A Birth story

I have been playing  with writing this for awhile, but it has been hard to wrap my head around the whole experience. It was not as planned or expected, but it is what it is.

All the pregnancy/postpartum blogs say to write down your birth story so you don't forget

Well, I don't think I'll ever forget it.

(Taken Thursday 8/28)
To preface the story, We had decided pretty early on we were going to have a doula and had decided on a friend, we will call her E. When you hire a doula you go over your birthing preferences and what you feel comfortable with, etc. I had decided I wanted a mad free birth, I did not want to be induced ( this was a fear, especially with pitocin), I was really scared of the vacuum, I didn't really want iv fluids, etc. I was surprisingly ok with a c section, I knew if I needed it, I needed it.

On my way to my Drs appointment on Friday (8/29), I was carrying my laundry to my car because my plan was to go to my moms after the appointment. P would be gone all weekend as well. Well, I tripped (again, on the same crack as when I was 20 ish weeks) and scrapped my knees and right 2nd toe pretty badly.

This doctors appointment was with another dr, we will call her dr meanie pants and I will get to that later on. My dr was out of town getting married in Hawaii. 

At the appointment, my blood pressure was borderline/high. I had labs done on Wednesday and they all came back negative. My bp came down, but than I told the dr I fell and was unsure if I fell on  my belly. That was a one way ticket to triage (again), ugh. I knew that was going to happen, but in the back of my head I was kind of hoping it wouldn't. 

So, once I got to triage my bp was HIGH-ish at 154/72. It was decided by Dr meanie pants and the team, that I would be induced due to gestational hypertension. This issue had been presenting itself for the last 4 weeks and being 39 weeks and 4 days, it was time for baby and placenta, the culprit, to all come out. P was an hour flight away but was unable to come back that night.
I was only 1/2-1 cm, 0%, and +2-3, no where near ready. Around  9 pm (after being there over 4 hours) they started with a balloon and  1 dose of cytotec. After the cytotec, my contractions were 1-2 mins apart even though I couldn't feel them the drs could not give me another dose of cytotec or start we on pitocin (aka pit) because of the timing. P came in around 12pm on Saturday the 30th. The balloon stayed in until around 2 pm the following day and I was only  3-4 cm, 20-30-%, and +2.  Not much progress and kinda disappointing. Around 9 p, it was decided that my contractions had slowed enough that we could start pit, which I had been dreading knowing the contractions would be worse and I probably wouldn't be able to stay med free. We started off really slow and I had not made any progress. Over night I stayed at 1 ml/hr all night until 6 am when we had switched nurses. Around 1 am, I started to get uncomfortable and called the doula. When she arrived she gave me a massage and tried to let us get some sleep. I was still in a triage room because the hospital had filled up with it being Labor Day weekend and all. We finally got a bigger room with a view in that hour I got increased to 3 ml/hr and it was a bit much.

My doula was downstairs getting breakfast and I wanted to cuddle with my husband. As we laid in the bed spooning each other, yup you guessed it. My water broke around 8 am. I don't know what I was expecting but that's what it felt like. After that, my contractions came with a punch. I was only 4 cm, 40%  and +2.. Still nothing significant. Due to my water breaking the drs wanted to know how strong my contractions were instead of just frequency and inserted an intrauterine pressure catheter. Things started to become real and they started to hurt. Besides the bathroom the next place of choice was the shower. I sat on the birthing ball with the hot water pointed on my back and my head on some pillows as I rocked back and forth. Man, did it feel good. After I got out of the shower, I got cold and that transition was not good. Yup, I threw up. It sucked. I was up and I was down. I was all over the place and my pit kept increasing. My contractions were good and strong and frequent yet I wasn't going any where. It was heart breaking. The baby's heart rate continued to be perfect. To quote a nurse, " I had the best baby in the unit" and my pressures remained under 140s/80s. Around 430pm the pressure was getting the best of me and I just couldn't keep up. I was exhausted and in a lot of pain. I decided to get the first of two doses of IV push fentanyl to see if I could get some rest. It worked for about an hour and a half.  I was hoping the second dose would have a similar effect but it did not and my blood pressures were increasing again. On narcotics they had gotten to 158/84, when they should have done the opposite. Blood tests had come back and showed I had protein in my urine and was preeclamptic and I had almost reached the max dose of pitocin.I was devastated, my cervix was no longer contracting the way it was suppose to and in a lot of pain. The doula, nurse, my husband and I sat down and talked about my options. I was begging for a c section, but they had convinced me to keep going and this baby should be here around 2 am. Because of the preeclampsia I needed to be put on magnesium to prevent seizures, needed a catheter and was going to  be on bed rest. I had decided to go ahead with an epidural. At 630 pm,  I was 5 cm, 0 station and 100% effaced. Right after shift change around 730 pm, the Foley catheter was placed. After it was placed, I felt like I had to push and each time I would squeeze I was leaking fluid. Everyone told me to stop doing that because I would swell and it would be bad. I begged to be checked even though an hour prior I was not ready, I really felt the need to push. My nurse, who I had had the previous night for the last hour and the night before for a few hours as well, checked me and.. I was COMPLETE with 10 cm, 100% and -2. I would have never guessed those three little words would bring so much joy. The nurse called the dr (dr meanie pants) and she was 10 minutes. I was not waiting 10 mins and we had our nurse on board and got ready to push. When I started pushing my bp increased to 179/101 and I was given labetalol. When I started pushing my perfect baby started to not be so perfect, her heart rate kept decreasing at each push. The dr came in with a crowd of probably 15 people including resident, nurses, nicu docs and nurses and more residents. There were probably 20 people in that room. I started pushing around 735pm. Due to the baby's heart rate dropping they had to use a vacuum to assist with the delivery. With a vacuum, they allow three pop offs and than a c section is needed. The vacuum poped off almost immediately and than we there for serious. Dr meanie pants did not let me rest in between pushes and just kept going until the head came out and soon the rest of the baby was pulled out of me. There was no cry, like you see in movies and I was exhausted in all capacities. After  I heard the babies first cry a sense of relief swept over me and I was in my own world. The residents and nicu drs were still working on the baby while I was getting stitched up. I had a 4th degree tear and as they were stitching me up, I could feel it. Wait, didn't I have an epidural. While they were stitching me I kept jumping and anesthesiology had to be called 2x to give me extra numbing medicine to finish the sewing.

I was taken to the high risk post partum section due to the magnesium. I was on bed rest for 24 hours and we were discharged on Tuesday (our original due date) and we were ready. Was this the birth I expected? No. I had every intervention out there except a cesection and after 47 hours from start of induction to baby I had a healthy baby girl and that's the best thing ever.
I would love to hear your birth story. Anyone have anything similar happen?

~ Steph ~