Birth Story - aka the gory details ;-)

I lost my mucus plug at 1:30am on the 19th and contractions started almost
immediately. We headed for the hospital at around 4am as I was feeling all
the contractions very low down and was somewhat concerned about my scar.
When we got there, the contractions were roughly every 5 minutes so we went
to an assessment room. I had a lot of pressure on my bladder during the
early stages and kept going to the loo. I tried walking the corridors but
that only made things worse. I had pethidine at 7:20am, when the midwives
told me they didn't think I was in active labour. However, it did allow me
to doze between contractions, which was partly what I was aiming for in
having it since opiates make me extremely drowsy.

I agreed to AROM for a scalp monitor at 8:30am because we were having
problems tracking DS's heartbeat. This was followed by agreement on an
epidural :-( because I really wasn't coping with the intensity of the
contractions. The only way I can describe is being like the most intense
pelvic floor exercises ever, as though my entire pelvic floor was being
hiked up and stretched out every couple of minutes. Halfway through the
second bag of IV fluid, I started to push. The midwives kept telling me not
to because I couldn't be ready yet. Then someone had the bright idea of
doing an examination only to find I was 9-9.5cm and all systems were go. No
time for an epidural, the pethidine was wearing off, "Here's the gas"!!

I tried hands and knees and side lying but eventually ended up semi-sitting
as the most comfortable position I could find. I was getting two or three
good breaths on each contraction before I would start to push involuntarily
and hold my breath. DH was repeating "In. And out.", trying to get me
focussed on breathing (& not passing out) while the midwives were telling me
not to push. It wasn't exactly something I had any control over! By this
stage the doctor had arrived and I was being told to grab behind my knees
and draw them back. Big bump plus short arms meant that was impossible so we
went for the stirrups as that way we could be sure that my pelvis wasn't
being put under more strain than necessary. DS was showing decreased ox sat
levels and his heartrate was dropping so we geared up for a forceps
delivery. The doctor turned away, I presume to organise who was doing what,
when suddenly I yelled "Where the [bleep] is everyone, this baby's coming!".

The doctor spun around and next thing I knew he had his hand against my
perineum providing counter-pressure. DS's head came out but his body was
slightly delayed. There was some disagreement afterwards as to whether it
was shoulder or abdomen dystocia. Either way, he was blue on delivery and
needed oxygen briefly. Time of birth was recorded as 10:52am. His Apgars
were 7 (0 for colour, 1 for tone) and 9 (still only 1 for colour). I then
had the syntocin through my IV line and the placenta just popped out a
couple of minutes later. However, we had skin-to-skin and attempted
breastfeeding within 15 minutes, after I'd been stitched up and DS had
pinked up following 30 minutes in an incubator. According to my notes, the
first stage was 6 hours (from admission, plus 3 hours at home I guess),
second stage of 22 minutes and third stage was 8 minutes long.

We transferred to a post-natal ward about 2 hours after birth, I went for a
shower and had the IV line removed. Breastfeeding was established quite
quickly and DS has shown every sign of being a voracious nurser ever since
:-).



--
DD - June '02
EDD - May '05

Congratulations and welcome to the outside world to a brand new human being!

Todd


in article , Iuil at wrote
on 5/25/05 12:55 PM:

I lost my mucus plug at 1:30am on the 19th and contractions started almost
immediately. We headed for the hospital at around 4am as I was feeling all
the contractions very low down and was somewhat concerned about my scar.
When we got there, the contractions were roughly every 5 minutes so we went
to an assessment room. I had a lot of pressure on my bladder during the
early stages and kept going to the loo. I tried walking the corridors but
that only made things worse. I had pethidine at 7:20am, when the midwives
told me they didn't think I was in active labour. However, it did allow me
to doze between contractions, which was partly what I was aiming for in
having it since opiates make me extremely drowsy.

I agreed to AROM for a scalp monitor at 8:30am because we were having
problems tracking DS's heartbeat. This was followed by agreement on an
epidural :-( because I really wasn't coping with the intensity of the
contractions. The only way I can describe is being like the most intense
pelvic floor exercises ever, as though my entire pelvic floor was being
hiked up and stretched out every couple of minutes. Halfway through the
second bag of IV fluid, I started to push. The midwives kept telling me not
to because I couldn't be ready yet. Then someone had the bright idea of
doing an examination only to find I was 9-9.5cm and all systems were go. No
time for an epidural, the pethidine was wearing off, "Here's the gas"!!

I tried hands and knees and side lying but eventually ended up semi-sitting
as the most comfortable position I could find. I was getting two or three
good breaths on each contraction before I would start to push involuntarily
and hold my breath. DH was repeating "In. And out.", trying to get me
focussed on breathing (& not passing out) while the midwives were telling me
not to push. It wasn't exactly something I had any control over! By this
stage the doctor had arrived and I was being told to grab behind my knees
and draw them back. Big bump plus short arms meant that was impossible so we
went for the stirrups as that way we could be sure that my pelvis wasn't
being put under more strain than necessary. DS was showing decreased ox sat
levels and his heartrate was dropping so we geared up for a forceps
delivery. The doctor turned away, I presume to organise who was doing what,
when suddenly I yelled "Where the [bleep] is everyone, this baby's coming!".

The doctor spun around and next thing I knew he had his hand against my
perineum providing counter-pressure. DS's head came out but his body was
slightly delayed. There was some disagreement afterwards as to whether it
was shoulder or abdomen dystocia. Either way, he was blue on delivery and
needed oxygen briefly. Time of birth was recorded as 10:52am. His Apgars
were 7 (0 for colour, 1 for tone) and 9 (still only 1 for colour). I then
had the syntocin through my IV line and the placenta just popped out a
couple of minutes later. However, we had skin-to-skin and attempted
breastfeeding within 15 minutes, after I'd been stitched up and DS had
pinked up following 30 minutes in an incubator. According to my notes, the
first stage was 6 hours (from admission, plus 3 hours at home I guess),
second stage of 22 minutes and third stage was 8 minutes long.

We transferred to a post-natal ward about 2 hours after birth, I went for a
shower and had the IV line removed. Breastfeeding was established quite
quickly and DS has shown every sign of being a voracious nurser ever since
:-).

Congratulations again -- must have been a bit worrying when he came out blue
though! Glad you got your VBAC too!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

Thanks for the birth story, I just love them. Congrats once again!

"Iuil" wrote in message
...
I lost my mucus plug at 1:30am on the 19th and contractions started almost
immediately. We headed for the hospital at around 4am as I was feeling all
the contractions very low down and was somewhat concerned about my scar.
When we got there, the contractions were roughly every 5 minutes so we
went
to an assessment room. I had a lot of pressure on my bladder during the
early stages and kept going to the loo. I tried walking the corridors but
that only made things worse. I had pethidine at 7:20am, when the midwives
told me they didn't think I was in active labour. However, it did allow me
to doze between contractions, which was partly what I was aiming for in
having it since opiates make me extremely drowsy.

I agreed to AROM for a scalp monitor at 8:30am because we were having
problems tracking DS's heartbeat. This was followed by agreement on an
epidural :-( because I really wasn't coping with the intensity of the
contractions. The only way I can describe is being like the most intense
pelvic floor exercises ever, as though my entire pelvic floor was being
hiked up and stretched out every couple of minutes. Halfway through the
second bag of IV fluid, I started to push. The midwives kept telling me
not
to because I couldn't be ready yet. Then someone had the bright idea of
doing an examination only to find I was 9-9.5cm and all systems were go.
No
time for an epidural, the pethidine was wearing off, "Here's the gas"!!

I tried hands and knees and side lying but eventually ended up
semi-sitting
as the most comfortable position I could find. I was getting two or three
good breaths on each contraction before I would start to push
involuntarily
and hold my breath. DH was repeating "In. And out.", trying to get me
focussed on breathing (& not passing out) while the midwives were telling
me
not to push. It wasn't exactly something I had any control over! By this
stage the doctor had arrived and I was being told to grab behind my knees
and draw them back. Big bump plus short arms meant that was impossible so
we
went for the stirrups as that way we could be sure that my pelvis wasn't
being put under more strain than necessary. DS was showing decreased ox
sat
levels and his heartrate was dropping so we geared up for a forceps
delivery. The doctor turned away, I presume to organise who was doing
what,
when suddenly I yelled "Where the [bleep] is everyone, this baby's
coming!".

The doctor spun around and next thing I knew he had his hand against my
perineum providing counter-pressure. DS's head came out but his body was
slightly delayed. There was some disagreement afterwards as to whether it
was shoulder or abdomen dystocia. Either way, he was blue on delivery and
needed oxygen briefly. Time of birth was recorded as 10:52am. His Apgars
were 7 (0 for colour, 1 for tone) and 9 (still only 1 for colour). I then
had the syntocin through my IV line and the placenta just popped out a
couple of minutes later. However, we had skin-to-skin and attempted
breastfeeding within 15 minutes, after I'd been stitched up and DS had
pinked up following 30 minutes in an incubator. According to my notes, the
first stage was 6 hours (from admission, plus 3 hours at home I guess),
second stage of 22 minutes and third stage was 8 minutes long.

We transferred to a post-natal ward about 2 hours after birth, I went for
a
shower and had the IV line removed. Breastfeeding was established quite
quickly and DS has shown every sign of being a voracious nurser ever since
:-).



--
DD - June '02
EDD - May '05

"Todd Gastaldo" wrote in message
...
Congratulations and welcome to the outside world to a brand new human
being!

Todd

What? No comment on the semi-sitting position ;o)

"Plissken" wrote
Congratulations and welcome to the outside world to a brand new human
being!

Todd

What? No comment on the semi-sitting position ;o)


Heehee. My first thought when writing ut was "Todd is going to have a field
day - a vbac, semi-sitting with stirrups and O2 resus needed."

But it was truely my choice to use that position and we knew before he
arrived that the O2 would be needed as his ox sat levels were decreasing.

Jean

--
DD - June '02
EDD - May '05

"Chookie" wrote
Congratulations again -- must have been a bit worrying when he came out
blue
though! Glad you got your VBAC too!


Thanks. We were warned that he would need O2 straight away because his ox
sat levels had dropped so we weren't too worried. He only needed blow-by
oxygen initially and then the 30 minutes in the incubator just to make sure
his levels were up to normal. But we got the skin-to-skin and first feed
done before that :-).

Jean

Piggybacking....

Plissken wrote:
Thanks for the birth story, I just love them. Congrats once again!

me too!

"Iuil" wrote in message
...

I lost my mucus plug at 1:30am on the 19th and contractions started almost
immediately. We headed for the hospital at around 4am as I was feeling all
the contractions very low down and was somewhat concerned about my scar.

This is where I felt all my contractions, very low. It really surprised
me, but my doula assured me it was in the range of normal.

When we got there, the contractions were roughly every 5 minutes so we
went
to an assessment room. I had a lot of pressure on my bladder during the
early stages and kept going to the loo. I tried walking the corridors but
that only made things worse. I had pethidine at 7:20am, when the midwives
told me they didn't think I was in active labour. However, it did allow me
to doze between contractions, which was partly what I was aiming for in
having it since opiates make me extremely drowsy.

It's good you got a little sleep. For both my labors, exhaustion was
my worst enemy - a little sleep goes a long way.


I tried hands and knees and side lying but eventually ended up
semi-sitting
as the most comfortable position I could find.

Me too. Hands and knees weren't cutting it, I think because
my legs were so tired, and side lying just wasn't right. So
I ended up semi sitting too. Worked OK, but my pushing stage
probably would have been quicker if I'd had that extra 30%!
Sounds like you didn't need it though!

couple of minutes later. However, we had skin-to-skin and attempted
breastfeeding within 15 minutes, after I'd been stitched up and DS had
pinked up following 30 minutes in an incubator. According to my notes, the
first stage was 6 hours (from admission, plus 3 hours at home I guess),
second stage of 22 minutes and third stage was 8 minutes long.

Yeah for skin to skin! Yeah for 22 minutes (very jealous!).

We transferred to a post-natal ward about 2 hours after birth, I went for
a
shower and had the IV line removed. Breastfeeding was established quite
quickly and DS has shown every sign of being a voracious nurser ever since
:-).


Sounds like a terrific birth Jean. And his birthday is one day before
DD1's! (2 days before mine). Good time for a birthday.

Congrats again.

Mary W.

"Iuil" wrote and I snipped:

Congrats on your VBAC, your baby boy, and the breastfeeding!!! Such great
news!

ISTR, didn't you have trouble with nursing with your DD? Glad that's not
the case this time.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

Congratulations!

Sharalyn
mom to Alexander James (9/21/01)