mrspetunia77
Back on Board.
Member since 10/06 1838 total posts
Name:
Ally
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Ella's Birth Story 4/13/08
I had been slowly dilating the whole month before her birth and had lots of cramping and backaches. After we went past her due date, we went for internals and sonos every other day. At our last, I was 3- 4 cm and 80% effaced. So, I was expecting this labor to go pretty fast…but it didn’t turn out that way!
Around 3:00 am on April 12th I started having contractions every 7 minutes and woke up David. We watched a movie to distract ourselves. Almost immediately they went to 3 minutes apart, so we called the doctor and our doula.
The doula (who was amazing!) came over around 7:00 am and told us not to go to the hospital yet, that my contractions were not strong enough. All along we had wanted an un-medicated birth, so we labored at home as long as possible. The doula gave me great back massages, did some work with the birth ball, suggested various positions, and was very supportive overall to DH and to me. We walked around the block for several hours to increase the dilation and used the shower for pain relief.
Around 1:00 pm we decided to go to the hospital, convinced I was pretty far along. We got to triage and I was dismayed to discover I was only 5 cm after 10 hours of labor. I was admitted and continued doing the natural pain relief and walking the halls. I only had intermittent fetal monitoring, so I got to spend a lot of time in the tub! I have to say the nurses at St. Luke’s were wonderful and extremely encouraging of us trying for the natural birth.
After five hours, I was still progressing extremely slowly and the contractions were unbearable. I had back labor combined with coupling contractions, so the pain was ceaseless (no rest between contractions, just felt like one long one for at least an hour). Dr. checked again and I was only 6 cms. It went on like this until I completely stalled at 8 cms and the pain was continuous. At around 11:00 pm I decided to have the spinal and epidural. This was saying ALOT for me because I am terrified of anesthesia, but I was pretty delirious at this point from 20 hours of pain. After the spinal, which felt heavenly, I rested and they broke my water and cranked up the Pitocin. For those who are worried about the anesthesia needle, it was nothing compared to back labor. I was glad I chose to get it, too, because my labor ended up lasting 6 more hours. I pushed for about an hour. My legs were numb, but the pushing was not hard at all. I could not feel a thing. My little miracle Eleanor Ann arrived on April 13th at 5:03 am, 7 lbs 14 oz, and our lives have never been the same since!
Overall, I was thrilled with our experience with the doula and am glad we tried to do it naturally. I am told that back labor is the worst and if things had moved more quickly or been more routine, I believe I could have managed without the epi. We will definitely try again next time!
Ella had jaundice and had to stay an extra day at the hospital. Leaving our little treasure there when we checked out was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. She is fantastic now, gaining lots of weight, and we are getting the hang of breastfeeding. Thanks for reading!
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HappilyMarried
LIF Toddler
Member since 6/06 469 total posts
Name:
Excited to be a BIG sister!!!
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Re: Ella's Birth Story 4/13/08
Congratulations!!! She's beautiful!!  
Thanks for sharing your story.  Wow, you are a real trooper! All that time with no pain medication  .
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