Post by sosayweall on Aug 21, 2015 20:22:27 GMT -5
I found out three days before my due date(actually on an ultrasound) that DS was breech. I was offered to have a procedure to turn him but they didn't feel it was favorable because he was big(ended up 9lbs 5oz) and I was almost 40 weeks. We decided to do a scheduled c-section. It went really well, so well that I am not sure I want a VBAC. I am afraid of the complications, to be honest. I can't remember exactly when we picked his name but it was after we found out he was a boy.
Craziest part of my story was that we were having a terrible cold snap in MN and the day DS was born it was the coldest day in over a decade. All the local schools were closed, which was lucky since DH is a teacher. It was -60 degrees out when we left for the hospital and even with being in a good amount of pain I still remember my breath being taken away by how cold it was!
I remember that cold snap. Was your DS born the day that the Governor declared that all schools were to be closed due to the weather?
Craziest part of my story was that we were having a terrible cold snap in MN and the day DS was born it was the coldest day in over a decade. All the local schools were closed, which was lucky since DH is a teacher. It was -60 degrees out when we left for the hospital and even with being in a good amount of pain I still remember my breath being taken away by how cold it was!
I remember that cold snap. Was your DS born the day that the Governor declared that all schools were to be closed due to the weather?
He was! He was born on a Monday and schools were closed both Monday and Tuesday that week. Which worked out great because then my DH's one week paternity leave actually ended up being about 10 days (as he is a teacher). i felt bad for everyone who had to venture out to come to the hospital!
It was Sunday and DD was due in 5 days. We went to lunch with my parents. Came home and took a nap bc DH worked graveyard that night and I was fat/pregnant. I woke up at 3ish and when I stood up felt a pop and water. But not gushing. I wasn't sure if I peed myself or my water broke. So I laid on couch and got up and more gushing. Knew my water broke.
I let DH sleep til about 8. Then we left for hospital about 10pm. I was fine no real contractions. They really hit about midnight. I had terrible back labor. Contractions were coming super fast and I asked for epi and got one about 530am. I was 9.5 at that point and started pushing at 615 and she came out with a head full of red hair at 645 on our 2nd wedding anniversary. Immediately did skin to skin. Watched her inch towards my left breast ( which was her favorite boob through all our nursing relationship).
i liked my birth experience. This one I don't want to use epi just because I couldn't feel any pressure to push and it slowed my contractions way down. DH suggested her name randomly one night at about 5 months.
At 39+5 I had a midwife appointment that was booked in for 1pm so we decided to take my mom and my MIL, who had driven up, shopping and to lunch before DH and I attended the appointment. DH has a bad habit of leaving his phone at home and relying on me having mine. So we get to the midwife clinic at the hospital and are told the midwives are running behind by about an hour. I went to text MIL but my phone was dead, no biggie I thought. We walked around to the shopping centre across from the hospital because I couldn't sit still.
I finally got in to see my midwife and she's checking my blood pressure and asking all the questions they ask. I was starting to get some pretty wicked headaches but thought it was from all the extra activities I had done to get the house ready for both our mothers. My blood pressure came back through the roof. So she had me sit quietly for half an hour.
because my BP wasn't changing, they wanted me to check in over night. And because we were going through the public hospital my DH couldn't stay with me, but since I was checking in late he was allowed to come back after visiting hours to settle me in. As we were booking in, the on call OB asked me if I just wanted an induction, as things were looking I was showing the signs of preeclampsia and since I was so close to my due date he had no problem ok'ing the induction order, and honestly by that stage I was just ready. So off DH Went to grab my hospital bag and let our mothers know.
They started out with the paper tab behind the cervix, which burned like hell. That was put in at about 7:30pm on the 26th. I started having mild sporadic contractions. I was to try and sleep and at 7:30am we would attempt to pop the waters if I was for along enough. But nothing happened, and I had no sleep. So they inserted the gel at 8am and I was told to walk walk walk. I took every flight of stairs I could and contracted all along the way. Holy hell not fun. I went back in at noon and had another lot of gel because I was only at 1cm, and told to walk some more. Walk walk walk. I memorised that damn hospital. I was checked again at 4pm and made it to 2cm. My midwife said she could reach the waters and could pop them, great lets do that! HOLY CHRIST ON A CRACKER let's never ever ever do that again. That was seriously the worst pain I had ever been in in my life. My water came out bright green and they warned me that he had pooed and may have swallowed it and we needed to go on pictocin to get him out. Pictocin started at 430-5pm. Contractions were so intense on that shit.
I wanted all natural and used gas and air as much as I could but I demanded an epidural as I had not anticipated that pictocin to rock me so hard. Epidural was administered at 730pm, I think. I was pretty exhausted up by then. I didn't realise however that when the epidural came it took over so much that I didn't feel any contractions at all. I didn't realise the pictocin was over stimulating my uterus and I was having nonstop contractions with no breaks between. So they lowered the pictocin drip in the hopes my body would take over. But it didn't. By 10pm I had only reached 3-4cm. That's when all these alarms started screaming. baby's HB dropped to 14bpm. I had three midwives and the head OB rush into the room. They inserted an internal monitor and rocked me back and forth to see if he had squished his cord or something. His HB went up again but dropped two more times after that. He had to come out.
My midwife team was amazing and helped prep me for an emergency CS. They stayed with me even though I had to go the medical route and had an OB come in and talk me through all the risks and sign the waivers. I was shaking and so upset and scared. CS was the thing I fought hardest against my entire pregnancy. I had my spinal upped and my mom came in theatre with me. My DH has a horrible fear of surgery and operations and couldn't come in. It was a surreal experience because I could see the reflection above me and I couldn't look away. My body started reacting to the anaesthesia and I had to be strapped down to stop convulsing. The team started taking bets on whether baby would be born before midnight. He wanted to stay stuck up there and after lots of pulling and tugging he came out at 12:06am, 29hours after starting induction. 9lbs7oz and very long. He looked so cranky with the world. My mom went with him while the cleaned me up and she got to cut the cord and everything, DH was passed out somewhere in the recovery room.
After that long ass story, I went in with a list of six boys names. 5 of mine and 1 of DH's. And our one girl name just in case. After three days I still couldn't pick which name I felt fit him. So I gave in and let DH pick it. He of course chose his name choice and we used my dad's name as his middle name. My dad and I were very close and he passed away when I was 15. It's also a derivative of an Irish family name that's given to one male a generation and since my dad and brother have both passed on I wanted to keep the name in the family some how.
I'd like to try vbac but am totally fine with another CS. I do not ever, ever want my waters popped again.
PCOS / Hypothyroidism TTC - March 2009 BFP1 DS 06/2012 TTC - July 2013 BFP2 Due 03/2016, MMC 08/2015, Emergency D&C BFP3 Due 02/2017, MC 07/2016, Natural MC BFP4 Due 04/2017, Boy!
DD 1 was born at 38w4d. I went to my Ob for an nst, turns out I was in labor but wasn't having painful contractions. Since I didn't know I was in labor, I took my blood thinners in the morning. The anesthesiologist freaked me out with the extra risks of an epidural so I decided to go pain med free. That turned into a breakdown for me. I was admitted into the hospital at 11 AM and DD1 was born at 7:37 PM with about 10 pushes. I progressed really fast once I hit 6 cm so my doctor barely made it to the delivery. She weighed 7 lbs 15.9 oz. We went home a couple days later.
DD2 was born at 37w2d. I was feeling contractions throughout the night but they weren't super painful. I decided we better go to the hospital to get checked. We arrived a little after 4 AM and I was already 9.5 cm. They rushed me into a labor room where they asked if I wanted anything for the pain. I answered no but then asked if I could have something. They responded with "I'm sorry sweetie! You're too far dilated." I was wondering why they even asked me then. My second daughter was born at 4:48 AM with about 5 pushes. Her labor was such a rush! She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and thankfully was healthy. We went home the next day.
I'm hoping this next LO doesn't come any faster than DD2 because I'm not sure if I'd make it to the hospital in time!
Post by peanutmuse on Aug 22, 2015 18:41:53 GMT -5
My birth story was traumatic for me, so I won't go into too much detail. I was induced because my hypertension could no longer be controlled. After 67 hours of contractions every 2-3 minutes, I had not even dilated 1 cm. So I had a c/s.
We found out he was a boy on a Monday just after I was 20 weeks. We had a name picked after 20 minutes of discussion on Tuesday.
Post by ellewills618 on Aug 22, 2015 22:34:36 GMT -5
DS was due 3/27. On 2/21 I came home from work and had some excruciating pain in my abdomen. I thought they were contractions but I realize now it was my placenta separating from my uterus. I fell asleep on the couch, got up at 4 the next morning to pee and was bleeding.
Doc said go to L&D. They diagnosed a minor placental abruption and admitted me. I was dilated to 3 and contractions kicked in. I stalled at 4 cm for about 16 hours before I started dry heaving and got the epidural. Not two minutes later DS started having heart decelerations and the crash team came in to prep me for am emergency C-section.
They tried to place an internal monitor on DS and accidentally broke my water. Thank god they did because I started feeling loads of pressure. The nurse tried to blow me off but after the 4th time I asked to be checked they told me I was at 10 and if I could push him out in 5 minutes I could avoid the C. With the vacuum assist and episiotomy DS arrived at 1:27 am 2/23 at 35+3 and a had a 10 day NICU stay.
Post by creepyeyeball on Aug 23, 2015 16:41:14 GMT -5
All four of my deliveries have been so different.
With DS1 I went into labor at 37 weeks exactly. He was posterior and I was planning a nonmedicated hospital birth, but because of the back labor I ended up with an epidural. Total labor was about 17 hours long and I pushed for a little over two hours. He was 7lb. 10 oz.
With DS2 I was also planning a hospital birth. Went into labor at 40w6d. Total labor was about 7 hours and I only pushed twice. It was a piece of cake. No epidural. He was 8 lb. 11 oz.
Because the second one went so smoothly, I planned a home birth with DD1. Went into labor on my due date. Total labor was about 21 hours. She was also posterior and the pain was awful. I pushed for about 45 minutes. She was 7 lb. 10 oz.
Planned another assisted home birth with #4, but labor happened so fast that my midwives didn't make it in time and my DH and BFF had to deliver DD2. Total labor was just around 2 hours and I never even pushed. Water broke and I had this urge to breathe her down. She worked herself out after about 10 minutes. It was crazy. Oh, and I went into labor with her at 41w6d. She was 8 lb. 15 oz.
Last two were water births and I loved it, so I'm planning another one.
The only similarities between all of my births was that my water does not break until right before I deliver and that contractions usually begin between 10-11 pm. I've never gone into labor during the day. Usually I have a contraction where my water breaks and the baby is born within the next two contractions. The only other thing I've learned from my experiences is that the longer I go and the bigger the baby is, the easier my labor. I'll take a nine pounder that's two weeks overdue over a 7 lb. posterior baby two weeks before my due date every time!!! Posterior is awful!!!
creepyeyeball one of the midwives I saw with my first pregnancy was really into statistics and weird facts. She said most labours start/happen at night because as cavemen we were wired to birth while we were safe in our caves away from the predators. It's something that always stuck with me as cool.
PCOS / Hypothyroidism TTC - March 2009 BFP1 DS 06/2012 TTC - July 2013 BFP2 Due 03/2016, MMC 08/2015, Emergency D&C BFP3 Due 02/2017, MC 07/2016, Natural MC BFP4 Due 04/2017, Boy!
creepyeyeball one of the midwives I saw with my first pregnancy was really into statistics and weird facts. She said most labours start/happen at night because as cavemen we were wired to birth while we were safe in our caves away from the predators. It's something that always stuck with me as cool.
It makes sense.
For me it has always seemed like I don't relax until after the kids are in bed and I can finally put my feet up. It's like my body knows that it can finally begin the work without me having to worry about everything else. And even throughout labor, the more relaxed I remain, the more the contractions pick up. As soon as I start stressing about things outside of myself - where the kids are or worrying about how my husband is doing - my labor will stall and get all funky.
DS1: I started mat leave when I was 38 weeks. I had been walking around 3cm dilated, 100% effaced with DS1 pretty well engaged for like 2 weeks. Seriously, it felt like a bowling ball between my legs.
My first Monday off (38w3d), I got tons done for the nursery and had a pedicure. MH was working late. I made myself dinner and was just putting it on a plate around 8pm, when my water broke with a gush in the middle of my kitchen. I called MH and then OB, but we had been doing Bradley Method practice for weeks so I was just going to settle in to labor at home for quite a while -- first kid, I figured no rush.
By the time MH got home from work, I couldn't talk through contractions, and they were coming fast. We went back and forth, not wanting to be newb first timers rocking up to the hospital too early, but finally I said "let's go get checked, and if they send us home no harm, no foul."
I went into real labor in the car. I was absolutely silent, but MH said after he could tell I was working my ass off / sweating with a thousand yard stare -- it was basically one long contraction for the entire 45 minute ride to the hospital (thank goodness there was no traffic).
We arrive and I can't sit down. I honestly felt like I was sitting on the baby's head. We get up to L&D at about 11:30, and the OB is totally rolling his eyes at the newbie first time parents rushing to the hospital all dramatic and crazy. And then he checked me in triage and I was 10cm, they could visualize the baby's head and less than 45 minutes later with one vacuum assist I was holding Max in my arms for the first time. They did offer an epi before I started pushing but I was like "No way! I already made it to 10cm, let's get this thing done!" So no meds, just as we had hoped
DS2: Way scarier. I woke in the middle of the night on a Wednesday at 34w4d, and had a terrible feeling. I had a home doppler and tried to find DS2's heartbeat, which I eventually did, but it was not easy and seemed slower than normal. I had an OB appointment first thing the following day, mentioned it to her, and she put me on the monitor where we found that he was deceling every time I had contractions that I couldn't feel.
I ended up being admitted to the hospital that night with a fetal monitor where I stayed for 3 days -- his decels got worse and worse until eventually I could only lie on my left side in a very specific position without sending him into distress. I was going into labor on my own, but he wasn't tolerating it, so we made the early decision to have an urgent but non-emergency C section, which in hindsight was the absolute right call. J was born at 35w1d with awesome apgars, and the C section was completely great, with a very quick recovery afterwards.
Having gone through birth both ways -- the only "right" way to have a baby is the one that results in a baby being safe in your arms
Post by holidayarmadillo on Aug 24, 2015 15:08:40 GMT -5
First of all, I love birth stories. I avoided them like the plague when I was pregnant, but after birth I couldn't get enough of them!
Secondly, I still have my birth story saved on my phone, so this is easy!
I was due 7/11/14.
On Sunday (6/29), I woke up to bloody show when I went to the bathroom. This spurred me to spend the rest of Sunday nesting and getting all the last minute things finished for the baby. Around 3 pm I had an isolated contraction and then I had another as I was getting ready for bed. I slept for a few hours and then woke up 3 am on Monday with more regular contractions. They were about 30 seconds long and 8 minutes apart.
Around 10 am the contractions started picking up, 45 seconds long, 5-6 minutes apart. We got ready to go to go to the hospital, but by 11 the contractions had almost stopped. For the next couple of hours I only had 2-3 contractions per hour, so I thought that it had been false labor. After a walk and some bouncing on my fitness ball, the contractions picked back up. By 3:30 pm they were 3-4 minutes apart and 45-50 seconds long, so we decided to head for the hospital.
When we got there, there was a woman delivering in triage! Anyways, they checked me and I was 3 cm and 80% effaced. After an hour of monitoring, I was still 3 cm, but 100% effaced. They had me walk around the third floor of the hospital for an hour and checked me again. At that point I was "a cheap 4" but it was enough to admit me!
I labored a bit longer in L&D, and things got more intense, so I requested the epidural. Which was awesome and the process of getting it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought. It dropped my blood pressure (80/40) so they had to get iv fluids in me quickly. Between the low BP and the cold fluids, I spent the next hour shivering. I had to flip from side to side to keep the epidural working on both sides, but it never completely took.
This time line is a bit fuzzy, but when I was progressed to 7 or 8 cm, they broke my water. When they did, the baby dropped so quick they couldn't find his heart beat. The doctor got tense and another doctor was called and I was terrified until they inserted a scalp electrode into the baby's head and we could hear the heartbeat again.
I felt incredible pressure and knew it was time to start pushing. The (awesome) nurses were helping me push while lying on my side. I had to have oxygen between the contractions because the baby's heart rate kept dropping. The burning and pressure and pain of pushing was so intense, and my epidural hadn't completely taken, especially being on my side. I just wanted the baby out. After about a half hour of pushing they called the doctors in and made me stop pushing until they got there. A couple more pushes and Ethan was born on 7/1 at 4:34 am. 7 lbs 9.5 oz, 21.5 inches. The relief of him being born and healthy was so so great.
He was put right on my chest and latched and fed right away for 25 minutes while the doctors stitched up my tearing. I could feel the stitching, so they gave me local anesthetic (talk about a place you don't want needles...). We were brought to a room in Mother and Baby at 7:30 am and I was so tired that I had to use all my energy to not fall asleep while the nurse(?) explained what was going to happen and how to order food, etc. We stayed overnight in the hospital and were discharged by noon the following day.
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