shapla79
Where Does The Time Go?
Member since 11/07 4619 total posts
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Naseer's Birth Story- April 6th
Long story short: 1) Make sure the nurse knows how to use a fetal monitor. 2) Epidurals are not always perfect. 3) A backache isn't always a backache!
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Naseer's Birth Story:
On Friday, April 4th, DH and I were sitting on the couch watching tv. I fell asleep as usual but was woken up at 9 pm by a cramp in my lower back. I didn't think much of it because I figured by the end of 38 weeks, a backache would be normal and that I was probably sleeping in a funny position on the couch. My lower back began to ache on and off throughout the night, but I didn't feel any contractions. During that whole week I was losing my mucus plug and knew that labor was going to come at some point- I just didn't know when. Sleeping that night was difficult because my back kept hurting and I kept asking DH to massage it whenever it would hurt.
The backaches continued throughout the day on Saturday and I began to time them out of curiosity. They ranged anywhere from 13 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart and weren't very consistent. I didn't feel any pain wrapping around to my front and they didn't feel like BH contractions. Over lunch, DH said to me, "If your backaches are forming a pattern- I'm pretty sure you're in labor." At that point they were still sporadic, so I just kept writing down the times I felt them and how long they lasted. That night, DH and I were watching a March Madness basketball game at home and it got to the point where I couldn't walk and barely talk through my backaches. Around 11:30 pm, bits of my mucus plug turned from brown to bright red and my backaches were consistently 7-8 minutes apart for a few hours. At that point, I told DH that I needed to call my OB.
When talking to my OB, she was pretty sure I was having contractions and said I could ride it out until they were 5 minutes apart or that I could come in just to get checked out. I opted to come in to get checked out.
When we got to L&D, the nurse hooked me up to a fetal monitor. There were absolutely no contractions and the baby was moving just fine. Every time I felt my back hurt, nothing showed up on the monitor. DH started to chuckle and said it was probably false labor. The nurse came in a few minutes later and said since there were no contractions, the resident doctor would give me an internal and they would monitor me for 20 more minutes before sending me home.
The resident came in and did an internal. He was a bit surprised and asked me how dilated I was at my last visit. I told him I was checked 2 days ago and I was 1 1/2 cm dilated and not effaced. The resident then said, "Well you're now 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby is stationed -2. I'm not going to send you home!"
When the nurses changed shifts, the new nurse who came to check in on me said she was puzzled why they didn't see any contractions even though I was feeling pain. She checked the belts on my stomach and said that one of them looked loose to her. The minute she tightened it, there were contractions popping up all over the place on the monitor! And to think they almost sent me home to live with my backaches! Around 1 AM, DH called his family (they live 2 hours away in NJ) to tell them that I was in labor. His family planned to drive to LI after breakfast and hang out in the waiting area on Sunday.
By 3:00 am, the contractions were becoming more uncomfortable and I sat focused, practicing the breathing I learned at my prenatal class. A nurse came back to check on me and asked when I wanted an epidural. They warned me that if I wanted it between 4 am and 5:30 am, I wouldn't be able to get one because the anesthesiologist would be busy with a c-section. I debated for a while when to take it and eventually took it at 3:30 am. The epidural was the best thing that I could have asked for! It felt good to feel no pain but still be able to wiggle my legs a bit. Every time I had a contraction, I could feel a tightening at the top of my uterus but felt no pain. The nurses told me to sleep as much as I could because I would need the energy to push later on that day. DH slept comfortably through the rest of the night while I was still awake because I was too excited thinking how I would meet DS really soon!
At 6:30 am, my OB walks in to say good morning and to give me another internal. She said I was now a little over 5 cm and 100% effaced. The OB told DH and I that I would most likely have DS around lunch time. At 7:30 am, the OB said she wanted to get the labor moving quicker so she broke my water. Around 9:00 am, a new nurse came in and told me to lie on my left side to see if they could get the baby to move down a bit more. When I turned on my left, DS's HR decelerated but no one told me what was going on. The nurse then asked me to quickly turn on my right. DH knew what was going on but didn't tell me anything. When I turned on my right, DS's HR continued to decelerate into the 80s. I was then asked to sit up in the middle again- the HR then jumped back to the 150s. DH admitted he got a little nervous and didn't want to scare me but reassured me that everything was okay now that I was sitting back in the middle. The OB quickly came in concerned to see why DS's HR was decelerating. The nurse said it was her fault for making me lie on my side. They guessed that lying on my side was pressing on the cord. After that little scare, I was happy to sit upright in bed and not move on to my side! Around 10:30 am, DH's family arrived and MIL came into L&D first to say hello and chat for a while. Later on, MIL switched off with SIL to chat.
By 11:00 am, I began to feel a slight cramping on my right side. My skin felt numb on the outside, but I was feeling a slight cramping on the inside with each contraction. This continued to get stronger and stronger. DH and I told the nurse who said she would talk to the OB. Eventually, the epidural wore off on the entire right side of my body and I was in tears! I felt no pain on my left side and felt every contraction on my right side. The nurses tried turning me on my right side again to see if maybe the drug would kick in on the right, but no such luck. Around 1 pm, the anesthesiologist came to see me and was a bit puzzled as well. He said he preferred not to give me anymore drugs because I was 10 cm and was better off feeling the pain so that I would know when to push. I told him I'd rather take the drugs and try pushing with the epidural. He injected more meds into the catheter and at first, my left side became even more numb while nothing changed on my right. The nurse had me lie on my right side again and wait. Luckily this time, DS's HR did not decelerate. After 45 minutes, my right side became numb again. What relief! Every now and then, a nurse came in to take my vitals. I was so focused on pain and my body that I wasn't listening to the conversation around me. Apparently, I spiked a fever of 100.4 after having my water broken. Everyone around me was discussing when the best time would be to give me antibiotics.
A nurse came in and told me that I could try pushing anytime I felt the urge. A bag of antibiotics was added to my IV at that point, but I wasn't paying attention. I asked her what I should be feeling given the fact that I had an epidural and wasn't feeling much again. She told me if I felt any rectal pressure, that would be the time to push. I had been feeling that every now and then for half an hour and had no clue that I could have started pushing then! When I felt the pressure and the contraction had peaked, the nurse and DH had me push. After 10 or 15 minutes, the OB came in and was a bit concerned that my contractions were not close enough together. The OB had the nurses give me pitocin to get my contractions moving. I didn't object because the epidural kicked back in again. The OB then asked for the squat bar to be set up. I held on to the bar while lying on my back. The OB told me she could already see the baby's head and was very close to crowning. After less than an hour of pushing, DS was finally here! Naseer was finally born at 2:43 pm!
Seeing him and hearing him cry for the first time was the best moment! DS entered the world spraying the nurses :) The bigger concern, however, was that DS was born with a fever of 101.4. Because his fever was so high and I had a fever as well, DS was sent to the NICU. Both of our fevers eventually went away and I was sent home after 2 days. DS had to spend one extra day in the NICU to be safe. We were so thrilled to bring Naseer home and thankful to God that both of us made it home healthy! He's running our lives and we're totally sleep deprived, but it's totally worth it. It's weird to think that not too long ago he was in my belly and now he's here! Image Attachment(s):
Message edited 4/18/2008 8:18:49 PM.
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