Well where do I begin? As I'm typing this my baby is 2 weeks and 1 day old. I didn't post a birth story because, well, I was frankly a bit embarrassed by the whole thing and I needed to process a little bit. I will say this - I am humbled by my baby's birth and at the end of the day the health of my child is all that is really important to me and I know this now. No matter what I want to happen, sometimes something bigger than me is in control and I have to just roll with it. So on to the story.
On October 19th I was 9 days past my due date. I wasn't surprised - I'd gone 17 days over with my first baby. But pressure was mounting and I was getting worried due to my aging placenta and two vessel umbilical cord. The ultrasounds were showing that the baby was healthy - but I had a nagging feeling that it was time to get the show on the road. So that night I went in to the hospital after making an educated decision to induce labor with Cervadil.
I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 and was soon set up in my labor and delivery room. I gave my birth plan to the nurses and discussed with them. I called my doula and let her know she could probably wait until morning to come up. My husband and I settled in for the night to wait for the cervadil to work. By 1:00 that morning the doctor had ordered that I was to be on complete bed rest. As she was explaining the situation to us, our doula called saying she had woken up suddenly with a feeling she needed to be with us. I told her to come immediately.
The situation as I understood it, was the baby's heartrate was dropping after every contraction. It wasn't a sudden dip, but rather slow, prolonged dips - the doctor said these were worse to have then sudden drops. I was having contractions only every 10 minutes and they were barely noticable. This occured after nearly every contraction for 2 hours. When I would sit up to go to the bathroom, the baby's heartrate would drop into the 90's. I feel now that her cord was compromised in some way.
The doctor offered to do a "planned" c-section or let me try pitocin and risk an emergency c-section. After consulting with my doula, my family, a midwife by phone and the doctors and nurses available, we all decided that risking a heartrate decelleration that the baby didn't recover from wasn't worth it. I made a fully educated choice to have a c-section. I wasn't happy about it - but I did it of my own accord - and that did help a little. I'm now very glad I didn't go in to labor at home. I would have had no way of knowing the baby was in trouble.
Once we made the decision it moved swiftly and smoothly. The baby was delivered safely and without complcations. My placenta was very aged and her cord was whipcord thin because it was missing an artery. I don't know if it was compressed - but I think it must have been. She stayed with my husband at all times while they assessed her. He went with her to the recovery room and my doula stayed with me while they stitched me up.
Once in recovery I was allowed to breastfeed immediately. My doula and husband held the baby to my breast and I did my best to feed her although it was awkward since I wasn't allowed to sit up. I had a spinal so I had to stay flat for 30 mins.
I was up walking by 1pm that afternoon and doing well. The baby nursed like a champ but started rapidly loosing weight. They were concerned that her kidneys weren't functioning properly because of the 2 vessel cord, but ultrasounds revelaed all was well. Her bloodwork showed elevated levels of creatine (sp?) and one other thing but they thought that could be dehydration.
She had lost more then 10% of her birthweight by Sunday and so they instructed me to start supplimenting with formula. I had a hissy fit and instead they let me use my SIL's breastmilk!! I had to sign a waiver and they freaked out
but they let me do it. That solved the problem and they let us leave on Monday. My milk came in right as I got home - it was in at the hospital but they stressed me out so bad I wasn't letting down.
Wow this got long and I've even left a lot of the details out! Anyhow, we're home now, all is well, she's regained her birthweight and more and I have absolutely no pain from my c-section. It really was a breeze to recover from - which surprised me. I barely even have a visible scar. So if you've read this far, you get an award! I apologize for not responding to everyone's posts. I've been in quite the funk while I sorted out this whole experience. Congratulations to all of you and I'm so happy for all of you new mamas! Now to the important details:
Audrey Faye
October 20, 2006
3:57am
7lbs 14oz and 19.5 inches long
You can see the pics in my siggy.
On October 19th I was 9 days past my due date. I wasn't surprised - I'd gone 17 days over with my first baby. But pressure was mounting and I was getting worried due to my aging placenta and two vessel umbilical cord. The ultrasounds were showing that the baby was healthy - but I had a nagging feeling that it was time to get the show on the road. So that night I went in to the hospital after making an educated decision to induce labor with Cervadil.
I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 and was soon set up in my labor and delivery room. I gave my birth plan to the nurses and discussed with them. I called my doula and let her know she could probably wait until morning to come up. My husband and I settled in for the night to wait for the cervadil to work. By 1:00 that morning the doctor had ordered that I was to be on complete bed rest. As she was explaining the situation to us, our doula called saying she had woken up suddenly with a feeling she needed to be with us. I told her to come immediately.
The situation as I understood it, was the baby's heartrate was dropping after every contraction. It wasn't a sudden dip, but rather slow, prolonged dips - the doctor said these were worse to have then sudden drops. I was having contractions only every 10 minutes and they were barely noticable. This occured after nearly every contraction for 2 hours. When I would sit up to go to the bathroom, the baby's heartrate would drop into the 90's. I feel now that her cord was compromised in some way.
The doctor offered to do a "planned" c-section or let me try pitocin and risk an emergency c-section. After consulting with my doula, my family, a midwife by phone and the doctors and nurses available, we all decided that risking a heartrate decelleration that the baby didn't recover from wasn't worth it. I made a fully educated choice to have a c-section. I wasn't happy about it - but I did it of my own accord - and that did help a little. I'm now very glad I didn't go in to labor at home. I would have had no way of knowing the baby was in trouble.
Once we made the decision it moved swiftly and smoothly. The baby was delivered safely and without complcations. My placenta was very aged and her cord was whipcord thin because it was missing an artery. I don't know if it was compressed - but I think it must have been. She stayed with my husband at all times while they assessed her. He went with her to the recovery room and my doula stayed with me while they stitched me up.
Once in recovery I was allowed to breastfeed immediately. My doula and husband held the baby to my breast and I did my best to feed her although it was awkward since I wasn't allowed to sit up. I had a spinal so I had to stay flat for 30 mins.
I was up walking by 1pm that afternoon and doing well. The baby nursed like a champ but started rapidly loosing weight. They were concerned that her kidneys weren't functioning properly because of the 2 vessel cord, but ultrasounds revelaed all was well. Her bloodwork showed elevated levels of creatine (sp?) and one other thing but they thought that could be dehydration.
She had lost more then 10% of her birthweight by Sunday and so they instructed me to start supplimenting with formula. I had a hissy fit and instead they let me use my SIL's breastmilk!! I had to sign a waiver and they freaked out
but they let me do it. That solved the problem and they let us leave on Monday. My milk came in right as I got home - it was in at the hospital but they stressed me out so bad I wasn't letting down.Wow this got long and I've even left a lot of the details out!
Anyhow, we're home now, all is well, she's regained her birthweight and more and I have absolutely no pain from my c-section. It really was a breeze to recover from - which surprised me. I barely even have a visible scar. So if you've read this far, you get an award! I apologize for not responding to everyone's posts. I've been in quite the funk while I sorted out this whole experience. Congratulations to all of you and I'm so happy for all of you new mamas! Now to the important details:Audrey Faye
October 20, 2006
3:57am
7lbs 14oz and 19.5 inches long
You can see the pics in my siggy.
c on g r a t u l a t i o n s !! 
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