Thread: *^*^*^*Darci's (perkyblue) Birth Lodge*^*^*^*

Okay, here's DS's birth story:

I was at 39w2d and it was about 8:00 pm when I realized that I hadn't felt him move much if at all that day. When I called the hospital, they said to come on in and they'd check to make sure everything was okay. I didn't really expect that they would keep me at the hospital, but my mom had been with me all day, and she thought I was about to go into labor, so she convinced us to take our hospital bag with us just in case.

When I got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitor and said that the baby's heart rate was fine -- and that I was having contractions! I couldn't feel anything at that point so I was really surprised. But of course that didn't last long! Eventually, the pain got so bad that even though I had wanted to go natural, I agreed to have an epidural (after DH and the nurse kept trying to talk me into it). I'm still annoyed at DH for trying to get me to take the epidural when he knew that's not what I wanted. We've had a few talks about it recently, so hopefully he'll be more supportive this time. He thinks I'm over-exaggerating the risks and doesn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to take pain medication if it's available.

But even though I had been having strong contractions for 3 1/2 hours and had let the doctor rupture my membranes to get things moving, I was still only dilated to 2 cm, and I had to wait until 4 cm to get the epidural. So the nurse suggested a "morphine induction." She gave me a shot of morphine to help me relax and let my cervix dilate. And boy did that work wonders! One hour later I was dilated to ten and feeling the urge to push! And I was thrilled that it was too late to get the epidural!

From what I remember, the pushing stage really wasn't too bad. It actually felt good in a way to push. It did take quite a while, though. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. The worst part of my delivery was getting a 3rd degree tear. *Ouch!* So I'm really hoping that this baby's not much bigger than DS and that I'm less likely to tear this time now that I've already been stretched to the max by DS!

Overall my birth experience with DS was great. I'd like to try to avoid the morphine this time because I think it did make DS a little groggy and contribute to our BFing problems right after birth. But I'd take a morphine shot over an epidural any day, and I certainly can't complain about going from 2 to 10 cm in one hour! I was in labor for a total of 7 hours with DS, so I'm hoping that this one will be even shorter since it's my 2nd time. But since the morphine shot definitely sped things up, I don't really know how long to expect it to take without it.

My ideal birth experience this time would be no epidural, no tearing, and hopefully less pushing than before. (After 2 1/2 hours pushing DS out, I had some killer hemmorhoids! )

Welcome to your lodge, Darci!

Wow, what a story! I can't believe you went from 2-10 in an hour! Hopefully that means this labor will be super fast too.

Welcome to your lodge! Looking forward to following your journey over the next few weeks.

TFS your birth story. It is interesting to read about how sometimes a less common intervention, such as the morphine shot, can be the most effective in some situations. I hope this time you are able to have an all-natural birth with no tearing!

Welcome to your lodge!

Cindy

Welcome to your lodge! I'll have to remember that bit about the "morphine induction." Were you the person who posted here a while back about trying to prevent cholestasis this time around? I posted some info about natural ways to strengthen the liver, you could probably do a search on this forum & find it, if that wasn't you.

Yeah, that probably was me who posted about the cholestasis before. But so far, so good. I've heard that it usually shows up earlier in subsequent pregnancies, and I think I was just starting to get the rash at this point in my last pregnancy, so I feel like if I can make it to 37 weeks without a rash, then I'm probably (hopefully!) in the clear.

Man, my back is killing me today! I have been on my feet way too much. DH rented a movie for us to watch tonight, but I still have to frost a cake before I can kick back and watch it. DS Kevin's birthday party is tomorrow. Even though I was hesitant about the cost at first, I'm glad we're having his party at Bounce Planet instead of having it here. It's worth the money to have someone else take care of the clean-up! Wish me luck putting up with 12 5-7 year-olds tomorrow!

So tomorrow morning is going to be pretty hectic with the birthday party, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night becuse my family is coming to visit. It'll be my parents, my brother, his fiancee (who's already like a sister to me), and my niece. Kevin can't wait to play with his cousin again. I think he'll be surprised at how different she is now -- she was only 8 months old the last time he saw her, but now she's almost a year old. I'm actually a little surprised that they're all making the 8-hour drive (and that's just one-way) since they're only staying a day and a half. I wish they could stay longer, but it'll be fun while they're here. And my mom will be coming back on July 2nd, so that's when I'll be able to breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that I've got some help around here and that we have someone to watch Kevin if I go into labor early.

I hope all goes well at the party and you get to enjoy visiting with family, I know I always do

I hope your party is fun tomorrow, we'd love pictures if you care to share! I look forward to reading about your next birth. I can't imagine pushing for so long! This time I hope you are able to at least avoid stiches, that would be a huge drag. Yay for no rash this time!!

How was the party, Darci?