October Sweets Birthdates, Stats, and Birth Stories!

[Lillysmom]

Wow I was not expecting to have her so soon! Thrusday night I woke up several times with REALLY painful contractions but they went away so I just went back to sleep. I woke up Friday with a hellacious cold out of nowhere. I started to have really mild but regular contractions as soon as I woke up. I called the o.b. because I didn't want to have to bother her over the weekend! She sent me to the hospital to be evaluated. I got there around 9 am and was expecting to go home in an hour or so like usual. Well they hooked me up to the monitor and contractions were ever 5-7 min. They checked my cervix and I was dialated to 3cm!! I started to kinda freak out. I was only 36 weeks! Strangely DD helped me keep it together. She told me "Don't cry mommy the baby sister just wants to meet us" So I called DH (he is in trainging at work and can't leave because friday is test day) I got my mom up there and they moved me to L&D. I was checked 2 hours later and I was at 4 cm. So deff. in labor. (I was still trying to deny it at this point) Not much happend over the next few hours, contractions were every 4-5 min still painless just kinda uncomfortable.

DH got there around 5 with all of lillys stuff so she and my mom left. I was checked again at around 6 pm and I was still at 4 cm! They were not going to do anything to help it out and told me that if there was no change in the next hour or so that I would have to go home. After spending almost 9 hours there I was not going anywhere!!! So DH and I went walking (to the cafeteria to eat but dont tell) it much have been the spicy tomato soup because when I got back I was at 6 cm. Woot. Contractions still painless!!! I made it to 7 cm the next hour then stalled again for almost 5 hours. Walked some more and made it to 8 (still painfree but miserable from the cold mostly just sinus pressure) I was starting to really tire out. At 3am the decided to help me out and break my water. I STILL had no pain at 8 cms but I went ahead and got an epidural before they broke it because I was miserable with the cold and me and the doctor agreed that I was probably going to go from 0 to 60 on the pain scale REALLY quickly once the water was broken and I don't think I would have done well being so sick. So they broke my water and...... nothing happened! No change in 2 hours they called my doc and were going to put me on pitocin to get through the last 2 cm. As soon as they came in to hang the bag of pitocin I felt this wierd movement and pressure all of a sudden. They checked me and I was 10cm and 100% effaced!! She had also moved from -2 to +1 while she was checking my cervix! I pushed her out in about 30 min. and the rest is history! nough she was 3 1/2 weeks early she was 8lbs. 3.9 oz. and 21 1/2 in. long and looked great. My doc told me I was very lucky I I had carried to her due date she would have been 10 lbs. +

[keky]

I understand better in timelines so I wrote everything in my phone as it happened and here it is:

Sept 29
12:30 PM - Doctors appointment - Still 1 cm, 60% effaced, decided to go ahead with induction.
7:45 PM - Called the hospital, they were a little busy, said they'd call us when they could get us in.

Sept 30
2:30 AM - Hospital called - They have a room saved for me!
2:55 AM - Left home for the hospital
4:20 AM - First assessment - 2cm almost 3cm, little more than 60% effaced, baby engaged.
5:00 AM - Cervidil placed
8:00 AM - Went walking, a lot of pressure.
10:30 AM - Contracting 2-3 minutes apart.
5:00 PM - Cervidil out, 3cm, 80-90% effaced. Took a shower and ate dinner.
7:00 PM - 3 cm, 85-90% effaced, pitocin started.

Oct 1
1:00 AM - Stronger contractions from pitocin FINALLY kicked in.
1:15 AM - Water broke.
2:00 - 2:45 AM - Epidural in, Foley placed, BP dropped to 80/50, baby's HR dropped, Ephedrine given and pitocin stopped. Recovered fine and pitocin restarted slowly.
5:30 AM - 5 cm, 100% effaced, 0 station
7:45 AM - OB in, says if we can't turn pit up to get me into active labor without baby HR dropping, might have to C-section.
8:00 AM - 9 cm, 0 station, baby's head molding at +1, A LOT of pressure starting in bottom, VERY painful, re-bolused epidural
8:45 AM - Started pushing, said it would probably be 2 hours and he'll be here.
9:24 AM - LIAM WAS BORN!!!

So that's my timeline! All in all, everything went great. When his heart rate was dropping it was really scary and they were so busy running around, I had no clue what all was going on. Poor DH had left to get a snack, nothing was happening, he comes back in the room and I'm on oxygen, flipped on my side, 4 or 5 nurses in the room. I was in tears so he asked for me if everything was okay and they told him it was now. Then I had to pretty much lay on my sides the rest of the time, baby wouldn't tolerate me on my back. When my OB came in and said that about C-section, I was so worried because I knew she wouldn't say if it wasn't a last option. The funnest part to me was DH standing at the end of the bed pushing both legs back while I pushed, at one point the nurse said, okay keep pushing and left the room to go get something, we did but I think both in the back of our minds were like "what if he comes out???". The bad part of the whole thing is the epidural wasn't working enough in my "area" so I was numb in my hips and down my legs but nowhere in between!! And baby delivered face up so the pressure on my ((TMI)) rectum was HORRIBLE!!! That was the worst part of the recovery was the pain I still had there afterwards. I was so tired that once baby was born, I'd start to cry and then the blinking would make me start falling asleep. And DH was in tears so that made me cry worse! He ate wonderfully right from the start and hasn't stopped since!! And in the end I got the delivery I wanted, no family, just DH and I and it was great - we'll definitely do the same next time.

[~*~Love*Life~*~]

I had set an induction date for the 10th. On Wednsday morning I woke up with contractions. They were nothing bad and not timeable. I got up and got ready for work and got Emily ready for school. I go to work and my contractions worsen a little. But, still I didn't think that they were bad enough to time them. I went to lunch and by the time I got back I could tell that I needed to start timing them. I was timing them to be 2-3 min. apart. By two pm I had to leave work due to the intensity that they were coming.

I called my ob's office to tell them I was having contractions. They asked me to go to the office. Really? Really? The office and not the hosiptal? I was merely calling to let you know. Not to have you tell me to go to the office. Well we decided to go ahead and go to the ob's office (of course I consulted with Genny first).

We get there and the ob told me that I was still at a three but, he could tell that I was def. in active labor. He told me to go ahead and go to the hospital. Dan and I get to the hospital and they put me in a triage room with other women and their family memebers. I was in shock and somehow the horrible Biotch in me comes out while in labor. I looked at the nurse and said can't I just get my own room. My ins. does pay for it. The nurse says "no this is where you will stay till we determine whether or not we will admit you." Um, hello. I believe my ob told me to come here. Are you kidding me? Then this nurse comes in and says "honey you don't have a choice this is where we are going to put you for now." I look at Dan he gives me the please don't start trouble look. So I drop it knowing that they were going to admit me sooner or later anyways. So we are there for about an hour on the machines and the nurse checks me at that time I am at a 3.5 cm. So they ask me to walk for awhile. I go and walk for about an hour and they check me again. At this time I was at a 4cm. They then admit me.

So by 7pm I am in my OWN room. My nurse walks in and starts on me about the epidural. I told her that I wanted to wait as long as possible if at all. Well from 7 till about 12 midnight no one checks me. Nothing is happening except contractions still every 2-3 min. apart. Mind you when I went to see the ob it was not mine I saw. Then while I was at the hospital my OB never showed. So here it is midnight and the nurse comes in and says that she wants to start IV so I don't get dehydrated. At this time she checks me and I am at a 5. This is the part that I stall. I did with Em and Zane too. So the nurse once again asks me about the epi. Finally thinking that they would start the pitocin with the epi I give in.

The anesthesiologist comes in to start the epi. He preps me and then sticks the numbing needle in. Man that stuff hurt big time. So he sticks the epi needle in and I say ouch. He says "you felt that?" yes I did "where?" in my leg it was like a shooting pain. He says " thats not supposed to happen". Well it did. And then it happened again. He says "what happened now?" Well the same shooting pain in the same leg. He says "wow that really shouldn't happen. Nice. Real nice. In the meantime he brags about how this epidural isn't going to fall out. And, how he does it right every time. OK. Then as he is leaving he tells me how I am at a higher risk for a spinal headache due to what happened. Great. All is said and done by 1AM.

So fastforward to 630A. My friends need to leave. One has to go to school and the other has to babysit for the one going to school. Then Dan gets a call from his brother saying that Zane had a real rough night trying to sleep without us. And, Em is supposed to get ready for school and I really wanted Dan to be there with her. While he was there I figured he might as well lay down with Zane and get some rest. No telling how much longer it would be. So I was there by myself.

So the nurse comes in right after everyone leaves. At that time I am still at a five and she starts the pitocin. By 7am I can tell that the epi is no longer working on the left side of my abdomen. So I tell the nurse. She call the epi guy back in. He gives me a triple dose of the epi. I thought that I was going to have a panic attack. My legs were so numb I couldn't feel anything. It took two nurses to lift my left leg it was sooo dead.

At 830A the nurse comes in a checks me. I am at 7cm. She tells me I should have Jack by 2pm. I am thinking ya we'll see. I really honestly didn't think it would be that early. The whole time my legs are scaring the crap out of me. I decided the best thing I could do is listen to my MP3 player. The song that I found to help most was

By ten I could tell that something was happening. Once again I could feel everything except in my legs. I could feel from my pelvis up! I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to believe it. By 1045 I finally told the nurse that something was going on. She checks me and I am complete and ready to push!! No way not that soon! So I told her that I needed to call Dan first and get him to get up to the hospital. She said that she would hold off from telling the oncall OB for 20 min. But, that was all she could wait. So I call Dan and told him that it was time. He needed to get up there asap. I call back to him 10 min later to make sure he left. And, of course who answered? Thats right Dan did. Well the whole time I am thinking I didn't want anyone there. I love Dan to pieces but, when I am in pain he gets way too touchy feely and I get even more irritated. Then I was thinking how I didn't really want my friends there either because I am not trying to put myself out there for display even if they are my friends. So I told the nurse by 11A that I was ready to start pushing. If Dan made it he made it. If not then I would be alright with that.

So the OB gets called and the nurse tells me to have a practice push. I said are you sure. Because the baby comes really fast when I push. She says ya why not? So I give it a go. And, sure enough she yells for me to stop the head is coming. Big shock. So the ob gets there just in time for me to do the second push. And, out came Jack. Beautiful and healthy. I was in love right away. I loved the intimacy that Jack and I got. I know it sounds selfish but, he was just mine for the min. No one to say let me hold him. Or to ruin any kind of surprise and tell me what he looked like while he was coming out. I got all of it to myself. Everyone managed to make it to the room 10 min. later. The look on their faces was priceless. I wish I had my camera out to record that.

In the meantime. My left leg remains numb while the rest of me is able to start feeling again. I think nothing of it. I get to my recovery room and throughout the day I have so many people coming and going and the phone rings off the hook. I didn't realize until I went to bed that I still couldn't feel my left side leg. When I woke up I told the nurse something was wrong. I could walk but, I was dragging my leg. They told me to walk it out. Made sense to me. So I did. I was worried that they wouldn't discharge me. (that is what the nurse was saying) When my ob came to check on me I told him that I wanted to go home. He was pretty unsure pf whether or not he should. I told him my mom was coming to take care of me. So reluctantly he did. In the meantime to accompany the numb left leg I did get that nice spinal headache.

My leg is still numb and I still have the headache but, I am so in love! The great part is how much Dan is hovering. He feels absolutely horrible for missing Jacks birth. I tried to tell him that it was alright. But, he thinks that it is because I don't want him to feel bad. Well I did try to tell him. But, I am loving the attention that he is giving me.

[beccalina]

Because of my high blood pressure and the protein in my urine, (which was present sometimes, but not every time) and my swelling, my doctor told me it would be a good idea if I were induced. She said that according to my fundal height, Phoebe was a bigger baby as it was and to wait until 40 weeks or to just go on my own could be risky, especially with all the signs of Preeclampsia. I went to labor and delivery and got induced (Missy went home to get our bags and the camera). That was at about 8am. Contractions started right away! They became about 5 minutes apart fast. But after 4 hours, my doctor checked me and I was only at 3cm and 60% effaced. She told me that she would need to break my waters to get the contractions stronger and so she did, and boy did they get stronger!! They became one right on top of another, and because of the pitocin, they were excruciatingly awful! I couldn’t bear it! I was delirious from pain and literally lost focus (Missy said I was writhing and gripping the bed frames so hard that my knuckles were white and that I was crying). I didn’t want an epidural because it was just so against my birth plan, which had already been broken as it was, but when I asked about some pain management, they said they could give me an injection of demorall(I think that’s what it was) but it would only last about 2 hours and at that point I was only at 4cm. So I tried to stick it out…..I lasted two hours! I just couldn’t do it, and those of you who did….I am so not worthy, I bow to you!! I got the epidural. I must say that I have absolutely no regrets and actually wish I had done in 2 hours earlier! I was in heaven! I was finally able to focus and actually enjoy my labor! Missy and I played cards, we watched Friends, and we laughed and talked about how we would soon have our baby. A couple hours later, I was at 6cm and my doctor said I was progressing just lovely. Phoebe’s heart rate was perfect the entire time through. By about 7:00 pm I was complete and baby was at +1 station! My doctor started preparing for me to push. At 7:15 I started pushing and at 7:37, Phoebe was on my chest! I was elated! It was such an emotional time. Missy was crying before she even came out, she started crying when seeing Phoebe crowning! When she was born, we just hugged and kissed and enjoyed our new daughter! I didn’t even rip or tear! It was more than I could have ever imagined, and despite all the intervention, I feel like I bonded perfectly with my daughter! I am very pleased with how everything turned out and I would not change one thing about it! Thank you all for reading, and following along my journey with me.


This was before the epi


This is when she came out




All cleaned up! We laughed when we saw my doctors get up...I thought it looked like a space suit! She needed it though, I sent "birth juice" flyin everywhere (sorry, tmi) lol


This is to show you all how much my dad warmed up to the thought of me having a baby (he was kind of weirded out my whole pregnancy) he is such a proud grandpa now....all he needed was to see her precious face.


Here is the proud big brother!!

[troynicole]

Finally! My last little prince has arrived....This has been the longest 9 months of my life but soooo worth it!!!

We got to the hospital at 630am tuesday morning, October 14th. they immediately got me in a L&D room and started the saline drip. they started the pitocin around 8 i think...i got up to go to the bathroom around 855 because i started having some good contractions-well, i stood up and my water broke! so they got me back in the bed and checked me but i was only at 1 cm. i decided to go ahead and get my epidural thinking things might go quickly...well, after i got it i was having contractions every 2-3 minutes for about an hour but didn't feel anything of course! Kaiden's heartrate kept dipping down after my contractions, which the nurse didn't like. finally everything stopped for about 15-20 minutes...then they picked up again but his heartrate kept dropping. so at 11 the nurse called the dr and he was there within 15 minutes to do a c-section. it wasn't an emergency but i was still only at 1 cm and he was so high up-he didn't want to come out! so they wheeled me in and he was born at 11:51 am. 6 lbs and 13 ozs, 19 inches long. i was glad everything went so quickly but since my 1st two boys were vaginal deliveries i was a little scared going in but relieved at the same time. he got 8 & 9 for his apgars and i was in my room with him by 2.

he's the sweetest baby-all the nurses kept telling me he was the only one not crying in the nursery when he was in there. he just cries when i change his clothes-he hates that! he sleeps, poops and eats regularly! i really enjoyed spending 3 whole days with just him-i had visitors in and out and my hubby stayed the first night...but after that he spent most of the time at home w/my other 2 boys trying to keep their lives as normal as possible....they are both so proud of Kaiden and love him to death. It was just nice to spend each night with Kaiden sleeping in the bed next to me, having some alone time with him before coming home today. i don't know how i'm going to go back to work eventually...but i just won't think about it for now!!!

[MrsHolmes83]

**disclaimer: the following are the facts as best I remember them, but a lot of the times and exact numbers are guesstimates, I need to get this all checked over with my support people to verify for correctness. But, this is in a nutshell what happened. Sorry it's so long winded!**


Tuesday 10/14/08
At around 1:30am on Tuesday 10/14 I felt a pop inside of me. I honestly didn't recognize what it was and decided to go to bed. Around 5am I woke up and was feeling wet. i went to the bathroom and my water started just gushing out everywhere! I was too excited to go back to sleep so I started getting things ready to go, I was SURE that this was going to be the day my baby was born. If I had only known then what an arduous journey this was going to be then I think I would have tried to go back and rest some more. At 9am I went to my already scheduled accupuncture induction with my husband. I wasn't having any contractions yet so I figured that the accupuncture would help kick them in. After that we went over to Reunion (the birth center) just to get checked out and talk about what our plans would be. Janet and Polly my midwives had been up all night delivering another baby so they were running on not much sleep as it was. At that time I was 4cm dilated already, and could stretch to 5. Janet advised us to stick around that side of town, because this was my first birth we had no idea how slow or fast things would progress, but at that point I think we all assumed it would be either that day or early the next morning that Peyton would arrive. Matt and I went to the mall here in Kingwood and my sister met us up there and we walked around for a few hours, I was trying to get baby to drop down a little more by walking and stuff. I finally started feeling some type of contractions around 1pm, but they weren't painful and I wasn't even sure that was what I was feeling. At that point I was thinking I might get to be one of the lucky ones that had a pain free child birth. HA! We went back up to the birth center around 3. Since my contractions weren't regular yet and I lived so far away Janet and Polly suggested we get a hotel for the night until things picked up. Well, at this point we felt like Mary and Joseph....we went to about 5 different hotels in the area and they were ALL full of storm victims! Matt was very frustrated and not incredibly nice to the hotel people! I started to stress a little bit at this point, but I called Janet and she told me that we could just stay at the birth center. The only difference between that and a hotel is that there are no showers. So Matt, Megan (sis) and I went back up there and made ourselves at home. At this point my mom was getting pretty anxious, and she didn't want to miss the birth so she insisted that she come up there. At first I was not thrilled with this idea because she gets overly excited and I didn't want her to harshen my mellow mood. My best friend Allison was also supposed to be my doula/support person and I figured since everyone else was up there already maybe she should come too. I didn't really think that birth was imminent at that point but everyone else did and I wanted them all to come if they wanted to. Allison baked the prettiest birthday cake for Peyton also and she brought that. My contractions started being timeable at about 6pm Tuesday night. I started to learn how to relax through them and breathe through them at this point. I didn't think I would be a vocal person in labor, but moaning really helped and didn't make me feel weird like I thought it would! Walking around during contractions helped a lot too. They were about 10 mins apart at first and quickly got down to 7-8 mins apart. Matt and I decided to try to make out on the bed and do some nipple stimulation to try to get things going. This actually worked very well and the contractions were down to 4 mins apart. We thought we had some progress at this point. It was slightly annoying because I know now that if we would have kept at the stimulation to produce the oxytocin, I'm sure the contractions would have stayed close together and been stronger...but we thought at the time that we didn't want to overstimulate my uterus and that all we needed was a push in the right direction. So we tried to get some sleep. Tried being the operative word here. Everyone else went to sleep, and I wanted to give them all rest so that they would be at their best for me the next day.

Wednesday 10/15/08
I could sleep in 10-30 minute stretches, and the contractions definitely calmed down. They were very inconsistant again but still fairly painful. I'll admit in my tired state my instinct was to fight them instead of letting the pain just take over my body. This was a very vulnerable time for me, mentally. I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into and why in the world I didn't go to the hospital for my pain, and just feeling sorry for myself in general and not confident. The next morning they checked me again, and this time I was at 6cm, which was a huge relief because it was progress! We were pretty hopeful at this point because I had made progress. I was thinking I would for sure at least have this baby by 3 or 4pm that day. I spent the day learning new ways to deal with contractions as they got more and more painful, and eventually they were becoming unbearable. My confidence level was up from the night before and that was what made the difference in me actually being able to make it through the day and press on. My entire life I have had trouble sticking with things when they get tough, so I was bound and determined and felt like I kind of had something to prove to everyone. I also am not known to manage pain very well either, and my husband has always called me a big baby when it came to pain. I had expressed my fears to him before about quitting halfway through, and I asked him to hold me accountable and help me get the natural birth that I really wanted. At 3pm my midwives checked me again, and I was only at 8cm, which sounds good but the cervix was still pretty thick and baby wasn't dropping down low enough or making any downward progress, because my contractions were too weak and far apart. They did not feel weak to me but I could tell what they meant by that because the intensity level hadn't really progressively risen throughout, it was just kind of sporadically jumping up and down. By this point we were all becoming concerned about labor stalling, so I had to get more active and aggressive with achieving stronger contractions and getting them a little closer together. This was EXTREMELY hard for me, it is SO hard to want to try to get more pain when you have already ran out of fuel for so long. BUT I did try it. I finally got in the birthing tub and this was amazing for pain management. Definitely where I thought I would be giving birth later! I had some really great contractions in there, and I was able to really relax and focus and try to visualize myself opening up like a flower...I even tried my friend's suggestion of imagining a baby's head being stretched through a tiny turtleneck sweater. I thought for sure I could feel myself opening up bigger and bigger. Matt and Allison were amazing during this time, this is when I started to really need my support people. Even in the tub the pain started to get unbearable after a while. I started to kind of feel sick, which excited me because I thought that I must be nearing transition. I was having trouble focusing between contractions and just felt very weak and pretty much incoherant, which I assumed were signs that I was in transition. Unfortunately I was not. Polly then decided it would be beneficial for me to get an IV line hooked up so that I could be more hydrated. I had been drinking gatorade and water all day but it just wasn't replenishing my energy like it should, and I probably wasn't eating enough because of the nausea. As soon as the IV ran out we put a heplock in and I felt like a new woman! Seriously I was jumping around and bouncing on my ball and "droppin' it like it's hot" to try to get this baby to come down! The IV made a huge difference. Finally I decided that I needed a plan with an end in sight. I talked it over with Matt and told him that at 8pm if no change had been made after all the aggressive laboring we had been doing for the past 5 hours, then we needed a plan B, because my body was not going to last through another whole night of this. Polly and Janet agreed, and their opinion was that we go to the hospital to try and get some pitocin in me to help out. As care providers they went well beyond their comfort levels with us I think, because they knew how much we were really pushing for the natural birth. They were smart though and didn't mention their ideas to us until I said it first. So it was really my idea. Well, I got checked, and sure enough NO progress downward and I was only at 8cm. Hearing this mentally made me really want an epidural. I went over the pros and cons in my mind, and felt like I was making the decision with a clear head. This was the main thing I wanted to avoid, obviously other than cesarian, and I won't lie, I think in the past I have passed judgement on women who caved in and got the relief, but every woman is different and everyone's tolerance is different. I feel completely different now about the interventions, if informed choices were made. Matt was the one with the biggest problem when it came to going to the hospital. He felt like he had failed me and not done what I had asked him by holding me accountable to my original plan. These were special circumstances though and Polly and Janet really helped me to get him on board with this plan, I wouldn't have felt right doing it without my husband's support. I know he holds me to a higher standard than everyone else does, and I love that even when things were that hard he was still pushing me to try for our baby.

At the hospital
At around 9pm we were admitted into Kingwood Medical Center (GREAT hosp. by the way!!) and we had to go through the typical admitting BS....asking me silly questions left and right in between my contractions. The whole process wasn't too bad and the people were just doing their jobs and they were pretty understanding. I think I even felt kind of special because I had such a cool story to tell...I felt so hardcore for laboring that long drug free, haha...I asked the nurses and they said most people here get epidurals. I could tell why though. The delivery beds were SO aweful! I could NOT get comfortable in it! At that point I decided I definitely needed the epidural before the pitocin. I started to feel kind of sick and they took my vitals and my heartrate was up and I had developed a fever. They had to run blood work to the labs before I could get my epi, and I was stuck laboring on my back in that horrible bed for an hour or so. They also had to call an anesthesiologist from home because the one on duty was stuck in surgery. There is no way I would have lasted more than 5 hours in the hospital from the beginning without the pain meds because of that stupid bed! After my bloodwork came back they informed me that my white blood cell count was very low, and this immediately clued us in that infection had probably set in from my water being broken for so long (almost 48 hours at this point). I was also hooked up to an antibiotic drip at this point because of that. In my mind hearing this confirmed that we absolutely made the right choice for my health and the baby, and could have prevented some really bad things that could have happened had we stayed in the birth center. After rehashing this with Janet and Polly later they told me that if I had not brought the hospital up that they would have pretty much told me that I was going anyway because they weren't comfortable going any longer there. At about 11:30pm the Anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural. I was super scared of the needle going in me, and I started having a bad contraction while he was digging around in my back. My vertebrae isn't very prominant and I knew that would pose a problem for him and it did. At one point I was about to cry because I kept thinking that I'd have to just get the pit and that the epi wasn't going to work. After he dug around a second time he finally found the space, and I think the last thing I remember was around midnight. The pit was started instantly and I couldn't even tell when I was having a contraction. I didn't even feel pressure or anything! Secretly to myself I thought "why didn't I do this earlier?!" But of course I didn't say that out loud, I was trying to be hardcore remember? I was laying on my back and kind of zonked out of it for a while, and then the nurse came in and told me that the baby's heartrate was decelling, which sent MINE through the roof. They had to put me on my side and give me some oxygen. I was so nervous about having to get a C-section after she said that. Apparently it wasn't that bad though after I turned, and it was just caused by my vena cava being compressed. At this point my husband came in and he was visibly upset. He kept making comments about how everything we didn't want to happen was happenning. I don't think he realized that the infection was more than just a slight risk now, and that we pretty much were sure that my uterus was indeed infected. It bothered me a little bit that he was upset and not more supportive during this part, which was really scary for me compared to walking around and just hanging out during contractions at the birth center earlier.

Thursday 10/16/08 at the hospital
At about 1am the midwives checked me again and I was finally complete with no cervix left! BUT the baby was still HIGH! I didn't get that at all! So they had me roll on my other side, and give tiny grunty pushes to try and labor the baby down. They told me I'd feel some intense pressure and an urge to push soon if things went as planned. Well as soon as I rolled over baby started sliding down! I couldn't believe I was almost there! I was soooo excited at this point, even though I was pretty incoherant and half asleep. We got me in position to push, and EVERYONE was in the room! Mom, Dad, sister, friend, husband, 2 midwives, a nurse, and a baby nurse. I thought this would seriously bother me before but I was so proud of myself that I didn't mind if people wanted to witness the big event, this was what we had all been waiting for and everyone had been there with me throughout everything, I didn't want to cheat anyone out of the experience, We ALL labored together throughout this! I did really well with the pushing, the head was the hardest part but after her shoulders turned she pretty much just slid out! There was a lot of pressure and even some pain during the pushing but I could handle any pain then because the end was so near! As soon as she slid out I saw a gush of red, yellow and brown liquid go all over my midwife! I think I got embarrassed that I had soiled her smock, but then I remembered that she had that thing on for a reason! After she came out there was so much commotion everywhere, I tried to keep my eyes on the baby but I had thrown my contacts away earlier since I had them in for 3 days straight. I kept asking someone to bring me my glasses but it took a while so I didn't get to see much other than the pictures when she came out. She was really swollen at first but still beautiful. I had two small tears, one by my urethra and one inside my vaginal wall, but I am soooo glad they just let me have these rather than pushing an episiotomy on me. I am also so grateful for having the best care providers anyone could ask for. I am lucky that they had privledges at the hospital and were able to still be in full control of my care. I don't know what I would have done without them. That made such a difference in the hospital experience for me. It didn't matter that the setting changed because I still had two people with my best interest at heart in charge of what would happen to me. As soon as Peyton came out, there was a foul smell which indicated that there was an infection. I'm not sure at this point WHAT was infected but my placenta was sent to pathology so maybe we can get some answers. There are a couple of possible explanations but we may never know for sure what happened. If we do find out this may affect my decision to try a natural birth in the future. I don't regret anything about my experience and I know that I didn't jump the gun on any decisions. I am also very glad I got the epidural because I really needed to rest. Peyton is beautiful and I love her sooo much! She was born at 2:21am on 10/16/08 and weighed 7lbs5oz and is 19 inches long.

slideshow of pics from laboring at birth center and the delivery at the hospital:


And here are some pics from her 2nd day of life...she's a lot cuter and less swollen here!

[Nesamom]

ok so on my due date the 6th of Oct i went walking trying to get the little miss out and i noticed that by mid day i still had not felt her average movements. So i sat down drank water, when that didn't help i drank orange juice, after two hours I went to L&D to get checked out. it was 2pm. I got hooked up to the monitors and her heart rate was staying at 150 they said they wanted to see some excitement and a small varation. so they got me some juice it didn't help. they ordered an U/s to check on her they checked everything out and it took the u/s tech 30 mins to get her to move when he pushed on her which is so not like her. even at 14 weeks she would move and try to hide from the u/s machine. they also were worried when she wasn't practicing breathing in the womb. they wanted to see her lungs moving and didn't. so the dr on call decied to induce me at midnight, i was having contractions on my own but they were spratic and not very long. when i went in I was 1cm dialated, the nurse said it could of been a very tight 2. so i got a pill to help me dialate that got me to a lose two (it only took 2 hours ) so i got another pill that got me to a tight 3.. this was not the progress i hoped for. by now it was like 3 am i got hooked up to an IV and had the poticin(sp?) the contractions were still not steady and on top of that my back had been killing me(my back had been sore since the day i peed on the stick lol) but this was so much more then just a sore back.. so they put hot blankets on my back. during this time i had my mom and my boyfriend with me. but since i was in triage i was only allowed one person so throught the night and day they kept switching places. my bf slept in the car at night when he wasn't with me. at some point (i lost track of time) I was at my limit and asked for an epi they said it would take a while and gave me an IV med to help that knocked me out. when it wore off my back felt like it was being stabed i never felt the contractions anywhere but in my back. At about 10pm on the 7th i was givin a diliver room I was still only 5cm dialated but i need to be in a dilvery room to get the epi. after i got the epi things went fast by 12am i was fullly dialated and they broke my water. it was hard for me to push after the epi i didn't feel anything to know when to push. but after about 30 mins of pushing i got my baby out . the hard part was after she was born the placenta never detached and the dr had to remove it herself i lost alot of blood and latter on that day i gt 2 units of blood. in total it was about 34 hours of labor

but it was worht it my baby girl was here.
(sorry it was so long and badly typed and spelt just wanted to get it out and am only one handed right now baby in the other arm lol)

pics



Sophia in her daddys arms


my family





Sophia leah born 10/8/08 at 1:09am 8p4o 19inches long

[patricia2383]

Okay so here is the story:
Monday morning I had a doctor’s appointment to get my blood preasure checked because I was having problems. So they checked it and it was high they thought it would be a good idea for me to head to labor and delivery to get some lab work done. My blood and urine where fine but they still thought it would be a good idea because I was already 3 cm and 80% effaced and Dylan was already a big boy to go ahead and induce me then.
So the fun began they put me in a labor and delivery room and started me on an IV and some potocin (sp?) at about 11:00 am. Contractions started a few minutes later and they were not bad at all so about 3:00 pm my doctor came in and broke my water and WOW did that make the contractions start hurting like hell. So about 7:00 pm it was time for the epidural and yes it was nice when it worked but 3 hours later it stopped working so he had to come back in and fix it and pump me full of more meds but still a few hours later it stopped working but I was getting sick of all the meds so I did not worry about it.
So Tuesday about 10:00 am the doc came in and I was 10 cm and 100% so it was time to start pushing…..and pushing…….and pushing. He just did not want to come out! After 22 hours of labor and fear of an infection they asked if I wanted a c section and I decided to go with one. So they got me ready pumped me full of the drugs and the right side just would not numb. I was kind of in and out of it because of all the drugs but I heard them say not to let my husband in because they might have to knock me out. So I made a big mistake and told them I felt no pain and to let my husband in. Well they got Dylan out at 11:42 am all 7 lbs 10oz and 20 inches of him. I soon as I heard my baby cry I passed out and did not wake up till an hour later in recovery.
I was surrounded by my loving husband, family, and friends for the next few days and after 5 days in the hospital with a healthy baby boy and a somewhat healthy mama they sent us home.

[misskelsee]

Noah Anthony’s Birth Story

Born @ 41 weeks on Thursday 10/09/08 @ 7:05 pm
7 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches

Around lunch time on Wednesday 10/08/08 I was having contractions about 8 minutes apart. Before dinner they were 3 minutes apart lasting 45 seconds, although not all that painful. By 8 or 9 pm they were getting harder to get through so we headed to the hospital, where I was told I was still only 1 cm and 80% effaced, which was disheartening after hours of contractions so close together. By the time we got home the contractions were getting really painful and I didn’t sleep all night, just staying up working through contractions and hoping I didn’t have my baby at home!

At 3 am I told DH it was time to go back, and I was checked and 2-3 cm, 100% effaced and they stripped my membranes. Because early labor was lasting so long they told me to go eat something, take a walk around the hospital for two hours and then to check in to be admitted, which we did. When they checked me I was still only 3 cm, but the contractions were showing strong and regular on the monitors, so they said they would let me labor on my own for awhile before talking about pitocin. I knew already my hopes for a natural birth and my birth plan were starting to go out the window, but the lack of sleep and long early labor was wearing me out. They checked me at noon and I was still only 3 cm, and out of frustration I let them start the pit. Every so often they’d come in and up the drip on the pit and by the time I was at a 12 on the pit I was absolutely climbing the walls in pain. Contractions on my own I could handle, but pitocin contractions were a whole new kind of pain and I was basically sobbing through each one, and the staff kept offering me pain relief. I swayed, cried and stood next to my bed (so I could still be on the monitors) holding onto my DH to get through them. There was no way to deal with those contractions in the bed.

Between 3 and 4 pm they came in to check me and I was at 5 cm. I had been hoping the crazy pain I’d been in was at least transition and the end was near, but it was clear I had a ways to go and another sleepless night in pain, so I threw my birth plan out the window and asked for the epidural and let them break my water. I was terrified of the epidural and at one point said I changed my mind but I think the nurses were all tired of dealing with me and my crying (they weren’t used to patients who didn’t have an epidural they said!) and they wouldn’t let me change my mind. It took a team of anesthesiologists to deal with me since I couldn’t hold still through my contractions like they needed me too.

I fell asleep for a few hours after the epidural and they came in to check me at 6 pm, not expecting much since everyone expected this long drawn out labor to go into the night. I was so happy to hear I was 10 cm and ready to push! I pushed for 45 minutes with my sister and DH coaching, with one numb leg and one regular leg since my epidural was only working on one side, and this was actually my favorite part of labor. They didn’t realize until he was coming out that he was sunny side up. Then things got scary. He came out and they put him on my stomach for a split second and I suddenly saw blood everywhere. It even shot one of the nurses in the face! I would later find out he had his cord wrapped twice around his neck and they hadn’t realized it in time, so they had to cut his cord immediately without clamping it, which resulted in a lot of blood loss. As soon as they had him on my stomach they said something about his breathing and a nurse ran out of the room and in ran about 6 people from Peds all hovering over Noah. No one would tell me what was going on and it was terrifying. I waited 10 minutes for him to cry and he never did, just made this awful gasping grunting sound. While they were delivering the placenta and stitching me up they announced they were taking him to the NICU and they would be updating me soon. I was a mess.

After my epidural wore off I was wheel-chaired in to see him in the NICU and I was just in love. My DH and sister and BFF had all gotten to see him before I was able to, and had updated me about how alert and beautiful he was and they were right. He didn’t cry but just looked around and I got to touch him, but I couldn’t hold him until the next day. We were told he had respiratory trouble, I believe it was called a pneumothorax, a pocket of air in his lungs which eventually resolved itself. That along with the blood loss just got him off to a rough start. Spending the first two nights in the hospital room without my baby was hard but I was pumping colostrum and taking it to feed him every three hours when they were ready to wean him off his IV. We finally got him in our room at midnight on the third night and went home with our baby the next day. He wouldn’t take the breast so we had to use bottles, which made breastfeeding a challenge, but after meeting with a lactation consultant and using a nipple shield he is now nursing great and we haven’t used a bottle for a week now!

The birth was really far off from my natural birth plan and was worried I’d be disappointed after, but after worrying about my baby being okay and having him in the NICU I got perspective on the whole thing and I don’t care how he got here, I’m just glad to have him here!

[msjen]

I wanted to let you know I had the baby! I went into labor Saturday 10/18, and decided to go to the hospital because I wasn't sure if I was really in labor or if it was just wishful thinking! After a long walk to the park earlier that afternoon, I just didn't feel right. I called my doc and he told me to go to the hospital around 5pm to get checked. When I got there, I wa 5 cm dilated, 100% effaced, and contractions were 2-5 minutes apart. They decided they were not going to send me home because I was 5 cm, so I waited a couple hours, and they checked me again - no change. They started pitocin to get things moving, and the doc broke my water bag around 8pm. They checked me again around 11pm and still no progress. All of a sudden, I started getting the urge to push, and having a lot of pressure. I told the nurse, so she checked me again, and I was completely dilated at 11:30pm! We were ready to start pushing! So, started pushing at 11:30pm. After about an hour, I felt like I just couldn't do it anymore. His head just would not come out. They had me in all sorts of positions, and *TMI* were doing things to me I didn't think were possible. I was in so much pain because I could feel his head right there, but it just would not come out. Finally, he came out in one shot after 1.5 hrs of pushing, but they didn't give him to me right away, so I knew something wasn't right. I didn't hear him cry for quite some time. Jon kept reassuring me that he was okay. Finally, I heard a cry, but because he was so big (see below for stats!!) his shoulder did get stuck on the way out like the doc had warned me may happen at my 34 week appointment. He broke his collar bone on the way out from getting stuck, but luckilly, there is no permanent damage. With shoulder dystocia, many other problems can occur with breathing, etc. so we were grateful that it was just a broken collar bone and not anything more serious. It was a very traumatic birth for me, and for him - his first apgar score was very low, but his next 2 scores were 9, so he just took a little bit longer to come to at first. I wasn't able to hold him at all, as they took him to the NICU for observation and x-rays of his lungs and collar bone - he was having some breathing issues at first also, but after an hour, he was fine, and was put into the regular nursery. So, he is perfect and healthy, just a scary start.

As for me, I have 4th degree tears, in addition to the episiotomies - they literally had to remove him from my body, so needless to say, I am in quite a bit more pain than with Connor, so it's going to be a long recovery. I am just happy he is healthy and everything is just fine now. Connor is super excited to be a big brother, but has been acting up a little bit - I think just because his routine has been all out of whack since I have been in the hospital. We were released today, and so far, things are going well at home - I am just super tired and in quite a bit of pain, but the result is well worth it!

So, now for the baby's name, stats, and pictures!!

Evan Joseph
Born 10/19/08 12:59am
10 lbs 10 oz
21 inches