I posted a couple days ago about being admitted to the hospital with PROM. So here's the jist of what happened this week.
Monday early AM (sometime after 1AM) I started leaking pink fluid. I spent the night questioning if it could be amniotic fluid or was just watery cervical fluid. I decided to call the on call midwife at 6AM. She encouraged me to keep an eye on it, but due to a snow storm and terrible driving conditions she encouraged me to stay home and hope for labor to begin if it was in fact my water breaking. I called to check in later in the day with the new midwife on call and she too encouraged me to stay home and wait it out, but wanted to see me first thing in the morning if no change. I contracted mildly all day and night, but no significant change from the unpatterned but frequent contractions I'd had all week. Tuesday AM we drove the hour to the hospital birth center and they admitted me before even checking (midwife said she heard a 'good story' and was positive I had a slow leak, she was right). We started the day with natural induction techniques and really focused on nipple stim in the shower and with the breast pump. While it did increase contractions I still wasn't having kicking into any real labor pattern. By the end of the day we decided my body needed something more and they started me on pitocin. I was terribly disappointed because this meant letting go of some of the things I wanted. I had to get an IV, be on the monitors, and have the intervention of the pitocin. I am so happy that I made the choice to birth with this team and at this hospital. They were very clear that the use of pitocin was to mirror a typical labor pattern and not to jump start me into too intense a labor. We started at a 2 and worked up every hour to give me time to adjust to the new strength in contractions. At this point I hadn't had a cervical check (because I didn't want them and because of the increase in infection rate with leaking fluid). I was only at 1cm 60% effaced...very very disappointing after all the bloody show and contractions! By 4AM I'd been laboring pretty heavily on the pitocin for 12 hours. I was checked again and only slightly more dilated and softer. I was losing focus, so tired I thought I might pass out (hadn't slept in 2 days) and I asked for some nubain to take the edge off. I am super sensitive to meds and between that and using my hypnobabies techniques I pretty much slept for the next 3 hours. When I woke up I was super confused because my contractions were stopped. Apparently the new midwife on had decided that this wasn't working and stopped pitocin. She was right because my labor stalled right out. My body had never taken over and worked with the drug. Plain and simple I wasn't ready to be in labor (stupid PROM).
This midwife changed gears and encouraged me to try mesoprosil (however it is spelled) which is basically cervadyl. I decided it was worth a shot and was definitely not ready to give up on vaginal birth. I was encouraged at this point to sleep while I could. They took me off the monitors and blocked my IV (again, very thoughtful of the fact that I hadn't wanted these things). I was able to sleep pretty much all day. At 4PM we started back up the pitocin and this time was definitely different. My cervix was at a good 3 1/2 and 80% effaced. This time the pit was started at a 2 again and instantly I was where I was last time when at a 14! My contractions picked up with intensity and immediately patterned and just plain felt more effective. Within 6 hours (not exact sure of the times) I was 6cm. I was losing focus once again and asked for another shot of nubain. Again I fell asleep. I remember being conscious of my contractions and breathing through them, using hypnobabies affirmations to open. When I 'woke up' I had an intense urge to push. I was checked for the final time (I think I only had 3 cervical checks total in the 2 days) and I was fully dilated and fully effaced! Ya! I pushed less than an hour...mostly on the toilet because it is where I felt more comfortable relaxing and opening. When she started crowning we moved to the bed and I squatted and used hands and knees for most of the time. I was afraid of the burning, thought I was tearing, but my midwife encouraged me that it was normal and I was not tearing. In the final few minutes baby's heart rate was climbing and my midwife calmly let me know it was time for Hannah to come out and to give it my all (I'd been working on breathing through pushes and not holding my breath to allow time to stretch). I gave it my all and she was born 2 pushes later. I could not believe how pink and perfect she was! So alert and calm. I certainly learned that you cannot plan and control everything, but I am truly happy with my birth team and how things worked out. I am very proud of my vaginal delivery, I worked really hard for it, and not at all upset for those shots of nubain because they made all the difference in helping me regain control.
Now I have a healthy and beautiful 8 lb, 21in girl to show for it!
We are staying for a full 48 hours to monitor signs of infection due to having broken water for more than 72 hours. It is pretty comfortable here so I am okay with that!
Ok, baby calls!
Monday early AM (sometime after 1AM) I started leaking pink fluid. I spent the night questioning if it could be amniotic fluid or was just watery cervical fluid. I decided to call the on call midwife at 6AM. She encouraged me to keep an eye on it, but due to a snow storm and terrible driving conditions she encouraged me to stay home and hope for labor to begin if it was in fact my water breaking. I called to check in later in the day with the new midwife on call and she too encouraged me to stay home and wait it out, but wanted to see me first thing in the morning if no change. I contracted mildly all day and night, but no significant change from the unpatterned but frequent contractions I'd had all week. Tuesday AM we drove the hour to the hospital birth center and they admitted me before even checking (midwife said she heard a 'good story' and was positive I had a slow leak, she was right). We started the day with natural induction techniques and really focused on nipple stim in the shower and with the breast pump. While it did increase contractions I still wasn't having kicking into any real labor pattern. By the end of the day we decided my body needed something more and they started me on pitocin. I was terribly disappointed because this meant letting go of some of the things I wanted. I had to get an IV, be on the monitors, and have the intervention of the pitocin. I am so happy that I made the choice to birth with this team and at this hospital. They were very clear that the use of pitocin was to mirror a typical labor pattern and not to jump start me into too intense a labor. We started at a 2 and worked up every hour to give me time to adjust to the new strength in contractions. At this point I hadn't had a cervical check (because I didn't want them and because of the increase in infection rate with leaking fluid). I was only at 1cm 60% effaced...very very disappointing after all the bloody show and contractions! By 4AM I'd been laboring pretty heavily on the pitocin for 12 hours. I was checked again and only slightly more dilated and softer. I was losing focus, so tired I thought I might pass out (hadn't slept in 2 days) and I asked for some nubain to take the edge off. I am super sensitive to meds and between that and using my hypnobabies techniques I pretty much slept for the next 3 hours. When I woke up I was super confused because my contractions were stopped. Apparently the new midwife on had decided that this wasn't working and stopped pitocin. She was right because my labor stalled right out. My body had never taken over and worked with the drug. Plain and simple I wasn't ready to be in labor (stupid PROM).
This midwife changed gears and encouraged me to try mesoprosil (however it is spelled) which is basically cervadyl. I decided it was worth a shot and was definitely not ready to give up on vaginal birth. I was encouraged at this point to sleep while I could. They took me off the monitors and blocked my IV (again, very thoughtful of the fact that I hadn't wanted these things). I was able to sleep pretty much all day. At 4PM we started back up the pitocin and this time was definitely different. My cervix was at a good 3 1/2 and 80% effaced. This time the pit was started at a 2 again and instantly I was where I was last time when at a 14! My contractions picked up with intensity and immediately patterned and just plain felt more effective. Within 6 hours (not exact sure of the times) I was 6cm. I was losing focus once again and asked for another shot of nubain. Again I fell asleep. I remember being conscious of my contractions and breathing through them, using hypnobabies affirmations to open. When I 'woke up' I had an intense urge to push. I was checked for the final time (I think I only had 3 cervical checks total in the 2 days) and I was fully dilated and fully effaced! Ya! I pushed less than an hour...mostly on the toilet because it is where I felt more comfortable relaxing and opening. When she started crowning we moved to the bed and I squatted and used hands and knees for most of the time. I was afraid of the burning, thought I was tearing, but my midwife encouraged me that it was normal and I was not tearing. In the final few minutes baby's heart rate was climbing and my midwife calmly let me know it was time for Hannah to come out and to give it my all (I'd been working on breathing through pushes and not holding my breath to allow time to stretch). I gave it my all and she was born 2 pushes later. I could not believe how pink and perfect she was! So alert and calm. I certainly learned that you cannot plan and control everything, but I am truly happy with my birth team and how things worked out. I am very proud of my vaginal delivery, I worked really hard for it, and not at all upset for those shots of nubain because they made all the difference in helping me regain control.
Now I have a healthy and beautiful 8 lb, 21in girl to show for it!
We are staying for a full 48 hours to monitor signs of infection due to having broken water for more than 72 hours. It is pretty comfortable here so I am okay with that!
Ok, baby calls!
Hannah!! Enjoy your babymoon
