Birth: Putting Things Into Perspective

Becky's Story of a Hospital Induced Birth

I was due on Monday, October 26th, 2009. I had an appointment that morning for my weekly check. I went in and I was 90% effaced and barely dilated to a 1. My doctor gave me the choice of being induced Wednesday night or Sunday night. With Saturday being Halloween and not wanting a baby to have to share a birthday with a big holiday, I decided to go for Wednesday.

I was already on leave, so I made sure to finish everything up. On Wednesday we had to be at the hospital at 7, so we went out to Lazlo’s and I ate a huge meal! We got checked in and started the Cytotec. I walked around and rested uncomfortably.

I had an amazing nurse who understood my fear of needles; she was so nice they drew my blood from my IV line. My second dose of Cytotec couldn’t happen because contractions were too close together and too strong, so they held off. My doctor came in early morning and broke my water and started me on my pitocin. This is where I made my big mistake-instead of walking more and letting the pitocin do its job, I freaked about the epidural (I knew I wanted one, but was terrified of it) and wanted my amazing nurse to walk me through it.)

The morning went well, I progressed slowly but surely until about 2:00 and I just stopped. I was about 5 ½ inches for 3 ½ hours. The problem was that I’m extremely short waisted and the baby was 21 ¾ inches long. She had nowhere to go but sideways. My new nurse Lois massaged my stomach and had me moving into different positions every 15-30 minutes.

When we finally got her into the birth canal, I literally had to push and hold her there for over an hour. It was really hard from about 3:00 to 7:00 (24 hours later!) My epidural had started to wear off and I was exhausted. At about 7:30 they checked me again and I was finally at 9-½ cm. So they got me ready to start pushing.

I pushed and pushed and pushed. They used every trick in the book. They got the papers ready for me to have a C-Section. I pushed through it. I was NOT going to have a C-Section. I pushed with everything I had! At about 10:00, they gave me the mirror and I could see the hair. They told me to stop pushing and by God, I needed to push. The flurry of activity was amazing! When it was all ready, I pushed a few more times and she was out. Kinzie Lynn Ditmer was born on October 29th, 2009 at 10:21 pm.

I was bawling as they laid her on my chest. Nick got to cut her umbilical cord and we bonded together as a family. After meeting her grandparents, breast-feeding, a first bath and settling into our post-partum room, I finally got to sleep after almost 48 hours of being awake with a few short catnaps throughout labor.

I didn’t think I would have been in labor that long; almost 28 hours, thought I would go into labor on my own and wouldn’t have needed pitocin for so long.

My hopes for my next labor and delivery would be to go into labor on my own, walk more to shorten labor and wait a little longer for epidural. I know none of that may happen, but as long as I have a safe delivery I will be happy.

**Please let me know if you would like to share your birth experience and be apart of my blog series, "Birth: Putting Things Into Perspective" Feel free to contact me via email at 3menandalady06@gmail.com. This will not only give someone the opportunity to have a voice, but to educate someone on their options as a woman and mother.**

Birth: Putting Things Into Perspective

You Need to Expect the Unexpected

by Shelly

My daughter's birth was a hospital/pitocin/epidural affair. The hospital part was planned. The rest was not. While not dead set on a natural delivery (I'm no hero) I wanted to try to make it without medication as long as possible. I didn't want an induction. Probably mostly because I wasn't uncomfortable. I was a week overdue, but didn't have that "get this over with" feeling. I didn't have any health issues, and bean seemed fine. I did have a partial previa, which I had known about since roughly week 20 or so. For this reason, I had regular ultrasounds, had seen the "high risk" doc, and I knew that a C section could be a possibility. Fortunately, by my due date, it looked like the placenta was just far enough away from the cervix for me to attempt a vaginal delivery. I was scheduled for a non stress test the morning after my water broke. It was greenish black, which meant bean was swimming in meconium. We went straight to the hospital, and I was put on pitocin to speed things up. I would have protested, but because of the meconium and the risk of bean aspirating it, it seemed best.

Well, pitocin sucks. It was not on my "birth plan" at all. In addition to this, I had a tube shoved up there to help circulate water so that it didn't get too low. I was scared to death of getting an epidural, but I did get one. I just could not take the contractions after about 6 hours or so. It pretty much only worked on side, and hurt like a mofo going in. My right lower half was completely numb and dead to the world. The left was perfectly functional and I could feel just about everything. It may have taken the edge off somewhat, but I could still feel it. 12 hours after leaving for the hospital, bean was born. The actual delivery was not at all what I expected. It was actually the least scary and painful part. And it was exhilarating and wonderful. For about 10 minutes.

After the birth, I started to hemorrhage. I don't remember what all happened, what meds I was given, or anything much at all really. I know that my placenta ruptured. I don't know if it had anything at all to do with the previa. I don't know if it could have been prevented. I honestly think it was a random thing. That's what I'm going with, anyway. I sure don't want to think about repeating it if we have any more children.

All in all, things may not have gone exactly as I "planned", but I was able to allow bean to come in her own time (sort of), and I did get to deliver her vaginally. And if it had not been for the loss of blood and being pretty much robbed of those first couple of days with bean (not to mention that it took MONTHS to start to feel human and get my energy back) I would say that I had very few complaints about her birth. I would choose a hospital birth again, I would choose pitocin again (if it was in the best interest of the baby, but not for convenience or scheduling reasons) and I would not feel bad about choosing an epidural again. In the end, I had to abandon my plans and expectations and make the best decisions I could at the time. And I have a happy, healthy, curious 14 month old to show for it.

Here is a previously posted birth story, with a few more details ~ The Screaming Tomato: Birth Story

**Please let me know if you would like to share your birth experience and be apart of my blog series, "Birth: Putting Things Into Perspective" Feel free to contact me via email at 3menandalady06@gmail.com. This will not only give someone the opportunity to have a voice, but to educate someone on their options as a woman and mother.**