babyberry
LIF Adult
Member since 1/11 1477 total posts
Name:
Ang
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my epi free birth
Tuesday night's checkup at the ob indicated that AFI had dropped to 6.4cm and then after peeing, another drop to 5cm. In conjunction with what the ob felt was a calcifying placenta and Ds's lower percentile birth weight, we reluctantly agreed to induction at 4am for fear of cord compression.
We quickly wrapped up at the ob, went home to eat our Subway sandwich dinner lol and I got acupunctured by a friend hoping to get labor started. We got Ds excited with the acu points and contractions coming every 10 minutes but nothing crazy. As a last minute decision, we decided to call a great doula recommended by our Bradley birth teacher who became so helpful during delivery. Our goal was an epidural free vaginal birth because epis can have really bad long term effects on mom's body and it's a big step towards more medical intervention afterwards.
We showered, went to bed at 12am and I had a fitful 4 hours of semi-sleep. Woke up at 4am, washed up, Dh loaded the car with our bags and we all ate breakfast. I had 2 pineapple buns, a slice of cantaloupe and cup of red raspberry leaf tea. Then off to the hospital we went. We arrived around 5:30 am and it took about an hour to check in and get set up in the delivery room. Dh and I were anxious and nervous. My doula arrived shortly after.
At around 7:20 am, a physicians assistant inserted cytotec to get the cervix softened and possibly contractions going to start inducement. Shortly after, I had to do number 2 and the cytotec likely slipped out because after having my water broken by the ob at 12pm and about 10 hours of slowly upping pitocin to a hardcore dosage of 48m, I was still only 3cm dilated. My ob was concerned at the high dosage of pitocin (apparently my body is just resilient to pitocin) and so I was given another cytotec insertion around 5:30pm. That really started getting contractions coming more often and stronger in intensity. My doula had been great in giving me relaxation massages, calming directions and great encouragement. And Dh helped feed me and kept me hydrated during labor. The ob broke my water a second time around 6:30pm and started manually stretching the cervix which was very painful and uncomfortable. Ds's heart rate was dropping but it would come back up as he went through the birth canal. At one point, it dropped so low, my ob was very concerned. He inserted an internal fetal monitor to get a more accurate reading of Ds's heart rate because it was slowing to the point of possible fatal concern.
At around 6:45, I was told to start pushing with each contraction while the ob continued to manually stretch the cervix to 8cm. I was in terrible pain. Dss heart rate started slowing again and the ob said I would have to have a c-section under general anesthesia since I didn't want an epidural if no progress was made after 1 or 2 more pushes. At 7pm, I saw knives, scalpels being set up and all the nurses including Dh got dressed in scrubs in preparation for an emergency section. At that point, I was in so much pain, I could not lay on my back to push and forced myself around onto all fours (aka the child's position in yoga) so that I could control my pushing and take the tension off my back. I surprised my ob and everyone but he allowed me to continue this position and sway for a few minutes until Dss heart rate started dropping again.
The ob turned me around again onto my back and I started to lose energy and hope. Then I saw Dh bend down in prayer mode next to me and I called out to God in prayer as well so that He might deliver Ds without a section. My doula and the nurses kept telling me to push and said encouraging things to me while I continued to pray and regain focus. At one point i remember saying "i don't know how to push" and my doula firmly said "figure it out now" or else we'd be wheeling into surgery. I was more afraid of the section than the pain so the thought of asking for an epi actually never came to my mind. The pain of the contractions felt like extremely bad gas pains in the GI tract to me but not as bad as being hyperemetic! I prayed and pushed again while Dh and my doulas held my legs. My ob hurriedly asked one of the nurses to set up a vacuum. I somehow summoned the energy for a few more pushes and at 7:36pm, Ds was born on leap year day. He had an APGAR score of 9.9 and low jaundice levels which is so common in Asian babies. What a blessing!
Vitals were taken and then ds was placed on my chest for breast feeding while the ob stitched up the episiotomy he gave me to facilitate a vacuum birth. Ds latched a few times but snuggled more than sucked. My doula helped a bit more but having only gotten a few hours of sleep herself, wrapped up and went home. Then Ds was wheeled off to the nursery while I was wheeled to recovery for an hour and a half. Dh and I called our family and then during recovery, I had excruciating pain from the adrenaline drop and the episiotomy. I got hooked up to pitocin again so that the uterus would contract and no clots would form. I think the recovering pain probably hurt more than the birth pains! The sudden drop in estrogen post delivery also made me especially sensitive and my body started trembling from delivery.
After some Tylenol (I had refused percocet), Dh and I got moved to our postpartum room. Dh and I took the time to bond ourselves. Then after a Motrin, I started feeling slightly better. Ds got wheeled back to us and slept like an angel along with Dh in the room.
The next morning, my ob came in and said that I was a hairline away from a section but because I didn't get an epi, having a section meant putting me to sleep under general anesthesia which the hospital doesn't like doing. So in a way, it looks like not getting an epi saved us from a section. We are really glad that our ob worked with us until the end and we are so incredibly thankful to God for Ds!
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Message edited 3/5/2012 4:35:09 AM.
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He is so adorable.
