Itsychik
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Warning: long and detailed! 
I was due on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 but had had no signs of impending labour at all. At my midwife appointment on Tuesday, February 25th the midwife was concerned about increased risk of placenta failure and uterine rupture due to my previous c-section from my first child and wanted to schedule another c-section. I was really against this and the mw agreed we could plan an induction for Wednesday, March 5th (using a Foley/Balloon catheter to open the cervix and then manually break the waters since most other forms of inductions were not possible due to previous c-section, and starting a hormone drip afterwards). I was keeping everything crossed that things would start on their own before this though as I desperately wanted a natural vbac birth, but the mw did an internal check and my cervix was high and closed, so she told me not to expect anything in the next few days.
After the mw appointment I started ‘actively’ trying to encourage labour (loads of walking, spicy foods, DTD) and after the first night of DTD I finally lost my mucus plug on Thursday, Feb 27th but still had no other signs. I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to have to be induced.
Friday evening right before I went to bed, I had a really weird pain at the top of my bump—it felt like sharp gas pains that lasted for several minutes. I was a little worried but could feel the baby being really active so tried not to think too much of it.
Saturday, March 1st (I was exactly 41 weeks) I slept poorly (not unusual) and woke up at 6:34am and felt a small gush of fluid while I was lying in bed. DH and I had ‘joked’ about needing to get a mattress protector but we hadn’t done so yet and my first thought was, “Oh crap, not the mattress!” and I jumped out and ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, where I felt fluid leaking out. I turned on the light and could see that the fluid was brown and knew that the baby had meconium in the waters, so started freaking out a little. I grabbed a cup to hold between my legs while fluid ran out and ran back into our bedroom to tell DH to get up and call the hospital/L&D to let them know what had happened. He brought me the phone and they said to make sure I brought everything with me as I was probably going to have my baby today!
Everything was already packed and in the car and DH grabbed a few things as we got ready to go. My mother was staying with us to watch our DS so DH went to tell her we were leaving. I had to throw up a few times before we left (morning sickness!) so had DH cut up an apple for me and I grabbed some crackers to eat in the car. I didn’t feel LO moving at all as we drove to the hospital and was getting a little worried.
Got to the hospital at around 7:15am and DH let me out in front while he parked the car. I waddled my way as fast as I could up to L&D where they brought me to a room and put a heart monitor and a contraction monitor around my bump and we could hear LO’s heart rate, perfectly normal. I felt instantly better and DH joined me a few minutes later and we waited and got monitored for about 45 minutes. I eventually started feeling mild contractions coming 9 – 10 minutes apart.
The doctor on duty came in and did an internal check (cervix was only a fingertip dialated but had moved forward and was softening) so decided to start on a low dose drip to get contractions started. After getting the IV (took 4 tries) and starting the drip, contractions started coming every 2 – 5 minutes and they evaluated the regularity every 45 minutes and increased the dosage until they were more regular at 2 – 3 min, by 10am. After that we waited. Things were uncomfortable but I could still talk through contractions with little difficulty. The doctor came every 3 hours to do an internal check but was not making much progress. By lunch the contractions were getting stronger and I had only progressed to 1 cm. I ate a little to try and prevent getting nauseous from being hungry, but wasn’t feeling very hungry. By 3pm I was concentrating through the contractions which were 1 – 2 minutes apart and when the doctor came to check I had only progressed to 1.5cm! With my DS I also had REALLY slow progress (3 cm in 14 hours) but had heard that second labours tended to go faster, so I was really disappointed. They left us alone and when the shifts changed about 2 hours later the new doctor came in (who ironically, had the same name as we had chosen for our LO! And even funnier, she had a boyfriend with the same name as our DS) she said she didn’t think my waters had broken centrally so she wanted to try rupturing them further. They did this and then upped the oxytocin drip. After this contractions started getting a LOT stronger. I had been lying in bed for most of the day but got up and tried standing/sitting/laying but when I stood I could feel a LOT of pressure in my butt (almost like a ‘needing to poop’ feeling). The doctor said this was from baby’s head pushing downwards.
The contractions were strong enough that I couldn’t talk through them and while I stood DH came behind me and tried massaging my lower back/hip through each contraction (this actually really helped). By dinner time (5:30pm) the nurse came in to ‘help’ teach me how to breathe through the contractions (breathing a deep breath in through my nose and then breathing out in 3 puffs through my mouth) which helped me concentrate a bit. I started feeling nauseous and had the nurse bring me something to throw up into just in case. They came around to bring dinner but I declined and DH started eating in the room but had to leave because the smell was making me gag. I was starting to get tired of standing so laid down in bed but then the contractions were focused more in the front and I had to really concentrate to breathe through them. They came to check me around 6:00pm and I had only progressed to 2cm! I was really feeling upset and demotivated. They asked me if I wanted an epidural but with my DS (long story short) I’d had a reaction that caused my BP to drop and my DS to go into distress so I told them I wanted to go without. They said they’d come back in another 3 hours to check…
The next 3 hours were agony. I could barely breathe and soon after I was checked I started throwing up and didn’t stop until there was absolutely nothing left in my stomach. I couldn’t concentrate and my whole body felt achy and tense from the contractions which were every 1 – 1.5 minutes and excruciating. They came back to check me around 9pm and I was desperately hoping for some good news. But they checked… and only 3 cm! I was crushed (I told DH I would have cried if it didn’t hurt too much to do so). The doctors were really sympathetic and asked again if I wanted any pain relief. I had looked into an option called “Remifentanil” which is a fast-acting drug delivered through an IV that you can use yourself and isn’t supposed to cross to the baby. I was getting desperate at this point and asked if this would be an option, and they said they only gave it to women at the end stages of labour (after 8cm and closer to pushing). The OBGYN came and told me that an epidural would probably be my best option seeing as how slow I was progressing and assured me that the reaction I had the last time was uncommon and not likely to reoccur. I was pretty easy to convince at this point and agreed (although DH asked me several times whether I was sure, as I’d asked him not to let me give in), and within 15 minutes I was being wheeled down to the anesthesiologist for the epidural (although sitting on the table and bending over through the contractions was pretty awful, the relief I got from it afterwards was amazing). They gave me a different type of IV fluid which was supposed to help keep my blood pressure higher to prevent what happened with my DS, and my BP stayed around 105/60 which was WAY better than the last time and I was feeling pretty hopeful.
After getting back to my room I was just starting to relax a little and enjoy not being in constant pain (although with each contraction I could still feel the pressure in my butt. The epidural was most effective on my left side so I could barely feel my left leg but I could still feel/move my right) when baby’s heart rate started really jumping around. The nurse and the doctor came in several times and had me try laying in several different positions (on my back, my right and left side, sitting up, etc) trying to find a position where baby would be more comfortable. After 30 minutes of no success they called in the OBGYN who wanted to take a blood sample from LO’s head to check her oxygen levels (you need to be 5cm for them to do this) and they checked me but I had still only progressed to 4cm. While they were checking my cervix they could feel that LO had turned during labour and was now facing back-to-back with her forehead stuck in my cervix (they could feel her forehead and nose) which they said was probably the reason her heart rate was jumping and also warned me that she was “never going to fit” facing this direction. They made a quick ultrasound to confirm and the OB looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, but there’s really no point in avoiding it. You need a c-section.” I asked if we waited if it was likely that LO could turn again but they said she was stuck pretty tight and that no amount of waiting was going to make a vaginal birth possible. I was devastated. DH just looked at me and squeezed my shoulder and told me how sorry he was for me, and the nurses/doctors were all sympathetic (I had told them all how desperately I wanted a VBAC) but as soon as we agreed to the c-section they started prepping me (I had to take off all jewelry/earrings) and wheeled me down to the operating room where they topped up the epidural so that I couldn’t feel anything (and the numbness spread through my chest and into my arms so I could barely feel anything from the neck down).
They started the surgery and DH was allowed to watch. Baby was so stuck in my cervix that they had to use the vacuum to pull her head out before they could pull her out. Juliet Arielle was born at 10:34pm, weighing 3185 grams (7lbs 0 oz) and 48 cm (19 inches) long. They took her away quickly to clear out her mouth and throat before she could breathe in the meconium and DH went with her and could cut a portion of the remaining cord off. As they removed the placenta and stitched me up DH came in with Juliet to show her to me, and together with one of the doctors they placed her on my chest and held her there so I could have some skin-to-skin (I couldn’t move my arms much so was afraid I would drop her). I was suddenly feeling extremely tired and having trouble keeping my eyes open, but was also nauseous and started throwing up and gagging. I also had “the shakes” (which I had with DS as well) where my whole upper body was shaking/shivering.
After about 30 minutes they were done with the stitches and DH carried Juliet and they brought me to the ‘recovery’ room where I again got to have some skin-to-skin and try breast feeding (Juliet latched on like a champ) and gradually the feeling started returning in my arms/upper body and the shaking subsided. All in all the immediate recovery during/after the surgery went way better than with my DS. We went back to my room on L&D for the rest of the night and called our parents to let them know, and managed to get a few hours sleep. Fortunately, Juliet didn’t seem to have any problems as a result of the meconium.
I’m quite disappointed about needing another c-section (and this means if we decide at some point we want a third, I will have to have a planned c-section) but as they say, the important part is that everyone is healthy. Milk came in on day 3 and breast feeding is going really well so far, and my DS has taken to “the baby” way better than we expected him to and we’re all getting adjusted back at home.
2 pics, one right after we got her dressed, and the second when she was 5 days old.
I was due on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 but had had no signs of impending labour at all. At my midwife appointment on Tuesday, February 25th the midwife was concerned about increased risk of placenta failure and uterine rupture due to my previous c-section from my first child and wanted to schedule another c-section. I was really against this and the mw agreed we could plan an induction for Wednesday, March 5th (using a Foley/Balloon catheter to open the cervix and then manually break the waters since most other forms of inductions were not possible due to previous c-section, and starting a hormone drip afterwards). I was keeping everything crossed that things would start on their own before this though as I desperately wanted a natural vbac birth, but the mw did an internal check and my cervix was high and closed, so she told me not to expect anything in the next few days.
After the mw appointment I started ‘actively’ trying to encourage labour (loads of walking, spicy foods, DTD) and after the first night of DTD I finally lost my mucus plug on Thursday, Feb 27th but still had no other signs. I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to have to be induced.
Friday evening right before I went to bed, I had a really weird pain at the top of my bump—it felt like sharp gas pains that lasted for several minutes. I was a little worried but could feel the baby being really active so tried not to think too much of it.
Saturday, March 1st (I was exactly 41 weeks) I slept poorly (not unusual) and woke up at 6:34am and felt a small gush of fluid while I was lying in bed. DH and I had ‘joked’ about needing to get a mattress protector but we hadn’t done so yet and my first thought was, “Oh crap, not the mattress!” and I jumped out and ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, where I felt fluid leaking out. I turned on the light and could see that the fluid was brown and knew that the baby had meconium in the waters, so started freaking out a little. I grabbed a cup to hold between my legs while fluid ran out and ran back into our bedroom to tell DH to get up and call the hospital/L&D to let them know what had happened. He brought me the phone and they said to make sure I brought everything with me as I was probably going to have my baby today!
Everything was already packed and in the car and DH grabbed a few things as we got ready to go. My mother was staying with us to watch our DS so DH went to tell her we were leaving. I had to throw up a few times before we left (morning sickness!) so had DH cut up an apple for me and I grabbed some crackers to eat in the car. I didn’t feel LO moving at all as we drove to the hospital and was getting a little worried.
Got to the hospital at around 7:15am and DH let me out in front while he parked the car. I waddled my way as fast as I could up to L&D where they brought me to a room and put a heart monitor and a contraction monitor around my bump and we could hear LO’s heart rate, perfectly normal. I felt instantly better and DH joined me a few minutes later and we waited and got monitored for about 45 minutes. I eventually started feeling mild contractions coming 9 – 10 minutes apart.
The doctor on duty came in and did an internal check (cervix was only a fingertip dialated but had moved forward and was softening) so decided to start on a low dose drip to get contractions started. After getting the IV (took 4 tries) and starting the drip, contractions started coming every 2 – 5 minutes and they evaluated the regularity every 45 minutes and increased the dosage until they were more regular at 2 – 3 min, by 10am. After that we waited. Things were uncomfortable but I could still talk through contractions with little difficulty. The doctor came every 3 hours to do an internal check but was not making much progress. By lunch the contractions were getting stronger and I had only progressed to 1 cm. I ate a little to try and prevent getting nauseous from being hungry, but wasn’t feeling very hungry. By 3pm I was concentrating through the contractions which were 1 – 2 minutes apart and when the doctor came to check I had only progressed to 1.5cm! With my DS I also had REALLY slow progress (3 cm in 14 hours) but had heard that second labours tended to go faster, so I was really disappointed. They left us alone and when the shifts changed about 2 hours later the new doctor came in (who ironically, had the same name as we had chosen for our LO! And even funnier, she had a boyfriend with the same name as our DS) she said she didn’t think my waters had broken centrally so she wanted to try rupturing them further. They did this and then upped the oxytocin drip. After this contractions started getting a LOT stronger. I had been lying in bed for most of the day but got up and tried standing/sitting/laying but when I stood I could feel a LOT of pressure in my butt (almost like a ‘needing to poop’ feeling). The doctor said this was from baby’s head pushing downwards.
The contractions were strong enough that I couldn’t talk through them and while I stood DH came behind me and tried massaging my lower back/hip through each contraction (this actually really helped). By dinner time (5:30pm) the nurse came in to ‘help’ teach me how to breathe through the contractions (breathing a deep breath in through my nose and then breathing out in 3 puffs through my mouth) which helped me concentrate a bit. I started feeling nauseous and had the nurse bring me something to throw up into just in case. They came around to bring dinner but I declined and DH started eating in the room but had to leave because the smell was making me gag. I was starting to get tired of standing so laid down in bed but then the contractions were focused more in the front and I had to really concentrate to breathe through them. They came to check me around 6:00pm and I had only progressed to 2cm! I was really feeling upset and demotivated. They asked me if I wanted an epidural but with my DS (long story short) I’d had a reaction that caused my BP to drop and my DS to go into distress so I told them I wanted to go without. They said they’d come back in another 3 hours to check…
The next 3 hours were agony. I could barely breathe and soon after I was checked I started throwing up and didn’t stop until there was absolutely nothing left in my stomach. I couldn’t concentrate and my whole body felt achy and tense from the contractions which were every 1 – 1.5 minutes and excruciating. They came back to check me around 9pm and I was desperately hoping for some good news. But they checked… and only 3 cm! I was crushed (I told DH I would have cried if it didn’t hurt too much to do so). The doctors were really sympathetic and asked again if I wanted any pain relief. I had looked into an option called “Remifentanil” which is a fast-acting drug delivered through an IV that you can use yourself and isn’t supposed to cross to the baby. I was getting desperate at this point and asked if this would be an option, and they said they only gave it to women at the end stages of labour (after 8cm and closer to pushing). The OBGYN came and told me that an epidural would probably be my best option seeing as how slow I was progressing and assured me that the reaction I had the last time was uncommon and not likely to reoccur. I was pretty easy to convince at this point and agreed (although DH asked me several times whether I was sure, as I’d asked him not to let me give in), and within 15 minutes I was being wheeled down to the anesthesiologist for the epidural (although sitting on the table and bending over through the contractions was pretty awful, the relief I got from it afterwards was amazing). They gave me a different type of IV fluid which was supposed to help keep my blood pressure higher to prevent what happened with my DS, and my BP stayed around 105/60 which was WAY better than the last time and I was feeling pretty hopeful.
After getting back to my room I was just starting to relax a little and enjoy not being in constant pain (although with each contraction I could still feel the pressure in my butt. The epidural was most effective on my left side so I could barely feel my left leg but I could still feel/move my right) when baby’s heart rate started really jumping around. The nurse and the doctor came in several times and had me try laying in several different positions (on my back, my right and left side, sitting up, etc) trying to find a position where baby would be more comfortable. After 30 minutes of no success they called in the OBGYN who wanted to take a blood sample from LO’s head to check her oxygen levels (you need to be 5cm for them to do this) and they checked me but I had still only progressed to 4cm. While they were checking my cervix they could feel that LO had turned during labour and was now facing back-to-back with her forehead stuck in my cervix (they could feel her forehead and nose) which they said was probably the reason her heart rate was jumping and also warned me that she was “never going to fit” facing this direction. They made a quick ultrasound to confirm and the OB looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, but there’s really no point in avoiding it. You need a c-section.” I asked if we waited if it was likely that LO could turn again but they said she was stuck pretty tight and that no amount of waiting was going to make a vaginal birth possible. I was devastated. DH just looked at me and squeezed my shoulder and told me how sorry he was for me, and the nurses/doctors were all sympathetic (I had told them all how desperately I wanted a VBAC) but as soon as we agreed to the c-section they started prepping me (I had to take off all jewelry/earrings) and wheeled me down to the operating room where they topped up the epidural so that I couldn’t feel anything (and the numbness spread through my chest and into my arms so I could barely feel anything from the neck down).
They started the surgery and DH was allowed to watch. Baby was so stuck in my cervix that they had to use the vacuum to pull her head out before they could pull her out. Juliet Arielle was born at 10:34pm, weighing 3185 grams (7lbs 0 oz) and 48 cm (19 inches) long. They took her away quickly to clear out her mouth and throat before she could breathe in the meconium and DH went with her and could cut a portion of the remaining cord off. As they removed the placenta and stitched me up DH came in with Juliet to show her to me, and together with one of the doctors they placed her on my chest and held her there so I could have some skin-to-skin (I couldn’t move my arms much so was afraid I would drop her). I was suddenly feeling extremely tired and having trouble keeping my eyes open, but was also nauseous and started throwing up and gagging. I also had “the shakes” (which I had with DS as well) where my whole upper body was shaking/shivering.
After about 30 minutes they were done with the stitches and DH carried Juliet and they brought me to the ‘recovery’ room where I again got to have some skin-to-skin and try breast feeding (Juliet latched on like a champ) and gradually the feeling started returning in my arms/upper body and the shaking subsided. All in all the immediate recovery during/after the surgery went way better than with my DS. We went back to my room on L&D for the rest of the night and called our parents to let them know, and managed to get a few hours sleep. Fortunately, Juliet didn’t seem to have any problems as a result of the meconium.
I’m quite disappointed about needing another c-section (and this means if we decide at some point we want a third, I will have to have a planned c-section) but as they say, the important part is that everyone is healthy. Milk came in on day 3 and breast feeding is going really well so far, and my DS has taken to “the baby” way better than we expected him to and we’re all getting adjusted back at home.
2 pics, one right after we got her dressed, and the second when she was 5 days old.
I hope in time the disappointment feeling goes away, and you can be content in the way things went down. 
