Carol
04-20-2007 Friday, 10:15 PM
Nathaniel's birth story (Sorry it got a little long):
I’ll start at my last dr’s appointment on Wed, April 11<SUP>th</SUP>. I was checked and found to be 2, not quite 3 cm dialated which was about the same as the previous week. I wasn’t surprised since I hadn’t had many contractions during that week. That appointment seemed to get things going again, though. I started having more contractions over the next couple of days. They weren’t regular or painful but I wasn’t quite feeling like myself so I wondered if we were getting close. My parents were coming that weekend and I had a few talks with the baby how he needed to wait until they were here so we didn’t have to worry about the boys.
My parents arrived around 4 pm on Saturday, the 14<SUP>th</SUP>. I woke up around 3 am after having a few contractions and noticed some bloody show when I went to the restroom. That was how my last labor with Harry had started so I went ahead and called the dr. Dr. H was on call and asked about contractions. Since I wasn’t regularly contracting yet, he said to call back if they were 5-7 min apart. I went back to bed and had some painful but short contractions about 10 min apart for about 2 hours. Then, they petered out. I tried to rest some on Sunday and my parents helped a lot with the boys.
I went to bed Sunday night and woke up around 2 am with some contractions and more bloody show. These contractions felt different from the night before. They varied in intensity and some were lasting longer. I tried to rest between them and noticed they seemed to be getting closer together. I woke Bob up around 4:30 am and told him I needed him to time them and see how long they were. We timed them for about 30 minutes and they were about 5-6 min apart. Some were lasting over a minute and I was really having to breathe through them. We called the dr around 5 am and he said I could either go to the hospital to get checked or wait until the office opened at 7:30. I chose to go to the hospital because I knew this had to be it and I didn’t want to wait that long if I went quickly again.
We got to the hospital around 5:30 am. The nurse checked me and I was almost 5 cm dialated. They called Dr. H so I could be admitted and started the iv for penicillin since I was GBS positive. The nurse asked me about pain management and I said I’d probably want an epidural. About 45 minutes later, I asked about when I could get an epidural and she said they needed to wait until my labs came back with my platelets count. Dr H came in around 6:30 am and checked me and I was 7 cm. He was anxious about breaking my bag of waters and I asked about getting the epidural first. He said that it wouldn’t get intense instantly and he wasn’t too worried about it (in my head, I was thinking, How the heck would you know? You haven’t gone through this before.) Dr. H had come in between contractions so I was doing fine when he saw me. I decided to wait on getting my water broken until I had an epidural. The nurse had also reminded him that I was GBS positive and they only had gotten one dose of penicillin in me at that point.
The anesthesiologist finally came in around 7:40 am to put in an epidural. Some of the contractions were starting to get really painful so I was glad I’d be more comfortable soon. I had a couple of big contractions as he was getting it in. What was really difficult was trying to hold my position (sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward on a pillow) while getting through them. He waited during my contractions but I still needed to stay somewhat still. Dr H came in around the time I was getting the epidural. As he was leaving, the nurse told him that I was more than 7 cm. She could tell from my breathing that I had progressed. Once the epidural was in, I laid down on the bed and my water broke on it’s own. The nurse checked me again and I was 8-9 cm and 100% effaced. I labored a little longer and was soon complete. Dr H came back in and I started pushing at 8:25 am. He made a comment that he thought I would have been ok even if I hadn’t had an epidural. I had an epidural with both of my previous babies but couldn’t really feel anything while pushing. I was able to feel more pressure this time and noticed as his head got closer to crowning that I held back a little so it’d go slower and I hopefully wouldn’t tear too badly. At that point, Dr H said it was good that I had gotten an epidural or I’d be going nuts then. He said that the skin had stretched as much as it was going to and he was going to do an episiotomy on me. I declined and said I’d rather tear since that is what I did with my first vbac. I pushed a few more times and Nathaniel was out at 9:05 am. Bob cut the cord and then they put the baby on my chest. He was perfect. :love He was 8 lb 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.
Out of the 5 drs at the clinic, Dr H is my least favorite and part of me had been hoping he wouldn’t be on-call when I went into labor. I went against some of his recommendations but I’m glad I listened to my gut and made my own decisions. Bob was a great support and he even reminded me I was in charge and ran the show. I had some tearing but my recovery has been even easier than my 1<SUP>st</SUP> vbac. I couldn’t sit down on a regular chair for a week after my first vbac but I only took pain medication for 3 days with this one. :)
I’ll start at my last dr’s appointment on Wed, April 11<SUP>th</SUP>. I was checked and found to be 2, not quite 3 cm dialated which was about the same as the previous week. I wasn’t surprised since I hadn’t had many contractions during that week. That appointment seemed to get things going again, though. I started having more contractions over the next couple of days. They weren’t regular or painful but I wasn’t quite feeling like myself so I wondered if we were getting close. My parents were coming that weekend and I had a few talks with the baby how he needed to wait until they were here so we didn’t have to worry about the boys.
My parents arrived around 4 pm on Saturday, the 14<SUP>th</SUP>. I woke up around 3 am after having a few contractions and noticed some bloody show when I went to the restroom. That was how my last labor with Harry had started so I went ahead and called the dr. Dr. H was on call and asked about contractions. Since I wasn’t regularly contracting yet, he said to call back if they were 5-7 min apart. I went back to bed and had some painful but short contractions about 10 min apart for about 2 hours. Then, they petered out. I tried to rest some on Sunday and my parents helped a lot with the boys.
I went to bed Sunday night and woke up around 2 am with some contractions and more bloody show. These contractions felt different from the night before. They varied in intensity and some were lasting longer. I tried to rest between them and noticed they seemed to be getting closer together. I woke Bob up around 4:30 am and told him I needed him to time them and see how long they were. We timed them for about 30 minutes and they were about 5-6 min apart. Some were lasting over a minute and I was really having to breathe through them. We called the dr around 5 am and he said I could either go to the hospital to get checked or wait until the office opened at 7:30. I chose to go to the hospital because I knew this had to be it and I didn’t want to wait that long if I went quickly again.
We got to the hospital around 5:30 am. The nurse checked me and I was almost 5 cm dialated. They called Dr. H so I could be admitted and started the iv for penicillin since I was GBS positive. The nurse asked me about pain management and I said I’d probably want an epidural. About 45 minutes later, I asked about when I could get an epidural and she said they needed to wait until my labs came back with my platelets count. Dr H came in around 6:30 am and checked me and I was 7 cm. He was anxious about breaking my bag of waters and I asked about getting the epidural first. He said that it wouldn’t get intense instantly and he wasn’t too worried about it (in my head, I was thinking, How the heck would you know? You haven’t gone through this before.) Dr. H had come in between contractions so I was doing fine when he saw me. I decided to wait on getting my water broken until I had an epidural. The nurse had also reminded him that I was GBS positive and they only had gotten one dose of penicillin in me at that point.
The anesthesiologist finally came in around 7:40 am to put in an epidural. Some of the contractions were starting to get really painful so I was glad I’d be more comfortable soon. I had a couple of big contractions as he was getting it in. What was really difficult was trying to hold my position (sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward on a pillow) while getting through them. He waited during my contractions but I still needed to stay somewhat still. Dr H came in around the time I was getting the epidural. As he was leaving, the nurse told him that I was more than 7 cm. She could tell from my breathing that I had progressed. Once the epidural was in, I laid down on the bed and my water broke on it’s own. The nurse checked me again and I was 8-9 cm and 100% effaced. I labored a little longer and was soon complete. Dr H came back in and I started pushing at 8:25 am. He made a comment that he thought I would have been ok even if I hadn’t had an epidural. I had an epidural with both of my previous babies but couldn’t really feel anything while pushing. I was able to feel more pressure this time and noticed as his head got closer to crowning that I held back a little so it’d go slower and I hopefully wouldn’t tear too badly. At that point, Dr H said it was good that I had gotten an epidural or I’d be going nuts then. He said that the skin had stretched as much as it was going to and he was going to do an episiotomy on me. I declined and said I’d rather tear since that is what I did with my first vbac. I pushed a few more times and Nathaniel was out at 9:05 am. Bob cut the cord and then they put the baby on my chest. He was perfect. :love He was 8 lb 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.
Out of the 5 drs at the clinic, Dr H is my least favorite and part of me had been hoping he wouldn’t be on-call when I went into labor. I went against some of his recommendations but I’m glad I listened to my gut and made my own decisions. Bob was a great support and he even reminded me I was in charge and ran the show. I had some tearing but my recovery has been even easier than my 1<SUP>st</SUP> vbac. I couldn’t sit down on a regular chair for a week after my first vbac but I only took pain medication for 3 days with this one. :)