Hello ladies and gentlemen, just wanted to post my birth story.
Well, it is hard to decide where to start this story. I had prayed every night of my pregnancy that God keep the lil' man safe and sound and in my belly until he was ready to come- I was so scared of a premature baby. On Wednesday the 28th I told lil' man that I was ready for him to come. I had developed PUPPs, a very horrible pregnancy rash. Getting up every hour to pee was bad enough, but this rash really made it impossible to sleep. Most people say they get a burst of energy, not me I had been exhausted and laying around since Sunday. Luckily I had nested the previous week, I trusted my body and rested as I knew on that Monday that he was coming soon.
I started having contractions 3am Thurs, they lasted until 7am or so, didn't change my dilation though because I had a dr. visit that morning and still was at a 2, as I had been for 2 weeks. I had thought that wouldn't let him check, but I was soo curious. I came home and took a benadryl- I knew that he would be coming soon and I would need some rest. I hated taking anything- I had avoided everything throughout pregnancy, but the itchiness was soo bad and I couldn't sleep. I also started a steriod pack that morning, I called the LLL to see if it was safe for breastfeeding, and the dosage was half of what they considered to be max- looking back now I wish I would have held off.
I was able to sleep for a few hours, woke up had some more irregular contractions 10 min apart or so for a few hours. DH and I took a short walk, which really didn't seem to affect the contractions.
I tried going to bed at 10p and finally got up at 11p as the contractions kept coming. They weren't really painful, just enough that I couldn't sleep. Then we tried out our pool- that worked wonders- I pretty much stayed in there until 3am. We had bought a little kiddie pool to labor in and had set it up Monday.
Evidently the lower back pain I had been having was because he was posterior and the pool relieved the pressure. I kept telling Brian it was the real deal, but he wasn't quite convinced. My contractions started at about 5 min apart and then went to 3 min apart, however they were only about 1 min or so long- Brian thought they were too short and I was in too good a mood!
On one of my potty breaks my mucus plug came out- I decided to get out of the pool at this point so I could work on dealing with the contractions out of the water before I went to the hospital. There was a big mood change then- I was very serious as I was having back labor and there really was not a comfortable position- I just had to relax as best as possible- however side lying was absolutely excrutiating, we used hands and knees with the ball a lot. Brian wasn't really able to massage that much as it hurt, but the pelvic press was good.
We called our doula and had her come to the house I was about at a 7, we went to the hospital at this point- me riding with my head and chest in the seat- knees in the floorboard!
We got to the hospital about 4:30 am- I had to deal with a few contractions in the lobby waiting for them to come- luckily it wasn't busy- although at the time I didn't care. My cousin's wife was working that night and was the CNA that took me to L&D, she insisted I go in the wheelchair, however I rode in it backwards- back labor is not good for siting!! At this point I started vocalizing to get through the contractions and was shaking like mad, I was definitely in transition. It was so weird my mind was crystal clear, but I couldn't/wouldn't talk.
We made it to the room and they skipped most the formalities as they could tell we were serious. I was about at an 8, bag of waters bulging. The nurse asked if we had planned on medication and I said no, she said nothing more about and was just absolutely great. The nurse thought I would deliver within the hour.
I completely dilated very quickly and was able to push, however I could make little progress. I tried a reclined squat, then squatted on the floor- I thought this was helping but he still wasn't moving very high up. I squatted in the floor for at least 30 min, if not an hour. My doula suggested hands and knees- so I rocked in hands and knees and Brian did pelvic presses- I would then come up and push in a squat on the bed- finally I started making some progress. I went back to a modified squat and finally at 8:29 am Fri July 30th he was here!
I had a small tear that doc repaired and lil' man went straight to us. He stay with us the whole time- except for one time when they took him to get weighed, Brian would have went but he was exhausted and catching some sleep and I wasn't up for walking yet. I was so worried about the hospital experience as everyone told me that you have to let them take the baby some of the time, so I was prepared for a battle, however having a birth plan and being confident in what we wanted seemed to work.
I was so proud of the birth itself, I had been nervous and worried because I don't usually handle pain well, however I just kept on with positive thinking and relaxing. I never got to the point that I gave up- I just kept saying to myself- it will not be more than I can handle- my body knows how to do this! Brian just kept bragging on me that I never got testy, mad, whiny, nothing just did it- actually the only part that really seemed painful was the crowning- that woke me up and then he come out pretty quick! I didn't have an iv, or hep lock, my bag of waters broke on it's own about an hour into pushing- dr. offered to break, but I decided to let it go on it's own. He had also said we could use the vacuum to get him out, but I was determined to do it. I am quite convinced without our doula suggesting various positions and the Bradley method I would have ended up with a c-section. There is no way I could have pushed him out with an epi. It makes me wonder how many c-sections and various interventions could be avoided.
After the birth things didn't go quite as well. I didn't get up for a while after the birth, my good nurse left after the birth- she had stayed over to see it, and the next one I got was good about not being there, however I didn't even think about how I needed to be up and around.
I was so tired It was 8:30 am Friday and I hadn't really slept since Tuesday night and the past two weeks had hardly slept well anyway with the PUPPs. The first time I tried to get up I almost passed out, we tried again a few hours later and I didn't really make it up then either. I had to go pee, I hadn't peed since I got to the hospital, both myself and dh forgot and by the early afternoon they were getting worried. Finally around 5 that night I got up with a lot of help from the nurses and took a shower.
I felt so bad. Here I had read all these amazing stories about women walking out of the delivery room. I barely made it out of the hospital the next day and had planned on leaving that day. I only made it out of my room because I was pushing on lil' man's cart and almost passed out when I walked in my front door. My dr. had told me that my white blood count was 34,000, not sure what that means, but evidently my immune system was depressed severely, I believe this was due to the steroids. I had had no drugs whatsoever. I tried to drink throughout labor, had my mom bring me some gatorade to the hospital- and drunk a big 20 oz of oj after the birth a' la the Bradley method.
So, I am hoping that next time goes better. I wouldn't have minded to have waited just a tad longer to get to the hospital. Next time hopefully I will listen to my body more and not push until I feel the urge. I started pushing when I got to 10, this was my own choice as I was just ready to be done and take a nap, which of course didn't happen as we had visitors until 11:30 that night! Next time we will know to take some time for ourselves.
I had desperately wanted a home birth, or a birth center birth. However there are no cnm's in the area and only one hospital, and an unassisted birth wouldn't fly with dh. Maybe next time, however the hospital experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
Anyway, sorry for all the commentary... I have many thoughts about the birth and much to process especially post-partum. I am such a perfectionist.
Oh, the important details,
lil man Luke was 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 in long born 7-30-04 (edd 8-10)
thanks for reading,
amanda
Well, it is hard to decide where to start this story. I had prayed every night of my pregnancy that God keep the lil' man safe and sound and in my belly until he was ready to come- I was so scared of a premature baby. On Wednesday the 28th I told lil' man that I was ready for him to come. I had developed PUPPs, a very horrible pregnancy rash. Getting up every hour to pee was bad enough, but this rash really made it impossible to sleep. Most people say they get a burst of energy, not me I had been exhausted and laying around since Sunday. Luckily I had nested the previous week, I trusted my body and rested as I knew on that Monday that he was coming soon.
I started having contractions 3am Thurs, they lasted until 7am or so, didn't change my dilation though because I had a dr. visit that morning and still was at a 2, as I had been for 2 weeks. I had thought that wouldn't let him check, but I was soo curious. I came home and took a benadryl- I knew that he would be coming soon and I would need some rest. I hated taking anything- I had avoided everything throughout pregnancy, but the itchiness was soo bad and I couldn't sleep. I also started a steriod pack that morning, I called the LLL to see if it was safe for breastfeeding, and the dosage was half of what they considered to be max- looking back now I wish I would have held off.
I was able to sleep for a few hours, woke up had some more irregular contractions 10 min apart or so for a few hours. DH and I took a short walk, which really didn't seem to affect the contractions.
I tried going to bed at 10p and finally got up at 11p as the contractions kept coming. They weren't really painful, just enough that I couldn't sleep. Then we tried out our pool- that worked wonders- I pretty much stayed in there until 3am. We had bought a little kiddie pool to labor in and had set it up Monday.
Evidently the lower back pain I had been having was because he was posterior and the pool relieved the pressure. I kept telling Brian it was the real deal, but he wasn't quite convinced. My contractions started at about 5 min apart and then went to 3 min apart, however they were only about 1 min or so long- Brian thought they were too short and I was in too good a mood!
On one of my potty breaks my mucus plug came out- I decided to get out of the pool at this point so I could work on dealing with the contractions out of the water before I went to the hospital. There was a big mood change then- I was very serious as I was having back labor and there really was not a comfortable position- I just had to relax as best as possible- however side lying was absolutely excrutiating, we used hands and knees with the ball a lot. Brian wasn't really able to massage that much as it hurt, but the pelvic press was good.
We called our doula and had her come to the house I was about at a 7, we went to the hospital at this point- me riding with my head and chest in the seat- knees in the floorboard!
We got to the hospital about 4:30 am- I had to deal with a few contractions in the lobby waiting for them to come- luckily it wasn't busy- although at the time I didn't care. My cousin's wife was working that night and was the CNA that took me to L&D, she insisted I go in the wheelchair, however I rode in it backwards- back labor is not good for siting!! At this point I started vocalizing to get through the contractions and was shaking like mad, I was definitely in transition. It was so weird my mind was crystal clear, but I couldn't/wouldn't talk.
We made it to the room and they skipped most the formalities as they could tell we were serious. I was about at an 8, bag of waters bulging. The nurse asked if we had planned on medication and I said no, she said nothing more about and was just absolutely great. The nurse thought I would deliver within the hour.
I completely dilated very quickly and was able to push, however I could make little progress. I tried a reclined squat, then squatted on the floor- I thought this was helping but he still wasn't moving very high up. I squatted in the floor for at least 30 min, if not an hour. My doula suggested hands and knees- so I rocked in hands and knees and Brian did pelvic presses- I would then come up and push in a squat on the bed- finally I started making some progress. I went back to a modified squat and finally at 8:29 am Fri July 30th he was here!
I had a small tear that doc repaired and lil' man went straight to us. He stay with us the whole time- except for one time when they took him to get weighed, Brian would have went but he was exhausted and catching some sleep and I wasn't up for walking yet. I was so worried about the hospital experience as everyone told me that you have to let them take the baby some of the time, so I was prepared for a battle, however having a birth plan and being confident in what we wanted seemed to work.
I was so proud of the birth itself, I had been nervous and worried because I don't usually handle pain well, however I just kept on with positive thinking and relaxing. I never got to the point that I gave up- I just kept saying to myself- it will not be more than I can handle- my body knows how to do this! Brian just kept bragging on me that I never got testy, mad, whiny, nothing just did it- actually the only part that really seemed painful was the crowning- that woke me up and then he come out pretty quick! I didn't have an iv, or hep lock, my bag of waters broke on it's own about an hour into pushing- dr. offered to break, but I decided to let it go on it's own. He had also said we could use the vacuum to get him out, but I was determined to do it. I am quite convinced without our doula suggesting various positions and the Bradley method I would have ended up with a c-section. There is no way I could have pushed him out with an epi. It makes me wonder how many c-sections and various interventions could be avoided.
After the birth things didn't go quite as well. I didn't get up for a while after the birth, my good nurse left after the birth- she had stayed over to see it, and the next one I got was good about not being there, however I didn't even think about how I needed to be up and around.
I was so tired It was 8:30 am Friday and I hadn't really slept since Tuesday night and the past two weeks had hardly slept well anyway with the PUPPs. The first time I tried to get up I almost passed out, we tried again a few hours later and I didn't really make it up then either. I had to go pee, I hadn't peed since I got to the hospital, both myself and dh forgot and by the early afternoon they were getting worried. Finally around 5 that night I got up with a lot of help from the nurses and took a shower.
I felt so bad. Here I had read all these amazing stories about women walking out of the delivery room. I barely made it out of the hospital the next day and had planned on leaving that day. I only made it out of my room because I was pushing on lil' man's cart and almost passed out when I walked in my front door. My dr. had told me that my white blood count was 34,000, not sure what that means, but evidently my immune system was depressed severely, I believe this was due to the steroids. I had had no drugs whatsoever. I tried to drink throughout labor, had my mom bring me some gatorade to the hospital- and drunk a big 20 oz of oj after the birth a' la the Bradley method.
So, I am hoping that next time goes better. I wouldn't have minded to have waited just a tad longer to get to the hospital. Next time hopefully I will listen to my body more and not push until I feel the urge. I started pushing when I got to 10, this was my own choice as I was just ready to be done and take a nap, which of course didn't happen as we had visitors until 11:30 that night! Next time we will know to take some time for ourselves.
I had desperately wanted a home birth, or a birth center birth. However there are no cnm's in the area and only one hospital, and an unassisted birth wouldn't fly with dh. Maybe next time, however the hospital experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
Anyway, sorry for all the commentary... I have many thoughts about the birth and much to process especially post-partum. I am such a perfectionist.
Oh, the important details,
lil man Luke was 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 in long born 7-30-04 (edd 8-10)
thanks for reading,
amanda
You did an awesome job-- good to hear the hospital respected your wishes. Hope you can avoid the rash next time.
