JayeD
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Well, I've finally had my sweet little boy! I can't believe that he's really mine. I keep waking up, looking at him and wondering how I could have brought something so perfect into this world. I'm totally in love with my little guy.
James Christopher born August 14th at 1:34 pm weighing 7 lb 15 oz. 3-4 weeks overdue!!!!!!!!!!
So Friday morning, I thought I was at the start of labour, but I didn't want to jinx myself because I know that as soon as you start believing you are in labour, you stop. I had lost my plug the day before. I woke up feeling dizzy and nauseous, which didn't go away after eating or drinking. There was increased discharge that was thicker than normal, and I was having really bad pelvic pains happening every 7-10 mins. There was also some BH on top of the pelvic pains, but I felt the pelvic pains a lot more than the BH.
I told OH what was going on, but don't worry about coming home early from work because most likely nothing would happen until later on at night. I called the birthing unit at 4:30 pm to let them know that I felt like I was in labour, and the woman told me that most likely it was early labour which could last for days. She told me to call back in when I've recorded the contractions lasting for 5 mins or less for 2 hours straight. Once I've done that, then they know for certain that I'm in active labour. Apparently most of the time, after an hour of contractions being 5 mins apart or less, the contractions slow down or stop.
So that night, I wrote down at what time each contraction started at so I could show the nurses if they needed it (which was a good thing because they actually did want to see what they looked like). At 9 pm Friday night, the contractions were getting more painful and even overlapping, or the second one stopped, another started. The pains I was feeling for approx half the contractions were not what is typically described on any website or written in any book or pamphlet. All of the pain I experienced was strictly in my pelvis and rectal area (rectal pains were approx in half the contractions before I went to the hospital). I did not have pains all over my bump or my lower back at all.
At 11 pm, after recording that my contractions were 5 mins apart or less (and indicating when I had overlapping contractions on my sheet), I called the birthing unit to let them know I was coming in. Unfortunately after 6 phone calls, no one was picking up so OH and I decided just to drive in. We weren't going to wait for someone to get back to the desk. At 11:30 pm, we were finally in the birthing unit waiting to be assessed.
During the assessment, the nurse checked me over and told me that I was only 3 cm dilated but she felt something a little odd, so she brought the doctor over. The doctor checked me as well, said I was 3 cm dilated, and at -1 with something odd occurring with my membranes. She told me flat out that normally with me being only 3 cm dilated, she would have to send me home, but because of this problem with my membranes and me being GBS positive, she would call the head nurse for that night to see if they should admit me. When she called the head nurse, the head nurse mentioned transferring me to another hospital, but the doctor pushed to have me stay there over concern for mine and LO's safety. Head nurse listened and finally agreed!
I got into my room, laid down and continued moaning in pain while they kept checking me over. After 5 mins of lying on the bed, the contractions increased in intensity like I'd never felt before! It was absolutely horrible! I tried to use the gas and air, but it just wasn't working for me. Not that the gas and air didn't work for me, the entire machine didn't work period! So that option was out. I ended up going into the shower and spraying myself with hot water to help during each contraction. Sometimes it helped, sometimes it didn't. And this is about the time that the rectal pains during the contractions intensified as well. It was absolutely excruciating. When OH went to grab me some water, people were stopping to ask him if I was ok.
After being there for an hour, the nurse checked me again to see how far dilated I was, and I was already at 5 cms! About half an hour after that, she went on lunch and another nurse was covering for her. This nurse was kinda rude and told me that I would be a horrible person if I had an epidural. "Women don't need epidurals. Gas and air should be fine and nothing else is needed." Well, I was in the shower when she told me this spraying myself over and just nodded to her. I didn't say anything. Less than 2 mins later, I had overlapping contractions with the really bad rectal pressure and I was screaming in pain. She came in to see if I was ok and once the contractions were over, she apologized and told me that I really do need an epidural.
Since I was GBS positive, the nurses had been trying to get an IV into me to start the drugs, but my veins are really small and crooked. It took 3 different nurses and finally a person who specializes in IVs to get one in me. I was stabbed 8 times trying to get this IV in, and have 2 HUGE bruises on my left arm. Once the IV was in, they were able to bring in the dr for the epidural. As soon as the epidural kicked in, I was in heaven!!!!!!!!! I'm not joking at all. The pain was pretty much gone. I could tell when I was having a contraction, but there was no pain. The only pain I felt was when I was having the rectal pain contractions, but even then the pain wasn't that bad. Totally bearable.
The rest of the night, OH and I tried to get some sleep, but woke up when I had a bad contraction or needed to have my vitals taken again. Not once up until this point did I scream at anyone or make anyone feel uncomfortable. The only time I screamed was during the painful contractions. As soon as the epidural kicked in, I was talking and joking around with everyone.
At 8 am, we were given a new nurse since day shift had just come on, and I'm glad we got her because she has been a maternity nurse for years now and knows when to call for a 2nd opinion before anything bad happens to LO. She did let me try and push LO out when I was 10 cm dilated for about 2 hours, and she did keep checking me here and there to see how far along LO was coming out, but about an hour into pushing, she noticed something weird with the middle part of my pelvis. Normally the pelvis looks like an oval, but at this one point in my pelvis, it's shaped like a heart. LO was coming out sideways, which meant that he wouldn't be able to get past this part of my pelvis. Had he come out head down like he should have, I would have been able to deliver naturally.
This nurse called in 3 people to confirm that I needed a c-section. They were all shocked when they realized I wasn't going to freak out about getting a c-section. I knew it needed to be done in order to get LO out safely so why should I argue?
I was pushed into the operating room at 12:30 pm on Saturday afternoon. The epidural was not kicking in like it had before, so the contractions were getting pretty bad again. I tried to sleep between the contractions, or rather I really had no choice because I was tired from trying to push. About 45 mins into waiting in the operating room, the dr came in to top up the epidural and toss in some morphine. Then everything else was set up during this time, OH was by my head, and 10 mins later we heard LO scream! I started to cry right away.
After a few minutes, OH was able to walk around the room to where LO was getting weighed and whatnot. A couple minutes later, he came back to me with LO in his arms and he was placed on my chest as the drs and nurses were stitching me back up behind the curtain. Every single dr and nurse kept telling us how lucky we were that LO was healthy and perfect. Apparently he was not in there 5 days overdue like we all though... He had been in there an extra 3-4 weeks!
After I was stitched up, we were taken to the recovery room. LO was placed skin to skin with me and less than 5 mins later, he started looking for a breast. The nurse came over to help me position him and he took to breast feeding instantly. BTW, LO hates bottles! Wouldn't even take one the first night when I wanted to make sure he was getting enough food. He's strictly a boob man!
Apart from some jaundice, LO is perfectly healthy and happy.
Anyways, OH is really happy that I didn't yell at him once. He's surprised that I didn't yell at anyone at all. All of the drs and nurses were surprised that I didn't yell at anyone either, especially when a c-section was suggested and they knew I wanted to delivery vaginally. I didn't scream things like "I can't do this!", "how dare you do this to me you *******", etc. I just moaned a little when in pain (after the epidural of course) and I smiled, talked and joked through the rest.
James Christopher born August 14th at 1:34 pm weighing 7 lb 15 oz. 3-4 weeks overdue!!!!!!!!!!
So Friday morning, I thought I was at the start of labour, but I didn't want to jinx myself because I know that as soon as you start believing you are in labour, you stop. I had lost my plug the day before. I woke up feeling dizzy and nauseous, which didn't go away after eating or drinking. There was increased discharge that was thicker than normal, and I was having really bad pelvic pains happening every 7-10 mins. There was also some BH on top of the pelvic pains, but I felt the pelvic pains a lot more than the BH.
I told OH what was going on, but don't worry about coming home early from work because most likely nothing would happen until later on at night. I called the birthing unit at 4:30 pm to let them know that I felt like I was in labour, and the woman told me that most likely it was early labour which could last for days. She told me to call back in when I've recorded the contractions lasting for 5 mins or less for 2 hours straight. Once I've done that, then they know for certain that I'm in active labour. Apparently most of the time, after an hour of contractions being 5 mins apart or less, the contractions slow down or stop.
So that night, I wrote down at what time each contraction started at so I could show the nurses if they needed it (which was a good thing because they actually did want to see what they looked like). At 9 pm Friday night, the contractions were getting more painful and even overlapping, or the second one stopped, another started. The pains I was feeling for approx half the contractions were not what is typically described on any website or written in any book or pamphlet. All of the pain I experienced was strictly in my pelvis and rectal area (rectal pains were approx in half the contractions before I went to the hospital). I did not have pains all over my bump or my lower back at all.
At 11 pm, after recording that my contractions were 5 mins apart or less (and indicating when I had overlapping contractions on my sheet), I called the birthing unit to let them know I was coming in. Unfortunately after 6 phone calls, no one was picking up so OH and I decided just to drive in. We weren't going to wait for someone to get back to the desk. At 11:30 pm, we were finally in the birthing unit waiting to be assessed.
During the assessment, the nurse checked me over and told me that I was only 3 cm dilated but she felt something a little odd, so she brought the doctor over. The doctor checked me as well, said I was 3 cm dilated, and at -1 with something odd occurring with my membranes. She told me flat out that normally with me being only 3 cm dilated, she would have to send me home, but because of this problem with my membranes and me being GBS positive, she would call the head nurse for that night to see if they should admit me. When she called the head nurse, the head nurse mentioned transferring me to another hospital, but the doctor pushed to have me stay there over concern for mine and LO's safety. Head nurse listened and finally agreed!
I got into my room, laid down and continued moaning in pain while they kept checking me over. After 5 mins of lying on the bed, the contractions increased in intensity like I'd never felt before! It was absolutely horrible! I tried to use the gas and air, but it just wasn't working for me. Not that the gas and air didn't work for me, the entire machine didn't work period! So that option was out. I ended up going into the shower and spraying myself with hot water to help during each contraction. Sometimes it helped, sometimes it didn't. And this is about the time that the rectal pains during the contractions intensified as well. It was absolutely excruciating. When OH went to grab me some water, people were stopping to ask him if I was ok.
After being there for an hour, the nurse checked me again to see how far dilated I was, and I was already at 5 cms! About half an hour after that, she went on lunch and another nurse was covering for her. This nurse was kinda rude and told me that I would be a horrible person if I had an epidural. "Women don't need epidurals. Gas and air should be fine and nothing else is needed." Well, I was in the shower when she told me this spraying myself over and just nodded to her. I didn't say anything. Less than 2 mins later, I had overlapping contractions with the really bad rectal pressure and I was screaming in pain. She came in to see if I was ok and once the contractions were over, she apologized and told me that I really do need an epidural.
Since I was GBS positive, the nurses had been trying to get an IV into me to start the drugs, but my veins are really small and crooked. It took 3 different nurses and finally a person who specializes in IVs to get one in me. I was stabbed 8 times trying to get this IV in, and have 2 HUGE bruises on my left arm. Once the IV was in, they were able to bring in the dr for the epidural. As soon as the epidural kicked in, I was in heaven!!!!!!!!! I'm not joking at all. The pain was pretty much gone. I could tell when I was having a contraction, but there was no pain. The only pain I felt was when I was having the rectal pain contractions, but even then the pain wasn't that bad. Totally bearable.
The rest of the night, OH and I tried to get some sleep, but woke up when I had a bad contraction or needed to have my vitals taken again. Not once up until this point did I scream at anyone or make anyone feel uncomfortable. The only time I screamed was during the painful contractions. As soon as the epidural kicked in, I was talking and joking around with everyone.
At 8 am, we were given a new nurse since day shift had just come on, and I'm glad we got her because she has been a maternity nurse for years now and knows when to call for a 2nd opinion before anything bad happens to LO. She did let me try and push LO out when I was 10 cm dilated for about 2 hours, and she did keep checking me here and there to see how far along LO was coming out, but about an hour into pushing, she noticed something weird with the middle part of my pelvis. Normally the pelvis looks like an oval, but at this one point in my pelvis, it's shaped like a heart. LO was coming out sideways, which meant that he wouldn't be able to get past this part of my pelvis. Had he come out head down like he should have, I would have been able to deliver naturally.
This nurse called in 3 people to confirm that I needed a c-section. They were all shocked when they realized I wasn't going to freak out about getting a c-section. I knew it needed to be done in order to get LO out safely so why should I argue?
I was pushed into the operating room at 12:30 pm on Saturday afternoon. The epidural was not kicking in like it had before, so the contractions were getting pretty bad again. I tried to sleep between the contractions, or rather I really had no choice because I was tired from trying to push. About 45 mins into waiting in the operating room, the dr came in to top up the epidural and toss in some morphine. Then everything else was set up during this time, OH was by my head, and 10 mins later we heard LO scream! I started to cry right away.
After a few minutes, OH was able to walk around the room to where LO was getting weighed and whatnot. A couple minutes later, he came back to me with LO in his arms and he was placed on my chest as the drs and nurses were stitching me back up behind the curtain. Every single dr and nurse kept telling us how lucky we were that LO was healthy and perfect. Apparently he was not in there 5 days overdue like we all though... He had been in there an extra 3-4 weeks!
After I was stitched up, we were taken to the recovery room. LO was placed skin to skin with me and less than 5 mins later, he started looking for a breast. The nurse came over to help me position him and he took to breast feeding instantly. BTW, LO hates bottles! Wouldn't even take one the first night when I wanted to make sure he was getting enough food. He's strictly a boob man!
Apart from some jaundice, LO is perfectly healthy and happy.
Anyways, OH is really happy that I didn't yell at him once. He's surprised that I didn't yell at anyone at all. All of the drs and nurses were surprised that I didn't yell at anyone either, especially when a c-section was suggested and they knew I wanted to delivery vaginally. I didn't scream things like "I can't do this!", "how dare you do this to me you *******", etc. I just moaned a little when in pain (after the epidural of course) and I smiled, talked and joked through the rest.
