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Sebastian's Birth Story (Warning - Very Long!!)
I?m a bit late in posting my birth story, but better late than never! Sebastian Richard was born February 6th at 8:34 pm via an unplanned C-section due to fetal distress and heart decelerations. I delivered at Exempla Lutheran and while it wasn?t exactly the birth experience I anticipated, baby was ultimately born healthy at 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long.
If you remember, I pushed my induction back to 41 weeks in the hopes that he would come on his own before then. Obviously, he had other plans so we finally went in for induction on Super Bowl Sunday at 8 pm. I still wasn't dilated or effaced so they started me on my first dose of Cytotec around 10 pm to try to get my cervix softened overnight. At 2 am, I was still not dilated, but was 50% effaced, so they gave me a second dose of Cytotec. By 4 am, I was finally starting to have some of my first timeable, regular contractions, but I still wasn't progressing much and was maybe a fingertip dilated. By 6 am, I was only 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced and the contractions were picking up a bit more, but baby?s heart rate was showing some minor dips during contractions. At 7:30 am, my doctor decided that she wanted to break my water and get me going on pitocin to see if that might help jump start labor. The doctor noticed some meconium in my water and said she was a little concerned, especially combined with the dips in baby?s heart rate during my contractions.
By 8 am I was having pretty strong, regular contractions but still was only 2 cm dilated. At 9 am, the contractions were really painful, so I requested some fentanyl to take the edge off, which gave me instant relief, but made me feel almost drunk. Although just a few minutes later, the nurse asked if I wanted my epidural as the anesthesiologist was available now before having to do 2 scheduled C-sections. It was turning out to be a very busy day on the L&D floor, so she was afraid I?d have to wait too long if I didn?t just get it then. So after the prep, my epi was in place by 10 am, which made things so much better. I honestly don't know how some of you did it all natural and I give you so much credit. The contractions I had were still early labor ones so I can't even begin to imagine how horrible the ones are once you are in active labor and transition. I know the pitocin can give you horrible contractions so I was more than grateful to get my epidural early, especially because the L&D floor got even crazier that afternoon (there were 14 babies born that day - the norm is 6-7 a day). And getting the epi was quick and painless and I started to feel the relief almost immediately. Although getting the epi meant I was stuck in bed and meant more monitoring, IV?s and interventions, including internal fetal and contraction monitoring.
So once I got the epi, I slowly progressed throughout the day. But by 3:30 pm, baby?s heart rate was so erratic that they turned off the pitocin for a while and gave me a shot of terbulatine to slow the contractions and see if his heart rate would recover. I was only 5 cm at this point but 100% effaced. Once they got things stabilized, they slowly started the pitocin again and finally at 6:30 pm, I was fully dilated and I was so excited thinking that it was finally time to start pushing. The nurses starting prepping the room for delivery but the doctor wanted me to try to labor down for a while since the baby?s heart rate was continuing to decelerate every time I had a contraction, which were coming about every 60-90 seconds now. He was also very high and wasn?t descending on his own, so she was worried I?d end up having to push for a very long time. The nurses put me on oxygen and kept trying to change my position in bed to see if his heart rate would rebound, but nothing was really working. And despite the epi, I was also starting to feel each contraction deep inside my cervix area, which was becoming increasingly painful. By 7:15 pm, he wasn?t moving down and he was showing even more signs of distress with each contraction. So she gave me the choice of having a C-section or trying to push. But she was afraid that pushing might send baby into more fetal distress and that he wouldn?t tolerate labor and that I would end up in an emergency C-section situation anyhow. So after much contemplation and some tears, I decided it was best for baby to just go ahead with the C-section instead of putting him at further risk if I tried to deliver vaginally. At least this way, we could take our time and prepare for the C-section and not be rushed into emergency surgery. So after 16 hours of labor (although thankfully not really feeling most of it) and finally getting to 10 cm, I never got to push even once, which was a little disappointing.
It turned out that the C-section was probably inevitable as once he was out, we found out that he was sunny side up, twisted and his head was wedged up against my pelvis and probably wouldn't have come out easily, if at all. His little head even had a temporary deep dent in the back where he was crammed against my pelvis. Plus the cord was wrapped around his neck and shoulders, which was part of the reason he wasn't descending on his own. And with the meconium already in the water, there was greater risk he'd swallow some if it during birth and cause respiratory complications. So while I didn't want a C-section, it turned out to be the best thing for him and it was a blessing that I didn't start pushing earlier and put him into further distress.
The C-section was pretty straight forward, although I felt so groggy the whole time and ended up puking on the table a few times and had a bad case of the shakes in my arms. The baby was really was wedged in there as I vaguely recall my doctor climbing on the table at one point trying to dislodge him from my pelvis. DH was pretty freaked out but did awesome and was so supportive during the entire process. And only 21 minutes after they wheeled me into the OR, Sebastian was finally born. He came out crying and peeing on everything and he scored well on his APGAR tests (7 and then a 9). And with the exception of a little jaundice the day we left the hospital, he's been doing very well. We left the hospital on Thursday evening, mostly because I could not take the hospital staff coming in and out of my room all day and all night. I felt like we could never get any sleep or time to ourselves in the hospital and DH was more than ready to get home and get settled in together.
So far, Sebastian is doing well and we?re just trying to get used to each other and what?s become our new ?normal.? The recovery has been hard and I was so unbelievable swollen for the first two weeks that I could hardly walk. But things are much better now and he breastfeeds well and sleeps in semi-regular 2-3 hour increments during the night. The sleep deprivation is hard but I?m getting used to it and we?re all just taking things one day at a time. My siggy photo was taken at the hospital two days after his birth.
Married July 21, 2007
Re: Sebastian's Birth Story (Warning - Very Long!!)
my read shelf:
Growing Up Olson
That's a long day of labor. He is precious--congratulations.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
Married Bio
Congrats!!
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Tizzle 10/07 ~ Boppy 7/09 ~ Chicken 1/12
2014 Reading Goal: 85