Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Let me start by saying that our due date was March 18th and this was my first pregnancy. Because it was my first pregnancy, I think I was overlooked during the labor check but I won’t go into that much further. Starting on Sunday the 7th, I started having mild contractions that were around 10 minutes apart. I know that is to far apart, so I just dealt with it. But I had no other signs of labor; I had not even dropped yet. I had my weekly check up on Tuesday but on Monday I called my doctor’s office and they told me to come in. It was declared false labor and the doctor said that I should still keep my appointment for the next day. Tuesday I woke up and started losing my mucus plug and still having contractions 10 minutes apart. At my appointment my doctor said the baby still has not dropped but it could be any day now. He said “I could see you later tonight or next week, we just have to be patient”. We were told if the contractions are less than 5 minutes apart go straight to the hospital. (That was at 4 o’clock) Needless to say by 8 o’clock that night the contractions were quickly getting closer. We decided to head to the hospital!
The hospital staff paid more attention to the fact that this was my first pregnancy rather than the fact that my contractions were three minutes apart. They really seemed to overlook me from the beginning and called it a labor check. They hooked me up to the monitors and basically told me that I was only 2 cm dilated and my contractions were not “real” contractions. At one point the contractions were so strong I felt like I was going to vomit all over. One nurse actually told me if you think this is bad, wait until you are 5-6 cm dilated. They discharged me and told me to go home and eat a light meal. Eating was the last thing on my mind at that point! My husband kept asking the nurse, well how will I know when to bring her back if this isn’t good enough to have her admitted. We were unhappy with them especially since we were following our doctor’s directions and at this point the contractions were about two and a half to three minutes apart. They told my husband to bring me back if my water breaks or if I start bleeding.
We got back home around 12am and I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. I laid down and drifted off only to be awoken now every minute with contractions. I went to the bathroom and came back and told my husband that I was bleeding. He called the hospital and spoke to the resident and she said to come back and get checked out again.
2 o’clock in the morning we were back in triage. I told the nurse she better not expect me to stay still while I am on the monitor. (last time she was pretty nasty about telling me that I needed to stay still during the monitoring-try that while you are having contractions!) I went into the bathroom to change into the gown and was bleeding heavily at this point. While I was in the bathroom, my water broke. The resident came in to check me and to all of their amazement, I was 9 cm dilated! They were all in shock! I was relieved in a way because I kept thinking about what that nurse said that the contractions were nothing now. I kept thinking, “how much worse can it possibly get?” On the other hand, I was scared because I knew this also meant a natural birth and no epidural. I never thought about a natural birth honestly, I assumed I would have an epidural.
As soon as they rushed me into L&D, everything happened so fast. My doctor walked in and I started pushing. 5 pushes later and Justin Liam was born at 3:08am. Thankfully, everything was ok. Although my mother in law who is a pediatrician said that it was a close call. As soon as Justin was born he pooped the meconium, any later and it could have happened inside and caused him distress. The resident also said if we came any later this baby could have been born in the car! Overall, I was not happy with how I was treated the first time I entered for a labor check but I will not dwell on that, my son is healthy and beautiful! I love him more and more every day.

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Message edited 3/18/2010 8:04:39 AM.

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Congrats! I'm so sorry about how you were treated - I hate when medical professionals aren't really listening and think they know everything... then they wonder why we try to diagnose ourselves on the internet. Glad everything worked out in the end!

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

SO happy to hear it all worked out in the end!

Congrats to you and DH! He is too cute!!

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Congratulations!!!!!!!! He is beautiful!!!!!

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Hello beautiful!!!!! Our sons share the same birth date!

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

wow what a story to tell to Justin one day! congrats, he is adorable

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Congrats! Your son is perfect, im sorry u didn't have a great hospital experience though/ What hospital did u deliver at?

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

First of all... congratulations. Your son is adorable.

Second of all... I can't stand when doctors/nurses dismiss us like they know better. These are our bodies! And even if we haven't been through the process before we innately know when something is going on.

Enjoy your son!

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

What an incredible story! He is gorgeous

Re: Justin Liam 3-10-10 (Long)

I'm sorry you had a bad experience at Winthrop, I'm going to be delivering there too as a first time mom so I hope they take me seriously!
That being said, congratulations on the arrival of your beautiful son!