MommyAllison
11-06-2005, 06:15 PM
I posted Thursday afternoon (suggestions to get labor going thread), hoping to go into labor sometime before Monday, when I was scheduled to be induced. Only a few hours later, my prayers were answered! :) Here's the story:
I had been having mild contractions on and off for 2.5 weeks, but Thursday I had them all day, including while at the Dr for my NST. They were pretty consistent, but not painful. The day before (Wednesday) the Dr saw me, I was 3cm, 70% effaced, and he stripped my membranes.
So anyway, Thursday evening just before 7pm I had a contraction that hurt enough that I stopped moving and just stood there til it was over. I was on my way to church, and DH was already there, and really kind of needed to stay til it was over, so I went to church and proceeded to have contractions every 4-7 minutes for the next 2 hours. I am glad actually that I was there, some distraction and I didn't want to go to the hospital yet. We went home about 9pm to grab dinner for DH and get ready to leave for the hospital - at 9:30 as we were leaving for the hospital my water broke, but I didn't realize it until I got out of the car at the hospital and my jeans were completely soaked. :) I had called the hospital to tell them I was coming and the nurse told me they'd probably send me back home, since it was my first baby, etc etc (she didn't know my water broke, obviously) but I was pretty sure that this was it.
We got checked in just before a shift change, so they got us settled in our room, on the external fetal monitor, and let us have some privacy to continue in labor. At this point the contractions were strong but still very manageable. By the time they checked me it was just after midnight, and things were started to get more intense - I was really hoping to be at 5cm, so imagine my excitement when I was already 7cm dilated! :) I didn't want an epidural, and at that moment I knew if I had made it to 7cm, I could probably do it without drugs. Long story short, contractions got way more painful and frequent as I went into transition, but it seemed to progress very quickly and it was time to push. After pushing for a while, they asked me to stop because the Dr was not there yet (just when I was getting the hang of pushing, they want me to stop? this was not a good thing :) ) so we just waited (and panted :) )for about 15 minutes for the Dr. As soon as she walked in, she told me to start pushing, and about 15 minutes later there was our baby!
We took a childbirth class ahead of time, so we knew what we hoped for in the birth, and it was pretty much perfect. Our nurse was great, left us alone to labor like we wanted, but was very close by the whole time. My labor progressed too quickly to need many of the things I thought I'd try (birth ball, laboring in the water, etc) but I got to stand and sit through all of my contractions instead of being in bed, which I really think made a big difference. DH was perfect as a coach, and the only thing that really was unexpected was the episiotomy. DD's vitals went down towards the end of pushing, they gave me some oxygen but it didn't help enough. As soon as she did the episiotomy, out came DD with the cord wrapped around her neck. I don't mind the episiotomy though, DD coming out healthy was way more important! She took to nursing well and loves to eat, and I'm doing fine too - much less sore than I expected actually. Ibuprofen is all I need :)
Little DD is amazing and DH and I are completely in love with her. She was born at 4:13am Nov 4th, 8lbs 2oz, 20 inches, and lots of dark hair. Being a mom is wonderful :) Anyway - this got much longer than I anticipated! I hope Jessica and Jennifer will also be sharing birth stories soon! Thanks to all who made it through this NOVEL of a story :)
Allison
DD 11/05
I had been having mild contractions on and off for 2.5 weeks, but Thursday I had them all day, including while at the Dr for my NST. They were pretty consistent, but not painful. The day before (Wednesday) the Dr saw me, I was 3cm, 70% effaced, and he stripped my membranes.
So anyway, Thursday evening just before 7pm I had a contraction that hurt enough that I stopped moving and just stood there til it was over. I was on my way to church, and DH was already there, and really kind of needed to stay til it was over, so I went to church and proceeded to have contractions every 4-7 minutes for the next 2 hours. I am glad actually that I was there, some distraction and I didn't want to go to the hospital yet. We went home about 9pm to grab dinner for DH and get ready to leave for the hospital - at 9:30 as we were leaving for the hospital my water broke, but I didn't realize it until I got out of the car at the hospital and my jeans were completely soaked. :) I had called the hospital to tell them I was coming and the nurse told me they'd probably send me back home, since it was my first baby, etc etc (she didn't know my water broke, obviously) but I was pretty sure that this was it.
We got checked in just before a shift change, so they got us settled in our room, on the external fetal monitor, and let us have some privacy to continue in labor. At this point the contractions were strong but still very manageable. By the time they checked me it was just after midnight, and things were started to get more intense - I was really hoping to be at 5cm, so imagine my excitement when I was already 7cm dilated! :) I didn't want an epidural, and at that moment I knew if I had made it to 7cm, I could probably do it without drugs. Long story short, contractions got way more painful and frequent as I went into transition, but it seemed to progress very quickly and it was time to push. After pushing for a while, they asked me to stop because the Dr was not there yet (just when I was getting the hang of pushing, they want me to stop? this was not a good thing :) ) so we just waited (and panted :) )for about 15 minutes for the Dr. As soon as she walked in, she told me to start pushing, and about 15 minutes later there was our baby!
We took a childbirth class ahead of time, so we knew what we hoped for in the birth, and it was pretty much perfect. Our nurse was great, left us alone to labor like we wanted, but was very close by the whole time. My labor progressed too quickly to need many of the things I thought I'd try (birth ball, laboring in the water, etc) but I got to stand and sit through all of my contractions instead of being in bed, which I really think made a big difference. DH was perfect as a coach, and the only thing that really was unexpected was the episiotomy. DD's vitals went down towards the end of pushing, they gave me some oxygen but it didn't help enough. As soon as she did the episiotomy, out came DD with the cord wrapped around her neck. I don't mind the episiotomy though, DD coming out healthy was way more important! She took to nursing well and loves to eat, and I'm doing fine too - much less sore than I expected actually. Ibuprofen is all I need :)
Little DD is amazing and DH and I are completely in love with her. She was born at 4:13am Nov 4th, 8lbs 2oz, 20 inches, and lots of dark hair. Being a mom is wonderful :) Anyway - this got much longer than I anticipated! I hope Jessica and Jennifer will also be sharing birth stories soon! Thanks to all who made it through this NOVEL of a story :)
Allison
DD 11/05