angel.stowe's Birth Story

Katherine "Katie" Louise ~

Born 9/29/2012 @ 25wks 4days ~ Weighing 1lb 3oz @ 12in long

I woke up Tuesday, September 25th with some cramping and pain in my back, and assumed I just needed to have a BM. I went to the bathroom and felt a gush.. when I wiped it was bloody. Went immediately to labor & delivery, where upon a cervical check showed I was dilating (doctor initially thought I was at 9cm, because I had a bulging sac, but I was really more at 3cm). I was admitted to the hospital and started on magnesium sulfate to stop labor. I stayed on the medicine for two days while they also gave me a steroid to help Katie's lungs develop once she got here. The "mag" as it was so referred to made me feel like my body was working at 20% efficiency. It took an extreme amount of effort to even turn in bed. I was taken off the medicine (I could only stay on it for two days maximum) Thursday morning and put on another (procardia) to keep any contractions at bay. It worked great until early Saturday morning, when I started having some powerful contractions in my abdomen and back. A cervical check showed that I was completely effaced and ready to push (the doctors said they couldn't even find my cervix). Minutes later I was in a room delivering Katie. I didn't plan on having an unmedicated delivery, but my body had its own ideas.

Katie has her daddy's dark hair and her mommy's long legs. We would appreciate your prayers as we begin this long, difficult journey.

Hisdarkangel's Birth Story

Damen Alexander James ~

Born 9/4/12 @ 38wks 3days ~ Weighing 6lbs 12.8oz @ 21in long

Had the u/s Monday morning to re-check the fluid levels. they were at a 5 but Damen wasn't moving around a whole lot so the u/s tech let my mw know and the decided to start induction and got me checked into the room by 9:30am on Monday... They hooked me up to the machines and I was contracting regularly but not really close, pitocin was started at around 11am. didn't really start having painful contractions until around 10-11pm.. but once the started they didn't let up..at 1am when I wa checked I was only at 5cm and I ende up caving and getting Nubaine, which did absolutely NOTHING for the pain, it just made me tired and loopy.. Finally hit 9cm at around 6am and stayed 9-9.5 until the mw decided to push the last bit of cervix over Damen's head as I was pushing during a contraction at around 8:45am Tuesday... Damen was born at 9:30am and weighed in at 6lbs 12.8oz and was 21 inches long. He has a headful of hair and is nursing pretty good now

Opmomsoon2b3's Birth Story

Ari Walter ~

Born 8/1/2012 @ 38wks 2days ~ Weighing 8lbs 5oz @ 21in long 

So, as many of you know, i had been starting to dilate and efface for weeks along with regular contractions. My doctors wouldn't induce me however until I was 39 weeks. I prayed and prayed I had progressed for my 38 week appointment, hoping that if I progressed enough, they would take pity on me and let me deliver a week early. I walked into my appointment that day with not much hope despite having regular contractions since Tuesday evening at 7-8 mins apart. Imagine my surprise when I was told I was 5cms and 80% effaced. Woo- Hoo!!! Thank you Lord. I had expressed to my doctor how I wanted to go ahead and set the date of induction for the following week. My OB said he wasn't comfortable having me walk around this way since this is my third birth so he wanted me to go over to L&D but couldn't guarantee his partner would keep me. He said if he didn't, then to call him first thing in the morning because he was on call beginning at 8am and he would admit us then and that day we would be having our baby. My husband and I were so excited! We head over to the next building and are checked into a labor room, to our surprise. My doctor said that they would monitor me at Triage first so we got all excited. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was only a 3 and 70%. I was so confused. Then my doc came in to check on me and i told him what the nurse said. he said some people only check the tip of the cervix rather than going all the way in and the tip is always not as dilated as inside the cervix. He said not to worry because I was definitelyt a generous 5cms dilated and with my regular contractions, definitely in labor. Just a matter of what his partner would decide to do. His partner finally came in and checked me and says that I am a 4 and 80%. He says, well, you can stay here and walk around and stuff but we would be having a baby. however, He said that due to me having A1 diabetes, he would not "help" my labor progress due to issues with lung maturity that can occur with it. This perplexed me because no on ever mentioned this as a possibility. It was always a manage by diet as a precaution type of thing. I didn't even know I was actually classified as a diabetic.
Anyway, he gave us the option to go home and get our stuff and walk around and labor at home and we could come back at any time. They would hold our room for us. I was very excited at that idea because 1, i needed to get my stuff and the seat and all that and I needed to say goodbye to the kids and get them off to my parents and 3 because we got one of the 3 really good Labor rooms with the giant jacuzzi tub and it's bigger than the rest. So we decided to go home and do the early parts of labor at home and eat a good dinner and stuff.
So we get home and I continue to walk around, bounce on the yoga ball and I decided to clean myself out and do half a dose of the castor oil. Finally, around 7 pm things started to pick up and we decided it was time to go back in. So we get there and the nurse who checks us back into our room starts saying how she doesn't know if we will be kept, etc etc. This made me a bit nervous and I was getting irritated as she kept asking me questions I already answered. Anway, she checks me again and tells me I am only 3cms and 50%!! WTF!!! How is that possible??? At this point my contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and painful enough I asked for my epi already. My OB's partner comes in and he doesn't even bother to check me and tells me we basically aren't having Ari tonight. He said I'm more than welcome to try and walk around more and stuff but unless I'm at 7cms, he wouldn't help me progress my labor. he said it's very common for people to regress during labor!! I was so upset and I saw no reason to stay til the middle of the night when it was pretty clear he wasn't going to help us. I told him my fears of having a baby too big to fit and maybe that's why I regressed and he said, possibly but didn't bother to see if it was a real possibility. How the hell would I make it to 7cms without any type of pain meds. I explained I always get stuck at 5cms and can't progress without help(meaning pain relief) because of my back labor. He can obviously see how much pain I'm in. So we went home and I was so upset. I cried and cried and screamed screamed as the contractions got worse and worse knocking me to the floor on my hands and knees.
Some things happened in between that made me more made with DH but I won't get into that. I finally took some norcol, okay 2 doses, and a long warm shower to try and alleviate the pain of the contractions. I also took a bath to see if I could slow them down. By 11pm. they were 2 minutes apart lasting almost 90 seconds and I was in agony. I knew it was pointless unless I was 7 cms to go back in and I knew there was no way I could be 7 because I was in too much pain to progress. Finally around 2 am the contractions started to get less painful and around 3am, they started to space out and I was able to get some sleep around 4 or 5 am.
I woke up and claled my OB at 8am, like he said. He said he'd be in meetings til around 10am yesterday so when I called DH, who went into work by the way, that I called cuz I was still contracting depsite them now at like 10mins apart, but to wrap things up at work and come home. He knew my doc would be in meetings til about 10am, so I wanted him home around then so we could head over. I leave a message for the nurse, and she was so confused by the way because I it sounded strange. I let her know that doc said to call him in the morning if I got sent home from l&d. I couldn't go into specifics because of some hospital policy about inductions prior to 39 weeks. she said she'd page him and he'd call me back. she calls back about 10 mins later and says that doc says just to go on over to l&d and get checked in. YAY!!!!!! He is keeping his word and we are having a baby!!!
I get back to l&d, and everyone is confused asking me if i'm in labor cuz it's pretty obvious I am not! LOL. I dance around it and finally my doc comes in. I am now 5 1/2 cms and 80% effaced again and here we go. He tells the nurse that he has surgery and when he gets back he expects me to be on pit and he will break my water and get the show on the road. Did I mention we got my favorite room again??? YES!
Sooo, the pitocin gets started and now it's a waiting game. Well about 2 hours, there is an emergency with a 26 weeker so they came in to turn off my pit because there is no one who can monitor me at the moment. i'm so disappointed because this doesn't seem to be progressing too well. When I was on it, my contractions were actually getting weaker and farther apart but they could only increase by so much at specific time intervals. So we just sat around waiting. My contractions did start picking up while off the pit, thankfully but that's because theere is a 40 minute or so delay on the reactions of the pit and my dose had been upped several times. They finally came back in to turn on the pit and I took a nice jacuzzi bath. It was LOVELY!! the tub was huge and had jets perfectly spaced for your feet, knees and upper legs and your back. of course when I decided to do th bath my doc wanted to break my water so he waited but then had an emergency so then I was waiting again. this was at 6:40. I'm not sure what time my water was broken but then i waited for the contractions to get worse. All I know is I kept waiting for them to hurt so I could ask for epi. the nurse finally says to me about 9, you know you dont' have to do that. i realized that was awfully silly of me to wait for pain to get pain relief so I said, okay, bring on the anesthiologist. She tells me that the guy is almost off duty so we will wait for the new guy, whom I happened to know! he used to treat me at the pain clinic I went to. He came on at 10pm. By 10:30 I was feeling great, epi was in and he gave me some extra fentanyl for being so good. it oculdn't of come at a better time too cuz i was really beginning to feel things. Heck, i wanted to kiss him because it only took him once. they usually miss all the time and it takes 2-3 tries due to my back and discs. prior to epi, they checked me again and I had no change. DH is thinkging we wont' deliver til 5am and I think he's crazy, i said just a few hours. he looks at me like i'm crazy!!! okay, just wait.
Well, 2 hours later, i tell dh to get the nurse and check me cuz i felt soooo much pressure. he says, "Already????" I'm like DUH!! I told you it wouldn't be long. So she comes in and sure enough, I am at 9cms and 100%. So the nurse says shewill let dr know and i said it should be soon and she says maybe another hour or so. about 15 mins later I tell dh he needs to get the nurse now. I have this overwhelming urge to push that i can't stop! the nurse comes in and can't believe that i'm ready to go. by the time the doctor gets int he room and they are ready, it was about 1:20am. I pushed for about 20 mins and Ari was born at 1:39am weighing 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long!! I guess 8 lbs 2 oz and DH guessed 8 lbs 6 oz. He won! He was absolutely perfect.
Everything seemed to be going okay at this point. They are cleaning up Ari and doc is delievring my placenta. It took a bit of work and he had ot dig in there and do lots of pushing and tugging but i finally delivered it. Doc mentions how awesome I did and says I hardly had any blood loss. I am cleaned up and then waiting to go into my room. About 45 minutes later though, I start to feel really funny, like I am about to pass out and I tell dh something isn't right and to get the nurse. I tell him I feel as if I am going to faint. then the bp cuff goes off and my bp is 60/37. the nurse comes rushing in and this point, i passed out and i kept poppiing in and out of consciousness. i was able to regain myself to know something was wrong and doc was pressing on my belly off to the side. I delivered a huge blood clot which they weighed and sent to the lab. he mentioned how odd it was so long after delivery. after the blood clot, I kept gushing blood and that was all she wrote. I passsed out again and when I came to, they were cleaning me up. i felt awful and really really weak. So.... apparently I lost a ton of blood. that was very scary but not because i was so unaware of what was going on. they kept a close eye on me and the bleeding obviously. I was kept an extra day because my hemoglobin dropped after going up.
I didn't know how scary it was until we came home from the hospital. I found dh on our back porch having an anxiety attack. He said it was very scary and the reactions of the nurses and stuff were really scary and the amount of blood loss was ridicuous. i lost alot of blood with dd but this was nothing compared to that. i just need to take it extra easy and so dh is taking an extra week off cuz he doesn't want to risk it. i have been very weak and tired but i hope to feel better soon.

Toufayah's Birth Story!

Adam Joseph ~

Born 7/22/2012 @ 39wks 5days ~ Weighing 6lbs 11oz @ 19in long

 I was in labor for 21 hours...19 of which was was done naturally. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my NUCB that I was hoping for, but it's okay. My contractions were excruciatingly painful, however they weren't effective enough at opening up my cervix, so I was stalled at 2, then 3 cm for FOREVER (it took 19 hours to get to a 4, by which time I was exhausted, so they told me they were going to start me on pitocin...that made the contractions unbearable for me, so I asked for an epi...I practically fell asleep while my body quickly dialated to a 10 in the next hour and a half...it was heavenly LOL). I only had to push three times, OB had to cut an episotomy, and Adam was out and on my tummy!! I will never forget the moment I first saw him <3

JessicaCT's Birth Story

Liam David ~

Born 7/8/12 @ 38wks 6days ~ Weighing 7lbs 7oz @ 21in long!

I started having contractions at 2 am. Took a shower at 5, water broke at 530 just as i stepped out of the shower. Contractions picked up fast and hard. My husband had our midwife on the phone, and she was on her way.( planned water home birth). Stepped in birth tub while it was filling up, had a couple more very painful contractions. Midwife arrived at 6 and by 6:11, our baby was born.
It was an intense and fast labor. My first took 18 hrs of labor in the hospital, with epidural. This was an amazing experience and I recommend a home birth to anyone.

Merryone's Birth Story

Anna Marie ~

Born 6/28/12 @ 36wks 3days ~ Weighing 6lbs 5oz @ 21in long!

I had regular doctor's appointment on Monday, June 25th at 36 weeks. Blood pressure was slightly elevated so doctor placed me on full bedrest. On Tuesday I left the house and ran some errands. That afternoon my BP rose to 180/90. Subsequent readings varied but stayed within the same range. I called on call doctor and she told me to go to L&D. I should have followed doctor's orders and stayed on full bedrest.

Once I got to L&D the on call doctor requested blood work and a 24 hour urine collection. I started the urine collection at 9:45 pm on Tuesday, June 26th which meant the earliest I could be released from hosptial would be the morning of Thursday, June 28th if everything was okay. I had a NST Wednesday morning and it showed a few contractions which I thought were Braxton Hicks. My 32 week u/s showed Anna was breech and an u/s on Wednesday morning showed Anna was still breech. Since I was on bedrest in hospital my BP went down and I was excited about going home Thursday morning.

I woke up at 1:44 a.m. on Thursday to go to the bathroom. I didn't make it to the bathroom because I had a contraction so painful that it stopped me in my tracks. As I shook my DH to wake him I fell to my knees because the pain was severe. As soon as I dropped to the floor my water broke. Once my water broke the contractions came every 3 to 5 minutes. The nurses managed to get me in bed strapped to monitors. At one point during labor the nurses rushed in, put oxygen on me and told me to turn on my left side because Anna's heartrate dropped. The on call doctor knew I strongly desired a VBAC and was willing to let me deliver my breech baby vaginally. The whole time I was having contractions my water was leaking and the nurse said this was normal. The doctor requested another u/s to confirm position. As the u/s technician performed the u/s I felt the leak turn into gushing. After the technician finished the u/s the nurse realized I was bleeding. My DH said it looked like someone took buckets of blood and poured them onto my bed. The blood continued to gush and then the nurse said she couldn't find Anna's heartbeat. Frantically, the nurses rushed me to the OR and the anesthesiologist immediately put me to sleep for emergency c-section. Anna was born at 3:14 a.m. just 1 hour 30 minutes after my water broke.

After I came out of recovery I asked my doctor if I had an uterine rupture and she said no. She said there wasn't an explanation for the bleeding which was very puzzling. Both of us agreed it's a blessing I was already in the hospital when my water broke. I'm grateful that the doctor and nurses responded so quickly to the bleeding and Anna's heartrate dropping. I'm thankful Anna is healthy and arrived safely. She is amazing, alert and doing very well.

So Excited!!'s Birth Story

Luke Alexander ~

Born 5/28/12 @ 38wks 3days ~ Weighing 8lbs @ 20in long!

I was due June 8th, and my little soy bean actually arrived on May 28th, 11 days early -
So around 11:30pm on the 27th, I was scrolling through a thread on my BB where women were sharing baby names (since we still hadn't picked one), and I felt what I thought was a contraction... But since we had logged over 5 miles walking to/from & all over the zoo in 97 degree heat earlier that day, I thought maybe I was just dehydrated? About a half hour later, I went to the bathroom and noticed a tiny trickle before I actually started to pee - At first I wondered if my water broke, but just chalked it up to being paranoid... Throughout the night, I kept feeling little cramps here and there, and kept wondering if I should get up to actually time them, but DH thought I should just get some rest and was sure that when it was the real deal, I'd know it...
At 5:50am, I woke up to a strong contraction - It was followed by another one at 6:05... Isaac woke up a few minutes later, and I quickly realized I couldn't function through the contractions. I jumped in the shower and was out by 7:00 - Contractions were on top of one another and completely unbearable, and I genuinely wondered if I would be capable of getting dressed and actually leaving for the birthing center - All I could do was lie on my side, naked in my towel, and breathe - How the hell did it get that bad that fast?!
We got in the car at 7:19, and I puked. The whole trip, I don't recall more than a 5-10 second reprieve from contractions (no joke). We arrived just after 8:00 - As soon as DH told the receptionist I was in labor, I said I felt like I needed to push - We were rushed upstairs, where the nurse checked me - She said I was 9+ cm, almost complete, and that we needed to get to delivery right now - I was in a total state of shock ...
The whole way to the birth room, I felt like he could be here any second - When we got there, the nurse was frantically trying to set everything up, couldn't find anything she needed, kept calling for help - Eventually she just walked out, leaving me & DH alone. I asked if I could get in the tub, but since I hadn't even been admitted or registered, and given that the nurse didn't seem to have anything she needed or any people to help her, she asked me just to lie on the bed & told me she'd be back... I just stayed on my knees in the floor, and I honestly thought I was going to have the baby all alone - Within seconds, an OB came in, checked me and told me he'd be here with just a few more contractions, to push whenever I felt the need... Then she asked how long ago my water had broken - What?! I told her I didn't even know it was broken... I guess it was that tiny trickle from the night before? Almost on her heels, my midwife came in and guided me through the next several contractions - Luke Alexander (a name we finally chose 2 days later) was born at 8:33, 8 lbs & 20" long : )
Let me say that NUCB was a lot more painful and involved a lot more breathing (even breathing I've never witnessed myself doing before) and a lot more vocalization than I imagined... With Isaac & Evelyn, I was so much more quiet and felt somehow detached from my body, like something was happening to it... But with Luke, I was very much engaged and knew that I was doing this, that there were times I had to use control (and not push as hard as I wanted to, ex)... I guess it's kind of hard to explain, but I am very glad I was able to experience it - At the same time, I really wish it hadn't snuck up on me like that - I was totally caught off guard, had virtually no time to prepare (emotionally or physically, though thankfully I didn't tear)... I mean, I had my first real contraction at 5:50, arrived at the birthing center just after 8:00, and he was born at 8:33... That's insane. If my Mom hadn't been here to watch my 3YO & 2YO, I honestly think DH wouldn't delivered this baby with 911 on the phone, either at home or on the side of the road...