Birth Stories

[blackmamba]

I was scheduled to be induced at 5pm when I was 41 weeks. That morning around 6am I sat on the couch and leaked a lot of liquid. Called the doctor and they told me to go to L&D. Got to the hospital around 7am and since I was scheduled for that evening and it looked like I was leaking fluid they admitted me even though I was only 2cm. They started me on pit right away and I'm a baby and got the epi shortly after. Long story short, I progressed really slowly. They tried everything to get things moving, but I never got beyond 6 or 7 cm. At one point, the epi fell out. That sucked. Around 10pm the doctor started talking about a Csection. I asked to see how things went overnight. Nothing changed overnight and I was getting a lot of pressure to get the csection so I agreed. DS was born at 41+1 at 6:46am. 8lbs 7oz 20 inches.

A resident was managing my pain meds before the csection. I tried to tell her to give me all the drugs because I have a low tolerance for pain and a strange tolerance for drugs, but she thought I was nuts and didn't listen. During the csection I was freezing, felt like I was going to puke, and felt everything. The anesthesiologist was great and listened to me and gave me all the drugs. If I have to do this again, I'm demanding the anesthesiologist does everything.

DS has swallowed a bunch of meconium, so he went to the NICU with H. I didn't get to see him until late that night which was disappointing.

The next day, I finally got to eat and shower and try to walk around, but by night time I wasn't feeling great. The following day, I started vomiting and having diarrhea. CAT scan showed an obstructed bowel and stool sample confirmed C. DIFF. I had to be moved to a room with a private bathroom and was pretty much quarantined. There were strict protocols for anyone entering/exiting my room. DS couldn't come in for the first 5 or 6 days, but eventually then would wheel him in so I could see him for a few minutes. I wasn't allowed to hold him or nurse until the day we were discharged, 10 days after he was born.

I'm glad I'm the one that was sick instead of DS, and compared to other issues/complications I know my experience wasn't that bad, but it was still traumatizing. I had this whole plan of giving birth and having skin to skin contact and bonding and nursing right away. For 10 days I felt like a failure and was terrified. By the time I was able to connect with DS, I didn't have the same support that most moms have right after giving birth in the hospital. H used all of his paternity leave while I was in the hospital, and our parents don't live near by, so once we went home I felt overwhelmed. It was really hard to start nursing after he had been bottle fed for the first week and a half, but we did it with the help of a great LC and nipple shields.

I still can't help questioning things and wish I had asked to be allowed to continue the induction a bit longer. I also wonder what would have happened if they had let me go past 41 weeks. This time around, I'm having a lot of conversations with my doctor in hope that I can feel as though I'm advocating for myself and making the best decisions. I'm really hoping I go into labor and can try for a vbac.

[August Blooms]

My story is similar to cougarette

My 38 week midwife appointment was on Tuesday, she check the baby's positioning and thought she may have flipped breach since something felt off and referred me for an ultrasound.

Thursday I have my ultrasound and then a massage scheduled. I figure I'm going to make it to my massage since I didn't think she was breach and could feel her bum by my ribs like usual. The tech is being weird and calls another one in. They call my midwife and then tell me I have no amniotic fluid and to go to my midwife office. I go there, they do the heart rate and movement check and everything's good and send me to the hospital to get checked out. I go get an ultrasound and they say amniotic fluid is low and I'm 1cm dilated and my cervix is soft so time to induce. They decide to insert a foley bulb into my cervix to help it dilate, it was so painful I almost kicked the doctor. They sent me home around 8pm and tell us to call back at 8am. It is very uncomfortable, I pour myself a small glass of wine and have a bath before bed.

Friday
Call at 8, no beds.
Midwife calls at 11 to check in, says they are really busy.
Call back at noon, they say to come in. We take our time, get a car wash some lunch. Get there around 1:30. They check things out at triage and tell us to walk around for a bit. I have some contractions on my own and around 3:30 I get a sandwich just in case I can't eat. We go back to triage around 4, they tell us they may have a bed. A lady in active labor comes in and she gets it. I basically wait around until 11:30 pm for a bed.

Saturday
Now in my room, they hook me up to an IV and antibiotics because I was GBS positive. I try to sleep, doctor with the biggest hands ever breaks my water. Monitor keeps slipping and the nurse who is 32 weeks pregnant just decides to chill in my room until the end of her shift at 7am.

Posted too soon.

[August Blooms]

Oh forgot to add they start me on pitocin too. New nurse comes it and is super bitchy like what have you been doing all night. I was like did you even read anything from my chart from yesterday. I was trying to get some sleep. She was all bitchy when she found out I had been transferred from midwife care, she ordered my husband to get me food and to start walking after I ate. I started walking feeling the contractions more and more. I was at the max amount of pitocin (the bitch nurse didn't bother to tell me) around 12:30 and the contractions were getting strong and very painful. They were lasting a minute with a minute break non stop for 10 minutes before I requested the epidural. They came to check me and said I was only 2 cm DH was all like you can do it! I wanted to kill him. They got a second opinion and the other nurse said I was "3 cm " I think I was still 2 but she could tell how bad the contractions were. Of course the anesthesiologist was in emergency surgery and unavailable. They were about to get the nitrous oxide for me when he was available. I got the epi and it was amazing. The nurse waited forever to put the catheter in and when she did it cause DD to go into distress because when my bladder emptied it made more room for her to descend. An hour later she went into distress again, of course DH was eating dinner down the hall. He came into my room with a whole ton of people debating if they should prep for a c section. Luckily everything stabilized and I was able to sleep from 6 to 9ish. They work me up and turned down the epi because they said it would time to push soon.

Sunday
Soon was around 12:30. The epi was gone and I felt everything. DD was born at 1:57 AM 6lbs 2 oz and no tearing for me.

We were released from the hospital on Monday. Went back on Tuesday because her bilirubin levels were high before discharge but not high enough to put her under the lights. Tuesday she was admitted back in for jaundice and released Wednesday afternoon.

[gamergirl]

I think contractions with DS started shortly after the fireworks show on the 4th of July, the day before my due date. I remember feeling sort of off after we got home, like I was having period cramps. I took a shower and tried going to bed, but couldn't get comfortable so I decided to get up and start timing contractions. After a couple hours, and (TMI)horrible diarrhea, I was pretty sure it was time to go in. After getting all the bags together by the door I woke up H and we drove to the ER. I was at a 3, so they kept me in triage for an hour until I finally reached a 4, then admitted me (they wanted to send me home if I didn't progress to a 4 in the next hour). I was hurting pretty bad, so I told them to have my epidural waiting for me by the time we got to the room. It was pretty smooth sailing after that. I was GBS+, so I needed an IV for that as well. I reached a 10 before noon (like 5 hours after being admitted), but he was apparently laying a little funny in there, so they had me lay on my side with a peanut ball for a few hours while laboring down. Eventually it was time to start pushing. I didn't pay much attention to the clock, but I think it only took about an hour. DS was born at 4:55pm on his due date, 7lbs 15oz & 19 inches long. I had one minor tear that took one little stitch. Overall I'm really happy with how things went, and pray for another delivery exactly like it.

[britt]

So the hospital I delivered DD at (will be same for LO) was very pushy on all the things to get my labor going, and get me out of there ASAP, it was so frustrating! .. like I told them I didn't want anything including pitocin, cytotech , meso anything and they would try to give me all of the things, luckily my body ended up going into labor on its own right before they were going to intervene .. I did a ton of research and also had a super knowledgeable Doula who kept me well informed, she would help me know all my options and what each thing meant ! Just mentioning this for anyone on the fence about a doula and also those considering a medfree birth!


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[thatgirlrachel]

I finally have time to play here. My labor was very quick and easy with DD. I was 39+6 when I woke up at 3am feeling like my water was slowly breaking. Went back to sleep, woke up at 4am due to extreme cramping in my stomach (what I now know are contractions). At this point I felt sure my water was breaking and that I was having contractions, around 10 minutes apart, so I called the on-call midwife. With her instruction, I went to the hospital and in triage they confirmed I was having contractions and that my water had broken. I dilated pretty consistently at a rate of 1 cm per hour after that. I got my first epi at 4 cm. That one did not take, but they made me wait two hours, so I was at a 6 when I got the "real" epi. I kept dilating right on track and started pushing around 2:40pm. DD was born at 2:59pm. So from the first sign of my water breaking to when DD was born was almost exactly 12 hours. I hope and pray my delivery with this baby will be just as smooth.

Edit for words.

[duskymonkey]

Well, our internet wasn't functioning yesterday afternoon so I had time to go type this up! and got some sewing done as well.

Ironically I carried DS until 41 weeks with no issues whatsoever and had to be induced. I worked right up to Friday with induction scheduled at 5am the following Monday. By around 6isham I was hooked up to Pit, Fentanyl and an IV with antibiotics for GBS at which point I was only barely dilated. Go figure! Things progressed slowly but surely and by 11am I was dying of thirst! and was having consistent contractions by which time I was glad to just lay in bed gripping the sides everytime a contraction hit. I cant remember when but my OB came in and broke my water and soon after that contractions got stronger and I decided to get an Epi and apparently I was an 8 by then. Around 1pm I think, I was asked to push and the nurse was like we’ll definitely have a baby by 2-3pm. 5pm came around and DS’s head just wasn’t coming out. My OB had been checking me and she said I really haven’t been progressing for the last hour and she said she could feel DS’s head to be a little crooked - she could feel just 1 ear and not the other. Anyways it was up to me to continue. By then I was already exhausted and I was afraid that DS would get distressed since he was at this point essentially stuck in my birth canal and we didn’t want an emergency situation so we decided to do a CS. A couple of hours later, DS was pulled out and I cried tears of joy when I heard him cry. It was just surreal for me. He also apparently had a large head to body ratio so that didn’t help lol! We were team green as well back then but I was so sure it was a boy towards the end of my pregnancy. My BP was also very low after the CS and I was shivering uncontrollably. It was another couple of hours later that I stopped shivering and was able to sit up to hold DS by which time I was totally exhausted but so awestruck at this little tiny pink bundle in my arms. So cliche but it really was such an incredible experience and such a privilege to be able to be a mother. I never knew what it meant until I heard him cry for the 1st time. Everything just change instantly…hard to describe but I think all you 2T moms know what I am talking about. My recovery seemed difficult and I had a hard time not being able to move around much. I also had a lot of trouble BF DS and my milk didn’t show up till 12 days later! I was literally nursing, formula and pumping round the clock for 2 weeks and had a break down at the end of it out of sheer exhaustion with so much anxiety and pain. DS somehow managed to be a half and half baby. I was only able to produce half of what he needed. 3 years later I am still amazed with how he came into our lives.

[curmudgeon]

Is it weird I'm a little sad I'll probably never feel a contraction?

With DS they did a planned cs at 40w1d due to head::shoulder ratio. His shoulders were so wide they thought they may have to crack a collarbone to get him out. I didn't have any labor signs and he hadn't dropped yet. He came out at 9lb 5oz.

With this baby I'll have a repeat c section around 39 weeks, so chances are I still won't have any labor signs. That's the only thing I'm a little bummed about.

[littleowl913]

At 34 +1 I felt pressure but I thought my bladder was full. I woke up like every hour at night trying to relieve the pressure. when I woke up for good in the morning I had bad cramps. I actually laid down on the sofa for a bit but then I decided to go to work. In my mind I was having Braxton-Hicks. I was sitting at my desk googling Braxton-hicks and texting my friend who just had her baby about it. Around 11am I decided I was going to finish reviewing one more document and then go home because when the pain would come back, it was pretty painful but only in my back. I have never heard anyone talking about contractions in their back so still didn't think I was in labor. I went to the bathroom and I saw a little bit of blood. I tried not to panicked. I saw my aunt in the hallway (she works in the same office building) and I told her I needed her to drive me either to the OB or the hospital so get her car. OB said come to the office and DH met me there.

By the time I got to the office, the pain was pretty intense in my back. OB said I'm in labor and 2 cm dilated and I needed to go to the hospital since DS was breached. They may send me home but be prepared to have this baby today. By the time I got up to L&D I was 4cm and they rushed me to get the OR ready. The doc is reading me all the legal disclosures and I see DH's face totally calm. I knew he had no idea what was going on. Finally it clicked and he's like we're having this baby NOW?? They asked us all these questions and we were like I don't know! We thought we had more time! So I was in the hospital for not more than half an hour before DS was born. The nurses took DH's phone to take pics of DS, showed me him for 2 seconds and whisked him away to the NICU. When I was in recovery I told DH to go to the NICU to be with DS. I actually didn't see him for another 5 hours or so, which sucked ass. MY BP was high so I stayed in the hospital for 7 days and DS stayed a total of 14 days in order for him to gain weight.

I feel like I missed out on the whole labor thing because I didn't know I was in labor and everything happened so fast. So that's why I want to try a vaginal birth but people, including my OBs, look at me like I'm crazy when I say this.