~ June Berries Arrivals ~ Birth Dates, Stats, & Stories ~

On the 19th I went into the hospital for induction at 6:00pm at about 7pm my midwife came in and inserted the cervadil behind my cervix. I woke up at 3:45am with werid feelings, I wasnt quite sure what was going on but by 4 i realized i was having contractions. So, I go onto contractionmaster.com and starting timing them. At 5 am they came into take out the cervadil and i told them i was having contrax 5-8 min apart. the doctors and nurses were pretty impressed with the website and i was able to get them exact times.

At 7am breakfast came and s.o. by now. We were sharing the large breakfast they brought in of french toast and pancakes. I was having to stop between bites because the contrax were getting much stronger and closer together about 2-4 min apart. And then at 7:30 the doctor came in and announced he was going to start pitocin and break my water. I was completely overwhelmed all of a sudden. I mean I had knew they were going to do this but it came so quick. I was so scared it actually scared the s**t out of me, i went to the bathroom and came out crying. I didnt even get to finish eating. So they broke my water at this point I was still at 2cm but it was the doctors birthday and he was leaving town so I just decided to get my epidural right there. Well, that was a weird feeling.

But I was feeling great, but about an hour later I was feeling super nauseous and I actually puked a few times. So i was actually pretty miserable. I was also at 3cm by 9am. Well I just laid there half-watching tv and reading magazines while my s.o. snoozed most of the time. Everytime I dialated more he would call and update our moms.

At about 2pm I was up to a 5. Then they checked me again at 3:45 and I was a 7! Well I finally took a 30 min nap. And when I woke up at about 4:30pm I was 10 and fully effaced. My s.o. and I cried everytime I made progress. So, s.o. called his mom and mine and they hurried down there. I told them that they shouldnt have hurried it would probably be awhile. But anyhow they have decided to let me labor down until i felt a need to push. My epidural had gotten alot better by this point since i wasnt so nauseous and I was able to feel the contrax a little which i wanted so i knew when to push.

Well at 5:15 I started pushing...i kept thinking i cant do this he'll never be able to fit his head through there. and then my s.o. was getting squemish and the mw and nurses kept asking if he was okay and he says out loud i just cant handle the cutting. Then i shot him a death glare, since i didnt want to know when they were cutting me but then i found out they had already done it. Then i thought oh, i can do this now. And in the next bout of pushes he was out. At 6:23pm, after 68 min. of pushing. His apgar scores was 9,9. S.O. cried and i held him for about 5 min. before he took him since i was still feeling alot pressure from placenta. Well, I really didnt think the labor was that bad.

But the next part was the worst. She was telling me to push lightly and I was trying to but something was wrong and no one would tell me for a couple minutes. But the placenta finally came out and I was still feeling pressure. Well, I was bleeding alot. And there was still a large chunk of placenta stuck up there. My midwife had quite the concerned look of her face as she would stitch me up a little then dig around trying to find it and clean me out. As she was cleaning me out she would push hard on my stomach this is the point where i was writhing in pain and about ripping the bed rails off the bed. At one point they asked if I wanted to hold Caiden and I said no because i was afraid i would squeeze him in pain instead of the bed.

I was begging for water or ice chips. Then i asked them to knock me out even though i really wanted to be able to spend time with caiden but i was in so much pain, that i couldnt take it anymore. Well, finally they had called a doctor in and she decided that i needed to go to the o.r.
They then offered me 15cc of demeroll (sp?) well i accepted then asked if it was going to make me sick. They claimed no but 10 sec after they injected it. I puked.

They then started my epidural again for surgery and took me away. I was kinda of out of it and didnt open my eyes during the surgery. They strapped me down to the bed during surgery and then wheeled me to the recovery room where i was still begging for water. Then once i got water i was begging to see my baby. I had spent the first 2 hours away from him.
Crucial bonding time!

Well, i finally got to see him and he was beautiful. Later that night at about 11pm I asked to take a shower and they said if i could stand long enough with help to bathroom then i could well most of the shower went good until the end where i stood up holding on to bars for s.o. to rinse me and i knew i had stood too long so i sat down on the chair in shower but it was too late everything was going blotchy and black. I slumped over and s.o. was left holding me and calling for help. I woke up to 4 staff members surrounding me and smelling salts. They helped me come to and put me in wheelchair, and put me back in my bed.

I slept pretty good that night and then had to get blood transfusions the next day. I stayed 3 days days in total because of complications. But my sweet lil boy was perfect with no problems until the day after we were released where he ended up quite jaundiced he level was at 17. So we were readmitted for another day and night. And have been home ever since.

Sorry i havent had any time to post but im sure the ladies are all understanding as im sure they are just as busy.

Caiden John
6lb. 12 1/2 oz
20 1/4 in. long
6/20 at 6:23pm
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It's starting to come back to me now. I went into the hospital at 6:00 am on Tuesday June 24th for a scheduled induction. By 6:15 am DH & I couldn't believe that we were in the birthing suite already and they started my IV and Pitocin. Still 2 cm and 90% effaced Dr. I came in and broken my water around 7:50 am. I started having mild contractions about 5 minutes apart around 8:10 am. I was 3 cm at 9:30. I was 5-6 cm around 11:30 and I tried changing positions and moved from the bed to a rocker and this helped a lot for the next 30 minutes to an hour.

As the contractions became more intense I asked for something for pain and the nurse asked if I wanted to try a IV drug first. I agreed because I knew once I got the epi I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. It felt good to stand and rock around this time with the contractions about 2 minutes apart. Well I should have known better because I don't tolerate pain meds well. I am very sensitive and I swear I need like 1/4 of what most people get. She pushed the drug in the IV saying I would be feeling drowsy very quickly. Oh man I was sick from it. The room was spinning and I was rambling on & on and she seemed shocked because it was such a small dose. She quickly flushed it out for me and after it wore off the contractions were the strongest ever and on top of each other.

I asked for the epi and I got it by 1:30 pm and it went very well and didn't feel sick at all. The anesthesiologist was wonderful moving very slow explaining everything to me as he was doing it and what I would feel. The worse part of the epi is the local that burns to numb you IMO. I was able to get some sleep off and on as the nurse remembered me to try and save my energy for the pushing. Around 5:30 pm I was 9 cm and by 6:00 pm I was 10. Yah! Dr. I was called in and I started pushing around 6:30.

I was so excited at this point and completely out of pain since the epi had been wonderful from start to finish. With DH on one side and the nurse on the other holding my legs Grace's head began to crown and my DH and mom were thrilled. I decided before I went into the hospital that I didn't want a mirror or to look because I thought it would freak me out. DH said to me "You wanna see this. It's amazing!" So I looked and it wasn't that bad. My mom also was in the room and started to cry as she was telling me she could see her hair. The pushing got easier as it went on. I felt like I knew how to push more after each one. Still very numb the Dr said to try pushing my fingers out or picturing that and it worked great. With 8- 10 pushes she was out and I was grateful to see my beautiful little girl! I balled like baby with her first cry and was so happy to see my DH & Mom both crying. It was truly amazing! Grace was born on Tuesday June 24th at 7:02 pm 8 lbs 3 oz. an 20 1/2 inches long with an Apgar score of 9.

I've had 2 different "meltdowns" so far. First one in the hospital on the second night she had a very fussy few hours and we couldn't help her. The nurses offered to take her so we could sleep and I refused then and gave in about 30 minutes after that. I started to cry with that stupid guilt thinking "Why can't I fix it?" The nurses were great and explained the first 48 hours can be this way as their digestive tract is working for the first time and its quite common. I slept for 2 hours then around 6 am walked down to the nursery and they had about 4 babies there all with same issues. Grace was sleeping soundly and they told me the hold them only til 7 am so I went back to bed. My second meltdown has been trying to fall asleep for the first 4 nights and day I would jerk myself awake. I finally crashed and got over it by Friday night 6/27 and was just exhausted. It was like I had to teach myself how to relax and fall asleep again at all different hours of the day and night. DH & my mom again got me through it just like they do for everything.

Well ladies thanks for reading. I've enjoyed all the birth stories and I look forward to sharing all our new happy and exciting experiences with our beautiful babies! This is a great support system. Thanks for being there! :grouphug:
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Me with the epi!
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My due date was Sunday, June 22nd. That day came and went without any sign of labor. On Tuesday, I had my 40 week appointment. The doctor examined me, and I was still 0 cm dilated. He scheduled my induction starting Thursday evening with Cervadil. We told him that we’d been telling the baby it was time to come out. He said maybe we weren’t telling the baby forcefully enough. Ha ha.

That afternoon, I went to lunch with some girlfriends. I was really tired at the end of lunch. Around 10 that night, I had two contractions, about 10 minutes apart. I was so excited! I started timing them, and they were pretty inconsistent, but kept coming. I fell asleep around 1 am, and woke up at 2 when my water broke. I couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I got up and watched tv on my ball. That helped a lot. I was breathing through them and rolling on the ball. It was a long night, but finally at 9:00 I called the doctor’s office. They told me to go to the hospital for a labor check.

At the hospital, they strapped me to the monitors. They did some kind of litmus test for amniotic fluid, and it was negative. The nurse said it was just a “very bloody show.” I was there for an hour or so, watching the contractions. They stopped showing on the monitor, but I could feel them. I could also still feel the liquid coming out with the contractions. The nurse came back and was going to send me home, and we were going to come back the next day for the induction. I told her that I was still feeling a lot of liquid, and she tested it again. This time it was positive for amniotic fluid. I was glad I spoke up, because once your water breaks, they need you to deliver within a certain time frame.

So, I was admitted and brought to my room. By this time, it was around noon. They hooked up the iv for the pitocin, because my contractions had stopped. We hung out in the room for a few hours, waiting for the pitocin to kick in. They also gave me something for nausea, but of course I started vomiting anyway. The contractions began around 3. The nausea medicine also made me very sleepy. So I would sleep, then wake up to throw up. The contractions were unbearable. I was attached to the monitors, so I couldn’t move around freely. I tried the rocking chair, but it didn’t help. Around 5:30 I decided it was time for the epidural. There was no way I could keep going like that. The doctor didn’t arrive until 7:00, and the nurse kept apologizing. My poor husband could only give me ice chips, and the bucket for throwing up. Once I got the epidural, I felt one contraction but it didn’t hurt. After that, I was numb and it was wonderful! My husband came back in, and I was smiling!

I was still on the monitors, and my husband was watching these huge contractions, but I couldn’t feel them. I continued to doze on and off, with the nurse checking every so often. At 10:15 she called my doctor. I knew it was close! She was an awesome nurse. There were so many during our stay, and most of them would have made me crazy. This nurse kept me calm, and gave me clear instructions. I felt very comfortable with her. She did most of the work, until the doctor came for the last few minutes. I was pushing for about 45 minutes. It never hurt. The epidural was starting to wear off at the end, which was good because I could feel where to push. I could also feel his head come out. I did tear, and had about 5 stitches.

There were a few concerns. He did pass his meconium stool in the womb. They had to suction his mouth before he came all the way out to make sure he didn’t breathe it in. Also, the cord was wrapped around his neck two times. They cut his cord right away, and whisked him over to the scale/warmer to make sure he was OK. His APGARs were 8 and 9. He weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 22 inches long. I thought he would be chubbier, but he’s kind of skinny since he’s so long. He was just fine, and they brought him to me so I could hold him and nurse him. He latched right away, and he’s been feeding well ever since.

My birth story is that I had a scheduled C-section on 6/19 because my baby was breech. I was delivered at 39 0/7 weeks. I decided not to try for a version because I am on Lovenox and would have had to stop it in order to do a version. Also, I had a C-section with my angel baby, Jasmine, so I was only going to do a VBAC if everything went smoothly for a vaginal delivery.

I went into the hospital the morning of 6/19 for my C-section and my son, Jackson, was born at 9:47 am. It was a difficult C-section because my spinal anesthesia was not very good so I had a lot of pain during the procedure. The physicians also had a hard time getting Jackson out because he was on the large size- he weighted 8 lbs 4.3 oz (3750 grams). The ended up making a T-shaped incision on my uterus so I will never be allowed to labor due to an increased risk of uterine rupture. I also have to wait 18 months before getting pregnant again and my C-section with my next baby will likely be scheduled at 36-37 weeks.

I was very excited to hear Jackson’s first cry. I feel like I have been waiting for this for almost two years because my angel baby, Jasmine, was born with a blood clot in her lungs. She was born at 37 weeks by emergency C-section and then lived for 14 days in the NICU before she passed away. I now feel like I don’t have empty arms any more. I am very grateful to God for giving me Jackson. Here are some pictures.

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I'm writing this with the help of my husband.

I know I'm missing things, like phone calls and most likely other things as well. So bare with me :)

I went to the hospital at 7:45am on Saturday July 5th to get induced. When we got there my doctor was still not there so they hooked me up to the monitors to check my baby's heartbeat and my blood pressure. Everything was good, and I was having regular contractions as well. All was going good.

Finally my doctor showed up at about 10:15am and told me if I was at least 4cm dilated she would just brake my water instead of using any gels. So they moved me from triage to an actual delivery room. Sure enough, I was 4cm dilated so at exactly 10:30am she broke my water.

My doctor then told the nurse I had quick labor and to be on guard- she was going to go do her rounds in the mean time and to page her when I was ready to push.

I'll be honest- I was scared half to death. Knowing I was going to have her was a little frighting. I knew the contractions were going to be powerful, but I did the best I could to brace myself.

By about 11-11:30am the contractions were in full swing. I told my husband I wanted an epidural and some morphine. Well the anesthesiologist was busy with another woman and then had to go for a surgery- I would have to wait an hour if I still wanted the epidural- well I knew that was not an option anymore, I wouldn't last an hour. So until then the nurse came and gave me some morphine- bad idea!

It made me super sleepy, but I decided to try the shower anyway. So I turned the water as hot as I could handle and began rocking back and forth on the birthing ball. I remember my doula taught me some exercises to help distract from pain and stay calm.So while I had hot water on my stomach I...began counting sheep!! LOL. It honestly worked to. I felt so silly that it kept me distracted for the most part. And I picked a soap bottle as my focal point, and it helped alot too lol...until my husbands head got in the way LOL.

Then by about 12:30pm I had one major painful contraction and I knew it was time to push. I stood up and told the nurse I had to push NOW! She said to wait she had to get my doctor. I yelled to her that I literally could not wait. So they laid me down on the bed and DH said that he could already see her hair!

Well they paged my doctor, but I couldn't stop pushing- my daughter was literally delivered in under 10 quick pushes- and the nurse delivered her! They put her on my chest and I cuddled her for a few minutes. Then they took her to check her weight and such.

My doctor showed up after the nurse had cleaned up my baby and clamped the placenta. Then I started to have a funny feeling, and this is where everything went wrong...

"According to my husband and some of my memory"

I felt a rush like feeling down below and asked the nurse if I was bleeding. She said yes- and badly. They were trying to get my placenta out but it was stuck solid. They hooked up a second I.V (First was just a seline block, because I had a hemorrhaging with my son after the placenta came out) with oxytoxin to try to help it out. My doctor came back 15 minutes later and still could not get it out and I was bleeding very heavily.

The last thing I remember was feeling like I had given birth again, and asked if they got it out- no- it was a giant clot (I saw it after I came back to, it was almost bigger than my daughter).

This is where my husband fills in the details for me. At this point I was blacking out and don't remember much of anything.

My husband said they called in the surgeon. It had been an hour of bleeding very badly and they needed to prep me for emergency surgery to get it out.

The surgeon came up and my husband said that he told him if they could not get the bleeding under control I could bleed to death. But the surgeon wanted to give it one last try to see if he could get the placenta out. According to my husband they told me to push and finally after almost an hour and a half after I had given birth to my daughter they got the placenta out. They still had to get the bleeding under control so they continued with the oxytoxin drip, because if my uterus softened I would just continue to fill with blood.

I remember coming back around about 5-10 min after they got the placenta out. I was still in an excruciating amount of pain due to the contractions from the oxytoxin and the pressure they had to apply to my stomach to make sure I didn't start to bleed again. But at that time they asked me if I wanted a D & C to make sure it was all out. I said no, because the surgeon was very confident he got it all out. I remember just thinking, I just want to hold my daughter.

I finally got to hold my daughter- I don't remember much of it, but my husband showed me pictures of me holding her. She was born at 12:42pm, 9lbs 3oz and 21.25.

They also wanted me to shower before I left the delivery room. Very bad idea- I made it to the shower, but I started blacking out and they had to come get me.

Shortly after that they wheeled me to my private room where I got to snuggle my little girl and feed her. Poor thing was very hungry too.

I have to take two iron pills twice a day for the next 6 weeks until my blood gets back to normal. But other than that it will just take time to heal.

We got discharged today at 9:45am, and are very happy to be home. My husband stayed home with me today, because I still can't walk well without getting dizzy.

But regardless of how things went, we are incredibly happy with our sweet little girl. And I'm just grateful that she is okay and healthy.

Thanks for reading everyone :)

Ethan Kennedy Born June 4th 2008 at 5.32 pm 7 pounds 4.5 ounces 20 and 1/4 inches long

I went into labor on June third after being on bed rest and procardia for two weeks, with two weeks before that on another medication. (I was off all the medication for five days) I was already dilated to three and 85% effaced.
I started timing my contractions at about three thirty in the afternoon. They weren't real super consistent or strong, so we stayed home, ate dinner and then went for a walk. Then at about 10 30 pm we decided it was time to go to the hospital and DH took me in to be admitted at 11 pm. After being monitored all night I was told that they wanted to augment my labor, because I was dilating VERY slowly despite all the walking. (8 hours and only a 1 cm change.) At 9 am they broke my water, TWICE, 10 30 they started me on pitocin. Since the external monitor wasn't picking up my contx very well, they threaded an internal monitor UP AND AROUND MY BABY inside my uterus. I SO could have done without it. It made the contx so much worse than they had beec.
At 11 am I got a dose of phenergan and stadol and nodded off for a few hours. At 330 the nurse came in and woke me up to check me again... only 5 cms, one more than at 8. My midwife came in shortly after that and told me that if I didn't dilate to at least 6 by 6pm they were going to have to start thinking about a c-section. By the time we were done talking the stadol wasn't working anymore and I requested an epidural. My epidural was placed at 5 pm. At 5.10 they checked me again and I had gone from 5 right before my epidural to ten!! Ethan was born 22 minutes later. Everything went well, on the exception of a funky bleed after the placenta delivered. The midwife almost had a transfusion ordered. Ethan weighed in at 7 lbs and 4 1/2 oz and 20 1/4 " long. He's absolutely beautiful and we are *finally* getting ourselves back together. (We shut off our phone THE DAY before the baby was born!!)

Sorry it took me so long to get back, I missed you all!!


My Birthday 8/7
Ethan's Birthday 6/4

Birth story for Matthew Alexander:

Weight: 7lbs 9 oz
Length: 20 inches
Born: 6/06/08 at 11:36pm


I started having contractions on my last night of work around 1:00am June 5th. They were coming about every 10-15 mins and they were not really painful. By the time my shift was over and I got home they were about every 5 mins apart a bit painful but still bareable. I sat down and started timing my contractions while I sat and lurked preg.org. They were very consistant and coming every 5-7 mins. DBF had work that morning but we decided that we should go to L&D and be checked out just incase it was the real thing. Arrived at the hospital around 10:00am. They checked me and I was only dialated at a 2 and 80% effaced. They stuck me on the moniters and the nurse said I was contracting every 5 mins. She had me walk around for an hour to see if I would make some progress. An hour passed by and I was rechecked no change!! UGhh So I was sent home.

Went home and I was still contracting and the pain was getting worse. Soo 8 hours later (8:00pm) back to L&D I went. I was checked this time I was dialated at a 3 90% effaced and the baby was really low. The nurse had me again walk around for an hour to see if my cervix was going to change. This time walking was really hard for me. I had to stop and hold onto DBF and squeeze his hand through my contractions. My contractions were now coming every 5 mins. While I was walking around I started to get light headed and so sick to my stomach that I ended up vomiting in the bathroom. 1 hour goes by and I am checked again STILL NO CHANGE!! I was so frustrated at that point. The nurse felt so bad for me and saw how much in pain I was so she asked my doctor if he could just come in and break my water so they can admit me. My doctor agrees so he comes in to examine me and proceeds to try to reach my bag of waters. Aparently he was unable to get to it so he couldn't break my water. I was in tears at that point. I was in so much pain and so tired (mind you I stil have yet to sleep since I got off my last night shift of work and have been up for over 24 hours at this point) So once again they discharge me (at 11:00pm) and send me home.

I get home and my contractions start coming about every 3-4 mins apart. I laid in bed trying to get some sleep since I have been up for over 24 hours and I was going to have a long road ahead of me since I knew I would be having my baby soon. No such luck. The sleeping pill did crap and my contractions were coming so close together that I was unable to sleep through my contractions. They started getting so painful that I was yelling in pain. DBF just laid in bed with me rubbing my head and letting me squeeze his hand. I think I about squeezed his hand off a few times. So that pretty much goes on the whole night. Morning rolls around and my contractions are still the same but now I am feeing intense pressure like I have to have a bowel movement. I go into the bathroom and notice I started bleeding. I really wanted to go back to L&D but when I was discharged last time the nurse told me not to come back until my contractions were 2 mins apart. I called my OB doctor and he suggested that I did some walking. I was in so much pain I could barely move and he wanted me to walk!!?? LOL DBF literally had to dress me to go outside because I was in so much pain I couldn't even lift my legs to put my pants on. So slowly but surley we start walking around the block. The pain is getting unberable at this point and I am stopping every 2 mins having to hold on to DBF and breath through my contractions. I think we made it around the block once and I couldn't do it anymore. My contractions were coming so fast that I was barely getting a break inbetween to catch my breath.

Back to L&D we go (1:00pm June 6th) Let me tell you the car ride was horrible! Every bump we went over caused me to scream in pain. I had a mouth of a sailor cussing up a storm! I seriously couldn't help it. Its crazy how pain makes people act. I pretty much didn't want to be touched or looked at. DBF and my mother were both laughing at me every time I would cuss which just made me more mad. Now thinking back about the situation it was funny! So we arrive to L&D and this time instead of taking me to Triage they take me right back to a labor room. I think the nurses could tell this was finally it by the way I was acting. During each contraction I now had to breath and pant through them. I get into my L&D room and they check me I am dialated to a 5 and 100% effaced they decided to admit me!! OMG it was such a relief. The nurse asked me what I wanted to do about my pain and I said EPIDURAL!!! The nurse put the order in for it and within about 20 mins I recieved my epidural. Let me tell you ladies it was amazing!!!!!! Anyone that goes through labor all natural I have soo much respect for. I don't know how you do it. Instantly the pain was gone and I was able to relax.

I pretty much just watched tv and visited with my family through the rest of my labor. They checked me a few times checking my progress and finally at 10:30pm I started to feel like I had to take the biggest bowel movement of my life. My body started to push on its own. I told the nurse what I was feeling so she checked me and I was dialated to a 10 and 100% and ready to push! I don't remember much of what went on while I was pushing. I was pretty much in a trance and tried to stay focused. All I remember is that my mom and DBF heald each of my legs while I pushed. I pushed for about an hour and (with no tears) out popped Matthew Alexander at 11:36pm. He immediately started to cry and they put him on my chest. It was the most amazing experience of my life. Once I looked at my sweet baby I totally forgot about the pain and everything I went through. I am in love!

Birth story of Ryan Alexander

June 12- 40 week appt., not dialated at all! cervix not even soft.

June 15- i was to be induced the next day, so they sent me on the 15th to get the cervidel started.

on the 16th( 41 weeks exactly) at about 530-6 they came in to take out the cervidel..which did NOTHING for me. they started the pitocen. at around 8-830..i feel a nice gush of fluid. i thought i peed on myself!! i called the nurse and told her that i just peed in the bed..and she came in and checked and it was my water! she just smiled soo big and was like nope ur water just broke! i was so happy thinking maybe it wont be allll day. so they keep comin in every so often checking me..not dialating. the nurse was awesome and funny and kept telling me that i was all fluid and that i was going to have a 5 lb baby.(if she only knew hehe) i had about 3 good hard pitocin contractions and the nurse called for the epidural. around 1030 i got it. i was DEATHLY afraid of the epi. they told everyone to get out of the room and i just started screaming for my husband to stay. so they let him stay! :) the doc who put it on was AWESOME!!! he knew i was afraid so he numbed it up really good and i didnt feel a thing! he also failed to tell me that he had to go further up on my back than he likes to do it cuz of my tattoo on my lower back. he said it was much more dangerous but he could do it. he told my husband that and then the DH told me later. thank goodness he didnt tell me as he was doing it cuz i would have FREAKED! so a whole lot of sitting and waiting...my body would just not dialate. they kept stretching it as much as possible. my belly was soooo round, literally a basketball shape, they couldnt keep the baby heartbeat monitor on it. it kept sliding down, so they stuck his lil head with the lil wires :( so at around 6:30 pm, i was not even 4 cm dialated, my nurse came in to tell me that my doc wouldnt wait any longer since my water broke so early that ill be having a c sec in an hour. i just started bawling. i was so upset that it came down to that after waiting sooo long. so 730 came around and i was wheeled off to the operating room. my nurse got off at 7 but she said she would stay until i was taken to the op room(so sweet). i remember shaking like crazy on that table, and i dont know if it was nerves and being cold or just nerves. anways, since my epi was in a diff spot, it didnt really numb my right side. so they gave me the stronger dose of med that the give before c secs. they start cutting away and i didnt feel that but i could feel them pulling my skin open. and i just start screamin "it hurts!!" and my DH said that i kept puttin my right leg up and they kept pushing it down..the epi doc (cant spell the longg A word haha) kept asking is it pain pain or pressure?? and i said painnn i can feel it! and so he put something in my epi that made me soooooo looopy. i honestly thought i died. i was awake and could hear talking but didnt know what was going on. the docs kept yelling hes huge hes huge!! and then my mind totally went. and all i could think was that i died and i never got to see my sons face. how was my dh going to take care of him alone?? so my DH said he would tell me to squeeze his hand i would do it. i remember he kept showing my the baby saying "look at our son look!!" but i honestly just couldnt focus. i kept screamin how many fingers and toes?? and so they finally started wheeling me into my room. and people started to come in my room and see the baby. i didnt get to hold him until bout 11 that night :(

7:55 PM my beautiful baby boy ryan alexander came into this world screaming his head off and weighing in at 9 lb 10.5 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. the next day when the nurse came in they all told her how big my baby was and she came running in my room saying i have to see this i dont believe it! she was shocked!!!!

My birth story:

Around 4:30am on June 30th 2008 I woke up with some pains. I was not sure what it was until I realized the pains were coming every 10 minutes or so. That's when I figured they were contractions, they felt like semi-strong menstrual cramps. I laid in bed timing them for a good 2 hours or more trying to see if they were going to go away which they weren't. A couple of times I went to the bathroom and noticed a little blood when I wiped, this is when it hit me that I may be having a baby soon. It was my Due Date so I didn't expect to go into labor since the odds of having a baby on your due date is so low, around 5% or something. Once I knew things were starting I began to worry because Tommy had to take a exam that day, I had tried to get him to take it the weekend before but he said he didn't have time and was not ready, besides I was not going into labor exactly on my Due Date according to him. Once he woke up around 6:30am I simply asked him when the College testing center opened. He asked why and I told him I was having contractions and wanted him to take it ASAP. He also had to work that day so we decided he would take the test and call me afterward to see how I was doing. I took a shower and I tried to go to sleep because I was exhausted but every time a contraction came I was to uncomfortable to sleep. I remember feeling like if I didn't hold myself I was going to pee myself, I went to the bathroom at least every 15 minutes. Looking back I think my water broke by 7:30am and was very slowly trickling out. Tommy called me around 10:30am and asked me how I was doing, the contractions were still not too bad and were still 10 minutes apart so I told him to go ahead to work. All I could do was hang out and count the contractions as they came, some were starting to get stronger and a little shorter, about 7-10 minutes apart. Around 1:00pm I decided to call the doctor because they were getting stronger and closer together, still not 6 minutes apart like they tell you to call for but I didn't care at that point. They paged the doctor for me and I called Tommy to tell him I called. I told him I would let him know what was going on when they called me back. A hour later I still had not heard form the doctor and my contractions had gone from 7-10minutes apart to 4-6 minutes apart. I told Tommy to come home because we had to go to the Hospital! I felt like it took him twice as long to get home. Once I had decided I wanted to head to the hospital I wanted to be there right then. By the time Tommy got home I had everything next to the door and I was pacing back and forth from the living room to the dining room. The hospital was only about 15 minutes away so it could have been worst but I was so happy to arrive. I remember telling Tommy, I will die if they send me home, I don't know why I would think they were going to send me home but I have heard of it happening. Later I found out my phone was messed up and my doctor had in fact called me back I just didn't get the message. I checked in at 3:45pm and they hooked me up to the monitors and every thing looked good, I was defiently having contractions and the baby sounded good. Next the nurse checked me and told me I was 6cm dilated and the head was low, I was 2cm the week before at the doctors. They took me right into the labor and delivery room and got me set up with my IV and monitors. By the time I had arrived at the hospital I was ready to get an epi, I didn't realize you have to get a blood test before they give you it. That felt like was the longest time of my life! The contractions were coming so quick and strong and I felt a lot of pressure when they came, I guess it was that urge to push but I was not about to push before I got my epi. FINALLY the anesthesiologist got there and gave me the epi, he did a good job and it wasn't that painful...or at least not as painful as the contractions were. A couple minutes later when it was in effect the nurse checked me again. I was 10cm and 100% effaced, ready to go. I could not believe I made it to 10cm without any pain medication! Since I had just gotten the epi they decided to give me a little while and let the baby come down some more on his own. At some point in all this Tommy called my family, while he was doing this he ran into my cousin and found out they were 2 rooms down having there baby. They had come in around 5:30am got sent home and returned again at 9:30am. We were hoping the babies would be born on the same day. I don't remember exactly what time I got my epi but I started to push around 7:30pm. Because of the epi my contractions slowed down and I pushed probably every 5 minutes give or take. This was good since it allowed my body to naturally stretch but annoying because we would push then just hang out till the next contraction. Around 9:30pm they got out all the delivery equipment and at 9:50pm I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy! I know I could have had him sooner if I didn't get the epi but I don't regret getting it. I won't lie and said I wish I didn't get it because I don't, I enjoyed the experience much more once I was relaxed and not worried about how much pain I was in. It was strange the first time I held Carter, I guess it was just surreal to me. I didn't go into the experience with much in mind, I figured there was nothing that could fully prepare me for it so I just decided I would go with the flow (which is my personality anyways) and it turned out great. Carter's new cousin was born at 11 something the same night. The recovery was much easier than I had anticipated, my arms and back were sore from pushing and I tore just a little and had a few stitches but overall I didn't feel too bad. I tired very easily when I would get up and walk around or go to the bathroom but I just took it easy and relaxed in bed most of the time. Carter was defiently worth it all!

*** Can I please be added to the birthday list :
Carter - June 30th
Me (Karen(KKDarr)) August 15th

Better late than never! Sorry I have been MIA. My 20 month old toddler regressed a bit since we brought her brother home so I have had my hands full and don't get alot of sleep.

REader's digest version: I was 5 days late and panicing because I had my heart set on a B
VBAC. July 2nd I woke up and felt mild cramping.... an our later I was 5 minutes apart and doubled over on the way to the hospital ( what happenned to the 20 minute apart contractions thing I heard everyone talking about?). Anyway, I stuck it out without drugs until I was 8 1/2 cm (I believe that all the interventions with my daughter helped lead to the csection), then I got an epi, things progressed well and just as I was ready to push - the dreaded heart decels started.... the midwife pushed the baby back up the birth canal thinking if it were a pinched cord that would fix it - it did but then when baby came donw again the decels happened again. I was crushed as they wheeled me into the surgery - the OB on call said they would give me one last chance to deliver vaginally in the OR before they cut.... I delivered by vacuum assist (and major episiotomy(sp)) - but it beats a csection any day of the week!!
turns out the problem had nothing to do with me.... the cord had a perfect knott in it and when the baby dropped the knott tightened cutting the oxygen to baby (we took a picture because the OB said it was very unusualy to have a "perfect knot" and not have the child growth restricted or anything.

Nicholas Luc was born 2 July at 3:14pm 8lbs 9oz. (no growth restriction there!)
as of last wednesday he wieghed 14 1/2 lbs! - my 20 month old only wieghs 22 lbs....