shazza211
My life is complete
Member since 9/07 1580 total posts
Name:
Sharon
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2 weeks ago today!
My Birth Story for my dear son Kellan Quincy:
I can't believe it's been two weeks already...but, two weeks ago today my water broke at home at 10:45 p.m. on Sunday July 27th and we were on our way to the hospital a half an hour later.
The only symptoms I had that day were more intense pressure in my pelvis and an increased appetite. But the whole day I did feel different...nothing I could explain in words, but just different. I told my parents I thought that labor would be coming very soon and that night my water broke.
My DH and I were just falling to sleep when I got one really intense contraction. I rolled over to check the time on my alarm clock, thinking I should probably start timing contractions, when I felt a sudden gush of liquid. I tapped DH on the arm and said "I think my water just broke!" I waddled off to the bathroom and he waited for me to tell him what to do next. I was pretty sure it was amniotic fluid because it was clear and did not have any odor. So, we called the doc and he told us to meet him at the hospital. My DH was clearly a nervous wreck and kept asking me did we really have to go to the hospital because I wasn't having contractions 5 minutes apart yet, and we had been told by our doc and in lamaze that you don't go to the hospital until then. I had to keep reassuring him that the doctor said that we had to go to the hospital the whole time he packed up the car with the hospital bags I had packed and ready for the past few weeks.
Once at the hospital, at 11:30 p.m., I was admitted and they did an internal swab to see if my water had indeed broken and if I was dilated. I was not having regular contractions at this point but the test came up postive for amniotic fluid but I was only a fingertip dilated. They contacted my doctor just after 12:00 a.m., Monday July 28th, who said he would be in shortly and they started an IV and hooked me up to monitors for rating my contractions, blood pressure, and the baby's heartbeat. My doctor finally showed up around 5:00 a.m. and decided to induce me using cervadil since I was still not dilating but my water had broken. I was told that since I was a first timer, I may need the cervadil treatment twice before it would take effect, and my chances for a c-section were greatly increasing since I was being induced. This news scared DH to death because he really did not want me to have to have a c-section.
After that it was a waiting game. I started to have more intense contractions later in the morning and they fluctuated between 3-9 minutes apart. The nurses continued to do internals to check my dilation and with all of the fluids they were pumping into me I had pee non-stop. Much to my dismay I became very familiar with the bedpan, and after this experience, my DH saw more of me at my most exposed and vulnerable than I ever thought possible. My contractions were steadily getting more painful and I did use my lamaze breathing to help focus me off of the pain..it did help and my DH breathed right along with me. He also tried to massage me but I don't like to be touched when I am in pain. By the late morning I asked for some pain relief and they gave me a medication through my IV that did not take the pain away but made me extremely tired. Depite the tiredness I could not sleep at all because the pain from the contractions woke me up everytime I would start to drift off.
A little after 3:00 p.m. the cervadil came out on its own and since I was already 3cm dilated they decided to start pitocin instead of inserting another cervadil. Around this time I felt another great gush of fluid come out of me from down below, and I told the nurse either I just wet myself or my water broke again. Turned out that my water had not broken all of the way the previous night and now had finally fully broken.
At 3:30 I asked for the epi-dural because the pain was getting more intense, and due to other laboring women ahead of me I had to wait until 5:30 before the anesthesiologist could adminster it. By this time I was in a lot of pain and had been shaking uncontrollably with each contraction. Once the epi kicked in I felt great! I was numb from the waist down but did not lose feeling completely. I couldn't however really feel the contractions anymore. However, after not eating for over 24 hours and having only ice chips I did vomit a few times. The nurses continued to check my dilation and by 10:00p.m. I was finally 10cm dilated and ready to push...an hour and a half shy of 24 hours since I had been admitted to the hospital.
At a little after 10p.m. the pushing began. The nurse had stopped the epidural awhile before that but I was still a bit numb. I felt a lot of pressure and was told to push when I felt a contraction. I still couldn't really feel my contractions because of the epidural but I pushed when I thought I felt one. I've never felt so unsure of myself in my life! My DH was helping the nurse and they kept moving me to my sides and encouraging me to push but nothing seemed to be happening. When they would move me onto my back I would feel the most pressure but my pushing was getting me no where. The nurse kept saying push like you have to poop but that wasn't helping me much either. My doctor started getting frustrated with me and told me to take a deep breath, hold it for 10 seconds while pushing as hard as I could, then quickly take another breath and do it all over again until I needed a rest.
My DH was great and kept encouraging me, but I was feeling like a failure and I told him I didn't think I could do this. They attatched a monitor to the baby's head and I started to worry that I may have to have a c-section after all. At that point I decided to push wether I felt a contraction or not, and just keep pushing until the baby was safetly out of me and into this world. I pushed and screamed until the doctor told me to stop, at which point he gave me an episiotomy, and then I pushed again until our little one was out. He was born at 11:16 pm, a little over an hour after I started pushing, and 15 minutes shy of me being in the hospital 24 hours.
My DH told me it was a boy...and the first thing I asked was why he wasn't crying. I didn't know they were still suctioning out his mouth, and I was anxiously awaiting that cry. And then, I heard him, and the doctor held him up for me to stroke his face before they the nurse took him to clean him up etc.
My DH, who had said my whole pregnancy that he did not want to watch me deliver and would stay by my head only, had his eyes glued on the delivery the whole time. He says it was the most amazing thing he ever saw and he cried and hugged me, told me he loved me, and I never felt closer to him than I did at that moment. Then he went out in the waiting room to tell our families that it was a boy while the doctor stitched up my episiotomy.
I watched my boy squirm and cry as they weighed him and cleaned him up and I am still amazed at the entire experience.
We named him Kellan Quincy he was 7lbs 15.5 oz at birth and 20 inches long. He has been breast feeding like a champ and he should be back to his birth weight by tomorrow when we go to the pediatrician. He's still adjusting to the world and can be very fussy at times, but hopefully he'll be more comfortable soon. I'm hoping to be more comfortable soon too...recovery has been slow and I'm still sore but, I've never had more worthwhile pain in my life!
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Message edited 8/10/2008 5:40:31 PM.
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But congrats on your amazing achievement and a beautiful little boy
