Ashley2189
Mommy to a sweet toddler
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On Monday June 27, around 1 am I woke with period-type cramping in my lower abdomen. At first I didnt think anything of it because usually it just meant I had gas coming, no matter how hopeful I was that it was labor. These pains did not go away, and they were coming about every 10 minutes and lasting about 40 seconds each. They got a little worse, and some were quite painful. I woke OH after a few hours to give him a heads up that I might be going into labor. After around 6 hours of regular contractions, it all stopped. Towards night time I would get one every now and then, but just kept my mouth shut.
The next day, June 28, at 2 am I woke up from pain just like the night before, and started timing contractions. At 3 am I went and sat in the living room to continue counting so I wouldnt wake OH. By 5:30 am I was starting to think it might actually be happening. Contractions were 45 sec long, 6-7 min apart. Brown discharge, and small amounts of what I called goo. So I woke OH and told him he could stay sleeping, but to just be aware. Contractions continued until around 8 am, then died down. Went back to bed upset that it was never going to happen for me. Got about an hour of rest before the contractions came back. Lost a big chunk of my plug, and then was convinced I was finally going into labor! Contractions were pretty irregular, though painful. Went for about a mile walk, but all that did was make me tired, hot, and swollen. Through the day, the pain progressed, and I labored at home for as long as possible. At 7 pm I couldnt stand it any longer, I could barely breathe through the pain when sitting, and if I was standing and had a contraction I would nearly fall to the floor crying. I told OH it was time to go, and we were out the door within the half hour.
Get to Labor & Delivery around 8 pm, and they put me in an admitting room to monitor me. After spending all day laboring at home I expected to be several inches dilated. I was only TWO!! Contractions were coming hard and fast at times, then would slow down. Id already been in labor for 18 hours, and was getting tired and losing my reserve. In the back of my head, I knew I wouldnt be able to go through the entire thing without pain relief no matter how badly I wanted to. Still, I pressed on, accepting no meds from nurses despite their remarks of how if my body is too tense I wont dilate further and could stop laboring altogether. More hours passed, and I was dilating very slowly and my contractions were relentless. Instead of having a rest period in between contractions, the monitor showed me coming down about halfway, staying there, then spiking off the chart. My blood pressure rose up into the 170-180s. It was constant agony and I finally gave in and asked for the epidural. As the words were forming in my mouth I wanted to cry. Not from pain, but because I knew nothing about the birth was going to go the way I had wanted. While getting the epidural, the contractions got worse. I was nearly screaming in pain with no control over my body. My contractions were so hard and fast I was forced to move into position for the epi while going through them because we had tried to wait for in between contractions, but that lasted only like 30 seconds. Once the epidural took effect, I realized that it was the right choice for me. If I had continued without it, I probably would have passed out from the pain. My blood pressure stabilized, and I felt better. I ended up having to have two boosts put into it since it kept wearing off and I would be able to feel the contractions. Also, having to be wedged onto one side was the most uncomfortable thing. I was so upset and frustrated with my back hurting from being crooked in bed and not being able to move my legs to rearrange myself.
Sometime in the morning one June 29, my doctor checked me and said he estimated the baby to be about 7 pounds, maybe less according to what he could feel of her head. I was getting close to 10 cm and my contractions had not been regular all night. They varied between 30 seconds 8 minutes time in between. They started me on pitocin to help my contractions become regular again. Worked like a charm, except this was one of the times I ended up needing that boost of epidural medicine. I dilated pretty quickly after that and it was time to push. With the first push, babys heart rate dropped and they put me on oxygen, closed off the pitocin drip, and had me lie on my left side and rest for a few minutes while baby stabilized. After getting the doctors ok, I started pushing again, and this time baby tolerated it well though I did keep the oxygen mask on. After about 20 minutes, the doctor said it was ok to start the pitocin again so that I would get more frequent contractions. At this point the epidural was wearing off again and I could feel each contraction, not just the pressure thats expected, but the pain. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed. The nurse set up a mirror at the end of the bed so I could see babys head as I pushed. I never would have thought that pushing would hurt my abdomen so much! It felt like a big cramp at the top of my abdomen and the harder I pushed the more it hurt. The nurse kept telling me to push through the pain, to use the pain and get the baby out. After an hour of pushing, the doctor came in to check on me and told me that I wasnt pushing right. That I was only pushing into my face instead of my bottom and I would never get the baby out that way. I was so confused, and she made me feel stupid. What kind of person doesnt know how to push out a poop? After several more pushes she told me that I wasnt pushing effectively and she recommended a vacuum extraction so we wouldnt risk babys heart rate dropping again. I agreed to it, and she got everything ready. Before I knew it she was telling me to get ready to push again and as soon as I did I felt her cut me open. I had NO IDEA she was about to perform an episiotomy, and I had no say in it. We got the baby out quickly, within 3 pushes (one contraction). After a 34 hour labor, I gave birth to my baby girl at 12:40 pm. During the last push I just remember all the nurses in the room yelling loudly to push. Turns out baby had ripped me open way further than the episiotomy. They placed baby on me, but didnt even offer for OH to cut the cord. The doctor went to work right away on trying to stop my bleeding and get the placenta out. They took baby away to be weighed, etc and I was so out of it that I didnt even notice and the doctor started stitching me. The stitching took a long time and I was getting more and more worried about how extensive the damage must be. I had a 3rd degree tear, and lost a lot of blood. The doctor said to me I guess it wasnt that you werent pushing right, you just had a big baby! My precious girl weighed in at 8 lbs, 13 oz. I stayed in the delivery room for about 6 hours waiting for a recovery room to become available.
I ended up becoming extremely weak and short of breath and developed a fever. I needed a blood transfusion because of the amount of blood Id lost plus being anemic. I stayed in the hospital until Saturday, July 2. Thankfully, my baby came out perfectly healthy, no problems with her whatsoever. Her bilirubin levels peaked on the very first day and kept dropping so no problem with jaundice. She took to breastfeeding right away, but because of how poorly I was feeling I got frustrated and upset from being so tired and unable to get out of bed and I got lazy with her. I allowed her to nurse with an improper latch, just to get her to stop crying, and now I'm paying the price. Suffering with cracked nipples, one very severe, and still determined to not give in to formula. But that's another story!
Thanks for reading.
The next day, June 28, at 2 am I woke up from pain just like the night before, and started timing contractions. At 3 am I went and sat in the living room to continue counting so I wouldnt wake OH. By 5:30 am I was starting to think it might actually be happening. Contractions were 45 sec long, 6-7 min apart. Brown discharge, and small amounts of what I called goo. So I woke OH and told him he could stay sleeping, but to just be aware. Contractions continued until around 8 am, then died down. Went back to bed upset that it was never going to happen for me. Got about an hour of rest before the contractions came back. Lost a big chunk of my plug, and then was convinced I was finally going into labor! Contractions were pretty irregular, though painful. Went for about a mile walk, but all that did was make me tired, hot, and swollen. Through the day, the pain progressed, and I labored at home for as long as possible. At 7 pm I couldnt stand it any longer, I could barely breathe through the pain when sitting, and if I was standing and had a contraction I would nearly fall to the floor crying. I told OH it was time to go, and we were out the door within the half hour.
Get to Labor & Delivery around 8 pm, and they put me in an admitting room to monitor me. After spending all day laboring at home I expected to be several inches dilated. I was only TWO!! Contractions were coming hard and fast at times, then would slow down. Id already been in labor for 18 hours, and was getting tired and losing my reserve. In the back of my head, I knew I wouldnt be able to go through the entire thing without pain relief no matter how badly I wanted to. Still, I pressed on, accepting no meds from nurses despite their remarks of how if my body is too tense I wont dilate further and could stop laboring altogether. More hours passed, and I was dilating very slowly and my contractions were relentless. Instead of having a rest period in between contractions, the monitor showed me coming down about halfway, staying there, then spiking off the chart. My blood pressure rose up into the 170-180s. It was constant agony and I finally gave in and asked for the epidural. As the words were forming in my mouth I wanted to cry. Not from pain, but because I knew nothing about the birth was going to go the way I had wanted. While getting the epidural, the contractions got worse. I was nearly screaming in pain with no control over my body. My contractions were so hard and fast I was forced to move into position for the epi while going through them because we had tried to wait for in between contractions, but that lasted only like 30 seconds. Once the epidural took effect, I realized that it was the right choice for me. If I had continued without it, I probably would have passed out from the pain. My blood pressure stabilized, and I felt better. I ended up having to have two boosts put into it since it kept wearing off and I would be able to feel the contractions. Also, having to be wedged onto one side was the most uncomfortable thing. I was so upset and frustrated with my back hurting from being crooked in bed and not being able to move my legs to rearrange myself.
Sometime in the morning one June 29, my doctor checked me and said he estimated the baby to be about 7 pounds, maybe less according to what he could feel of her head. I was getting close to 10 cm and my contractions had not been regular all night. They varied between 30 seconds 8 minutes time in between. They started me on pitocin to help my contractions become regular again. Worked like a charm, except this was one of the times I ended up needing that boost of epidural medicine. I dilated pretty quickly after that and it was time to push. With the first push, babys heart rate dropped and they put me on oxygen, closed off the pitocin drip, and had me lie on my left side and rest for a few minutes while baby stabilized. After getting the doctors ok, I started pushing again, and this time baby tolerated it well though I did keep the oxygen mask on. After about 20 minutes, the doctor said it was ok to start the pitocin again so that I would get more frequent contractions. At this point the epidural was wearing off again and I could feel each contraction, not just the pressure thats expected, but the pain. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed. The nurse set up a mirror at the end of the bed so I could see babys head as I pushed. I never would have thought that pushing would hurt my abdomen so much! It felt like a big cramp at the top of my abdomen and the harder I pushed the more it hurt. The nurse kept telling me to push through the pain, to use the pain and get the baby out. After an hour of pushing, the doctor came in to check on me and told me that I wasnt pushing right. That I was only pushing into my face instead of my bottom and I would never get the baby out that way. I was so confused, and she made me feel stupid. What kind of person doesnt know how to push out a poop? After several more pushes she told me that I wasnt pushing effectively and she recommended a vacuum extraction so we wouldnt risk babys heart rate dropping again. I agreed to it, and she got everything ready. Before I knew it she was telling me to get ready to push again and as soon as I did I felt her cut me open. I had NO IDEA she was about to perform an episiotomy, and I had no say in it. We got the baby out quickly, within 3 pushes (one contraction). After a 34 hour labor, I gave birth to my baby girl at 12:40 pm. During the last push I just remember all the nurses in the room yelling loudly to push. Turns out baby had ripped me open way further than the episiotomy. They placed baby on me, but didnt even offer for OH to cut the cord. The doctor went to work right away on trying to stop my bleeding and get the placenta out. They took baby away to be weighed, etc and I was so out of it that I didnt even notice and the doctor started stitching me. The stitching took a long time and I was getting more and more worried about how extensive the damage must be. I had a 3rd degree tear, and lost a lot of blood. The doctor said to me I guess it wasnt that you werent pushing right, you just had a big baby! My precious girl weighed in at 8 lbs, 13 oz. I stayed in the delivery room for about 6 hours waiting for a recovery room to become available.
I ended up becoming extremely weak and short of breath and developed a fever. I needed a blood transfusion because of the amount of blood Id lost plus being anemic. I stayed in the hospital until Saturday, July 2. Thankfully, my baby came out perfectly healthy, no problems with her whatsoever. Her bilirubin levels peaked on the very first day and kept dropping so no problem with jaundice. She took to breastfeeding right away, but because of how poorly I was feeling I got frustrated and upset from being so tired and unable to get out of bed and I got lazy with her. I allowed her to nurse with an improper latch, just to get her to stop crying, and now I'm paying the price. Suffering with cracked nipples, one very severe, and still determined to not give in to formula. But that's another story!
Thanks for reading.
