Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Theo's Birth Story (Very Long)
Theodore Joshua was born at 7:36am on Thursday, May 23rd. He was 7lb 13oz, and 19.25in.
At my 38 week appointment on May 20th, my bp was high. They gave me the option to induce that day, or wait until the following Monday but monitor it and induce me if it got too high before then. We chose to wait. That night it got really high (180/101) so I started my induction on Tuesday, May 21st. First dose of Cytotec at 5:00pm did nothing, second dose at 9:00 I started to get a little bit crampy. Around midnight we found out that there was a high amount of protein in my urine, and so I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. I started magnesium sulfate around 2:00am, and luckily didn't have any of the horrible side effects I had heard about. But from that point on I was stuck in bed, and I knew that the natural birth we had wanted was probably not going to happen.
I was having moderate contractions at that point, but they were very irregular, so we started pitocin. By noon I was still only dilated to 3cm. My midwife broke my water, and after that things picked up very quickly. My concept of time from that point on is really hazy, but at some point in the afternoon I was dilated to 4cm and having so much pain from the pitocin contractions (and unable to move with them) that I was throwing up from the pain. I really felt like a failure, but I decided to get the epidural. It worked for a while, but eventually it was only working on whatever side I was lying on, and not the other side. But it still gave some relief from the pain, and at least I wasn't throwing up anymore. At some point here, my midwife noticed some meconium coming out. I was really devastated that that meant I wouldn't get to hold the baby right when he came out.
Around 10:30pm, I started to feel the urge to push, but when I was checked, I was still only 9cm. Still, everyone thought the baby would be here by midnight. Midnight came and went, and I was still 9cm. At 2:15am, they decided to let me try pushing and see if it would make the final lip of cervix go away. It did, and I continued to push for almost four hours, until 6:00am. My epidural wore off not long after I started pushing, so for most of that time I was pushing with no pain relief because they wouldn't let me get another epi in case it slowed down my labor or made me unable to feel to push. The pitocin was also making me have 2 1/2 minute long contractions with only 30 seconds in between, so it hurt so much to push but it hurt even worse when I stopped pushing. I had practically no break from the pain for all of that time. I can hardly even remember anything except pain, and barely being able to say the word "Ice" to my husband in between pushes. He said he thought I was passing out between contractions.
Finally when it had been almost four hours, my midwife paged the OB, and he came in and gave us the option of trying forceps or the vacuum. We chose the vacuum. They redid my epi, and then I tried to push for half an hour. I couldn't really feel to push, though, and then my blood pressure dropped to 60/30, which is practically dead. I knew something was wrong; I felt like I was floating off the table. My whole body was tingling and I thought I was dying. I remember trying to look at my husband and tell him I love him, but couldn't do that. The nurse called for medication to bring it back up, and she looked really freaked out and scared, which scared me even more. They gave me the medication, and it took two doses to bring my bp back up. After that, there was no more pushing. They said it was time for a c-section.
DH (and my mom, who was allowed into the OR because she's a midwife) almost missed his birth because they started the operation so quickly after we got into the room. About a minute after they came in, a nurse called out the time, 7:36, and we knew he was born. But he didn't cry right away because they were suctioning out the meconium, and that seemed like the longest minute of my life. Finally we heard him cry, the best sound ever!!!! It took them several more minutes to work on him and clean him up, and then they finally brought him over to DH, and I got to kiss him and have him against my face.
After the surgery, my creatinine levels were high, so they were worried my kidneys were losing function, and I had to stay in my L&D room for several hours before being moved to the postpartum room. And DS was grunting, which I guess is a sign of distress in newborns, so they were worried about meconium aspiration and called the NICU. NICU doc came up and checked him out, and said it was just TTN, which is when the baby still has some fluid in his lungs, and it's not normally a problem. My creatinine levels came down, and we finally got to go to our room and enjoy our baby boy.
4 losses: Blighted ovum 1/11, CP 12/11, CP 3/12, and our perfectly healthy baby girl Charlotte Grace, missed M/C 5/31/12 at 8w5d
Surprise unmedicated BFP 9/21/12!! Beta #1 9/22 (10 DPO): 46 Beta #2 9/24 (12 DPO): 226! Heartbeat 136 bpm at 7w! It's a BOY! Theodore Joshua 5/23/13 7:36am 7lb 13 oz, 19.25 in
Re: Theo's Birth Story (Very Long)
GP buddy to blenderdance
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
my blog
Wow that sounds intense and it must have been so scary. So happy to hear that you and Theo are doing well. He is just adorable!
Our Little Raspberry-Born 3/27/12
We Said I Do 09/06/09
.
Our Blog!
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Team Green to Team Pink! Baby A born
Here comes 2u2! Team Green to Team Blue! Baby L born
After awhile, you just want to be with the one who makes you laugh. - Mr. Big
*TTC since 10/11*
BFP: 9/30/12, EDD: 6/15/13
*~*Our miracle arrived on 6/13/13*~*
Woah!!! What a traumatic story! I am so so so happy you are both healthy and your little guy is home with you. Love the name!
PS. No one said vacuum or forceps before you hit 4 freaking hours?! Did they find out why he wasn't descending when they did the c section?
Thanks!
And nope, I'm guessing since I really didn't want interventions (ha) they didn't want to suggest it until he was obviously not going to come on his own. And there was no obvious reason he wasn't descending; he wasn't huge, head wasn't extremely big and should have fit through my pelvis, cord was long and wasn't wrapped around him. My mom's a midwife and she thought maybe his head was just at a bad angle in my pelvis and couldn't quite straighten out to come out. Guess we'll never know!
4 losses: Blighted ovum 1/11, CP 12/11, CP 3/12, and our perfectly healthy baby girl Charlotte Grace, missed M/C 5/31/12 at 8w5d
Surprise unmedicated BFP 9/21/12!! Beta #1 9/22 (10 DPO): 46 Beta #2 9/24 (12 DPO): 226! Heartbeat 136 bpm at 7w! It's a BOY! Theodore Joshua 5/23/13 7:36am 7lb 13 oz, 19.25 in