Whats your birth story?

bethin · Oct 24, 2006

I don't have one .

But my mom's is funny. I was born on Dec. 23. Her water broke on the floor board of the car. When she got to the hospital she was the only pt and there was 3 nurses to care for her. She was in labor for 12 hours and after they nurses cleaned me up they handed me to my dad, (don't know why) but they still hadn't told her if it was a boy or a girl. When my dad said it was a girl she grabbed me out of his arms, almost dropping me on the floor in the process. She already had a boy so she was excited to have a girl. She looked at me and started screaming "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh" over and over. Doctor asked her what was wrong. Mom said "she looks exactly like my mother in law." And I screamed for 3 hours straight. Nothing would shut me up. Mom says she knew then that I was indeed a clone of her mother in law - opinionated and not afraid to let everyone know it.

After mom was settled and I had shut up the nurses brought in real food - not hospital food. They were having a pitch in and brought mom in plates of food. Mom said instead of losing the baby weight she gained weight from eating pitch in food for 2 days. Said she ate a bowl full of M&M's and the nurses would never put me down. She said they were always holding me. Spoiled me rotten. They held me while she ate - dad had to be at home with my brother.

Oh, and I was 9lbs 3 oz and my mom weighed 100 pounds before she was pregnant with me so imagine the size of her hips! When she was pregnant with me she gained a whopping 50 pounds on her itty bitty frame. Poor woman. She couldn't have anymore kids after me - I ruined her. And they didn't give epidurals in those days. With my older brother she was in labor for 36 hours! When he was born the dr thought he was dead because he was sooooo tired from the pain meds given over the past day. This was 1977 so c-sections were not as common as they are today. And no epidural for her then either.

My mom deserves a big gift for Mother's Day.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2006

Friendsfan, you had the kind of delivery that I hope for. I would much rather have a quick labor with no pain meds than a 24+ hour one chained to the bed by an epidural! I hope I progress as quickly as you. I'm already 30% effaced and 1cm dilated at 29 weeks, so hopefully things will go quickly when the time comes - which hopefully won't be for 8-10 more weeks! Congrats on having your dream delivery - but next time, tell your nurse about your contractions even if they aren't showing up on the monitor. Don't worry about what they think - pain should be reported in case it is a sign of other problems.

33-weeker · Oct 24, 2006

after working in family birthing (hospitals) for years, and reading up on birth, i knew i didn't want to deliver in a hospital. (no offense - i'm a nurse, too) i hired midwives and had my kids at home.

my first was a 9 lb. girl - typical 13 hr. textbook labor. i called the midwife when i thought i needed her. she got there in about 45 min. (we told her she had time to shower first). i was 9cm. first vag exam of the entire pregnancy and labor, by the way.

my daughter was posterior.

let me emphasize here how well sacral pressure works for back pain! it really works! - - teach it to your patient's labor support person!!! it's safer than drugs. (seriously... i've seen women stuck at 3 or 4cm jet to complete with back pressure and good coaching being the only things being added to the mix.)

my faith in god played a big part in my birth choices. some time during pushing, i silently prayed for help because i thought i couldn't go on. the midwife shortly after put a warm compress on my perineum and i relaxed. i hadn't realized how i had been tensing up. my pain melted away, and my daughter spun around and 'flew out' (midwife's words). it wasn't her size holding her back, but her position. she didn't really fly out, it was controlled, it just seemed like it in relationship to the whole process. there was no shoulder dytocia or anything.

my daughter did do something the midwife had never seen in all her 300 births. during external rotation, her head went 1/2 the way toward one thigh, then turned back and went to the other way. i guess my daugher was having to maneuver her big shoulders through or something. maybe she just changed her mind -

we women do have the perogative, ya know. :lol2:

i only had a tiny first degree. due to its location, we discussed it and decided not to stitch. healed beautifully! i was sitting indian-style on the couch in a couple of days.

daughter was 9 lbs. 0 oz. , 21 in. long, 13 1/2 in. head and 14 in. chest. her apgars were 8:9. we both were very tired, but recovered well from a drug-free birth.

then about 3 years later, twin boys - surprise!!! (no fertility drugs.)

water broke with twin 'a' at about 36 weeks. no contractions for nearly an hour. after about 45 minutes of light cx that i could walk and talk through (during which i made the bed up and set out the birth supplies), i decided since it was not even 2:00 in the morning, i'd lay down and try to sleep. fluid was clear, babies were moving, yada yada yada.

after about 3 or 4 cx, i realized i was in transition - no mid-labor - just straight to transition, zap! i told hubby to call the midwife. she got there fast, but 'a' was already about 10 min. old. i only had about 15 min. of hard labor.

i had to give hubby directions in between pushes - "is the head out?...is there a cord around his neck?... is his head turning to the side?..." - it was a hilarious scene. hubby did great. baby 'a' was crying before his feet were out. 6 lbs. 2 oz., apgars 9:10.

i had braided and sterilized different colored cord ties for them in case they were identical. i thought, well, at least i'll be able to tell them apart until their cords fall off. we tied his cord off while we waited - earlier than usual - due to the fact it was twins. i also had blankets warming in between 2 heating pads for them. that worked very well to keep him warm. i made sure my mom and hubby dried him off and changed the blankets.

then we waited for baby 'b'. he was vertex, but not decending to put pressure on the cervix. i sat on the toilet and breastfed 'a' to get the cx to start up again and get stronger. they did, but he wouldn't move down much.

i had told them in early pregnancy - before i even knew it was twins - that i was getting a recurring thought of 'you'll need to be upright for safety this time'. (ok, ok - i used to laugh at poeple who'd say stuff like this, too - until it happened to me - i don't laugh any more) they reminded me of that and suggested that i stand. his heart tones were always good, but we wanted him out.

standing and using gravity did the trick in about 10-15 min. a total of two hours and 15 minutes after 'a', twin 'b' was born, weighing 7 lbs. 0 oz. and with apgars of 10:10. no tears, normal amount of bleeding for twins.

total labor time, 3 hrs., 15 minutes.

all my babies breastfed on demand from birth. they all were little butterballs before long. even 9 lb. daughter had only lost 3 ounces at 3 days old. but then again, i didn't bloat her up with fluid during labor, since i didn't have an iv. (you know, in the hospital, a lot of the 'weight loss' we see in babies is really fluid loss from giving moms all those ivfs in labor.)

i loved giving birth naturally at home. i would never do it any other way, save some ligitimate complication, of course. i highly recommend it!

LydiaNN · Oct 24, 2006

Less than a month before my son was due, I was at an appointment when the OB said, ''I'm going to schedule an U/S to be sure he hasn't turned''. This guy had been in practice for 20 years. If he thought the baby had turned, he had turned! The U/S tech should never play poker with that face, I didn't need to look at the screen to confirm the OB's suspicion. I asked about an external version and my OB said it is his personal feeling that when a baby is breech, there's a reason, but he did refer me to who I have since learned is our county's busiest perinatalogist. Talking to him reminded both dh and I of buying a used car. He was trying to sell the procedure. We declined, and it turns out the OB was right. It turns out I have a very oddly shaped uterus. My son had found a comfy position and moving him would have been extremely traumatic. C/S for breech position is almost a given in this state, given the litigious climate. My O/B, who has since returned to his homestate of Ohio, told him he actually enjoys delivering breech babies lady partslly because ''they're interesting'', but that he doesn't do it and I'd have a lot of trouble finding someone who would (I asked him). My son was wedged in there so tight, it took them 25 minutes to get him out, v. about 5 minutes for a standard C/S. He kept squirming away from them when they'd try to pull him out. He established his personality very early in that respect! A trip through the lady partsl canal could have been fraught with complication. Everytime I see a child with Erb's palsy or CP, I think to myself, that could have been my son.

MissJoRN, RN · Oct 24, 2006

Ohhh, lovely homebirth story.

Mine didn't quite go as planned, but not bad eiter.

I would have loved a homebirth but felt better near a NICU just in case. I had my heart set on a waterbirth but my OB-GYN doesn't have midwives on staff and doesn't do them. I never got around to switching. I was all set for an unmedicated birth though. Yoga exercises during preg, hypnobirthing CDs, etc. I started labour ealy afternoon at work, with irregular, infrquent contractions gradually getting worse. At 4 AM woke up with a ore regular contraction pattern and hoped it was for real. (I was 41 weeks, and got a few extra days by begging my primary GYN since they scheduled me for induction. My dr pushed back my date and resched me for pit only, no cyto.) Earlier episodes of "labour" were weak contractions 3 min apart. Subsequent checks always showed no dilation. Now I had painful ctx 15 min apart.

This went on all AM and early afternoon. I walked, I bounced on the labour ball, squatted, shifted, everything. My ctx kept getting stronger but no real pattern. Finally, around 6 I had it. Severe ctx from my bra-line to my knees with no relief from hot bath or position changes. Still 6-12 min apart. I planned to go the hospital at the "last minute" to avoid too many interventions. (this hospital likes their interventions) My dr asked to be called at q5min X 1 hr, but I called anyway. I was in too much pain. She grudgingly had me come in and I was checked- whoo-hoo I was dilating!

Can't remember how much or much about my admission I was in so much pain. Back spasms continued between ctx. I remember 2 things, unfortunately. 1. My triage nurse mocking my pain assessment "10? You really think so?" I have an autoimmune condition that mimicks MS. I think I can tell the difference between moderate and severe pain! and 2. Her lecturing me about my "poor" nutrition. I ate as much good stuff as I could but was throwing up for all 9 mos. Vitamins especially made me ill. Believe me, I felt I was failing my baby to begin with, I didn't need her help.

They kept me, gave me the unwanted but begged for epidural, and changed shifts so I got a new nurse. At almost 11 I started pushing... with my contractions still 6-12 min but strong. I talked them into a high bed position, etc, and my 8 lb, 12 oz (no malnutrition here!) baby was born with no tearing, etc. I still tried to push as if I was unmedicated and I'm sure the prenatal exercises helped. Mine was born to nurse, too. I had a little trouble latching her on the second day until I stopped looking at the books or asking for help and just let her do it her way.

mommy2boys · Oct 24, 2006

I'm not a nurse yet, but I tell you my birth stories. With my son I started having contractions at 32 wks, after 3.5 wks of brethine and bedrest he decided to make his grand entrance. We had gone to dinner w/ friends for my DH birthday and just got home and into bed. At 12:30am (the day after my DH birthday) my water broke. After a call to L&D we had to do a mad dash to pack my bag, we were off. Get to L&D the nurse checks me I'm at 3 cm, I get a shot for pain she tells me she will come back in a hour to check and see if I'm ready for my epi. An hour later she checks me and I'm at 8-9 cm and that I was too far for my epi. 2 hours later I'm pushing my son out. I pushed for almost and hour and he was born at 35 wks 2 days weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz. He had some problems breathing (nothing major, he was just being "lazy") on his own in the beginning but after a few hours in the NICU he was doing much better.

With my second son I started having contractions at 21 wks. After months of bedrest and brethine again, he came at 35 wks 2 days. (Not a typo, they were both born at the same gestation). I had been in and out of L&D with them trying to stop my contractions. After 6 times in 6 days of meds and trips to l&D, my OB said to go home and wait for the contrax to get stonger (they were 5 minutes apart w/ mild pain). 2.5 days later I was tired and sick of contrax, my OB gave me a shot of demeral and said that would help w/ the pain so I could sleep, the catch was that I needed to stay w/ them for 3 hours for observation. About a 1/2 hour before I was to go home I thought my water broke, they checked me. It hadn't but I was having stronger contrax so they decided to keep me.

After hooking me up to all the monitors (I was just over 2 cm), I had to use to rest room 45 minutes later. The nurse (who ROCKED by the way) came in to unhook me. I walked into the restroom, sat down on the toliet and started screaming that something wasn't right. SHe told me to lay down so she could check me. Low and behold, I was 10 cm and the baby was crowning. My nurse yelled for the other nurse to set the room up (they were so not ready for me to give birth). 2 pushes later, my second son was born into the arms of my wonderful nurse. He weighed 5 lbs 6 oz.

I was very lucky to have given birth to 2 babies early and neither one of them had any major health problems. After 4 days in the hopital we all got to go home.

Erin

missninaRN · Oct 24, 2006

I'm not a nurse yet, but I had a somewhat interesting experience with my first pregnancy.

I had just showered, blow dried my hair, and had sat down on the toilet to pee at bedtime when my water broke. Immediately called the OB, who said that he would see me at my next appointment in three days if nothing happened before then! (Very laid back doc. Didn't use enemas, fetal monitors, etc. He listened to the fetal heartrate during contractions with a stethoscope that fit around his head-said he could hear the heart inside his skull.)

Fortunately, labor started as soon as I got in bed. I timed my contractions and labored by myself all night long, finally waking the hubby up when it was time to go to the hospital. He then took one full hour to: go put gas in the car (yes, he knew we were out of gas when my water broke at 9 PM the night before), take a shower, eat breakfast, put on cologne that made me gag, call his family, etc. Thank God my mom was there, and finally put her foot down. She personally put me and my bag into the car and told my husband that we had to leave NOW!

The hospital was in another town, about a half hour's drive. By the time we got there it was at least 90 minutes after the time we should have arrived and I was already in transition.

When the nurse checked my cervix it was an 8. Half an hour later I was pushing. I did end up pushing for 2 1/2 hours, so it's not like we would have had the baby on the side of the road, but my mom really put the fear of God into my very young husband about how fast the next baby might come. (And yes, the next one came much faster, but this time we went to the hospital earlier than they reccommended and the boy was delivered after a few pushes.)

Looking back, I realize that we were way too young to be parents. Especially my husband. He just had no idea how serious it was back then. It's a miracle that our firstborn survived our immaturity.