My (very long) Birth Story

(In case I forget how it all happened...)

It was Wednesday, May 11th, and we had out 40 week appointment with Dr. Cortez.  I was at 40 weeks and 1 day, and VERY sick of being pregnant.  I had been in early labor for the past 2 weeks, with contractions coming anywhere between 3-10 minutes, and getting more painful.  The only reason I hadn't already gone to the hospital was that although my contractions were coming consistently, they were not progressing further than that.  In our prepared childbirth classes, they told us not to come to the hospital to give birth until the pain of the contractions made it so that it was hard for me to walk or talk through a contraction....and I definitely did not want to go to the hospital and then have to be sent home. So....I waited it out.  But anyways, at the 40 week appointment, I told all this to my doctor and told her that we had been trying all the things she had told us to do to help induce labor naturally (yes-- I even tried the castor oil).  I guess she understood my pain, because then she told us that if we wanted, we could be admitted to the hospital that night at 7pm to start induction.  Before leaving, she stripped my membranes again (as she had done the week prior also) to see if that would help things move along.

When we got to the hospital, it felt very surreal.  We checked in, and were immediately brought to our room, where I changed into my gown, hopped in the bed, and strapped in with monitors to measure the baby's heart rate and the rate of my contractions.  The nurse saw that I was already having steady contractions without any drugs, so she held off on giving me anything to see if it would progress on its own.  

Still happy and (reasonably) pain-free

Things started off nice and easy-- even though we did not sleep and instead spent most of the night walking up and down the halls of the Labor & Delivery floor to see if the labor would progress.  With all the walking and the contractions, I still was only dilated 1.5 cm.  At 6am the next day (Thursday, May 12th), the nurse started me on pitocin.  Still the labor progressed very very slowly.  I was starting to get contractions that were around 3-5 minutes apart, but throughout that entire day, I only dilated to 3 cm.  

My doctor, Dr. Cortez, was the one on-call that day, so she came in to check on me.  She was surprised that things were moving so slowly, so she ruptured my membranes around 6pm.  After that, things started moving along, but things were still progressing slowly.  The contractions were coming steadily every 2-3 minutes and were getting more and more painful, so that's when I asked for an epidural (which by the way, was not as bad as I was fearing-- it was just a very weird and tingly sensation).

It was a very long night.  To say that I was uncomfortable would be a very big understatement, considering I still in some pain and my body felt stiff and my legs felt heavy and numb from the epidural.  I was also very thirsty and hungry, but because of the epidural and pitocin, I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything.  Through the night, I was 100% effaced and 8-9 cm dilated and we were hopeful that the baby would come that night, or even early the next morning...even Kathy, my PM nurse, was confident that the baby would come during her shift.  But the next day came and still no baby.  :(  By then, you can imagine how not only hungry, thirsty and tired I was, but also how discouraged I had gotten.

It was not until around 10am that next day, Friday, May 13th, that the pushing started.  I was 100% effaced, 10 cm dilated, the fetal descent was at station +2, and I felt a lot of internal pressure and the great urge to push.  I pushed for nearly 3 hours, but was having a really hard time, especially since I hadn't slept, eaten or drank anything in almost 2 days... also, it appeared that I had cephalopelvic disproportion; basically-- the baby was too big to pass through my pelvis.  The doctor on-duty was Dr. Lin, and she even came in and attempted a vacuum extraction through 5 rounds of contractions, but that didn't work either.  That's when it was decided that a C-Section was necessary.  :(

The C-Section was kind of scary, only because they put up that blue sheet and I couldn't see anything that was going on.  Because I had an epidural, they were not able to give me a spinal block to numb me, so they just gave me 2 boluses through the epidural IV instead.  My body went into shock because of all the reactions to the medicines they gave me.  I was nauseous, got the chills, and then got a fever.  But through all of that, as soon as I heard my sweet baby's cry for the first time, all the other sensations went away-- she was all that I cared about.  

After I saw her, I was able to give her a quick kiss hello, and then they took her away.  That's the part where I apparently passed out.  I woke up an hour later in the recovery room.  That's when I finally got to hold her for the first time.  :)

...I wish I could say that the story ended there.  It goes on to me being put on 3 different kinds of antibiotics because of the fever I got during the surgery.  We also learned that I separated my pubic symphysis and couldn't walk...so I needed physical therapy to teach me how to walk with a walker.  And lastly, the baby was jaundiced to the point where I all set to be discharged from the hospital and the nurses weren't sure if they were going to let the baby come home with us.  UGH!  

Lots of complications, but at the end of it all, I have a perfect baby girl.  Also, I have the consolation prize of knowing that next time, I can plan out which day I'm going to have my baby and just come in for my C-section a few hours before.  :)