psophia17
10-30-2006, 10:04 PM
It's a long one...
My water broke at about 9:30pm on Wednesday night. We were watching Sleepy Hollow, and had just gotten back home from the house, where we had music and a big dance floor, so DH and I did some slow dancing while DS1 ran amok through the house.
After getting back to the house, I got into my usual position, laying on my right side on the couch, and was thinking I could feel ctx every 10 minutes or so, and was just paying attention a little bit, when I felt something pop. I said "DH, I think my water just broke," and he didn't believe me. Then I moved, and I said "DH, go get me a towel, fast," and he asked if I needed it just then...ummmm...yeah. Cousin T was watching the movie with us, and thankfully went to get a towel right away. He came back with a hand towel. DH finally got off his butt and got a big towel, which I managed to get organized to get to the bathroom, but I still leaked ALL OVER. Cousin T was supremely grossed out when he went to watch the rest of the movie and stuck his arm in a big wet spot. MIL thought that was funny.
So I called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital when ctx were less than 5 minutes apart, and lasted longer than 45 seconds. That took until about 11:30, so that's when we headed out the door. We got to the L&D Assessment at 12:01am on October 26, 2006.
That's when things stalled out - I thought as a VBAC, I'd be headed right into the L&D suites, complete with balls, showers, etc., to get working on getting the ctx going. The nurse in charge, however, had different ideas, and women kept coming in with ctx bigger and badder than mine, so I waited...and waited...and waited. I walked, I rested (like they told me to), I walked some more, and still, was making almost no progress. At 8am, the dr. on call from my OB's office came and said they couldn't figure out why I wasn't progressing, they couldn't send me home, and they didn't want to augment my labor, but felt like the had to if I really wanted to try for a VBAC. Anyhow - I was pissed off about this. I insisted that I was going to get my chance for a VBAC, and felt that it was unfair I'd come in when I was told to, so I could use all these things they had to help me labor, and wasn't moved into L&D for so long. By that time I was almost 12 hours past my water breaking, so the clock was ticking.
I got into the L&D suite shortly after, and was put on pitocin at the lowest possible dose, to see if that would get me some bigger ctx. They upped it very slowly, and at 7units of whatever, I was getting some great ctx. But still, I wasn't dilating. I was 1cm at the OB's office that morning, I was 2cm by the time I made it into L&D, and I was approaching 3cm after 6 hours on pitocin. This is where I lose track of time...
It was about 3pm when I started having some strong ctx, and I was handling them really well, according to the nurses. They left my pitocin alone, and kept monitoring me and the baby. I was on and off the ball, walking as best I could, dancing w/ Bill, and really feeling like progress was getting made. They came to check me around 4, and I was still only approaching 3cm - no progress. But I was handling things well, so there was no rush. Somewhere around 6 things got hairy.
I started getting really, really strong ctx, from 0 to 120 instantly, and it was bad. Then my ctx started coupling (one ctx would start before the last would finish). I was given the gas to help get through, but couldn't get the thing to my mouth fast enough for it to help at all. It was godawful. After about an hour of this, I put a stop to it - I absolutely couldn't handle the pain of those ctx any longer. This is where my OB totally impressed me - he suggested that I get an epidural and stay on the pitocin a little longer, and see if maybe I'd make progress that way, and I oculd rest to push. Since I definitely didn't want a spinal, and if I got the epi then that's what I'd have for a c/s, I decided to do that. I slept through a blessed 2 hours - waking up at 9pm.
My OB came in, and the other OB (a specialist of some sort?), and they were talking about me, and I piped up that even if I had made progress, I didn't know if I could push. So they checked, and I was still at 3cm. That's when the monitors on Riley started being weird...not bad, but they were hard to read, and although the monitors said i was having ctx, my belly wasn't tightening. I asked for a c/s, they turned off the pitocin, and I was prepped for surgery.
They went in, and we found out a couple of things - first off, Riley's head never engaged, it was stuck on a ledge of scar tissue from my first c/s. If his head had been lower, I likely would've dilated, but it never got close enough. The second thing is that right when I got the epi is when Riley started trying to get out through my old incision. The scar was stretched, and there were apparently clots happening where it was a slow bleed, as opposed to a fast rupture.
I lost a lot of blood - 1500ccs (that's what DH said the doctor said), and if it'd been 10 minutes more, it would've been a hairy c/s indeed. But they got in in time, and Riley was born at 11:33pm. All 9lbs of him - yowza!
I did get to BF right in the recovery room, and Riley was never out of my sight except for right after he was delivered, when he was in DH's sight, which was one of the things I hated about Nathan's c/s. Riley latched on right away, and he's been up a storm since then. The visiting nurse just left, and at 4 days old he's already gaining weight - he went from 9lbs to 8lbs 8oz, when we were discharged, and he's back up to 8 lbs 11 oz, so yay on that front. My milk is already in, too - it's so sweet to see it dribble down his chin :)
I'm doing really well, considering the amount of blood I lost. I'm on iron therapy now, which sucks, and I'm trying to down as much protein and iron-rich food as I can...tough in the IL's house, but what can I do? Even with the dramatic labor and c/s, this recovery feels about a million times better than the one from before - I think that spinal then was probably the worst one in history.
Nathan is an awesome big brother. He is using all of his good listening and good manners - the ones I despaired of teaching him before the baby came, and while he's had a few moments, I think those are stemming from his not taking a nap for 5 days while the ILs were hopping him up on candy and cookies...times are a changing (woo hoo!)
We're not quite in the new house yet - DH is taking a leave from work (I love Canada!), so we're taking our time about moving now, so that I don't overdo it...
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36292.jpg
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36293.jpg
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36295.jpg
My water broke at about 9:30pm on Wednesday night. We were watching Sleepy Hollow, and had just gotten back home from the house, where we had music and a big dance floor, so DH and I did some slow dancing while DS1 ran amok through the house.
After getting back to the house, I got into my usual position, laying on my right side on the couch, and was thinking I could feel ctx every 10 minutes or so, and was just paying attention a little bit, when I felt something pop. I said "DH, I think my water just broke," and he didn't believe me. Then I moved, and I said "DH, go get me a towel, fast," and he asked if I needed it just then...ummmm...yeah. Cousin T was watching the movie with us, and thankfully went to get a towel right away. He came back with a hand towel. DH finally got off his butt and got a big towel, which I managed to get organized to get to the bathroom, but I still leaked ALL OVER. Cousin T was supremely grossed out when he went to watch the rest of the movie and stuck his arm in a big wet spot. MIL thought that was funny.
So I called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital when ctx were less than 5 minutes apart, and lasted longer than 45 seconds. That took until about 11:30, so that's when we headed out the door. We got to the L&D Assessment at 12:01am on October 26, 2006.
That's when things stalled out - I thought as a VBAC, I'd be headed right into the L&D suites, complete with balls, showers, etc., to get working on getting the ctx going. The nurse in charge, however, had different ideas, and women kept coming in with ctx bigger and badder than mine, so I waited...and waited...and waited. I walked, I rested (like they told me to), I walked some more, and still, was making almost no progress. At 8am, the dr. on call from my OB's office came and said they couldn't figure out why I wasn't progressing, they couldn't send me home, and they didn't want to augment my labor, but felt like the had to if I really wanted to try for a VBAC. Anyhow - I was pissed off about this. I insisted that I was going to get my chance for a VBAC, and felt that it was unfair I'd come in when I was told to, so I could use all these things they had to help me labor, and wasn't moved into L&D for so long. By that time I was almost 12 hours past my water breaking, so the clock was ticking.
I got into the L&D suite shortly after, and was put on pitocin at the lowest possible dose, to see if that would get me some bigger ctx. They upped it very slowly, and at 7units of whatever, I was getting some great ctx. But still, I wasn't dilating. I was 1cm at the OB's office that morning, I was 2cm by the time I made it into L&D, and I was approaching 3cm after 6 hours on pitocin. This is where I lose track of time...
It was about 3pm when I started having some strong ctx, and I was handling them really well, according to the nurses. They left my pitocin alone, and kept monitoring me and the baby. I was on and off the ball, walking as best I could, dancing w/ Bill, and really feeling like progress was getting made. They came to check me around 4, and I was still only approaching 3cm - no progress. But I was handling things well, so there was no rush. Somewhere around 6 things got hairy.
I started getting really, really strong ctx, from 0 to 120 instantly, and it was bad. Then my ctx started coupling (one ctx would start before the last would finish). I was given the gas to help get through, but couldn't get the thing to my mouth fast enough for it to help at all. It was godawful. After about an hour of this, I put a stop to it - I absolutely couldn't handle the pain of those ctx any longer. This is where my OB totally impressed me - he suggested that I get an epidural and stay on the pitocin a little longer, and see if maybe I'd make progress that way, and I oculd rest to push. Since I definitely didn't want a spinal, and if I got the epi then that's what I'd have for a c/s, I decided to do that. I slept through a blessed 2 hours - waking up at 9pm.
My OB came in, and the other OB (a specialist of some sort?), and they were talking about me, and I piped up that even if I had made progress, I didn't know if I could push. So they checked, and I was still at 3cm. That's when the monitors on Riley started being weird...not bad, but they were hard to read, and although the monitors said i was having ctx, my belly wasn't tightening. I asked for a c/s, they turned off the pitocin, and I was prepped for surgery.
They went in, and we found out a couple of things - first off, Riley's head never engaged, it was stuck on a ledge of scar tissue from my first c/s. If his head had been lower, I likely would've dilated, but it never got close enough. The second thing is that right when I got the epi is when Riley started trying to get out through my old incision. The scar was stretched, and there were apparently clots happening where it was a slow bleed, as opposed to a fast rupture.
I lost a lot of blood - 1500ccs (that's what DH said the doctor said), and if it'd been 10 minutes more, it would've been a hairy c/s indeed. But they got in in time, and Riley was born at 11:33pm. All 9lbs of him - yowza!
I did get to BF right in the recovery room, and Riley was never out of my sight except for right after he was delivered, when he was in DH's sight, which was one of the things I hated about Nathan's c/s. Riley latched on right away, and he's been up a storm since then. The visiting nurse just left, and at 4 days old he's already gaining weight - he went from 9lbs to 8lbs 8oz, when we were discharged, and he's back up to 8 lbs 11 oz, so yay on that front. My milk is already in, too - it's so sweet to see it dribble down his chin :)
I'm doing really well, considering the amount of blood I lost. I'm on iron therapy now, which sucks, and I'm trying to down as much protein and iron-rich food as I can...tough in the IL's house, but what can I do? Even with the dramatic labor and c/s, this recovery feels about a million times better than the one from before - I think that spinal then was probably the worst one in history.
Nathan is an awesome big brother. He is using all of his good listening and good manners - the ones I despaired of teaching him before the baby came, and while he's had a few moments, I think those are stemming from his not taking a nap for 5 days while the ILs were hopping him up on candy and cookies...times are a changing (woo hoo!)
We're not quite in the new house yet - DH is taking a leave from work (I love Canada!), so we're taking our time about moving now, so that I don't overdo it...
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36292.jpg
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36293.jpg
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/36295.jpg