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I had my baby!! - long (kinda scary) birth story and HUGE photobomb!
The morning started off normally and everything seemed fine with the pregnancy. I never would have suspected that the ob appointment I was headed to was going to be a game changer. When I arrived at the obs office at 10:15 am on May 10th everything seemed normal, that was until the ob turned on the Doppler at 11. My baby was having very clear heart decelerations from 160bpm down to 100bpm. I knew right away that something was wrong and the ob quickly sent me to labour and delivery for monitoring and ultrasound.
We got to the hospital at 11:30 and I was hooked up to the monitors. The decels continued to happen. It was terrifying!!! While the monitoring continued we heard a scream from down the hall!....a woman 2 rooms over gave birth in the toilet!! It was crazy! Thankfully the baby was OK. It added quite the intense atmosphere to our already scary morning.
Shortly after the on call doctor came in and told me that they were not even going to attempt an ultrasound and then gave me 2 options. A. Try an induction and move to c-section if needed or B. Go straight to c-section. There were no ifs ands or buts about it...at 37 weeks 2 days we were going to begin the process...we were going to have our baby! I was registered into the hospital and the iv was in place by 12:30. I was a little worried about inducing so early even though she was technically full term, she was only just. I knew there was a chance she would have to go to NICU but I knew in my heart that the right thing to do was get her out. It was too dangerous to continue with the pregnancy. I did not want a c-section if I didn't need one so I opted for the induction.
The doc did a cervical exam and I was only 1cm and 0% effaced but she felt confident that we could do it since it was my second child she did a stretch and sweep and then we waited. During the wait process they continued to monitor and there were still small decelerations and I was having irregular and infrequent contractions and they were quite painful At 4pm we had the scare of a lifetime! Baby girls hear dropped from 150bpm to130bpm....then 40bpm....then gone. I could have thrown up! We couldn't find the heartbeat and she wasn't moving...time just froze! I was so close to having them rush me to the OR. I've never been so scared in my life! After about a 30 seconds ( which felt like an eternity) I felt her move and we got her heartbeat back! I could finally breathe again. I never want to feel that way again!
After that scary decel her heart rate leveled out and stayed that way for an hour so we continued on with the induction process but they didn't want to start until they could have an operating room ready to go. At 5 pm the doctor came in and checked me, I had dilated to 2 cm and they inverted the cervidil strip. ( they chose the strip over the cream because it could be removed if baby didn't respond well to induction)
By 7 pm the contractions were getting much stronger and becoming more frequent but were still irregular. I was also told that I was not going to be aloud off of the monitors, unless to pee, so I would have to remain in the bed at all times. By 9 pm I had started to experience back labour! The contractions were quite strong and coming every 3-4 minutes. We were making progress!!!...then all of a sudden the contractions slowed down to every 7-8 minutes. I got really worried that the induction was failing, but just as quickly as they slowed the picked back up again and continued to come every 3 minutes.
I had been fighting with myself for a few hours at this point over whether or not I should get an epidural. I felt that I could still handle the pain but I knew that if anything went wrong and I ended up having to do an emergency c-section and I didn't already have an epidural then I would have to be put under general anesthetic and would have to be sleep for her birth. The later was not an option for me so I sucked it up and got the epidural at 12 am on May 11th. The epidural was really patchy it numbed my left side but I could still feel everything in my right but since the contractions still were not too bad it was OK.
The contractions picked up very quickly after the epidural to every 2 minutes lasting a minute. At 1 am the doctor came back to check me and I was 3-4cm. She gave another stretch, removed the cervidil and broke my water. After that the contractions quickly picked up to only 1 minute apart. By 1:30 I was completely numb, still more so in my left side, and I dosed on and off. I was so tired but terrified that if I fell asleep something would go wrong with her heart rate (which had been beautiful for hours). I was checked again at 3:40 am and no progress had been made. I was so disappointed. I was really hoping that we would not have to use pitocin but if it had to be done then It had to be done.
At 3:50am the pitocin was started. I noticed immediately that the contractions were stronger. They didn't hurt because of the epidural but I could feel the tightening in my right side. I continued to nap on and off for short periods of time until I woke up at 5:30 am and could feel a lot of pressure in my bum with each contraction. I let the nurse know I was feeling pressure and she said hopefully that was a good thing and then went on her way. Thankfully baby's heart rate remained beautiful throughout all of this time.
The pressure continued to become more intense so when the nurse came in again at 6:20am I told her that the pressure had become more intense and she offered to check me. I was hoping that I would at least be at 6cm but to all of our surprise I was ready to go! Baby's head was right there!!
The nurse hurried off to get the doctor (who was the same doctor who delivered my son). She came back in and they set up quickly and in 2 pushes Alivia was born!! She arrived:
6:39amon May 11 2013 37 weeks 3 days gestation weighing 6lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches long!
She is perfectly heathy and the doctors have no idea what was causing the decelerations. We all figure that she must have wrapped her cord and unwrapped at some point but we all agree that the induction was the best decision we could have made.
I am so incredibly lucky and thankful to have had such amazing staff and family there to support me and help me (and Livy) get through such a stressful time. Considering the circumstances I could not have asked for anything better.
just after birth
with her brother
8 days old
some of her newborn pics i took this morning (9 days old) in the items i croched her while pregnant 
Re: I had my baby!! - long (kinda scary) birth story and HUGE photobomb!
Wow, scary! And someone delivered their baby in a toilet?! How does that happen in a hospital?!
Glad to hear everthing turned out! Thank you for sharing. Looks like your son is pretty excited to be a big brother!
Congrats to you, DH, and big brother! She is beautiful!
I'm so glad everything turned out ok!
What a cutie pie!!!!
And I'm going to WTH @ baby in the toilet!
Thanks so much ladies!! We are all so excited she is here! She is such a good bbaby:D
As for the baby in the toilet, the woman really should have known better lol it was her 4th child! She hadn't been hooked up bto monitors or anything and took it upon herself to use then restroom without being checked first...hense the baby in the toilet! It can be laughed about now bcs everything was fine but their screams were really scary at first!
I hope they never tell that kid about how they were born. I would never want to know that my life started out in a toilet.
Congrats she is beautiful!
I am happy to hear she is healthy and that everything turned out ok!
hahaha I agree. It is slightly entertaining, though, since everything was okay
LOVE love love your pics, scary going early but I am glad everything worked out in the end and you have your adorable baby girl! (The other lady had baby in the toilet oh gosh)
Funny that I am reading this now as I am on my way out to my OB appt lol, mind you we are only 34 weeks so a bit to early for our baby girl to come
congrats again she really is darling!
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