CamoQueen
Mom of 2 & 1 on the way!
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Finally got home yesterday from the hospital, and I'm so over the moon! This might get kind of long, but here it goes:
I found out that my baby girl was breech at 36 weeks, having thought to be head-down at 32 weeks (though now I'm not sure). At that point, I started doing everything I could to turn her. Inversions, ice packs, hypnotherapy, the Webster Technique... nothing worked. Nothing! It's hard to describe the frustration of waking up every morning and finding that hard little round head right up under your ribs.
I tried an ECV at 37 weeks, and while the baby tolerated it just fine, I found it to be way too painful. I nearly passed out, my blood pressure dropped to 60/30 and the doctor didn't want to attempt it again. I figured a c-section was going to be the only way, if she wouldn't flip on her own. At my c-section consultation, however, I mentioned my desire to do a vaginal and the OB suggested that they attempt another ECV after placing an epidural. This way I wouldn't feel the pain and if it worked, they would induce. If it failed, I would get the c-section. I loved the idea, and we went for it. I was booked in at 39 weeks exactly.
Came in on the 16th and went through all the prep and paperwork signing for a c-section. Baby was monitored, an ultrasound was done to insure she was still head-up, and I was taken back into the operating room. They prepped my back and placed an epidural. They cranked that puppy up to the point where I was almost completely numb from the chest down. It was way, way stronger than the one I had received for pain relief when I had my first child! The doctors then proceeded with the ECV. It took about 10-15 minutes and honestly felt like I was getting a massage. Surprisingly, wonderfully, it worked! She went head-down and didn't flip back. They checked my cervix for dilation (I was 3-4 cm dilated at that point), then I was placed onto a table and wheeled into a delivery room for the baby to be monitored.
She started getting hiccups pretty immediately, and something with her heart rate combined with the hiccups had about 8 doctors in the room watching the monitor. They didn't discuss it at the time, but clearly they were concerned that something had gone wrong. Thankfully once the hiccups cleared, it was evident that she was stable and an induction would commence. At that point, the epidural had worn off so they started the pitocin and gradually began bumping it up over the course of 90 minutes.
I started getting regular, slightly painful contractions once the pitocin started, but nothing horrible. After an hour and a half a doctor came in the room to check me, and was shocked to find I was at 7 cm because I was complaining of only mild discomfort. 15 minutes later they decided to break my waters. The first contraction after my waters were broken was incredibly painful... in one action, they had gone from a 5/10 to a 10/10 on the scale of WTF. After two contractions I broke and said I wanted the epidural to be placed again, it was just too painful. While I waited for the anesthesiologists to arrive, I began to feel a lot of pressure. While they placed more medication into the epidural port, I felt more and more pressure and the urge to push. I was checked again -- in the 15 minutes since they had broken my waters, I had gone from 7 to 10 cm!
Everyone rushed in and I got into birthing position. I had waited too long for pain relief, so they stopped the epidural because it wasn't going to be effective in time (oops!). The doctor arrived and said that baby had a lot of dark hair -- yes, she was already crowning and I hadn't began to push! They told me to give one small push at the next contraction, so I did... and she was born! She was screaming and crying before she had even fully emerged. They placed her immediately on my chest, gooey and disgusting and completely beautiful, while they finished up removing the placenta and monitoring bleeding.
She was born 7 lb 10 oz, 19.5 inches long. No knots in the cord, and thankfully no hip issues that were readily seen (though being breech, they will ultrasound her hips at 6 weeks). After so long worrying why she was breech, she was born without any observable reason for being head-up. I guess she just liked it that way!
We both got the clean bill of health and were sent home after 48 hours. She's so calm, a great and easy baby to nurse, and we are completely enamored with her. Totally worth all the stress, all the heartburn and fatigue, the constipation, the morning sickness... yep, she was worth all of it. I'd do it ten times... nah, a hundred times over to have her. Our little family is complete.
I found out that my baby girl was breech at 36 weeks, having thought to be head-down at 32 weeks (though now I'm not sure). At that point, I started doing everything I could to turn her. Inversions, ice packs, hypnotherapy, the Webster Technique... nothing worked. Nothing! It's hard to describe the frustration of waking up every morning and finding that hard little round head right up under your ribs.
I tried an ECV at 37 weeks, and while the baby tolerated it just fine, I found it to be way too painful. I nearly passed out, my blood pressure dropped to 60/30 and the doctor didn't want to attempt it again. I figured a c-section was going to be the only way, if she wouldn't flip on her own. At my c-section consultation, however, I mentioned my desire to do a vaginal and the OB suggested that they attempt another ECV after placing an epidural. This way I wouldn't feel the pain and if it worked, they would induce. If it failed, I would get the c-section. I loved the idea, and we went for it. I was booked in at 39 weeks exactly.
Came in on the 16th and went through all the prep and paperwork signing for a c-section. Baby was monitored, an ultrasound was done to insure she was still head-up, and I was taken back into the operating room. They prepped my back and placed an epidural. They cranked that puppy up to the point where I was almost completely numb from the chest down. It was way, way stronger than the one I had received for pain relief when I had my first child! The doctors then proceeded with the ECV. It took about 10-15 minutes and honestly felt like I was getting a massage. Surprisingly, wonderfully, it worked! She went head-down and didn't flip back. They checked my cervix for dilation (I was 3-4 cm dilated at that point), then I was placed onto a table and wheeled into a delivery room for the baby to be monitored.
She started getting hiccups pretty immediately, and something with her heart rate combined with the hiccups had about 8 doctors in the room watching the monitor. They didn't discuss it at the time, but clearly they were concerned that something had gone wrong. Thankfully once the hiccups cleared, it was evident that she was stable and an induction would commence. At that point, the epidural had worn off so they started the pitocin and gradually began bumping it up over the course of 90 minutes.
I started getting regular, slightly painful contractions once the pitocin started, but nothing horrible. After an hour and a half a doctor came in the room to check me, and was shocked to find I was at 7 cm because I was complaining of only mild discomfort. 15 minutes later they decided to break my waters. The first contraction after my waters were broken was incredibly painful... in one action, they had gone from a 5/10 to a 10/10 on the scale of WTF. After two contractions I broke and said I wanted the epidural to be placed again, it was just too painful. While I waited for the anesthesiologists to arrive, I began to feel a lot of pressure. While they placed more medication into the epidural port, I felt more and more pressure and the urge to push. I was checked again -- in the 15 minutes since they had broken my waters, I had gone from 7 to 10 cm!
Everyone rushed in and I got into birthing position. I had waited too long for pain relief, so they stopped the epidural because it wasn't going to be effective in time (oops!). The doctor arrived and said that baby had a lot of dark hair -- yes, she was already crowning and I hadn't began to push! They told me to give one small push at the next contraction, so I did... and she was born! She was screaming and crying before she had even fully emerged. They placed her immediately on my chest, gooey and disgusting and completely beautiful, while they finished up removing the placenta and monitoring bleeding.
She was born 7 lb 10 oz, 19.5 inches long. No knots in the cord, and thankfully no hip issues that were readily seen (though being breech, they will ultrasound her hips at 6 weeks). After so long worrying why she was breech, she was born without any observable reason for being head-up. I guess she just liked it that way!
We both got the clean bill of health and were sent home after 48 hours. She's so calm, a great and easy baby to nurse, and we are completely enamored with her. Totally worth all the stress, all the heartburn and fatigue, the constipation, the morning sickness... yep, she was worth all of it. I'd do it ten times... nah, a hundred times over to have her. Our little family is complete.
