CamoQueen
Mom of 2 & 1 on the way!
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Okay, so I'm finally ready to post all the gory details of the birth of my son! I've been kinda preoccupied with baby stuff, but here goes nothing -- and warning, this is pretty lengthy:
I was scheduled for an appointment with my midwife for 11 o' clock the afternoon of November 18; just a routine checkup. I was a little upset because I felt that: A) My baby was never going to be born, and B) The appointment was just going to tell me the same. So I showed up and my midwife went to check me. She said that I was still at 5 cm, 70 effaced, and that my bag of waters was bulging -- so really, no change from last time. But she told me that she would check with labor and delivery anyway, to see if they would admit me to be induced. Because I was GBS positive, she was worried if I went home and went into labor, as far dilated as I was, I wouldn't come in in time to get my 4 hour course of antibiotics before the baby would come.
She came back in singing "Happy Birthday" and let me know that I was going to be admitted right then and there, that afternoon. DH and I were shocked, but really excited! We got our bags out of the car, went up to the third floor, and were admitted. First I got an IV with a saline drip and a penicillin drip. Then I sat in bed for four hours, getting regular Braxton Hicks and just waiting... it was the hardest part, lol, at least mentally. I wanted that baby NOW!
So once the penicillin was finished, they started me on pitocin. I kept expecting the contractions to become more painful, but they stayed the same... just a mild, uncomfortable Braxton Hicks. They came back to check my cervix after an hour on the pitocin and found while I was 80 effaced and -1 station, I was still at 5 cm. Basically, the contractions weren't "real labor" contractions. So they decided to break my waters -- oh, joy!
The guy that broke my waters was still learning (he was being supervised), and yeah, it was waaaay uncomfortable. Apparently it was a very thick bag of waters that they really had to scratch at, and it hurt probably five times as much as a regular cervical exam. When they broke them I expected to feel a huge gush of water, but it was just a little trickle... not much at all. Maybe two minutes after they broke my waters the contractions started, and HARD. I mean, REALLY, REALLY PAINFUL. I didn't expect them to hurt so much, but they felt like -- honestly, I know this is pretty nasty -- the worst gas pains of my life. They also had a definite pattern to them, going from bearable and peaking to horrible, excruciating gut-wrenching pains.
The anesthesiologist had come in to explain the option of an epidural right afterwards, and had barely left the room by the time I whimpered, "Give me the epidural." Or maybe it was more like, "Ohhh, motherf***er, I want that ****ing epidural, NOW!"
Yeah, it was painful, all right.
They got me set up for the epidural while I was contracting what felt like every other minute. The worst part was that the contraction monitor wasn't picking up my contractions, so I felt like I was the biggest wuss in the world. I wondered, if my contractions aren't even strong enough to be read and it feels this bad, what will intense labor be like?! I had DH squeeze the life out of my hand every time I had a contraction, even though it's normally the other way around. I just wanted a different pain to distract me, so he squeezed and squeezed until my fingers mashed together... and he felt horribly guilty about it, even though I kept saying, "Harder, dammit, squeeze them harder!" My right index finger still hurts, but hey, it was really effective in distracting me. But I digress.
A minute or so after I got the epidural in, my legs felt quite dead and numb, but I now felt this extreme pressure on my cervix. The nurse checked and found that I was 9 cm, 100 effaced, and the baby was +1 station. She lifted my bed to the upright sitting position and said that she needed to let the doctors know that I would be ready to push in a minute or so. Because the pain was so much less now, I was able to joke with my husband... I felt much, much better. I'm glad I asked for the epidural when I did, because the nurse said if I had waited any longer they wouldn't have been able to do it. I was just pleased that the contractions I was feeling were actual, factual labor contractions -- I wasn't just a big ol' wussy!
The nurse told me after about ten minutes of sitting upright that I should do some practice pushing to get the baby down. So with every contraction she would have me push to the count of 10, then relax for a breath and repeat it two more times. After three sets of contractions and three practice pushing sessions, the doctor came in and it was time to deliver! Hallelujah!
At this point the baby's head was very far down, far enough that they could see his full head of hair (!). I started contracting and pushed for three more sets. I remember that it didn't hurt that much, but that there was a LOT of pressure. I could really feel him coming out... it was, like they say, taking the biggest dump of your life (I know, TMI)
. But in a beautiful, miraculous way, lol. After one more contraction and round of pushing, David was born!!!!!!
He came out with a big gush of fluids, kicking and screaming and very upset at me. DH cut the umbilical cord, and they whisked the baby away to be cleaned up. I remember that DH was shaking and had tears in his eyes, and he couldn't stop smiling. It was so cute. I then delivered the placenta (this took like two seconds as they just really tugged the thing out, and it looked like a giant, nasty liver), and got a few stitches. The stitching part wasn't at all bad, it just felt like someone was pinching at you -- though this is probably due to the epidural I got. I only tore to the smallest degree, though, so it could have been so much worse.
They weighed my son and he came out to be a healthy, hefty 8 lb 6 ounces! I did worry because I had to be induced that my dates might be off and he might be a little small, but thankfully that wasn't at all true. He cried until I got him on my breast and then he fed for 45 minutes, and slept for a few hours. I couldn't stop staring at him the whole time, he was just so beautiful. He is still so beautiful.
I spent the next two days in the hospital, recovering and bleeding like nobody's business. For about the next eight hours my legs were numb from the epidural and I couldn't walk. But now we're home and getting adjusted to it being the three of us instead of just the two of us! I've been lucky so far in that David is a pretty good little baby. He cries but not excessively, and he does have times after a good, long feed that he will actually sleep three hours without so much as a whimper, so I have been getting a lot more sleep than I expected! And he is so, so easy to breastfeed -- when he's hungry he will open his mouth really wide and actually latch himself on!
No encouragement needed, lol.
I am so in love with my little boy, my David Danger.
I would go through this pregnancy all over again fifty times if I had to.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/baby9.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/baby4.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/davidchair2.jpg
I was scheduled for an appointment with my midwife for 11 o' clock the afternoon of November 18; just a routine checkup. I was a little upset because I felt that: A) My baby was never going to be born, and B) The appointment was just going to tell me the same. So I showed up and my midwife went to check me. She said that I was still at 5 cm, 70 effaced, and that my bag of waters was bulging -- so really, no change from last time. But she told me that she would check with labor and delivery anyway, to see if they would admit me to be induced. Because I was GBS positive, she was worried if I went home and went into labor, as far dilated as I was, I wouldn't come in in time to get my 4 hour course of antibiotics before the baby would come.
She came back in singing "Happy Birthday" and let me know that I was going to be admitted right then and there, that afternoon. DH and I were shocked, but really excited! We got our bags out of the car, went up to the third floor, and were admitted. First I got an IV with a saline drip and a penicillin drip. Then I sat in bed for four hours, getting regular Braxton Hicks and just waiting... it was the hardest part, lol, at least mentally. I wanted that baby NOW!
So once the penicillin was finished, they started me on pitocin. I kept expecting the contractions to become more painful, but they stayed the same... just a mild, uncomfortable Braxton Hicks. They came back to check my cervix after an hour on the pitocin and found while I was 80 effaced and -1 station, I was still at 5 cm. Basically, the contractions weren't "real labor" contractions. So they decided to break my waters -- oh, joy!
The guy that broke my waters was still learning (he was being supervised), and yeah, it was waaaay uncomfortable. Apparently it was a very thick bag of waters that they really had to scratch at, and it hurt probably five times as much as a regular cervical exam. When they broke them I expected to feel a huge gush of water, but it was just a little trickle... not much at all. Maybe two minutes after they broke my waters the contractions started, and HARD. I mean, REALLY, REALLY PAINFUL. I didn't expect them to hurt so much, but they felt like -- honestly, I know this is pretty nasty -- the worst gas pains of my life. They also had a definite pattern to them, going from bearable and peaking to horrible, excruciating gut-wrenching pains.
The anesthesiologist had come in to explain the option of an epidural right afterwards, and had barely left the room by the time I whimpered, "Give me the epidural." Or maybe it was more like, "Ohhh, motherf***er, I want that ****ing epidural, NOW!"
Yeah, it was painful, all right.They got me set up for the epidural while I was contracting what felt like every other minute. The worst part was that the contraction monitor wasn't picking up my contractions, so I felt like I was the biggest wuss in the world. I wondered, if my contractions aren't even strong enough to be read and it feels this bad, what will intense labor be like?! I had DH squeeze the life out of my hand every time I had a contraction, even though it's normally the other way around. I just wanted a different pain to distract me, so he squeezed and squeezed until my fingers mashed together... and he felt horribly guilty about it, even though I kept saying, "Harder, dammit, squeeze them harder!" My right index finger still hurts, but hey, it was really effective in distracting me. But I digress.
A minute or so after I got the epidural in, my legs felt quite dead and numb, but I now felt this extreme pressure on my cervix. The nurse checked and found that I was 9 cm, 100 effaced, and the baby was +1 station. She lifted my bed to the upright sitting position and said that she needed to let the doctors know that I would be ready to push in a minute or so. Because the pain was so much less now, I was able to joke with my husband... I felt much, much better. I'm glad I asked for the epidural when I did, because the nurse said if I had waited any longer they wouldn't have been able to do it. I was just pleased that the contractions I was feeling were actual, factual labor contractions -- I wasn't just a big ol' wussy!
The nurse told me after about ten minutes of sitting upright that I should do some practice pushing to get the baby down. So with every contraction she would have me push to the count of 10, then relax for a breath and repeat it two more times. After three sets of contractions and three practice pushing sessions, the doctor came in and it was time to deliver! Hallelujah!
At this point the baby's head was very far down, far enough that they could see his full head of hair (!). I started contracting and pushed for three more sets. I remember that it didn't hurt that much, but that there was a LOT of pressure. I could really feel him coming out... it was, like they say, taking the biggest dump of your life (I know, TMI)
. But in a beautiful, miraculous way, lol. After one more contraction and round of pushing, David was born!!!!!!He came out with a big gush of fluids, kicking and screaming and very upset at me. DH cut the umbilical cord, and they whisked the baby away to be cleaned up. I remember that DH was shaking and had tears in his eyes, and he couldn't stop smiling. It was so cute. I then delivered the placenta (this took like two seconds as they just really tugged the thing out, and it looked like a giant, nasty liver
), and got a few stitches. The stitching part wasn't at all bad, it just felt like someone was pinching at you -- though this is probably due to the epidural I got. I only tore to the smallest degree, though, so it could have been so much worse.They weighed my son and he came out to be a healthy, hefty 8 lb 6 ounces! I did worry because I had to be induced that my dates might be off and he might be a little small, but thankfully that wasn't at all true. He cried until I got him on my breast and then he fed for 45 minutes, and slept for a few hours. I couldn't stop staring at him the whole time, he was just so beautiful. He is still so beautiful.
I spent the next two days in the hospital, recovering and bleeding like nobody's business. For about the next eight hours my legs were numb from the epidural and I couldn't walk. But now we're home and getting adjusted to it being the three of us instead of just the two of us! I've been lucky so far in that David is a pretty good little baby. He cries but not excessively, and he does have times after a good, long feed that he will actually sleep three hours without so much as a whimper, so I have been getting a lot more sleep than I expected! And he is so, so easy to breastfeed -- when he's hungry he will open his mouth really wide and actually latch himself on!
No encouragement needed, lol.I am so in love with my little boy, my David Danger.
I would go through this pregnancy all over again fifty times if I had to. https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/baby9.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/baby4.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/SpikeBotz/davidchair2.jpg
congrats he is beautiful 
