I love reading these-- anyone interested in posting the story of your childrens birth or adoption. I will post my ds first as I already have it from another site. Well I went into the hospital at 5pm on Tues June 18th. to be induced! The nurse hooked me up to the monitor I was not having very many contractions I was dilated to 1 still and like 25% effaced. At 7pm the nurse put in the Cytotec pill to soften my cervix. I had my first contraction at 9:08pm it wasnt too bad but stronger then BH contractions. I cont to have them every 3 min about midnight I decided to try and get some sleep. I laid on my side and the cont seem to subside to very dull waves. I slept for about an hour at the most b/c I kept hearing DH toss and turn on the awful hide a bed chair he was in. I could tell he was very uncomfortable so at 1am I told him to go home nothing was going to happen tonight anyway and to come at 7 am when the Pitocin would be started. He went home (45 min drive) he arrived home at 2am and my water broke at 210am I called him and told him but contractions werent bad so I told him to stay home. About 230 the contractions increased and were starting to get pretty painful. They were every 2 min lasting about 30-35 sec. I called my other labor support person Susie at about 330am to get her opinion if I should call dh back in. I was starting to feel like I needed some support so she encouraged me to call him back in. They both arrived about 5 am I was dilated to 3 now and about 50% effaced. The baby was posterior so I was having quite a bit of back labor dh was great at relieveing that with pressure. Time seem to be passing so slow, I was so uncomfortable. In bed out of bed any position but then the baby turned and the contractions were now painful in front. I really liked the back labor better b/c at least DH could use presure to help that. In the front nothing helped. Around 7 am I was dilated to 6 and 75% effaced. This did not make me happy as I was working pretty hard using relaxation techniques. Around 8 am I was begging for an epidural, pain meds, I even asked the dr for a c-section! My dr said no to the c sect but he said "go ahead with the epidural I would if it were me in labor" I told everyone I really really want the epidural. My original birth plan was no pain meds at all. The nurse said she would get the IV fluids going b/c I had to have a bag before the epidural. My dh followed them out of the room and told them he would like to stall the epidural a little longer that he knew me and I could handle it and I would regret it later if I got the epidural. (I would have killed him if I knew) So they kept taking forever and then my IV was bad so it had to be restarted they stalled that also. Finally around 930 am the fluids were going! YEAH only a few more min and I can have my epidural or so I thought. DH and Susie were really great about coaching me to relax but I didnt feel like was able too at all. While the fluids were going my contractions started to slow down to every 3-4 min still 30-35 sec long The nurse checked me I was at 7 cm and 100% effaced with a lip of cervix. She said I had to get out of bed otherwise they may need to start the Pitocin. I believe I went through transition at this time and I believe dilated the rest of the way b/c I had an uncontrollable urge to push. The nurse kept saying "Stop pushing you are not ready" I replied with " I cant help it" I was not doing well with panting. She had me get back into bed and I was between 9-10 cm and still had the lip of cervix She said the baby was still very high, but I could push. She called my dr who was in surg and he said she is a first time mom and her baby is really high she will be pushing for at least 2 hours. The nurse came back in and told me this. I looked over at the clock it was 1010am I said, "No way I am pushing this baby out at 1030, I cant do this another 2 hours" By the way they epidural was of course out of the question by now! So I was on my own. After a couple of pushes the nurse called the back up dr in as she realized I was not going to be pushing for 2 hours. His office was only a couple of mins away but Collin wasnt about to wait and either was I. The room filled with nurses and my nurse kept saying, "Jill, stop pushing the dr isnt here yet" I told her I could not control it. It really felt SO GOOD to push I hardly noticed the pain anymore b/c it felt SO GOOD! I told the nurse "You can do it! You can deliver him!" And with that statement I pushed him out at 1035! (I was 5 min late but hey I was close) The nurse delivered him beautifully his cord was loose around his neck and it was about 20 sec before he started crying which scared me b/c I thought he was suppose to cry immediately. He was and is beautiful. The dr came in a few min later and I had a small second degree tear that he repaired. My dr came up from surg and couldnt believe I had only pushed for 25 min! He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and is 20 1/4 inches long. He was so alert all that day, peacefully looking around. He appears to be a very good baby so far as he really doesnt cry very much. It was an incredible experience and I am very grateful that my DH and Susie were able to help me do it natural as I know I could not have pushed him out with the epidural in place as quickly as I did! But I am not ready to do it again anytime soon! Thanks for reading Jill
18 days until my due date. So I hope to have a birth story for you soon!! Actually I hope to have an adoption story before long too!! Enjoyed reading your post!
Lets see, I was bedridden for 6 months with my oldest and 6 1/2 with my youngest. I was hosp. 9 times with my youngest for pre-mature labor and 4 times with my oldest. I was allowed to have a shower a day and was not allowed to sit up and had to eat lying down. I developed gestational diabetes at 6 months with my oldest and 5 months with my youngest among other problems. With my youngest the dr. gave me a week to bring down my sugar level and if I didnt I was going to have to take insilin shots. Thankfully I got it down and kept it down. I had weekly dr. visits, sometimes more than once a week. Being bedridden for so long, that pelvic exam was the hilight of my week. I only gained 14 pounds and ate like a horse. My youngest came in 45 minutes after my water broke and contractions started. I had been at 4cm since I was about 5 months along so that was a quickie birth, almost in our Jeep. So 45 minutes later I was still dressed when he was born. He was in a huge hurry! Both were born at 38 weeks and a day. Just three days after the dr. took me off the rx to help stop the pre-mature contractions. My oldest took a few hours to come after the cont. started. The dr. said that I was "Fertile Mertle" just had a problem staying pregnant. So my two boys are the greatest gift and the greatest blessings we could ever imagine after what we went through and lost to have them. Needless to say that the dr. said it was not adviseable for us to have anymore children. Staci
With Kevin, my first, I didn't know I was in labor. All I knew was my lower back hurt. I called the doctor at about 5 a.m. , got to the hospital at 6:30 a.m., and he showed up at 8:23 a.m. All 11 pounds, 23 inches of him. Tiny Jeannie was horrendous. All nine months I went back and forth from a urinary tract infection to a yeast infection. I developed superficial phlebitis. Toward the end I suffered from such horrible, black depression like I can't describe. I suffered two years before I got help and almost 5 years later I still have rough days. Jeanne took 7 hours to get here and was 7lb, 14 ounces. I thought I was giving birth to a sumo wrestler!! Why is it the bigger babies are easier to deliver??
With my first son, he was due July 27th. We took Bradley classes and were going to have a natural childbirth. My blood pressure shot up and I started having toxemia trouble the beginning of June. So onto bedrest I went. It was alright, with a visit from a nurse everyday. We lived 45 minutes from the hospital. It was under control. On July 16th, my normally active son quit moving. Immediately to the hospital we went. I had an ultrasound test where they watch the baby for an hour and count all movements. He failed with a 2 out of 8. I was to be immediately induced, no c-section as his heart rate was alright. I had been completely effaced and at 2 for about three weeks up to this time. They hooked me right up to a heart rate monitor and Pitocin. I called hubby at work and he came right up. This was around 9pm. Small contractions, nothing big happened. They kept turning it up until 12am, when they decided to give me a sleeping pill and turn it down until 6am the next morning. I just laid there staring at the ceiling until the first BIG contraction hit at 1:30am. I was hooked up to tubes and lines all over and my dh was sound asleep on the pull out chair about 15 feet away. I yelled at him, but I couldn't get him to wake up. I threw my pillow at him, still nothing! So I got up out of bed and ended up unhooking half the monitors setting off alarms all over the place and went over and told him to get up I needed him! Two hours later I was at around 6 and my water still had not broke. All the good protien I was eating! So the nurse thought that she would just break it and then it would be done. She gets out the hook and gets all positioned and gets ready to go and I tell her to wait because I am starting to have a contraction. She looked at the monitor and said I was fine and went ahead. My water broke with such force, it shot all over her, soaking her from head to toe! I had to laugh because it was so funny! Anyway, Pitocin is no fun and at around 5 they gave me some Demerol. At 6am I was at ten with a slight lip. So I couldn't push until 6:15. Then they called my doctor to go ahead and come in. I pushed twice and he was delivered at 6:30 am by the brand new resident. Turns out my little baby was wrapped so tightly in the cord he couldn't move anymore. He was a fine, healthy baby of 7 pounds 12 ounces. I wouldn't quit bleeding though, and ended up having two nurses pushing on my uterus with all their might for 6 hours. I ended up with some severe anemia. Oh, my wonderful lazy uterus.
Well here is the short version of Samaras birth my one year old-- I went into be induced the night before. They gave me meds to soften me up so the Pitocin would work better. (I had gestational diabetes and many other pg problems which is why I was induced again 5 days early) I layed awake all night fretting over how awful I knew the next day was going to be-- I was terrified of labor again mostly b/c of the Pitocin which I heard makes it hurt alot more. Finally it was morning around 630 am I felt some slight cramping like braxon hicks nothing that really hurt but I had a blood show so I figured I must be in early labor. I went for a walk in the hospital hallway while dh slept. One of the dr was out there and said "oh Jill you are awake--we could go ahead and start the pit now!" I asked him if I could get a shower first he said "Sure let us know when you are ready" So I went back in and took a shower and put my makeup on -- and the cx started to pick up a little bit I could feel them now but tolerable. This was about 745 am I woke dh told him I was in labor go eat and come back and take a shower if he wanted to otherwise he may have to wait till much later in the day. He left. The nurse came in around 8am with the Pitocin I told her I am having cx and can you please just check me first so I dont have to have the Pitocin if I am in labor. She said "Yes I can check you but if we dont start the Pit you may not have your baby till later this PM instead of earlier." I told her I was fine with it taking longer as long as I could handle the pain-- I did not want an epidural or anything. She checked my I was 3cm dialated. She called the dr told him my wishes and told him I was having and early but ineffective labor pattern My dr thankfully said ok let her do it herself start the pit if she changes her mind. Dh came back we called Susie my 2nd labor person and I started to really feel the cx and needed dh. Around an hour later the nurse checked again and said I was 5 cm I was pleased but it was hurting now. Suddenly it got very very intense the cx were awful. My dr came in at 945am and checked me He said I was still 5cm and he broke my water. 4 minutes later I was nursing Samara. I went from 5cm to 10 and pushed her out in 4 minutes she came out screaming and hungry! LOL I thought I was going to die the last 15 min and the nurse described it as a "violent labor" b/c it was so fast and intense. So that is why my makeup was still on in that picture and I didnt look like I had been laboring all day. Total labor time was about 1 1/2 hours but only about an hour was bad-- I am scared next time I may not make it to the hospital unless I am there already to be induced again! Jill
Tanner never gave me any probelms until after he was born. He was two weeks late though...UGH! I actually went to the hospital one day thinking I was in labor, just to find out I wasn't. I was just having pains from being constipated (yeah, go ahead and laugh). How embarassing! I finally was induced on a Friday (weekend hospital stays suck-nothing good on tv and there's nothing else to do while baby is sleeping). In labor for 11 hours, but I was a chicken and went for the epidural when I started feeling pain. I'm a wimp! First they gave me this stuff that makes you feel like you've had a few beers. That was pretty nice! Then after my epidural kicked in it was smooth sailing. I never felt a thing! Even as I pushed him out I barely made a sound. My husband was very impressed. He was 9 pounds 6 ounces. After I gave birth and got cleaned up I went walking around the hospital. The only scary thing was that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. He came out silent. Then they thought they may have broken his clavical (a shoulder bone) when they sucked him out of me so he ended up being in the NICU for 5 hours before I could really spend time with him. Then he was a very colicy baby and put on corn-based formula (VERY expensive-ugh!). Nothing but trouble then, but I love him to pieces! I don't believe it's true what they say about being able to tell their personalities before they are born. Tanner was NOTHING like he was in the womb!
Long story short: A few days after my due date, my water broke early in the a.m. Dh and my Mom took me to the hospital, where we proceeded to wait. No dilating, no effacing. After a while, the docs put me on something to induce contractions (I don't remember what!). So I had these little uncomfortable cramps every two minutes for the rest of the day. No dilating, no effacing. Twelve hours after the water broke, the drs. told us we should have a C-section, since nothing was happening despite the labor inducing drugs and there is a higher risk of infection after 12 hours. Nothing like the natural birth we'd planned! I did what I said I'd never do and asked for an epidural - the fear of a shot in my spine was nothing compared to the wish to see my baby as soon as he was born! Got the shot, got permission for dh to be in the OR, ds was born without a hitch. Later the dr. told us the umbillical cord was short and was wrapped around his neck twice -- a natural birth would have been disastrous for ds. Instead God gave us a healthy boy. We are truly blessed.
When I was pregnant with my twins (first pregnancy) I was just starting my 7th month and starten having back pain early one early morning (2 am), and thought I was having braxton hicks, I waited until my husband woke up to tell him(6 am), then we decieded to wait until the doctor was in his office, at 8 am to call him. They directed us strait to the hospital, and we got there at about 9 am. They had me sighn a waiver form so they could fly me by helicopter to a larger hospital that had a neonatal unit. But they wanted to do an ultra sound first, they thought the babies were too close to coming, they brought me into an OR, didn't let my husband come in and started having me push, my daughter was born, and didn't cry for a few minuts, I would not push until I heard crying! Then my son was born, and they checked him over, wrapped him up and showed him to me, I didn't even see any thing but blanket. They russhed both babies by helicopter to the other hospital. I felt so sad to have given birth and not had a chance to hold them or see them. I didn't understand why I went into labor so early, I was left in the hospital room to recover, my husband was upset that they didn't let him in, but when he knew I was ok, he went to the other hospital to see them, then the airport to get my mom, and then took her to the other hospital to see the twins. My aunt and cousin came to visit, but left to get me a gift, ( a nursing night gown) which made me even sadder because I didn't get to nurse them. I was so uppset that I couldn't be with my babies, I aske about how long I would have to stay there, the doctor on call handed me a prescription for tylenol with codene or some thing like that and said I could go home. I left the hospital about 10 hours after giving birth. I went to see the babies, they were so tiny, my son was 1 lb, 15 oz. and my daugher was 2 lb. 1 oz. They were on ventalators, heart monitors, oxygen and had eventualy feeding tubes put in. I was to pump my milk and bring it in for them, but part of the placenta was still in my body (I was never checked when discharged) and even though I didn't know why I could not produce very much milk. I was even given a prescription that was supposed to increased my bodily fluids, it didn't work. A few months later I started to bleed a lot, but all at one time.I called the doctor, (he wasn't in) but the other doctor asked how many pads I used a day, I said just one, but I was doing all the bleeding all at one time ever evening, he wasn't concerened. After this happened a week or so, it stopped. (once we were out shopping for Christmas presents, I was in the public bathroom stall, and no one would answer my calls of help or send in my husband that was waiting out side). The twins went through many obsticles, but are now healthy 7 year olds. I learned later from reading the book many of got, "what to expect when you are expecting" a small paragraph was written about how a part of the placenta can remain causing the body to believe your still pregnant, and then hemoriging can occur. The next time around I got a better obgyn! I had a pretty normal time with pregnancy #2, son now 6. And while on the low dosage pill I got pregnant with our 4th child, our loving little girl (now 4). I used epidurals during the last 2 pregnancys and wish I hadn't I still get back pain from where I think they pinched a nerve. I myself was adopted and am glad for it. I have met my birth mom and keep in touch a little. But always very awkward.
Oh this could take forever for me so I'll try to keep it short and sweet. With Christian, my back had been hurting the entire day before he was actually born (but I had no clue it was back labour). I started counting cotnractions at 10:20 pm, Mom took me to the hospital at 12:00 am and Christian was born at 6:20 am. He was two weeks late by cycle dates but two days early by U/S dates. 7lbs 10oz They repaired damage done for 45 minutes and so nicely told me that I shouldn't have had him naturally - gee thanks doc! Andrew was a little more of a surprise for me. I had gone to the doctor's office for a check up - I was 2 or 3 centimeters dilated. I was given the option to go home and get ready or I could go to the hospital; I thought I would go home. When I got downstairs, I called hubby and told him to meet me at the hospital. Water was broke at 12:30pm, contractions started at 4:30 pm and he was born at 8:57 pm. Back labour again (and it wasn't fun). Two weeks late by menstrual cycle, but 2 days early by U/S (how's that for weird). 8lbs 7oz Noah - my water broke on it's own Sunday night, I went to the hospital they admitted me. The next morning at 3:30 am, the back pain started. Nothing exicting by 8:00 am (except the odd contraction) so to the pitocin drip we go (and antibiotics)! That was brutal and cruel - no time to work up to hard labour - I went from nothing to full force hard labour - and the back pain was absolutely unreal. Noah was born at 12:57 pm (and not a minute too soon - I couldn't have handled much more back pain). Two weeks early, low apgars (because of the pitocin drip and an overnight stay in NICU) 7lbs 7oz
