please forgive any typos, as i type this out with a 3 month old in my lap ( nak)
had ob checkup on friday- no dilation and less than 40%effaced.
no contrax that hurt. nothing saturday or sunday except for a backache. on sunday the back pain intensified and one of our dogs started "hovering". he followed me everywhere- even the bathroom. this continues. moday, dh asks if i think i am in labor- i say no- he says his hands are getting tired ( he has been rubbing my back lots for the past couple of days.)
i get up to go to the bathroom yet again, just like many other early mornings during this pregnancy, and find relief- BUT there is still fluid going into the commode. i figure i might still be urinating, cuz surely my water wouldnt have broken, right?
i take a shower and afterwards, sure enough- still a light trickle of fluid. i wake up dh, it is almost funny how hard it was to wak e him, because the past several weeks, he would sit straight up in bed each time i even rolled over thinking it was time, only for me to tell him to go to sleep again. we leave for the hospital ( bag had been in the trunk for about 7 weeks). dh driving like a maniac, the trip that usually would take about 15 minutes took about 4. we get checked in to the hosp at about 5:30 am.. i was having contrax 2 minutes apart ( even saw them on the moniter, lol) had the little strip test to make sure it was amniotic fluid- it was. i am hoked up to elec.fetal monitor, iv, and contrax monitor. ( standard protocol at that hosp.)i was less than 1 cm dilated- but 60 % effaced. they ( nurses) wont let me out of bed, cuz they say the dr needs to see me first, and they want to make sure the head is against the cervix so the cord doesnt slip out. dr gets there in a bit, checks me and i am still l.ess than 1 cm, but 80 percent. i ask if i can walk around she sAys yes. i walk for a few hours...some of the contrax are like hard menstrual cramps, but i am fine if dh and i pause in our walk and i breathe. another check, and back on the moniters, and i am found to be almost 2 cm and 90 percent. the nurse says we need to really get labor moving, so take another short walk , if i want, then come back to be hooked up with "what your body is naturally making- you just need a liitle more *rollin eyes here- now that i know better* (pitocin). i get back to my room, am 3 cm and fully effaced when they hook up the pitocin ( evil, evil stuff imo). instantly the contrax were right on top of the other- i couldnt get control. the contrax had already been 2 mins apart before the pit
i ask for an epidural, cuz i didnt want any iv meds to make baby sleepy. i yhad wanted no drugs, but it wasnt working for me. i also HATED needles, so this was a big step.
after 6 needles in the back that i tolerated without my dh since they made him leave the room ( yes 6!!!) the anesthesiologist had everything taped in place- my whole left side was numb from the waist down ( the rt side was a diff story, but i decided to not say anything to anyone cept dh... ( big mistake!) they inserted a foley ( not horrible, but definately not comfy!) since i haD an epidural.
the anesthesiologist had made a remark about bruises on my back ( from dh's massage where i kept telling him to rub harder etc). i didnt remember this till they were removing the tape etc. the nurse made a comment too.
a few more hours and it was time to push. i pushed for almost 45 minutes, ( he was OP) and my ob said w"would you like to hold our daugh- SON!" ( we had thought the whole time he was gonna be a girl) . i held him for a few minutes, then dh, then mil, then my mom...
ob started stitching me up- i yell ouch, and my legs jerk really bad- she says you felt that i say yes, she numbs me up with a local and finishes up. i had had 3rd degree teraing.
. i kept waiting for mil to leave so i could try to nurse him ( another BIG mistake) by then, he was already getting sleepy.
this started a lot of trouble with ds nursing., it was compunded because in the hosp he was born at ( glad ew didnt have to use that one for dd's birth) it is standard for babies to get a bottle of water in the nursery at only a few hours old. add to that that he was circed the next day ( made him just shut out thw whole world that day too- poor lil guy). then i had nurse cratchit make me feel like the worst person in the world when she said "you havent fed this baby YET?!?!?!?!? ( i had been trying, and had asked for help, but wasnt getting anywhere). turns out he had other bottles in the nursery too ( sugar water 4 the circ, and supposedly to keep his sugar from getting low
the nurse said you have GOT to feed this baby- there is milk and niples under your cart. still wanting ds to get colostrum/breastmilk i said, well can i pump at leas? she said okay, finally got me a pump, and said, you wont get much out- mix whatever you get woith the formula. :mad i pumped and got more than 2 oz! my milk was already on its way in. i fed ds ( he only took about 1/4 of an oz. with his bottle. i didnt know there was any other way
i went home a pumping mama. it took me seeing lots of people ( several ibclcs, a bfpc, a LLLL, lots of online mamas lots of support from dh/family, and oyts of persistance. we tried every feeding aid available. ds learned to nurse 1 week shy of 6 months old. i pumped12 X a day in the beginning, and worked down to 10X /day right be4 he learned to nurse. i had SO much milk, i continued to pump several times a day, even 2 X a day until he weaned at 30 mos old( i was pg, and there was a major decline in milk production at that point).
anyways back to immediately after birth
ds was born at 938pm. he weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces
*****whew! i just realized how long that was....
had ob checkup on friday- no dilation and less than 40%effaced.
no contrax that hurt. nothing saturday or sunday except for a backache. on sunday the back pain intensified and one of our dogs started "hovering". he followed me everywhere- even the bathroom. this continues. moday, dh asks if i think i am in labor- i say no- he says his hands are getting tired ( he has been rubbing my back lots for the past couple of days.)
i get up to go to the bathroom yet again, just like many other early mornings during this pregnancy, and find relief- BUT there is still fluid going into the commode. i figure i might still be urinating, cuz surely my water wouldnt have broken, right?
i take a shower and afterwards, sure enough- still a light trickle of fluid. i wake up dh, it is almost funny how hard it was to wak e him, because the past several weeks, he would sit straight up in bed each time i even rolled over thinking it was time, only for me to tell him to go to sleep again. we leave for the hospital ( bag had been in the trunk for about 7 weeks). dh driving like a maniac, the trip that usually would take about 15 minutes took about 4. we get checked in to the hosp at about 5:30 am.. i was having contrax 2 minutes apart ( even saw them on the moniter, lol) had the little strip test to make sure it was amniotic fluid- it was. i am hoked up to elec.fetal monitor, iv, and contrax monitor. ( standard protocol at that hosp.)i was less than 1 cm dilated- but 60 % effaced. they ( nurses) wont let me out of bed, cuz they say the dr needs to see me first, and they want to make sure the head is against the cervix so the cord doesnt slip out. dr gets there in a bit, checks me and i am still l.ess than 1 cm, but 80 percent. i ask if i can walk around she sAys yes. i walk for a few hours...some of the contrax are like hard menstrual cramps, but i am fine if dh and i pause in our walk and i breathe. another check, and back on the moniters, and i am found to be almost 2 cm and 90 percent. the nurse says we need to really get labor moving, so take another short walk , if i want, then come back to be hooked up with "what your body is naturally making- you just need a liitle more *rollin eyes here- now that i know better* (pitocin). i get back to my room, am 3 cm and fully effaced when they hook up the pitocin ( evil, evil stuff imo). instantly the contrax were right on top of the other- i couldnt get control. the contrax had already been 2 mins apart before the pit
i ask for an epidural, cuz i didnt want any iv meds to make baby sleepy. i yhad wanted no drugs, but it wasnt working for me. i also HATED needles, so this was a big step.
after 6 needles in the back that i tolerated without my dh since they made him leave the room ( yes 6!!!) the anesthesiologist had everything taped in place- my whole left side was numb from the waist down ( the rt side was a diff story, but i decided to not say anything to anyone cept dh... ( big mistake!) they inserted a foley ( not horrible, but definately not comfy!) since i haD an epidural.
the anesthesiologist had made a remark about bruises on my back ( from dh's massage where i kept telling him to rub harder etc). i didnt remember this till they were removing the tape etc. the nurse made a comment too.
a few more hours and it was time to push. i pushed for almost 45 minutes, ( he was OP) and my ob said w"would you like to hold our daugh- SON!" ( we had thought the whole time he was gonna be a girl) . i held him for a few minutes, then dh, then mil, then my mom...
ob started stitching me up- i yell ouch, and my legs jerk really bad- she says you felt that i say yes, she numbs me up with a local and finishes up. i had had 3rd degree teraing.
. i kept waiting for mil to leave so i could try to nurse him ( another BIG mistake) by then, he was already getting sleepy.
this started a lot of trouble with ds nursing., it was compunded because in the hosp he was born at ( glad ew didnt have to use that one for dd's birth) it is standard for babies to get a bottle of water in the nursery at only a few hours old. add to that that he was circed the next day ( made him just shut out thw whole world that day too- poor lil guy). then i had nurse cratchit make me feel like the worst person in the world when she said "you havent fed this baby YET?!?!?!?!? ( i had been trying, and had asked for help, but wasnt getting anywhere). turns out he had other bottles in the nursery too ( sugar water 4 the circ, and supposedly to keep his sugar from getting low
the nurse said you have GOT to feed this baby- there is milk and niples under your cart. still wanting ds to get colostrum/breastmilk i said, well can i pump at leas? she said okay, finally got me a pump, and said, you wont get much out- mix whatever you get woith the formula. :mad i pumped and got more than 2 oz! my milk was already on its way in. i fed ds ( he only took about 1/4 of an oz. with his bottle. i didnt know there was any other way
i went home a pumping mama. it took me seeing lots of people ( several ibclcs, a bfpc, a LLLL, lots of online mamas lots of support from dh/family, and oyts of persistance. we tried every feeding aid available. ds learned to nurse 1 week shy of 6 months old. i pumped12 X a day in the beginning, and worked down to 10X /day right be4 he learned to nurse. i had SO much milk, i continued to pump several times a day, even 2 X a day until he weaned at 30 mos old( i was pg, and there was a major decline in milk production at that point).anyways back to immediately after birth
ds was born at 938pm. he weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces
*****whew! i just realized how long that was....
