be sent home. We got to the hospital around 5am and they got us in a room and monitored me. Contractions were very irregular, and I was 3 cm, but they monitored me. I progressed to 5 cm after an hour or so, so I was admitted and after the nursing shift change got the epi. I don't remember the exact time line, but the Dr came and broke my water, I kept progressing. About 1130 am they said I was ready to push, so they got the Dr and got everything ready. I pushed through 2 contractions and she was born at noon. I had no tearing with her.

ETA: we did delayed cord clamping and skin to skin for a bit. She couldn't stay on me while they cleaned me all up because she had a short cord and was kinda in the way. She stayed until the cord stopped pulsing, then they cut it and they weighed her and all that, gave her a bath, and then she was able to come back on me and we nursed and did more skin to skin. She was 6lbs 12oz 21 inches.

[ktbear]

tatersalad, weren't you the one with fabulous I-just-gave-birth photos? Maybe this time I'll have to make time for hair and makeup before heading to the hospital! You really did look great!

[wegrowsheep]

Contractions started at midnight of my due date with DD,but I went back to "sleep" til 5am, and after laboring and walking all day we went to L&D that evning. I was still at 2cm, so they gave me an Ambien to "help me sleep" and sent us home.
We spent the night at my inlaws since they live 4 minutes away, and I hallucinated about little green men building furniture and telling me to poop out tractors all night. No joke, and no more Ambien for me! I was completely out of it and had no idea why everything kept hurting, couldn't even stand up straight.
By 5am the next morning (1 day after due date), we were ready to go back in (I was lucid, and contractions were closer and more painful). I had progressed to a 5, so they admitted me. DD made her arrival at 1pm, about 90 minutes after the OB finally broke my water, and about 45 minutes of pushing.

With DS, contractions also started midnight of my due date, but it was much, much faster. After a 100 mile drive to the hospital (we lived in the middle of nowhere), he arrived 45 minutes after we got there, for a total labor of 4 hours and 45 minutes. And 3 pushes.

[theBeeMama]

Great idea starting this thread!

The night of my due date I remember laying down on my bed and just feeling strange, and noticing that the baby was lower than ever before.
-3am I woke up with some pain (but at 40 weeks preggo, this was not abnormal. Lol) and when I went to change positions in bed I actually felt a *pop* in my abdomen (which I thought was my water breaking and turns out I was right!) anyway, I managed to go back to sleep for a bit.
-3:45am I woke up again to pee, and when I stood up I realized that my water had definitely broken. It wasn't a flood like in the movies, lol, but it was pretty continual. So I got a towel, laid back down and tried to sleep but I realized that I was having pretty time-able contractions and they started to intensify.
-4:45 I couldn't stay in bed any longer. I started walking around my house and waiting for dh to wake up. I watched the sunrise, ate a bagel, pooped out the bagel at lightning speed (sorry for that gruesome detail but it is what it is! Lol) and finally dh woke up. I took a shower, did my makeup and hair, helped get things packed up into the car.
-8am we called the midwife. I think my contractions were between five and six minutes apart. We left for the hospital about an hour later.
-9:45am we arrived at the hospital and I was only dilated to 4 cm's so once they checked me into l&d I walked the halls, bounced on a yoga ball and ate a lot of banana popsicles for what felt like forever.
-3pm things were getting really intense. I tried laboring in a tub for a while but I hated it because the water was either freezing or scalding to me. I then labored in the shower for a while, which was better, but I was reeeeeallyy worn out by then and crying like a baby.
-5pm they checked me again and I was dilated to 8.8. I asked the midwife how much longer she thought we'd be (contractions were non-stop and suuuuper intense at this point) and she said "I really can't say! It could be twenty minutes or it could be hours." Aaaaaand as soon as I heard the word "hours" I started bawling and demanded they get the anesthesiologist in there asap!! (We'd planned for a med-free birth.)
-5:05pm the man with the drugs came and told me to sit on the edge of the bed so he could do the epidural, and when I sat up I felt something happening but I had no idea what it was. I thought I was dying, seriously. It was like I had to poop, throw up, scream or explode. Or all of the above... At the same time. Soooo he got the epidural in and I started panicking because of how weird I felt.
-5:15(ish) They checked me again and DS had crowned (so apparently the terrible awful feeling was transition) and I started feeling the need to push. I was so incredibly thrilled that it was almost over, but unfortunately the epidural slowed things back down just a bit, DS got stuck for about half an hour and ended up with a gnarly hematoma from that. However I felt GREAT- haha. And didn't even notice the 2nd degree tear happening to my ladybits.
-6:40pm DS was born, 19.5 inches long, 7lbs and 10oz. Redheaded and perfect!!

Only bummer was that a student midwife sutured my tear and BOTCHED it, the stitches had to be taken out and redone which took forever, and it didn't heal up very beautifully. :/

[carolyngrace]

Hope it's ok I'm going to share my sister's birth story. I was a part of it, and I'm hoping mine goes just like hers. I'll keep it brief!

She woke up on her due date after a pretty good night's sleep. She decided to try nipple stimulation while going pee right after she got out of bed. As soon as she pinched her nipples, whoosh - her water broke. She hadn't had any contractions or anything previous to this point.

Her contractions were about every 5-6 minutes from the beginning, so she called me (and the midwives) after about a half hour. I was at work and so excited! I asked "does it hurt like you thought it would?" And she growled "NO, it feels GREAT. Just get over here!!"

When I arrived an hour later her contractions were every 4 minutes. The midwives told her to wait on coming into the birthing center a bit longer, because she was a FTM and they couldn't believe she had progressed that far in only a couple of hours. But 3 hours into contractions she begged me and her DH to bring her in. The midwives agreed.

When we got to the birthing center they checked and found her 7-8 cm dilated. She had really wanted to labor in the tub, so they quickly filled it. By the time she got in she announced "I feel like I have to push!" and the midwife reached down and felt the head crowning. They quickly got her back out of the tub and onto the bed. She pushed for 20 minutes and her baby was born! She had some minor tearing, but recovered really quickly. They were home a few hours later!

I was supposed to be a "support" but honestly I just sat back with my mouth open the whole time. It was the most shocking and beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I think I would like a LITTLE longer labor, but honestly she was such a trooper and she made me feel like I can do it, too! Her second baby was similarly born in about 5 hours. And my mom had 4 quick births as well. I'm REALLY hoping I follow suit.

Also, I love reading birth stories! Great idea for a thread.


ETA: I'M FINALLY A MEMBER!!

[Widget123]

DD's birth story is kind of long and there are a lot of details that may or may not be interesting. I'll try to keep it short and if I forget something important / interesting, I'll edit the post later.

I went to the OB for my weekly appointment. This was a Thursday afternoon and I was a few days shy of 38 weeks. As I mentioned in the fears post, my OB could not hear DD's heartbeat and did an impromptu ultrasound. During the ultrasound, she found the heartbeat right away but noticed that there was very little amniotic fluid. DD hadn't been moving around very much but most of my pregnancy had been like this and I had dismissed it due to having an anterior placenta. The OB told me to go to the hospital the next day to get another ultrasound to measure amniotic fluid again and get a non stress test (measures fetal heart rate and fetal movement). If the results weren't good, she told me they would begin an induction. She also had given me a check during the appointment and told me that I was 0 cm dilated and had 0% effacement.

So Friday morning, DH and I headed into the hospital. The amniotic fluid measurements were worse and despite all of my efforts to get DD moving we failed the non stress test, so we headed up to labor and delivery. They also took growth estimate measurements of DD and we could tell that DD was much smaller in size than we had guessed. They sent us to our room and where I waited for the OB. No one from my OB practice was at the hospital that day, but I knew my favorite OB who I saw on Thursday was coming that night. Eventually, the OB from the other office who was covering for them came in to place the cervidil to try to get things going. Usually they begin inductions with cervidil at night because it takes time for the cervidil to take effect, but mine began late morning/ early afternoon. This OB told me I could only have ice chips and would not let me leave my hospital bed (I had a catheter, among other things). Friday night my OB arrived and she finally let me get up and do laps around the floor. She also finally let me drink liquids and have popsicles.

Saturday morning they decided to break my water to try to get labor finally going. They also began intravenous rehydration (i.e. a sugar IV for the baby) and the Pitocin. The next few hours weren't that interesting. I was progressing very slowly, they kept uping the Pitocin, I got an epidural at some point, and I was having back labor. I kept myself entertained by watching the contractions of all of the mothers coming and going on the monitors.  Saturday evening all of a sudden I went from practically no dilation to being fully dilated and I started throwing up as I was transitioning. The OB's switched again, and another female OB from my practice who I liked took over. DH and I could tell that this OB was concerned about me the second she walked in the door and looked at me and the contractions on the screen, much more so than the other OB. She insisted that I start wearing an oxygen mask but after checking me was glad to see that it looked like I was ready to push.

So the nurses came in and I started to push, despite being completely out of breath. DH had been talking to his family members from time to time who live close by, and without any advance notice, FIL and MIL decided they were going to come visit us and tried to walk into the room. I started screaming "Get the hell out!" We took a break so that DH could go tell his family what was going on (BIL, SIL, and their 3 kids were also there). I started pushing again, and DD was finally born on Saturday night, 6lbs 2oz and 19.5 inches.

[tinavonsparkle]

This is a great thread. It's making me feel empowered and like I can actually do it myself! Thanks ladies and keep them coming.

[tatersalad]

Feb 23, 2015 23:03:32 GMT -5 ktbear said:

tatersalad, weren't you the one with fabulous I-just-gave-birth photos? Maybe this time I'll have to make time for hair and makeup before heading to the hospital! You really did look great!

Thank you Ktbear.

[islandgirl14]

Ohh yes the birth story... I'll try to condense it... Had been having contractions at home and was in touch with my doctor... the contractions were close enough apart that my doctor told me it was time to go in - so I did. Got to L&D, and I was only a finger-tip dilated. They had me wait 2 hours to see if anything changed, but since it hadn't, they told me to go home, "take a sleeping pill" (my own personal advice is to not do this! worst advice given to me ever!) because it was going to be a "long night"... So, we did what I was told. Went home, I took a Tylenol PM and hopped into bed. Within 5 minutes, my water broke in bed. We rushed back to the hospital, and by the time they checked me (about an hour later), I was 7cm, and barely got my epidural in time, and delivered within about an hour. It happened so fast that the contractions were so terrible that it was hard to sit still enough for my epidural... Andplusalso, I was so groggy from my Tylenol pm that it was hard to focus when I really needed to!

[bendherova]

I was induced at 41w. We ate a big dinner and arrived at the hospital about 8pm on Sunday. I had made no progress at all. (I also walked 30mi and all the other OWT between 40 and 41w to try to induce labor and nothing! not a single contraction)

They started cervadil (scratchy tampon) at 9pm and then left me to sleep for the night. it was taken out at 9 am Mon, at which point nothing was happening, so they stopped everything and told me to eat breakfast.

by 11 they'd placed some sort of gel to restart the induction. I delivered at the hospital that H and all of our friends worked in, so I had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day. One friend said she'd bring board games back after work bc nothing was happening and I was just hanging out in the hospital.

At some point in the afternoon, they started pitocin. I don't remember being uncomfortable at all until about 7pm. My plan was to delay the epi for as long as possible, so they gave me a shot of something (intramuscular, but I can't remember what it was- morphine, possibly). I alternated between bed and an exercise ball and by 9pm shit was getting pretty terrible. friend came back with games, but I scared her with as much pain as I was in, so we didn't play!).

Anyway, they checked me shortly after 9 and said I was 4cm, and I asked for the epi. Our anesthesiologist friend was visiting at the time (but he wasnt in the OB rotation that month) and he started pacing the room bc it was taking them so long. after about 45min, he said fuckit and started my epi himself. The team walked into the room just before he was putting the needle in my back and took over (friend got yelled at, but i appreciated it). My water broke during my last pre-epi trip to the bathroom, since you're cathed once you have an epi.

at 2am (tuesday) they checked and told me it was time to push. The nurses and resident were with me for 2h during which I threw up and got an oxygen mask.


At 4am, the resident calmly told me she needed to get the attending. He walked in and looked at everything and told me that he was sorry, but he needed to use a vacuum extractor to help DS come out, bc I'd been pushing so long. He said DS needed to come out in the next 10 min, or we were looking at a c-section. I agreed, and then a dozen more people came into the room. (i had no idea this was abnormal).

DS was born 8 min later with the cord wrapped around his neck twice. It took him about 2s to cry, and it was the longest 2s of my life. There went my idea of delayed clamping and immediate skin to skin. All those extra people were a nicu and respiratory team. Everyone in the room (including H bc he could read his monitor) knew that DS was in distress, and I had absolutely no idea. Apgar scores were 8 and 9, so clearly, no impact on him. He just has a giant head. plus the cord wasn't helping. H says I was minutes from a crash c-section in my room. :/

He came out sunny side up, also, and tore the hell out of my birth canal. I had a 2nd degree tear as well. They stitched me in the delivery room, but left the epi in bc they wanted to take me to the OR to make sure they stopped all the bleeding. About 8am they were wheeling me into the OR and my OB saw me in the hallway and immediately scrubbed in to check me out. (she didn't deliver me bc she wasn't on call)

I was back in my room by 930 Tuesday and the rest is history. I did get to hold DS before my OR trip. He was 8lb 9oz and 21.75in long.


I have no sadness or regret about my experience and I never felt pressured into anything. I'm also glad I was unaware of the scariness of the situation.


oh- recovery- was easy. DH and I were walking in our 'hood by Friday. The only long term issue is that DS's head stretched out the ligaments around my tailbone and that took about 4 mo to stop being sore. It was inly a problem when went from sitting to standing.

[whoopsadaisy]

As a FTM, I love reading this thread. You ladies are incredible.

[wifedeangel]

I remember I was so proud that I hadn't developed any stretch marks through my whole pregnancy, and then 4 days before my due date, they magically appeared on my lower abdomen. I didn't think about it at the time, but that was a sign that DD had dropped and was ready to go.

That night, at 12:01am, I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, thinking I was peeing myself. Turned out it was my water leaking. (TMI here) There were chunks of stuff floating in toilet, and I freaked out, thinking it was meconium, but it was really my mucus plug, it came out in little pieces. I called the Dr.'s office, and told them what what was going on, and by that time, contractions had started, about 3 minutes apart. They told me to go to the hospital. We left within a half hour, and by 1:15 were at the hospital. The drive there was crazy; my contractions ramped up really fast, and I was gushing water with every one of them. I could barely sign all the papers and change.

I had resolved to have a med-free birth before, but as soon as the nurse walked in the room I was asking for drugs. She hooked the IV up, and said there was quite a list of people ahead of me, so we better do our breathing exercises. I was already dilated to an 8, so we called my mom, and she said she would come right over.

I thrashed around for a while until DH (bless him) finally was able to catch my attention, and then we started breathing together as he held my hands and stared into my eyes. I was able to calm down and focused on riding the waves, instead of fighting through them.

At about 2:30, the midwife on call came in, took one look at my face and asked me if I was ready. I grunted that I really wanted to push. She checked and I was fully dilated. She said I could wait for the epidural for another 45 minutes, or we could just have this baby. I opted for having the baby. Just then my mom came in. Everyone suited up and I started pushing. I don't know the amount of time that I pushed, but it was 5 pushes through 2 contractions and my baby girl was born. The cord was loosely wrapped around her neck once and her body twice, so no immediate skin to skin. But she started crying right off, and her apgar scores were 8/9. I had to wait to hold her while the Dr. checked her out, and then they measured and bathed her while I was being sewn up from 2nd degree tearing. Then they brought her over and we nursed immediately. She was born at 3:15am, so all of this happened very quickly.

Recovery for me was tough. I felt like it took a full 8 weeks to fully heal, even though my midwife cleared me at 6 weeks. But everything did eventually heal and got back to normal.

[megeliz1]

I am probably in the minority here because I chose an elective induction at 39 weeks, so here is an induction birth story that is still really fresh 10 months post partum.

I had my 39 week OB appointment on April Fools last year and found out that my OB would be OOT for my due date the following week. He had mentioned induction in the past and I brushed it off because I didn't want to pursue it. I then told him I would reconsider the following week at 40 weeks. He told me that while OOT his partners wouldn't do an elective induction for me if I chose to. Between that, family from OOT that I wanted here and DH's work schedule I decided to go ahead and schedule an induction that week. The only slot the hospital had open was that night.

11pm 4/1 we checked into the hospital. Since I wasn't officially 39+0 until 4/2, they couldn't start any meds until midnight. After a few emergency c-sections in the middle of the night, my pitocin was started at 3am. I had been dilated to 3cm and 70% effaced since 37 weeks so I could start on pitocin right away. I slept for a while and around shift change I began to get uncomfortable and began to have bad back labor. At 645 or so I asked for an epidural.

The epidural was amazing. However, after about 45 minutes I started experiencing stroke like symptoms with right sides facial dropping and I also was starting to have difficulty breathing. My block was really high, affecting me above my nipple line, which is why I felt like I was being sat on. The anesthesiologist came back into the room right away in the middle of a c-section and determined I had developed Horner's syndrome. My epi was stopped for an hour and then restarted at a lower rate. I was able to tolerate the lower rate and continued to receive the epidural until delivery. Because it was a lower dose and because it had settled on one side, I felt my entire delivery anyways.

When my epi was placed I was 4-5 cm and was able to get some more rest. Around noon I felt a huge amount of movement from baby girl and turned to my H and told him I thought she had flipped from posterior to anterior (which is a great thing). After delivery I asked my nurse if she had been delivered posterior and she said no, so she flipped on her own at the last minute!

My OB came around 1245 to break my water in between two surgeries he had scheduled in the OR. He thought that if he broke my water, he would go perform his next OR case and come back to deliver. I was 7cm at this point. He was gone from my room about 3 min and I felt so much pressure and was in so much pain I was crying. My nurse checked me and I was complete and ready to push. They were running down the hall to catch my OB before he headed back downstairs to the OR.

7-10cm (transition) in under 5 minutes HURTS!

Anyways, 45 minutes of pushing and Baby girl E was born at 1350 on 4/2/14. She weighed 8lbs5oz at 39 weeks and was 21 1/4in. She was placed on my chest right away and stayed there for an hour and a half.

I had a second degree tear that was repaired, DD latched right away and nursed in my L&D room for 1.5 hours before they took her to weigh her, diaper her, etc...I loved having skin-to-skin for the first hour and half of her life.

[mathistm]

Okay maybe a dumb question-but if you have tears that they need to stitch up and you don't have meds for birth-do they numb the area before stitching?!

[beersandweirs]

I love hearing all the stories!

[sgarmand]

Feb 24, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -5 mathistm said:

Okay maybe a dumb question-but if you have tears that they need to stitch up and you don't have meds for birth-do they numb the area before stitching?!

I know my MIL had 4 med-free births and 2/4 they forgot she was med-free and began stitching her up with nothing. At that point she told them to just finish. 

[maddib]

We knew my DD had at least spina bifida before I delivered her so the plan was to induce and try for a vag birth. Most doctors would have done a c section just because with spina bifida there is an actual hole in the spine exposing the nerve endingings and it can cause more serious paralysis. Well after a lot of ultra sounds and 3d ultra sounds we discovered she had a sack or a thin membrane surrounding her hole and nothing was exposed. Looking back now it was still very risky because that sack could have ruptured and she could have been way more paralyzed then she is now. But I was young and trusted my ob. So I went in for the induction. Walked around for awhile trying to get things rolling. They started the pitocin at six and broke my water. They were supposed to give me the epidural shortly after but they said my white blood cell counts were too high which could have resulted from a small cold... Needless to say I was in a lot of pain. The dr apologized repeatedly saying they wouldn't have induced me had they known I couldn't have the epidural. Well they checked me at 7:30 and I was dilated to a four. About an hour later I was screaming I can feel her head down there! And my body was trying to push her out. My aunt went and grabbed a nurse who gave me a dirty look and said I just checked you. There's no way your ready. Then she checked again and said shit that is her head! I probably would have laughed at the look on her face and her swearing if I wasn't in so much pain. So they were all running around trying to find the doctor and get everything set up for her and the doc kept telling me not to push. I told him it felt like my body was pushing on it's own. I was not pushing!! Well finally four good pushes later she was out and doing good. The sack on her back had not broken. I couldn't see her or anything because they rushed her out and I kept bleeding. He pushed on my stomach for 30 min after trying to get me to clot up. Finally at 9 pm they let me see her after they had wrapped her body in like plastic wrap and put her in a blanket. I got to hold her for 45 min before an ambulance took her to a children's hospital an hour away. That was one of the worst nights of my life. I couldn't sleep at all. Hearing all the newborns crying I just wanted my baby. The next morning at 10 am they told me I need to get a blood transfusion because I had lost a lot. I asked them how long I would have to stay for that and they told me I wouldn't be able to leave until that night. I asked the doctor if it was absolutely necessary and he said well no if you take iron supplements and eat a lot of foods with iron it will replenish itself slowly but you will need to take it easy. Needless to say I was at the children's hospital with my daughter an hour later. I almost passed out more then once walking everyone (family) back to the nicu to see her. They only allowed two people at a time and one had to be the parent. And a lot of family wanted to see her. That was the longest day of my life.. Ugh.. She spent eight more months in the nicu with countless surgeries after that. So I am definitely hoping for a better experience this time. At least this baby is healthy and no spina bifida!!!!

Edit: because I suck at words today..

[veggiemo]

Doc stripped my membranes without asking at my 39 week appointment. She was checking my cervix and said "Ok, here we go". It seems to me that is something you should discuss with your patient before doing? I have a new doctor this time I immediately started having contractions right there in the exam room and I had them throughout the day, but nothing timeable. I went to bed that night and just like theBeeMama, I felt and heard my water breaking. Oh boy, it was on then. I was in immediate pain, with no breaks at all between contractions. I thought it would be more like the movies, you hurt for a bit and then you get a break for a bit. NO. There was no showering or eating or calling anyone...that shit was full on labor and we headed right to the hospital.

When I got there about 1am, I was dilated to a 3. I was in so much pain, I could barely answer their triage questions. There was just no down time, the contractions just seemed consecutive. I got the epidural, it didn't work. They had to send in another anesthesiologist to administer a "boost". That time it worked and I could talk/think again. They checked my cervix, and everyone was shocked to find that I was at a 10 and ready to push. Super fast labor. Unfortunately, they wanted my epidural to wear off a little before they had me pushing, so we waiting an hour before I tried. After that hour, I started pushing. I wasn't completely numb, I could feel what was going on, but the pain was dulled by the epidural. I'll definitely be getting one of those again! Then, he came out after about an hour of pushing, around 9am. I helped pull him onto my chest and there he was, wide-eyed and ready for world!

The whole thing definitely sucked and I remember wondering why I wasn't getting that breathing time between contractions that you see people get. When I moved from triage to the delivery room, they asked if I could walk there. Barely. I walked passed another girl in the hall who had on a gown and an IV. I assume she was trying to get her labor to progress, but I remember thinking she looked like she was in a lot less pain then me and I wondered if I was being a wussy. I realize now that I was lucky in that everything moved quickly. I didn't have those breaks or have to walk around the hallway, and I am thankful for that now. I can only hope it goes that quickly this time!

[alayne926]

I was induced at 39w6d because of an antibody issue, my OB did not want me to go past my due date and I wanted to get as close to 40w as possible.

I got to the hospital around 2pm after waiting and waiting for a bed to open. They started Pitocin on the lowest dose and I was free to move around until they wanted to check. After about 3 hours of very little progression, the Dr. wanted to break my water to see if that would get things moving without upping Pitocin too much. After she broke my water, I bounced on the labor ball for about an hour and then I couldn't take the pain any longer, I asked for an epi. AWESOME! After I got that, I was able to rest a little and watch tv with DH. My sister was there also, but driving me crazy, so I blocked her out. She did leave for a bit so I could sleep.

The next morning, around 6, I was fully dilated and ready to push. I had the most awesome nurse and I wanted to have the baby with her there, so our goal was 8am. That didn't happen. New nurse came in and she was super nice also. She and my Dr. coached me through pushing for another hour until I finally asked if the baby was coming. The Dr. said she didn't think so, that my pubic bone was not allowing the baby to come down and he was sunny side up (face up). I said, then I'm done. They got me prepped for a c-section. We waited for a bit for the anesthesiologist to come and bump up my epi for surgery and the nurse and my Dr. smuggled me some apple juice since I hadn't had anything to eat or drink (besides ice chips) since noon the day before.

They wheeled me down to the OR for my c-section. It felt like just a second later my Dr. said, "OK Dad, stand up and tell her what you got!" (we were team green) DH stood up and said, "It's a boy, and he's pissed!" DS came out screaming. After he came out and I knew he was OK, I sent DH over to watch him get cleaned up and cut the cord and I finally let myself start to relax (1st baby post two losses). DH said he was really worried that something was wrong because I was just laying there with my eyes closed not really doing much of anything. I was so shaky from not eating that I only held DS for a little bit in recovery.

DH was able to go out to the waiting room to tell everyone that we had a boy and all was well. They all came into recovery a couple at a time to meet him and wish us well.

[noeliav]

Here's the story of DD's birth:
38w- I leave work for my appointment (Thanksgiving weekend) and my boss says "Have a nice break! But don't have that baby yet."
MW checks my belly and says "Oh do you feel that?" Nope. "It's a contraction. Don't worry, you will soon." She listens to DD's heartbeat on the doppler and says, "And do you hear how her heartbeat has slowed a bit? She's ready to be born." Me, thinking "Um, no. Not yet. Give me a couple more weeks, pleaseandthankyou."
Thanksgiving Day (38w1d)- I'm having contractions all day long, but don't notice them. A few weeks later, I'm looking over pictures from that day and there are a few where I'm very concentrated on my belly. Huh.
38w2d- I wake up early with a sense that Things Must Be Done NOW. I run around getting copies of our house key for my sister and our friends. I go to Target and buy holiday decor, plus ingredients for freezer meals and breakfast breads. I call my sister and invite her over for a cooking/baking party-- she thinks I'm joking. I am not.
We spend the whole day in the kitchen, with me slumped over the kitchen counter with a heating pad on my back for my "annoying cramps." My sister and DH keep carefully suggesting that I, maybe, perhaps, start timing the cramps. You know, but only if I feel like it. (lol, apparently, I was a tad grouchy.) I refuse because why would I time "annoying cramps?!" My sister goes home about 8pm-ish and tells DH to call her when I'm ready to go to the hospital.
I take a bath around 9pm. I get out around 9:30pm because I ran out of hot water (so annoying). I try to go to bed but cannot because these annoying cramps are... well... annoying. I practice using the contraction timer because I'm not sleeping anyway, but it turns out I cannot focus on the annoying cramps and use the timer at the same time. I wander downstairs at about 10pm to hand DH the contraction timer and end up on my knees hugging the ottoman during the next "annoying cramp." I go to the bathroom and see lots of bloody show. Holy crap. DH runs upstairs to shower. I admit that, possibly, this is labor and go to finish packing our labor bag. My water breaks shortly thereafter and we get to the hospital around 11:00/11:30pm.
It is intense, the contractions. I'm vocalizing plenty during each one. The nurses (all 3 of them) each make multiple attempts at placing the IV in my hand (I'm GBS+) before giving up and putting it in my elbow crook. This sucks. They make me "read" (hahahaha) and "sign" (hahahahahaheffingha) paperwork, even though I've preregistered. A nurse tells me to "be quieter." I tell her to "shut up" and DH to "get her out of here." Finally we're all settled in with a nice (read: supportive) two-nurse team, and I hunker down to work through each contraction. 3:00am and I start to grunt right as one of my nurses is monitoring the fetus. "Are you pushing?" "I'm not doing anything! My body is!" "If you feel that again, you call us right away." The next contraction, my body is definitely bearing down so I tell DH to get the nurse right away. The nurse works with me through some pushing contractions, then the OB arrived and we pushed out DD. She was born at 4:07am. Perfect.

[noeliav]

PS- pack your labor and delivery bag (and postpartum bag) before you go into labor. It takes a lot longer if you don't

[maddib]

Feb 24, 2015 13:23:39 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

maddib - you are so much stronger than I am! I would not have been able to have LO in the NICU for 8 months without losing my sanity. My DD was there for 8 weeks and I can't even imagine having her there longer. Hopefully your DD is doing better now

It was definitely not easy. And her father my ex husband was no help what so ever. He saw her maybe twice during those whole eight months. It was so hard. I almost lost her more then 100 times!! She has a trach and is on a ventilator now but is doing so much better. She is off the vent during the day and is in school and talking now. It was extremely hard but sooooo worth it! No one thinks they can do it at the time but all of us moms are so much stronger when it comes to our LO's. You find the strength to get through it in the end.

[tiffbot]

Feb 24, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -5 mathistm said:

Okay maybe a dumb question-but if you have tears that they need to stitch up and you don't have meds for birth-do they numb the area before stitching?!

I was med free, and I had a third (omg, I didn't even ask what that meant, I just accepted it) degree tear.  I honestly have no idea if she numbed it. I had such a freaking adrenaline rush after delivery I couldn't stop giggling and laughing at everything, including her telling me she was stitching. I think the doctor kind of thought I was crazy.

[honeybunches101]

Feb 24, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -5 mathistm said:

Okay maybe a dumb question-but if you have tears that they need to stitch up and you don't have meds for birth-do they numb the area before stitching?!

I had had an epidural but it had long since worn off when I needed to be stitched. They started stitching and I screamed right away, so they injected something numbing. I had quite a bit of tearing and it took a while and I needed another shot.

[sgarmand]

As addicted as I am to reading birth stories, they inspire and scare the living shit out of me at the same time. I can't wait for/never want to experience labor. Such a strange, strange mix of emotions.