Birth story, just a little late...

I was scheduled for an induction on May 2nd at 7:00 am. Thursday night, I went to bed around 11:00 so I could be rested up for the induction. Around 2:30 I woke up and felt 'funny'. I laid in bed for a few minutes trying to figure out what I felt. Got up at 2:38 and made it into the bathroom- my water broke at 2:39am! I was a little worried since my water was slightly yellow/greenish. THey had stressed in my childbirth class that water should be clear and any color could be a sign of distress.

We called the doctor and she told us to head into L&D. They did a direct admittance and set us up in a labor suite. They started monitoring the baby and let me know that since there was meconium stain in my water, I wouldn't be allowed to hold Noah as soon as he was born. They needed to put him in the isolette and have the pediatrician's examine his lungs to make sure he hadn't swallowed the meconium. I was upset thinking something was really wrong with the baby, but his heartrate and everything was fine and the doctor's told me not to worry.

I was 3 cm dilated when I was admitted at 3:00 am. I labored on my own with no meds until 7:00 am. Noah was laying on a nerve, and the only way I could be comfortable was if I was sitting up. Unfortunately, whenever I sat up, Noah's heart rate dropped. I had to stay on my right side in order to keep his rate where it needed to be. I'm overweight, and this position was NOT comfortable. I endured it as long as I could, and they set Noah up with internal monitoring. It was easier to keep a read on his heartrate, but he still didn't like me switching positions. I couldn't take the hip pain, it was all I could focus on. So- Joe and I talked it over and at 7:00 am I asked for an epidural. They had it in for me by 7:30 and I was already 5 cm when they gave the epidural.


*times after this are an estimate, i was fuzzy*


After the epidural, I slept off and on until around 11:30. I could feel the contractions but they were just a little annoying. At 11:30 I was fully dilated, so they had me do some practice pushing. The baby was still really high up so we practiced to try and move him and so I could know what I was supposed to be doing. I had very productive pushes, so at 12:00 we really started pushing. I *really* pushed from 12:00-2:00. At 1:30 my doctor came in and said that the baby still wasn't moving down even though my pushes were really productive. His head was so large that they couldn't tell for sure which way he was facing either. My doctor knew I really wanted a vaginal delivery, so he agreed to allow me to push for another hour (he counted the practice pushing so by his count I had already been pushing for 2 hours at that point). Usually the hospital will only allow you to push for 2 hours with no progress before they want to do a c-section. I was grateful for my doctor, so I put ALL my energy into that last hour hoping that I would be able to push Noah out on my own. At 2:20, he still hadn't moved and I was running out of energy. I was so weak I was shaking and couldn't control it, so as much as I hated it, I asked them to prep me for a c-section.



My anethesiologists and doctor were amazing. They kept me calm and joked with me through out the procedure. It took 1 surgical doses and 2 additional doses to numb me properly before they could start. I could tell they were trying to get my legs together so they could strap them down, and my legs were so heavy they kept falling open. I said at one point "I'm sorry I can't keep my legs closed." TO which the doctor replied, "Honey- that's what got you here!"

I hated being separated from Joe while they prepped me, but it wasn't that long and I was so happy to see him again. They started the C-section, and I really couldn't feel anything except some tugging, but only if I focused on it- otherwise I just stared at Joe and waited to hear the baby.



Noah was born at 2:48 pm on May 2nd! and that's where I freaked out. They put him in the isolette, and he wasn't crying and he was grayish. THey put an oxygen mask on him immediately and I was just so worried I didn't know what to do. Joe kept reassuring me, and within a minute Noah let loose and gave us a big cry. Then they weighed and measured him: 9 lbs 5 oz and 21 1/4 inches long! After that, Joe was able to bring him over to me so I could touch him for a minute before they took him to the special care nursery. They monitored him for a few hours b/c his oxygen saturation level was low. Joe stayed with Noah the entire time. I was taken to recovery for an hour, and then rolled down to the special nursery. They rolled my bed right next to Noah's and let me hold his hand and touch him for about 30 minutes before they took me to my room. I had time to call most of my family, and then they brought my baby back to me! At this point, he was already 4 hours old and I hadn't been able to hold him. I was so happy I started crying all over again. He is the most perfect thing that's ever happened in my life. Motherhood is such a joy, I would do it all over again for him.



He had to have blood sugar testing done throughout the first night. Very large babies have to be tested to make sure his system does well once he's no longer attached to mom. He had to get 5 good readings in a row and be tested before every feeding. His first 2 were good, but then he had a low one. When he had the low one, they had to take him back to the special care nursery and do a lab test. after that, we supplemented him with a bit of formula. He was tongue tied and having problems latching, so the formula helped keep his sugar up so he passed all of his tests. It was scary, but everything turned out fine at the end.



He had a circumcision and also had his frenulum clipped while we were in the hospital. Breastfeeding has been rough but we're finally getting the hang of it at 5days old. I had my c-section at 2:48 on Friday and was walking by 11:00 am on Saturday morning. I asked to get up before then, but they thought I was over doing it and made me slow down some(plus i still had the epidural in). I was doing so well that I was able to have some dinner the day of the c-section and I was back on a regular diet for breakfast the next morning