Birth Stories !!!, all birth stories are welcome.

[mummy2girls]

I was just thinking of Jennas birth the other day so i thought i would finally post it here

My due date with Jenna was November 5th. 1 week before my due date i developed a very high blood pressure and was retaining alot of weight..i gained 10 pounds in one week, I was swollen up like a balloon...so my OB/GYN sceduled me for an induction on November 1st.

On novemeber 1st I went into the hospital at 1030am(with muy sister-inlaw) and the nurse hooked me up to the induction drug and to the blood pressure pump. I was to get checked every 5 minutes with my blood pressure so the pump kept going off...LOL. I was laying in bed and i all of a sudden started to feel light headed and nausious. If i was standing up i would of passed out! This lasted for 5 minutes. The nurse checked my pressure and it was dangerously low, that is why i felt yucky. So i was told i had to lay in bed for a bit before even trying to walk around. An hour passed by and i felt light headed again and my face was turning a bright red! My blood pressure was checked again and this time it was getting worse. But this lasted only a minute then the pressure went back to normal. I layed in bed for about a hour and then decided to try to walk around. I never got one of those episodes for a while. At about 1230pm my ex(babys dad) arrived and also my sister. We decided to go back to my room and lay down. So everyone else took out the p[laying cards and started to play as i was laying in bed having contractions(mild ones)!!!! Nice family eh?LOL after about a half an hour i started to feel light headed once again and it was getting so bad the nurse gave me some medication to help control my blood pressure. it was going so out of wack! And the medication seemed to help as my blood pressure stabilized. My doctor came in a decided to break my waters to get my labour going faster! And boy did i start to feel the labour then!!! i reached about 4 cm and i was having very intense pains so I decided to have an epidural. OH that felt good after that. But my labour literally came to a halt. And i sat at 4cm for hours. I was starting to think i may have to have a c-section as did my doctor. But then i started to feel the epidural wear off and feel the pains. Then i felt the biggest urge to push! So i told my ex to run and get the nurse. She came in and checked me and i was 10cm..WOW! I was thinking maby 5 or 6 cm but to be 10 i was surprised. Then i started to push and 10 minutes later my sweet baby girl was born. She weighed 8lbs and 21 inches long. She was so Chubby!!!!!

I beld alot through the delivery so i had to stay in observation for a while to make sure i would be ok and my bleeding would slow down. Then after 2 hours i was put in my room with my beautiful little girl. For the next few days in the hospital i was very worried and scared and happy for my baby. I was getting very nervous she would have what my son had that i lost 4 years prior to this. I was very emotional and falsh backs of then came rushing back. But When she started to stool on her own a big rush of relief came in. My baby was going to be ok!!!!!!! I was discharged 2 days after i had my sweet baby girl.

[A&A'smommy]

Alyssa's Birth Story.

For about a two weeks before Alyssa’s birth I was going to the doctor almost every other day because my doctor was afraid she was getting to big for me to have her naturally. On November 13 I went in for one of my many appointments to be checked. After he checked me he looked at his charts wrote something down and said that I was ready to be induced. We were so excited I was finally ready to have my baby. I arrived at the hospital the next morning around 5:30 Am. In my room of the maternity ward I was being stuck with lots of needles, which to me is torture! After having small contractions that I could not feel for an hour or so my doctor came in a broke my water. That is when the contractions started to get painful, and believe me they were very painful! After the doctor had broken my water Alyssa’s heartrate started dropping. The first time it dropped the nurses came running in and checking on her it got scary. They said it was normal for this to happen after he broke the water, but to me that wasn’t normal! Finally everything got calm. My doctor finally came back and games me my epidural that was the great feeling! I finally got a little sleep and I believe I woke up when my epidural wore off, and then Alyssa’s heartrate starting dropping again. He kept giving me more doses of the anesthesia but it wouldn’t work. Finally after a lot of commotion, pain and worry my doctor asked me how I felt about having a c-section. The nurses took me down to the OR, and finally at 2:23 PM Alyssa Faith Dial was born. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and I was so proud that she had chosen me to be her mother




This post has been edited by alyssa'smommy on May 20 2004, 01:45 PM

[Sherry]

Natural
Jessica Brooke
8 pounds, 7 ounces
20 ½ inches

My estimated due date was August 3, 2002. I was not plagued with morning sickness with my second pregnancy, but I was much more uncomfortable in every other way. Beginning in my seventh month, I had severe neck and back pain, indigestion, and I was already finding it difficult to walk. Despite all those difficulties, I continued to work.

During my eighth month, I began to dilate. I was not alarmed even when I reached 2 centimeters because I knew that was a common occurrence and did not necessarily mean that labor was imminent.

On the morning of July 11, 2002, I went to the doctor for an internal exam, and the doctor was less than gentle. In fact, for the first time I cried out during an exam. He noted that I was dilated a little more, and he stated that it was highly unlikely that I would reach my due date. He said that the baby would definitely come early. I went back to work disappointed because I had heard that news before. I still had three weeks until my due date, but I was more than ready for labor. I had Braxton-Hicks contractions often, and each time it was more disappointing when it was not the real thing.

I was in agony after work, and my whole body ached. In fact, I could barely move. Then I noticed that I was bleeding. I told my husband how rough the doctor had been and how much I hurt afterwards. I eventually called my doctor’s nurse who made an appointment for the next morning just to make sure I was okay.

I let Brittany stay home from school to accompany me to the doctor’s office. I had planned to take her to school and proceed to work after my visit. Things didn’t exactly go the way I had planned, however.

Shortly before it was time to head to my appointment, I felt a sharp, stabbing pain. About ten minutes later, I felt the same stabbing pain. As I hadn’t really had a normal labor with my first pregnancy, I had no idea what to expect. I called George and told him about the pains, but I also told him that I didn’t know if I was in labor. I didn’t want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed again. I told him I would call from the doctor’s office when I had more news.

On the way to the doctor’s office, I realized that I was, in fact, having contractions and not Braxton-Hicks pains. They were steadily coming every two minutes. I knew I had no business driving myself to the hospital, but I had no choice since I was already halfway there. Brittany stayed calm and tried to talk me through each one.

Once I got to the doctor’s office around 10:00 a.m., I approached the desk to sign in. As I grabbed the pen, I felt something leaking down my leg. It wasn’t a gush of fluid, however. I said, “uh-oh,” and the receptionist took me back without another word. A nurse immediately placed me in a room and hooked me up to a monitor because my visit was originally for a stress test. When she came back, I told her the bed was wet, and she said she would do a nitrazine test to see if it was amniotic fluid. Of course, when she pulled back the sheet, she said, “I don’t need to do a test. Your water definitely broke.”

The doctor came in and did an internal exam. I was dilated to a “floppy 4.” He told the nurses to go ahead and wheel me over to the hospital. As I was changing into my gown in the bathroom, Brittany watched in horror as the remainder of my water came out in all over my shoes. It was then that the contractions started coming harder and faster.

I called George from my bed in the intake area to tell him I was in labor, but I kept getting his voice mail. When I finally reached him, he told me he was in the parking lot. He had decided to come to the hospital even though I told him it wasn’t necessary. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to make it to the intake area because he couldn’t find a parking spot. Then, when he finally appeared, we talked about how excited we were. I didn’t even bother using my Lamaze breathing techniques yet. I was expecting to breeze through labor like I did the first time.

Before leaving work, George had called my parents. When they arrived, they took Brittany to the waiting room. My mom did come back and stay with me while George went to grab a sandwich at my urging. My mom fed me ice chips, and George took over for her when he got back. She was uncomfortable being in the room, and I was uncomfortable having her there. Also, Brittany wanted her in the waiting room.

I had expected a short labor since my first had been born in an hour and thirty minutes. However, my labor was completely different this time.

After several hours of laboring in the holding area while waiting for a birthing suite to come available, we finally got a room. Initially we were told that we would have to drive to another hospital since they were full. Fortunately, they did get a room, though, and they moved me there as soon as it was cleaned. George unpacked the bag while the nurses checked me again and started an IV.

I was progressing slowly. It took hours for me to reach 5 centimeters. Then I was stuck at 6 centimeters for a few more hours. Late that afternoon, the doctor made the decision to start Pitocin. I still progressed slowly even after the nurse turned up the Pitocin drip. I labored all afternoon while George and I talked and watched TV. However, there seemed to be endless commercials about food, which tortured me. I hadn’t eaten all day, and that was the worst part other than the pain; the gnawing hunger and thirst I felt. I had planned on eating after my morning appointment; I had no idea I wouldn’t be able to do that

After the third time the nurse turned up my Pitocion drip, I felt as though my stomach were being ripped apart. The contractions were much stronger because of the Pitocin. However, I was determined to stay with my natural birth plan. I practiced my breathing exercises, but both George and I felt silly doing them. The nurses were surprised to find me laughing and smiling each time they came in my room, especially since I was having natural labor.

By 6:00 p.m., George and I both were exhausted, and my good sense of humor was wearing thin. The pain was intense, but I had managed it that long by telling myself it would be over soon. I started relying more on my breathing exercises, but because of the harder and more intense contractions, they did little to ease the pain. George sat beside my bed and cried at one point because the breathing exercises were of little use and because he felt helpless. I was elated at one point because I knew we would hold our daughter soon. Then I was depressed that it was taking so long. I would laugh, and then I would cry. When I had a contraction, I had a hard time. Immediately after the contraction ended, I was happy again, though.

The nurse came in the room when I was at 7 centimeters and said that it was my last chance to get an epidural. I told her I didn’t want one. She said she could give me a shot of Stadol, and I refused that as well. This left George shaking his head because he knew how much pain I was in. I told him I didn’t want to be half-asleep, disoriented, numb and nauseated while giving birth. I wanted to be alert so that I could enjoy it.

Several times I asked George to get the nurse to check me because I was getting impatient. At one point the doctor came in to manually stretch my cervix to speed labor. He stated that I was only dilated to 9 but that he could stretch it to 10 so that I could push. He tried this, but it was so painful that I told him I would wait for my body to dilate on its own.

I had the familiar feeling of needing to go to the bathroom around 7:40, and I also had a new feeling I never had the first time: I wanted to push. George looked down and gasped. He said that he knew her head was about to crown. I grabbed George’s shirt and told him to get the nurse in a hurry.

I didn’t even wait for the nurses to set up the table with the stirrups. I held my own legs while nurses came in the room with the doctor. I pushed once and her head came out; I pushed once more and her shoulders came out. The pushing had been the only easy part.

I was able to avoid having an episiotomy again. I literally begged the doctor not to cut me. I did have two tiny tears, but they didn’t require repair. Yet again, the afterbirth did not want to come out, and the nurse had to push it out . Then I wouldn’t stop bleeding.

After ten hours of hard labor, I was able to hold Jessica Brooke in my arms for the first time.

[jen]

Madelyn Rae Parish
3:27 p.m.
April 15, 2004
6lbs 13 oz, 19 1/2 inches long

I will try and recall this as accurately as possible.

On April 13th around 11:00 p.m. I went to the bathroom and was surprised to see I had a bloody show! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOo I of course burst into tears! I was due April 13th and immediately starting having light irregular contractions. My mom was out of town so I called her and told her to fly home. No one thought I would have the baby on time because originally I was due April 22nd and everyone kept changing my date after the ultrasounds! And I am NEVER on TIME so why would my daughter be!

I told my husband that I had the show but that I didn't think the contractions were regular. We joked about how we should have paid attention in the birthing classes! ha ha. We didn't know how to time contractions or what was to come so we read the book What to Expect When you are Expecting, I highly recommend it if you need a crash course like we did!

So anyway I just went back to sleep because I didn't think I was going to have her anytime soon. Well about an hour later I woke up again with more intense contractions so of course what else to do but CLEAN MY HOUSE I had been nesting for about 2 months so my house was spotless but I still vacummed and everything else!

Then that morning April 14th at 6 I called the hospital the nice lady there told me to wait until I couldn't take it anymore because they were full. So I just said well ok. We lived about 20 minutes away so I was ok with that I guess.

Then around 8 we went to the hospital, I could take things fine, but I was really anxious. I was checked upon arrival and hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were 7 minutes apart perfectly and I was 2 cm. My doctor was not on call and the other doctor sent me home and told me to take a Benadryl to sleep. They were still full and could not give me a room. I wasn't in much pain but the contractions were getting stronger like horrible cramps.

So I went home took the Benadryl and slept until 3. Then I woke up and took a shower. I could tell that my baby had dropped right on top of my bones. I could hardly lift my legs. Then the real contractions started. I laid down on the floor and wouldn't move until they would end. It is bearable but not something I want to remember until the next one!

So then we went back to the hospital at 4. I was told they were still full. So they hooked me up in triage. I was hooked up to the monitors and I was at a 2 1/2 or 3 but 100% effaced and my contractions were coming at 4 minutes apart regularly and peaking off the page. They didn't want to give me anything for pain and I STILL don't remember why! But family started rolling in against our wishes, i really wanted to be in a private room. This woman behind the next curtain was showing people her newly shaved crotch! I mean like 10 people and cussing up a storm. I threw a fit and had them all thrown out of there! This isn't how I was going to remember this day! At 11 p.m. I was finally put in a room and my contractions were still at 4 min apart and some irregular ones too and I was only 3 to 3 1/2 cm. My doctor was still not on call.

That morning they woke me up and told me I was going home b/c as I had slept with the pain pill I was finally given the contractions wore off for a 15 minute time period. I was LIVID. I started getting dressed then a monster contraction hit me, I took off my pants slipped back on my gown and told the nurse I wasn't going anywhere until I saw MY DOCTOR. My husband was so PROUD! Then he strolled in an hour later. Checked me, asked me if I wanted to have my baby today ( I said yes) and then he kindly broke my water and told the nurses I wasn't going anywhere. I was given Pitocin at 9:40 to speed things a long and about 2 hours later the anetheisieologist came in with the Epidural ( he was an ANGEL). after the epidural I slept until 2:40 or so then woke up and was checked and at a 10! and started pushing after a couple practice pushes the nurse told me to wait and called my doctor and told him to hurry over. She was actually telling me to fight the urge to push, that was the hardest part. Then my dr. got there finally and 10 or so pushes later our beautiful baby girl Madelyn Rae Parish was born. I had 3 stiches and recovered immediately. I was lucky to be able to recover so fast I am told.

We had a ton of family in the waiting area and outside the door. My husband asked them to wait 15 or 20 minutes while we started to bond. She latched on immediately and it was the beautiful experience I have ever had. Then everyone came in to meet her.

I have to say one of the hardest things is when you have your baby and they take her not even 5 feet away to do the battery of test and clean her up etc. I have never wanted her that far away from me again. Of course her daddy was right there with her. She is now 3 months old and just a glowing happy baby that already loves getting in the pool and trying to voice her opinion! I am lucky to have the family and extended family and friends that I have, that all love her so much and to have the husband I have that has turned into the best daddy! It really made me love him more I didn't think that was possible.

This post has been edited by jen on Jul 20 2004, 02:40 PM

[jolene555]

okay, i will make mine very short, i hope. i was due jan 4, 2004. as you can imagine, it was a lovely holiday season. i had a completely uncomplicated pregnancy, and by christmas was reay to be over with. obgyn visit on the 21st said that i was already 3 centimeters (yahoo!!!), so i was asking everyone on ways to naturally induce labor. one of the #1 suggestions was sex. hell, why not, right???

so me and my man were getting busy, ans as often as possible. did i mention i was ready to not be PG anymore? then it happened - he comes down with "something". oh, it was awful. he was in so much agony w/ sinus problems, coughing, sneezing, the works. the doc had decided to induce on the 5th, and i caught his bug by the 3rd.

it was horrible. everytime i coughed i thought she was gonna shoot out. i had no idea how i could make it through labor feeling like this. the doc said i could wait if i really insisted. wait? hardly.

so we walked into the hospital at 6 am on the 5th. they checked me out, started pitocin, and they broke my water (or, as i call it, the flow that wouldn't end). being 6 am, what do you think barry was doing? oh yah, he was sleeping. so i'm laying there in all my glory - coughing, sneezing, in labor, and absulutely exhausted. i finally crabbed at him enough to come hold my hand, but apparently he didn't understand that nothing he did was going to be right that day. he'll know better next time.

i was only having contrations for about 45 minutes when i got "staydall" (not sure on the spelling. that was some good sh**, and it stopped my cold. another 30 minutes later and i was 4 cm, and ready for epidural man. he was a god, and i will never forget him.

it was smooth sailing. i had a nice, long nap in my pain free euphoria. i started pushing at 6:25 with the nurse. notice that my obgyn was not there - he was down the street at his office, waiting to be called when i got close. uh huh.

i pushed maybe 3 times and was crowning. where's the doctor? still on his way. well, even though i was still on the epidural i was feeling something awful. aparently the epi dosen't completely cover the tearing pain. he walks in, casually, about 7 minutes later. i pushed, she was born. 6:48 pm, 8lb, 1 oz, 20 3/4 inches long.

i held her for about 1/2 hour after it was all over and then i slept for 2 hours before they finally moved me to the next room. i was extremely emotional, and not in a good way. poor barry was ticking me off with everything he did. all well, he understands, i hope.

2 days later she finally got her name. georgia bernadette.

[jolene555]

thought i'd show you what happens when your ob allows you to be crowning for 10+ minutes.

jo

Attached Image

[Emeraldsmom]

Emerald Victoria's Birth story

My EDD was September 2nd. By the time I was in my eight month I was huge and having a hard time getting around. I wanted to work up until I had my baby but I was having a lot of trouble sleeping so my doctor took me off work 2 weeks before my due date. Being off work and at home I was miserable. I just kept wondering when I was going to go into labor. When my due date came and went I was getting very anxious. Finally my doctor said if I didn't have the baby by Sept. 12 I was going to have to be induced. So the evening of Sept. 12th My hubby and I checked into the hospital. That night they put in something called a cervidal in my cervix to help me dialate. I was just supposed to rest that night and they were going to start the pictocin the next day. I had trouble sleeping that night so they gave me a sleeping pill. I didn't expect anything to happen for a while because I wasn't even dialated at all.

At 5a.m. the next morning I felt a gush. I went to the bathroom and I had lost my mucus plug. Then at 5:30a.m. I had my first contraction. It was very hard. I was surprised because most of my friends said that their contractions we not hard and didn't hurt that bad until they were dialated to like a 4. But mine were very intense from the beginning. right away they were like 1-2 min. apart. They checked me and I was only dialted to a 2!!! I thought I was not going to make it because I was in so much intense pain already. When they told me I couln't have the epidural until I was 4 cent. I thouhgt I would die. I don't even remember parts of my labor because I was in so much pain. But I do remember I vomited like 4 times. My husband was so supportive but I felt bad afterwords because I was so mean to him because I was in pain. I think around 10 a.m. I was finally dialated to a 4 and I got my epidural. When I was getting it my water broke. (All over my husbands leg.) The pain relief was so good that I feel asleep for a couple of hours. I don't even remember when they started the pictocin. Well my epidural kept wearing off. They had to redue it 4 times!!!! finaly at like 7 p.m. I was ready to push. I was thinking okay this is it. The pushing is the last part and it will be all over. Yeah right. I was pushing really good at first. The doctor was saying how good I was pushing. But then after 2 hours of pushing I kind of lost it. I told the doctor that she was a liar and that the baby was never going to come out. She said that I would push for another 1/2 hour and If the baby wasn't coming down then I would have to have a c-section. Part of me thought I don't care, just get this kid out. But another part of me thought I didn't want to go through all that pain for nothing. The problem was that the baby wouldn't come under my pubic bone.

After the doc told me I was going to have to have a c-section, I decided I was going to give it my all. After a couple of good pushed the baby finally came under the pubic bone. But she was still having trouble coming out. So the doctor called in another doc. who is really good with vacum extration. They put the vacum on the baby's head and with a few good pushes my daughter was finally born. It was scary because they rushed her over to the little table right away and she was all blue. The cord had wraped around her head and body and she was actually not breathing. It was scary. But it was only a few seconds before she was breathing again. Oh I forgot to mention that in the middle of my labor I got a fever for some reason so the baby was born with a fever. But it went away quick. When they layed her on my chest I was so happy. She was a perfect pink little baby. Labor and delivery was not what I expected but my little girls was so worth it. Emerald Victoria was born on Sept. 13 2004 at 9:52 p.m. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21and1/2 inches long. She is 2 months now and the doctor says she is perfect. She is now 12 pounds 7 ounces and 24 inches long!!! Thanks for reading my story.

[kim62377]

Beautiful birth stories everyone! I myself do not have one as of yet - but hopefully we will by Christmas! Doc says we should be able to babydance in a couple of weeks! Thank God for those of us that are blessed enough to have wonderful doctors that are capable of performing surgery to correct problems with getting pregnant! Now I will be able to be a Mommy!
I was hoping that maybe all of you would let me bend the rules a little bit and tell my 'pre - birth story' as in how I have overcome some serious problems discovered during ttc and am now able to have babies!
My husband and I were married on October 18th of 2003 - this was the happiest day of my life. We have known eachother for 15 years and been very close friends for all of that. I am 27 and he is 31.
We have been ttc for a year and a half. A few years ago I had a tubal pregnancy - this was very upsetting but I was lucky to have a doctor that caught it early enough to us methotrexate instead of surgery thus preventing any damage to my tube.
I have had problems as far as being regular with my periods for quite awhile. I would bleed fro the majority of the month and eventually this all escalated into severe pain and discomfort. This reached it's peak approximately 3 months ago. At this time we were still unsuccessful in getting pregnant.
I have a wonderful relationship with my doctor and had been discussing my problems and worries with him for awhile. He had exhausted all efforts in trying to regulate my cycle and determined that laprascopic surgery was needed to diagnose what he believed to be endometriosis. This terrified me. I had already been researching all I could on the symptoms that had been plaguing me and knew what endo could mean for us as far as ever becoming parents.
Dr. Pace discussed the surgery with me and told me to go home and ask Keith about it. We decided to go ahead and do it - what did we have to lose? We both trusted that Dr. Pace would take care of me and knew that if we ignored this it could mean giving up something we both want so badly as well as me continuing to have to endure the pain I'd been in for many months now already.
I called my doctor and had him schedule the surgery. We were set for January 6th, 2005 first thing in the morning. I was so scared. He was going to perform the laprascopy along with hysteroscopy and tuboplasty. He would make sure that there were no blockages in my tubes by running dye through them and checking the inside of my uterus to make sure there were no blockages from the inside.
When we got to the hospital I was so terrified and nervous. I had my husband with me but I wanted my doctor. The nurses kept coming in and telling me that Dr. Pace was going to be doing an appendectomy and I would have to stay overnight. I kept telling them that he wasn't doing that unless he needed to. They kept saying he would anyway - they were so aggravating! The anestesiolgist agitated me as well, looking at my teeth talking about the breathing tube and just being outright impersonal - I wanted my doctor! Why weren't they hurrying up? I had never had surgery before and I was scared. Finally, finally Dr. Pace was there. He assured me he would only be doing what was necessary and that he would not mess up any of my 'baby making machine'!
When they wheeled me back to the OR I was so very scared. I did not want to know anything that was going on, they wouldn't let Keith come with me and I didn't even want to see the room where they would be performing the surgery.
When we got there they got me up onto the table and the anestesiologist put a mask over my face and started strapping my right arm down. I almost freaked. I have severe panic disorder and I just knew I was fixing to lose it. Then my doctor was there. He held my left hand and told me that everything was going to be OK. He told me to just relax and take deep breaths. I think I took about 3 breaths and then I was waking up. Dr. Pace was still there holding my hand. How weird is that? It was as if I had never went to sleep. Except that I was really screwed up and my eyes were blurry. My doctor was telling me that we were going to have to be VERY careful. This scared me even in my drug induced state. I asked him why and he said that we would be pregnant in no time! Just that we couldn't try until I was completely healed. YAAAAAAAY!
I had multiple uterine polyps blocking both openings to my tubes which in turn had caused my ectopic from a few years ago. The tissue from the pregnancy backing up in my left tube had caused an infection to develop in the tube and outside in my abdominal cavity. This in turn caused scar tissue to develop around my ovaries and tubes (eventually pulling both sides together and around my uterus - the pictures are unreal!) It took him 2 and a half hours to cut awy all the scar tissue and return my tubes and ovaries to their proper positions. He then had to 'tack' them up in order to allow them to heal properly. He also removed all the uterine polyps that had caused this whole mess to begin with. We were very lucky as none of my plumbing was scarred by any of the infection whereas normally it would have. Dr. Pace said he really didn't think he'd be able to help us when he first got in there. But as it turns out everything was pretty much just 'encased' in scar tissue.
I am all better now and have an appt with my wonderful doctor on Monday - this will be my 4 week post op so he should release us to love eachother but using protection of course. I just recently finished my first (and hopefully last) course of Provera and Af should start on her own next cycle (due 2-26-05). After this we are officially free to 'babydance'! I've never been so anxious for AF in my life!
A few things I'm curious about after reading everyones birth stories - some words/procedures/medications I am unfamiliar with. I guess I'm a little stupid about some of this stuff being a newbie and all.
-What are the negative effects with pitocin? Why is everyone scared of it?
-What does APGAR mean?
-What exactly is a doula?
-What is meconium and how can it hurt the baby?
-Why can induction be worse than waiting? Can this cause problems for the baby?
-What is the 'test dose' of an epidural? Can it hurt you or something?
I know I've rambled on - thank you guys so much for listening - if you've even made it this far!

[sweetpeas]

Hi, I read most of the birth stories. And thought I'd just add one.

Larissa's birth story.

She was due June 14th, and I couldn't wait for her to come. Everybody kept telling me that I have to hold her in until Jonathan had some time. The family runs a truck logging business and May is an extremely busy months. So I was just smiling and going along with it.
Little did I know that she was listening. The one day her daddy had off in about 3 weeks she decided to come. It was May 31st.

At 5.30 in the morning I woke up with some mild contractions. They were 12 minutes apart. I called DH after I had them for an hour. He was working nights at that time.
So he rushes home, runs past his parents house without even saying hi. He just called to his mother that I was in labour.
Well first thing I did was tell him to go to bed. My contractions were still just 10 minutes apart, and I figured I had lots of time. Turns out my MIL had other plans. She showed up a little after 7 just to see how I was doing. When I told her I was 7 minutes apart, she just says :"Get dressed, we're leaving."
I guess she was right. In the car my contractions got closer and closer. I even had a few two minutes apart. I think she was pretty freaked out. We live about 1hr 15 min away from the hospital. She just drove that car as fast as she could.

So we finally get to the hospital. I get into my room. The nurses hook me up to all the monitors. And then the contractions slowed down. I was positive that they were going to send us home that day. The nurses were, too.
Until they checked me at 10 am. I was 7-8 cm dilated. DH and I couldn't believe it. Just to make sure she was right, another nurse comes in and checkes me. She corrected it to an 8-9 cm.
So there was no turning back. A little while later, they told me that I could push. And at 12.25 Larissa was born. They laid her on my belly and that was the greatest feeling I have ever had. DH cut the cord, something he said he'd never do. And MIL who stayed for additional support (best decision I ever made, DH could enjoy it more) was just in love with the little girl.

She was so tiny. Hard to believe she took her first steps today. YAY.

[stanleygirl]

I'm new here so I thought I'd share my compressed version of my Birth stories,

Kieran was born 2002, 9lbs 1/2 oz, 21 in long after 22 hours of labor.

I was 10 days overdue, and scheduled to be induced first thing next morning when I woke around 1 am, having regular contractions, went in to hospital and was already 4cm dialated. I got the epidural about 4 hours in and after about 6 hours later I asked for more, but the 2nd time he messed something up and only one half of my body froze. The other half well, it hurt alot, but I pushed and pushed and nothing was happening, and after all that the baby's heart beat dropped and they started rushing me into the ER for a Csection. Well damn that was scary, and I was thinking 'I went through all that for a section anyways - no way!'
So, I pushed with everything I had left, and the anasthesiologist (sp?) had a gas mask over my face , and the doc said "ok the baby's coming on it's own", but he literally got stuck with just his head a little too big to get out, so they ended up using the vaccuum, but no C-section. Hooray! And well recovery was terrible I had a lot of stitches, and really just was traumatized by the whole experience. Bc (I had also been told that the baby would be born without a kidney, and they were doing tests on, but he actually does have a kidney, it's just small and not where it should be).


My second is a much quicker story
Braeden was born 2004, 8 lbs 1/2 oz, 20 in long after 4 hours of labor

I had problems with early labor symptoms throughout my entire pregnancy, and had gone into labor a month before DS was born, they stopped it with medication though, and I had to take it easy at home bc every little thing would cause contractions. I saw the doc a few days after my due date and she said I was 2cm dlated already, so she swiped my memebranes, and said I'd have the baby in a few days. Well, I picked up my son, went home and had a contraction. I didn't get too worried at first bc I had contractions all the time. In the span of 20 minutes they went from 7mins to 4mins to 2mins. By the time I got to hospital I was 4cm. While they were putting my epidural in I started to push and Brady was out 5 minutes later. We almost delivered without a DR!

After all this I would love one more, but DH is adamant that two is all he wants....

[luvbug00]

This is soo sweet I love readding thease!


Myas story:
I went to my first sonagram at ohhh 5 months. (I was young and avoided telling anyone until I was 4 months to prevent forced abortion.) Anyway I was told my little bundle would be a boy and so we planned acordingly and my due date was July 14 2000. Mind you Mya was an escape artist and tried to be born several times. It was july first , my dad's birthday and I woke up in a puddle of fluid. ( not pleasent) not wanting to disturb anyone I called my bf and told him soo we sneaked over to the hospital and they said I was 1 cm dihalated. We were told to stay put and so we did. I called my parents reluctently and told them to come to the hospital. Well, all progressed as normal after several attempts to keep Mya inside they figured she'd be ok. Well I got my epi at 6 cm. and then arround 9:30 I had to use the bathroom bad! real Bad! well the nurse was there and she called in the other staff and next thing you know I was exposed to the world and pushing away. of course not until I f-ed and blinded the staff for having some students in the room and i made them all leave except the doc a nurse and Brad. Mya was born at 10:55 on July 1st 2000. She weighed in at 5 lbs 3 oz, (turns out she was earlier then the docs guessed.) 18 inches long and A GIRL!!! Ohh was I confused. Well she was not allowed to breast feed and she had jundice and was made to stay in the hospital for a week.
Now she's four and up to the average and exceling so that's her story.
thanx for letting me share.

[Sarah&Mackenzie]

Mackenzie Rae's birth story:

My due date was 11-18-04 and on 11-13-04 I woke up at 11:30 p.m. to go to the bathroom. When I stood up water started running down my leg. I went downstairs to go pee and realized it was time. I went back upstairs and turned on the light and said Bart wake up it's time. He threw the covers back said "oh boy" and went right past me to go get dressed. I put some clothes on and called my mom and dad. Arrived at the hospital a little after midnight. I started having contractions and asked when I could have an epi. They gave me one when I was 3.5 cm. I wasn't progressing as fast as they liked so they put me on patosin (sp?) It wasn't long until I started to push. I didn't feel a thing!! At 1:48 pm on 11-14-04 my beautiful baby girl was born at 9 pds 6 oz and 21 inches long. Healthy as could be. The nurse could not believe that I pushed so well being this was my first baby. It was the most exciting event in my life and nothing could prepare me for the most rewarding job in the world, becoming a Mother!!!!!!

[huggybugboy]

I had a miserable pregnancy until the week before Miles was born and then I figured because I felt so good that he was never coming! Well Easter Sunday the miserableness came back and I felt awful the whole day, but still didn't feel like I was going to have this baby! I ate dinner (at two pm) laid in bed at the in-laws while my sister in law gave me a pedicure, and then went home and went to bed. I tossed and turned most of the night, I felt crampy but the doctor had told me the week before that cramps were nothing, just my muscles stretching. Well they must not have just been stretching muscles because at 2am I went to the bathroom and couldn't figure out why my underwear were all wet. First I thought it was just my mucous plug so I went to the bedroom and changed my pants and told dh. Well of course then we couldnt sleep and five minutes later I was changing my pants again. We decided I'd better call the doctor and see if we should go to the hospital (I wasn't having really strong contractions but I had the strep b thing so I was supposed to go in if my water broke.) When I got to the hospital I was dilated to 2 and was starting to be in a lot of pain. I got my epidural at 7 in the morning at 3 cm along with some pitocin. Then I felt great for a while but once I really started dilating the pain came back. I got more medication but I could still feel his little head grinding against my pelvis. The nurse said she could see his little head rocking back and forth trying to come out. Well when I finally dilated to 10 I started pushing...and pushing...and pushing... Miles just wanted to stay where he was! He didnt drop down any and wasn't budging. I was so exausted and hungry and thirsty and sick so I couldnt have anything. The doc finally came in and said ok...I think its time for a csection.
After all that work... 15 hours of labor, two hours of pushing, and then a csection?? I was so upset and scared - I knew nothing about csections. ATTENTION> EVERYONE EXPECTING> READ UP ON CSECTIONS!!
Anyway, they shaved me down (yuck) and wheeled me into this big sterile room where all these nursing students stared at me. Ten minutes later little Miles came out and took my breath away. He was very healthy and hairy I just barely got to see him when the doctor knocked me out. I lost a lot of blood so they put me under for a while and later got a blood transfusion. When I woke up I got to see my little boy and all the pain and everything I had just gone through didn't matter, I didnt even remember it! He was so perfect. AHHHHH... Sorry if this scares anyone.
Heres a picture of me & miles right before I fell asleep.

Attached Image

[JilliansMom]

Jillian Brielle's Birth Story!!

We were scheduled for an induction on July 18th at 6:00am.
Me, my mom and Jeremy arrived at the hospital, got checked in and settled into the labor room.
The nurse came in around 8:00am to start my IV. I was really dreading that part b/c I am terrible w/ needles. She started it in my hand and got it in the vein. She started to draw the blood out of it for labwork and omg...I started feeling really woozy like I was about to pass out. Then my vein collapsed! So she had to withdraw the IV. I seriously almost fainted, so I told them to wait about 30 minutes before they tried again so I could regroup. SO later, another nurse came in to try again. This time she put it in my arm. It did hurt, but it wasn't so bad. Then they started the Pitocin drip. I couldn't tell a difference at all for a while.

The doctor came to visit around 8:30 am and I was 2cm dilated, 80% effaced and -2 station.
Nothing much happened for a while after that. My contractions weren't painful, just a little uncomfortable. I was able to get up as I wanted to and I tried the birthing ball and the rocking chair.
The nurses tried to check my cervix for dilation 2 different times during the day, but neither could reach it b/c of the position it was in.

All day, I had family members in and out visiting, etc. I chatted w/ the nurses and watched TV w/ Jeremy and my mom...pretty uneventful most of the day.

The doctor finally came in around 5:30pm to check me himself. I was still only 2cm dilated, but was now 90% effaced and -1 station.
He talked to me about my options and we decided to turn the Pitocin off and let my uterus and the baby rest overnight and re-start the Pitocin in the morning.

The transferred me to a private room on the PP unit for the night - the same room I would go to after delivery.

That night, all night I was having some strong contractions on my own. So strong that I needed some pain medicine to help me get through them enough to rest, but I still didn't rest much. I think I was just so anxious and scared about what the next day would bring.
The nurse came in at around 2:00am to put me on the monitor for about 30 minutes. I was definetly having contractions regularly. The baby looked awesome, heartrate was excellent.[}]

I got out of bed at around 5:30am and took a shower, then got Jeremy up and he did the same. The nurse came in and took me back to the L&D room that I was in the day before.

THey started the Pitocin at around 6:30am.
The nurse checked my cervix and it had come down some and she didn't have any trouble getting to it.
I was just over 2cm at that time.

My contractions were getting pretty strong, so I got some Stadol, which helped me through them.
The doctor came in at about 8:30 and checked me and I was 4cms dilated and almost completely effaced.
He broke my water then, which was nothing! I thought that might be a little painful, but I didn't even feel it!

Soon after my water was broken, my contractions really started to get intense. I really wanted to wait a little longer about getting the epidural, so I did my best to cope through them.
I had awesome support from my mom and from Jeremy, so I got through each one.

The contractions just continued to keep getting stronger and closer together. Finally, it really became unbearable. The contractions were coming about a minute apart, so I barely had a break in between them...even the breaks were painful. It was so bad and I was trying to breathe through them, but that wasn't working. I actually started hyperventilating and caused my whole left side to go numb.[&:] The pain was so intense. I couldn't wait any longer. So I requested my epidural.
It took the anesthesiologist about 30 minutes to get there....and that was the longest 30 minutes of my life!! The contractions were still only about a minute apart and VERY painful.

Finally he got there. He had me sit on the side of the bed, and Jeremy was standing in front of me. He pushed on my spine, I guess to feel for the spaces in my back and omg..that hurt! Then he gave me a tiny shot of Lidocaine in my back to numb the area where he would insert the epi. I barely felt that. Then he he stuck the epi needle in and YOW! That did hurt! But just for a sec. The all of a sudden I felt a GUSH of fluid come out. I actually thought I had peed on myself, but then realized it was amniotic fluid gushing out. It seems like it came out forever!
As soon as he put the test dose in my epi cath, my legs started to go numb. And it wasn't long before I Couldn't feel the contractions anymore. It was such a huge relief!

After that, a few family members were coming in and out, taking turns sitting w/ me, giving my mom and Jeremy a break.

About 1 1/2 hrs after I got my epi, the nurse decided to re-check my cervix to see if I was making progress.
I was hoping to be at least 6cms. Boy, was I SHOCKED when she checked me and I was already complete!!

MY mom was in there w/ me, but Jeremy had stepped out to go talk to some family members. So we had to call him on his cell phone to hurry and come in there!

The nurse called the doc and he came in and checked me too. And he determined that I was completely dilated as well.
So they set me up to get ready to start pushing.
I was so nervous and still in shock kind of, but I was excited, thinking "This is it!"

The next two hours are kind of a blur. I know that I pushed SO damn hard. With every contraction, I gave it all I had trying to push that baby out. I just had a bad feeling like all my work just wasn't doing any good. I do remember after pushing for so long, I asked the doctor "Am I making any progress at all?" And he just looked down and shook his head "No". I was really upset after that, but still had hope.

I continued to push with the nurse, while the doctor left the room for a few minutes.
He came back, and still, I pushed hard some more. And I was still not making progress. The baby just wasn't coming down through my pelvis.

Finally, after 2 hours of pushing w/ all my might, the doc could see that I was exhausted, and he knew that she wasn't going to make it throught the birth canal and he advised a c-section.

I was devastated, but knew that I didn't really have a choice at that time. The doc said I could continue to push IF I wanted to until the OR team arrived, but he didn't think it would do any good, but I could if I wanted to. But by that time, I was so distraught and tired...completely exhausted. I didn't want to push any more...I couldn't push anymore. SO I decided to just take that short time to rest, cry, be w/ my mom and Jeremy and just try to cope with what I was about to face - the one thing I didn't want.

I was really upset and crying. Jeremy left the room to go tell all of our family members in the waiting room that I was going to have to have a c/s. Later everyone told me that he was just as upset about it as I was. He was crying in the waiting room, scared and worried about me and the baby. It was very emotional for him as well.
My mom stayed in the room w/ me. We hugged each other and cried together. She tried to comfort me as best she could, but I was just filled w/ emotion, so exhausted, upset, and most of all..just so ready for it all to be over and to have a baby in my arms.

The nurse prepped me for surgery - shaved my stomach and explained a bunch of things to me, which I never really fully heard. I was too exhausted and tired to listen.
The doctor came in and talked to me about the surgery and tried to calm me down and re-assure me that it would be fine.

The anesthesiologist came in and adjusted my epi for surgery and then we went the OR.

As I was being wheeled into the OR, I was greeted by my mom in the hallway, my dad and my sister. I was so scared.

They wheeled me into the OR. It was a green room w/ a bunch of bright lights. I'd seen so many ORs before, but somehow this one seemed different.
The transferred me to the operating table. I remember being scared that my epi wouldn't be enough and that I would feel them cut me. They put oxygen on me and rubbed betadine on my stomach, put the drawsheet up.
After that is kind of a blur.
Before I knew they had even started, I heard Jeremy say "OMG, OMG...Here she is!!" and then all of a sudden I felt like someone had just breathed fresh air into my lungs. It was the strangest feeling as they pulled her out. She was born into this world at 4:21pm.
Then they held her up above the curtain for me to see. I remember the first thing I did was look to make sure she was a girl!!
It was instant love. An amazing feeling...it's undescribable what I felt when I looked at her for the first time.

Then Jeremy cut the cord and they took her over to the warmer to clean her up. I watched the whole time and kind of forgot for a brief moment that I was laying there on the operating table cut open!

After they got her wrapped up, they handed to her Jeremy. Then he laid her on my chest and I was just completely amazed. She was so beautiful. I just laid there studying her little nose and lips, rubbing her forehead w/ my thumb. She was so precious and perfect.
I only got to hold her for a brief time before they took her to the nursery.
Jeremy followed the nurse to go to the nursery and be with them.

I don't remember ANYTHING after that except being wheeled into recovery. Apparently, my BP shot up and they had to give me something to knock me out while they sewed me up.

When I got in the recovery room, the nurse checked my incision to make sure it wasn't bleeding and she massaged my uterus to make it contract. And she stood there w/ me and filled out a bunch of paper work while I 'recovered'.
I stayed in recovery for about 45 minutes.

In the meantime, Jeremy was in the nursery w/ the baby, helping to clean her and watching as the nurse did her assessments and everything.
A whole crew of family and friends were watching through the nursery window, taking videos and pictures.

Finally, they wheeled me out of recovery to go to my room. First, though, they took me to the nursery window where I got to see the baby.

Then they took me to my PP room and I got settled in and family members came in and out to see me. They brought the baby to me and I breastfed her for the first time. I was still pretty drugged up, but wasn't in any pain at that time.

Overall, the c/s and recovery after wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. It took a while for the epidural to wear off, so I had some pretty decent pain relief just from that the first 24 hours.

I just remember how unbelieveable THIRSTY I was! But I couldn't have anything by mouth until 8 hours after my c/s. But one nice nurse let me have ice chips at about 10:00pm.
Then at 12:00 midnight, I got to have a Sprite. It was the best sprite I had ever tasted!!!

They made me sit up on the side of the bed the next morning. That was painful, but not too bad. I got to eat breakfast, but wasn't at all hungry. I just ate b/c I had to.
That whole day was pretty painful. But I did get up and walk, even took a shower. I had too..they made me.[] But I wanted to anyway.

The 2nd day after was even more painful than the previous, but I just tried to get up and walk every couple hours so that I wouldn't be so sore. And all in all...even that day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The doc came in to see me and said that since I was doing so good, I could go home a day early if I wanted to...and I did! I was sick of being hospitalized.
So the next day, at about 1:30pm...we all went home.[]

And that's about it!

[Noahs_mommy]

Noah’s Birth Story

As I am writing this more than 3 ½ years after the fact, some details will be left out. But I will do my best to remember.
Around 7:00 pm on January 14th, (the day before my due date) I started having mild contractions. They progresses through the night. The next morning, I told my husband that I thought that this was it. The contractions were still fairly far apart and not very strong, but were still progressing. To get things moving, we went to the mall to walk around 8 or 9 am. We walked and walked and walked. The contractions were steadily getting stronger and closer together. We went into the arcade and played some games and won a cute little stuffed horse that we still have now.
Well my contractions were finally about 5 minutes apart and I couldn’t walk through them and could barely talk through them. So around 11:00 we were off to the hospital.
By the time we got there and the got a monitor on me, the contractions had slowed a whole lot. We stayed and I was monitored for a while longer. A long while. Because I was still having contractions and they wanted to see if they’d pick up.
Finally, the doctor came in to check me, I think I was only at a 2 or 3. I was so worried they were going to send me home. But, nope! She said she didn’t want the baby to get any bigger. So off to a L & D room I went! By the time they got me hooked up in there it was about 4:00 pm! They started me on an IV with some Pitocin. And after just a bit, the doctor came in and broke my water.
Between the Pitocin and the broken water, the contractions started progressing fast. But not so fast they were unbearable. I had visitors a lot. I remember my grandpa being in there for a contraction and asking if I was okay and if it was supposed to be like this. I hadn’t even hit hard labor yet! He had just never seen a woman in labor before. It was cute how concerned he was. We assured him it was all normal. I also remember that , for some reason, my cousin thought it necessary for me to meet her new boyfriend at this time. It didn’t bother me, but I thought it was odd. I guess it didn’t scare him too much, because they just got married a couple months ago!
Well around 7:00pm, hard labor started. I remember when it first started getting hard is the one and only time I cussed during the whole time. And everyone thought it was funny because I asked my husband for permission before I did it!
They checked me and I was at 5cm and they said I could go ahead and get an epidural or I could get stadol and try out the hot tub. Well, the idea of the hot tub appealed to me, so I chose the stadol.
I got in the tub and the nurse injected the stadol into my IV. As she was, I asked her how long it took to kick in and she said it would kick in at any moment. And right after she said that I told my husband I saw two of him. I felt like I was drunk. It took the edge off the pain, which was good. But pretty soon it started to feel like I needed to push. I knew it wasn’t time yet because I was only at a 5. It was just without the pain, I could suddenly feel this incredible pressure. I was scared I would hurt the baby if I pushed. It was all I could do not to though. Every contraction I had my feet plastered against the end of the tub, forcing myself not to push. I think about 30 minutes to an hour went by like this. And they checked me again and I was at a 7. They asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural. I’m like “OH, YEAH!”
The anesthesiologist told me I’d feel a burn when he injected the local anesthetic. That burn hurt almost as much as a contraction, but it was well worth it! Not long after, I asked the nurse how long it would take to kick in. (I know I’m impatient) And she was like, “Well, can you feel that?” and pointed to the monitor, where it showed I was having a doozie right then. It was so nice to be able to rest. I love epidurals!!!
They checked me again 30 minutes to an hour later and I was finally fully dilated. It was time to push! I could feel nothing from my stomach down so they had to tell me when to push. I think I only pushed about 30 minutes. The nurse told me that I did excellent for not being able to feel anything.
Noah Patrick came into this world on his due date, just barely, at 11:27 pm on January 15, 2002. He has been the apple of my eye ever since! And he’s getting ready to be a big brother. I’m scheduled to be induced to have his little sister next week on September 27, 2005!!!

[Kay Bear's Mommy]

Ok, this is Kayla Jean's birth story!

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that DH and I like the gender to be a surprise, so we had no clue if it was going to be a girl or if it was going to be a boy. All we knew was that if it turned out to be a girl, we were going to name her Kayla Jean, and if it was a boy, we were going to name him Jonathan Bryce.

So, when I woke up on April 21, almost a week before my due date (I was due April 27), I started having some mild contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. I didn't worry about it. I just went on with my day...but then, later that afternoon my water broke and the contractions became more severe, so I called DH and he got off from work and went to the hospital with me.

Turns out I was only at 2 cm. I was in SOOOO much pain you wouldn't believe it. I vomited several times. By midnight I was only at 4 cm. I was getting so restless, I couldn't sleep, I just wanted the kid to come OUT!!!!!

Soon enough I was able to get my epidural, so that helped ease some of the pain. But I still just wanted to get some sleep.

Well, at 3 AM I was only at 5 CM!!!!!!! I was getting mad. A little over an hour later I was at 7 cm. At least I was progressing a little further! At around 5:30 I was FINALLY fully dilated and let me tell you, I was SOOOOOOO happy!!! After an hour of pushing...

My beautiful little girl Kayla Jean came at 6:25 AM on April 22, 2004. She weighed 6 pounds, 8 oz and was exactly 18 inches long. I was so relieved to hold her in my arms!

We were discharged at noon on April 24. So...that's my birth story! Kind of boring. But whatever. lol.

This post has been edited by Kay Bear's Mommy on Nov 8 2005, 10:17 AM

[MomToJade&Jordan]

Here is Jordan's birth story...

First the stats:
Born on Oct 11th at 4:02 am
Weight: 5lbs 11oz
Length: 18.5 inches
Apgar: 8/9

Well as you all know I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 33 weeks. This was new to me because I didn't have a problem with bp while pg with Jade. Anyway because of this I had to go to the hospital twice a week for a non-stress test and to have my fluids checked. So on Oct 11th I hoped into the Jeep and drove the 30 minutes to Bethesda (for those of you who don't know Bethesda is the President's hospital). I went up to L&D I they hooked me right up to the monitor. I wasn't on there for long when the nurse came in with an OB doc. They looked at the little chart that records the fetal heartrate together and the next thing I know I'm being told that the baby would be coming today. I was like wait, hold up, WHAT! Apparently Jordan's heartrate was going down with the mild contractions I was having. I had been having them off and on all weekend, but didn't think nothing of them, they were braxton hicks. I lost it at this point. All I could think of was Jade. I had been scheduled for my induction on the 17th and was going to spend that last week spending time with my first born. She even told me before I left not to go to the hospital and even watched me from the door as I hopped into the car. I just wanted to hold her so much and was in plain shock because I hadn't been expecting this at all. Not to mention that my Mom was going to be there on Sat. and I really wanted her to see at least one of her grand children born. So here I am bawling and trying my darndest to calm down enough to call DH. I couldn't get a hold of him. We hadn't had a chance to get a landline yet and our cellphones didn't work well in the house. So I called Cary. I was in a total panic and fortunately she was able to get the MPs out to my house to inform my DH that I would be induced. I have no idea what I would have done without her that day. DH finally called me and told me that he would be there as soon as he could get a hold of my BIL (in and amusing aside to that he apparently called Josh, who was at work, and was like so when will you be off work. Josh was like oh about an hour what's up. Oh well they are inducing Carrie today. Which Josh replied well geez Zack in that case I can leave right now.) So after checking to see where the baby's head was and putting my IV in I was shown to one of the LDR rooms. They hooked me up to all of the machines and then started the magnesim drip and the pitocin. I had to be on the mag drip because of my bp and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It didn't take long for the pitocin to start working. I didn't expect it to since it was the same way with Jade. A little bit later one of the docs came in and decided it would be a good idea to put this little device in to help me dialate faster. It's just this little balloon thing they fill with water. She told me it would come out when I was 4 cm. I was like okay if it will help. DH arrived soon after that with BIL in tow. Jade was at a co-workers house and would be taken by Josh to our house later. I just didn't want her to see me hooked up to all of that stuff. It wasn't too long after that the little device they put in came out. I was 3-4 cm so it was time to break my water and put in the internal monitors. I opted to stay away from the staydol this time so all of that was quite uncomfortable. The contractions were starting to hurt more, but I breathed through them and decided I wouldn't get an epidural until I thought I needed one. I don't remember how long I was laboring when the doc came in to check me and found out I was 6 cm. I do remember it was dark out and that I was quite tired. I decided then that I would get the epi. Let's just say it took him forever to put it in, which led to me having a spinal headache. I did get to rest some after that though, but not for long because that is when the trouble started. Jordan's heartrate was really starting to drop with each contraction. The doc checked me and saw that I was 7 cm. I think this was about 3 in the morning. That is when they decided to shut the pitocin off and try to stop the contractions for a while. I'm not really sure what they gave me, but it made my heart race and made me shake all over. I really didn't like that at all, I had no control over my body and it scared DH really bad. Of course the contractions were not stopping so the doc said they would have to give me more of that medicine. I was like um I don't think so. My heart was still beating pretty fast and the shakes just would not stop. That's when the word c-section came into the pic. I knew going in that it would be a possibilty, but I was determined not to have one. The doc was like okay let's see how dialated you are. I was a 9. I think that happened within a half hour. The doc decided then that maybe we would should try pushing. I was like all right anything to avoid a c-section. The pushing actually helped the baby. I don't think I pushed too long in there. They decided that we would keep pushing, but in the OR just in case. So I got wheeled down to the OR and the pushing began. It only lasted about 15 minutes and Jordan was born. The OB who had decided that I had to be induced that day was there and she was awesome. She told me I was a great Mom and that she was glad that we did the induction that day. DH actually cut the cord this time and it wasn't long before I was shown why we were having such a problem. Jordan had a knot in her cord. Apparently our children are so acrobatic in the womb they can do amazing things with their cord. Jade had hers wrapped around her neck twice. I am happy to say that Jordan is now a wopping 8lbs 2oz and quite healthy. She is a joy and I just can't believe that 4 weeks have gone by so fast. She is starting to make noises so I am going to wrap this up. Thanks for reading my novel.

[CAMSMOM1]

I'm new here, and love reading birth stories! Here's mine.
I found out I was pg 6 months after we got married, it was a pleasant surprise! I had a wonderful pregnancy. I'm one of the weird ones, I LOVED being pregnant. I had a belly that was larger than life, I would actually have people ask me if I was having triplets!!! I was measuring a month ahead, that's how big it was! Strech marks like you wouldn't believe!
Since I had such a big tummy, and the baby was sitting so low, everyone had bets that I would go early. But to everyone's surprise I was a week overdue, and had to be induced. They hooked me up to Pitocin, the worst thing that man ever made! They started me at a low dose, but I just wouldn't contract. The maxium dose you can get is 20, and if that doesn't work, you have to come back later. So they got me to a 20 dosage of Pitocin, and finally my labor started. Because I was at such a high doseage I was having back to back contractions, no breaks in between. I swore I was going to have a natural birth, no meds. But after 8 hours of back to back contractions and only getting to 4 cm dialated, my doctor suggested getting meds. I started with demeral, and I remember saying, "Wow, this is the good stuff, keep it coming doc!" Actually, it wasn't that great, it got me so out of it and didn't take the pain away. So then came the epidural. It took the guy 45 min. and 3 tries to get it in my back. The guy must of been on drugs, cause I have never heard of it taking 3 tries! First it only numbed one side, then he took it out, and put it in and out, finally it took. I was so glad I got it, it's a wonder drug! I went from 4 cm to 8 in one hour! It really helped my body relax and open up.
Then the problems began. My son's heart rate went extremly low. They put me on oxygen, and put a fetal monitor in my son's head....that was scary. They kept rolling me from side to side. I got to a 9, and my doctor came in and was actually pulling me open to get me to a 10, because I needed to deliver this baby fast. Luckily I had a high risk doctor, even though I had a normal pregnancy.
The reason my son's heart rate was low was because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times. I even had a ultrasound to detemine the weight before labor, and the tech said she saw the cord wrapped, got a second opionion and they said everything was fine. Well, it wasn't.
It took me 2 and a half hours pushing. They had to take the epidural completely out because I wasnt pushing right. So needless to say, I felt everything.
The doctor had to unwrap his cord while he was still inside me. THen he cut me all the way down, and you could actually hear the skin being cut. That was freaky! My son came out complete BLUE, and not responding. They rushed him to the station next to us, and everyone was praying. I had always imagined holding my crying baby after I delivered. Not so. It took a couple of min to get his lungs cleared and him responding. His whole body was limp, not something a mother wants to see. Once they got him to respond, they weighed him.
Well my big belly wasn't for nothing, he weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce! And 21 1/2 inches long. He had the biggest hands and feet. Lots of hair, and he was born with a 3rd nipple. We named him Cameron Vail, the middle name runs in the family, the third to have it. I didn't like it, but it was important to my husband. And now I liked it.
His birthdate is APRIL 1ST...my little April Fool's Baby. It totally fits his personality.

Even though my labor and delivery was hard and scary at times, I can't wait to have another one! Not pg yet, but we're going to start around his second birthday. Cameron's now 20 months old. He is in the 100 percentile for his age group for his height and weight. He is wearing 3T-4T clothes and a size 8 shoes! Big boy! His favorite hobbie is eating, seriously, never seen a baby love food this much!
Thanks for listening to my birth story!
Hopefully soon I'll have another one to write about.

Ann

[TsurugiButterfly]

I only recently found this board... I never thought I'd have a birth story to post so soon!


My SO and I finally moved out of our parents houses in April, and around the middle of May, I had missed my period and I began to wonder if I was pregnant. Of course, my SO is a Star Wars geek (Actually, so am I) and he had been planning for MONTHS for the opening of Episode III, so I didn't want to ruin his day by telling him I might be pregnant... I waited until the next morning. We got a home test kit, and it was positive. So we called and made a dr. appointment, and sure enough, I was already 6 weeks along.

I didn't have a lot of difficulty through the pregnancy... I did gain a bit too much weight and it turned out that I had gestational diabetes, but luckily I was able to control that with diet.

Eventually, we had our last ultrasound at 34 weeks and 5 days on Monday Dec. 7th. He was already head down, and otherwise fine. The tech estimated that he was about 5 pounds and 5 ounces at that point -- a little big, but nothing to be alarmed about. I knew then that more than likely he would be early.. either of his own accord, or that the doc would want to induce me so he wouldn't be too big. I was not going to make it until January 11th. Little did I know how right I was...

On Wednesday the 9th, I had my first non-stress test. Things went rather well. His heart rate was good, and it didn't take us long to get some good movements. The SO and I went home happy and excited.

Thursday was alright. He didn't move as much as he had been over the past months, but I had read that sometimes the baby will slow down as he gets closer to the due date. I still got well over ten movements in ten hours, so I thought I was fine.

My SO works overnights and since I'm not working, I tend to sleep during the day while he does so we can spend more time together. So I woke up Friday afternoon like any other afternoon around 2pm. By about 6pm, I still had not yet felt one movement from the baby. This is the longest he had ever gone without moving, but even according to my doctor's standards, it hadn't been long enough yet to start panicking. Around 9pm, I still had not felt him move. I called my mom, and she too thought that maybe he was slowing down and "getting ready to be born." She said that when she had had us kids, the doctors never worried about kick charts and getting X movements in 10 hours and whatnot. I'm glad I didn't listen to her.

I stayed up all night Friday night terrified. I went online and started researching everything I could about baby's movements in the third trimester. Everything I read said, if you don't feel a movement in over 12 hours, call the doctor. By then, it was about 3am, my SO was at work, and the weather was very bad. Needless to say, I waited 3 more hours until the SO came home at 6am. I told him I still hadn't felt him move. So being a Saturday morning, we decided to go to the emergency room.

When we got there, the lady at the desk asked if my doctor had told me to go there. I told him I don't even have a phone number for my doctor except for his office, which was only open Monday-Friday. They sent me up to Labor & Delivery outpatient and got me hooked up for another NST. The nurse I had was wonderful. We tried several different positions, and lots of ice water, but still no movement from baby. In the meantime, she started putting together information for delivery, so that, even if I didn't deliver that day, I wouldn't have to worry about it when I did get there. Thank goodness for her foresight!

Finally Dr. G, the dr. on duty came in and felt my belly, and decided we'd take a peek at the ultrasound. During all this time, the baby's heart rate had been fine -- averaging in the 140s. In other words, no sign of distress. The ultrasound didn't reveal anything that seemed to be a problem. Dr. G didn't tell me this until later on, but he had decided that either way, I was going to deliver that day. He finished the ultrasound and had me lie on my side for a little while. So I laid there quietly, just listening to the sound of the heart monitor. Suddenly, I heard the sounds get slower and slower. I couldn't read the monitor from my position so I asked my SO to tell me what the number was on the machine. He said 84. 84! I told him to run out into the hall and find a nurse, or Dr. G. or someone and tell them the baby's heartrate was dropping. He was already gone before I could finish the sentence.

Dr. G came right in and confirmed what I had thought. He listened to my belly with his stethoscope and said "We're going to deliver him now." Suddenly my body started shaking... I don't know if it was just nervousness or being so excited or what. I was feeling (and I'm sure so was my SO) all sorts of different emotions at once... I was a little scared of the surgery as I had been up until that point trying to avoid c-section -- I wanted a natural birth. Otherwise, I was just so excited.. the big moment was finally here, no turning back now. The nursing staff was great. They even allowed me to actually go pee and change into a gown before they put in the catheter. Which actually didn't hurt as much as I was afraid it would. They even let my SO use his cellphone to call both sets of parents from the room we were in instead of having to go to the main lobby. Which was fun in itself.

We called my folks, and my 14 y/o sister answered. She said my dad was working (he's a firefighter) and my mom was at the store. So we told her what was happening so she could get ahold of my mother. I guess she put us on speakerphone because suddenly I could hear my 8 y/o sister in the background screaming "She's having the baby?!?!?!? I'm gonna be an auntie today!!!" So then we called the fire station. My dad was on the ambulance returning from a call, so the dispatcher patched us through to him. He wanted to drop everything and come right over but then they got sent to another call. We couldn't get ahold of his parents! and they must not have had their cellphones on.... but there was no more time. We had to get going.

They whisked Michael away to get scrubs on while they brought me to the OR and got the IV in me. I was still trembling like a leaf, and I was worried that my shaking was going to make it difficult for the anesthesiologist to inject the meds into my spine, but she said everything was fine. They laid me back on the bed, and I immediately started to feel cold from my tummy downwards -- kind of like jumping into a cold pool. I was still shaking, but I was coherent, and everyone was just so helpful. (And impressed that I didn't even feel a shred of pain when the spinal injection went in.) Since I had had water to drink, I was concerned about getting sick from the anethesia, but they gave me some medicine in the IV for it, and I felt fine again. Michael was by my side, and the doctors began the procedure. I was a little worried for Michael, he always says he has a weak stomach (he doesn't even like to HEAR about blood, never mind see it) but he did great, considering he could see most of what was happening. What a trooper.

They delivered Tristan at 11:23am. They held him up for a split second, and Michael saw him. I craned my neck to see over the drape, but they whisked Tristan away before I could even catch a glimpse of my son. They started to finish me up and asked Michael if he wanted to see Tristan. So he left the room while they finished me up. Michael came back a few moments later and told me that Tristan looked very pale. I knew Tristan would be sick, and needed special care, but it still hurt to not even have gotten a peek at him, even for a second. I craned my neck into the next room while they were wheeling me to recovery, but the doctors were conveniently trying to keep my attention away from the window.

I spent the next couple hours in a recovery room. Not so much because I needed to recover -- I was completely awake and coherent, but obviously still had no feeling. Within a few minutes, I could move my feet and legs. The nurse that was with me was really impressed at how quickly I was recovering. Mike had gone to make phone calls, and another nurse came in to see me and asked me and the other nurse "Where's your other half?" I told her, and she told me to have him swing by the nurses station when he came back. He did, and he came back and told me what they showed him about Tristan. I guess part of me was feeling a little annoyed that they were showing my son to Mike and telling him what was going on, and they wouldn't even say a WORD to me. I felt a little helpless. Mike told me that Tristan had been very pale when he was born, and that he would need a blood transfusion and that they would be transferring him to another hospital with a NICU facility. He said the doctor told them to tell me that they PROMISE (the doctor's own words!) that they will bring Tristan to see me before he went.

In a few moments, I was ready to be wheeled to the room I'd be staying in for the rest of my stay. The nurse and I tried to peek through the windows into the nursery, but the transfer team had already arrived and we couldn't get a good look at Tristan. So we went to my room and got me settled, and Mike made several trips back and forth with news and information. From what Mike told me, and what Dr. G later told me himself, they were rather impressed at the type of questions I had been asking. I chalk that up to my being a Libra, and being obsessed with researching things.

Around 4pm, the doctor leading the transfer team came in and had me sign some consent forms, and he explained a little bit about what was happening with Tristan. We were still unsure as to what had happened to him so they would be doing some blood tests on me. He seemed very positive, however, about Tristan's progress and said we may even take our baby home by the following weekend, and he PROMISED us (yes, he said "Promise") we'd have him home for Christmas. By now, I felt a lot better, and lot less like I was in the dark. While we were speaking, the transfer team came in with the incubator. I can't say they looked too excited about coming up to my room. From what I understand they do not usually allow for stops like this. Normally they just whisk the child away. But I guess the doctors taking care of us understood that I must have heartbroken about not even having seen my baby yet. Words cannot express how I felt when I first saw Tristan. Sure, he was a little pale, as he had just started receiving the first transfusion, and he was thin (though very long) but he was just so beautiful. I could only talk to him, and hold his hand through the incubator for a moment, but it gave me so much relief.

My parents came to visit with my sisters a little while later. Dr. G. had snapped some polaroids of Tristan before he left, so we had those to show off. They visited with Mike and I for a little while. In the meantime, the nurse on duty had been amazed that I wasn't in a lot of pain, and she asked me as my folks were getting ready to leave, if I wanted to try standing up. So my family got to watch me stand for the first time, just under eight hours after having the c-section.

We FINALLY got in touch with Mike's parents. So we told them the whole story. his mom is a nurse, and she couldn't believe that I had already been standing and walking! This was pretty much the theme for the rest of the next day or so. Apparently, I was recovering amazingly fast. There was talk of having me transferred to the same hospital where Tristan was on Sunday. However, I have the Massachusetts "free" insurance, and being a Saturday, there was no way of knowing if they would pay for my transfer since the hospital we were going to would be in another state. So we couldn't even think of transferring until Monday. But since I was doing so well, the nurse hinted that maybe I could talk the doctor into possibly discharging me late on Sunday. I really shouldn't have believed her.

So Sunday morning came around, and here I was wondering if I could get discharged. By 9:30am I had my answer. No way, no how. Dr. G couldn't let me go so soon, despite the fact I was recovering at lightning speed. But, he did have some news. The results of the blood test done on me Saturday night revealed that my veins contained 97% my blood... and 3% Tristan's blood. There were no marks on him, so Dr. G. thought that perhaps the cord itself had been damaged and he was bleeding out into my body. Tristan had lost about 5 ounces of blood. Dr. G. went on to explain that what had happened was called a maternal hemorrhage. He said this is usually caused by trauma of sort, like being in a car accident, or getting hit. This wasn't the case with us, so he theorized that perhaps the cord was starting to get wrapped around Tristan's neck and he tried to free himself. Either way, he said it was rare that it occurrs, and even rarer that both mother and baby survive. He said we were VERY lucky that we came in when we did... a couple more hours and Tristan might not have made it. A few hours earlier, and Dr. G. might not have been able to detect it. Fate certainly smiled on this little boy.

We called Women and Infants several times on Sunday for updates, each one sounding better than the last. The nurses at W&I are great, and as parents, we can call at any time of day to ask about our son, and they were more than happy to tell us! Tristan received his last transfusion at 12:30pm Sunday, and by 7pm Sunday they said he was a beautiful rosy pink. They said he had had two wet diapers, and had a large BM already, so he was certainly working fine. For the most part, he had been breathing on his own, but having a little trouble exhaling, so they put him on a vent, but on the lowest setting. Meaning he was still doing most of the work himself. By Sunday he was on only 25% oxygen and looking better and better. I was doing better, too. Sunday morning the catheter came out, and my IV was capped my lunchtime. By dinner they decided I didn't need it and it was taken out altogether.

Monday morning rolled around, and I was very antsy. Dr. G. had promised (here we go with the promises) that he would be around bright and early Monday morning to discharge me. Let's just say the on-duty nurse was doubtful. She said "There going to transfer you to W&I today." and I said "No, I'm being discharged this morning." She said "There's no way that can happen. You haven't even been out of surgery two days yet. You won't be able to discharge until Wednesday." I held my tongue, and all I said was "Well, I'll wait and see what the doctor says." Dr G. had his hands busy with another delivery, but the doctor that did come see had heard everything, and he checked me out and appeared pleased with what he saw. He said "I've never discharged a woman so soon after a c-section, but then again, I've never seen one up and walking around and taking care of herself so soon, either." I was free! Woohoo!

So needless to say I spent most of yesterday gathering things. I came home, made some phone calls, and got ready to drive to W&I to see my son.

I should tell you in the meantime, I'd been trying to pump to get my milk to come in. I had a lot of colostrum on the first try Saturday night, but I got absolutely NOTHING out between then, and all day Monday. This with the electric pump at the hospital. They let me take my kit home, which also converts into a manual pump.

We went to see Tristan, and spent about three hours there, holding him, cuddling him, and taking pictures. He had opened his eyes finally, too. They are a beautiful midnight blue. I hope they stay that way I couldn't get over how well he has already bonded with Mike. Mike had never held a baby before (i of course, had had to take care of my little sisters, so I was a semi-pro, LOL) but he was a natural, and he talked to Tristan about all sorts of things. All the while I'm taking picture of the wonderful facial expressions! Tristan just seemed so mesmerized by Mike. The two of them will get along famously. Of course he liked sitting with Mommy too... so much so that he fell asleep.

The NICU unit at Women and Infants is wonderful. They let parents in at any time, and for as long as you like. The only restrictions are during change of shift and during rounds. But you are only asked out of the room when the docs happen to be rounding your baby's area. When they move onto another section, they let us back in. The staff is very helpful, and provided us with lots of information. They also encourage you to bring in toys and clothes and even to participate in his care if you wish -- all around us were other parents holding, changing, feeding, even bathing their tiny angels I'll admit I've never had the joy of changing a little boy before, especially a newborn, so I was a little nervous, but I did fine. Mike even got to change his first diaper, too. He had been a little apprehensive about my being adamant about not wanting him circumcised, but after seeing it himself, and realizing how easy it is to care for, he was OK.

Tristan is doing very well. He is off the vent, and only on a small amount of oxygen. The nurse caring for him told us that he may very well be off the oxygen by Tuesday. She also said Tuesday they would try feeding him, and if he eats well, they will remove his IV. She said if he continues to progress this well, having him home by the weekend is not out of the realm of possibility.

I came home Monday night, and attempted once again to pump. This time, I had to do it manually. I don't know if it was because I had kept up pumping all that time before, or if it was just because I finally got to hold my son, but it pretty much opened the floodgates. The milk is coming in I am storing it right now, and I will bring some of it with me to the hospital today in hopes that we might get to try feeding him.

[MyBrownEyedBoy]

Okay, I'll try to remember most of the important details, 15 months later.

Logan Read T_______
born Sept 5, 2004
7lbs, 0oz
20 inches long

I had a wonderful pregnancy, no sickness to speak of and only mild tiredness. But as I neared the 40 week mark, I was so ready for it to be over. I was due 9/5/04. On my weekly appointment on the 3rd of September, I asked my midwife what I could do to speed things along. She said she would strip my membranes and that sex would usually work too. Well I wasn't doing that. I work in the lab in that hospital and I wasn't about to have the other techs know what I was doing that night. (Sometimes a urine specimen is sent to the lab for analysis. Not going further on that.)
But that night Aaron and I went to a college basketball game. Pre-season. We got home around 11pm and I went to bed, I was exhausted.
Around 2 am I woke up convinced that I had to poo (Sorry if TMI). Nothing happened when I got to the bathroom. I made the potty trip 2 more times before I realized that I was in labor. LOL, first time mommy. Since I couldn't sleep through them and they were pretty regular, I laid down on the couch and read a book and timed contractions. By about 11am they were to the point where I couldn't talk through them and I decided it was time to call the midwife and head to the hospital. She arrived about 10 minutes after I did and didn't leave for the next 15 hours except to eat something really quick. She and Aaron rubbed my feet, walked with me, helped me change positions and were fantastic coaches. At about 6pm she asked me if she could break my water, I was 6 cm dialated and not progressing very rapidly. I said, let's do it and scooted down on the bed. As I scooted, my water broke on it's own. I didn't have an epi because I didn't want one, but I did end up with IV pain meds when they started pitocin because my contraction pattern slowed down after my water broke. Pitocin was evil, that's all I'll say.
Finally at midnight on Sunday, September, 5th (my due date), I was ready to start pushing, after 2 and 1/2 hours, Logan Read was laid on my stomach, then swooped away and had his stomach pumped, he had swallowed a lot of bloody amniotic fluid. We found out later that night that he had a heart defect, but you can read other posts for details about that. That is the story of my happiest day.

[kimberley]

Kaleigh Anne
Born December 27, 2005 at 7:26pm
7lbs 19.5”


This is one story that will be remembered by many for years to come. It’s not quite as short as you may think.

Monday night I had trouble sleeping. Didn’t feel well. By 9am Tuesday morning, I started feeling contractions that were different than all the others. They were all in my back and very uncomfortable. They continued all day ranging from 5min apart to 20min apart. I chalked it up to more Braxton hicks. I was supposed to go with my dad and his gf to the cemetery because it was the 10th anniversary of my grandmother’s passing. We usually have lunch in her honor afterwards. I also had a midwife appt but cancelled it because I just didn’t feel right.

By around 5pm, they started to get more intense but not regular. We called the midwives and she decided to come and check. In the meantime, Jamie and my dad’s gf set up the pool and the bed. The midwife arrived just before 6pm and she was impressed how prepared we were. Her exam showed I was about 80% effaced and only 4cm dilated. I was a little surprised because the contractions were getting unbearable at that point. The only way I could get through them was on my knees on the floor leaning over the edge of the bed. The second midwife came after 6:30pm and also did an internal with the same results. I was still about 6min apart. We concluded that this baby was likely a ways off (probably not coming til the next day) and they would catch up on some paperwork and recheck in an hour and likely go home. They sat on the edge of my bed (where I was laboring ) and did their work, so I moved to the kitchen to walk it out. I have to add… these two midwives were like watching an Abbott and Costello routine. They didn’t quiet for a minute and were quite annoying during transition labor lol.

A few minutes later, I felt a huge contraction come on and fell to my knees leaning over the kitchen bench. This was the worst one of them all. At the peak of the contraction, I uncontrollably beared down and out came the bag on waters intact!! So here I am, unable to talk through the pain of contractions, with some foreign object hanging in my track pants and no one could see. I managed to spit out “its coming” and the midwives shouted for them to bring me to the room. YA RIGHT ! I was already bearing down because the baby’s head was right behind the membranes and there is NO reasoning with a woman that deep into labor . It took 2 midwives, dh and dad’s gf just to get me out of the hands and knees position and pants off to birth. There was just no time, so they frantically ran back and forth from the room to the kitchen bringing in the supplies. The bag of waters broke, soaking the midwife who then started cursing about her wet socks and dh is watching helplessly as the fluid starts creeping towards him and the computer because when they flipped me over they had my head and shoulders in his lap and his legs were pinned to the floor LOL . Not two pushes later, I had a beautiful, pink baby girl in my arms. DH cut the cord and we all just sat in amazement about the eventful 15min of birth. I never made it to 10cm. she said I couldn’t have been much more than 8cm when I gave birth. I had no idea you could birth before 10. No stitches thankfully but I did get violently sick that night. Not sure if it was the shock of a fast delivery or a bug but I threw up all night and cramped so hard I thought I would die. Labor didn’t seem as awful as that. I am better now and totally in love with my sweet baby girl . She is so perfect. My milk came in after a day and she is nursing like a champ . Tandem nursing is challenging but I’m willing to give it a go. 3days old and she has only lost 2oz. I am now the going joke at the mw office.. the 15min kitchen baby

[Maddie&EthansMom]

What a dramatic birth, Kimberley!!! WOW!! I wish I were there to hug you in person!! (and hold that sweet baby ) I'm glad things are going well now, but sorry they didn't go 'as planned'....they never do, right? I can't wait to see more pictures. Do you think she looks like Jade? Were you shocked it was a girl?

I'm glad you are feeling better, too. I got sick like that after giving birth..both times. I tend to think it is just such a shock to our bodies. Of course it could be any number of things. I was so sick after I had Ethan that I couldn't function. So, I know how you feel. It's hard to enjoy everything and appreciate it all when you feel so rotten.

But, Kaleigh is here. Congrats again!!

[gr33n3y3z]

That is a wonderful birth story Kimberley and your right no one will forget that either

[My2Beauties]

Wow what an eventful birth story. Goodness I didn't know you could give birth before 10 cm neither, never heard of that. I am so happy for you and your baby girl is beautiful!

[TANNER'S MOM]

Aww that is a wonderful story. It didn't hurt them to get there socks wet.

I am sorry you got so sick afterward. I was going to mention to you at some point..the more children you have the easier the labor the worse the after pains..but i forgot! I am glad you are up and feeling like telling us your story!

Congrats! I am glad it worked out..the home delivery is awesome!