kasey c
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My very long birth story!*
4th September: went for my final OB check- up, my OB gave me an internal and sweep and I was still 2cm dilated and 80% effaced (no change in two weeks). I made the decision to be induced on Friday 7th September at 40+1 weeks after scans had suggested that baby was going to be on the large size and wanted to avoid c-section. Thus, "operation get Jack out" commenced in the hope that I would avoid induction and go into natural labour! The rest of the day was spent walking lots, eating a whole pineapple and lots of cleaning.*
5th September: No contractions but spent most of the day cleaning, walked 2.5 miles to the nearest supermarket to buy more pineapples and got quite emotional and scared about the prospect of being induced on Friday.
6th September: I remember waking up feeling very disappointed that I had no contractions and that I would end up having to go in for my scheduled induction the next day. About half an hour later, at 8am I started getting period like cramps and back pains. I got up and showered and dressed and decided to start timing the pains as they were now coming and going. The contractions at this point were coming about 7-10 mins apart and lasting about 30-40 seconds. At about 9:30 I lost a lot of bloody show so i called my husband to come home so he could work from home just in case I needed to go into hospital at some point during the day. I continued to time contractions some were coming 4 mins apart and others at 7 mins apart, still lasting 30-45 seconds. They were getting more intense but nothing particularly painful that I couldn't cope with. In the end, spent the morning and afternoon doing nesting (cleaning the house, baking bread, cooking lunch and dinner for the boys and I). *If I hadn't had a contraction for awhile I could induce one by running up and down the stairs of our townhouse. I noticed that I needed to keep as mobile as possible so that my contractions didn't slow down.*
By 3:30, the contractions started to really slow down and were coming between 8 and 12 mins, I got really upset and decided I was in false labour after all. I cooked dinner and as we were sitting down to eat, contractions returned and were coming between 3 and 5 minutes. My husband made me call the OB at this point who said I needed to now come to the hospital now due to the fact I was already dilated and effaced and he felt the baby may make an appearance very soon. I wasn't convinced as I was still not finding any of the contractions particularly painful and so far the labour was nothing like when I was in labour with my older son.*
We arrived at the hospital at about 6pm and my contractions seemed to really slow down again so again felt a bit unsure whether I was actually in real labour. We were taken to a room, my 3 year old son was with us too as my husband and I decided that we didn't want the extra worry of leaving him with a babysitter (if we had been in the UK would have been happy to leave him with family or friends). The room was massive so my husband had set up his laptop in the corner of the room and my son was happy watching all his DVDs. He was such a good little boy throughout the labour and delivery- the medical staff didn't realise he was there until they heard him chuckling whilst watching his films!
The setup was quite different in the US compared to my experience of NHS midwife led care. A junior male doctor (who I wasn't keen on) wanted to know my whole sexual history (just found it all quite intrusive). In the meantime, the nurse was doing my blood pressure and there were concerns as it was a lot higher than normal. Luckily, it did drop over the course of the evening so think it was just due to the fact I was a bit worried about the whole process of giving birth in the US! Baby and I were monitored on the CTG machine and things all seemed to be fine. An IV line was placed in my wrist to remove my bloods and just in case I required medication at any point during the labour and after giving birth. Finally, at about 8pm the doctor did an internal and I was already 5cm dilated- think all the doctors and the nurse were shocked as I was hardly contracting and not in pain! *An ultrasound scan was done to make sure baby wasn't breech which he wasn't. The doctor that I was not keen on got told off because he poured half a tube of gel over my tummy for the scan which made me laugh! Due to my high blood pressure, a decision was made that baby and I would be monitored on the CTG machine for a period of half an hour every hour, the other half an hour I would be allowed to walk around my room which was in keeping with my birth plan.
About an hour later, another internal was done and I was now 7cm dilated - was happy that progress was being made and still finding labour easy. My blood pressure was checked and back down to normal. I was linked up to the CTG machine, we had a small scare when baby's heartbeat dropped but it then immediately returned to normal. At about 10pm I had quite an intense contraction and could feel baby move down, it felt like my waters had leaked a small amount. I got DH to check and he was concerned as a load of bloody show had come out so he went off to find a doctor just to get it checked out. The doctors were not concerned at all by what they saw and did another internal which confirmed my waters had partially gone. The duty OB artificially broke the rest of my waters and I was now 8cm dilated. Now that my waters had gone I was expecting the contractions to come quickly and intensely which didn't happen at all. At about 11:30pm, I got really upset as just thought baby would never make an appearance, I didn't feel like I needed to push unlike with my first labour. I then had a really intense and painful contraction and a team of 3 doctors and 3 nurses came in as they decided I was ready to push. The duty OB did another internal and confirmed I was fully dilated bar a tiny lip of cervix that was sticking out. I thought that I would be told that I wouldn't be allowed to push until it was out the way. (The same thing had occurred with my first son and it had taken a good couple of hours for me to get the stage that the midwives were happy for me to the push). However, things were done differently here. The OB ramrodded me with a metal pole which was really painful to move the lip of cervix out the way. So from 11:55pm I started pushing. I was determined to get the baby out and really focussed my energy in getting him out. Things are a bit vague from here but I remember the crowning of baby's head was so painful and I remember saying "that really hurts." The OB performed an episiotomy on me and not sure whether it was because they had discovered that baby had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice. Another push and baby was out and the umbilical cord had been cut and removed from baby's neck. I remember him being really blue and not making any noise- I remember asking James whether he was ok. One of the nurses was warming him up and then he started crying- it was such a relief. *Jack was born at 12:07 am on 7th September weighing 8lb 12oz not as large as initially predicted by the growth scans. In hindsight, we were so lucky to have a team of doctors delivering Jack, their quick actions saved his life and circumstances could have been so different if we had been under midwife led care.
I attempted to breastfeed whilst delivering the placenta but think Jack was still quite traumatized from his ordeal and didn't manage to get him to latch at all. I then suffered from a postpartum haemorrhage so James had to take Jack away and I was given a drip of syntocin. They kept me in the labour and delivery unit for almost hour and half after giving birth and finally they got my bleeding under control. Although I lost quite a lot of blood I didn't require a transfusion as my iron levels were still really high. Finally, we were taken to the mother and baby unit and DH and DS went home as it had been a long night. Jack and I were discharged early on the 8th September and were very happy to be back at home!*
4th September: went for my final OB check- up, my OB gave me an internal and sweep and I was still 2cm dilated and 80% effaced (no change in two weeks). I made the decision to be induced on Friday 7th September at 40+1 weeks after scans had suggested that baby was going to be on the large size and wanted to avoid c-section. Thus, "operation get Jack out" commenced in the hope that I would avoid induction and go into natural labour! The rest of the day was spent walking lots, eating a whole pineapple and lots of cleaning.*
5th September: No contractions but spent most of the day cleaning, walked 2.5 miles to the nearest supermarket to buy more pineapples and got quite emotional and scared about the prospect of being induced on Friday.
6th September: I remember waking up feeling very disappointed that I had no contractions and that I would end up having to go in for my scheduled induction the next day. About half an hour later, at 8am I started getting period like cramps and back pains. I got up and showered and dressed and decided to start timing the pains as they were now coming and going. The contractions at this point were coming about 7-10 mins apart and lasting about 30-40 seconds. At about 9:30 I lost a lot of bloody show so i called my husband to come home so he could work from home just in case I needed to go into hospital at some point during the day. I continued to time contractions some were coming 4 mins apart and others at 7 mins apart, still lasting 30-45 seconds. They were getting more intense but nothing particularly painful that I couldn't cope with. In the end, spent the morning and afternoon doing nesting (cleaning the house, baking bread, cooking lunch and dinner for the boys and I). *If I hadn't had a contraction for awhile I could induce one by running up and down the stairs of our townhouse. I noticed that I needed to keep as mobile as possible so that my contractions didn't slow down.*
By 3:30, the contractions started to really slow down and were coming between 8 and 12 mins, I got really upset and decided I was in false labour after all. I cooked dinner and as we were sitting down to eat, contractions returned and were coming between 3 and 5 minutes. My husband made me call the OB at this point who said I needed to now come to the hospital now due to the fact I was already dilated and effaced and he felt the baby may make an appearance very soon. I wasn't convinced as I was still not finding any of the contractions particularly painful and so far the labour was nothing like when I was in labour with my older son.*
We arrived at the hospital at about 6pm and my contractions seemed to really slow down again so again felt a bit unsure whether I was actually in real labour. We were taken to a room, my 3 year old son was with us too as my husband and I decided that we didn't want the extra worry of leaving him with a babysitter (if we had been in the UK would have been happy to leave him with family or friends). The room was massive so my husband had set up his laptop in the corner of the room and my son was happy watching all his DVDs. He was such a good little boy throughout the labour and delivery- the medical staff didn't realise he was there until they heard him chuckling whilst watching his films!
The setup was quite different in the US compared to my experience of NHS midwife led care. A junior male doctor (who I wasn't keen on) wanted to know my whole sexual history (just found it all quite intrusive). In the meantime, the nurse was doing my blood pressure and there were concerns as it was a lot higher than normal. Luckily, it did drop over the course of the evening so think it was just due to the fact I was a bit worried about the whole process of giving birth in the US! Baby and I were monitored on the CTG machine and things all seemed to be fine. An IV line was placed in my wrist to remove my bloods and just in case I required medication at any point during the labour and after giving birth. Finally, at about 8pm the doctor did an internal and I was already 5cm dilated- think all the doctors and the nurse were shocked as I was hardly contracting and not in pain! *An ultrasound scan was done to make sure baby wasn't breech which he wasn't. The doctor that I was not keen on got told off because he poured half a tube of gel over my tummy for the scan which made me laugh! Due to my high blood pressure, a decision was made that baby and I would be monitored on the CTG machine for a period of half an hour every hour, the other half an hour I would be allowed to walk around my room which was in keeping with my birth plan.
About an hour later, another internal was done and I was now 7cm dilated - was happy that progress was being made and still finding labour easy. My blood pressure was checked and back down to normal. I was linked up to the CTG machine, we had a small scare when baby's heartbeat dropped but it then immediately returned to normal. At about 10pm I had quite an intense contraction and could feel baby move down, it felt like my waters had leaked a small amount. I got DH to check and he was concerned as a load of bloody show had come out so he went off to find a doctor just to get it checked out. The doctors were not concerned at all by what they saw and did another internal which confirmed my waters had partially gone. The duty OB artificially broke the rest of my waters and I was now 8cm dilated. Now that my waters had gone I was expecting the contractions to come quickly and intensely which didn't happen at all. At about 11:30pm, I got really upset as just thought baby would never make an appearance, I didn't feel like I needed to push unlike with my first labour. I then had a really intense and painful contraction and a team of 3 doctors and 3 nurses came in as they decided I was ready to push. The duty OB did another internal and confirmed I was fully dilated bar a tiny lip of cervix that was sticking out. I thought that I would be told that I wouldn't be allowed to push until it was out the way. (The same thing had occurred with my first son and it had taken a good couple of hours for me to get the stage that the midwives were happy for me to the push). However, things were done differently here. The OB ramrodded me with a metal pole which was really painful to move the lip of cervix out the way. So from 11:55pm I started pushing. I was determined to get the baby out and really focussed my energy in getting him out. Things are a bit vague from here but I remember the crowning of baby's head was so painful and I remember saying "that really hurts." The OB performed an episiotomy on me and not sure whether it was because they had discovered that baby had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice. Another push and baby was out and the umbilical cord had been cut and removed from baby's neck. I remember him being really blue and not making any noise- I remember asking James whether he was ok. One of the nurses was warming him up and then he started crying- it was such a relief. *Jack was born at 12:07 am on 7th September weighing 8lb 12oz not as large as initially predicted by the growth scans. In hindsight, we were so lucky to have a team of doctors delivering Jack, their quick actions saved his life and circumstances could have been so different if we had been under midwife led care.
I attempted to breastfeed whilst delivering the placenta but think Jack was still quite traumatized from his ordeal and didn't manage to get him to latch at all. I then suffered from a postpartum haemorrhage so James had to take Jack away and I was given a drip of syntocin. They kept me in the labour and delivery unit for almost hour and half after giving birth and finally they got my bleeding under control. Although I lost quite a lot of blood I didn't require a transfusion as my iron levels were still really high. Finally, we were taken to the mother and baby unit and DH and DS went home as it had been a long night. Jack and I were discharged early on the 8th September and were very happy to be back at home!*
pretty cool that your son was there too! X
