Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

It took me two months to write this because the experience I had was so scary and so confusing that I had to come to terms with the birth.

I know that everyone wants to be the first to tell you how you are feeling, and if I can tell anyone anything about pregnancy its BELIEVE IN YOUR GUT. BELIEVE IN HOW YOU ARE FEELING. AND NEVER EVER IGNORE ANYTHING YOU FEEL!

So three weeks before I gave birth, the baby had still been “weighing under”. They continued to have me come in to check him and this of course made me a nervous wreck.

The week before I gave birth, on a Thursday, I all of a sudden got intense pains in my stomach and tightening. Now, I had gotten “braxtonhicks” continuously throughout my pregnancy… walking up stairs, while standing too long. I knew what Braxton hicks were.

This was nothing of the sort. I got my boss to come cover for me (I am a fourth grade teacher) and had one of my co workers drive me to my doctors office.

There, the doctor told me “not to worry” because although I was having contractions, they were irregular and sparatic and that I just needed to relax.

I decided to go back into work the next day since it was Friday and was greeted by the bosses secretary… who informed me that I was not “having contractions”, I only had Braxton hicks and that it was pretty terrible that I had to leave and couldn’t handle Braxton hicks…

Embarassed… I told myself, maybe shes right, and ignored the next three four days of the same immense pain.

Fathers day weekend comes and the pain began again that Friday ( A week after the initial pains). Of course I chalked it up to being Braxton hicks contractions… and continued both jobs (My mom and I run a cake business so imagine me rolling out fondant….hmm)

The pain became so immense that night of fathers day that I literally fell asleep sitting on the john because I felt like I had a stomach virus.

I called in sick, couldn’t stop throwing up… and fell back asleep. Around ten I decided to get out of bed and… splash…
I thought to myself “Eww so grose I just peed myself”
And proceeded to go into the bathroom to clean up the “pee”. As I was cleaning… splash again, this time, with blood. I called my sister in law who laughed and told me my water broke and it wasn’t pee lol

So I head to the hospital. They took their time to check me because the contractions were so sporadic and irregular. “It will probably be quite some time now”…

And then five seconds later while examining me… “Oh wow. You’ve surprised me. You’re Five cm dilated already”..

Huh?

Turns out…although its uncommon… some people do not go into “normal” labor and their contractions never regulate… go figure it was me.

So I am wheeled into the home birthing room, and all of a sudden I hear a pop in my back. The pain intensifies so bad I think I am in back labor. The doctors come in and tell me to tell them when I feel the pain…

It’s not the contractions. Turns out it’s my sciatica and slipped disk. The baby is leaning on it. They said since I couldn’t move, or lift my leg to give me the epidural right away…

After the epidural, my BP drops… the nurses, who were never informed that my contractions are irregular… never check me…

All of a sudden there are beeping noises coming from the monitor and the doctor is paged. He comes in, and checks me… and tells me “You’ve been dilated fully for quite some time, you have to push we don’t want to give you a C section”

I was so confused and nervous. I begin to push and nothing is happening. The beeping continues, the lights begin to flash. The doctor throws up the cloth,the nurses come running in and these crazy utensils become uncovered from the tray. It waslike a scene from a movie.

My doula was keeping me calm. My mother and husband were in the room and looked as terrified as I felt. “We want to avoid a C Section” said the doctor to the nurses. All of a sudden he begins to push on my stomach, and I hear a suctioning sound.

About a minute later, they take the baby out. I didn’t get to see him. He wasn’t crying and he was purple. I began to become frantic because NO ONE was telling me what was going on. My husband was in shock, and kept asking the doula “But is his head supposed to look like that?’’

Finally he began to cry after what felt like an eternity. The doctor said my cut was a level four because they didn't want to give me a "C" because of my personal health concerns...
Then, The specialist came in and said he was about four weeks premature. (WHICH makes sense as to why they said he was measuring small)They had to vaccum him out because he was coming out sunny side up and his heart rate began to drop.

The doctor explained this was because I was probably in labor longer than expected and may have been dilated longer than thought but since the contractions were irregular… they didn’t think anything of it…

So…with that being said please.. please.. listen to your bodies. Don’t let others tell you how you are feeling. Mysituation could have been much worse and I know god was on my side that day with baby dean…

Baby Dean Matthew
June 21 2010
6 lbs 10 oz
19 inches long

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Message edited 8/29/2010 10:43:06 PM.

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

He is so precious
You are an amazing mommy
Congrats Jenny

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

Wow what a story!!! congrats on your little boy!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

Loved hearing Dean's story in person and reading it. I think he's worth all the trouble you went through!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

thank you for writing this !! i am so sorry that you were constantly told to not listen to your body it makes me sp mad, thank u so much for letting us know to speak up for ourselves during this process. u r amazing and dean is so precious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

4 weeks premature! He was a pretty good size! If you would have went 4 more weeks he would have been a BIG boy! DS was 6lbs 9oz and only a week early!

Congrats! he is adorable! Your a tough girl!!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

Ugh, I am so sorry you had to go through such a scare! So glad everything ended up working out...beautiful picture! Congrats!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

What a scary story! I am so sorry you had to go through that...

But your son is gorgeous. Congratulations.

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

He's beautiful!!!!

Re: Dean Matthew's Birth Story 7/21/10

Congrats on your beautiful son! I am sorry for all that you went through during and prior to labor.