My Birth Story
Birth Story - induction I realize as I write this that already the memory is fading, I guess your mind wants to forget how painful it was so you will want to have another child. so here goes, in my 38th week during my ob appt after a painful internal (and severe cramp that followed) the baby was found to have a brief episode of decelerations on fetal Doppler. I was sent to L&D, had a NST and a sono and every thing was ok, but I needed to have it repeated in less then a week. Other then the painful exam I was fine, content on being pregnant and figured I had plenty of time for this baby's arrival. My husband and I are a bit of procrastinators and a lot of things were not ready, and unfortunately both of us were working OT shifts in preparation. During my 38th week I was working 6, 10 hours shifts in a row, and soon as I was discharged from L&D I went back to work. Anyway during my 39th week, 8/5 during the NST again there was an episode of decelerations (down to 90 for three minutes) and for no reason (I didn't have any pain). I was strongly advised to be induced. I was worried that being induced would lead to a c sec but I had to do what was best for the baby. So I went to L&D to be placed on a fetal monitor which was continuous, even when I wanted to go to the bathroom I had to drag the machine with me. I barely could move around because the heart rate wouldn't be picked up. My cervix was only 1 cm dilated so they used a foley balloon to manual dilate it to 3 cm and at the same time they started the pitocin this was around 5:15 pm. Unfortunately wouldn't let me eat, and you could hear the rumble of my stomach on fetal Doppler, But luckily my ob let my husband bring me a string cheese, and granola bar. Once I got used to the contractions from the pitocin they would increase my level. My ob had to break my amniotic sac. Eventually the pain was so intense it caused my entire back to spasm and tighten up, and I finally asked for epidural and a basin (started to vomit). Even with the epidural I still felt pain and a lot of pressure. I also had shaking chills. At this point I had 7 interventions / monitors IV, Epidural, BP cuff, Pulse ox, foley, uterine contraction monitor, and a internal fetal scalp doppler (which I requested so I could move around a little more). oh and right before I started pushing the baby heart beat dropped a little (which is a vagal response that can happen to the baby as its skull is being compressed) they wanted to add a nasal cannula. So finally it came down to push, my husband who was doing his best to be supportive looked like he was going to require a stretcher himself so I told him he could go, there was no room for him at the head of the bed because that is apparently were they expected my legs to go. So with one leg being supported by a nurse and the other on my doctor's shoulder, I had to hold my legs back and pushed. It felt like the worse BM you could ever take and it felt like you were pushing out a bony skull. Finally my baby was born and they immediately placed her on my chest. She looked great and I was able to cut the cord. So Aliana Maria was born on 8/6 1:41 am, 6lbs 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches. Taking care of a newborn is so much harder then being pregnant. Everyday is getting easier, and just looking at my daughter makes it all worth it. feel free to ask questions.