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AW: Jesse's Birth Story!
I had come down with PUPPS (a super obnoxious itchy rash)at about 38 weeks and I was trying to deal with it. I was putting on a ridiculous amount of lotion and cortizone every day and taking benadryl. At my 39 week appointment, my doctor was ready to induce me that night if I wanted, but it seemed a little crazy that I could have my baby that night, so we ate lunch and tried to talk over when we should have our baby. My problem was that I didn't want to get induced, I was afraid that pitocin would jack everything up and hurt worse and cause complications. But every minute I was scratching and putting too much on/in my body and baby to stop the itching, so it was kind of a lose-lose situation. We ended up deciding on getting induced on his due date.
So it was 7:30 on Monday November 14th and we were just getting settled into the labor room. I had to do paper work, I got hooked up to a bunch of stuff, a heart monitor for the baby, a contraction monitor, had to keep a blood pressure band around my arm and I got hooked up to an IV and pitocin drip, but it wasn't until about 9:30 that the pitocin actually started. The doctor came in to make sure he was head down and I was already 4 cm dilated! So we started off really slow with the pitocin. They came in every half hour or so and upped my dose by 2 mL an hour. I had a few friends, my dad, Matt and his mom in the room with me. We chatted and time was flying by. We watched my contractions on the monitor, nothing too strong, and about 4 or 5 minutes apart. We played card games, told stories, checked facebook and kept everyone updated. At about 2, my friends came back with Bojangles and sonic slushes which I only snacked on a little since getting up to pee was the biggest pain. I was checked again at 2:30 and I was still only 4 cm. They upped the dose again, by this time we were at 16 or 18 mL of pitocin an hour and we watched my contractions get longer, stronger and come more often. It was pretty manageable since they felt like period cramps (I had pretty bad cramps during my periods, they just weren't every 3 minutes). For the most part I could just breathe through them. For some reason, something funny would happen every time I was at the peak of my contraction and I would laugh, and it wouldn't feel awesome, but I was laughing so we were all having a good time. Everyone was amazed that I was laughing and smiling through labor. By 4 I was 6 cm. Progress! So we upped my dose a little more and now my contractions were 1 to 2 minutes apart. I started needing Matt during the peaks of my contractions. At first I was just squeezing his hand, but as they got stronger I was really holding on and focusing on breathing through each one. By 6, I was 8 cm. It was starting to get serious because we needed to move into the delivery room and I started feeling pushy. As everyone was moving around us, Matt and I focused on my contractions. I was finally wheeled into the delivery room. We could only have 3 people in the room, so Matt sat by my side on my bed, his mom at one leg and our good friend Amber at my other leg. This part is a little foggy but I remember feeling the contraction and this intense pushing urge. So I would push for 10 seconds, breathe and push twice more. We did this through about 10 contractions, at the end I was pushing 4 times per contraction. I kept hearing everyone getting so excited about how close he was to coming out. I just remembering not being able to breathe and getting an oxygen mask at some point. I was so weak and tired and couldn't catch my breath. I started to feel him stay out (since it felt like he was going in after I pushed which was really frustrating) so I mustered all I could and pushed until he was out!! I laid there trying to catch my breath as there was a whirlwind of cleaning and crying and he was handed to me. I tiredly counted his fingers and watched Matt shakely cut his chord. He was so beautiful and his cry was so amazing. I was so proud and so very tired, but at 8:10, Jesse Michael Rider was born 7lbs 5oz, 20 inches long.
There are a few more pictures on my blog (and of course tons on facebook).
Re: AW: Jesse's Birth Story!
Congrats mama, he's beautiful!
So you went med-free? Major props to you! I don't know if I'll make it through without yet or not.
Yeah I did, I planned on trying to go med-free, but I wasn't sure what my pain tolerence was like so I was prepared to ask for something if I really really needed it. I did read that even something small 'to take the edge off' wouldn't be helpful because it would stop your body's natural pain killing hormones and it would feel worse once it wears off. But I honestly managed pretty well. By the 8cm mark, I looked at Matt and said 'It's pretty much too late right? I did it?" and he said "yeah, you did it!"
That's good to know. My OB mentioned Nubaine, but people have told me that it's crap and not to even bother with it.
I think I'm just going to wing it and see if I can make it without anything. I'm not opposed to the epi if necessary though.
I'm just being a naive FTM thinking this, but I figure that I'm already 4cm and haven't felt a thing, so maybe the rest won't be so bad.. HA. Wishful thinking
Congrats! I just read this on your blog.
I think something was definitely wrong with my labor after reading your story! I was in hellish pain before I even got to 3cm and my contractions were less than 3 mins apart at that point too.
Anyway...you did awesome! I hope you guys are doing well at home:) He's a cutie!
<a href="http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h205/adia83/?action=view
I was really shocked to find that I was 4cm before we started. I was only 1 cm at my 37 week appointment and I wasn't checked again until I was at the hospital. You never know! I read Birthing From Within and it really had a lot of good pain management ideas. It eased my mind. You'll do great no matter what.
Congrats!
Don't worry Rach, mine was the same way. I was 1 cm when induced and once I got to 3 cm, I was stuck there for hours and my contractions became very close together and strong.
Oh no! Every birth is different, I guess I was just lucky? I was shocked at how fast time seemed to go so that's how I wrote it, but if you look at it, I was in labor for almost 12 hours and pushed for almost a half hour. It was wasn't easy for sure, but it's not as bad as others I've read. I've had a crazy hard time recovering though, I'd say all the after stuff has been way worse than labor (not to scare anyone!)
Jesse is a super cute baby! Congrats on going med free; you are amazing.
What a great birth story
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