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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
It's possible that labor started somewhere before 8pm on the 28th at 39
weeks 1 day - I began having short (shorter than 30 seconds) contractions that got my attention enough that I began writing them down, and they were between 4-6 minutes apart. Between 10 and 11pm I had 14 contractions, and I told Ryan I was going to go lie down and see if that made them go away, because it had done so on other days when the same happened. So I went up, got ready for bed, laid down, and the contractions did go away. But I couldn 't get to sleep very well, just dozing. At 1am I got up to go to the toilet, and while I was sitting there, there was a great Whoosh! and a whole bunch of fluid released. I knew my bladder was empty, so it had to be my membranes rupturing. I'd never experienced that in my other pregnancies. My most recent GBS test had come back positive, so we called our neighbor to come over and stay at the house, as we had arranged, called my parents to head up in their motorhome, and grabbed our stuff on the way to the hospital. We also called the doula. At the hospital, I was installed in a room, and my contractions became very strong very fast. I got an IV for my antibiotics and put on continual external monitoring. These were things I'd agreed to as a prospective candidate for VBA2C, and I had no problem with them. We called the doula again, leaving the hospital number. Soon, and I mean too soon, I began having irresistable, uncontrollable urges to push. Once on the bed, and once on the toilet. So I told my nurse (a lovely young lady with the unusual name of Teke) and she did an internal exam. Nope, I was only at 5cm, please try not to push, try to breathe hee hee hee hoo, and so on. Ryan would lean over the bed and do the breathing in my ear while I clung to him, so I could try to pattern my breathing after his. The nurse helped too, and said many encouraging things that I needed to hear. Within a few more contractions I was pushing again, and she said, no, wait...and did another exam. 8cm. Another few - I was doing fine, you know, just with relaxation and breathing - and I was at 10 with a rim. We called my own OB, who was not on call, but who had promised to attend my birth if she could, regardless. She came in, bless her. I totally lost track of time. I'm told I pushed (seriously) for about 2 hours. But I thought I dilated in an hour and a half, and my entire labor, pushing included, lasted just 6 ¼ hours from the time we arrived at the hospital. So if things seem skewed, they probably are. And a word about the urges to push - I've always heard about them, and they really were primal. I could no more resist them than I could stop breathing. And I vocalised a lot, but was able to keep a part of my mind objective enough that I could remember to keep the tones low. All this while, my husband was the most wonderful support I could have hoped for (and the doula did not show up, so it was up to him and the nurse). Between contractions he fanned me with a file folder; during contractions, he held my hand, helped me by breathing in my ear, murmured words of encouragement. I say I handled contractions all right, and that's true, as long as he or the nurse was with me. If one hit when they were distracted, I was immediately overwhelmed. But they were very responsive to and focused on my labor, so I was never left alone through a contraction. I was pushing upright with the squat bar for a while, and also on my side for a while, and making no progress, but my thigh muscles began to cramp up horribly with each contraction. At some points I had Ryan, Teke and my OB massaging, pounding and otherwise trying to get the muscles to relax during the contractions, and all while I was trying to push. My OB suggested an epidural, which if done right would stop the cramping up, while still allowing me to feel the urges to push. The anesthesiologist took a number of contractions to arrive, and I admit that I was honestly on the verge of giving up at that time. I could deal with the contractions themselves, which hurt but weren't sheer agony, but the cramps in my thighs were absolutely intolerable. And I was discouraged because there was no progress (as happened with Emmaline) despite better ergonomics and no epidural yet. It took 4 attempts (done between contractions where I pushed on my side) to get the epidural in correctly, because the catheter kept hitting a blood vessel. However, the 4th try worked, and worked as well as I could have hoped: the cramping in my thighs stopped, and the urge to push continued. I rested for a while, about a half hour, dozing between contractions and pushing during them, because I couldn't not, though it was not accomplishing anything. And I was a little more encouraged by this time, though very tired, because I thought I'd be able to push better without the cramping in my legs. But I was tired. Getting to the point of not being able to do it anymore. Also after the epidural was in, they began thinking they were seeing heart decels during contractions, so I agreed to a scalp monitor (which, fortunately, disproved the idea of decels). My doctor suggested a vacuum assist, eventually. She said if it didn't work in 5 or 6 attempts, we'd go with a cesarean. It sounded pretty good to me by then! My husband agreed with me that we'd tried our best, and it would certainly be no failure if we tried this, and wound up in surgery. Thankfully, the epidural made the insertion of the vacuum apparatus a matter of pressure rather than pain. The doctor said that when I held my own knee up to push (Ryan helped hold up my head so I could curl around my huge tummy, and one hip was propped on a pillow so I was not 'flat on my back') I wasn't getting my pelvis opened up optimally, so even though by now it was time for the shift change, and a new nurse came in, Teke stayed on, holding one knee up and out, while the other nurse held the other knee. So I pushed, and the doctor pulled, but we couldn't coordinate our efforts. My pushes were coming in surges of anywhere from 2-5 efforts per contraction, but they weren't lasting very long and they could not be predicted, so they asked me to do what I would otherwise have not done: valsalva pushing, holding my breath to push for a very quiet count of ten, repeated 3 times per contraction. Thus coordinated, I pushed, she pulled, and the first such effort showed some progress! Then I rested, and we did it again the next time, and the next, and on the sixth push I felt tremendous pressure, and the doctor's hands working baby's head free of the perineum. Then she pulled, and I pushed, and out came (The doctor said "It's a...!" and waited for Ryan to look down and finish the sentence "...a girl!") So she was put on my chest, squeaking, fine and healthy. It was 7:16am, July 29th. There was a lot of stitching to be done to me after, as I had torn very badly. We think Gwendolyn's head was engaged and descending in an asynclitic, or slightly tilted, presentation, and this is what slowed her down. Her head is still a bit misshapen that way, and the vacuum mark is not in the center of her head, but off to the side a bit. She latched right on (we're working on technique!) and has been nursing like a champ. I even came home the next day, which still amazes me after my experiences with 2 cesarean surgeries. As an end note, about 5 minutes after the birth, the doula finally called - evidently she'd left her pager at home when she went to another birth, and only got the pages (5 or 6 of them in the first 2 hours, after which we simply got too involved to bother trying anymore) when she got home. She has sent flowers. She'll get her money for the hours and hours she spent with me during my pregnancy. That's a percentage of what the total would have been, and it's fair. And, all is well that ends well. A very satisfactory ending to our very long ordeal. --angela |
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
Wow Angela!!! I admire you so much! You are such an amazing woman! How
awesome to have a VBA2C! CONGRATULATIONS on the beautiful girl with the beautiful name! Snuggle with your little angel and get lots of rest. ((((hugs)))) -Kara |
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
Congratulations, Angela and family!! What a fabulous end to a long
journey!! Sue |
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
"Chotii" wrote in message
snip There was a lot of stitching to be done to me after, as I had torn very badly. We think Gwendolyn's head was engaged and descending in an asynclitic, or slightly tilted, presentation, and this is what slowed her down. Her head is still a bit misshapen that way, and the vacuum mark is not in the center of her head, but off to the side a bit. She latched right on (we're working on technique!) and has been nursing like a champ. I even came home the next day, which still amazes me after my experiences with 2 cesarean surgeries. As an end note, about 5 minutes after the birth, the doula finally called - evidently she'd left her pager at home when she went to another birth, and only got the pages (5 or 6 of them in the first 2 hours, after which we simply got too involved to bother trying anymore) when she got home. She has sent flowers. She'll get her money for the hours and hours she spent with me during my pregnancy. That's a percentage of what the total would have been, and it's fair. And, all is well that ends well. A very satisfactory ending to our very long ordeal. Thanks for sharing the whole birth story, Angela! Congratulations again! Sorry about the tear--sounds bad--and also that the doula didn't show, but it sounds like overall things worked out for you. Good job! -- Em edd 9/23/03 |
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
"Chotii" wrote in message . ..
snip And, all is well that ends well. A very satisfactory ending to our very long ordeal. --angela Callooh! Callay! Welcome, Gwendolyn! Grandma Katie |
#6
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
Andrea, thank you for sharing your story with us. I always love reading
people's experiences. : ) It sounds like you did pretty well, not too many interventions which is great considering it was a VBA2C. Too bad the epidural took so many tries, I hear about that a lot. : P I hope you'll post some pics of your little one at some point. Congratulations to you for getting through all of this so successfully and still smiling! You have faced so many challenges, it must feel wonderful to finally have your reward. Take care, Alicia : ) |
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Oh frabjous day: Gwendolyn's birth (VBA2C) (long)
Angela, congratulations, and welcome Gwendolyn!! What a long road
you've had. Enjoy your sweet newborn, and good luck perfecting that latching technique. Mary S. mom to the Sproutkin, 17 months |
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