September Snugglers 2016

[MeganS0326]

Good morning ladies!

Sorry I've been MIA lately but I've been dealing with the nastiest cold I've had in a really really long time. Sorry to the other ladies having to deal with being sick as well. I hope everyone starts feeling better soon.

Congrats to all the ladies who just found out gender. Man there are a lot of boys coming our way in September!

I'm putting my birth story here in a spoiler. There was a complication at the end so that's why I'm putting it in a spoiler.

Spoiler

Due to increased blood pressure I was sent in for induction on my due date (Wednesday). I was given 3 rounds of cervidil and the last one worked (Friday morning) so they hooked me up to the pitocin and things moved very quickly from there. My one funny story from labor had to do with getting my epidural. The anesthesiologist and her assistant came in and started to get me ready. The assistant asked me to move my bum to the back of the bed and sit with my legs crossed. I'm normally a pretty big girl, so being 9 months pregnant I was huge. I attempted to cross my legs for him but it wasn't working very well so my feet were still dangling over the other side of the bed. The assistant (who's job it is to hug you from the front so you don't move while they jab a needle into your spine) nicely asked me to cross my legs more so I tried but it just wasn't working. At this point he was getting frustrated and asked me a few more times to cross my legs tighter and the more he asked the more frustrated I was getting. Finally the last time he asked I said in a nasty tone that I couldn't cross them any more than they were already and then he said "well, you are kicking me". That is when I realized I was giving this poor man a foot job on his man parts through his very thin scrubs.
My labor was very quick and thanks to the epidural totally painless. I think it surprised everyone how quickly it all went down since I was a first timer. I only pushed for about 30 minutes when DS was ready to come out. Here is where it all went downhill. When DS was crowning they put a page out to the on call Dr. (who was not my normal Dr. and someone I did not care for very much). They had me stop pushing and wait. The stupid Dr was nowhere to be found. So we waited and waited and they paged her and paged her with no luck. So much time went by with me just sitting there waiting they finally sent out an emergency page for any available Dr. on the ward to come deliver DS. By the time a Dr. arrived and I pushed DS out (before she even had time to put on something to cover up the street clothes she was in) DS was born in major distress. He was not breathing and was blue and unresponsive and barely had a HB. They worked on him for about 5 minutes to get him breathing. It was the scariest time of my whole life. I still have to try not to cry even thinking about it. Once they got him breathing they rushed him to the NICU.He was born at @2:13 pm and I didn't get to see him until 9pm that night. We were in the NICU for 5 days with one complication or another until he was finally ready to come home. DS was 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. I did have a small tear from delivery but it only took like one or two stitches and I barely noticed it. My recovery was a dream. I have considered getting a doula this time because that is one thing I think that would have made my labor better if there was someone there advocating for me when things got crazy, poor DH was just as frazzled by all of it as I was. However, I'm a pretty private person and I don't like the idea of extra people in the delivery room so I've decided to not go that route.

Hope all of you ladies have a fantastic weekend!!


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[Sweety21]

Campn, read your story. It was very brave of you to push in the end when epidural was wearing off. And 7 hours of labor not bad for first baby. I have heard some ladies have 2-3days of pain Sometimes.

MY BIRTH STORY! (Not scary at all)
I am just copy pasting it from my post in 2013. it's not very happening. But, boy am I glad to have it that way.
So here is my birth story:

11:40pm :At 37weeks 5days I was enjoying Sidney sheldon's book and relaxing and decided to fetch a glass of milk before going to bed.
11:41pm: as soon as I tried to get up i felt like i started peeing my self. Having my mil in room i started panicking and with no control whatsoever, i might have leaked atleast 700-800ml (atleast it felt like that much) of water. Still thinking it's just a pee, i was telling my MIL i am sorry and she was inisisting on going to hospital immidietly.

11:45pm: Water still did not stop and my nighty was all soaked, i put on new one and it was drenched within few min. As i use to walk it kept leaking. With no contractions and no pain whatsoever we decided to go to hospital.

11:50pm: my sil called my doc before i reached hospital and with in 5-10mins my doc arrived. She examined me and told that baby is posterior and breach both and after loosing so much water there is no chance i can deliver this baby naturally and decision was made for emergency c section.

12:30am:i was taken to OT and my baby was delivered at
1:06am. Horrible part was doc mentioned the scissors were not sharp enough to someone in room and my heart literally jumped out of my body(hello I am still able to heae you!). But, good thing was, I was able to hear my baby's voice immidietly and it was moment of relief.

I had few problems with stitches afterwards but, nothing major.

 

[hopie2015]

Oh my..so many are or have been sick! Megan- sure hope you are all better soon and Linz too. So great you get to go back with your hubby soon!

Amazing birth stories. As Linz said, as a ftm, it really does help to hear these and thank you for the spoiler when something is difficult to read. Was really amazing to read. And Campn- they say second babies labor is even shorter! I would love 7 hours.
That must be so cool and different going baby girl shopping after only buying boy items for years -- sure must be a whole different world!

Xan- baby sounds like he is just fine.. Great midwife is not concerned and that is the first thing I thought too-- pulled a muscle while swimming. Hope the pain goes totally away today.

So cool all of you who now have DH feel baby kick too. Baby seems to have slowed down movements, so I'm not sure when that will happen for me.
High risk appt. is Monday.. just trying not to think of it and pray I have good news to report next week.

 

[hopie2015]

Xanz- just fyi - I just did some reading on the type of pain you described. A lot of people mention that at 24 wks and said it flares up after exercise. They said their doctors said it is due to the round ligament pain
or stretching and nothing to worry about. When is your next dr. appt?

Feel better everyone! The fun gas pains are back for me today.. but I'll take it any day over ms.

 

[campn]

Megan- I would have flipped the heck out if they made me wait this long for the darn doctor to make it, aren't nurses trained to deliever!? Seriously I would have ignored them and pushed anyway. The "stop pushing" is stupid to me. It happens involuntarily!

Sweety- Awww can't believe you apologized about the water, you can't help it! But I also kept apologizing to my doctor for losing it a bit while pushing with the crying and tell her "get him out!! Get him out!" We are such nice preggos!

 

[campn]

Hopie- I expect you to hear nothing but lovely and calming news hun!! I'll be stalking here for the next update for sure.

 

[xanzaba]

Thanks, Hopie! It's a bit better, but oh my! At the beginning I was afraid of pre-term labor. Glad to hear it settles down

 

[MummaMoo]

Loads of birth stories to read!! Fabulous! I love them, it helps you to remember that all sorts can happen.

Xan, glad to hear they don't sound too concerned about the pain. I'm 24 weeks (eek! Nearly 25!!) and have been very achey today, down the left side of my bump.

I've had a letter come through from the hospital today, an appointment with a consultant to discuss the birth of this baby, whether he thinks i should go straight to the hospital to give birth, or if he thinks I'd be OK to go to our local Midwife led unit. Been in touch with my friend who is a MW to ask about this consultant and she's said he's a great one to be under, and no, he won't need to look at my bits.
So got that to look forward to on 23rd June.

Phoned up for my blood test results about the slap cheek thing, and they're still not in.

So sorry to hear about everyone suffering from colds and flu, it's a horrible season for it this time.

 

[campn]

Aj- I don't really mind pink at all (I paint my nails all shades of pink all the time) but I mind when EVERYTHING is pink. It gets on my nerves then, but same with boys, I don't want everything to be just blue. I just love colors.

I love reading all the birth stories too! They give me butterflies like reading them and living them in my head.

Luv, does your labor and delivery go faster (or easier?) with each baby? I want a fast labor but I want to MAKE it to the hospital kind of fast!

 

[ajarvis]

Megan that is just insane they made you wait that long for the dr! A nurse should have delivered!

My Birth Stories (one long one short lol):

DS #1
Was super pressured into an induction being a late week and told he would be over 10lbs and just get bigger if we kept waiting.

So Sunday morning they gave me this gel stuff to get the cervix going as he hadn't dropped, I wasn't dilated etc. Left that in with lots of walking happening up until 4 - started at 9 or 10. By then I was having mild contractions but nothing big. I was just barely dilated enough for them to break my water, but they decided to.

Laboured from 4-8 in the tub in the room mostly as it helped with the pain IMMENSELY. Watched big brother. Played cards. Good times lol. Around 8 they checked again and I had made zero progress. Wonderful. They started the pitocin about an hour later. and pain went from manageable to BAM horrid in no time. I didn't want a c-section and wanted as little medical intervention as possible so kept turning down the epidural. But finally around 11 I couldn't take it anymore. They checked and I was at maybe 1 cm. So going on 13 or 14 hours with just 1 cm progress. I agreed to the epidural and they did it and upped the pitocin so the contractions got even stronger.

My epidural did not take correctly. It pretty much only worked on the left side. Such an odd feeling. I was hooked up to saline, epi, catheter, and blood pressure cuff that went off automatically every 30 min. plus the things on the stomach to monitor the baby. His hr kept dropping when I laid in certain positions so I had to keep moving around. Did find a position semi propped on my side that seemed to make the epidural work better on the right hand side. Although I could still move that side of my body and not the other

Doctor checked again at 12:30 and again no progress at all. He was a fabulous doctor. He wanted me to have a c-section because of the no progress, and length of the labour at that point, but agreed to wait until 2am. If at 2am there had been no progress we'd do c-section, but if things started happening we could wait. At 2am I was 2 cm!! Thank God! I didn't really sleep because of the contractions and blood pressure cuff, but the pain died down a bit.

next morning they checked again and slowly slowly slowly throughout the day I progressed. Lots of nurses flipping me around because his HR would drop. They figure he must've been on the cord or something.

3:20 finally time to push. I pushed for an hour. He was born at 4:20. they thought he might have pooped before coming so for precaution put him on antibiotics and we left the hospital on Wednesday night at 7PM. 30 hours of labour later finally he was born. I was so tired after that labour that I remember holding him for maybe a minute before I was afraid I'd drop him. Handed him off to his dad. They covered me up with blankets and went about their post birth stuff. I fell asleep. They woke me up still in the room at some point and told me I needed to feed him. Which I did. Then I fell asleep again.


Story 2:

My youngest I was out during the day. Got home and could not sleep. Instead I washed and folded his clothes, I got his bed ready all kinds of stuff. Finally fell asleep around midnight to wake up at 1 with my water breaking! I went back to bed with a towel and woke up every contraction or so for more water to leak out then back to sleep. Got up around 4:30 when I couldn't sleep through the contractions anymore. Read a book in between contractions and walking around. Woke my ex up around 6am as they were getting stronger. went to the hospital around 9:30. By 10 was in a room. Baby flipped sunny side up around 11 and the pain got incredibly bad so I gave in to an epidural.

This time it worked perfectly. No pain. But they panicked because by the time the anestesiologist had gotten in there I had gone from 6 cm or so up to 9 and they didn't know so 30 min after getting it it was almost time to push. Nurse came in and jacked it all the way up so I was completely stoned. 10cm in no time. Doctor came in told me to push. He was almost out but got a bit stuck so he used a vacuum and he was born at 1:00. So very short and quick labour! I went home exactly 24 hours later.

Sorry for the novel ladies.

 

[LuvallmyH]

Aj- I don't really mind pink at all (I paint my nails all shades of pink all the time) but I mind when EVERYTHING is pink. It gets on my nerves then, but same with boys, I don't want everything to be just blue. I just love colors.

I love reading all the birth stories too! They give me butterflies like reading them and living them in my head.

Luv, does your labor and delivery go faster (or easier?) with each baby? I want a fast labor but I want to MAKE it to the hospital kind of fast!

Yes & no, lol. My hardest and longest was number 7. My second was quicker than my first if that helps! My first 2 were really quick and fairly easy anyway.

 

[Uni tsi]

Megan I am glad I decided to be brave and read your story because I laughed so hard I started choking when I read the end of the first paragraph. The second half of your story made me feel really angry on your behalf. I'm glad that in the end, your son was ok! It is really good to have a doula as an advocate. Generally, you get to interview them so you can pick someone you'll be comfortable having around. It was less weird to me having my doula there then the nurses who went in and out.

I love reading all the birth stories. Even though I've done it once, I kind of feel like my experience wasn't at all typical so it's nice to hear other stories to gain some perspective. I also like hearing how second births are easier

 

[Sweety21]

I am so so disappointed that we couldn't find gender again. Well kind of found out but, was not clear enough. First when we saw it looked like girl. But, after wards there was something there which looked like boys bits. To be honest I was hundred percent sure it was boy bits but, doctor took a stand that she couldn't confirm just yet. Since, it is semi public hospital I can't push her to confirm and next appointment is not until next month. We have a 4Dscan next month anyways so, we can find it at that time but, seriously I am running out of patience. I am gonna start looking for private scans if they are affordable I will go for it. But, I am afraid my hubby will not agree because his patience is alot more than mine. So, may be go for one without telling him?What do you ladies think? It feels kind of sneaky but, seriously 2months wait was my patience's limit.

 

[ajarvis]

Your baby too your money too! go for it. I would lol.

Woke up to being halfway!! now I can countdown

 

[Uni tsi]

Sweety that's really rough! I think you should go for the private scan. I've heard they're not that expensive.... and if hubby balks at the price remind him that he wants you to be calm and happy because it's good for baby

halfway AJ, YAY!

Ok I'm going to be gone for the day, no one is allowed to post anything interesting till I get back j/k

 

[Sweety21]

Aj, congrats on being half way. And I definitely will.

Uni, thanks alot. More than Money it's about patience. And my hubby seriously have lot of patience. And i am sure if I bring up about private scan he will somehow pursude me not too. And more over it's like he will say girl or boy why does it matter so much.

 

[campn]

Aj, congrats on being half way. And I definitely will.

Uni, thanks alot. More than Money it's about patience. And my hubby seriously have lot of patience. And i am sure if I bring up about private scan he will somehow pursude me not too. And more over it's like he will say girl or boy why does it matter so much.

Go get a private scan hun! You have been patient enough and this isn't a test of patience. If he has to carry the baby and deliver then we'll see how patient he really is go google a place and just tell him "oh I booked a private scan." They'll have a better ultrasound machine than the hospital and you'll get a bunch of pictures or dvd too. It's a wonderful experience!

 

[xanzaba]

Oh, sweety- I'm sorry bubs is not cooperating. Our little guy never cooperates either- if it weren't for the genetic test we had done, we still wouldn't know!

Feeling much better today. There are moments where the round ligament pain is still quite sore. But yesterday we drove for 4 hours to go to a work conference and, with nothing better to do, I timed how often it would flare up and it was at the longest 10 minutes. Today it's more like 1 hour, or when I stand up from sitting. I bought a couple of belly support underwear pieces, and I think that helped a lot.

So then we are all officially 1/2 way done? Yay us!

 

[Just1more2]

Hi ladies!! Long time no post... Sorry! I have been very busy with work and my OH being in another state most of the week. It sucks when he is not here i miss him so much!

I LOVE THE BIRTH STORIES!!! I have been reading them on 3rd tri since I was like 16 weeks. I love seeing everyone's different experiences!

I want to share mine too, but some parts may be difficult to read so I will use a Spoiler

Spoiler

This was almost 6 years ago, so I'll do my best to remember everything!!
First of all he was comfy and didn't want to come out. By 4 days passed my due date of September 1st, I had tried everything! Spicy foods, walking, all the wives tales lol. Finally on the 5th of September I started getting contractions. They were far apart and irregular until after dinner when they became about 5 mins apart. So we called the on-call and she said that if I thought I was ready I could come in and be checked so off we headed at around 7PM. The contractions were painful but not unbearable. I got checked in and the Dr. Took a look only to find that I was 3cm dialated. They decided to keep me for observation, so I sat hooked to monitors until about 5AM. The Dr. Checked me again and I had not progressed passed 3cm so they told me I could either stay or go home and get some rest. OH and I had been up all night so I decided to go home and wait it out.
I spent the whole day outside, walking and sitting in the garden. Contractions were continuing, but they weren't super strong. They became a little stronger around bed time, so OH poured me a warm bath and lit some candles and I sat and soaked for as long as I could. As soon as the bath was over, OH suggested that we DTD and see if that helped move things along. I was so uncomfortable and huge that I really didn't want to, but I wanted to be done with this early labor so I agreed. I can't remember if we were both able to have an O or if it was just him.
As soon as we were done, we went to sleep. I slept for about 2-3 hours and was woken by a "POP" inside and a gush of water that soaked my sleep shirt and sheets. I went to the bathroom and cleaned up. I woke OH and told him it was time to go! (I swear by DTD to bring on labor, worked so well for me!!)
The ride to the hospital was brutal! My contractions were much closer together and very painful now. Every bump OH hit with the car was excruciating! We arived at the hospital at about midnight on the 7th of September, exactly one week passed my due date.
My birthplan was to labor in a tub so they had it filled and ready for me. The tub at home had really helped so I was in this big tub immediately! It was heaven. OH stroked my hair and the contractions were easy to breathe through. The warm water was great.
They had put a monitor on my belly to keep track of DS heartbeat and after a short half hour in the tub his heartrate was dropping. The nurses rushed in and told me I needed to get out of my nice tub right away.
Grudgingly I did and was laid on the bed. The contractions were much more painful in this position, but they wouldn't really let me move around much for fear of DS heartrate fluctuating again. By 3 or 4AM I was so exhausted from being up for almost 36 hours straight and everyone could tell. My contractions were painful enough to keep me from being able to rest much at all, so the nurse suggested pain relief. My birth plan was to go without an epidural, and I was very disappointed in myself for considering one. I knew I would not be able to push my baby out without some sleep first so I agreed to the epidural.
As soon as it was placed I was able to rest easier, but it still seemed like I was feeling a good bit of what was happening. It just seemed to dull the pain, not take it away. The worst part of being numbed was the need for a catheter to pee... So uncomfortable and embarassing! Lol
At around 9:45AM the nurse came in to wake me up and check my cervix. I was 9cm and fully effaced so she told me to get ready. I had some ice chips and did some practice pushes. These seemed ot do the trick to get me the rest of the way open, because soon I was feeling the need to push. It really does feel like you need to take a huge poo!
The nurse rang for the Dr and she was in right away. I gave a couple of pushes, but the contractions were coming so close together that I was not able to take a full breath between them. I was told only to push with every other pain and that seemed to work better. After a few minutes of good pushing his head was out. The cord was around his neck and his shoulder was wedged, his heartrate went way down and it became an emergency situation. The Dr yelled for another nurse to come quick and all of a sudden there were 5 nurses and my OH surrounding me, holding me still and telling me to not to push. Suddenly there was a pain like I have never felt in my life, even through the epidural. The Dr had used both of her hands to open my cervix enough that she could manipulate DS shoulder out of its socket and release him manually from my birth cannal. I screamed bloody murder. I thought I was dying! It felt like forever, but I was told it was really only about 20 seconds. then they told me that I could give another good push NOW! So I did and out came my 8lb 10oz meatball!! Finally!
They didn't place him on my chest. I didnt get to look at him. They took him immediately to the warming table because he wasnt breathing. His APGAR scores were dangerously low. They wrapped him up, let me kiss his head and whisked him to the NICU for evaluation. I told OH to go with him while i delivered the placenta and got stitches from my pretty intense tear. So he did, and I went to sleep as soon as the Dr was finished with me. I didnt see either of them until that evening.
Dom recovered from his traumatic birth amazingly like the fighter he is (STILL!) and took to the breast like a champ.

I am hoping that 2nd babies come a little easier! We will see!

 

[Just1more2]

On a slightly different topic, I need to ask you wise snugglers to listen while i vent...

My OH has always been hesitant about another baby and I know that the fact that i have nagged him about it for more than 2 years plays a large factor in why we are having another now. He wanted to be more financially stable to handle a second child, but he also hated the baby stage with the constand money drain, the diapers and thepotty training (which was quite difficult and long with DS). He likes the stage DS is in now: learning sports and going to school. He says it's silly to "start over" when we finally have some freedom with Dom's independence.
He says he is excited, and he does nice things for me. He likes to feel the baby move and he is excited that it's a boy. We talk about baby names and he looks at baby stuff that we will need online, but I cant help but feel like he is not as excied as i am at all. He told me today that he all but dreads the baby stages and that it is going ot be so much work. That "women must have some mental block that makes them want to do all that over again, or they would never have more than one."
Now granted, DS was having a particularly annoying day today and OH was irritated with him already. OH is a wonderful guy. He works very hard so that we can have the things we need, he is caring and affectionate. He loves Dom and likes to do things with him, but he doesnt have a lot of patience for Dom when he doesnt listen or when he is being wild.
I dont want this new baby to make OH's life miserable, or for him to be stand-off-ish about the baby. I really dont think he will, but maybe that his affection will be forced... Probably just my hormones talking, but this is really weighing on my mind tonight.

Any thoguhts? Thanks ladies, i love having you all here to talk to, as i really dont have any women friends IRL. (Not cuz i'm a weirdo or anything, i just have a hard time making friends...)