Hellobee Boards

@MMcAlli: wow!!! What a dramatic birth.... glad everything turned out ok & he is super cute!!

@MMcAlli: I'm sorry you had a scary birth. I'm glad he is ok!

Ladies- I promise you will forget the pain of giving birth and not let it be a factor in deciding whether or not you want another baby .

@MMcAlli: so scary!! I don't blame you for wanting to a c section next time, I would too! How was your recovery? And how cute is he??!

@Alba4: your baby is beautiful!

@MMcAlli: he is so precious! Glad you are all safe and sound , but that sounds so scary. I'm so sorry you had to experience that.

@Alba4: what a story!! And how handsome!!

@catomd00: crazy how quick it provides!

I started typing my story yesterday morning....continued today....need at least one more good stretch with both sleeping to finish it. I figured I'd record the story for myself & then do some quick editing for HB to remove super personal details. Haha...we'll it turns out I'm very wordy...so I'll have to do some real editing before I post on here - to make it a reasonable length

Contractions started around 8:30 pm and were pretty regular- 3 mins apart and a minute long. We started getting ready after 20 min, but didn't call the Dr until it had been an hour. She had me go in, so we packed up the toddler and dropped him off on our way. It was about 10:30 when we arrived. The nurse did my intake and then the hospital doctor checked me. She thought I was another patient (32 weeks) at first. Every one kept asking if I was sure I was in labor, apparently I was dealing with the pain too well. The nurse told me to go walk for an hour because they were too busy to give me a room. When I came back they had a room ready and hooked me up to be monitored. I kept walking around the room because my contractions were pretty regular when I walked but slowed when they made me sit in bed.

After about 2-3 hours I asked to be put on pitocin. (I was pretty sure from last time that I would need it). They started a drip and made me stay in bed. After a while I was only 5 cm so they upped the pitocin and after that my water broke. There was meconium in my water and the contractions got really painful immediately. I'd had one unmedicated birth and as soon as I felt that pain I knew I didn't want to do it again. The anesthesiologist came pretty quickly. He did his thing and I was able to stay calm through the contractions for him. It made me wonder if I should do it without an epi, but once that kicked in it was wonderful.

I could still feel the pain of contractions on the one side though, so they wound up messing with it and giving me a few extra doses to try to get both sides. Soon I was completely numb from the waist down. By now it was almost 6 am and time for a shift change so the nurse left. I could still feel pretty painful pressure in my upper abdomen but otherwise just waited and dozed between contractions.

After more than an hour waiting we started to get impatient. Finally a nurse came in to check on me. She took one look and told me I was ready to have a baby and went running for a doctor. He was practically popping out on his own! They raised my legs up in the stirrups (since they were completely numb). With 3 pushes I felt him pop out and all the pressure on my ribs was finally gone. They immediately took him to clean him and the doctor had me push to get the placenta out. Then he started stitching me up for the little tear I had. While he was stitching, one of my legs started to slide off the stirrups but I couldn't stop it because it was numb. He yelled for someone to help. He couldn’t touch anything while he was sewing me up! I also had a bleed before he left, but he stopped it quickly and it wasn't a big problem.

Jeremiah was born 6/12 at 8:14 am, 7lb 14 oz and maybe 21.5 inches long (when we took him for a check up two days later he was only 20.5! We don't have any official hospital records so we can't check)

I was pretty much numb and couldn't move from my waist down for several hours after birth. Honestly, I think that was actually the best part! The nurses kept commenting on how calm I was about having a baby but after my water broke, I was only calm because of that epi.

OK finally wrote it, then edited it down for HB!

Monday, 5/24: I went to the OB for a routine checkup and my blood pressure was a little high, there was a trace amount of protien in my urine, and my weight gain was significant (due to my swelling continuing to increase) so the OB sent me to the hospital for monitoring. I kept saying it was just for practice and I wasn’t going to have the babies today. I drove calmly from the doctor’s office to the hospital. I checked into L&D and was hooked up to 3 monitors (contractions and one for each of the babies heartbeats), had blood drawn, gave a urine sample and answered a million admitting questions. The doctors decided that babies and I were okay (my blood pressure came down and the babies HBs were looking good). I was sent home and at this point I was diagnoed with a mild pre-eclamsia.

Wednesday, 5/26: Follow up appointment with OB – they weren’t super worried but said I was unlikely to make it until my scheduled c-section on 6/10.

Thursday, 5/26: I called the doctor’s office for my blood/urine results from yesterday’s appointment. The OB reviwed them and said to go back to the hospital for monitoring like Monday. They said to call my DH and have him come because this could be it! This was a big shock for me. I tried to tell myself it was practice again, but I was feeling very overwhelmed. I drove to the hospital with tears streaming down my face the whole time thinking how I wasn’t ready, I wanted them to bake just a little bit more! I got to the hospital and when I made it up to L&D a few of the nurses even remarked – “You’re back?” Same routine as last time, including the millions of questions (seriously, that wasn’t kept on file. After a few hours, I was sent home again. Practice round 2, complete.

Friday, 5/27: I had an appointment at my high risk OB. We did an ultrasound to check on fluid levels and breathing/heart rates. My BP continued to be high but not astronomical & babies were doing fine, so they decided they wanted to see me back Tuesday instead of waiting until my scheduled appointment the next Friday. At this point, they were recommending that my scheduled c-section be bumped from 6/10 to 6/3 (37 weeks instead of 38). I was told to stay indoors for the holiday weekend because it was supposed to be ungodly hot.

Tuesday, 5/31: My DH drove me to the high risk OB appointment. When they took me back for my vitals the nurse was not happy. My BP was 160/104. She tried a couple times and let me go to the bathroom then try again. Still no good. Then we went in for the growth ultrasound which was at least 45 minutes. I enjoyed seeing the babies and knowing they were okay in there. At the end of the appointment, the doctor usually comes in to review the stats with me and tell me how things are going. Well, this time, the doctor came in and didn’t even look at the ultrasound and just said to me, “It’s time to go the hospital, you’re going to have some babies today!” I remember my eyes opening big. This is it! In hindsight, I was sad that I didn’t get one last update on their stats. Would have been fun to know how much the ultrasound said they weighed then a few hours later known their real weights. But oh well. Apparently my BP had reached a level where I was at risk to have seizures! My pre-eclamsia at this point was no longer considered mild.

So off to L&D we went - I was feeling a distinct sense of calmness as we drove. Nothing like the week before when I was crying. After my two rounds of practice, it was no big deal when I was hooked up to the monitors upon arriving at the hospital. Because I ate lunch and drank water at the earlier doctor appointment, I had to wait a few hours for the c-section. I was scheduled for about 9pm. They kept monitoring me and the babies. I wasn’t allowed to drink anything and after a while I started to feel slight cramping in my tummy. I chalked it up to not drinking, but looking at the computer screen, it was clear I was having some intermittent contractions. About 8:30pm, my OB came in and mentioned that they noticed my contractions were getting kind of regular so she wanted to check me. Turns out I was 5cm dilated at this point and really didn’t feel a thing! This was a trigger to go do the C-section earlier than planned even if the 6 hours hadn’t passed since my last food/drink. Into the OR and the first step was getting my spinal block which the anesthesiologist had a hard time with because of my swelling. My edema had recently come up to about my belly button on the front and back of me. So when he tried to put the needle in it went wonky. That was a very uncomfortable feeling and weirded me out some. However, once it kicked in I couldn’t feel ANYTHING. I did feel some tugging as she dug out the babies and we waited patiently for the official birth. At 8:48pm: “It’s a girl!” Our OB delivered baby A “DD” and DH and I looked at each other with utter joy as we heard our little girl crying her first cries. I started crying and thinking of proms and weddings and dance recitals. DH said to me “Two girls!!” We were so happy. Then two minutes later, I felt the second baby delivered, heard the cries, then with some hesitation, the OB announced – “It’s a….. boy!” DH and I looked at each other quite confused, but happy nonetheless. Once the babies were cleaned up, they were laid on me skin to skin and they immediately held hands. It was absolutely adorable and I loved the feeling of meeting them. Unfortunately, the meds had me a bit wonky so our photos of that moment are a bit “rough”.

The rest of the time in the hospital went smoothly and we came home after the typical 3 days for a c-section. No NICU!

ETA: baby A: little girl - 6lbs 19in; baby B: little boy - 5lb 10oz 19 in

So that's the story of our not so identical, identical twins...haha!!!!

@MrsKRB: it was,sooooooooooooo sweet. I wish I didn't look like a zombie in the picture!!

My due date came and 4am contractions started. 5-10 min apart, 60-90 seconds each, but not painful, just irritating. And that lasted for almost 6 days. 40w5d appointment came and we scheduled induction for 41w0d, much to my chagrin. Membranes swept. 2-3cm.
I literally cried, went for a run, and walked for hours and hours. Nothing. I called my doula and cried. I let go (on some level, not every level) of the fears left from my c-section birth with my son.
Then I decided to pump. 5 min each side. It did get contractions going stronger, but I realized how late it was, so instead of doing another round, at the advice of my doula (by phone), I tried to sleep. I couldn't. Called MIL to come watch my son "sometime tomorrow will be baby, maybe you should come tonight so it's not like 2am when you're driving."
1 hr later, "MIL, please come very soon."
1 hr later "OMG, MIL DRIVE FASTER!" and doula--please come over.
Both arrived within 5 minutes of each other--about 2 hours after I was pretty sure this was labor. Drove to hospital. It's like an 8 minute drive, contraction getting to car, 3 while driving, another in the parking lot.
"I don't think these are 5 minutes apart" (me to doula)
(Her to me) "more like 2-3 minutes."
Registration.... a really great nurse saved me from them and wheeled me right back. They couldn't tell me how dilated I was because my water bag was bulging and my cervix was high. And then POP, water shot across the room like a flipping canon (thank goodness noone was downrange!) Now the nurse could really check. 10cm but not engaged. I was both surprised and not surprised.
But boy did she descent fast. She was ready to go.
48 minutes after I checked in, I had my (med free!) VBAC baby. Had a good amount of stitches. She came out fast.
Healing was so much better than with my c section EXCEPT days 11-15 or so, the itching and increased pain from the stitches made me think something was wrong! I also know I pushed myself way too hard this time.
I can still kind of feel the places where I tore, and I have some worries about that, but time will tell...
Baby girl Airy is perfect. She was 8lbs and 20 1/4" at 40w6d.

And I would I say I was sure I was in labor for about 3 1/2 hours. It was probably about 5 hours? plus the 5 3/4 days of prodromal.

***ETA: And that is the abridged version. Yikes.

Also important: I really felt like I missed out on not hearing my son's first cry. They handed my daughter to me and she immediately started a watery/bubbly cry (fast birth--still full of fluid at that point). I remember it but it wasn't the highlight of the day.

Two more PSs to my story:
1. When she was descending my left foot suddenly went painfully numb and it totally freaked me out! I had people rubbing that foot for a good hour after birth. Felt wonky for days but it's finally back to normal.

@pastemoo: awesome that labor went quickly given you had to go a week past your due date!!!

Good point - I should call the doctor one of these days..

@pastemoo: crazy story! Same here with the itching!!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: my VBAC story is here.
You have dilated before, your body will remember. Just keep moving, and believe in yourself, baby will turn. And if baby doesn't, that's why we have hospitals and doctors who can do c-sections when needed. You can do this!