My Birth Story
I had a rather unconventional birth story, to say the least. I had kind of expected a hard labor because my pregnancy went so well but this was something on a whole other level!
My water broke around 12:3o on a Thursday. It being my first baby I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. I had just gone to the bathroom and was laying down for a nap. I for sure thought I was peeing myself but then it kept happening and realized what it was. For first time moms, it’s not like a major gush like you see in the movies it’s more like spurts of water for several hours. I called my husband, who was downstairs, and away we went.
I was 37 weeks + 2 days so I was early, what I am told is it is rare for a first time mom. Yet here I was. We had just been to the OB GYN the day before and I guess I assumed they would tell me if they thought I could go into labor any time soon. I had lost my mucus plug but wasn’t dilated at all. I was surprised to say the least with my water breaking…
An added complication, I had dropped our poor greyhound, Flo Babies, off to have her teeth cleaned not 5 hours earlier. So my poor husband had to arrange accommodations for our fur baby during this whole ordeal.
We got to the hospital and sat in a holding room of sorts for about an hour before a doctor saw us. They put me in a hospital gown and asked me a couple of questions at intake and then we waited. When they doctor came in she checked my cervix again wasn’t dilated but my water definitely had broke so she admitted me.
In my hospital gown and socks, butt pretty much exposed, they walked me across to the other side of unit and I was put into a birthing room. Which was huge and a little intimidating with all the equipment but they tried to hide it in cupboards and what not so it looked more like a hotel room then a hospital room. Really the room was quite nice.
They hooked me up to a Pitocin IV drip immediately and increased the dose every 30 minutes. It was a couple of hours before I started feeling contractions and a couple hours after that that I finally broke down and took some pain meds. Even with the Pitocin I was dilating VERY slowly. Roughly 12 hours after my water broke I was in enough pain that I requested an epidural.
I don’t know what I expected but an epidural wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t super painful to be placed and relief was very quick. Everyone’s reaction to an epidural can be different but I was completely numb from the waist down, unable to move my legs on my own.
After the epidural was placed, they decided I wasn’t progressing quick enough so they started to move me into different positions every 30 minutes. I was still comfortable enough to take small naps. At this point I was super grateful I brought my own personal blanket. It was comforting during the long hours.
Another 15 hours later I was finally dilated to 10 and ready to push. (We’re at around 27 hours at this point).
I was starting to have some severe back pain and, looking back on it, my legs had started to become less numb as well. It didn’t really occur to me that my epidural wasn’t right. The bed wasn’t comfortable at all and I had been moving around so much when they were putting my in the different positions I figured that was what it was. I could also feel the contractions coming when I was supposed to push which obviously shouldn’t be happening with an epidural. Even after telling the nurse multiple times they didn’t call anesthesia back in till I was almost at 3 hours into pushing and it was really too late at that point.
The OB had come in towards hour 2.5 of pushing and told me (I’m paraphrasing) that I need to give it more effort otherwise it was going to be a long road and we would have to do a c-section. They would only let me push for 3 hours so at this point (something I didn’t know). It was so incredibly disheartening. Being in so much pain and then hearing that.
Thank god for my husband. He was the one that kept me motivated to push through the pain and kept me paced for when to push for contractions. The nurses were actually charting in the room instead of helping me for the majority of the last 2 hours…it just painted the picture to me that they had given up as well.
After about 32 hours of labor I ended up needing a c-section. So once that decision was made things moved quickly. They had me sign operating room releases etc. etc. Side note, I was in so much pain and so high on pain meds I am not sure how binding it is to have me sign any kind of paperwork…
They got me to the OR room. They wouldn’t let me husband in the OR room, they left him in the hallway while they prepped me, which I understand is typical.
Well surprise surprise my epidural was actually failing. When they went to readminister it caused so much back pain I was flaying around the table. I ended up yelling at the anesthesiologist, he was kind of a prick so don’t feel too bad for him. When all was said and done with the epidural, I still had feeling in my belly so they had to intubate and put me under full anesthesia. This also meant my husband couldn’t come into the room.
I woke up about 2 hours later in recovery - without my husband, without my baby. If my mother-in-law hadn’t bulldozed her way into the hospital I would have been completely by myself. Anyone who has had anesthesia knows waking up from that crap is horrible - shaking, freezing, high as a kite. The worst of it lasted about an hour. The worst part was, I didn’t know what time my baby was delivered, if everything was alright, where my husband or baby were. Luckily all the drugs I was on muted that panic a bit.
After about 45 minutes in recovery I was moved to my final room.
When all was said and done, I had a perfect and healthy baby boy, my husband was fine, I was fine. And you know how they say you forget the horror of birth because of the love you have for baby? Well that’s definitely true, I already am wanting a 2nd child. I’m so in love with being a mom.
Lessons Learned:
Every nurse had a different opinion on what they recommended for pain management, for pushing techniques, it got to be incredibly confusing and even contradicting from one another. Do your research, come prepared with what you want to do and don’t rely on anyone else’s opinions on the matter.
Ask questions about EVERYTHING!
You can say no. It’s your body. If you don’t want to do something don’t.
My birth story was SO far from what my birth plan was. When it comes to birth all things can slide sideways. Be prepared that you may need to deviate from your ideal plan.
