My Birth Story
It was a cold winter day when I packed up my bag and headed off to the hospital with my husband at 9:30pm for an induction of labor for oligohydraminos (too little fluid around the baby). My doctor actually said it was borderline but I was almost 41 weeks and showing no signs of labor so we decided that an induction was probably the way to go. By the time I got to my room and the nurse came and asked me the usual questions, it was almost midnight. I wasn't seen by a doctor until sometime later and I was given cervidil to get things started. I started to have contractions but they were light and irregular. I slept for a few hours and then by early morning I was started on pitocin to regulate contractions. That's when the pain intensified and by 4 cm dilated or so I asked for the epidural. The epidural experience was not as bad as I thought it would be. It made my pelvis and legs feel big and heavy but it did its job, well initially anyway. I remember going from 4cm to 7cm pretty quickly. The nurses and doctor were confident that I would soon be pushing out my baby girl. Well that didn't happen. By mid-afternoon they broke my water. I quickly progressed to 8, 9 and then 10cm but the baby's head was still very high in my pelvis and was not showing any signs of coming down. So the anesthetic in the epidural was decreased in the hopes that feeling the contractions would help speed things along. Well that didn't work. It only increased the pain. And boy was that pain intense. It didn't help that the contractions became sustained, that is it only contracted but never let up. It was one of the worse pains I had ever had in my life. The doctor came in at that point and asked me to push but it was pointless, every time they checked, my baby's head was way up in the pelvis, unchanged from my earlier exams. So, it happened. It was decided that a C-Section was in order. The official reason: Arrest of Descent. I had written that many times for my patients but now I had experienced it and the words meant so much more.
Riding down that hallway on the stretcher to the operating rooms was one of most surreal things that has ever happened to me. I was scared of what was about to happen. That I was suddenly having surgery and that the end result would be the delivery of my baby girl. When we arrived in the OR, my husband was given scrubs and I was quickly place on the operating room table surrounding by doctors and nurses wearing masks and prepping the room all around me.
Now it was time. I felt the cold betadine on my belly and was asked if I was having any sensation to my lower abdomen. The epidural was finally turned up and the intense pain started to get better. That is until they made their incision and attempts to pull her out. I don't know why it took so long to get her out but it felt like an eternity. The pressure from them pulling and pushing was so intense that I could barely breath. But then I heard it. Waaaa Wwaaaaa. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. They quickly put her in the heated pediatric bed and my husband went over to her. I called out to him "How does she look? Tell me what do you see?" He said she was beautiful. That she was perfect.
Next thing I know I am hearing words that I knew the meaning of but I couldn't believe they were being directed towards me. Words like "boggy", "losing blood", "keep massaging" and give her "methergine". I was hemorrhaging and they acted fast to stop it but it felt like forever. I don't know what happened after that but according to my husband, I started asking alot of questions and I felt like no one was answering me and I started to ask more aggressively so they upped the anesthesia and my husband said the next thing he knew he heard a light snore. It was me. Fast asleep while they got things under control and closed me up. I slowly started to wake up when they transferred me back to the stretcher. They put her on my chest as they wheeled me to recovery.
When I looked at her all the hard work of the past 24 hours seemed like nothing. My baby girl was here. She was looking at me with her gorgeous almond shaped dark eyes and her little tongue sticking out of her mouth. She looked so perfect. She was 7lbs 10oz and 21 inches. I could hardly believe she was mine. I forgot about everything that had just happened.
The next few days in the hospital were great. I stayed for 4 days because I had lost alot of blood during the surgery and had also developed fever which required IV antibiotics. She roomed with us and we could already tell she was a good baby. Friends and family came to visit to meet our little princess. My postoperative recovery was very challenging. Going to the bathroom, taking a shower, or even changing positions in bed was very painful. But slowly, I was improving. Taking walk around the unit on the last day felt like I had run a marathon.
When we took her home it was cold and rainy and she looked so cute in her car seat all bundled up. When we got home it felt so right. It felt like she belonged there. It was a beautiful thing.
Graeme's Birth Story
Head in a fog. I was running on the 2 hour nap I had after my epidural was in place. It was my only 2 hours of sleep in the last 31 hours or so. I had been pushing with every contraction for 2 solid hours and my baby had literally NOT moved an inch. “Stubborn little bugger,” I thought to myself, “just like mom, eh?”
The doctor came in to tell me my options: keep pushing until God knows when, or because I had been there almost 12 hours, have a caesarian.
“Can I think about it?” I asked.
“Of course you can,” said the very nice doctor.
“Just make sure you make your decision before the doctor leaves,” my mother advised me, “because he will have to go home soon.”
My brain panicked. In my foggy state, I literally thought my mother meant “make your decision before the doctor leaves the room” and I was literally watching him reach the doorway.
“Wait!” I called out. “I’ll have the c-section.”
What happened next I just wasn’t prepared for. A nurse came in, saying “Here, drink this.” I did. Another was gathering the millions of blankets keeping me warm. Four of them helped move me onto a gurney to take me to the surgery. I told them I needed my mom with me, and one of them took her away to get her ready for the surgery room. My sister stayed with me to try to keep me calm. Keeping calm was really hard. I’d never had surgery before.
They came to wheel me to surgery. Going down the hall I had to be sick. Once in the surgery I was put on the operating table with my arm strapped down to the table for an IV. Someone explained that they were going to give me a spinal, as I had an epidural already and it was wearing off. The table tipped. I whimpered. It scared the daylights out of me. Once the spinal was done they put the table back. I had to be sick again. A lovely nurse helped me sit up to do that. I was in tears. I hate throwing up.
Laying down again, the doctor came in and started pinching me, asking if I could feel it. I couldn’t feel a thing until he pinched me below my rib cage. “Well that’s odd,” he said, “We’ll just give it another minute.” A minute seemed like eternity. I kept wondering where my mother was. The doctor pinched me again. I could still feel it below my rib cage. Deciding to give it another minute, I lay there breathing, trying to keep myself calm in the stark white room with bright lights. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Terror. Breathing was becoming more difficult. I cried out “I can’t feel myself breathing! I can’t breathe! I’M NOT BREATHING!!” Aid rushed towards me. Nurse one calming me, telling me to look at my chest, nurse two putting her hand on my chest to show me it was moving, doctor telling me to calm down and slow down. I couldn’t. One doesn’t realise that your body needs to feel itself breathe, until you can’t feel it. Doctor, looking at me, saying my breaths were panic like and stressing the baby. The spinal was a fraction of a millimeter in the wrong place and froze the wrong area. I was going to have to go under.
Nurse, holding my tear-stained face, calling for another nurse to get my mother to come in and reassure me. Looking at a nurse, telling me to count backwards. Ten, nine, eight, seven… dark.
Wake up. Minor panic. I see my mother. “What did I have?” I asked.
“A boy. Say hello to Graeme.”
“Ha! I was right!” I exclaimed, before falling back into an exhaustion-driven sleep.
Graeme Ian, born September 28, 2008, 7:50pm, 9lbs, 21 inches.
I will never forget the sheer panic I had during labour and delivery. But the joy that followed when I awoke will never be topped.
Savannah's Birth Story
by Mrs. Chevalley
Savannah was not planned but she was a complete blessing! My previous pregnancy with Hannah was stressful to say the least but at least with Savannah I knew more of what to expect. However, I wasn't expecting her the day she came.
I remember making the 2 hour drive to the maternal fetal medicine doctor and feeling crappy as I did every other 3rd day I made this trip. I told the doctor I wasn't feeling well and explained all my symptoms, they simply said "come back Friday, if its the same we will look into it". I felt ignored but left, got in the car and left the doctor heading home. On the ride about 10 minutes away I called my OB/GYN office, told them the same story and they sent me to L&D saying "we will monitor for 30-45 minutes but you'll probably just got home". I turned around and headed back, after checking in and getting "hooked up" I noticed I probably wasn't leaving with all the nurses in and out.
Long story short, Savannah's heart rate was 195-200 (doctors prefer around 150-170) and my BP was extremely elevated. David was on his way from work to meet me. As he came in the doctor was saying "we're delivering today, in about 15 minutes". Hannah was still in daycare 2 hours away which meant David would miss Savannah's birth but that's life I guess.
After getting my epidural and taken to OR, I delivered a 6 lbs 2 oz baby girl that measured 18 inches long! She was beautiful and perfect. I was instantly in love, a consuming love that is endless no matter how crazy life gets. She's a true mommy's girl and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
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Hannah's Birth StorySavannah was not planned but she was a complete blessing! My previous pregnancy with Hannah was stressful to say the least but at least with Savannah I knew more of what to expect. However, I wasn't expecting her the day she came.
I remember making the 2 hour drive to the maternal fetal medicine doctor and feeling crappy as I did every other 3rd day I made this trip. I told the doctor I wasn't feeling well and explained all my symptoms, they simply said "come back Friday, if its the same we will look into it". I felt ignored but left, got in the car and left the doctor heading home. On the ride about 10 minutes away I called my OB/GYN office, told them the same story and they sent me to L&D saying "we will monitor for 30-45 minutes but you'll probably just got home". I turned around and headed back, after checking in and getting "hooked up" I noticed I probably wasn't leaving with all the nurses in and out.
Long story short, Savannah's heart rate was 195-200 (doctors prefer around 150-170) and my BP was extremely elevated. David was on his way from work to meet me. As he came in the doctor was saying "we're delivering today, in about 15 minutes". Hannah was still in daycare 2 hours away which meant David would miss Savannah's birth but that's life I guess.
After getting my epidural and taken to OR, I delivered a 6 lbs 2 oz baby girl that measured 18 inches long! She was beautiful and perfect. I was instantly in love, a consuming love that is endless no matter how crazy life gets. She's a true mommy's girl and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
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by Mrs. Chevalley
The first time I held her I was shaking so hard from the drugs, I couldn't stop, I was overwhelmed with emotions. She was so perfect and little and sweet. She cried and cried and cried and finally I said "it's okay Muffin" (that's our nickname for her) and she stopped crying. It was like in that moment she knew she was mine and I was hers and it was okay to just "be" in this moment.
http://mrschevalley.blogspot.com/
Santiago's Birth Story
by Pilly S
Everything started on the morning of September 22, 2008. The doctors had told me there was a possibility that Santi would be born on the due date. I didn’t believe them. At around 5:30am, I woke up with an urge to go pee. As soon as I got up from the bed, water started coming down my legs. I knew my water had broken. Very calmly, I woke up Santi’s dad, and two of my aunts that had come from Colombia to help me care for my son. I took a shower, got dressed, had breakfast, and took my bag, my aunts, and Santi’s dad all the way to the hospital. On my way to the hospital I called and once I got there, a nurse was waiting for me with a wheelchair. I checked into the hospital, filled out more papers, signed more things, and they asked me to change my clothes into a hospital gown. At that point, everything felt very real. I knew my boy was going to be born very soon and the uncertainty of how things would go had me a little nervous. They told me I couldn’t get up again because my water had broken. They put me in a waiting room on a bed. Quickly, different doctors came by to check me. I was dilated 3cm, so there was no much to do but to wait. There were a lot of residency doctors (I am not sure what they were called). I felt like I was the guinea pig, since the other doctors were explaining things about me to them. One of the young doctors tried to put my IV, but I guess she was inexperienced and made my hand all bloody and greenish. I honestly didn’t care much about it. I just wanted to deliver the baby as soon as possible. I was already tired of carrying around that big belly for so long and I wanted to be with my baby soon. After a while, they took me to a room, since the contractions had gotten a bit more intense. Santi’s dad and my aunt were there. One of the nurses came by to check me and told me that the baby wouldn’t be delivered for a while. She also asked me if I wanted an epidural. At this point, the pain was getting intense and I agreed to it. However, since there was only one anesthesiologist for the whole hospital, it took a while for the doctor to get there. By the time they put me on the epidural my contractions were very strong. I was holding onto the bed so hard and wondering why did it hurt so much. Anyhow, I didn’t move at all when they were sticking a needle on my spine ( freaky!). I heard so many horrible stories about the epidural that I was taking all the pain in without screaming or moving. Once the epidural started to make effect, the pain went away and I was happy...However, I started feeling sleepy and all I wanted to do was to sleep. By this time, Santi’s dad and my aunt were getting worried. The nurses didn’t seem concerned at all. One of them even told me to take a nap. At around 1pm, the doctor came to check on me and told me that I needed to start pushing. It was actually very hard to push since I didn’t feel any pain, so it felt like I was trying to push something out that didn’t feel was there. I kept doing this for a while but nothing really happened. At around 3pm, another nurse came in and she seemed more concerned than the previous one. The doctor came back and told me that I needed to push as hard as I could. Nothing was really going on. By this time I was already too tired and worried that my baby wasn’t born yet. At about 4:45pm, the doctor came back to check me and told me I was fully dilated. They couldn’t feel Santi’s heartbeat. I was on the verge of freaking out. The doctor told me if the baby wouldn’t be delivered soon, there were going to do a C-section. I was crying. Then, came my angel. It was a kind nurse that suggested I needed to be off the epidural so that I could feel the contraction and push. As soon as the epidural was wearing off, the contractions came and hurt like hell. I was pushing with all my strength. The nurse was giving me so much courage. She would say, “You are strong, you can deliver this baby! Vamos mami!” I was so tired but I kept going. I always thought those things you see on TV of women screaming when they are delivering were all part of a show. Well, it wasn’t. I was screaming, crying and pushing my baby out. Then after a big push, I felt it, Santi was born! The nurse grabbed my baby since he came out like a shooting star. Then, she started screaming, “delivery, delivery”. It was all like a movie. A stream of doctors and nurses came rushing into my room. Things were flying; people were talking loud, doctors giving instructions. Santi’s dad wanted to cut the umbilical cord but was quickly pushed aside. There was no time to waste. They had to quickly check Santi’s vital signals, cut the umbilical cord and make sure he was okay. I was asking Santi’s dad, is he okay? Is he breathing? Does he have your dimples? It felt so surreal. I couldn’t believe I had delivered this beautiful baby. Then, they put him on my chest. All the pain that I was in was gone. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. He was mine. He was my son, so small, so fragile. I immediately fell in love with this tiny person. All I wanted to do was to protect him, to love him. I breastfed him. We were connected. We were one.
Everything started on the morning of September 22, 2008. The doctors had told me there was a possibility that Santi would be born on the due date. I didn’t believe them. At around 5:30am, I woke up with an urge to go pee. As soon as I got up from the bed, water started coming down my legs. I knew my water had broken. Very calmly, I woke up Santi’s dad, and two of my aunts that had come from Colombia to help me care for my son. I took a shower, got dressed, had breakfast, and took my bag, my aunts, and Santi’s dad all the way to the hospital. On my way to the hospital I called and once I got there, a nurse was waiting for me with a wheelchair. I checked into the hospital, filled out more papers, signed more things, and they asked me to change my clothes into a hospital gown. At that point, everything felt very real. I knew my boy was going to be born very soon and the uncertainty of how things would go had me a little nervous. They told me I couldn’t get up again because my water had broken. They put me in a waiting room on a bed. Quickly, different doctors came by to check me. I was dilated 3cm, so there was no much to do but to wait. There were a lot of residency doctors (I am not sure what they were called). I felt like I was the guinea pig, since the other doctors were explaining things about me to them. One of the young doctors tried to put my IV, but I guess she was inexperienced and made my hand all bloody and greenish. I honestly didn’t care much about it. I just wanted to deliver the baby as soon as possible. I was already tired of carrying around that big belly for so long and I wanted to be with my baby soon. After a while, they took me to a room, since the contractions had gotten a bit more intense. Santi’s dad and my aunt were there. One of the nurses came by to check me and told me that the baby wouldn’t be delivered for a while. She also asked me if I wanted an epidural. At this point, the pain was getting intense and I agreed to it. However, since there was only one anesthesiologist for the whole hospital, it took a while for the doctor to get there. By the time they put me on the epidural my contractions were very strong. I was holding onto the bed so hard and wondering why did it hurt so much. Anyhow, I didn’t move at all when they were sticking a needle on my spine ( freaky!). I heard so many horrible stories about the epidural that I was taking all the pain in without screaming or moving. Once the epidural started to make effect, the pain went away and I was happy...However, I started feeling sleepy and all I wanted to do was to sleep. By this time, Santi’s dad and my aunt were getting worried. The nurses didn’t seem concerned at all. One of them even told me to take a nap. At around 1pm, the doctor came to check on me and told me that I needed to start pushing. It was actually very hard to push since I didn’t feel any pain, so it felt like I was trying to push something out that didn’t feel was there. I kept doing this for a while but nothing really happened. At around 3pm, another nurse came in and she seemed more concerned than the previous one. The doctor came back and told me that I needed to push as hard as I could. Nothing was really going on. By this time I was already too tired and worried that my baby wasn’t born yet. At about 4:45pm, the doctor came back to check me and told me I was fully dilated. They couldn’t feel Santi’s heartbeat. I was on the verge of freaking out. The doctor told me if the baby wouldn’t be delivered soon, there were going to do a C-section. I was crying. Then, came my angel. It was a kind nurse that suggested I needed to be off the epidural so that I could feel the contraction and push. As soon as the epidural was wearing off, the contractions came and hurt like hell. I was pushing with all my strength. The nurse was giving me so much courage. She would say, “You are strong, you can deliver this baby! Vamos mami!” I was so tired but I kept going. I always thought those things you see on TV of women screaming when they are delivering were all part of a show. Well, it wasn’t. I was screaming, crying and pushing my baby out. Then after a big push, I felt it, Santi was born! The nurse grabbed my baby since he came out like a shooting star. Then, she started screaming, “delivery, delivery”. It was all like a movie. A stream of doctors and nurses came rushing into my room. Things were flying; people were talking loud, doctors giving instructions. Santi’s dad wanted to cut the umbilical cord but was quickly pushed aside. There was no time to waste. They had to quickly check Santi’s vital signals, cut the umbilical cord and make sure he was okay. I was asking Santi’s dad, is he okay? Is he breathing? Does he have your dimples? It felt so surreal. I couldn’t believe I had delivered this beautiful baby. Then, they put him on my chest. All the pain that I was in was gone. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. He was mine. He was my son, so small, so fragile. I immediately fell in love with this tiny person. All I wanted to do was to protect him, to love him. I breastfed him. We were connected. We were one.
My son is my strength. He gives me courage to keep going and be a better person. I have never felt unconditional love until he was born. Santiago was born at 5:06pm, weighed 7lbs 6oz and measured 20 inches. I would never forget those numbers!
My nephew Santi!!
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Aubree's Birth Story
Throughout my pregnancy, the whole time I knew my labour was going to be induced because of my health problems and distance to the hospital. We had it all planned out for May 9th.
On the 9th, around 7 pm, I went into the hospital to get the foley catheter put in. It's a catheter with a balloon at one end to soften and open your cervix. I was then sent home and told to wait for a phone call the following day or to come in if I had contractions.
All night that night I could barely move. The pain from the catheter was unbelievable and I was up walking around, trying to find a comfortable position but no such luck. I was given some Tylenol to take but it didn't end up helping at all.
The next day I didn't get a call. I waited and waited and finally called the hospital around 4pm and asked them when I could come in. They told me to come in right away so we left the house and drove the 2 hours back to London to start the induction.
When I got to the hospital, they hooked up all the iv's and medicine. They started me on pitocin and at this time, my catheter was still in because I still wasn't dilated any. I was just one centimetre.
A few hours later and I was still not dilating so they increased the pitocin dose and waited a few more hours. I finally got to three centimetres and they took the catheter out and broke my water. This was on the Friday night around 11 pm or so.
I got the epidural shortly here after because I couldn't take it anymore. It felt like a bee sting but it was nothing compared to the contractions I had been feeling. It worked amazing and I felt a lot better afterwords.
All night Friday and all day Saturday I was in the same position, not progressing. My contractions were really irregular and they wouldn't regulate at all. Aubree's heartbeat was also dropping on occasion and it worried me.
Saturday afternoon I was only at 3-4 cm. I didn't understand why nothing was happening. The doctors made a special request to raise the level of the pitocin to a level they don't normally use because of how I wasn't progressing.
Saturday night and still nothing... I was still at 4 cm and not going anywhere fast. At 11 pm or so they came in to talk to me about doing a c section and I agreed. We were just not getting anywhere with these contractions and it was getting to the point where my body and Aubree's just couldn't take it anymore.
At around 1 am on Sunday morning we were being wheeled into the operating room. I was freaking out but Jeremy stayed with me and that helped a lot. There was a lot of pressure and pushing on my belly but it was worth it. Aubree was born at 1:15 am on Mother's Day.
Right after she came out she was taken away and weighed and Jeremy went with her then they noticed some things weren't quite right with her so they took her to the NICU and Jeremy went with her while I was laying there getting stitched up.
Aubree ended up having a fever and needing to be on antibiotics because they thought she had an infection from being in there too long after the water had been broken. She had a lot of blood tests and was put under the lights because of her jaundice but all her tests came back great and she was released to us Tuesday afternoon.
We stayed in the hospital that Tuesday night and went home on Wednesday morning. The doctors did a great job at taking care of her and we both appreciate that.
Now Aubree is home and she is happy and healthy. We have a beautiful baby girl and although it was a very long process, we are very happy and blessed to have her. All together we were in the hospital 6 days but I'd do it all again for her. Love you Aubree
Aubree
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