Your personal delivery experience- what happened

shortstuff31117 · Oct 16, 2007

My first experience was not good. It was planned hospital birth with midiwives. I labored for 12 hrs at home, then went to the hospital, where I was a whole 3 cm. Eventually I was 6cm for 2 whole hours (gasp) so I got the standard interentions - pitocin, IUPC, epidural. Did not progress for 2 more hours, baby had lates so had a c-section. Got the standard - your baby is probably too big. Dropped my BP after the baby was out, so I had several rounds of ephedrine. I remember vomiting on the OR table while the OB and my midwife chatted, and the anesthesiologist ignored me. My next delivery was a vbac at home. About 7 hours active labor, this baby had a bigger head and a compound hand, so much for my first being too big. A much better experience, got to sleep in my own bed with no one bugging me every 2 hours.

zerby1470 · Oct 16, 2007

I was a somewhat scheduled induction at 37 weeks - pre-eclampsia. My BP on admission was 228/129. Had gone through the entire pregnancy set on no epidurals, no episiotomy, ambulation during labor, natural as a hospital birth could be. It wasn't to be. My nurse was awesome - she was a midwife in the peace corp, and very supportive. Due to the induction and hospital protocol, I was bed bound and NPO.After 32 hours of being maxed out on Pit, I had dilated to 3cm. BP was getting worse, Headaches and periodic epistaxis were not good, and everyone was kicked out of my room. At 34 hours and 4 cm of dilation, I consented to an epidural. I was sick, exhausted, and just wanted to be done. After 37 hours, I was complete. Dr performed an episiotomy (DD had a 14.75" head), and a 3rd degree tear later, she was born. Not the birth I had planned, but after mourning what I had hoped for, I am grateful for what I have now.

LuckyMe2g · Oct 16, 2007

Please forgive my lack of medical knowledge in advance...I'm still pre-nursing :saint:

DD #1 was born in '04. Toward the end of the pregnancy my BP started creeping up, so I was induced at 39 weeks. I had cervadil and pit but no progress, so I had a c/s. I wish they had let me get up and walk around more, but they were insistent on keeping me hooked to that bp cuff!

DD #2 was born in '06. I was considered a medium risk all through the pregnancy due to the high bp the first time around. But, my bp was great so at 26 weeks they put me back on the standard schedule of visits. I also had to switch Dr's at that point because my OB was out on maternity leave.

Less than a week later, I started getting headaches. I ignored them for 3 days thinking it was a migraine :nono: Finally on the 3rd day I went in (hoping they'd just give me something stronger than tylenol) and was sent straight to L&D. I can't remember what my bp was, but it was incredibly high. I was in the L&D triage room getting checking in for a 24-hr urine test, I think the protein was either +2 or +3 in the Dr's office. I sent DH home to get DD #1 dinner and find a sitter, as we were living far away from our family. My nurse gave me some tylenol and went to get my paperwork together to check me in. I laid down and tried to sleep. I was hoping DH would return before they did the u/s because at my 20 week u/s we couldn't really tell 100% but they thought it was a girl and I wanted to see for sure

All of a sudden I started feeling not right....my mind kind of felt groggy and my tongue felt heavy. I thought to myself, "hmmmm...something's not right." So, I reached for the call button and my hand wouldn't cooperate! My arm was shaking and I was as scared as I have ever been in that moment. Not knowing what else to do, I started crying out for help, then I passed out.

I was so lucky that there was another couple in that triage room who heard me. The husband moved the curtain and saw I was seizing and went to get the nurse. Apparently I had two separate seizures and didn't respond to the meds they gave me.

When I finally woke up, my second daughter was already born. She was 1 lb and 12 oz, and 13 in long. I was so loopy from all the drugs that I don't remember, but they let me see her before they transported her to a level III NICU across town. I spent several days in ICU, and several more in PP. DD spent 2 months in the NICU, and she's a beautiful 19 month old now :heartbeat

The funny thing is that my OB was a patient two rooms down from me when I finally made it to PP

ERGirl83 · Oct 16, 2007

Oh geez...if it weren't for my beautiful son, I'd say it was a horrible experience....

The week before I went into labor I had horrible nightmares of my son not fitting through the birth canal, and us both dying during delivery. I called and begged my doctor for a c-section, and he refused, promised me it was just nerves, and at the first signs of labor he'd admit me and give me my epi to relax me.

I went into labor at 2:45 am on Saturday morning...I went to the hospital at 7:00 am with contractions (and HORRIBLE back labor) every 3 minutes I couldn't breathe through. Get hooked up, checked and sent home because I wasn't dialating fast enough (still only a 1)...I ask if they talked to my doctor, my nurse says that they did.

I go home, not sure when to return because my doctor told me to come in when contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, and they were already that. I suffer at home until about 1:00 pm when I just can't take it anymore. Contractions are now 2 minutes apart, I can barely breathe through them and am still having horrible back labor. Go in, get checked, still a 1. Do some walking, still a one, get sent home AGAIN, though with some Stadol this time.

I feel better for a couple of hours or so with the stadol, but contractions come back with a vengence and I'm back at the hospital at 9 pm, where they monitor me for an hour, and then try to send me home again, with continuous strong contractions 2 minutes apart. This time I completely lose it, and tell them that I'm not leaving until *I* speak to my doctor in person. 5 minutes later, they tell me I can stay and the anesthesiologist is on his way with my glorious epi.

The epi is fabulous...at first...until it stops working and the pump isn't doing a thing. Doc comes in about 2 am, and says he needs to put some internal monitors on the baby to be safe. He apologizes for me not being admitted earlier, though says nothing else.

The nurse comes in about 30 minutes later asking me to put some oxygen on, to "help you relax." So I put it on (NOT a nasal canula) and have some sort of weird reaction to the mask where my left eye swells shut. New nurse tells me it's okay to hold the oxygen around my mouth and not wear it. Because I was told it was to help ME to relax, I would periodically take it off. The nurse kept coming in and telling me to put it back on because, again, "it will help you relax," until FINALLY a new nurse comes in and tells me that my baby is in some sort of duress (I can't remember the exact words) and that I need to put the oxygen on and keep it on regardless of the eye...Yeah, if they'd have just told me earlier it was for HIM and not to help me relax, I'd never have taken it off.

I'm finally past the 6 and at a 9 by Sunday morning (SUPER BOWL SUNDAY) around 8:30 am. By 9am, my epi has stopped working correctly and anesthesia comes back to give me some new drugs. This glorious man came back every 45 minutes to re-dose me, and is still my hero.

I can tell something is really wrong by 9:30 because my doctor is back, in his church clothes, and looks really worried, and PISSED. I hear him yelling something at the nurses but I can't tell what. He comes in the room and says I'm still at a 9.5 with a "lip", and baby's not tolerating things so well. He tells me to try to push to see what happens, and that I might need a c-section after all. I practically BEG him for one because labor has been so horrible, and next thing I know, he's yelling to the nurses about losing Landon's heartrate and me going tachy, and to get me to the OR now.

As we're rolling down the hall, I can hear him yelling at the nurses for waiting so long to call him, and the last thing I hear before I blacked out (or was put under...don't know) is him telling my Mom that if she had anyone to call or anything to say to me to say it now.

Of course, in the end it all turned out fine, Landon's apgars were 6/9 and we both made it through alive and well. The nurses on my case were all fired for a myriad of reasons, and my Mom told me later that the when I came out of surgery, the doctor told them all that they were lucky we both survived, or they could have added lawsuit to their list of problems. Turns out they never called him on Saturday all the times I was sent home, so not sure who the heck ordered that Stadol they gave me.

I ended up with a staph infection from my section, and had to stay in the hospital until Friday on IV antibiotics, and then when I got home I managed to get a cerroma (I have no idea if that's spelled right, it's late and I should be studying anatomy) and had to go have my incision opened and drained.

All in all, it was well worth it and I preferred my c-section/recovery to my labor 1000x over, even with the complications. Turns out, my crazy pre-labor dreams were dead on. My pelvis was too small to safely deliver him, and thank goodness I can have a repeat c-section for subsequent deliveries...But, maybe you can understand why I don't want anymore for a LONG, LONG time, and maybe you can help me convince my husband! It's only been 20 months and he's already ready for another!

ERGirl83 · Oct 16, 2007

I wanted to add that my PP nurses were PHENOMENAL. They were kind, compassionate, helpful and managed to teach me without being condescending. I never had to ask for anything, it was there before I knew I needed it. They almost made up for the L&D nurses...

Now if only I could find the genius MAN (because you know it was a man) who thought putting a FULL LENGTH mirror in the bathroom of a PP room was a good idea...I think seeing myself, naked and deflated, full of stretch marks at 22 years old was almost as bad as the rest!

grace90, LPN, LVN · Oct 16, 2007

#1 My older sister had her 4 kids at home, my brother and his wife had their 4 kids at home, and my oldest brother's wife had her first at home. We had minimal medical insurance when we first got married, and barely minimum wage jobs. Some friends told us all kinds of horror stories about hospital deliveries just because they'd had a bad experience in a L&D unit in Canada I think. Anyway....

I decided to have a homebirth, found a midwife, and got prenatal care regularly. We got in a car accident when I was 12 weeks, but other than bumps, bruises and major anxiety, we were alright and so was the baby. I worked in a nursing home, and an alz patient punched me in the stomach. All was still alright. I started having contractions in the morning, irregularly. We had bought a old Honda Prelude the day before, so my husband took me for a wild ride in it in hopes it would speed things up.

In the evening, after all day of having irregular contractions that weren't real strong, a midwife came to check on me and said I was only 2 cm dilated and they would be back to check on me in a few hours and to stay in phone contact. An hour or so later, the contractions started getting stronger. Talked to one of the midwives and she said she was on her way over. My water broke before they got there. Oh my, did the contractions kick my #$%! I sat on the toilet a lot because it seemed to help me progress.

I was in so much pain, I couldn't seem to find any position that was comfortable and ended up leaning against the baby crib for what seemed like hours. I was freezing, even though everyone else was hot and it was in the 90's and August. I pushed for almost an hour, squeezing my husband's fingers with each contraction. It's amazing I didn't break his fingers! I guess when my son was getting closer to being delivered, I was yelling "my butt's gonna explode! my butt's gonna explode!" cuz it was putting so much pressure on my lower abdomen, rectum, etc.

So I finally slowly pushed him out, got one periurethral tear (yow!) and as soon as I saw him I said "My baby!". They put him on my belly, but he was really gurgly and not a good color and they had to suction him and stimulate him and he wasn't crying. Finally he did cry and we turned him over (he'd been face down on my belly) and saw he was a boy, so I said "Hi, David!" cuz that was the name we'd agreed on. I was happy, sore, exhausted, nervous and nauseated all at the same time! Even though I had babysat neighborhood kids and cared for my nieces and nephews, I felt all thumbs with a newborn for a few days. Guess that's probably normal...

#2 My second was born at home, too. I got pregnant again when my son was 5 months old. Turns out breastfeeding is not effective birth control. When I was 8 months pregnant, we were just starting a business and my husband's job was ending and we only had health insurance until the end of the month. I went into labor just 2 days prior to losing the coverage. Our dryer had stopped working and we had been using a neighbor's clothes line and then our washer croaked too. Laundry built up to a crisis point until I lugged my big belly and my big 13 month old to a laundromat and spent the next few hours lugging him and laundry baskets around. He wasn't walking yet and I didn't want him sitting on the floor. That totally wiped me out! All the rain was making our roof leak, and we were using pans to catch the water. I woke up at 4 in the morning freaking out because the pans were all full and the floor was soaked. I was frantically trying to get everything dry for a while and finally gave up and went to bed after feeling a few irregular contractions.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt a contraction as my husband was getting ready that morning to go get things done for the business, and I told him not to go anywhere. I remember looking at the clock and it said 7:31 am. This time my labor progressed more quickly. I was in labor exactly 12 hours with her. She was born at 7:30 pm. We ended up doing nipple stim because I stalled out at 2 cm for quite a while. We picked out her name when I was 5 cm dilated. At one point, the midwives had checked me and were rubbing my back and coaching me and my water broke and got all over one of them. I puked through all my labors to the point of having small streaks of blood in the emesis, and one of the times I threw up with this labor I also uncontrollably peed the bed.

When I was pushing her out, somehow she got halfway out up to her waist and I just didn't have the strength to push her legs out. She stayed halfway in and halfway out for a few minutes because I kept telling the durn midwives that I couldn't push anymore, to pull her out and they kept telling me I had to push her out, that they were not going to pull her out the rest of the way. I guess I finally must have mustered up enough strength to do it cuz she did get out. But that freakin' pissed me off. On the upside, she nursed like a little pro and I felt less nervous.

#3 The last was born in the hospital. I was still mad at the midwives (ok, so I'm a grudgeholder) and also decided I'd had enough of going all natural and wanted pain medicine. I was working as a nurse's aide in LTC up until 5 days before she was born. For about the last two weeks, I'd been having sporadic contractions, several times a day and not really severe, but enough to make me take notice. The last day of work, I came in and was sent home. They decided they didn't need me. Maybe they were afraid they'd have to deliver a baby if I stayed and lifted anyone. The day I went into labor, I drank a lot of ginseng tea and took some castor oil, which did nothing but relieve major constipation. We went to my in-law's house that evening and I was so nauseated I couldn't stand the smell of what they were eating. Since they were going to watch the older two for us when I went to the hospital, they had been asking a lot if I felt like I was in labor. My MIL told me she had a feeling I was gonna deliver soon. She was right. I fell asleep and dreamed that a friend of mine was giving me medicine that was making me have contractions. Then I woke up and realized I really was having contractions. Of course, I started puking almost right away. We got the older two up and out of bed, pulled together the clothes for them I had packed earlier and got them over to my in-laws and headed in to the birth center. I was only at 2 cm and still puking my brains out. I got some IM Phenergan, and I swear it slowed my labor down for a few hours. My contractions got less frequent and less painful. I got up and walked a couple times, but nothing changed until the CNM came in, checked me and stripped my membranes until I hollered at her to stop. Then I walked some more, and was finally at 4 cm so I got to leave triage and get admitted. I got in the whirlpool tub in my room, and by this time I was 5 cm and the contractions were really beginning to hurt. In between contractions, while in this tub, my husband and I finally agreed on a name and on the spelling. When I got out, my contractions were hurting like a SOB and I got pretty demanding about wanting an epidural. I ended up getting IV Nubain and an epidural. That Nubain made me feel like craparoni. I think it took a slight edge off, but I felt woozy and out of it. A little while after the epidural got put in, my contractions got tougher and the nurse said I sounded pushy. She checked me and I was complete. All of a sudden there was a flurry of people in my room bringing in a warmer, and other stuff (I'm a M/S nurse, not LD). The CNM checked me and said that she was gonna break my water. I wasn't really feeling the contractions and was still out of it from the darn Nubain, so she had to tell me when to push. When my daughter finally came out, the first thing I thought was "Boy is she small!". She was 13 days early, which wasn't a big deal (the other two were 10 and 11 days early) and weighed 5# 10 oz. I guess she needed some stim when she was first born and they kept her in the nursery for a few hours to keep an eye on her. I decided with two other children under the age of 3, there was no way I was gonna even try breastfeeding, so we did the bottle from the beginning. I guess if I had to do it over again, I'd have had all 3 kids in the birth center, but hindsight is 20/20. Can't change the past, just learn from it.

ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 16, 2007

Why didn't someone start this thread earlier in my life?!

DD #1 decided to break my water on Mother's day at 6pm and wait about 24 hours to arrive. When I hadn't started contracting by 11am, in came the pitocin drip. Wonderful labor nurse, Louise, had to flip me at one time, baby must have had a decel and I couldn't turn myself mid contraction. I got into the tub at 3:30 and was 3 cm when I got in. 1/2 hour later I tried to get out of the tub but had to have my husband, best friend and nurse help me out because every time I tried to move I got hit with a whopper of a contraction. When I was finally able to make it to the bed for a check I was complete. 3-10 in 40 minutes! No wonder I was pissed at the world. I didn't have to push for long, and begged for drugs the whole time. My midwife told me there weren't any on the floor and they had to call to the pharmacy for a re-supply, so "just push". I bought that lame story and had 7lb 6 oz Kathleen 3 contractions later. My DH will tell you I needed the drugs, I squeezed his left hand so tightly that I bent his wedding band and he hasn't been able to take it off since! (40 and 1)

DD #2 three and a half years later. Woke at 4:15 am with slammin' contractions. Called midwife, told her I was going to take a shower and would see her after shift change at 7am. I made it to 6:15. Took at 40 minute drive down a bumpy country road and into the ER while hubby parked the car. By the time he made it into the hospital I had crept down the hall stopping for a contraction every 5 steps. Midwife was getting out of the elevator when I got to it and I told her I thought my blood sugar was low because I was shaking. Cute girl, blond pony tail, white sweatshirt and shorts with Keds. She told me I was probably in transition. "As if I could get that lucky" was my reply. Into room, into gown, into bed for a check. Hubby has gone to get me some apple juice to help with the shakes, down it goes- up it comes. Midwife checks, says "you are 8, don't do anything, I'll be right back". I can hear her thundering down the hall, and back in some scrubs as a new grad RN tries to get my IV in between contractions. After I tell her to "get away from me with that needle!" (I gave her 2 tries), midwife has gotten gloves on and gives the OK to push. 2 contractions later out comes 8lb14 oz Rachel. I was in the ER at 0655 and Rachel was born at 0707! (41 and 2)

#1 Son is third child, exactly 2 years and 5 days later. Scene sounds familiar as I woke at 3:15 am with those whoppers again. Hubby calls sitter while I am in the shower and off we go. Thankfully the road had been repaved and I didn't wait as long to go to the hospital this time. Spent 2 hours in the rocking chair and when the midwife noticed I was not tolerating my contractions as well she put me into bed for a check. Complete! Hubby into gown and gloves to catch the baby. (We had decided we were having another girl since we couldn't tell on the ultrasound and had not bought anything new. 3rd pregnancy ran same course as number 2 so we were sure it was another girl.) Time to push... head is out - straight OP - here comes the body. Hubby was doing a great job just managing to follow instructions through his tears. Midwife says "Are you going to tell her what it is?" Hubby says " I thiiinnnnkkk it's a bbbbbbooooyyy" through his sobbing. Welcome Luke at 8lbs 12 oz. (40 and 6)

And that is why I work in L&D today!

ParrotHeadRN · Oct 17, 2007

What an awesome story momster, thanks for sharing!

psalm, RN · Oct 17, 2007

First baby was 24 hours labor, and that's not counting the 12 hours before that of contractions every 10 minutes. Went to hosp. at 0500 and waited outside OB until nurse could "check me". No restroom in area and was told to use the public restroom on floor 2 floors down. Did I say this was a military hospital?

Finally get examined after change of shift, and am only 1cm!! Told to go home and walk. Go to friends and can't make it up her stairs to go potty, so I pee in her kitchen in a pot. Go back to hosp. at 1100, as contractions are every 2--3 min. Only 3 cm. Told I can get admitted and stay in bed (this was 1977) or go home and walk... Go home to my house now. Make it upstairs to bed and bath...

Go to potty and lose my mucus plug, friend with me says, that's it, you are staying at the hospital this time!! She drives me there (did I mention my husband was 5,000 miles away in a submarine?) and I am 6cm at 6 PM. Get the horrible shave and enema. Doc breaks my water at 7:30 PM and it is muddy..l.and I am complete. So the docs put me on my left side, one is holding my right leg up and the other has his hand in me trying to turn the baby's head. He says if it doesn't turn I will need a C-section.

Before I start getting shaved for C-section I am crowning and we fly to Delivery room #1, I have a paracervical and episiotomy, and the awful leather restraints for my hands... and at 8:14 PM I have my son. His apgar was 7 so they took him to nursery after suctioning him before I could hold or kiss him. Blonde hair, blue eyes, very healthy after a couple of hours.

He is now an inventor and a few years ago on his honeymoon he went back "to the land of my birth" (his words when he was 7 years old) and took pictures of Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

psalm, RN · Oct 17, 2007

Did I mention #1 son was posterior, that is why the docs were trying to turn him...

...then the second baby. I was making dinner and figured I would never have this baby so I splurged and ate a couple of chocolate covered macadamia nuts just arrived from Hawaii from a friend. 2 minutes later, I kid you not, I started labor, and not the every 5 minutes...I had an intense, can't walk contraction. 2 minutes later again, and again and ....

My mother-in-law walks in the door for dinner and I am whining....husband takes me to hospital, drops me off at front entrance coz it wasn't 8 pm yet, parks the car while I am dying on an ottoman. Someone shows up with a wheelchair and we go to the 4th floor. I am checked and am a 3. I cry coz I think I can't do 12 hours of this. Shaved and enema and now am going nuts. Water breaks and it feels so good...and hurts.

Nurse tells husband I am in transition and to help me breathe. My dear gentle husband tells me you can do it honey...nurse says, no you got to get in her face and yell if you have to. So next contraction he says you can do it honey and I say I can't , and he GETS RIGHT IN MY FACE and says YES YOU CAN NOW BREATHE!!! the nurses laugh and I am doing better. Soon I am complete and doc says don't push...

Get to the delivery room #1 and about 2 pushes later son #2 is born. First delivery for my husband and we are estatic. He was the bestest baby born at Saginaw General Hospital...

Both boys were 16 days late and both peed on the doc in the delivery room. I am so blessed!!

smk1, LPN · Oct 17, 2007

I started having contractions at 35 weeks. Went in to my doc and she said I was dilated 1 cm and effaced 20%. Over the next 6 weeks I went in to the hospital thinking "this is it" every week. I was in labor because I was effacing and dilating, but it would stop and I would get sent home. By 40 weeks I was dilated 3 cm and effaced 60% but was still home with no baby. Finally 41 weeks and madder than a hornet that I was the only pregnant woman in the world whose baby did not want to come out and I was still getting the "oh my god look how big you are" and "must be twins" comments, hubby and I went to my parents house to play games and have dinner with my family (my younger brother and his then girlfriend and my older sister were there too). I was so uncomfortable I kept getting up and doing light lamaze style breathing and changing positions on the couch. (no real difference than how my contractions had always felt though). At 9 pm My mom said to get in the car and lets go. "you look different this time" was her reasoning. we went in and one of the nurses rolled her eyes because she recognized me and made some irritating comment about how I'd "better be right this time". I was at a 3.5 and 70% and so another nurse suggested I walk up and down the stairs in the lobby for a couple of hours and come back. So we did. I had a friend who just had a baby a few days ago who had to stay in the nursery so we went and visited him again. A few hours later I went back to the labor and delivery area and I was 4.5 cm and 100 % effaced and then I was admitted. A nice perky student nurse fro my future nursing school came in to ask if she could start my I.V. I told her no because my veins were hard to get. My nurse couldn't get it in 2 tries, so up comes the IV team who poked me 4 more times before they got a vein (which promptly blew and was filling up my had with SL). The 7th time was the magic number and I was happy because this meant I could have an epidural as the pain was wearing me out. The CRNA wasn't around yet so I got into the whirlpool tub and the jets helped SO MUCH! but as soon as I got out I was right back to where I started pain wise. The epidural went smoothly, though I vomited right away (low BP maybe?) For the next couple of hours I played cards with my mom and hubby and watched a bit of TV. Doc broke my water and I said goodbye to one shift and hello to another but not a lot was happening as far as labor. The nurse did tell me that I was having a nine-pounder with a ton of hair. (i wasn't happy to hear nine pounds though). So pit was started to get things moving. My epidural wore off (boy was I shocked to feel fine one minute and the most horrible pain the next... it really doesn't "wear" off does it lol?) I sat up straight in the bed and burst into tears. The The CRNA probably thought I was the most irritating woman because I told him not to leave this floor until this kid was out. (I was dead serious too in all my labor induced pyschosis). So once the epidural was updated, I vomited (again low BP?) and fell asleep and woke up feeling like I had to have a bowel movement. I called the nurse to get a bed pan as my legs were kind of numb from the epidural. She smiled and said lets check you, and said "hey its time to start pushing". I had a moment of panic as I realized I would actually have to push something the size of a small watermelon out of a hole the size of a small plum. We waited for he doctor to come in and as we are waiting I hear the woman next door screaming her head off while she is pushing. I looked at my mom and started crying. My mom had all C-sections for her births so she looked at me and cried too. Hubby just patted my hand and kept quiet (good thing too). The mid-wife who was going to step in for my doctor came in and we started pushing and my mom looked like she was going to faint seeing all of the blood and fluid. I pudhed for almost 2 hours and they began prepping a room for a section because the HR kept going down on my little one. I was so tired I was falling asleep between contractions. I finally got her out and she had the cord wrapped around her neck and it was in a knot. (poor kid!). Anway she was 8 pounds 14 ounces (good call by that night shift nurse) and had TONS of silky jet black hair. She also could see clear across the room. My dad noticed she was following him when he walked back and forth across the room. AMAZING! lol She had to stay a week in the nursery because they thought she had an infection (wasn't holding her temp, suspicious blood work). But all and all she was fine and learned to sleep through alarms chiming and crying babies 24/7! That's my girl!

crysobrn · Oct 17, 2007

I was young when I had my son. I tried to read up on everything about labor and delivery as well as caring for a newborn, breastfeeding etc. I'm not sure that it really helped LOL... I went to my OB when I was 38 wks preggers and she checked me for the first time in a while. I was 5cm!! Woohoo I thought, I'll have this baby in no time, this has been a breeze and I'm half way there... I walked and walked and did many other things that I was told would bring on labor... Kept walking somemore, returned to the OB's office the next week... still 5cm... She suggested AROM and delivery of this baby so I could "make it to the hospital" Then I was convinced the kid would pretty much just fall out. I didn't want to be induced though so I went about my normal routine, started school that week (prereqs for RN program) and the following week ended up going to OB twice for "false labor"

Well eventually I think that my OB got sick of seeing me up there, plus I was postdates (41.5 by dates) and she suggested we start pit and see what happened. Within hours I was uncomortable, srom at 9cm and pushed for a full hour before my 10#4oz bouncing baby boy was delivered. We were SHOCKED at his size as I had only gained a total of 9lbs through the pregnancy!

With baby number two I was a nurse, floated to OB on occasion so I knew the nurses etc. I again walked around dilated (this time to 4cm) for weeks. I was actually still working until 38.5 wks. At my 39 wk appt I asked for an AROM citing the fact that I doubt my body even knows how to go into labor, and with Jordan's size I'm beginning to worry about cpd or c/s etc... She denies me an induction (which I think is funny because when I started in OB she induced people for MUCH less). Anyway she tells me that if I don't deliver over the weekend to come to OB and she'll see me there. Ok so the weekend comes and goes and no baby, so I just show up at the OB, no orders, no notice (I didn't realize she wanted me to call) and the nurse that took me was PI**ED about it!

So, doc comes and aroms me and I stay on the monitor for while and then go off on my own to walk. I am wandering at the end of the hall when everyone that I have ever met in the whole hospital comes to say hi and see how I'm doing, well I start to get uncomfortable but don't want to be rude so I just keep chatting. Pretty soon the PI**ED off OB nurse comes running around the corner and tells me I need to get into bed and on the EFM... I do, and I'm WAY more uncomfortable in bed... I need to get up. THis upsets her more. She insists on checking me, I'm 7-8cm and not happy LOL... I'm quiet and I want it quiet. Ob nurse knows my mom is a nurse for homecare and starts talking about her aging mother and how she gets homecare etc... I want them to shut up, OB nurse convinces me to have half a dose of stadol because by now I have an ant lip and want to push. I take the stadol and feel like I'm so drugged up that I want to throw up and sleep! But it's time to push, So I push for 15ish minutes and out comes one baby girl weighing in at 9lb13oz... My OB is shocked because earlier in the pregnancy when I had an elevated AFP without reason, the perinatologists told her that no doubt my baby would be tiny, they were worried that there was something wrong with my placenta and that it could not sustain a baby beyond 6-7lbs... Well sometimes they're wrong.

Seems pretty easy and straightforward but honestly it has taken me years to think that I'd like to try it again. My husband and I got pregnant again this year and I miscarried followed by a d&c weeks later... We still hope to be able to add one more little peonut to our family because those births are just so worth it:)