Plus-Size Pregnancy

[maisie78]

That's a beautiful picture! He's going to be thrilled.

 

[CaliGinger]

---POSSIBLY TMI---



So yesterday we decided to try natural methods of induction. we had fun. I also did dishes and organized our baby clothes (btw, we only have 3 pairs of pants but about a zillion onsies. Lol) About 5:30pm I went to the restroom because I felt wet- I thought I peed myself. Instead I had a huge chunk of my mucous plug come out! We went to dinner right after that and I decided to walk-in I barely made it home my back was hurting so badly. I was also leaking clear fluid, so I laid down with a clean pad and after 30 minutes I got up and checked. Wet with more clear fluid!! I called the midwife and let them know I thought I had a leak, and she advised me to get some rest, keep clean, and they'll call in the morning.
When I got up to use the restroom in the nighttime I noticed that I was still wet, but it was just clear stringy mucous. This morning my pad was dry and I just had more of the mucous. I wonder if it wasn't my water after all? I feel absolutely back to normal. Weird.

 

[Marisa08]

How exciting CaliGinger! Has the MW called back yet?

 

[KendraNoell]

I thought my water was leaking soooo many times! If you had sex to try to induce it could be from that plus preggos have WAY more discharge at the end. My underwear were always soaked but I was told it was probably just increased discharge or I peed myself. But amniotic fluid is supposed to smell sweet so if you have smelled it and its sweet it could be water but mine smelled sweet and it wasn't water. My water finally broke on its own at the hospital when I was 7 cm dialated, and you KNOW. Lol. Hope that helps.

 

[KEslinger]

the lady next to me when i was hospitalized the time before induction thought her waters were leaking but when they checked her they said she was fine, sent her home. the babys head can also act like a cork. they broke my water at 3:45am, huge gush. they changed the pad under me once then there wasnt much at all... when she was born there was a massive amount more in there, her head was blocking it all off.

either way, i hope its time for you!!! we need another baby in the group!

good luck... though, it sounds like youre getting closer to me!

 

[CaliGinger]

We went in to see the midwife and they did a sterile speculum exam- tons of pooled fluid in there but it wasn't my water at all! My cervix is effacing but hasn't started dialating too much...looks like I'll still be pregnant for a while!

 

[Rosered52]

You're definitely getting close, from an outside point of view. those babies are just so stubborn!

Had a dream last night that the doctor decided to induce me at 32 weeks. I was so angry, because there wasn't a good reason. Glad to wake up still cookin'!

 

[CaliGinger]

I had my baby! I woke up at 1:09am on 6/15 with a super painful menstrual type cramping. It was only in my lower abdomen and didn't "wave" so I just tried to go back to sleep. I was woken up every so often but I didn't really think anything of sit-in all the signs said very early labor. My OH was at work and he asked if I wanted to go out when he got home so I got up to get ready. Imagine my shock when I saw blood after using the restroom. I spent the rest of the day getting stuff ready while my OH took a nap. By 6pm my contractions were 5 minutes apart and over a minute long. I called the Midwife but she said it was too soon to go to the birthing center, since I still wasn't feeling the upper abdomen contractions and because I was able to hold a conversation . At that point I broke down crying-the level of pain was at about a 9 at that point.

I ended up laboring in my bathroom, draped across my sink. Around 9:15pm my OH called the Midwife again- the contractions were anywhere from 1.5-2.5 minutes long and only 3.5 minutes apart. Remember, You count from beginning to beginning so I was really having only a minute between some of them. We were given the green light and headed to the center.
we live 35 minutes away, but that night there was an accident and a soccer game...it took over an hour to get there...at the time it was the worst car trip of my life. The contractions slowed to 5-6 minutes apart in the car, thank goodness. When we got to the center they did a quick exam and I was dialated to 3. As soon as the midwife touched my cervix it 'melted' to 6-7 and there was a TON of blood. At this point it was around 11pm. I was able to get in the birthing tub but it was only half full because the water heater was being weird. I stayed there for a while until I started feeling dizzy. My contractions never let up and I had started hyperventilating. I got out of the tub and ended up in he bathroom where I pace and squatted and labored all over the place. They checked me again and no progress.

Baby is awake, ill continue this later!!!

 

[izzy29]

Congrats caliginger, cant wait to read the rest! X

 

[CaliGinger]

Okay where was I...oh yes. No progress whatsoever. The midwives had me try laboring on the toilet (excruciating! ) and while lunging since the baby seemed to be malpositioned. They had be hooked up to an IV because I had been throwing up from the pain. At this point I had lost any sort of calm or hypnosis or any coping technique. The only thing that mattered was surviving the next contraction. They decided to try something called 'preemptive pushing' where you push while leaning back on a birthing stool. Leaning back was the only position that gave me any relief from the pain and constant contractions, but when they came back they were twice as hard. The pushing was surprisingly easy but it didn't work. Instead the midwives noticed that my cervix had started swelling and the pushing was making it worse. At this point it was around 3:30am. I had been at 6-7 centimeters the whole time of my active labor. We had two choices- keep trying things to get the baby to turn and if it didn't, go to the hospital or go to the hospital right then. They gave me and my OH time to discuss it...it was a hard choice. I knew that the hospital had a very high chance of c section, and I wanted a water birth so badly. At the same time I was exhausted. I had back to back contractions for almost 12 hours....we decided to go to the hospital.

I used the restroom before we left and there was sooooo much blood. The midwives noticed fluid on the floor and tested it-my water had broken. So they decided to check me one more time since those are both signs of dilation. Nope, still 6-7 centimeters. The left side was a little wonky so that's why they couldn't say 7. We got in the car and made the trip to the hospital ...it was the worst car ride of my life. I thought the contractions were bad before- they were indescribable in the car.

We finally made It to the hospital and to their l &d ward. We were lucky because the hospital I was at had a midwife team so I didn't immediately go to an ob/gyn. Thy called for the anesthesiologist for my epidural and started an IV. It was at this point that my midwife noted I seemed perfectly fine in-between contractions and she would never guess I was in active labor.

They hooked me up to a ton of machines and I ended up having to get out of the bed. Lying down made the pain so much worse. The anesthesiologist finally got there and I got my epidural- I had THREE contractions while he was doing it and I couldn't move. After that I had one more contraction that I felt and two more that faded...then.all I felt was their pressure. I retained control of my legs, they were just a little tingly. I had a catheter put in and then they let us all sleep. The hope was that my body would relax and I would progress on my own. After having me switch sides every hour, hoping the baby would turn they checked my cervix around 7am. No change, but all the swelling was gone. They checked again at 11 am and since there was still no change I got pitocin. It caused my blood pressure to drop and they pushed a ton of IV fluids to hopefully help.

By 12:30 I was dialated to 9 and the baby was at -1. At 1:30 I was at 10 and 0 station, and by 2 I was almost ready to go. It was at this point the epidural wore off, but only on one side. I immediately started throwing up again and at one point I hit my head on the side of the bed because it hurt so much. I was supposed to start pushing at 2:30 so there wasn't time to up the medication ...I pushed the little button anyway.

 

[CaliGinger]

The midwife showed up at 2:45 and decided I was ready to push. We pushed in three sets of 10, using the peak of the contraction. Pushing was EASY! I was laughing and joking and it barely hurt at all. The epidural was turned off at 2:30 so I could feel everything. Such a strange feeling to feel the baby moving while you're pushing. I fwlt like I pushed for maybe 20 minutes and I had such great feedback about what was happening. As I pushed, the baby was finally turning! When we got close to the end I just started pushing without the contractions. I felt like it was maybe 5 minutes, but they say it was closer to 20. A couple times I was able to reach down and touch the baby's head!

Finally, at 4:07 they told my OH to go down and catch the baby. Something happened and the midwife took over, and my baby was born at 4:11pm. Feeling the baby's limbs slide free was the most awesome feeling in the world-it was almost orgasmic. Such release! We were all so excited that no one checked the sex until the midwife asked!

Baby's awake again, I'll continue more later.

 

[KendraNoell]

Well what the heck you left us hanging at the sex! Not fair!!!!!

And OMG you are so right about the release you feel once the baby is out!

 

[Mrs.B.]

Congratulations CaliGinger

 

[lillichloe]

Congrats Caliginger!!! Can't wait for rest of the news

 

[KEslinger]

I know the gender!!!... But i'm not spilling the beans!

 

[Marisa08]

Caliginger...you can't leave us hanging like this!!! Pink or blue?!?!

In one week from today I have my csection! Crazy! I am actually hoping to go into labor this week so I can have a vbac. They won't induce because I have had two previous c-sections. So keep your fingers crossed for me that I go into labor on my own before Monday!

 

[maisie78]

Congratulations Caliginger! Can't wait to hear the gender. So nice to hear such a positive birth story, almost makes me excited to give birth myself

 

[CaliGinger]

We had a little girl!! Juliet Lily-Anne. Sorry to leave you guys hanging...

The very first thing anyone says about her is that she has my eyes- they're sort of tilted. She was 8lbs 13oz and 19 inches. She's already grown a lot even though she's lost weight.

Everyone came to see us in the hospital and I started having anxiety from the birth and sleep deprivation. I was having trouble nursing and visiting hours were from 8am to 8:30pm. Everyone would hold the baby and she'd sleep all day and be up all night and I couldn't sleep through the visitors...my OH would sleep through her crying, so in the 55 hours I was in the hospital I had 9 hours of sleep, with 5 hours while I had the epidural. By the time I was discharged I was sort of out of it. We had a looooong drive home and I still couldn't sleep when I got home, my house was a disaster. I ended up trying to lay down around 11:45 and went to sleep around 12am. I woke up at 12:30 because I couldn't breathe. I ended up in the ER where they ran every test known to man and basically told me it was an anxiety attack coupled with exhaustion. I found out later it was actually my back spasming from the epidural site, which can cause considerable chest pain.

I was really upset because my OH had to feed the baby formula while I was gone, and I was worried she wouldn't want colustrum after that. Luckily my milk came in the next morning.

We're doing well now after a lactation consultant visit- we've got an appointment in a few hours to see if shes gaining enough weight. At her appointment on Thursday she was at a 10% loss which is pretty much the max. I'm getting around 4 hours of sleep a day but since all I do is nurse her I don't really need more that desperately. Hopefully she's gained enough that we don't have to wake her after 4 hours at night.

Ive also dropped all of the baby weight already, and I still have swelling in my legs and feet. I knew that WIC consultant was full of it when she told me I had gained too much.

 

[Rosered52]

Sooooo exciting, what a great story!!! Huge congratulations to your family!

 

[pnf85]

Hay yall .. hope all is well. Gettin close to the end for me! Had a scare last week with back pains, went to labor and delivery to be checked out and found out i was having contractions every 2 mins! (had no idea what so ever.. thought i might had a kidney infection, but apparently not.) Got an IV and a shot, the shot didnt totally knock them out so they gave me another shot, and i am on limited activity from here on out. (was on bedrest for a few days but they left me off that as i am still closed and wasnt dialating.)

anyways.. i was wonering about how the weight gain is going, i think i asked this before but am now a lil over 34 weeks.. ive put on 30 lbs! eek. which is the most i think anybody in this group has put on! or if you already had baby, what did you gain? ..ive still got around 5 weeks to go.. hoping it all comes off fairly quickly (im giving myself til Christmas to get down to pre pregnancy.. which i think is reasonable, i know some say 9 mos to gain 9 mos to lose.. but hope thats not the case.) after you had baby, did the weight come off quick? and how were the after birth pains.. ive been hearing about those, say it can be bad for a few days? i knew nothing about this.. but i guess it would make sense! after giving birth, youre sure to be left with some aches and pains..