I last posted about 16 hours before the birth of my little girl, saying I wasn't sure if I'd go to the hospital or not!
So, my daughter finally made her appearance, just one day shy of two weeks past her estimated due date. I had some early labor on Wednesday the 2nd, contractions 5 minutes apart for basically 20 hours, but it fizzled out when I went to bed. Then Sunday night (6th) they started in again, but much more intense. We went into the hospital to have baby checked out around 2am Monday. By 10, things had slowed down a lot, so we went home. Things picked back up again that afternoon, but I stuck in at home for as long as I could. When I called in to talk to my OB Tuesday morning, he wanted to see me at 9:30 to check on me and the baby. Things were definitely progressing, so we were admitted and stayed for the long haul. I was around 3cm, and despite my preference against it previously, I consented to them breaking my water. Because I was attempting a VBAC and at a small hospital, they "had" to keep an OR available for me, and only have one anesthetist, so I was sort of on a time table, unfortunately.
I had hard labor until around 7:30 pm, at which point I had been having hard strong contractions, fully effaced for about 24 hours. However, even with massive contractions that were squeezing baby down, her head wasn't going anywhere. Since I had a previous c-section, they were getting nervous. I was in a lot of pain, trying to get in positions that would open my pelvis to let baby down, but it just wasn't working. I was squatting down despite the horrendous pelvic pain - it just didn't feel "right" to me. And baby kept moving her head around during those hardest contractions, and it was unnerving. Even during a contraction, her head wasn't coming down at all upon exam.
My OB was worried, and said he'd recommend trying a low dose of Pitocin for an hour to see if it would help things, but he didn't feel really confident about it. I was really nervous about using Pitocin after my previous c-section because of the risk of rupture. I just had a feeling it was the wrong thing to do. He was ok with me going for another hour as-is if I wanted, even getting into the shower to see if some relaxation would help. But those feelings in my pelvis just bothered me. I couldn't think straight with the pain, and asked to have a minimal dose of something to help take the edge off so I could make my decision.
After a lot of thinking and going back and forth, I decided to consent to another c-section. I was just too afraid of what could happen if we kept going and something went wrong. At 9:50 my daughter was born, in what was actually an amazing experience. My OB and the hospital staff were aware of my past bad experience with c-section, and made me a total part of the process. I was involved as I could be, and the whole atmosphere was wonderful. Catherine was expected to be smaller than my last baby, but my OB's expression on pulling her out told it all. Yeah, my 'little one' weighed in at 10 lbs 15 oz - just a smidge shy of 11 pounds!! She was 21" long, and had a 15" head circumference. No wonder I felt like someone was pulling my pelvis apart with a crowbar... my hips and other pelvic bones are still achy! We're both doing great - perfectly healthy, and I'm healing so much quicker than the last time. Nursing is going great - she's already back up to birth weight!
I'll have more details of my surprisingly good c-section experience in the VBAC area.
So, my daughter finally made her appearance, just one day shy of two weeks past her estimated due date. I had some early labor on Wednesday the 2nd, contractions 5 minutes apart for basically 20 hours, but it fizzled out when I went to bed. Then Sunday night (6th) they started in again, but much more intense. We went into the hospital to have baby checked out around 2am Monday. By 10, things had slowed down a lot, so we went home. Things picked back up again that afternoon, but I stuck in at home for as long as I could. When I called in to talk to my OB Tuesday morning, he wanted to see me at 9:30 to check on me and the baby. Things were definitely progressing, so we were admitted and stayed for the long haul. I was around 3cm, and despite my preference against it previously, I consented to them breaking my water. Because I was attempting a VBAC and at a small hospital, they "had" to keep an OR available for me, and only have one anesthetist, so I was sort of on a time table, unfortunately.
I had hard labor until around 7:30 pm, at which point I had been having hard strong contractions, fully effaced for about 24 hours. However, even with massive contractions that were squeezing baby down, her head wasn't going anywhere. Since I had a previous c-section, they were getting nervous. I was in a lot of pain, trying to get in positions that would open my pelvis to let baby down, but it just wasn't working. I was squatting down despite the horrendous pelvic pain - it just didn't feel "right" to me. And baby kept moving her head around during those hardest contractions, and it was unnerving. Even during a contraction, her head wasn't coming down at all upon exam.
My OB was worried, and said he'd recommend trying a low dose of Pitocin for an hour to see if it would help things, but he didn't feel really confident about it. I was really nervous about using Pitocin after my previous c-section because of the risk of rupture. I just had a feeling it was the wrong thing to do. He was ok with me going for another hour as-is if I wanted, even getting into the shower to see if some relaxation would help. But those feelings in my pelvis just bothered me. I couldn't think straight with the pain, and asked to have a minimal dose of something to help take the edge off so I could make my decision.
After a lot of thinking and going back and forth, I decided to consent to another c-section. I was just too afraid of what could happen if we kept going and something went wrong. At 9:50 my daughter was born, in what was actually an amazing experience. My OB and the hospital staff were aware of my past bad experience with c-section, and made me a total part of the process. I was involved as I could be, and the whole atmosphere was wonderful. Catherine was expected to be smaller than my last baby, but my OB's expression on pulling her out told it all. Yeah, my 'little one' weighed in at 10 lbs 15 oz - just a smidge shy of 11 pounds!! She was 21" long, and had a 15" head circumference. No wonder I felt like someone was pulling my pelvis apart with a crowbar... my hips and other pelvic bones are still achy! We're both doing great - perfectly healthy, and I'm healing so much quicker than the last time. Nursing is going great - she's already back up to birth weight!
I'll have more details of my surprisingly good c-section experience in the VBAC area.
