Most of you know that I was pretty much in labor for a week while just going about my business because the contractions weren't really painful or consistent for long enough. However, I did have the benefit of dilating and getting half of my work over with before ever going to the hospital. We tried our best to avoid an induction, but I was too worried about the size of this guy since Isaac was so big (10lbs 4 ozs) at 10 days late. Once I hit that mark I started to get nervous and begin to accept that it is possible that my labor would not start without a little help. Just because I could have a 10 lb 4 oz baby didn't mean I could have any bigger naturally.
On Monday we gave it one last shot by stripping the membranes again. I really was hopeful that this would do the trick since I was almost 6cms dilated, 50% effaced and at a -2 station. The contractions got stronger, but died out AGAIN! So that night Brian and I decided we would go in and try a small amount of Pitocin to see if that would get my contractions going the nest morning. The reasons we chose this and not water breaking are just from the experiences I have had with the breaking of my water in the past. I was more scared about that type of pain and was trying to avoid it.
Tuesday, we went to Labor and Delivery and the Pitocin was started at the lowest dose at noon and titrated up every half hour or so until my contractions seemed to be more regular and painful. They were not painful until around 3:30pm. It took more Pitocin than we thought it would. At 3:30pm, I was dilated to 7cms. At 5:30pm, I was at 8cms. By that time, I guess I just wanted to get it over with fast and I gave in to letting him break my water. About 3 contractions and I was starting to feel the urge to push. This is when we discovered that our call button didn't work. (Turns out that we were pushing the wrong call button, but we didn't find this out until later.) Once we got the nurses into the room, they checked me. The first nurse said she can't find my cervix. The second nurse checked me and said, "That's because the baby's head is right there." These pushing contractions are miserable when they won't let you push yet. Then I pushed through one or two contractions when, in the middle of a pushing contraction, the resident who delivered Drew decided he needed me to lift myself up so he could put something under me. This was the worst moment of the whole labor/birth. I don't know what he was thinking, but it threw me way off and put me in horrible pain. All my natural childbirth comrades out there know you can't stay in the zone when someone interrupts a contraction like that. I lost my focus and got very frustrated. I was having trouble pulling my legs back as well. Brian was helping me on one side, but the nurse wouldn't help on the other so I was lopsided and this also just threw me off and made pushing harder and more painful. I guess the nurse just thought that this was a spectator sport or something. Can you tell that I was not a fan of the majority of the staff? My first nurse had been great, but she had left at 1pm.
So, despite all the distractions, I only had two more pushing contractions before he was out and peeing all over the resident that delivered him. They tried to swoop him off to the warmer, but this time we were more assertive about that and they brought him back to me to hold. This was, obviously, the best moment of the whole labor/birth. I cried and talked to my beautiful baby boy. It turned out to be a huge blessing for another reason too. The two residents had to repair a small first degree tear (same as I always have since I push a little too fast.) They gave me Lidocaine, but not enough, because I could still feel the needle/sutures quite clearly. Also, I had some bleeding that wouldn't stop, and then the resident dropped the sutures on the ground and had to wait for another one. Therefore, the whole process took a long time. I was in a lot of pain and crying. One of the residents had been pushing for me to get the epidural the whole labor and tried to get me to take some IV meds after the baby was born. When I declined these offers, he seemed irritated. During this joint effort to stitch me up and stop the bleeding, he made comments like, "I know it hurts, but I could make the pain go away, " and, "I am sorry you are hurting, but I am not going to apologize for doing this because otherwise you would loose too much blood." He did not have the greatest bedside manner, to say the least.
Well, Drew nursed for the first time and then they took him to get his stats, clean him up, and do the standard "big baby" glucose test. The guy in charge of all of that was really slow and Brian and I thought it was his third day on the job or something. Turns out he had been there since June, so I don't know why he didn't have more of the hang of it. Brian and I have been through this drill enough times that we could have done a better job than he was doing. He did his foot prints backwards, forgot to measure him until I asked him to, overheated him under the lamp, and then took his underarms temp and told us he had a fever and he might have to call peds. Just unbelievable!
During that long process, I was reclining in the bed and suddenly got sweaty, the room started to go black, and my lips got tingly. Apparently, I was white as a sheet as well. The room filled with doctors and nurses pretty quickly and they flattened my bed and took my vitals. They never figured out exactly why this happened. It could have been the extra loss of blood, the drop in blood pressure, or a drop in blood sugar. They kept me in the labor and delivery room longer since they didn't want me getting out of bed and fainting. I even ate dinner in there before moving to my postpartum room via wheel chair.
I guess that is Drew's birth story. All in all, I am happy with my decisions and wouldn't change anything that was within my control. You can see the hospital was not my favorite, but there's not much I could do about that. It is what it is. I am thrilled with my adorable healthy baby, and that is the most important thing!
On Monday we gave it one last shot by stripping the membranes again. I really was hopeful that this would do the trick since I was almost 6cms dilated, 50% effaced and at a -2 station. The contractions got stronger, but died out AGAIN! So that night Brian and I decided we would go in and try a small amount of Pitocin to see if that would get my contractions going the nest morning. The reasons we chose this and not water breaking are just from the experiences I have had with the breaking of my water in the past. I was more scared about that type of pain and was trying to avoid it.
Tuesday, we went to Labor and Delivery and the Pitocin was started at the lowest dose at noon and titrated up every half hour or so until my contractions seemed to be more regular and painful. They were not painful until around 3:30pm. It took more Pitocin than we thought it would. At 3:30pm, I was dilated to 7cms. At 5:30pm, I was at 8cms. By that time, I guess I just wanted to get it over with fast and I gave in to letting him break my water. About 3 contractions and I was starting to feel the urge to push. This is when we discovered that our call button didn't work. (Turns out that we were pushing the wrong call button, but we didn't find this out until later.) Once we got the nurses into the room, they checked me. The first nurse said she can't find my cervix. The second nurse checked me and said, "That's because the baby's head is right there." These pushing contractions are miserable when they won't let you push yet. Then I pushed through one or two contractions when, in the middle of a pushing contraction, the resident who delivered Drew decided he needed me to lift myself up so he could put something under me. This was the worst moment of the whole labor/birth. I don't know what he was thinking, but it threw me way off and put me in horrible pain. All my natural childbirth comrades out there know you can't stay in the zone when someone interrupts a contraction like that. I lost my focus and got very frustrated. I was having trouble pulling my legs back as well. Brian was helping me on one side, but the nurse wouldn't help on the other so I was lopsided and this also just threw me off and made pushing harder and more painful. I guess the nurse just thought that this was a spectator sport or something. Can you tell that I was not a fan of the majority of the staff? My first nurse had been great, but she had left at 1pm.
So, despite all the distractions, I only had two more pushing contractions before he was out and peeing all over the resident that delivered him. They tried to swoop him off to the warmer, but this time we were more assertive about that and they brought him back to me to hold. This was, obviously, the best moment of the whole labor/birth. I cried and talked to my beautiful baby boy. It turned out to be a huge blessing for another reason too. The two residents had to repair a small first degree tear (same as I always have since I push a little too fast.) They gave me Lidocaine, but not enough, because I could still feel the needle/sutures quite clearly. Also, I had some bleeding that wouldn't stop, and then the resident dropped the sutures on the ground and had to wait for another one. Therefore, the whole process took a long time. I was in a lot of pain and crying. One of the residents had been pushing for me to get the epidural the whole labor and tried to get me to take some IV meds after the baby was born. When I declined these offers, he seemed irritated. During this joint effort to stitch me up and stop the bleeding, he made comments like, "I know it hurts, but I could make the pain go away, " and, "I am sorry you are hurting, but I am not going to apologize for doing this because otherwise you would loose too much blood." He did not have the greatest bedside manner, to say the least.
Well, Drew nursed for the first time and then they took him to get his stats, clean him up, and do the standard "big baby" glucose test. The guy in charge of all of that was really slow and Brian and I thought it was his third day on the job or something. Turns out he had been there since June, so I don't know why he didn't have more of the hang of it. Brian and I have been through this drill enough times that we could have done a better job than he was doing. He did his foot prints backwards, forgot to measure him until I asked him to, overheated him under the lamp, and then took his underarms temp and told us he had a fever and he might have to call peds. Just unbelievable!
During that long process, I was reclining in the bed and suddenly got sweaty, the room started to go black, and my lips got tingly. Apparently, I was white as a sheet as well. The room filled with doctors and nurses pretty quickly and they flattened my bed and took my vitals. They never figured out exactly why this happened. It could have been the extra loss of blood, the drop in blood pressure, or a drop in blood sugar. They kept me in the labor and delivery room longer since they didn't want me getting out of bed and fainting. I even ate dinner in there before moving to my postpartum room via wheel chair.
I guess that is Drew's birth story. All in all, I am happy with my decisions and wouldn't change anything that was within my control. You can see the hospital was not my favorite, but there's not much I could do about that. It is what it is. I am thrilled with my adorable healthy baby, and that is the most important thing!
I just love these pictures of my two boys!
4 comments:
I'd say that Drew gave that resident what he deserved. ;) Sounds tough but glad all is well in the end!
I was thinking the same thing as Kristen!
Sounds SO frustrating! Good thing Drew was worth every frustration! Your two boys are precious!!
I just read this. I'm glad u got to pee on him. I wish teaching hospitals weren't so anti natural birth. When I did my nursing clinicals for ob I never saw an un medicated birth. Isn't that sad !!! Sorry u had to endure this and couldn't avoid the meds. Wow how wonderful it turned out of course but I hope he learned something from you. How's the nuring going? Pics are amazing!!
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