Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

raeanna74 · 02-08-2005, 06:30 PM

Well Mine was not the PERFECT birth in the least. My daughter is now 4. I had prelabor pains for an entire week prior to her birth. I was 2 weeks late. My water finally broke at 2:00am at which time we headed for the hospital. I walked, I rocked, I sat in the whirlpool in my room (nice facility) and I labored until around 10:00am when they began to give me pitocin (sp?) to speed up the labor. I had not dialated more than 1 cm in the time between 2am and 10am (3cm before 2:00am so total of 4cm). After a couple more hours I had not progressed one bit so they discussed starting an epidural and giving me more pitocin. With the epidural they were able to increase the pitocin more and more until according to the machine I was having constant contractions. They let me got that way for a few hours. Finally late in the afternoon they discussed with me the possibility of an emergency c-section. My mother had to have 2 c-sections (2 kids) and my grandma's babies were large as well as she when she was born. I half expected this outcome though I'd hoped otherwise. After having labored for more than 18 hours I was desperate to be done with it - and HUNGRY. So they prepped me, increase the meds in the epidural which numbed me from my breasts down, and headed off to surgery at 10pm. Hubby was able to be with during surgery and I was awake an not drowsy or feeling really drugged. After the got the baby out and wiped her down they wrapped her and handed her to me and I got to hold her with one arm against my chest for a while. Then they took her back, finished stiching me up and hubby headed off to the nursery with our babe. I had 1 hour in recovery and they brought her to me and helped me nurse her as I was still unable to move much.

The biggest thing I would change about all this is - I was determined to push the time as long as I could in hopes of having a baby naturally. The c-section and healing afterwards were actually fairly easy. I went to the grocery store only 3 days after the surgery and was doing pretty well. I was most sore in my muscles around my stomach, abs, and back because I had been having contractions for soooooo long. What with the prelabor and 1st stage labor for a week before, then 20 hours of labor before finally being done with it, well my body was overworked and sore. If I had it to do again I would go a few hours. When the pitocin did not progress things at all after a couple hours I would have gone for surgery immediately.

My daughter was 8.6 lbs and 21" long. I'm narrow through the hips so the combination was enough to make it impossible for her to move into the canal let alone press on my cervix to increase the dialation.

Even with a c-section it wasn't a bad experience. Even with the long labor it wasn't terrible. My biggest complaint was that I got thirsty - the morphine did that. I would have insisted on some moist swabs since my mouth got so dry I could hardly talk - that made me mad at the time. It wasn't a big deal though.

The birth experience can mess with your emotions for a while. No matter what - just do what your instincts tell you doing the experience. Afterwards - don't try to second guess yourself. Just tell yourself you did your best and your body did the rest. It's is always a good idea to gather the support that you want around here during the experience. I had my mother and husband. They took turns staying with me. It was a good thing I had them both since it was so long. They were my advocates when I wasn't as with it or struggling with a contraction. Don't be afraid to speak up. Don't feel bad if you do speak up and it ends up sounding harsh. The nurses and Dr's that work in that section of the hospital have heard it all.

I wish you the best and hope things goes smoothly for you and the baby.

p.s. Don't want "The Astronauts Wife" right now - it gave me such nightmares when I watched it in my 3 trimester. I'm not normally creeped out by stuff but that one - Yikes.

02-08-2005, 06:30 PM	#10 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	Well Mine was not the PERFECT birth in the least. My daughter is now 4. I had prelabor pains for an entire week prior to her birth. I was 2 weeks late. My water finally broke at 2:00am at which time we headed for the hospital. I walked, I rocked, I sat in the whirlpool in my room (nice facility) and I labored until around 10:00am when they began to give me pitocin (sp?) to speed up the labor. I had not dialated more than 1 cm in the time between 2am and 10am (3cm before 2:00am so total of 4cm). After a couple more hours I had not progressed one bit so they discussed starting an epidural and giving me more pitocin. With the epidural they were able to increase the pitocin more and more until according to the machine I was having constant contractions. They let me got that way for a few hours. Finally late in the afternoon they discussed with me the possibility of an emergency c-section. My mother had to have 2 c-sections (2 kids) and my grandma's babies were large as well as she when she was born. I half expected this outcome though I'd hoped otherwise. After having labored for more than 18 hours I was desperate to be done with it - and HUNGRY. So they prepped me, increase the meds in the epidural which numbed me from my breasts down, and headed off to surgery at 10pm. Hubby was able to be with during surgery and I was awake an not drowsy or feeling really drugged. After the got the baby out and wiped her down they wrapped her and handed her to me and I got to hold her with one arm against my chest for a while. Then they took her back, finished stiching me up and hubby headed off to the nursery with our babe. I had 1 hour in recovery and they brought her to me and helped me nurse her as I was still unable to move much. The biggest thing I would change about all this is - I was determined to push the time as long as I could in hopes of having a baby naturally. The c-section and healing afterwards were actually fairly easy. I went to the grocery store only 3 days after the surgery and was doing pretty well. I was most sore in my muscles around my stomach, abs, and back because I had been having contractions for soooooo long. What with the prelabor and 1st stage labor for a week before, then 20 hours of labor before finally being done with it, well my body was overworked and sore. If I had it to do again I would go a few hours. When the pitocin did not progress things at all after a couple hours I would have gone for surgery immediately. My daughter was 8.6 lbs and 21" long. I'm narrow through the hips so the combination was enough to make it impossible for her to move into the canal let alone press on my cervix to increase the dialation. Even with a c-section it wasn't a bad experience. Even with the long labor it wasn't terrible. My biggest complaint was that I got thirsty - the morphine did that. I would have insisted on some moist swabs since my mouth got so dry I could hardly talk - that made me mad at the time. It wasn't a big deal though. The birth experience can mess with your emotions for a while. No matter what - just do what your instincts tell you doing the experience. Afterwards - don't try to second guess yourself. Just tell yourself you did your best and your body did the rest. It's is always a good idea to gather the support that you want around here during the experience. I had my mother and husband. They took turns staying with me. It was a good thing I had them both since it was so long. They were my advocates when I wasn't as with it or struggling with a contraction. Don't be afraid to speak up. Don't feel bad if you do speak up and it ends up sounding harsh. The nurses and Dr's that work in that section of the hospital have heard it all. I wish you the best and hope things goes smoothly for you and the baby. p.s. Don't want "The Astronauts Wife" right now - it gave me such nightmares when I watched it in my 3 trimester. I'm not normally creeped out by stuff but that one - Yikes. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.