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This post is a bit late, as I had my baby 2 weeks ago to this day, but I've just gotten the time to come around to posting a birth story.
I began having what I thought were Braxton Hicks on the night of August 23rd. I even wrote in my personal journal that I felt like labor was right around the corner. The next morning I woke up at 7:30 am and went to the bathroom. I began to feel extreme pressure and period pains in the front of my pelvis. I was hesitant to call my husband home from work because what if it wasn't the real thing? He doesn't like to miss work unless he has to. Something made me call. Maybe it was because the pressure and period pains were becoming more painful and I was still having contractions. I was also experiencing slight nausea and hot flashes, which I had during my previous labors.
At 8 am I decided to call him home.
As soon as he arrived home, he got the kids ready to rush them to my parent's house, who were thankfully on vacation that week and were going to watch them when I went into labor. We dropped them off and arrived at the hospital at about 9 am. By then, it was getting hard to walk, although not quite yet impossible. I walked into the hospital and rode the elevator to the third floor where my midwife's office was. Unfortunately she was on vacation in Greece so I had a fill-in midwife who I saw maybe once before in all four pregnancies.
When the nurse called me back, she acted like it was more than likely I was going to be sent home because I was so early. When the midwife came in, she first checked baby's heartbeat, then said she was going to check me for GBS since I hadn't had that done yet. She swabbed my (sensitive) cervix and said she'd go ahead to check for dilation because of my symptoms, although it typically wasn't checked until 38 weeks.
In went her fingers and then her eyes grew big.
"Omg baby's head is RIGHT THERE and I'd say you're about 7 cm!"
With that, the gloves came off and she went to leave the room. I asked her if they were going to try to stop my labor. She muttered "can't" and shut the door behind her. A minute later a nurse walked in and asked me if I wanted a wheelchair. At first I said yes, but after waiting a few minutes, I told her that I couldn't wait any longer for them to track down a wheelchair. She walked with me to the elevator and rode down with me to the floor the birth center was on.
I was put into a very small examination room that they said they typically didn't use for a delivery room because the tub didn't work (boo for no hydrotherapy...) and the bed wasn't a "birthing bed" whatever that meant, but they assured me that I could still birth on it. I was stripped and put into a hospital gown. Contractions were now coming every few minutes so everything I was doing was between breaths. I climbed into the bed, which was a welcome relief whether it was a birthing bed or not, and wasn't getting up. I was down for the count... and the count was on!
They put in my IV so that I could be given pitocin after the birth due to my risk of postpartum hemorrhage that I suffered with rainbow baby. Apparently they do that as a precaution once it happened to you once, whether you bleed a lot or not. The nurse who put in my IV wasn't gentle about it, ramming it in like a tent peg, but I was too concentrated on the road ahead to care. My husband was at my other side with a wet rag on my forehead. I could tell he was nervous because he wanted to do more for me to help my pain but obviously he couldn't. The only way for me to get relief now was to get the baby out.
I looked over at the nurse who put my IV in and asked if I could push so she summoned in the midwife. Later she told me that was the first time anybody had ever asked her if they could push. She said typically most people have to be told that because they're afraid to. The midwife came in with another nurse. My midwife checked me and said I was 9 cm dilated with a lip. They broke my waters artificially since they hadn't ruptured yet and my midwife stated what I was dreading to hear...
"There's meconium in the waters."
I knew it was time to get that baby out.
Each stood on opposite sides and held my legs up while I pushed. My husband, to be useful, would look at the contraction chart and tell me when one was coming on. When the baby's head began to protrude into the birth canal, my midwife held back the lip of my cervix to try to avoid me tearing it. It was painful, but I managed to push his head enough to block the lip of the cervix from coming forward. Now it was just waiting for another contraction, and he'd be born. It was only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity. I think my contractions were slowing down because my body knew it was nearing the end.
Finally, about 3-4 minutes later, I felt one coming on and I pushed like a mad woman.
He was born in that last push. My midwife was telling me to slow down to prevent tearing, but I couldn't. The ring of fire burnt too bad. I just wanted him out, whatever the cost to my own body. Thankfully by some miracle I didn't tear, but they did say when his head was coming out that it wasn't the size of an average 35 week head.
DS2 was officially born at 10:47 am on August 24th. He was an astounding 7 lbs. 10.5 oz. and 20" long at only 35 weeks! Since he was born before 36 weeks gestation, they termed him a "preemie" and he had to go through a multitude of tests just because he couldn't stay in another week. That's my kids for ya... always impatient. I've never had an epidural with any of them because my labors were never that long.
Anyways DS2 is here now and is doing well. The polyhydramnios didn't seem to have any lasting effects on either him nor me. I became a bit anemic after his birth, but it was to be expected because of the blood loss I suffer with each birth and had nothing to do with the polyhydramnios. So if any of you out there are expecting and are told that you have excessive fluid, don't worry too much. Chances are everything will be fine.
I began having what I thought were Braxton Hicks on the night of August 23rd. I even wrote in my personal journal that I felt like labor was right around the corner. The next morning I woke up at 7:30 am and went to the bathroom. I began to feel extreme pressure and period pains in the front of my pelvis. I was hesitant to call my husband home from work because what if it wasn't the real thing? He doesn't like to miss work unless he has to. Something made me call. Maybe it was because the pressure and period pains were becoming more painful and I was still having contractions. I was also experiencing slight nausea and hot flashes, which I had during my previous labors.
At 8 am I decided to call him home.
As soon as he arrived home, he got the kids ready to rush them to my parent's house, who were thankfully on vacation that week and were going to watch them when I went into labor. We dropped them off and arrived at the hospital at about 9 am. By then, it was getting hard to walk, although not quite yet impossible. I walked into the hospital and rode the elevator to the third floor where my midwife's office was. Unfortunately she was on vacation in Greece so I had a fill-in midwife who I saw maybe once before in all four pregnancies.
When the nurse called me back, she acted like it was more than likely I was going to be sent home because I was so early. When the midwife came in, she first checked baby's heartbeat, then said she was going to check me for GBS since I hadn't had that done yet. She swabbed my (sensitive) cervix and said she'd go ahead to check for dilation because of my symptoms, although it typically wasn't checked until 38 weeks.
In went her fingers and then her eyes grew big.
"Omg baby's head is RIGHT THERE and I'd say you're about 7 cm!"
With that, the gloves came off and she went to leave the room. I asked her if they were going to try to stop my labor. She muttered "can't" and shut the door behind her. A minute later a nurse walked in and asked me if I wanted a wheelchair. At first I said yes, but after waiting a few minutes, I told her that I couldn't wait any longer for them to track down a wheelchair. She walked with me to the elevator and rode down with me to the floor the birth center was on.
I was put into a very small examination room that they said they typically didn't use for a delivery room because the tub didn't work (boo for no hydrotherapy...) and the bed wasn't a "birthing bed" whatever that meant, but they assured me that I could still birth on it. I was stripped and put into a hospital gown. Contractions were now coming every few minutes so everything I was doing was between breaths. I climbed into the bed, which was a welcome relief whether it was a birthing bed or not, and wasn't getting up. I was down for the count... and the count was on!
They put in my IV so that I could be given pitocin after the birth due to my risk of postpartum hemorrhage that I suffered with rainbow baby. Apparently they do that as a precaution once it happened to you once, whether you bleed a lot or not. The nurse who put in my IV wasn't gentle about it, ramming it in like a tent peg, but I was too concentrated on the road ahead to care. My husband was at my other side with a wet rag on my forehead. I could tell he was nervous because he wanted to do more for me to help my pain but obviously he couldn't. The only way for me to get relief now was to get the baby out.
I looked over at the nurse who put my IV in and asked if I could push so she summoned in the midwife. Later she told me that was the first time anybody had ever asked her if they could push. She said typically most people have to be told that because they're afraid to. The midwife came in with another nurse. My midwife checked me and said I was 9 cm dilated with a lip. They broke my waters artificially since they hadn't ruptured yet and my midwife stated what I was dreading to hear...
"There's meconium in the waters."
I knew it was time to get that baby out.
Each stood on opposite sides and held my legs up while I pushed. My husband, to be useful, would look at the contraction chart and tell me when one was coming on. When the baby's head began to protrude into the birth canal, my midwife held back the lip of my cervix to try to avoid me tearing it. It was painful, but I managed to push his head enough to block the lip of the cervix from coming forward. Now it was just waiting for another contraction, and he'd be born. It was only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity. I think my contractions were slowing down because my body knew it was nearing the end.
Finally, about 3-4 minutes later, I felt one coming on and I pushed like a mad woman.
He was born in that last push. My midwife was telling me to slow down to prevent tearing, but I couldn't. The ring of fire burnt too bad. I just wanted him out, whatever the cost to my own body. Thankfully by some miracle I didn't tear, but they did say when his head was coming out that it wasn't the size of an average 35 week head.
DS2 was officially born at 10:47 am on August 24th. He was an astounding 7 lbs. 10.5 oz. and 20" long at only 35 weeks! Since he was born before 36 weeks gestation, they termed him a "preemie" and he had to go through a multitude of tests just because he couldn't stay in another week. That's my kids for ya... always impatient. I've never had an epidural with any of them because my labors were never that long.
Anyways DS2 is here now and is doing well. The polyhydramnios didn't seem to have any lasting effects on either him nor me. I became a bit anemic after his birth, but it was to be expected because of the blood loss I suffer with each birth and had nothing to do with the polyhydramnios. So if any of you out there are expecting and are told that you have excessive fluid, don't worry too much. Chances are everything will be fine.
