Fox's birth story:
(Super long, Sorry!)
After several weeks of elevated blood pressure the decision was made at 37 weeks exactly, after a night of severely elevated blood pressure readings, headache, some protein spilling and abnormal reflexes, that I would be started on labetalol to help control my pressure until 38 weeks at which point I would be induced. Since I was seeing a family doctor who does delivery, I was referred to a consultant to help make the final decisions and to book my induction.
The labetalol helped some with my blood pressure but we were not able to maintain any stability to the lowered pressures. While I waited to reach 38 weeks, I also began having a lot of "false labour". Hours of bloody show, contractions and pain which would last all night but seemed to taper off as morning approached.
The following week at 37w6d I saw the obsetrician for the induction consultation. At that point I learned the false labour had not been all for nothing, I was already 3cm dilated and effacing, no cervical ripening needed. The doctor put me on the induction list for the next day, so I went home to wait for a call, which was likely to arrive in the next 2 days depending on how crazy labour and delivery got.
The next day, mid morning I was taking a nap when the call came in- it was time to come have a baby!
When we arrived at the hospital we spent a few hours getting settled in the room where I would be later having my son. Even though I was having my third child, it seemed so surreal I was going to finally meet him. We went though my medical history and I chose to have my water broken to see if that alone would start labour and a saline lock placed due to my history of PPH.
Finally after a long wait, a doctor arrived to break my water. I expected it to be a smooth process like it had been with my other two deliveries, but the doctor struggled to reach my cervix and had difficulty finding a pocket of fluid. She attempted but decided to call a more experienced dr to rupture my membranes.
While waiting for a second doctor, I stood up, and experienced what I believed was a small leak of fluid. Unfortunately although it was a steady leak, the nurse was unable to collect a sample to verify. After another wait a second dr arrived and attempted to break my waters as well. She could not find a pocket of fluid and determined that baby boys head was not as well engaged as she would like so she recommended we start some oxytocin to bring his head down more and to get labour going. She thought she may have scraped the membranes but had no gush. I was so incredibly anxious about starting the drip. I knew it would most likely change my plans to have a second natural birth, as with my first oxytocin delivery I found the contractions very unbearable as compared to " natural" contractions and went with an epidural.
The next time I stood to go to the washroom...I had a huge gush. My water had been broken by the second doctor after all!
Even with the water breaking and the drip, labour didn't start. I tried walking and bouncing on the ball but as soon as I would move around even the smallest contraction I experienced would stop. My IV was having a lot of problems. Blood not flushing through, reverse flow warnings....and my hand began to puff up some. There was something wrong with my IV I believed, that it was being kinked off in my wrist when I moved, but a new nurse did not think that could be the case.
After about 7 hours on the drip, I was at the maximum (of 24)without a second obsetrician consult. And no real contractions still.
My doctor arrived at the hospital and decided to attempt to break my water for a third time. She managed to get some fluid to gush, so it was determined I probably had fore waters that were preventing progress. It was also about this time that I discovered laying flat with my wrist loose caused contractions to come fast and strong.I spent quite a while in bed dangling my wrist, until contractions had a good strong pattern and then got up and started moving to cope with them.
I bounced on the ball, then after that was giving me no relief I moved to the bath. Suddenly my labour had gone from nothing to incredibly intense in a short amount of time. I started shaking, overcome with nausea and nothing I was doing would any longer touch the strength of the oxytocin contractions.
My drip was turned down but by this point I was in agony, it felt nothing like my last natural labour had. It felt unnatural and I was convinced I was dying or at least in transition. I asked to have a dilation check. My nurse checked and informed me that I was still only 4cm...the same as I'd been when my water was broken the last time before contractions had even started. I'd made no progress and yet I felt like I was dying. I decided that I needed to get an epidural, and I requested one. Even though anesthesiology arrived very quickly, by the time they did I knew that there was no way I could sit still for the epidural. I was writhing in pain and clawing at my husbands chest in tears. There was no break in contractions, just a steady, unbearable, crushing pain. At this point I made the choice to have a shot of fentanyl placed in my IV in order to keep me still enough for the epidural. I felt so defeated and afraid of suffering for any longer.
When the fentanyl hit me, it didn't remove the pain, it made me feel slow, as though I couldn't move to react to the pain anymore. Pressed against Matthews chest I felt the anesthesiologist working, but it seemed to be taking such a long time. I found out that she was having difficulty placing the needle, and failed to place it twice before finally placing one successfully. While I was waiting for the epidural to be finished I started feeling intense pressure. It was difficult for me not to clench up and I could feel my body wanting to strain. Even though the epidural was placed successfully I was told, and the fentanyl was wearing off... I was still in agony. The pressure was incredible. I rolled over on my back as soon as I was told it was ok by the anesthesiologist and my nurse checked my dilation...and I had progressed from 4cm to 10cm and ready to push in the time it had taken to place the epidural.
I was so frustrated, but fully focused on meeting my son!
My doctor came in, along with a student doctor, my nurse, and a second nurse. Eveyone had been briefed on my plan for delivery. I requested to not have to hold my legs back or to be coached on pushing and without the strain and encouragement to push hard, I felt my body slowly, steadily bear down without any real effort. Everyone stood back and I reached down and felt the top of my son's head and I was amazed as with each push he came closer and closer to arriving earth side. And then in what seemed like no time at all, I felt his head crowing and coming out. I reached down and touched his head and my doctor reminded me to stop for a moment to let him rotate, and then all of the sudden I felt his body slip out of me into my hands and I lifted him onto my chest. I could see him as I lifted him up and he felt so light and slippery and he was covered in vernix, eyes squeezed shut and head covered in wet wisps of dark hair and I held him to my chest and nobody touched him or took him, and it felt like he and I were the only people in the entire world. I rubbed his back and body with my hands to coax him to take his first breath. At 2:43am on November 25th, 2016 Fox Archer Quinn Turner entered the world and let out his first beautiful cry in my arms.
I spent the next few minutes uninterrupted, fawning over my new son, and kissing him on the head and examining every perfect inch of his little body and admiring how beautiful and amazing he is, and watching Matthew as he saw his son for the first time.
After a few minutes his cord had stopped pulsating, and my doctor clamped it off and handed me the scissors, and I cut the cord that had joined myself and my baby boy together for the past nine months. I was amazed at how fat and thick it was, especially since it only had two vessels instead of the usual 3.
Delivery of the placenta was easy and without any excessive bleeding, and I found out i'd had absolutely no tearing unlike my other deliveries, which my doctor and nurse attributed to the fact I had breathed him out rather than pushing, which I'd done completely unintentionally. They couldnt get over it and kept talking about how beautiful and peaceful a delivery it was. Around the same time Fox started rooting for the breast and latched on perfectly and nursed for over an hour, like he'd done it a thousand times before.
Despite a frustrating labour, I had a beautiful, absolutely perfect delivery and finally, I was holding my child, safe in my arms after so much waiting and uncertainty.
November 25th, 2016 at 2:43am
7lbs9oz
50.5cm long
38w1d
Fox Archer Quinn Turner
My beautiful rainbow baby arrived earth side in his mamas hands.
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I guess just try and feed baby before you go and make sure you have spare clothes etc. But when they're that little all they really do is sleep and eat and poo so in my opinion it's the easiest time to take them out!!
