MacMacMoo
07-06-2011, 09:04 AM
I didn't realize how anxious I was getting till I gave birth. I'm so thankful my midwife had me planning on a 38 week induction and bumped it up a few days to make sure I'd still be able to get an amnio (we had been looking at 38 weeks 1 day but apparently going a moment past 38 weeks you loose the amnio option) before being induced and have a better staff on hand.
Day of the amnio/ possible induction we called the hospital at 530 to check in. Our hospital is currently experiencing a baby boom (13 babies had been born the day before), and so event though we were schedule to come in they wanted to make sure there were enough rooms since spontaneous labor takes priority. They felt they had enough room, so we were at the hospital by 630.
Around 800 the amnio was done. The ultrasound done during the procedure showed baby to be head down, something of slight concern since baby had a tendency to be not head down during previous checks.
Two hours later the results were back: lungs were mature. The OB who had preformed the amnio called up my midwife to let her know, since that day was my midwifes day off but was opting to come in just for us.
We had to wait a little bit for a birthing suite to become available, but once there my midwife did a cervix check (I was dilated 1 cm, I was afraid I wouldn't be dilated at all and had as a rock, but thankfully my cervix was cooperating) and inserted a Foley bulb.
It took about five hours for the Foley bulb to do its thing. Basically they insert an empty balloon, fill it up and then yank on it ever so often to bring it down expanding the cervix. It did kick start contractions and back labor soon followed.
We had opted for continuous external monitoring of the baby, up to this point we probably could have gotten away with intermittent monitoring and had full mobility of the labor and delivery floor. However even though tethered to the monitor the cords were long enough and the room spacious enough that I had plenty of space to waddle around.
By 1730 pict had been started. They started the dosage at 4mL an hour, and I want to say increased the dosage every 40 odd minutes. 8mL, then 10, then 12. They dropped it back to 10mL because they felt the contractions were to strong at 12. They prefer to have contractions that last a minute with a minute to relax in between. As far as intensity and pain of contractions I'd say it's about on par with spontaneous labor.
Around 2130 I started contemplating an epidural. Silly me couldn't sleep the night before and I was running on only 4 hours a sleep. But I also wanted to know that I was far enough along to not stall labor. Lo and behold my midwife pops in to do a cervix check. 7cm. IV fluid intact was increased to prep for an epidural. I don't have low blood pressure however started at 108 if it did drop it didn't have far to go.
My midwife had been planning on breaking my water at this point. However when she did the cervix check she could feel baby's head. at 2210 she was back with an ultrasound machine and did a quick scan. Somehow during all those contractions baby had become Frank breech.
That put a damper on things. The high risk doctor and my midwife consulted us on our options: 1) try an aversion if it works continue with a vaginal birth 2) if the aversion doesn't work check the size of my pelvic and size of the baby and see if a vaginal breech birth is an option 3) have a c-section. No matter what option we picked I'd be prep for a c-section as part of the whole "hope for the best, plan for the worst."
We decided to take things one step at a time and decided to try and aversion. Pict was stopped. The epidural was finally administered at 2230, but in a higher than standard dose to help relax the uterus. Three other drugs were given, but I can't remember what they were. Part of the c-section prep work was to get shaved and have my belly scrubbed down. Then it was off to the OR.
The aversion didn't take long. Baby was head down by 2340. Which is very fortunate since it's a 50/50 shot that an aversion will work. 20 minutes of waiting in the OR to make sure everything was stable then back to the birthing room.
Pict was started up again. They had me sitting up in bed, but leaning on a side. They changed the side I was leaning on every thirty minutes. Not really the most comfortable position, but I was able to get some rest. At some point the epidural wore off, and the anesthesiologist came back and hooked up a push button dosing.
While nurse who was helping me "roll" from side to side was waiting with me to see when the epidural kicked in, baby's heart rate started dropping during contractions. We tried switching sides to see if that would alleviate the stress but it didn't. By now the midwife was in the room, and after a quick check it was determine that baby was just ready to come out.
We tried a few pushes with me on my hands and knees, and then switched to me on my side. I pushed every other contraction and on the fourth set of good good pushing baby HopMoo was born at 305 Saturday morning. He was 6 lbs 8 oz and 18.5 inches long.
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1895&d=1309957369
PS if anyone wanted to know what I ended up getting my midwife as a big Thank You present: I made her a quilt.
Day of the amnio/ possible induction we called the hospital at 530 to check in. Our hospital is currently experiencing a baby boom (13 babies had been born the day before), and so event though we were schedule to come in they wanted to make sure there were enough rooms since spontaneous labor takes priority. They felt they had enough room, so we were at the hospital by 630.
Around 800 the amnio was done. The ultrasound done during the procedure showed baby to be head down, something of slight concern since baby had a tendency to be not head down during previous checks.
Two hours later the results were back: lungs were mature. The OB who had preformed the amnio called up my midwife to let her know, since that day was my midwifes day off but was opting to come in just for us.
We had to wait a little bit for a birthing suite to become available, but once there my midwife did a cervix check (I was dilated 1 cm, I was afraid I wouldn't be dilated at all and had as a rock, but thankfully my cervix was cooperating) and inserted a Foley bulb.
It took about five hours for the Foley bulb to do its thing. Basically they insert an empty balloon, fill it up and then yank on it ever so often to bring it down expanding the cervix. It did kick start contractions and back labor soon followed.
We had opted for continuous external monitoring of the baby, up to this point we probably could have gotten away with intermittent monitoring and had full mobility of the labor and delivery floor. However even though tethered to the monitor the cords were long enough and the room spacious enough that I had plenty of space to waddle around.
By 1730 pict had been started. They started the dosage at 4mL an hour, and I want to say increased the dosage every 40 odd minutes. 8mL, then 10, then 12. They dropped it back to 10mL because they felt the contractions were to strong at 12. They prefer to have contractions that last a minute with a minute to relax in between. As far as intensity and pain of contractions I'd say it's about on par with spontaneous labor.
Around 2130 I started contemplating an epidural. Silly me couldn't sleep the night before and I was running on only 4 hours a sleep. But I also wanted to know that I was far enough along to not stall labor. Lo and behold my midwife pops in to do a cervix check. 7cm. IV fluid intact was increased to prep for an epidural. I don't have low blood pressure however started at 108 if it did drop it didn't have far to go.
My midwife had been planning on breaking my water at this point. However when she did the cervix check she could feel baby's head. at 2210 she was back with an ultrasound machine and did a quick scan. Somehow during all those contractions baby had become Frank breech.
That put a damper on things. The high risk doctor and my midwife consulted us on our options: 1) try an aversion if it works continue with a vaginal birth 2) if the aversion doesn't work check the size of my pelvic and size of the baby and see if a vaginal breech birth is an option 3) have a c-section. No matter what option we picked I'd be prep for a c-section as part of the whole "hope for the best, plan for the worst."
We decided to take things one step at a time and decided to try and aversion. Pict was stopped. The epidural was finally administered at 2230, but in a higher than standard dose to help relax the uterus. Three other drugs were given, but I can't remember what they were. Part of the c-section prep work was to get shaved and have my belly scrubbed down. Then it was off to the OR.
The aversion didn't take long. Baby was head down by 2340. Which is very fortunate since it's a 50/50 shot that an aversion will work. 20 minutes of waiting in the OR to make sure everything was stable then back to the birthing room.
Pict was started up again. They had me sitting up in bed, but leaning on a side. They changed the side I was leaning on every thirty minutes. Not really the most comfortable position, but I was able to get some rest. At some point the epidural wore off, and the anesthesiologist came back and hooked up a push button dosing.
While nurse who was helping me "roll" from side to side was waiting with me to see when the epidural kicked in, baby's heart rate started dropping during contractions. We tried switching sides to see if that would alleviate the stress but it didn't. By now the midwife was in the room, and after a quick check it was determine that baby was just ready to come out.
We tried a few pushes with me on my hands and knees, and then switched to me on my side. I pushed every other contraction and on the fourth set of good good pushing baby HopMoo was born at 305 Saturday morning. He was 6 lbs 8 oz and 18.5 inches long.
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=1895&d=1309957369
PS if anyone wanted to know what I ended up getting my midwife as a big Thank You present: I made her a quilt.