Spring Babies

[TeeinAZ]

Qwerty - I'm thinking of you!!!!

 

[BigLegEmma]

Me too How are you getting along, Tee?

 

[TeeinAZ]

Girl, I am so swollen today. Usually my feet swelling goes down overnight and it's staying today. I have full-on Flintstone feet. I am just so ready to have this little man. But, I have a feeling he's made himself at home and may stay for the long haul. I am not having any symptoms of labor besides the excruciating pubic bone pain which makes me think that he is in the birth canal. I have a doctor appt on Friday morning and I am praying that I am dilated. LOL

How are you doing? How did the recording go?

 

[BigLegEmma]

Yeah I think Maia's too comfy in here, too; my midwife today thinks she's not engaged any more aaaargh - still head down, though. She just had a good feel at antenatal class, but we have a scan Thursday so I'll find out properly then. My cat totally stole my thunder and gave birth to three kittens this evening - so cute! We KNEW she was preggy - when Sunny was alive, even though he'd been castrated, he kept the boy cats away. The suspected baby daddy is black like Tula and all three kittens are black too. LOVE.

 

[TeeinAZ]

Awww omg how precious!!!!!!!! You must post pictures! Oh I love cats!!!

Wow no longer engaged? I feel for you sister! One more week? Will you be induced after you hit 40 weeks or will you just go with the flow? I'm two weeks behind you and I am just bluah. Kudos to you! You sound like you are still doing amazing, although we are all so ready to meet our precious babies!

I just called my doc about my swelling. I've had my feet up all day and I swear it's not getting ANY better. And of course I spaz out about preeclampsia. LOL Better safe than sorry!

 

[BigLegEmma]

Just keep your feet up and drink lots of water to flood your system of anything blocking it up and making you swell. Tbh I think she got it wrong anyway, 'cause when I get stabby pains cos Maia's swivelling her head on a nerve, it must mean she's very low. They like to induce asap here, but should give me at least a week before suggesting it, so we'll go with all the natural methods and old wives' tales. I think she's happily growing her brain and lungs and will come when ready

I just peeked in on Tula, don't think she's been out to toilet since her babies were born, but she seems happy enough. All three kittens suckling and looking cute as buttons. Will try to get some pics in the daytime - I'm notoriously terrible at photographing black cats at the best of times

 

[karry1412]

I am still alive! So much to catch up on!

Lilly - CONGRATULATIONS! Sounds like your labour was a handful but glad your little girl is finally here! I'm doing ok. Last week was tough. I was quite down but seem to be back to normal this week. Scott does not seem to sleep much during the day (he does the same thing as Lily - doesn't settle in his basket & just wants cuddles all the time!) which is a bit draining because obviously I can't sleep much either & the house is a bit of a mess but what can you do! How are you getting on? Hope you're feeling better & you didn't pass on your flu to Lily?

Emma - Not much of a routine I'm afraid! We're demand feeding so he gets fed when he wants as opposed to on a set schedule. He tends to have a feed before bed though which means he usually wakes once some time between 2am & 4am (depending on when we go to bed & he takes his last feed) & then again between 5am & 7am. DH (thankfully!!) takes the first night feed & then I get up early to do the second. Apart from that there's no routine! I saw your photos on FB but just have to say again - they're GORGEOUS! And re the weight the hospital gave you - I had one three days before Scott arrived & it was out by exactly two pounds so you might have your nine pounder yet! And congrats on the kitties!

qwerty - Thinking of you so much! Hope all is going well xx

Tee - Sorry to hear you're suffering with your feet. Mine bugged me so much! Maybe try soaking them in warm water with salt added & keep them up as much as possible. I used to sleep with a pillow under my feet too.

Hey Ladies

lots of maternity towels as the blood loss after is unholy. Don't buy the normal AF towels as they just won't cut it!

xx

Couldn't agree more but I also needed them BEFORE as my waters didn't all come in one go - I leaked for hours (about 36 hours!) so went through about two packs before the baby was even born!

 

[qwerty310]

Had my baby boy this morning at 7:37 at 6lbs 6oz successfully through vag birth after rough and aggressive induction. Details later... But wanted to let u all know we are healthy and fine

 

[BigLegEmma]

Had my baby boy this morning at 7:37 at 6lbs 6oz successfully through vag birth after rough and aggressive induction. Details later... But wanted to let u all know we are healthy and fine

Congratulations, qwerty! Sorry to hear about your interventions, but glad you have your son in your arms. Love from us preggies and enjoy your first mom day xxx

 

[lilly88]

Ahhhhhhhh congratulations qwerty! That's amazing - I hope you're both doing really well, enjoy this time it's just so special!

Karry - I think I had a bit of the baby blues - do you think that's what you're feeling? Doing really well though shattered! I'm demand feeding too (breast) so it's only me that can do the feeds unless I express/collect milk during the day but because she feeds soooo much there's often not enough milk left for me to get into a bottle to give DH for the last feed so I can get some sleep/rest. She goes down at 11pm and then back up between 2-3 and then again at 5 and 7 and feeds loads in the morning up until lunchtime where she crashes and sleeps a lot of the afternoon and then awake again and feeds for hours in the evening!

Tee - are you off work at the moment or still going in? I hope you're resting as much as you can?!

Emma - can't believe it's your due date tomorrow?! How has that come around so quickly?! How are you feeling?

 

[TeeinAZ]

Had my baby boy this morning at 7:37 at 6lbs 6oz successfully through vag birth after rough and aggressive induction. Details later... But wanted to let u all know we are healthy and fine

Awwwwwwwwww Congrats Qwerty!!!! I am so happy to hear that you and the baby are doing well. I can't wait to see him!!!! I am so so happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freakin out over here. LOL

 

[TeeinAZ]

Ahhhhhhhh congratulations qwerty! That's amazing - I hope you're both doing really well, enjoy this time it's just so special!

Karry - I think I had a bit of the baby blues - do you think that's what you're feeling? Doing really well though shattered! I'm demand feeding too (breast) so it's only me that can do the feeds unless I express/collect milk during the day but because she feeds soooo much there's often not enough milk left for me to get into a bottle to give DH for the last feed so I can get some sleep/rest. She goes down at 11pm and then back up between 2-3 and then again at 5 and 7 and feeds loads in the morning up until lunchtime where she crashes and sleeps a lot of the afternoon and then awake again and feeds for hours in the evening!

Tee - are you off work at the moment or still going in? I hope you're resting as much as you can?!

Emma - can't believe it's your due date tomorrow?! How has that come around so quickly?! How are you feeling?

Oh no, I'm still working LOL I was stupid to say that I was working until my water broke. I caved and told my boss that my last day will be the 9th. My swelling still hasn't gone down and I am having BH all day. My stomach is constantly hard. It's not painful or do I ahve any cramping but I am hoping this means he's coming soon! I have a doc appt in the am tomorrow and I am hoping to god he says I'm dilated!

 

[BigLegEmma]

*sulks*

I posted a long response this morning, accidentally hit Backspace instead Enter and lost it all booooooooooooo. I shall return henceforth!

 

[TeeinAZ]

I had my 37 week check up this morning but no cervix check. Next Thursday I will. I just can't wait, how weird is that? I just want to know if I am having any progress!!!

 

[BigLegEmma]

I've not had one at all. I missed my last ultrasound on Tuesday, oops, thought it was yesterday but it was a Spanish fiesta and everything was closed. So if I haven't gone into labour by this Tuesday I'll see if we can reschedule.

 

[qwerty310]

Hi ladies! I don't know much about etiquette re posting birth stories so I just will as you are my dear friends here

Monday was sent to hospital to start the induction. I had to be hooked to fetal heart rate monitor constantly so couldn't walk or do much other than some yoga in my room while connected with cords. They started the cervical ripening with a balloon which was uncomfortable but bearable... Felt like a 12 hour HSG test... Oof. After 14 hours of it though it felt out and cervix bounced back to only 1cm dialated. So tha sucked. They then tried local prostaglandin ripening where they just shove a pill up there. Every 4hours in theory I would keep getting this until I was in labor. They tried this instead of just pitocin inducing because there were no free rooms in labor and delivery. The hope was that enough prostaglandin would kick me into active labor and I would jump the queue because they wanted to get him out ASAP.

So now it's Tuesday night, 28 hours after being admitted to hospital. My contractions have started from the prostaglandins and are coming every minute. They don't hurt at all. But definitely regular as they can see on the monitor. The doctor wanted to give me more to have them be stronger and cervix thinner... But nurse stopped m as apparently this is really dangerous as you can just have non stop uncontrolled and uncoordinated contractions. More on that later... But yay!! We get to move to labor and delivery room and I get to walk finally!! I was totally pumped and felt great. Labor an delivery room was a totally different feel. They still wanted to monitor him but I had wireless monitor and they wanted to keep me moving and out of bed the entire time. Nurse was great. Started me on the pitocin to induce stronger contractions and I and baby were doing well with it. We went up higher in drip level every twenty min.

Then doc came and broke my water. Wow. Holy shit my skin crawls at how painful contractions were after that. I said I could deal with maybe two hours of it but then wanted some pain relief as I hadn't slept already in two days and was worried about him if I couldn't push if it would stress him and I would have to get a c section. Contractions were insanely painful (sorry tee... Every woman is different not trying to scare you I just had NO idea they would be this painful... And maybe this is with all the trauma that my cervix had already endured over the last day...). For the record in between contractions it felt amazing, so high and lack of pain was such a powerful motivator.

So after two hours of insane contractions and me sitting in a rocking chair I wanted an update on how things were progressing. At this point I had made it to 5cm. But from the pitocin and apparently the prostaglandins as well I was having 90s contractions every 90s or 2 min leaving me 0-30 seconds between contractions to breathe, relax, rest, talk with the doctor, get my cervix checked, drink... My husband and I had gotten advice from our birthing class midwife that a good strategy to a avoid an epidural was to get a mild sedative/narcotic called stadol mixed with benedryl to be able to rest a bit and take away some of the pain. So I asked for that having to sit through them wanting me to get an epidural and all the risks and blah blah blah that they had already gone through with us. I was in insane pain and couldn't stop contractions to acknowledge or talk so just god my husband ti tell the doc what we wanted. I knew also that the sedative would kick in immediately and I wouldn't have to wait for an anesthesiologist for 20 min to get there.

So I slept for 2 hours, having contractions now every 2 min with 30 s in between as they turned DOWN the pitocin because they contractions were contnuous. When I say sleep I would sleep for a min, then wake up and have ALL the pain of the height of the contraction! then fall back asleep for a min. I was really out of it, and was confused. Kept having to ask my husband why the painkiller didn't work.

Entered transition 20 min later. So now I am supposed to NOT push. I kept asking my husband wait this is where I don't push EVERY single time. After 25-30 min they were surprised when I said the contractions were sustained and I couldn't feel the urge to push go away but they did check and I was at 9 cm!

So I was pushing for about an hour... Was back in the game in terms of brain fog. This didn't hurt much at all compared with everything before and I was so focused on getting him out safe ... Kept asking about his monitor. I had lost my awesome nurse that we had earlier in the night because someone else was starting to go int transition before me and they were really short staffed so I had all sorts of rotating people come through the last three hours... So was amazing to have husband and my mom there to be steady and stable with me as at this point I had had four different shifts of doctors and residents as well. Crying as I write this because I was so wanting to keep him safe and get him here and I am really proud of me... It was not at all my "birth plan"

The morning shuft doc came in, one of my team that we had just met a few weeks ago, and he came out pretty soon after. When they could see his head it was hard because the contractions didn't come as frequently as I expected... I guess this is totally normal and a good thing to help you use the energy to get baby out. But it was frustrating because I was worried about losing ground and tried to relax vagina and everything around in between pushes. It was frustrating because I felt like I couldn't push any harder and I was just using muscles inefficiently or using the fact that my face was turning purple as a way to get him out. A few times I just said "this one's not even worth pushing" because the contractions were weak.
My mom told me not t be alarmed but they had a team of pediatricians sent in to stand by as it had been around 2h since I had the opiate and they give this earlier in labor not late because it can slow his respiration rate. Usually this wouldn't be a problem. But since everything happened so fast after they gave it to me this was a concern. Also because he was a bit early they were on standby to intubate him if his lungs weren't ready.

The whole ring of fire head coming out hurt, but wow it really was amazing when he came out... Felt exactly like you would imagine delivering a bony fleshy baby with a shit ton of warm fluid and slippery body after the head.

After they heard him cry the pediatricians left, everyone sighed in relief and they threw him on me ( I was naked the entire pushing because I told them I wanted him skin to skin and was worried this would be some sort of procedure to unsnap my gown....?) as they scrubbed him off. He was so amazing and started to latch on and suck on my breast right away when I offered. I got to have m there for about 45 min while I delivered placenta (lots of aggressive rubbing on my uterus but didn't really hurt) and then stitching up my grade 2 tear with an episiotomy (this sucked... Still sucks... Having a lot of urinary incontinance and pain but YAY I can take ADVIL again!!!!!)

I was SO tired. Husband took baby away to do all the tests and shots and I got to "rest" in a cramped double room with another woman who was having a freaking party and her baby was in NICU ... I just don't understand. So much disturbance and noise and I slept maybe an hour over the course of the day after they brought baby back to me. Husband and mom went home to sleep. Was really stressful and sorry I know this sounds onpbnoxious but was ridiculous to not be in a single room. Luckily nurses pulled for me knowing how long of a road it had been and that I had had a vaginak delivery so they moved me later in the afternoon to a single room. Baby and I spent two days there. Was such an amazing team of nurses and docs helping me, and him, with breast feeding and care and sleep. Didn't really get much sleep with him there but I just wanted to be with him and comfort him because it must be SO SCARY out here after being in our womb for so long.

Ok... Thanks for letting me write it all down. I love him so much. I am so happy he is here and that I was able to have a "normal" vaginal delivery. So happy that he is healthy and just a little small (6 lbs6oz at birth).

Got to come home yesterday and it's nice to have husband around again as I missed him so much those nights when I was in hospital.

 

[TeeinAZ]

OMG Qwerty - I am bawling at my desk right now. I am so glad you shared your story. How amazing! I mean you went through hell but, you delivered a healthy baby boy and that's all that matters. I heard a lot of sotries about the rippening and all that. A friend of mine went through the same thing but at 9cm he wasn't coming out and she had to have a C Section. You are one strong momma!! You didn't scare me at all, I mean I think about how painful this is going to be but, I know that it's only for a short time to hold my son, someone I've been waiting for for much longer and it's so worth it. Sounds like you really kept your cool, I would have been so bitchy with all the different doctors coming in and out but, I guess that can happen too. Whew. In my head I think my labor will go like this; I wake up, take a shower get all pretty, go about my day and oopsie, my water breaks and I go into L&D and I'm dilated at 7 then I get my epidural, all is good I push and viola, I ahve my son. HAHAH what a joke, right? I wish it would happen that way but I know the reality is going to be so much different. But, I will keep thinking about the positive, I'm pregnant, he's still growing and I will have a family is just a few weeks!

I can't wait to see pics of your little one! I hope you are doing well and enjoying every moment. Keep us posted on how you are if you can. I am so looking forward to learning from all you ladies.

 

[BigLegEmma]

Aw thanks for sharing, qwerty, sounds like you had a nightmare of a time! Glad you have your little boy safe and sound. Still no sign of Maia, boooooooo! I finally got my studio work finished today hehe so maybe now I can relax, I'll go into labour. My mother's driving me insane, though, and fella, see this thread lol https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/pregnancy-third-trimester/2169705-do-have-spell-out-rant.html

 

[qwerty310]

thanks for letting me share ladies. i had NO idea how long that post was lol then i saw it after hitting enter.

Tee your labor very much might go that way! i guess my only advice would be yeah roll with the punches but having a strong plan in mind that your hubby knows and can communicate with your team when you are at a low point is important.

Hoping for you that baby comes soon you you can get some productive stuff to be engaged in to keep your mom busy as well!

trying to upload pics of baby ethan now - i am so bad it this though so bear with me.

 

[TeeinAZ]

thanks for letting me share ladies. i had NO idea how long that post was lol then i saw it after hitting enter.

Tee your labor very much might go that way! i guess my only advice would be yeah roll with the punches but having a strong plan in mind that your hubby knows and can communicate with your team when you are at a low point is important.

Hoping for you that baby comes soon you you can get some productive stuff to be engaged in to keep your mom busy as well!

trying to upload pics of baby ethan now - i am so bad it this though so bear with me.

He is so PERFECT!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness he is just so so adorable! Isn't it just amazing to finally see him. Oh I am so happy for you!! We sure went through a lot, you more so than me at the beginning, what a blessing!!