Share your birth story, please :)

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Permalink Reply by probreastPTA on October 28, 2012 at 6:42pm

My mucus plug came out on Tuesday. I had decided that I was going to go into labor that weekend so I needed to relax. On Friday night, I finished most of my COLLEGE homework for the next couple of weeks, then got into the tub for a relaxing bath with lit candles. Now, I'm aware that that is a "no,no", but ignored that fact. After my bath, I cuddled up with my hubby to watch some tv and forget about school. We went to sleep around 9 or 10. Around 2 AM I began waking up due to discomfort. I kept trying to reposition myself and get up to pee, but still very uncomfortable. Finally, I decided to get up and sit in my rocking chair. The next time I went to the bathroom, I turned on the light which is something I had not been doing. I saw blood. Lots of it. I freaked. I went through all my books and remember hearing a "bloody show", but was unaware of it being this bloody. I decided we should go to the hospital just in case something wasn't right. I woke my husband and packed the remainder of my bags then ate a thick peanut butter sandwich just in case "this was it". On the way to the hospital I began having contractions about 5 to 10 minutes apart. Upon arrival, they checked me, I was 2 n a half cms. It was time. My husband, however, refused to believe it was already here since I was 2 and a half weeks early. Around 6AM we started making phone calls. My mom was the first there, of course. Others showed up gradually through the morning and lunch time. I had a very free moving labor. I was not hooked to anything, because I chose not to have any pain medications nor have an epidural. I did not have an IV because I was staying hydrated with my light blue gatorade. I was monitored only every hour for about 20 minutes and externally only. I walked the room filled with family and used my birth ball to sway my hips back and forth. The contractions gradually got stronger and really kicked in when I used the bathroom on the toilet. My husband held my hand for every contraction. We kept record of the doctors updates with my video camera. Around 5pm my water had not yet broken. My cervics were still the same in diameter that they had been for 3 hours. I decided to let the doctor break my water... Wow. At first, the warmth felt comforting and good, but about 3 seconds after, a huge rush of a contraction came. At that point I had been having contractions about a minute in between and lasting for over 2 minutes for each. I had the nurse send everyone out at that point. It was just me and my husband. Oh and the nurse.. I started to get flashes of hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. I was feeling alot of rectal pressure. I could no longer carry myself on my legs and choose to stay in the bed. I was getting dizzy and breathing like I had learned in my classes. My body began pushing by it's self. The nurse told me to stop. I tried, but it wasn't much use. They rushed the doctor in and it was GO TIME. I began going in and out of consciousness as they were speaking to me. They placed the O2 mask on me and told me to push with the next contraction. I pushed screaming. They told me not to scream. I tried again. I felt this huge thing pop out and felt liquid all over my legs and feet. They told me to push again. I stopped to take a breath. The doctor said "I know you don't want to use these but, I need the forceps". I pushed as hard as I could before she could get them and saw my son's head, shoulders and tummy. I yelled "pull him out!, pull him out!" He was all white and looked enormous even though he was only 6lbs and 14oz. They placed him on me for a moment then started cleaning him off in the room in front of me while the doctor sewed me up from my 2nd degree tear. I looked at him and said "his head's not big". Then they placed him on his daddy's chest beside me so that I could rest. 18 hour all natural labor. I was tired. All worth it. I would totally do it again.

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on October 28, 2012 at 7:48pm

Thanks for sharing your story, probreastPTA! Can you fill out the Birth Stories form here? You can just cut and paste this story in. We're trying to keep all birth stories collected in this database and then we go through them and publish them on Mom365. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by probreastPTA on October 29, 2012 at 2:11pm

Where do I put it?

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on November 6, 2012 at 7:11pm

Right here: http://www.mom365.com/birthstories

Thanks :)

Permalink Reply by Mom of 3 great kids on October 28, 2012 at 9:16pm

I have 3 kids but I'll just talk about my last delivery. I was about a week early. I had been feeling contractions all day at work but refused to go home cause they weren't that bad so i just went along working with then students I teach and just breathing: I had a doctors appointment that afternoon when I got there my doctors checks me and is like your having contractions I'm like yeah I know but I don't wanna go to the hospital yet she's said okay as I live right around the corner. So I went home ate showered went shopping with my mom slept so at like 5am I'm in horrible pain I get up to go to the bathroom and I'm bleeding a lot I call my mom whose staying with me my boyfriend is at work an won't be off for until 7am. My mom starts freakin out I'm the calm one. She throws my other 2 kids in the car and rushes me to the hospital. So when they check me I'm 7cm already I call my boyfriend and he leaves work and is talking to me the whole time hes cracking jokes and I'm laughing when I feel a gush I'm like omg my water just broke. By The time he got there I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes and out came my beautiful baby boy. May 31, 2012 @ 10:03am

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on November 6, 2012 at 7:14pm

Thanks for sharing your story, Mom of 3 great kids! If you upload it here, we'll publish it as part of the Birth Stories collection on Mom365: http://www.mom365.com/birthstories

Permalink Reply by mommyof2 on November 2, 2012 at 12:53pm

On March 21, 2011 I found out I was pregnant.  I was pretty nervous about it.  I was and still am a full time student. Needless to say, I had an amazing support system from both sides of my family.  

During my pregnancy, it was pretty much amazing.  I had no morning sickness, no cravings, only gained weight in the belly, didn't swell at all or anything.  My boyfriend and the father of our son experienced most of my "normal" symptoms, including the morning sickness and postpartum depression.  Two of my worst fears of being pregnant was that my doctor who started to see me wouldn't deliver me and that I would result in a c-section.  

At 28 weeks, I went for a normal check-up and my OB-GYN announced that he was leaving his practice the following week and referred me to a new doctor.  I was devastated.  I would say now, though it was for the best.  My new doctor was great!  He acted as if he cared and actually sat down to have a conversation with me and my boyfriend every visit and didn't act as if he was too busy.  With my due date being so close to Thanksgiving I didn't want a Thanksgiving baby.  WIth it being my first pregnancy, the chances of me going over my due date was pretty high.  He allowed us to pick a date as long as I was 39 weeks so I could be induced.  November 14th was the day we chose.

When this day arrived, we were excited, nervous, anxious, scared, happy all mixed in one.  My mom, my boyfriend and I drove to the hospital at 7 in the morning (35 min drive).  They put me on an IV and patossin right away.  Two bags of fluid within 1 hour made my whole body swell (couldn't even see my toes).  Around twelve my doctor came in and tried to pop my water but he couldn't get it. (OUCHY!) I was still feeling pretty good, no contractions but I wasnt dialating very fast either.  At around 6pm my doctor (mind you I have still not eaten, or slept) came back and successfully popped my water.  The contractions started slowly about an hour later.  Still not a lot of pain but at about 8:30 Idecided on the epidural because I didn't want very much pain.  Around one in the morning my contractions were at full swing.  The epidural was put in wrong so I felt every contraction on my left side.  Still no sleep and still no food, I started to get dizzy and vomit.  I was under a lot of stress since I was in so much pain and it made me sick.  

My doctor came in and told me that the babies vitals were fine but he was afraid that if I tried to have him vaginally he would get stuck in the birth canal resulting in an Emergency C-section.  Stupidly, I decided to stick it out and try to have him naturally.  I was in so much pain and so sick but none of that mattered I wanted to experience a natural birth with my baby and it was very important to me.  

Needless to say, at 12:30pm (Tuesday) I was screaming for the doctor.  I wanted the C-section because my lil boy was comfy and didn't want to come out on his own.  2:29 pm on November 15 after 30 long hours of stressful labor, our baby boy was born at 20 inches long, 7 pounds 3 oz.  We named him Xander Jefferie Lee and I can not believe he is going to be ONE in just a few short days!!!!  

 

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on November 6, 2012 at 7:13pm

Thanks for sharing your story, mommyof2! If you upload it here, we'll publish it as part of the Birth Stories collection on Mom365: http://www.mom365.com/birthstories

Permalink Reply by Sweetpea365 on November 3, 2012 at 12:29pm

I had preeclampsia and went in for my biweekly appointment. They said we are admitting you right now and have to induce labor. I was 2 cm when they checked me before induction which surprised me bc I had no clue anything was even happening. I wanted a natural birth, no epidural and a water birth. well with my pressure high they wouldn't let me in the tub :(. The next day they gave me pitocin and that's when the pain started. Contractions came fast and strong. I was breathing through them and as they became more intense I thought ok next one I will ask for epidural I didn't think I could take the pain anymore. Then the midwife told me the baby isn't responding well during the contractions. I was only 4 cm! They gave me an o2 mask. All of a sudden she said emergency c-section we need the baby out NOW! She practically threw a consent form at me when they started wheeling my bed. I was on my side the whole time and said ahhhhhhh it feels like I'm sh$@tting ( laughed about that later with my husband.) I turned on my back and the midwife said OH the head is coming out! She called for nurses as she was telling me to push. I pushed three times and he was out. They raced a warmer in the room and all of the equipment needed. They said I was the talk of the unit bc they weren't expecting that. They didn't have anything in the room. My mom ( who works in the hospital) came and knocked on the door. She said are you having contractions yet? My husband said come in and look. She was shocked to see our beautiful baby boy.

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on November 6, 2012 at 7:13pm

Thanks for sharing your story, Sweetpea365! If you upload it here, we'll publish it as part of the Birth Stories collection on Mom365: http://www.mom365.com/birthstories

Permalink Reply by Kristi on November 5, 2012 at 11:39pm

I have 2 kids but for now I'll just talk about my first one. I had a pretty good pregnancy I guess. No morning sickness but I did gain a lot weight and was pretty swollen. I was told that was normal for first pregnancies (not sure if that's true but it made me feel better lol) but I needed to watch my weight gain, but then who isn't? Well anyways, when the time came, I almost didn't notice it. It was around 6 in the morning and I am NOT a morning person. Never have been and probably never will be. The only reason I was awake was because I felt a lot of discomfort and was trying to get comfortable. When that didn't happen for almost 45 mins I woke up more and realized that the pain never felt quite like that before. I had been having contractions for a few weeks bt they were hours apart and I thought nothing of it because they never hurt and the doctor said that it was braxton hicks and not real ones. I sat up and, woke my husband up to help time them. Imagine my surprise when they were less than a min apart! I still wasn't feeling any severe pain and turned to my husband and said I think I need to go to the hospital. He was already freaking out and I was calm as could be. The only thing I regret now was not eating...My water had not broken yet so I was a little concerned but tried not to think about it (the doctors had told me it was rare that the water did not break on it's own when labor started) and away to the hospital we went. I had been there 2 days prior for bleeding and was sent home saying I had about 2 more days before I would probably go into labor, that doctor was right on the mark. When we got there, they were so full that I was in triage for over 3 hours before they had a room to put me in. When a nurse came in to check me to see if they should keep me or send me home was when I started to realy get worried. She checked me then gave me a funny look, and checked me again before calling another nurse in to check me as well. She gave me a similar look before asking me if I was feeling ok. I nodded and said I was hungry and tired but besides that good. Why? She gave me another strange look then said because I was 8 cm dilated already and normally women are screaming in pain at that point. I shrugged and said I was good but I would lke some water please. We stayed in there another hour or so before being moved to another room and waited another 2 hours before a doctor came into see me. Nothing had changed and it was another 2 hours before a nurse came back again. Still nothing and I was starving! So when they came back again, another 2 hours later..., and I was at about 9 cm then they said that they can either wait another 2 hours to see if my water breaks on its own or they could give me an epidural and break it and get going with the delivery. I had wanted a natural birth but they said they would not break it without the epidural so I opted for that so I could deliver the baby and eat. Keep in mind I had only had lunch the day before so by then it was over 24 hours since I had eaten and I had been complaining to my husband for 4 hours that I wanted food and I wanted it NOW. So he agreed with me. Completely. They came in an hour and a half later to hook up the epidural and I had a contraction as soon as he put the needle in, of course, and didn't see anyone again for another 2 hours and nothing had happened so they disappeared for another 2 hours. My husband loved it when the epidural kicked in because apparently I got all loopy. I could still sort of feel my feet and the sheet over them felt really weird, like my foot was asleep but it wasn't and I kept moving my foot back and forth and it fell off the bed but I couldn't lift it back up so I turned to him and said "my foot fell off, can I get some help?" he laughed at me and put my foot back on. This happened about 3 more times before I finaly fell asleep. So I guess no sleep, no food and epidural is a weird combination lol. When they came back 3 hours later, yes the 2 hour chain was broken, the baby had already started coming on it's own without me knowing anything was happening. My friends and family had been there for hours and I was going back and forth between laughing and talking to dozing off.  They rushed everyone out and clled for a doctor to come asap. I was pushing for about 2 mins when they decided they had to cut me, and I had a doctor in trianing apparently without being told (pissed me off) and she cut pretty far down and after another 3 mins of pushing and he still wasn't coming I was worried I was going to have to go into and emergency C-section when the other supervising doctor started talking to me and I started just chatting and laughing and out popped my baby boy in a grand total of maybe 7 mins of hard labor! Which is funny because it seemed like it was longer, but that was how long they told me it was from the time they told me to start pushing. He was 8 lbs and 6 oz, 19 1/2 in long and completely perfect. He came out cooing instead of crying, on his due date no less. What made me really mad that during all this is that the doctor in training almostdropped my son when he came out because he came so fast and she still had the scissors in her hand so she still nicked him. I almost hit her. And I had a ton of doctors and nurses "drop by to check on me" but really it was to see if it was true that I was laughing during labor. One of the nurses told me the truth. I couldn't see why that was such a big surprise when you have epidural, you don't feel a thing! At least I didn't lol. The nurses said I was the talk of the hospital for days.

Permalink Reply by Katie, Mom365 Host on November 6, 2012 at 7:13pm

Thanks for sharing your story, Kristi! If you upload it here, we'll publish it as part of the Birth Stories collection on Mom365: http://www.mom365.com/birthstories