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[g&a]

Thought it'd be fun to read birth stories from some of the mamas here who've done this before.

here's the link to my first:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/560662/the-birth-of-ailsa-mae

it's really long, summary is that we had a c-section due to breech presentation.  We felt uninformed and misinformed and disillusioned in the end.  I'm also learning that it was a very rough recovery compared to typical (though no complications).

Birth #2 was a VBAC - induced at 36 weeks due to low fluid.  Beautiful quick birth (1 hour active labour).  I can't find the story right now, will link to it when I find it.  V is for Victory. (yes, induced VBAC 4 weeks early!  I think I avoided another c-section by a hair.) 

Needless to say I'm hoping for another VBAC again.  It really is such an empowering thing.  I kind of envy the women who have uncomplicated births and pregnancies - for whom it is no big deal - but I can safely say that I am a stronger woman because of what I have gone through.  Everything happens for a reason, you know.

your turn.

[dayiscoming2006]

Romania hospital birth (annoying/maddening)

Unassisted birth of DD (happy)

[SunnyMuffin]

I may have it posted on the bump.com somewhere but I just made it a better chronological version because i'm nuts like that, I dont blog or anything and I dont have it on a website.

[g&a]

oh wow, Romania really sounds like a different world.  Incredible story.

[g&a]

SunnyMuffin- You can post it in the birth stories forum and then link to it here.  Or just put it in this thread if you don't want it there.  I'd love to hear about it.

[SunnyMuffin]

Ok. I'm still in the process of reading the ones that have been posted because I have a 16 month old  tearing up my house

Heres mine.. I dont feel good or bad about it.  It was so so.  Could have been worse

July 26, 2011:  I had a BPP (ultrasound) & NST at 41.5 weeks which showed placental calcification and an estimated wt of 9lbs 5 oz but everything else was okay, my midwife kept asking what I wanted to do (I kind of wanted to be induced but felt dumb asking), so we finally set a tentative induction date for 42 weeks just.in.case. nothing happened.  I was emotional, feeling sorry for myself and thought for sure I'd have a baby by now

Friday July 29, 42 weeks: Nothing happened by then so I went in at 9am for cervidil.  Got sent home afterwards for it to kick in. I started having some contractions at 9pm that night (12 hours later), by 11pm they were 2-3 min apart but still not that painful. I stayed up all night and bounced/paced around because it hurt more to lay down.  

6am Saturday morning: I finally called my mw and she told us to come in.  It was a 40 min drive to the hospital but it didnt suck that bad, I *thought* these contractions were horrible, but really.. they were nothing.

9am:  A full 24 hours after the cervidil.  I was still only 1-2 cm dilated and the contractions were mild and not doing anything so I was started on pitocin

12pm:  Still at 2cm so they broke my water which was pretty much the most horrible thing I've ever endured. The OB was doing an internal when all of a sudden I heard him ask for the "amnio-hook" and I knew what was up.. but I dont recall him telling me he was breaking my water.  Things got soo bad after this, my midwife asked how I felt about an epidural and I basically jumped on it. The hour from when they broke my water to when I got the epidural was the worst ever and I wanted to die. I tried laughing gas through a mask during this time and it just made me dizzy and I found it really hard to suck the gas out.  

1:30pm:  I got the epi placed and things were much better afterwards, even though there was still a big window of pain on my left side.  The nurses kept turning me from side to side to try to even it out, and the anesthiolosist came back like 3 times to give me more boluses (topping it off), so it finally worked in the end, but I was SOO limp.. I couldnt even feel the urge to push, or feel any contractions or anything.  It kind of sucked actually. They told me I couldnt eat or drink once the epi was in but I stuffed food in my face every time the nurses werent looking.. which wasnt often. THEY NEVER LEFT THE ROOM.  So I only got a bite here and there.. and then felt like puking afterwards, so maybe not such a great idea. l

3pm: 5cm dilated.  I just chilled for a while longer like a limp jellyfish

4:30pm: Got checked again and I was 10cm and discovered had pushed my foley catheter out (ewww, poor urethra).  I wasnt expecting to be complete so soon.  I cried but I was embarrased so I just told my husband I needed some kleenex and cried stealthy.   My midwife held one leg and my husband held the other while I pushed.  I couldnt feel any contractions so they had to tell me to push every time they saw one on the monitor,  it made me kind of sad.  

5pm:  I started pushing & pushed for like an hour and for some reason they decided a vaccum was needed even though we could see his head with every push. Maybe because it had been an hour? idk.. (I later found out from my hospital records it's because he was having decels (heart rate dropping and not rising back very fast ) .. but I hear thats normal during the pushing stage so I'm a little annoyed about that.

6pm:  The OB on call gave me a tiny episiotomy & busted out the vaccum at 6:30 and Roman was born 10 minutes later. He didnt ask me before doing any of this and I was trying to avoid the vaccum so much that I kept pushing when they were telling me not to in an effort to push him out before they could vaccuum me.. too late.  

6:41pm:  Baby is born.  He was 9lbs 7oz,  21 inches long and I got to hold him and BF him for an hour before they took him away to do his newborn exam & Vit K shot(which was still done in the same room right next to me) so I got lots of baby cuddles in.  My midwife was pretty adamant that my husband go out and buy food for the two of us, even though the last thing I wanted to do was eat, Finally I sent him to a wrap/pita place and devoured it as soon as he got back.  Guess I was hungry.

[heyitskalista]

I am loving reading these stories! I'm shocked at how different some places are! I hope we all have wonderful, peaceful births this summer!

[SunnyMuffin]

For sure, if I learned anything its to not get induced unless there's an actual medical reason (which I didn't have, they werent worried about the weight or the placenta aging) and for the love of god don't let them do AROM, it makes everything so much worse

[dayiscoming2006]

AROM is stupid. I had it with my first and it didn't help anything. I don't know who's dumb idea it was to do that. They also gave me pitocin because I was in labor a long time with my first. I had him after around 73 hours of labor. I ended up with an epidural with that as well because it was too intense. With my 2nd that had natural water breaking it was better. It was annoying the second time because of the green fluid leaking out of me for hours before the birth. With my last birth, the waters didn't break until I was pushing. 

[AmandaHull]

I am pregnant with my 3rd child.  My first pregnancy was in 2005.    I woke up on May 27, 2005 and started doing laundry.  About an hour later I noticed that my pants were a little wet.  Well I thought must have peed a little bit and not noticed lol, so I changed my pants and continued doing laundry.  Again my pants got wet.  Well I put a skirt on waddled my way down to my doctor's office and I was leaking amniotic fluid, but had yet to have even one small contraction.  I went back home and finished tidying up my house.  Went back to the hospital about 3:30 pm where as i took my first step out of the car toward the hospital I had my first contraction.  My baby girl was born about 6 hours later 6 lbs 0.4 oz  and i was back in my apartment the next day by 4:00 pm.

My son's birth in 2009 was almost kind of comical.  My water started leaking at about 9:00 pm Oct 1, 2009.  I hadn't had any contractions yet, so I called the hospital to let them know that I would be in, but I was going to try to get some sleep before the contractions started.  About an hour later they started.  I lived in an upstairs apartment and my friend, who also lived in an upstairs apartment in the same complex but different building, was going to take my daughter for me when I had to go to the hospital.  I woke my daughter up(she was 4) carried her down our stairs across the parking lot around the building up my friends stairs and laid her down.  At this time she started freaking out that she needed her baby doll.  So here I go in labor down the stairs around the building, across the parking lot, up my stairs find the doll, go back down the stairs, across the parking lot, around the building, up the stairs.  Ok so now I have to go back to my apartment and grab my bags and by this time my contractions are saying "slow down lady."  I ask my friend Tony to drive me to the hospital, little did i know i didn't know how to drive very well.  So we literally jolted all the way to hospital.  I finally walk through the doors at 11:30 pm, smiling saying I'm in labor now :)  My son was born 1 1/2 hours later :)