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Spontaneous membrane rupture, eventual hospital transfer, but successful vaginal delivery and a mostly
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happy mama! Read on....
My water started leaking around 5am on Wednesday August 9th. I wasn't due until the 21st, and was completely NOT ready (emotionally) to have a baby. I was in denial all morning that my water was broken - even though I was soaking a pad every hour lol. Anyway, I spent all day Wednesday relaxing and trying to get mentally ready for the baby, just waiting for contractions to start.
By Thursday morning when I still had not had any contractions, my midwife wanted me to come into the birth center so she could check me out. We met her there at 10am, and she confirmed it was amniotic fluid, but unfortunately I was not dilated or effaced AT ALL. We decided that since I'd been ruptured for a while already, we needed to try to get labor going. So I did nipple stimulation for an hour with the breast pump. Nothing. So midwife asked if I'd be willing to try Cervidil. I hadn't realized that we could use that out of the hospital, but at that point I was happy to hear that we could use it.
After the cervidil went in, I spent Thursday afternoon active and trying to get things moving - walking outside, nipple stimulation, an enema (yuck, but better than castor oil!), and some homeopathic medicine meant to help an "unyielding" cervix. By evening I was finally feeling some good contractions and got a second dose of cervidil (the first dose fell out in the toilet, ooops) to help things continue. By midnight I was working really hard and had made it all the way (insert heavy sarcasm lol!) to 1cm dilation.
There were several times throughout the night that someone would comment to me how close I must be, guessing that I only had a few hours left. So I kept working and working through each contraction, moving and swaying and moaning. It was a good, hard, night. But early in the morning when we checked, I was only at 3cm. Back at it; more walking around outside, eating, nipple stim, a warm shower. The contractions were so painful, and sometimes so close together, everyone was sure I was "getting there". Unfortunately I had the ghost of my first labor hanging over my head (45 hour labor; each centimeter of dilation took hours - but I still had a successful natural birth-center delivery), so I thought I was progessing, but probably not that THAT fast. Anyway, when I was checked at 1pm on Friday, I hadn't changed AT ALL in the past 7 hours. Big bummer.
Since my water had now been broken 50+ hours, we agreed it was time to transfer to the hospital for Pitocin. MAJOR change in plans of course, but I agreed - under the condition that I got an epidural the moment I walked in the door lol!! By this time, I was emotionally and physically strung out after all the waiting and hard work, and I simply was not willing to endure Pitocin contractions at that point without pain relief.
We all drove separately to the hospital, and once I got checked in at about 3pm on Friday they discovered I was 5cm. Amazing, eh? An hour later when they went to give me the epi, I was 7cm. Unbelievable. Even though I was obviously progressing again, doc still wanted to start the Pitocin, and that meant I still wanted the epi! The epidural worked okay for a couple hours and then bam! Huge pain again. This time of course I was strapped in bed and unable to do anything to help deal with the pain (I typically move A LOT in labor to help cope with contractions). Anyway, it didn't matter, they checked 20 minutes later and it was time to push. I pushed for about 10-15 minutes, and out came my little guy.
Born 7:53pm, Friday August 11. 7lbs 3oz, 19 1/2 inches. After 60 hours of ruptured membranes...I think I set a record at the hospital! LOL! I didn't have a single tear, and he got to stay with me for about three hours after delivery - he nursed the entire time. After that he went to the nursery for about an hour but spent the entire rest of the (too long) hospital stay right by my side. I was ready to leave by 10 Saturday morning but they kept me captive until Sunday by telling me my insurance wouldn't pay for the delivery unless I stayed. Dingbats.....
Anyway, we are home now and I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. Obviously in hindsight, I wound up progressing and if I'd just stayed at the birth center I might have delivered within a few hours. However, given the circumstances, I felt like we all made reasonable decisions, and my birth team was fabulous and supportive all the way through delivery. The worst part was the rediculous hospital stay afterwards - I feel like like they do everything possible to make you feel like an incompetant invalid. Oh well. That's their whole "managed care" gig I guess. Hopefully when baby #3 comes along, I will have a more *normal* labor and we will actually get to have the homebirth I've been wanting.
Suzanne.
My water started leaking around 5am on Wednesday August 9th. I wasn't due until the 21st, and was completely NOT ready (emotionally) to have a baby. I was in denial all morning that my water was broken - even though I was soaking a pad every hour lol. Anyway, I spent all day Wednesday relaxing and trying to get mentally ready for the baby, just waiting for contractions to start.
By Thursday morning when I still had not had any contractions, my midwife wanted me to come into the birth center so she could check me out. We met her there at 10am, and she confirmed it was amniotic fluid, but unfortunately I was not dilated or effaced AT ALL. We decided that since I'd been ruptured for a while already, we needed to try to get labor going. So I did nipple stimulation for an hour with the breast pump. Nothing. So midwife asked if I'd be willing to try Cervidil. I hadn't realized that we could use that out of the hospital, but at that point I was happy to hear that we could use it.
After the cervidil went in, I spent Thursday afternoon active and trying to get things moving - walking outside, nipple stimulation, an enema (yuck, but better than castor oil!), and some homeopathic medicine meant to help an "unyielding" cervix. By evening I was finally feeling some good contractions and got a second dose of cervidil (the first dose fell out in the toilet, ooops) to help things continue. By midnight I was working really hard and had made it all the way (insert heavy sarcasm lol!) to 1cm dilation.
There were several times throughout the night that someone would comment to me how close I must be, guessing that I only had a few hours left. So I kept working and working through each contraction, moving and swaying and moaning. It was a good, hard, night. But early in the morning when we checked, I was only at 3cm. Back at it; more walking around outside, eating, nipple stim, a warm shower. The contractions were so painful, and sometimes so close together, everyone was sure I was "getting there". Unfortunately I had the ghost of my first labor hanging over my head (45 hour labor; each centimeter of dilation took hours - but I still had a successful natural birth-center delivery), so I thought I was progessing, but probably not that THAT fast. Anyway, when I was checked at 1pm on Friday, I hadn't changed AT ALL in the past 7 hours. Big bummer.
Since my water had now been broken 50+ hours, we agreed it was time to transfer to the hospital for Pitocin. MAJOR change in plans of course, but I agreed - under the condition that I got an epidural the moment I walked in the door lol!! By this time, I was emotionally and physically strung out after all the waiting and hard work, and I simply was not willing to endure Pitocin contractions at that point without pain relief.
We all drove separately to the hospital, and once I got checked in at about 3pm on Friday they discovered I was 5cm. Amazing, eh? An hour later when they went to give me the epi, I was 7cm. Unbelievable. Even though I was obviously progressing again, doc still wanted to start the Pitocin, and that meant I still wanted the epi! The epidural worked okay for a couple hours and then bam! Huge pain again. This time of course I was strapped in bed and unable to do anything to help deal with the pain (I typically move A LOT in labor to help cope with contractions). Anyway, it didn't matter, they checked 20 minutes later and it was time to push. I pushed for about 10-15 minutes, and out came my little guy.
Born 7:53pm, Friday August 11. 7lbs 3oz, 19 1/2 inches. After 60 hours of ruptured membranes...I think I set a record at the hospital! LOL! I didn't have a single tear, and he got to stay with me for about three hours after delivery - he nursed the entire time. After that he went to the nursery for about an hour but spent the entire rest of the (too long) hospital stay right by my side. I was ready to leave by 10 Saturday morning but they kept me captive until Sunday by telling me my insurance wouldn't pay for the delivery unless I stayed. Dingbats.....
Anyway, we are home now and I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. Obviously in hindsight, I wound up progressing and if I'd just stayed at the birth center I might have delivered within a few hours. However, given the circumstances, I felt like we all made reasonable decisions, and my birth team was fabulous and supportive all the way through delivery. The worst part was the rediculous hospital stay afterwards - I feel like like they do everything possible to make you feel like an incompetant invalid. Oh well. That's their whole "managed care" gig I guess. Hopefully when baby #3 comes along, I will have a more *normal* labor and we will actually get to have the homebirth I've been wanting.
Suzanne.
