Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

I finally gave birth to my a full 2 weeks overdue on May 31, 2008. I had a pretty horrible birth experience overall. Absolutely nothing went the way I planned or wanted it to be... but in the end none of that matters. My son is a dream come true and he is worth every second of what I went through.

Landon Henry
Born May 31, 2008
10:32 am
9 lbs, 0 oz
22 inches

I was 100% happy with the Stony Brook Midwives & Stony Brook Hospital. If anyone has any questions about either FM me!

Saturday, May 17th was my due date. I was having contractions for weeks as close as 10 minutes apart at times, but it never progressed.

Friday, May 23rd I had a biophysical profile done (40w6d). I was only a fingertip dilated and 60% effaced. But, my fluid was measuring borderline low. My next appointment was Tuesday, May 27th. The midwife said if my fluid level dropped any by the next appointment then I would be induced that night, so to bring my hospital bags with me. If everything was OK on Tuesday, I would be induced on Thursday May 29th (41w5d).

I really wanted to avoid being induced, so I made it my mission to go into labor that weekend (Memorial Day weekend).
I DID EVERYTHING - all the old wives tales - to go into labor. Spicy food, walking, stairs, swings, sex, massaging pressure points, nipple stimulation... We even went hiking on the greenbelt trail on Sunday. Nothing worked!!! My midwife suggested I take a shot of castor oil but I wanted to hold off on that until the last minute. I wanted to try acupuncture, but due to it being as holiday weekend I could not get an appointment.

Saturday May 24th – I lost what I thought was my entire mucous plug. I learned later that it was only just the start, there was much more to come.

On Tuesday, May 27th (41w3d), I had my second biophysical profile. The baby looked great and my fluid level stayed the same, so I didn’t have to go to the hospital that night. The induction was set for Thursday. They estimated the baby at 7lbs 9 oz. My midwife again suggested I try dancing that night and castor oil the next day.
I went home that night and played Dance Dance Revolution for 2 hours on expert. I even got some of my highest scores , but no labor. I saved the castor oil for the next day.

Wednesday, May 28th was my last chance before the induction on Thursday. I decided to try the castor oil. I had finals for grad school coming up a few weeks later so I set up a little office in the bathroom and drank the castor oil. At my midwives recommendation, I drank 3 oz mixed with 3 oz of Orange Juice. About 1/2 hour after drinking it, the pooping began. I spent from 9 am - 1:30 pm in the bathroom, alternating between my schoolwork and the toilet bowl. I was pretty depressed because it didn't seem to work.
Later that night about 7 pm, I went to the bathroom and noticed a greenish brown discharge on my pad (I was wearing pads in fear of my water breaking). I called the midwife on call because I was afraid it could be meconium. She said since there wasn't a lot there not to worry but to call back if it increased.

Thursday May 29th - I woke up to a pad soaked with brownish liquid. I knew it had to be my water leaking with meconium in it. I was so scared that something bad would happen to my baby. I called the midwife on call again and she had me go straight to L&D. I had to wait for DH to come home from work, and we got there about 11 am. When they hooked me up to the monitors, there were contractions every 7 minutes. I barely felt them, they were like braxton hicks. The midwife confirmed that my water was leaking but she was not sure if it was meconium. Either way I was being induced that night. I was originally supposed to go in at 5:00 for an 8:30 induction, but she told me to go home and eat lunch, which would be my last meal for a while, and to come back at 2:00. DH and I went home and I quickly showered and re-packed my hospital bags, and ate my last meal – bacon eggs and cheese on a bagel.

2:00pm
We went back to the hospital and were admitted. Just about the time we got there, I started feeling my contractions. I actually FINALLY went into labor about 2 hours before my scheduled induction. So I guess the castor oil DID work… I got hooked up to the monitors and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. The midwife examined me and unfortunately I was still only a fingertip dilated. She decided to proceed with the induction by giving me Cervadil. She was hoping (I was too) the Cervadil would be enough to dilate me and I wouldn’t need the pitocin since I was already contracting on my own.

8:00pm – the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. It was pretty painful IMO for just the start of labor! I was really not prepared for the pain at all. That night was the season finale of LOST so I tried to watch it to keep my mind off the pain but I was screaming through the contractions at that point. About 11 pm I went to the bathroom and lost the rest of my mucous plug, this time with blood in it. When I got up I also noticed the bed was soaked with greenish tinted fluid – I was so worried about the baby swallowing meconium. These contractions continued until 6 am the next morning. I did not sleep at all that night and was screaming in pain all night.

Message edited 6/21/2008 10:57:26 PM.

Re: Landon's Birth Story

May 30th
6:00 am – The midwife examined me and I was only 3 cm. She said I was being moved down to L&D and they were going to start the pitocin. I started crying saying I am not going to be able to handle the pain (having read online that the pain is 100x worse with pitocin). Once I got into my room and started the pitocin I gave in to the epidural. This was something I really did not want. I was sooo afraid of getting paralyzed. But really I wanted to be able to walk the halls, take a shower, have intermittent fetal monitoring, etc. and I knew with an epidural I wouldn’t be able to do those things. BUT with pitocin I would need the IV and monitors anyway, so I gave in to help ease the pain. I knew I had a long way to go and desperately wanted to rest. I have the worst luck, because even with the epidural I was feeling everything still on my right side. I was advised to lay on my right side to help numb that side. Lying on my side helped slightly, but I still was able to feel everything just not as intense. Laying on my right side also cause all the IV fluids to build up in that leg. By the end of my labor both of my legs were so swollen that I could not move them or bend my knees at all. I hung out all day, taking short naps and watching TV.

5:00pm – I was checked and was only 5-6 centimeters. The midwife said my water was slowly leaking, but she saw the sac and broke it all the way. In 4 short hours after breaking the water I was 10 centimeters and ready to push.

9:00pm – The pushing began! I pushed for about 45 minutes but was not pushing effectively with the epidural. So, I got the epidural turned off. My midwife told me to take a nap and I would wake up when it was really time to push.

May 31st
1:00am – I woke up in excruciating pain. I was screaming at the nurse to get the midwife because I wanted to push. About ½ hour later she came and we started pushing again. It felt GREAT to push because it distracted me from the pain.

2:00am – The baby’s head was in view! My midwife said in about 5 more contractions he would be here…. She took my hand and made me feel his head – I could feel a whole head of hair. I knew he was close and was so excited that he would be born any minute!!!!

3:00 am……..1 hour later I was still pushing. I was screaming “Why isn’t he coming out”. She said 5 more contractions an hour ago, and here I was still pushing every 2-3 minutes. I knew something was wrong when my midwife left the room and came back with two ob-gyns. I heard them talking but could only make out a few words. I heard “….cut her…” and “…vacuum…” and was getting pretty nervous. Finally they came over and said the baby was transverse meaning he was facing my belly instead of facing my back. There was one last bone he had to maneuver around to come out but it couldn’t happen with his head facing the wrong way. So the woman ob-gyn said she was going to try to turn him as I pushed. For about 20 minutes I pushed with this woman’s entire arm inside me, with her hand around the baby and turning him. Every time my contractions ended the baby turned back. It wasn’t working. The ob-gyns left shortly after and my midwife said “we are going to keep trying… he is so close… when you are pushing he is turning a little… lets keep pushing and maybe he will turn.” Then I tried pushing in different positions.

4:00am – I was still pushing. I was telling DH that I was exhausted, not having really slept since Wednesday night, not having anything to eat since Thursdays lunch… that I couldn’t do this much longer. My midwife would not let me give up, because we all knew a c-section would be next. At this point I was pushing while lying on my side. I pushed until about 4:45 at which point the baby had turned about ½ way. My midwife got the ob-gyns again. The woman ob-gyn again tried to finish turning him with her hand as I pushed, but no luck.

5:00 am - the male ob-gyn came to evaluate me to see if the vacuum would work. At this point the baby had turned back to being transverse so it was not an option. He said the ONLY option at this point is a c-section. I was pretty upset because this is not what I wanted, especially after being in labor for so long and pushing for over 4 hours. I knew there was no other choice and my midwife was noticeably upset. I went through sooo much only to end up with a c-section. We were all upset but I was glad the whole ordeal was over with (OR SO I THOUGHT). And I knew I had given it my all. We tried everything we could, and I felt some consolation knowing there was nothing more I could do.

5:30am – they came to re-administer my epidural. Again the right side was not numb and I was feeling everything. Even laying on my right side was not working like it had before. This was probably the worst part of my labor. I could feel the baby’s head between my legs so I had to lay on my side with my legs spread open, one propped in the air with pillows. I could feel the contractions every 2-3 minutes but was told DO NOT PUSH. This was absolute torture. When the pain started all I wanted to do was push. To hold back was awful. I said to DH “The only thing worse that this would be being thrown into a fire and burning alive.” I was told a time of 7:30 for my c-section.

7:00am – An emergency C-section came in –since my baby’s vitals were still good I had to wait and let the emergency go first. I was still in excruciating pain and I could not believe I would have to wait even longer. At this point my DH called my mom. My whole family was so worried because last they heard from us was 9pm the night before saying I was starting to push. My mom came up right away to see me. I was so scared about my c-section because I was told there are increased risks for me since I was on pitocin for so many hours. They said there is a much higher chance of a HYSTERECTOMY because of this and I was crying just thinking about that.
Then ANOTHER emergency c-section had to be done before me. Waiting was absolute torture. I was still feeling every contraction, fighting the urge to push, no sleep or food in days, and completely exhausted. I remember telling my DH that I am never going through this again.

About 10:00am they came to get me for the c-section. I was afraid about feeling pain on my right side since the epidural never worked on that side, but whatever they injected this time worked. The pain was finally gone! Since the baby was so far down, my midwife was prepared to push the baby back into my uterus during the c-section . Thank god that wasn’t needed. The NICU team was there because of the meconium, and I was still really worried about that. The c-section started and I felt everything. Not pain, but I could feel what they were doing and felt also of pressure and pulling. My midwife – now the 5th one, I was there though 5 shifts – was great. She was there holding my hand and giving DH and me shoulder massages. The whole time during my c-section I felt acid and liquids coming up my throat. I was gagging the whole time.

10:32am
Suddenly I felt this intense pressure and then complete emptiness. The baby was out! They announced “It’s a boy” (I already knew that) but I didn’t hear any cry. The NICU team had him and suctioned liquids and meconium out. Finally I heard a cry (what a relief) and it was the best sound I ever heard. They showed the baby to me and I started crying – I was sooo happy that this horror story of a delivery was over. When I got to see the baby up close a few minutes later it was one of the best moments of my life.

Then I went to recovery where I completely passed out due to exhaustion and the medications. The baby’s blood sugar was low so they had to give him a bottle of formula. This is another thing I did not want… I wanted him breastfed only. But I had no choice, I was passed out and they told DH it was necessary, so he said it was OK.

3:30pm – I woke up and got wheeled up to my room. The baby was in the nursery and our parents were there looking at him. Since I only got to see the baby for a few minutes before I passed out, I made DH go and get him. I spent the rest of the night holding him and bonding with him. The nurses at the hospital were great. They helped me with breastfeeding and Landon got the hang out it immediately.

My recovery was pretty rough. Not only did I have to recover from the c-section, but I also had extreme swelling down there, tears, and major hemorrhoids from my 4+ hours of pushing. I was in a lot of pain for about a week, but now at 3 weeks post partum I feel back to my old self. I also have “forgotten” a lot of the pain and suffering I went through and can’t wait to have another baby. Landon was worth it and even though I had a miserable experience I would do it again for him without a second thought.

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Coming home from the hospital

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow !!! i cant believe everything you had to go through !! But you are amazing and now have a beutiful son !! I am so happy for you !! Congrats !!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow! I know you said it was horrible but you endured so much. What an amazing mother you are.

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

WOW is all I can say. Honestly, I think your birth story takes the cake! They're so worth it like you said. It's amazing what women can endure, and you handled it amazingly it sounds. Congratulations!!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow, what a story....You truly were a trooper throughout the entire labor process....I am sure once you heard Landon cry, you were relieved & so excited to start your new life together!!!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow, that was some story! I had DD the same day and kept thinking what I was doing at the times you posted LOL.
Congrats again!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

First, let me just say that Landon is absolutely beautiful!!! And...........WOW!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe what you had to go through. I am so sorry for you that you had to endure so much but it was all worth in the end!!! I hope you're feeling good and healing well. Many congrats!!!!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

I cannot believe all of that happened to one person! So sorry that nothing went according to your original plan, but your is beautiful! They say that people forget about the pain, and I guess it really must be true!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Landon is so beautiful! And Wow, what an amazing birth story! Glad you are feeling better! I can't believe it's been 3 weeks!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow....An AMAZING Birth Story!!

I can't believe ALL that you went through.
You have a GORGEOUS son. Congrats!!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow thats some story!!!! He is beautiful

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Jeezus!!You poor woman! Your strength amazes me!! What a gorgeous baby you and your DH have created! All the best to you and your growing family!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow that is an amazing birth story! Congratulations to you, Landon is beautiful! You are a real trooper.

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Oh My Goodness Girl!!!! You're my hero! Congratulations Julz!! He is beautiful!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Julie I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, I can't even imagine Your birth story had me tearing up.

You're a strong woman and Landon has an amazing mama.

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

I guess your story just shows that you can not plan for everything. It seems like you handled all the changes wonderfully and I am so glad that you have such a beautiful healthy baby boy now!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

He is absolutely beautiful! I can not believe all thatr you went through.

Congratulations!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Awsome story! I'm so sorry you had such a horrible Landon was SO worth it:) Glad to hear you're well on your way to recovery!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

wow! I can't believe all you went through!!

He is so beautiful! Congrats.

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

Wow what a story! So worth it for such a beuatiful son...best wishes to you & your growing family!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

What an unbelieveable story! I cannot believe you went thru all of that!!!

Congratulations- he is a cutie!!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

What a story! I am glad that everything worked out ok, and your baby is beautiful!

Re: Landon's Birth Story - Very Long!!!

What a story! I'm so sorry for everything you went through, but you have a gorgeous little boy! I wish you, your DH and Landon all the best. Congrats!!