Friday, 11 May 2012

• A.K.F's Birth Story

  
  It's almost four weeks later later, but I figured I'd type my birth story out so that I can remember it years down the road. Not that giving birth is something I will be forgetting any time soon, but at least I'll have the details down. Like all birth stories, this will be LONG.
  

  I started having stomach pains around 4:30am Thursday, Oct. 6. At first, I thought I had to poop but after a few failed attempts, I realized that what I was feeling were contractions. By 6:00am, I was timing them and getting things ready in case we needed to head to the hospital.

  Around 7:00am, I woke DH up and told him we needed to start making our way to the hospital. My contractions were about 6 minutes apart and lasting a minute by 8:00am, and painful enough that I had to breathe through them. We left and got to Cedars around 10:00am.

  We checked in and they got me hooked up. I was only 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. They said that I wasn’t even considered in early labor since the contractions were not showing up that strong or regular. They wanted to send me home. My pain level was at a 5/6 and couldn’t believe it.

  The other option was to have me walk for a coupe of hours and have them check me again. I opted for that, so DH and I walked to the cafeteria for some food. It was starting to get really painful and walking was torture. I had to keep stopping every minute to breathe and double over.

  By noon, we get back and they check me again. I am now 2-3cm dilated and pain level at a 7. Although I made progress, it was still registering as inconsistent on the monitors. They decide to keep me in the pre-labor room. Within a couple of hours, I was dying and begging for the epi.

  At 2:00, they finally order the epidural, noticing I was in extreme pain. The doctor did say that it could slow me down and may need to start pitocin, which may or may not progress me enough, and that I could end up with a C-Section. I didn’t care. I wanted the drugs, and NOW!

  Within a few minutes of getting the epi, I was feeling the pain dissipate. Amazingly, they checked me at 3:00 and I was 5cm and 70% effaced and moved me to the active labor room. I was able to relax, watch tv, enjoy the view from my room, and rest a bit. DH and I tried to nap, but no go.

  When you get the epi, you’re supposed to switch sides so that the numbness spreads evenly. However, the baby didn’t respond well when I would be on my right side, so I stayed on my left. After a white, I started to feel some pain on my right, so they had to give me a booster shot of the epi.

  Every couple of hours, they would check on me and I was progressing nicely. They decided to break my water at 5:45pm and I was 7cm and 80% effaced. Next thing I know, it is 9:00pm and I am 10cm! I wasn’t feeling any pressure and they were surprised at my progress. Go me!

  My doctor, who was not on call but decided to come in anyways, suggested we try pushing. Since the baby was pretty low already, they wanted me to try a few practice pushes to see if I would start to feel some pressure. I was doing so well with the pushes, they said to just keep going.

  Pushing wasn’t painful, just tiring. However, DH was with me the entire time, holding my leg and being supportive. He would encourage me to keep pushing, tell me to take deep breaths in between, and told me how well I was doing. He did a great job getting me through it all.

  I was hoping to get her out at 10:06pm, but missed the mark by a bit. After roughly an hour of pushing, she was born at 10:22pm. They put her on my chest right away. She came out screaming, peed on the doctor, and calmed down on my chest. She opened her eyes right away.

  I couldn’t see her too well, but DH never took his eyes off her. He was with her when they cleaned her, weighed her, and bundled her up. He took a few pictures, and held her for a bit while they finished up with me. He was in love immediately. We are both so in love with her.

   

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