CamoQueen
Mom of 2 & 1 on the way!
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- Mar 7, 2008
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So this is my birth story, copied and pasted from the one posted in the 3rd tri, 'cause I'm lazy like that.
It all started a couple of weeks ago. I had a routine checkup at my 37 week appointment (I was 37+4), and I asked for the doc to check my dilation. To my surprise, I was already 4-5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My first labor was 2 hours from start to finish, and I was dilated at 5 to begin with without contractions. The doctor began telling me that he would like to have me in to break my waters at 39 weeks if I hadn't gone by then, out of fear that I wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital on time to give birth. So I left, ready to meet my little man at 39 weeks.
The night before my next appointment, I walked for about an hour, even though I got very crampy and sore... not to mention all of the sex I was forcing on DH (although he wasn't complaining). After I got home from my walk, I had lots of period cramps, BH contractions and lost a good amount of plug. I was so happy that the walking seemed to be doing something!
I went in for my appointment at 38+4, and the midwife checked my dilation again. This time I was 6-7 cm, 80% and 'very stretchy' with a bulging bag of waters. The look on her face was priceless when she realized how dilated I was! She called in another doctor to check me and confirm what she was feeling. She told me that she was worried she was going to break my waters on her table just by checking me! After the checkup I got hooked up to my regular NST, only to begin having mild contractions 10 minutes in. After I had a few contractions in a row, the doctor came in and informed me that they were going to keep me in and break my waters. Yay!
DH quickly took DS to stay with our friends and joined me at the hospital. We waited around for about 3 hours before the doctors came in, re-checked me (I had continued having mild contractions while waiting, but nothing bad) and found I was now a solid 7 cm and slightly more effaced. They decided to break my waters for me.
Unlike my first where I went into hard labor the moment they broke -- likely due to the fact I had no pitocin this time -- my contractions began gradually getting stronger. They began mild, like more painful period cramps. About an hour after my waters were broken, the contractions began getting very painful. I started to sweat and moan while DH held my hand and encouraged me from the bedside. Contractions were probably 15 seconds apart at this time, and really awful. I found most of the pain was concentrated in my lower abdomen. I know a lot of women find comfort in moving around, but when I'm in labor all I want to do is curl into a ball -- moving seems like too much work!
An hour and fifteen minutes after my waters were broken, I began to feel more pressure. The nurse came in and checked me and found I was 8-9 cm, and told me it would probably be another 10 minutes or so before I was ready to push. I was lying on my side at this point, face down on the bed and biting the sheets during each contraction and sweating like a madwoman! After about 7 minutes of this I felt my body start to unconsciously bear down with each contraction. The nurse checked and found me at 10 cm, ready to finally push! Thank you, God!!!!
I flipped onto my back and they brought the bed up to where I was barely reclined, mostly sitting so gravity could help. I can honestly say that I felt NO urge to push with my first delivery. I don't know if this is due to the epidural I had, but I only knew to push when they told me to. This time, however, my body was pushing without my consent! I had to fight myself from pushing the baby out too quickly, to help prevent tearing. After 4 pushes and 3 minutes later, my son was born! He came into the world screaming, with a head full of hair and a face just like his daddies.
I got away without any tearing or stitches, just a few abrasions. I was bleeding too much after delivery, however, so I got an injection to make my uterus contract and a "fun" 10 minutes of the doctors pushing on and forcefully massaging my uterus for me. It was painful, nearly as painful as the end of my labor had been. In fact, four days on and I still feel bruised where they were massaging me. Ouch!
But here's the important stuff: my baby boy Alexander was born at 4:25 in the afternoon, 4 hours after I was admitted into the hospital and 90 minutes after my waters were broken. He was 8 lb 3 oz, and so alert, he was looking up at me the moment they put him on my chest. And while I know I don't get a medal for this, I did this labor without any pain relief! Ahh, f*ck it, gimme a medal! The doctors were all quite surprised at how big he was for his gestation, considering I was only 38+4.
As a side -- my little Alex was born with a heart murmur, in this case, a VSD (ventricular septal defect). It was seen in our 22 week ultrasound and monitored during my pregnancy; it's apparently the most common heart defect. It was always very small, and hasn't caused any problems with breastfeeding as it sometimes can as babies with VSD can get more easily tired out during feeding. Alex feeds like a champ, though! We're going in to see a cardiologist in a few weeks to do a full workup and keep an eye on his heart. However, he left the hospital with a reassuring EKG, good oxygen sats, healthy blood pressure and chest X-ray. It seems like the VSD isn't doing too much damage right now, and we thank God for that!
Pics:
It all started a couple of weeks ago. I had a routine checkup at my 37 week appointment (I was 37+4), and I asked for the doc to check my dilation. To my surprise, I was already 4-5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My first labor was 2 hours from start to finish, and I was dilated at 5 to begin with without contractions. The doctor began telling me that he would like to have me in to break my waters at 39 weeks if I hadn't gone by then, out of fear that I wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital on time to give birth. So I left, ready to meet my little man at 39 weeks.
The night before my next appointment, I walked for about an hour, even though I got very crampy and sore... not to mention all of the sex I was forcing on DH (although he wasn't complaining). After I got home from my walk, I had lots of period cramps, BH contractions and lost a good amount of plug. I was so happy that the walking seemed to be doing something!
I went in for my appointment at 38+4, and the midwife checked my dilation again. This time I was 6-7 cm, 80% and 'very stretchy' with a bulging bag of waters. The look on her face was priceless when she realized how dilated I was! She called in another doctor to check me and confirm what she was feeling. She told me that she was worried she was going to break my waters on her table just by checking me! After the checkup I got hooked up to my regular NST, only to begin having mild contractions 10 minutes in. After I had a few contractions in a row, the doctor came in and informed me that they were going to keep me in and break my waters. Yay!
DH quickly took DS to stay with our friends and joined me at the hospital. We waited around for about 3 hours before the doctors came in, re-checked me (I had continued having mild contractions while waiting, but nothing bad) and found I was now a solid 7 cm and slightly more effaced. They decided to break my waters for me.
Unlike my first where I went into hard labor the moment they broke -- likely due to the fact I had no pitocin this time -- my contractions began gradually getting stronger. They began mild, like more painful period cramps. About an hour after my waters were broken, the contractions began getting very painful. I started to sweat and moan while DH held my hand and encouraged me from the bedside. Contractions were probably 15 seconds apart at this time, and really awful. I found most of the pain was concentrated in my lower abdomen. I know a lot of women find comfort in moving around, but when I'm in labor all I want to do is curl into a ball -- moving seems like too much work!
An hour and fifteen minutes after my waters were broken, I began to feel more pressure. The nurse came in and checked me and found I was 8-9 cm, and told me it would probably be another 10 minutes or so before I was ready to push. I was lying on my side at this point, face down on the bed and biting the sheets during each contraction and sweating like a madwoman! After about 7 minutes of this I felt my body start to unconsciously bear down with each contraction. The nurse checked and found me at 10 cm, ready to finally push! Thank you, God!!!!
I flipped onto my back and they brought the bed up to where I was barely reclined, mostly sitting so gravity could help. I can honestly say that I felt NO urge to push with my first delivery. I don't know if this is due to the epidural I had, but I only knew to push when they told me to. This time, however, my body was pushing without my consent! I had to fight myself from pushing the baby out too quickly, to help prevent tearing. After 4 pushes and 3 minutes later, my son was born! He came into the world screaming, with a head full of hair and a face just like his daddies.
I got away without any tearing or stitches, just a few abrasions. I was bleeding too much after delivery, however, so I got an injection to make my uterus contract and a "fun" 10 minutes of the doctors pushing on and forcefully massaging my uterus for me. It was painful, nearly as painful as the end of my labor had been. In fact, four days on and I still feel bruised where they were massaging me. Ouch!
But here's the important stuff: my baby boy Alexander was born at 4:25 in the afternoon, 4 hours after I was admitted into the hospital and 90 minutes after my waters were broken. He was 8 lb 3 oz, and so alert, he was looking up at me the moment they put him on my chest. And while I know I don't get a medal for this, I did this labor without any pain relief! Ahh, f*ck it, gimme a medal! The doctors were all quite surprised at how big he was for his gestation, considering I was only 38+4.
As a side -- my little Alex was born with a heart murmur, in this case, a VSD (ventricular septal defect). It was seen in our 22 week ultrasound and monitored during my pregnancy; it's apparently the most common heart defect. It was always very small, and hasn't caused any problems with breastfeeding as it sometimes can as babies with VSD can get more easily tired out during feeding. Alex feeds like a champ, though! We're going in to see a cardiologist in a few weeks to do a full workup and keep an eye on his heart. However, he left the hospital with a reassuring EKG, good oxygen sats, healthy blood pressure and chest X-ray. It seems like the VSD isn't doing too much damage right now, and we thank God for that!
Pics:
