NYimport
LIF Infant
Member since 6/08 290 total posts
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My fast and furious birth (very long)!
I wasn't sleeping well on Tuesday night (nothing new). I was feeling contractions that were a bit different than the normal Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing really bad. Everyone told me that you'll know when you feel a contraction. I wasn't sure, so I figured it was just pre-labor.
When the alarm clock went off on Wednesday morning, I felt like I was having constant cramping rather than a pattern. I got up and sat on the couch, debating whether to go to work. I was a bit concerned that the cramping felt almost constant and debated whether to call my doctor. I had also planned for my last day of work to be Thursday and wanted to clean up my desk. My husband and I went back and forth on what to do. I then stood up to use the bathroom and felt a small gush of fluid. I quickly walked to the bathroom, sat down and there was more gushing. I had been losing bits of my mucous plug since Monday. When I looked in the toilet, there was a bit of pinkish red blood. Water breaking was one of the reasons my doctor asked me to call him. At that point, it was about 7:15 a.m. The contractions were uncomfortable, but completely bearable. I decided to go to the office and kill some time before my doctor's office opened at 9. My husband headed into work. I told him to be on stand by in case we needed to head to the hospital.
I fnished cleaning up my office and called the doctor's office. They told me to come to the office by 11. My husband met me at the house and off we went. The doctor confirmed that my water had broken. The fetal monitor showed very few contractions (maybe three over a 30 minute period), but they were so mild that my doctor didn't really count them. I was only 2 cm dilated, but my cervix had significantly thinned. My fluid levels were still looking good. So he told us to head over to the hospital where they would get me started on pitocin to intensify the contractions and start a pattern. I was disappointed to hear the word pitocin. It made me nervous that I would want the epidural sooner rather than later. I was trying to avoid having an epidural at all if possible. I was also worried that it may lead to a c-section.
At that point, it was about 12:30. The doctor said we had time to get some lunch and should try to be at the hospital within the next hour to hour and a half. The staff would not be allowed to check my progress since my water had already broken. My doctor planned to be at the hospital around 7 or 7:30 when his office hours ended.
My husband and I stopped to pick up lunch. I continued to have little gushes and some of the contractions were a bit more intense, but still random and bearable. Knowing that it was only going to get more intense, I started to wonder whether I could go through labor without the epidural.
We arrived at the hospital around 2:00. I was checked in and the pitocin was started some time between 2:30 and 3:00. Every 30 minutes or so, the nurse turned up the pitocin. After the second increase, the contractions were beginning to intensify. I popped in my iPod, listened to a relaxation playlist and breathed my way through them. It definitely helped. Every time my concentration was broken, the pain worsened. Once I turned back to the music, it was better. It definitely helped to focus on the contraction peak. After getting through the peak, it was smooth sailing.
All of a sudden around 5:00, the contractions came on extremely strong. I cried through a couple of them, but was still ok. They still had peaks to them, which allowed for a rest in between, albeit much shorter. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural, but I still wasn't sure. She said she would come back in five minutes to check on me. That five minutes made up my mind. The contractions came one on top of the other with no breaks. I could hardly breathe. I asked for the epidural and demanded that they turn off the pitocin until the epidural was inserted. I started hyperventilating because I couldn't catch my breath. I was also in tears, which made it worse. The nurse and my husband helped me try to focus on my breathing. It was tough. The anesthesiologist arrived about 15 minutes later (a long 15 minutes). The epidural, which was my biggest fear, was not bad at all. The contractions were way worse. After he had inserted the epidural, I was still sitting on the edge of the bed trying to make it through the next contraction. Out of nowhere, I had this urge to grunt during the contraction. After doing that about three times, the nurse asked me if I was pushing. I told her that I had no idea. It was totally involuntary. She decided to check my cervix. Sure enough, I was already 9 cm dilated. They never turned the pitocin back on. My body took over and I was having regular contractions.
In the next few minutes, about five nurses and doctors entered the room and started setting it up for the birth. I was convinced that my doctor wasn't going to make it. In the mean time, the epidural took effect everywhere, except for the left side of my pelvic area. I still had to breathe through the contractions, but they were manageable and much better than before. My doctor arrived around 6:30 and confirmed that I was 9 cm. He worked with the anesthesiologist to get me pain free. They got pretty close. I still had a dull ache in my left pelvis during some of the contractions, but I was much happier.
Around 7:00, the doctor checked me...10 cm. It was time to start pushing. The nursing shift switched at that point. My nurse said her good-byes and congratulated me on getting so far without any pain medication. She told me that I had basically done it naturally and should be proud, especially since I didn't have the extra cushion of the water. I was proud of myself. Looking back, the epidural was a good choice for me.
I started pushing around 7:15. I really didn't feel a thing. I thought that it would take me a while to push the baby out because I was so numb from the epidural. I was wrong. I focused on pushing my Kegel muscles and it turns out that I was a good pusher. The hardest part was holding my breath for the full count of 10. My beautiful baby girl was born at 7:48 p.m. I could feel when her head was coming out, when her shoulders came out and when the rest of her slid out. It was really just a sensation, not painful at all, but I could still sense what was happening.
Keira Lynn was 6 pounds, 11.5 oz. and 20 inches long (photos in my album). I never thought my water would break early or that I would have such a fast and furious labor and delivery. Overall, I think I had a wonderful experience.
Message edited 5/31/2010 6:38:01 PM.
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