A birth story! I still can't believe it myself. After a long, emotional, frustrating, fertility challenged journey I am a mother to a beautiful baby boy. I stare at him during the day and still can't believe he is all mine, he belongs to me and my loving husband. Here is the birthstory, sorry for the delay.
My baby boy was born on April 22, 2009 at 7:03pm weighing 7lbs 4oz and 19 inches long. The induction began the night before but there were some eventful events that led up to my induction.
The week before, at my OB check up the Thursday before my OB told me that she felt comfortable letting me go another week before induction. All along we had planned for no later than 38.5 weeks, but since i was doing so well, she felt okay with letting me get to 39 weeks. My hubby and i were a bit bummed we had planned for the 20th or 21st of April. I was tired and so ready to have the baby by then but we said the longer the better we can wait it out another week. Well Baby boy must have been upset too because at my routine NST that afternoon, his heart rate dropped way too low and lingered there for a tiny bit. It wasn't that long but long enough for my OB to send me to labor and delivery at the hospital for further monitoring. I ended up spending 30 hours there in observation where the baby did great and had no more drops in his heart rate. I went back the day after being discharged, Saturday 4/18, for another NST where he did just great again. I had a routin NST on MOnday and also a growth scan. They did the growth scan first and he was still head down and had an estimate weight of 8lbs. During the NST his heart rate dropped again, not as low as before, but i was sent to labor and delivery again. I was there for about 3 hours and sent home. The nurse asked me when i was supposed to get induced and i told her that the plan was for that Thursday, 4/23, but she said i wasn't on their schedule and should check with my OB.
I wasn't sure what the procedure was going to be since my OB didn't give me any details at my last visit, and with the nurse saying i should be on their schedule, it prompted me to call my OBs office the next day, 4/22, to get more information as to what we needed to do and how to prepare for Thursday's induction. My OB's nurse called me mid-afternoon on the 21st and i asked her what was the plan for thursday, how should my husband and i prepare. She places me on hold and checks with my OB. When the nurse gets back on the phone she tells me that my OB says i can go in that evening to begin induction! THat caught me off guard and after calling my husband to check to be sure he had no evening appointments, we agreed to go in that night and not put it off a few more days.
So we checked into labor and delivery on April 21st at 8pm. After getting settled and strapped in for monitoring induction began. Around 10 pm the nurse inserted a medication pouch called Cervadil (not sure of the spelling) in my cervix to help soften it and begin dialation. I was barely 1 centimeter dialated and soft before inserting medication. The orders were to leave it in for 8 hours, could be left in for as long as 12 hours, and so we managed to get some sleep overnight. Not too much as i was excited and anxious. Medication was removed by 6 am the next morning and it helped a little. Cervix was softer but was not quite 2 centimeters dialated that morning. Pitocin was started at 6:30 and OB called in orders to have the in-house OB break my water. So that was done at around 7 -7:30 that morning. It was painful experience and when that was done contractions started coming. They weren't too bad, and with my hubby's help was able to get through them. I had planned on going as natural as possible and was afraid of getting an epidural. But I was going to ask for it if i really needed it...by 11 am i was needing it!
By that time the contractions were getting stronger and it was getting harder to breathe through them. MY husband was a great coach and up to that point he helped get through the contractions. But they were getting stronger, and i knew they were nothing compared to what was yet to come. Especially since i was not progressing really and I just knew it was going to be too hard. I broke down and asked for an epidural! It was blissful after that! Epidural was placed around noon and it felt great! LOL It allowed me to get some rest. My parents had gotten there early that morning and spent most of the time in the waiting room since my hubby really didn't want company. I actually had to talk my mom out of coming hte night before. LOL Moms always worry. I was progressing pretty slowly and by mid afternoon was barely 4 centimeters. We were worried that the baby maybe too big to go through my pelvis. Fortunately my OB was tied up with surgical procedures that day and wouldn't be able to check on me until late afternoon. At that point i was dealing with shakes and chills. Since my water was broken that morning and I stil hadn't delivered, i did develop a slight infection and had a fever. It was pretty bad for about an hour but then when it got to the point where my body was ready, all of it went away.
By 4pm I started to progess a lot faster. i went from 4 centimeters to almost an 8 in about 1.5 hours, which would explain why I was having the shakes. When the nurse checked me at 5:30 she said i would be 10 centimeters by 7 and probably will be pushing around 7:30 or 8pm...giving my OB time to get there. The nurse came in to check me at 6:45pm and she said i was 10 and to prepare to push. There was a scramble to get the grandmothers there! LOL Hubby agreed to having them there and that was it. Well it happened to quickly, that my friend that was visiting was also present for the birth. The birth happened pretty quickly.
I started pushing around 6:50 or a little after. My OB arrived a few minutes later and i barely remember my mom and mother-in-law being ushered in and told to stay in the corner by my hubby. I remember from the episodes i watched of a Baby Story to push using my bottom and not my upper body or face. It helped because i pushed for 10 minutes and my son was born! My husband counted 5 sets of pushing was all i did. The OB was amazed, she expected me to be a little longer...as i did too! I was very thankful it went fast! I did tear a little bit but it just didn't matter when my son was placed on my chest! After the long journey, I was here, we were here, we were parents! He was perfect and is perfect! I couldn't believe it, and still can't. The rest of the evening is a blur.
He was cleaned up, some blood work was drawn on both of us. Since i had developed the infection and had gestational diabetes, we were checked out a lot more. Family were there visiting and congratulating us, and they lingered for about 30 to 45 minutes and then they left us alone. It was precious time with my new family. We were finally a family of 3!
Hope this continues to help all my Fertility challenged sisters to keep the faith...it can and it will happen for you too! Took us 5 years and it was a bumpy road, but we are here. A family of 3. I will try to post this week how these last 2 weeks have been. Fortunately not too much sleep deprivation....i know it could be worse! Keep faith my friends and thinking and praying for you all!
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