*~*SewHappyNow*~*
03-18-2003, 03:49 PM
Throughout my entire pregnancy I had very few BH contractions. Only on 2 occasions did I feel anything like that. Both times it felt more like labor contractions, with pain in my legs and back. Once around 35 weeks and then again around 37 weeks. Luckily it didn't progress to anything more. In fact the closer I got to my due date the less I felt like I'd be having McKenna any time soon.
The monday before my due date I began having regular contractions that began in the morning waking me up about 4am. They got pretty regular around 10am, every 6 minutes or so. They ended up stopping after a shower, though.
My due date came and went and to the midwife appointment I went the day after. She said I was one centimeter dilated. Not great, but definite progress from my last visit. She swept my membranes and then I was a 2cm. My cervix was soft and pliable, and about 50% effaced. She got concerned with the heart beat. She decided it best to do a NST right then. Turns out her base HR was really 120, and that was good. Still being cautious the midwife ordered a amniotic fluid index to be done the next day.
Turns out the amniotic index looked good and I relaxed over the weekend waiting....
Monday night finally a little progress, I lost a lot of clear mucus. Not a big deal, but definitely something. I felt I'd probably go into labor in 2 or 3 days.
Wednesday I woke up around 5am, exactly a week after my due date, with crampy contractions. They kept waking me up every 20 minutes or so. I was trying to sleep as long as possible, because I had another U/S appointment that morning and an appointment with the midwife that afternoon.
I got out of bed around 9:30 and the contractions were really picking up. They were now about every 5-10 minutes and somewhat strong. I didn't ever really write them down or time them...I just have some sort of aversion to keeping track of things like that heh.
I woke up dh and he was super tired. I think the impending birth was making him anxious and he'd been having trouble getting to sleep. I was worried he'd tell me to go to the midwife's alone, but he didn't. He was so groggy, but I didn't bother to tell him I was having some regular contractions. I figured it best not to get him all worried right then.
He got out of the shower and dressed. I made him put my shoes on as sitting on the floor was majorly uncomfortable through the contractions. We left for the midwife's, about 20 minutes away and I drove! I decided to tell him on the way that this could be it :LOL He got this slightly panicked look and asked if I wanted to pull over so her could drive. We were almost there and I told him I think I'd be ok.
We got to the hospital and I went into the outpatient and got my U/S done. The U/S tech inquired if they were planning to induce me. I told her not at this time, but I think I'm in early labor anyways...she seemed a little suprised at this heh. I was out of there in less than 15 mins and walked out to the parking lot to wait for dh who had run for some coffee and little something for breakfast.
We then went to have some lunch. My contractions were seeming to slow down a little bit. Now sometimes 5 mins apart, sometimes 10 mins. They were still the same intensity, though.
After lunch we went to the midwife's office and she informed that the U/S showed a serious drop from the friday last week to today, wednesday. I was a week overdue and she said today I was going to have a baby. It just had to come out, the placenta wasn't keeping up :( She was pleased to know that I might be in early labor, though. Perhaps an induction wouldn't be neccesary!
She examined me and found I was over 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated...too much for cervadil to do any good. She swept my membranes again and advised me to begin nipple stimulation ASAP, as my contractions seemed to be slowing down. A NST showed the baby to still have a base HR of 120, good news. She told us to run home and come back to the hospital.
We drove home, dh drove this time :p to get some things and feed the cats. I did nipple stim the whole way home and it seemed to be working. We returned to the hospital around 5pm and checked in.
We moved into our LDRP and they put me on the fetal monitor to get an idea of what was going on. Contractions were about 4 to 7 minutes apart. We watched some TV and settled in while dh and the nurse filled the jacuzzi tub up. My midwife called and said she'd do an internal exam when she got there, probably in about an hour.
I got in the tub around 6pm I think...like I said I didn't really watch the clock at all. The contractions weren't too bad, yet. After about 45 minutes I decided to get out and try walking around and sitting on the birth ball. This is about the time I had my bloody show. The contractions were becoming more intense. The midwife called again and said she'd be a little later than she planned and asked one of the nurses to do an exam. She found I was only 4-5cm dilated.
The contractions were getting stronger and I decided to get back into the tub. That's about the time Jan, my midwife, arrived. She and my dh took turns sitting in the bathroom with me, while I labored in the tub. Low moaning and vocalizing really helped me get through the contractions. I was worried they'd think I was too noisey, but no one seemed to think anything of it.
In and out of the tub I was for a long time. I'd get out to pee and get stuck sitting on the toilet through a contraction or 2. Finally I got out and got stuck on the toilet for a good while. It was getting somewhat more diffcult to deal with the contractions. Jan examined me and seemed disappointed that I was only still about 5cm dilated. Barely any progress from the last exam the nurse had done. She felt this particular nurses's assesment and her's were often pretty much the same usually :( It was probably around 10pm or so, I have no idea. She started preparing me to make some decisions about induction, which I really wanted to avoid badly, but I knew this baby had to be out soon.
I labored on the bed in various positions for next hour or so. Making tons of noise and breathing through the contractions. The nurses were having a heck of a time getting baby's HR on the monitor...later we decided it was because my placenta was on the front side of my uterus and my pulse was interferring, but throughout the rest of my labor it bacame a huge issue. I could only be in this position or that position, otherwise they couldn't hear baby and were afraid it meant baby's HR was slowing.
About an hour later Jan checked my cervix's progress. She looked at me and said, "I love you! You're now 8cm dilated! We may not have to induce afterall" I was pretty excited to hear that. I had been beginning to loose hope. It was getting more uncomfortable and I was getting tired. I was beginning to think I just might have to have pain meds if this went on too long. I had renewed hope.
My back however was beginning to really hurt, mostly because I was confined to only so many positions, because of the HR issue :( Jan asked if I wanted to try the steril water papules she had told me about in her office. Apparently it works on the gate theory of pain. She injects sterile water into 4 sites on the lower back and it overloads the pain receptors. The major draw back is it hurts like mad! The absolute worst pain I ever had in my life. It only lasts about 30 seconds, though. I screamed and wailed and it brought me to tears. I cried like a baby! After she was done I got on my knees and hugged the closest person and cried, while apologizing for being so noisey hehe. They assured me it was alright :) I couldn't see dh's face, but I heard the fear in his voice and he said it was absolutely horrible to watch me in that kind of pain.
Sometime after this transition occured. My water broke during this time, also. It was time to start pushing. The issue of the HR continued to be a pain, too. Hands and knees was the most comfortable position, but they kept saying baby didn't like it :( So I ended up laying on my side, one nurse held my leg up and Jan messaged my pernium.
I don't really know how long I had to push. I just remember really getting ticked off about the fetal monitor :angry I remember when they told me to reach down and touch her head, that was crazy. I remember when her head did begin to come out. Dh said it was amazing to watch the top of her head spin around as she manuvered her way through the birth canal..such a good co-pilot she was! :love I remember watching as her little head came out and she was still turning, her eyes opened and she just had this look of amazment on her face too it seemed. I was trying not to push so she would ease out slowly, but after her head was birthed the rest of her just sort of shot out...guess she was in a big hurry to meet us :LOL A most incredible feeling that was! They handed her to me and I looked at her in amazement. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear, though :(
I tried to get her to BF. She was very interested, and kept rooting around, but didn't understand the open mouth thing. She would just lick. At some point she just stared at dh and myself as we stared back :love
This was about the time Jan decided I was bleeding too much. She had us begin nipple stim again. I must have been passing some big clots too. No one told me at the time, but dh said they were pretty big. I was also beginning to hear ringing in my ears and felt like I could pass out. She started pulling them out and searching around feeling for the placenta. I don't know when, but dh must have decided everything looked ok and went downstairs to make a phone call. While he was gone things got worse. Jan discovered that only part of my placenta was being delievered. The rest was stuck somewhere. She had to try and manually remove it. Most painful I tell you! All the while little baby McKenna was on the heating table making happy little baby sounds, singing her little baby songs as everyone rushed around in a sort of hurried panic. I was relieved she was happy and healthy!
Jan finally called her over seeing physician and it seemed as though he was there with in minutes. They put in an IV and gave me some nubain to relax me so he could find the placenta. He told me to relax, because if he coudln't get it out I'd end up in the OR and not see baby for a long time. That was the creepiest, most bizarre, painful feeling in the world. Dh must have walked in about this time and his hands went up to his face and he looked pretty scared. Guess he didn't expect to see some doctor with his arms in my womb up to his elbows. :jaw
The doctor found it and the rest is kind of a blur, since I was exhaisted and weak. The doctor said the placenta was on the anterior side of the uterus. This is why the HR wasn't getting picked up well by the monitor.
It was a wonderful labor and delivery. Such ashame about how the afterbirth went. We're thankful to have such a beautiful and healthy baby girl, though! :love
The monday before my due date I began having regular contractions that began in the morning waking me up about 4am. They got pretty regular around 10am, every 6 minutes or so. They ended up stopping after a shower, though.
My due date came and went and to the midwife appointment I went the day after. She said I was one centimeter dilated. Not great, but definite progress from my last visit. She swept my membranes and then I was a 2cm. My cervix was soft and pliable, and about 50% effaced. She got concerned with the heart beat. She decided it best to do a NST right then. Turns out her base HR was really 120, and that was good. Still being cautious the midwife ordered a amniotic fluid index to be done the next day.
Turns out the amniotic index looked good and I relaxed over the weekend waiting....
Monday night finally a little progress, I lost a lot of clear mucus. Not a big deal, but definitely something. I felt I'd probably go into labor in 2 or 3 days.
Wednesday I woke up around 5am, exactly a week after my due date, with crampy contractions. They kept waking me up every 20 minutes or so. I was trying to sleep as long as possible, because I had another U/S appointment that morning and an appointment with the midwife that afternoon.
I got out of bed around 9:30 and the contractions were really picking up. They were now about every 5-10 minutes and somewhat strong. I didn't ever really write them down or time them...I just have some sort of aversion to keeping track of things like that heh.
I woke up dh and he was super tired. I think the impending birth was making him anxious and he'd been having trouble getting to sleep. I was worried he'd tell me to go to the midwife's alone, but he didn't. He was so groggy, but I didn't bother to tell him I was having some regular contractions. I figured it best not to get him all worried right then.
He got out of the shower and dressed. I made him put my shoes on as sitting on the floor was majorly uncomfortable through the contractions. We left for the midwife's, about 20 minutes away and I drove! I decided to tell him on the way that this could be it :LOL He got this slightly panicked look and asked if I wanted to pull over so her could drive. We were almost there and I told him I think I'd be ok.
We got to the hospital and I went into the outpatient and got my U/S done. The U/S tech inquired if they were planning to induce me. I told her not at this time, but I think I'm in early labor anyways...she seemed a little suprised at this heh. I was out of there in less than 15 mins and walked out to the parking lot to wait for dh who had run for some coffee and little something for breakfast.
We then went to have some lunch. My contractions were seeming to slow down a little bit. Now sometimes 5 mins apart, sometimes 10 mins. They were still the same intensity, though.
After lunch we went to the midwife's office and she informed that the U/S showed a serious drop from the friday last week to today, wednesday. I was a week overdue and she said today I was going to have a baby. It just had to come out, the placenta wasn't keeping up :( She was pleased to know that I might be in early labor, though. Perhaps an induction wouldn't be neccesary!
She examined me and found I was over 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated...too much for cervadil to do any good. She swept my membranes again and advised me to begin nipple stimulation ASAP, as my contractions seemed to be slowing down. A NST showed the baby to still have a base HR of 120, good news. She told us to run home and come back to the hospital.
We drove home, dh drove this time :p to get some things and feed the cats. I did nipple stim the whole way home and it seemed to be working. We returned to the hospital around 5pm and checked in.
We moved into our LDRP and they put me on the fetal monitor to get an idea of what was going on. Contractions were about 4 to 7 minutes apart. We watched some TV and settled in while dh and the nurse filled the jacuzzi tub up. My midwife called and said she'd do an internal exam when she got there, probably in about an hour.
I got in the tub around 6pm I think...like I said I didn't really watch the clock at all. The contractions weren't too bad, yet. After about 45 minutes I decided to get out and try walking around and sitting on the birth ball. This is about the time I had my bloody show. The contractions were becoming more intense. The midwife called again and said she'd be a little later than she planned and asked one of the nurses to do an exam. She found I was only 4-5cm dilated.
The contractions were getting stronger and I decided to get back into the tub. That's about the time Jan, my midwife, arrived. She and my dh took turns sitting in the bathroom with me, while I labored in the tub. Low moaning and vocalizing really helped me get through the contractions. I was worried they'd think I was too noisey, but no one seemed to think anything of it.
In and out of the tub I was for a long time. I'd get out to pee and get stuck sitting on the toilet through a contraction or 2. Finally I got out and got stuck on the toilet for a good while. It was getting somewhat more diffcult to deal with the contractions. Jan examined me and seemed disappointed that I was only still about 5cm dilated. Barely any progress from the last exam the nurse had done. She felt this particular nurses's assesment and her's were often pretty much the same usually :( It was probably around 10pm or so, I have no idea. She started preparing me to make some decisions about induction, which I really wanted to avoid badly, but I knew this baby had to be out soon.
I labored on the bed in various positions for next hour or so. Making tons of noise and breathing through the contractions. The nurses were having a heck of a time getting baby's HR on the monitor...later we decided it was because my placenta was on the front side of my uterus and my pulse was interferring, but throughout the rest of my labor it bacame a huge issue. I could only be in this position or that position, otherwise they couldn't hear baby and were afraid it meant baby's HR was slowing.
About an hour later Jan checked my cervix's progress. She looked at me and said, "I love you! You're now 8cm dilated! We may not have to induce afterall" I was pretty excited to hear that. I had been beginning to loose hope. It was getting more uncomfortable and I was getting tired. I was beginning to think I just might have to have pain meds if this went on too long. I had renewed hope.
My back however was beginning to really hurt, mostly because I was confined to only so many positions, because of the HR issue :( Jan asked if I wanted to try the steril water papules she had told me about in her office. Apparently it works on the gate theory of pain. She injects sterile water into 4 sites on the lower back and it overloads the pain receptors. The major draw back is it hurts like mad! The absolute worst pain I ever had in my life. It only lasts about 30 seconds, though. I screamed and wailed and it brought me to tears. I cried like a baby! After she was done I got on my knees and hugged the closest person and cried, while apologizing for being so noisey hehe. They assured me it was alright :) I couldn't see dh's face, but I heard the fear in his voice and he said it was absolutely horrible to watch me in that kind of pain.
Sometime after this transition occured. My water broke during this time, also. It was time to start pushing. The issue of the HR continued to be a pain, too. Hands and knees was the most comfortable position, but they kept saying baby didn't like it :( So I ended up laying on my side, one nurse held my leg up and Jan messaged my pernium.
I don't really know how long I had to push. I just remember really getting ticked off about the fetal monitor :angry I remember when they told me to reach down and touch her head, that was crazy. I remember when her head did begin to come out. Dh said it was amazing to watch the top of her head spin around as she manuvered her way through the birth canal..such a good co-pilot she was! :love I remember watching as her little head came out and she was still turning, her eyes opened and she just had this look of amazment on her face too it seemed. I was trying not to push so she would ease out slowly, but after her head was birthed the rest of her just sort of shot out...guess she was in a big hurry to meet us :LOL A most incredible feeling that was! They handed her to me and I looked at her in amazement. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear, though :(
I tried to get her to BF. She was very interested, and kept rooting around, but didn't understand the open mouth thing. She would just lick. At some point she just stared at dh and myself as we stared back :love
This was about the time Jan decided I was bleeding too much. She had us begin nipple stim again. I must have been passing some big clots too. No one told me at the time, but dh said they were pretty big. I was also beginning to hear ringing in my ears and felt like I could pass out. She started pulling them out and searching around feeling for the placenta. I don't know when, but dh must have decided everything looked ok and went downstairs to make a phone call. While he was gone things got worse. Jan discovered that only part of my placenta was being delievered. The rest was stuck somewhere. She had to try and manually remove it. Most painful I tell you! All the while little baby McKenna was on the heating table making happy little baby sounds, singing her little baby songs as everyone rushed around in a sort of hurried panic. I was relieved she was happy and healthy!
Jan finally called her over seeing physician and it seemed as though he was there with in minutes. They put in an IV and gave me some nubain to relax me so he could find the placenta. He told me to relax, because if he coudln't get it out I'd end up in the OR and not see baby for a long time. That was the creepiest, most bizarre, painful feeling in the world. Dh must have walked in about this time and his hands went up to his face and he looked pretty scared. Guess he didn't expect to see some doctor with his arms in my womb up to his elbows. :jaw
The doctor found it and the rest is kind of a blur, since I was exhaisted and weak. The doctor said the placenta was on the anterior side of the uterus. This is why the HR wasn't getting picked up well by the monitor.
It was a wonderful labor and delivery. Such ashame about how the afterbirth went. We're thankful to have such a beautiful and healthy baby girl, though! :love