Birth stories, revisited <3

[hurricanerek]

Jul 9, 2015 16:36:37 GMT -5 littlemissmarla said:

Lol I think it sounds worse than it was. I swear, I think having my water broken was the worst part. I don't know how you ladies did it if it broke at home or outside the hospital - I would have been so grossed out.

Mine was broken at 8cm dilated. Trust me, it was the last thing on my mind at that point.

[honeybee434]

Jul 9, 2015 16:01:24 GMT -5 Liv said:

holy moly, littlemissmarla, that's an intense story!

This x2

[alwaysnc4me]

(On June 26th, our 4th wedding anniversary)-Thanks to pregnancy insomnia, I was awake at exactly 3 am when I felt myself get really wet. I stood up to head to bathroom and began gushing water. I did this 3 or 4 times and called the midwife. Because I was having zero ctx, they told me to either call back when they started or come in at 10 am for a check, whichever came first. By 10 am we packed up and headed to the MW group. Got hooked to a monitor to check on kiddo and make sure she was doing well, all was good with her and I looked good as well, with the exception of elevated bp.

Since I was still having no ctx they sent me home with 2 ounces of castor oil and these little pills to take every couple of hours to dissolve under my tongue. Castor oil, fyi, is the most disgusting thing in the world, I will never ever take that again! This time I was given instructions to come back at 5 m if nothing was going on.

I had very light, but not really timeable ctx and so at 5 we went back in. Baby was still looking good but my BP was even higher than previously. So MW on duty decided that it was to high for me to to deliver at the birth center, they were having me go to hospital to do so, just in case things went south.

We got into the hospital room at 7:30 pm. Still having very light ctx and the nurse scratched me to 3cm. She put an iv in just in case and said she'd come to check me at 9, since by that time I would be 18 hours with broken waters, to see where I was at. If no progress, then I would begin Pitocin.

At 9, still nothing, so I was started on a low dose of Pitocin. I started getting fairly even but managable ctx soon after. I finally decided that they were painful enough that I wanted a little something in my IV to take off the edge. So at midnight they came in, and the nurse did a check first. She told me "Nope, no meds. But I can shut off the Pitocin". I had gone from 3 cm to 9 cm in just 3 hours.

I got to push for about 15 minutes before I found out I had a cervical lip and was told I had to stop pushing. That was the worst pain in my life. To go from pushing to forcing myself to not push, so fucking hard.

But it did me good and about 20 minutes later I was allowed to push. At 1:38 a.m on June 27th, just 6 hours after getting into my room, Amelia Winter was born at 7 lb 9oz and 21.5 in long. I was so happy I got to do it epi-free like I wanted and even had a MW from TBC there with me the whole time I pushed. And I only needed one stitch which was nice. She was born just 4 days before her due date.

I really have to mention how incredible my hubs was. He stayed calm and collected when I really thought he would be freaking out and nervous. He did counter pressure which helped the terrible back labor. The TBC had a MW at the hospital and her and my mom were very encouraging when I was so focused and hubs was helping me through a ctx.

I am so excited to do it again in feb!

Edit- b/c words are hard, y'all.

[alwaysnc4me]

dawnfire, back labor is horrific. That's all I had. I feel your pain!!!!!

[rlb]

OOOOOOOOOOooooo I love reading these!! They make me so teary, and sometimes a little frustrated! It's shocking to me how much is true that I researched; that it's often times more about convenience for the doctor/staff then the mother (watch: The Business of Being Born). I'm so happy I went in educated (as much as you can be lol) and with a (flexible if need be) birth plan. I didn't read any of these at the Bump, because there were too many and I hadn't connected with members like am I now. It's much more speshul a year later. I didn't write out mine on TD, because I knew no one would care about a creepy lurker, so this is going to be my first time doing it. It's probably going to be long, because I'm probably going to save it.

My EDD was 7/19 and my mom was flying home from China for the birth, so we had to take our best guess at when she should schedule her flight. She finally scheduled to arrive on Monday night (7/14) based on my measuring big (which was not surprising considering the hugeness of my DH 6'3, 250#). I was so nervous I was going to go over like a lot of FTMs do, but I also felt strongly about not being induced, so I was apprehensive about her coming so early. Well, Mommies know best. She flew into Grand Rapids, which is 90 miles south of me, late at night and drove up to see me the morning of the 15th.

(Side story - I was starting to feel squirrelly on the 14th and decided to work from home. I dialed into our monthly all-staff meeting remotely because I had a section to cover and TL;DR - I dropped an F bomb at DH because I thought I was muted....and wasn't. Luckily I had hormones to place the blame on, because they really didn't know about my potty mouth. Oops)

The morning of the 15th I worked from home again, so I was able to see Mom right when she came up. At that time it felt like I was starting my period, light and very low cramps and an achy back. Nothing that felt like what I had imagined a contraction to be. I popped into work for a bit and we went to dinner, and by then I started feeling like the cramps were coming in waves, so I started timing them on an app. After dinner I banged out some more work because I had a feeling it was not going to be long. My last email was sent at 10:30p. My baby was born at 9:37a.

I labored at home throughout the night without really knowing if I was truly in labor. Don't get it twisted, it was painful, but I didn't know just how painful it was going to get being my first time and all. Since my plan was to have as few interventions as possible, I told myself if I couldn't handle contractions then obviously I wouldn't be able to deliver without medication. At times I was pissed at DH for sleeping while I was having contractions but hindsight it was probably for the better, because he probably would have irritated me with how useless he would have been. At about 4:30/5 I woke him up and told him I wasn't comfortable being so far from the hospital (45 mins away) and at least wanted to be checked.

(Another side story: I had been telling him to drive gently for the days leading up because I was so full of baby that even turning corners and slowing down too quickly was hurting me. So he drove very gently to the e-way, where he proceeded to go 65 mph in a 70. I let him know - as gently as I could considering - it was okay to put the lead down, because it was a smooth straight shot from there!!! Silly man!)

We got the hospital at 6a, my contractions were about 4 mins apart and I was at 5 cm so I was admitted. An hour (!!) later I was at 9 cm, so the nurse said she was going to call in the doc. This, being my first rodeo and all, caused me to say "so you're telling me I'm going to have a baby before lunch??" She said "dear, you're going to have a baby before breakfast!" Holy reality!!! I had that huge jump in dilation, but then labor stalled out a little, so I sent my mom and DH to go get breakfast (but really so I could concentrate with the nurse since I tend to focus on how others are feeling rather than myself.) We did two "practice" pushes and then I felt something pop out of me!!! Nurse was all "stop! stop! stop!" and I was all "omg is that the baby!!!" LOL! It was just my sac since my water hadn't broken yet, but that put things quickly into motion.

From there I was able to have my baby unmedicated with an episiotomy (Doc was respecting my wishes, but she thought I was going to tear and at that point I told her I didn't care if she used a chainsaw just GET THE BABY OUT OF ME). I was so proud that DH watched the whole thing. His plan was to focus on my face since he's not big on the gore, but the doctor encouraged him to watch. Not going to lie - I thought I was going to die and seriously questioned my judgement when pushing. I obviously knew she wasn't just going to pop out, but I had no idea the amount of pressure she would have on my pelvis between contractions. There was no break or relief, so I pushed a lot even without contractions.

All in all it was a wonderful experience, and baby V was born at 9:37a on 7/16 (3 days early) weighing 6 pounds, 14 oz (waaaaaay smaller than expected) and 20 inches long (13 cm head - you bet your ass I took note of that - lol). I got my skin to skin, delayed clamping, and nursing right away as planned.

It's bananas that all if this was taking place exactly a year ago.

[Liv]

rlb, what a whirlwind birth! I loved seeing the picture of your little newborn girl, too!!!! *swoon*

[Deleted]

Jul 7, 2015 21:12:06 GMT -5 @zerozeroone said:

I woke up at 12:30 AM and realized my water had broken. I had to pee so I figured I hadn't wet the bed haha. I was unprepared because I was supposed to be induced (GD). DH and I decided to watch The Office until my contractions were closer together. We went to the hospital around 3:30 AM when they were 4 minutes apart.

They took us up to L&D but there were no open beds. I'm still convinced it was because there had just been a super moon. My OB was already there delivering other babies. I was at about a 6 and wanted my epidural. I missed the memo that you need IV fluids before getting an epi so I didn't get it until I was at a 9. I would have told the nurse to hurry the f up and put the IV in already. Fortunately it worked in time.

I hung out until it was time to push and only had to push for a little less than 20 minutes. At 8:17 AM my little boy was born. 6 lbs 8 oz and 19". Overall labor was pretty short and easy. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. And then I got severe pre-e and HELLP a few days later. I think the universe was giving me a break to prepare me for what was to come.

I missed that memo too. Had to wait an extra hour to get the epi. Fuck that shit!

[rlb]

Cdnfroggy,over 10 at 37 weeks?? Holy shit!

[littlemissmarla]

Cdnfroggy, Haha omg! A 10lber!

[anotherdreamer]

Mine was fairly straightforward.

I went in for my scheduled c-section in the morning at 38w4d. We were told that we should be on time so DH took his xanax (for anxiety) but then we got pushed back several hours due to emergencies. DH's meds kicked in so napped on the couch while we waited.

We finally went back, I got numbed and prepped really quickly. DH came in and they started, baby A came out and I felt instant relief and could breath easier as baby B moved down from my ribs. Baby B was pulled out two minutes later. A did not scream until they were cleaning her up, B was screaming up a storm and rooting at the air. They were 7lb2oz and 7lb. I got to see them, DH held them as they put me back together, then he pushed them to recovery in their cribs as I was pushed out.

In recovery they gave me pitocin and pushed on me, there was a little concern over my bleeding I think. They let me hold both girls, then helped me latch them to nurse. DD1 had some issues but DD2 dove right in. When they were done they sent us to my postpartum room with more pitocin and the girl's were under the heat lamps for just a bit as they had a little trouble maintaining body temp.l

[Liv]

anotherdreamer, I think it's so amazing how each girl was SO distinct right from the get-go!

[gingergrant]

Do you know I still haven't written mine down? I couldn't bear to relive it, but it's been a year so I'll try since I've enjoyed reading everyone else's.

I went a week and a half past my due date, except for being ginormous and rashy, I felt good. At one of my biweekly appointments, it looked like my amniotic fluid was very low, so the DR sent me over to the hospital to have them check it. After waiting there several hours, they finally took me back, checked, and said that I had virtually no fluid, so immediate induction it was. Except that no one got anything started for another 6 hours or so.

I never felt my water break or noticed any kind of wetness. They said sometimes you can just start reabsorbing the fluid.

Over night they had me on whatever drugs induce labor, but even though I could feel my stomach tightening and could see the contractions on the monitor, I didn't feel any pain. Around midnight, LO went into distress twice. The first time the nurse fixed it by hitting my stomach and having me switch position. Then they gave me an epidural so that they could do an amnio-transfusion. His heart rate dropped into the 40s but they got it back up and had me lie in a strange, flopped over on my side position so that LO wouldn't be crushing his cord. I stayed in this position for 6-7 hours and slept some.

In the morning they told me I was in active labor, I felt not good, but no pain (thanks epidural!) And I was still in this terrible position. I asked around 8AM if it would be safe to try another position, and they felt since I had been stable for so many hours that it probably would. Wrong.

The nurse helped me move. Baby's heartrate immediately crashed. DH was sent to the daddy corner. 10 people all around me. I could hear DH sobbing in the corner.

Someone reached up inside me and held LO up off his cord. They wheeled me to the OR (I think the hand was in me the whole time? I know it was in there again in the OR). As they wheeled me past DH he says that I told him that I needed him to man up and that made him feel even worse. I don't remember that, but it totally sounds like me.

After I was transferred to the table they had me lay with my arms out and told me not to move. So I focused all my energy on not moving. In retrospect I'm sure I must have been restrained in some way, but at the time I didn't think I was, so I was trying to just remain as still as possible. DH came in the room, tried to talk to me, but I couldn't respond, I needed all my energy focused on being still so they could get this baby out fast. DH said later that my lack of response scared him the most, he thought I was catatonic and was concerned that I was going to die, too.

They had LO out less than five minutes after I got on the table. My first view of him was someone carrying him upside down by his ankles from me over to a counter on the side of the room. DH went over there to LO. The surgeon left a length of cord for him to cut, and he did. They did whatever they do to new babies and then DH and LO went to the recovery room. I didn't see LO until I went to the recovery room myself later.

After they were out of the room, the doctors were closing me up and I became very cold and started shaking badly. I told the anesthetist that I was going into shock now. People started covering me in warm blankets. I don't remember anything else until I was in the recovery room.


In the recovery room, DH and LO were there with my favorite nurse. They gave me LO to hold. The nurse patted my arm and said, "see, we hardly ever lose babies any more." I handed LO to DH and then threw up.

[Liv]

wow, gingergrant, you're so strong!

[hurricanerek]

gingergrant thank you for sharing. I hope writing it out hasn't been too difficult for you. I couldn't imagine having been in your position.

[honeybee434]

Oh, wow, gingergrant, I don't know that I would want to relive that, either! Major props to you for getting through all of that!

[littlemissmarla]

gingergrant, Wow thank you for sharing your story! Glad that you and your LO came out of that well!