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My DD's Birth Story (Very long)
I finally got a chance to type out my birth story. This is very long and some of it is TMI but before I gave birth, I looked for the detailed birth stories. I wanted to know everything that could happen so I could prepare myself.
Warning: If you are one of those people that think "ignorance in bliss" you might not want to read this.
Three days after my due date, I went to the bathroom in the morning and had mucusy discharge when I went to the bathroom and there were one or two very small spots of red in it. I thought this might mean that something was going to happen that day. I walked on the treadmill before work like I usually do and got ready for work. When I got to work I was feeling off. I can’t explain what I was feeling but I just felt off and thought this meant that I was going to go into labor soon so I warned my boss.
At 10:30am I went to the bathroom to pee and when I went to wash my hands after it felt like I peed myself a little. I went back into the stall and “peed” a little more. I wasn’t sure if I was peeing or if this was my water breaking. When I was about to leave the bathroom again, the same thing happened again. At this point I was pretty sure that my water was breaking and there were small gushes coming out every few minutes. I threw a pad on and called DH who works around the corner.
We went home and I called the midwives around 11:00am to let them know what was going on. Since I wasn’t having contractions yet she suggested that I stay at home and to check back in with them at around 5:00pm unless I had contractions that warranted a call earlier or if anything green or yellow came out.
At around 12:30pm there was some bright yellow stuff that came out so I called back. They said it may be nothing or it may be meconium. Since I was nervous that it was meconium she told me to come in to get checked out. If it wasn’t, I could go home again if I wanted.
At 1:00pm we go to the triage area of the hospital. They monitored me and the baby for a while. We were both doing well. They didn’t see anything come out at first that was yellow or green while I was there so they were going to send me home. Then some more yellow stuff came out. They weren’t sure if it was meconium but to be safe they were going to treat it as if it was. They admitted me and started an IV which I did not want but things don’t always go the way we plan.
Around 2:45pm they brought me to a labor and delivery room. The plan was to give me Cervadil and 12 hours later start Pitocin. Since I had eaten something before I left, they had to wait 4 hours to start the Cervadil. Thank God my husband made me eat half of his sandwich as we were running out to the hospital because that was the last thing I would have to eat for a while.
At 3:15pm I started having mild contractions. The "real" contractions do feel different than BH. I felt cramping go from around my back to lower belly and a contraction on my upper belly. They didn’t hurt at this point.
Around 5:30pm the midwife came in to check me before they started the Cervadil. I was having erratic contractions and the pain was only a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. She was surprised to find that I was already 5cm and 80% effaced. She tried to strip my membranes and said that she thought I might have two sacks because she felt a full sack of fluid. She stripped my membranes and told me that I must have a high tolerance for pain because she said most women scream when their membranes are stripped. It was uncomfortable but not that bad. Since I was dilating on my own but my contractions were still all over the place, the plan was to ditch the Cervadil and go to the Pitocin. They gave me the option of starting the Pitocin right away or wait a few hours to see if my contractions got closer together and stronger on their own. I decided to wait.
At 7:30pm they brought me my “dinner”, warm water with a bullion, jello, lemon ice, juice and ginger ale. Thanks for the dessert and refreshments but where’s my dinner? Yeah, that was my dinner.
Around 8:45pm they started me on the Pitocin. They said they were starting me on a small dose (4mU) and expected that to kick everything in gear since I was half way there on my own. If not they would slowly increase by 2mU at a time while monitoring me until the contractions were consistently 2 minutes apart. I felt the contractions getting stronger but they were not more painful, still a 2.
At 1:00am the midwife came to check me. I was only about 6 cm and 100% effaced. Contractions were stronger but still a 2 on the pain scale and still all over the place time wise. A short while later they upped the Pitocin to 10mU since they couldn’t get my contractions to remain 2 minutes apart. Since they can’t monitor the intensity externally they go by how far apart they are. As soon as they upped it to 10mU, my contractions instantly went from being mostly in the front and a 2 to all in my lower back/hips and a 6. I lost track of time but they upped the Pitocin to 12mU at some point and the pain rose up to a 9. The pain was very intense and all in my lower back. We tried all the techniques we learned to cope with the pain but nothing was really helping with the intense back pain.
At around 2:30 I decided that I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I REALLY wanted to go without pain meds but I couldn’t manage the lower back pain, it was too intense so I asked for an epidural. At that point my midwife came in and asked if she could check my progress again before I got the epidural. When she checked me I was just about 10cm. She said I could start pushing and it would help relieve the pain. I had wanted to give birth in a squatting position with the help of the squatting bar but I was too exhausted. After a couple of pushes that way my midwife suggested I try pushing on my left side. She had to break my water half way through so I guess I did have two sacks. I pushed for about an hour and a half and my beautiful DD was born at 4:18 am. As soon as she was out, pretty much all the pain was gone.
I thought I was done at this point but they reminded me that I still had to deliver the placenta. Once the placenta came out, I was bleeding A LOT. The midwife was frantically pushing on my stomach to try to get my uterus to contract. They had me lay back and all of a sudden things started to sound muffled. I asked why everything sounded muffled and all hell seemed to break loose at that point. It seemed like there was instantly a ton of people running around the room frantically. One person was giving me more fluids in my IV one person giving me oxygen, someone stabbed me in the leg with something in a syringe, and another person trying to start an IV so they could give me blood. After what felt like forever, they got the bleeding to slow down and I was able to take off the oxygen mask. Great, I can relax now. Nope, they still had to stitch me up. Most people tear in their perineum, not me. I had two second degree tears internally and one small tear externally. My midwife had to call a Dr. in to stitch me up because the tears were in a difficult place to stitch. About an hour later they were done and I was finally able to relax.
I didn’t know it at the time but I lost a lot of blood and was going into shock. Losing 500 ml is considered hemorrhaging, between 700 and 1000 people can go into shock and have heart issues. I lost 800 ml of blood. Apparently internal tears bleed a lot.
In the hospital, DH and I said we’re one and done. Of course, only a few days later we were already changing our minds. Even though the medical personnel considered my labor “traumatic” and the last 8 weeks have been difficult because DD has colic, I would do it all again tomorrow to have my beautiful little girl!
Message edited 1/16/2012 9:26:18 AM.
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