Samuel's Birth Story
LINK TO PICS: http://www.dropshots.com/CJWilkes IT ALL STARTED ON THURSDAY AND GOES THROUGH TO SUNDAY...
I will start with the stats to get them out of the way and for all those who are not interested in reading the whole story:
Samuel Adams Wilkerson - Definitely a boy! My EDD was Sept. 23, 2006 Born Sept. 1, 2006 at 5:57 AM Gestation 36W 6D Weight 7.7 LBS Height 18.5 inches On Aug. 30th I was not feeling well and tried to get comfy by taking a warm bath and getting the kids ready for bed. Finally got them all in bed and was going to get in bed. I was feeling a pressure like a balloon was going to pop and decided to go to the bathroom after sitting for a bit. I pee'd (sorry for any TMI) and was going to get up when I felt more trickle out. I wiped and tried to get up and more came. I did this like 6 times. It was very clear and odorless. Finally, I could get up. I had a feeling to go get checked so I told DH (about 3:45 am Aug. 31st) that I was going to the hospital and will call him if it is anything. He made me go sit on the toilet to see if the process would repeat itself and he came in to assess it for himself. The results were the same and he agreed that I should go in. He wanted to come with me but I did not want to wake a babysitter for a possible false alarm. I drove myself to the hospital at 4:30AM about 15-20 min from my house. My contractions had started and were about 2 minutes appart. By the time I got there I could hardly walk. I would stop and rock and breath through each contraction. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me with the acid strip. She said she could not see that it was my water... but that they would continue to monitor me. I was Just about a 3 and 60 % ephased. The contrations just got worse. They were 2-3 minutes long with a 30-45 second break in between. The doctor had me walk the halls and kept monitoring the progress. There was little to no progress even thought the contractions were steady, strong, and extremely hard. However because of the contractions and the fact that I was a VBAC he was not about to let me go home until A- my water broke or progress or B- my labor stopped. I walked the halls for about 4 hours (9am) then called DH crying and asking him to come join me because I needed his help! He found family to watch the children at home and came immediately with his mom. Just before he got there I became very Nauseated and made it back to my room from another walk around L&D shaking. I pee'd then hurridly turned and vomited in the toilet. As I was vomitting I felt lots of trickling down my legs and onto the floor. (Approx. 10:10 am) I buzzed the nurse who came and checked the fluid with the acidity paper. It immediately went Dark blue and she said " it could still be urine." I kept thinking, you are joking me right? I hopped into the bed (I was still in a triage assesment room.) DH and his mom showed up at 10:20 am We waited for the doctor to come check me again. At 11:15 am the doctor came in and checked me verifying what I already knew... that my water was indeed broken and I was at a 3 dialtion and 80% ephased. They immediately put me in my own birthing room. The doctor explained that he would like me to continue laboring without an epidural as long as I could to avoid slowing or stopping labor all together and avoid having to use pitocin. Pitocin was just an added risk to a uterine abruption. DH had to leave for a mandatory meeting in Salt Lake City (that could not be avoided) at 2pm. His mom stayed with me until he could get back. I was terrified that he would miss the baby being born but things were progressing VERY slowly and painfully. The remaining water had spilled all over the bed at noon and the nurse told me she would get to it in a while. Just before DH left I begged him to get my nurse to change the wet pad I was sitting in. She would not let me get out of bed and had not bothered to even check in on us. Nathan changed the bedding with me still there then left. While he was gone the same nurse came in and told me I was going to have a C-sec. and that my doctor had left to another hospital to deliver another baby. She did not come in to change my pad (I leaked continually until baby was born... large amounts of Amionic fluid because it kept rebuilding itself.) I finally told the other nurses that my nurse was not welcome in my room anymore and spoke to my doctor about her statement. She was just trying to scare me into a Csec so I did not have to be a burden to her any longer. 5:30 pm DH returned and I was still a 3 and 80% ephased. I asked the doctor if I was allowed to move around because the nurse had told me no and he said I could walk around in the room but stay hooked up to my monitors which were vaginal monitors on baby and my uterus. The outer monitors had a hard time picking up any contractions. My MIL went home and DH walked, rocked, held me through my many contractions. I was checked at 8pm and was now at 85% ephased. Very little progress but it was progress. I lasted a few more contractions and then begged for an epidural that I got at 9pm after 17 hours of hard laboring. They were supposed to give me the minimal amount, but apparently the anesthesiologists minimal amount was not that minimal. My arms and chest went numb too. My contractions stopped all together. I asked for him to turn it down and he cut it in half. It was still too strong and I could not feel my arms so he cut it in half again. Finally it was helping remove the edge without being too strong. However it would fade off very easilly making me feel the contractions on my right side and crotch area. He kept having to be called in to add bullises that would last for an hour more. We found out that my contractions would pick up everytime the epi wore off so I would stretch out the time of getting more meds. In those times I would start progressing. At 10 pm I was at a 5 and 95% ephased! The doctor felt now that we would probably have the baby before midnight. DH and I were not so optimistic. Sure enough midnight came and went, but the doctor did give me some pitocin... at a 1 then moved it to 2. VERY LOW dosages of the watered down Pit. I was very nauseated the moment I got the epi to the time it stopped working. I would just vomit and vomit and DH would hold the small buckets for me then wash them out and run back before it would happen again. Then he would scratch me all over sinced I itched like CRAZY due to the narcotic they used in the epi. It was aweful! At 5am Sept. 1st, 2006 my epi wore off completely. The nurse came in at 5:30am and checked me. I was 9+ with nothing but an anterior lip. I told her I felt pressure and that I felt the baby was desending and coming very soon. The room began to buzz and the doctor came in. DH woke up and started video'ing the process. Sure enough... 5 pushes and me feeling the entire thing with no epidural working at all! Samuel entered this world. I did not tear or have an episiotomy. However I sure told them all that I did not like feeling all that pain! My words were: I can feel this and it sucks! Then on to my moaning and panting. LOL They put Samuel on my belly and he was very purple so I asked them to take him. I was so worried. He had swallowed alot of the fluid and blood. They got him breathing and screaming good. I just thought of how beautiful this little boy was and even though it hurt like hell... I would do it all over again for him! I did get some relief from the epidural that I was grateful for in the 25 hours of laboring... but I truly think it did more harm than help this time around. All in all it ended up not working during the time I needed it most and I basically experienced and all natural birth. (OUCH!!!) The + side was that I did not tear... just one skidmark (paper cut) and I did find that my recovery has been so much easier this time around. I am truly amazed by it all and am more in awe of the girls that have and do go naturally by choice. I almost wish I was strong enough to say if I have another baby I would go natural, but it hurts soooooooooo much and I do like having a bit of a break from the pain. Anyway, that is my story. I will have to update with pictures later since I am not home and can't figure it out now. Thank you for reading if you made it through.
I will start with the stats to get them out of the way and for all those who are not interested in reading the whole story:
Samuel Adams Wilkerson - Definitely a boy! My EDD was Sept. 23, 2006 Born Sept. 1, 2006 at 5:57 AM Gestation 36W 6D Weight 7.7 LBS Height 18.5 inches On Aug. 30th I was not feeling well and tried to get comfy by taking a warm bath and getting the kids ready for bed. Finally got them all in bed and was going to get in bed. I was feeling a pressure like a balloon was going to pop and decided to go to the bathroom after sitting for a bit. I pee'd (sorry for any TMI) and was going to get up when I felt more trickle out. I wiped and tried to get up and more came. I did this like 6 times. It was very clear and odorless. Finally, I could get up. I had a feeling to go get checked so I told DH (about 3:45 am Aug. 31st) that I was going to the hospital and will call him if it is anything. He made me go sit on the toilet to see if the process would repeat itself and he came in to assess it for himself. The results were the same and he agreed that I should go in. He wanted to come with me but I did not want to wake a babysitter for a possible false alarm. I drove myself to the hospital at 4:30AM about 15-20 min from my house. My contractions had started and were about 2 minutes appart. By the time I got there I could hardly walk. I would stop and rock and breath through each contraction. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me with the acid strip. She said she could not see that it was my water... but that they would continue to monitor me. I was Just about a 3 and 60 % ephased. The contrations just got worse. They were 2-3 minutes long with a 30-45 second break in between. The doctor had me walk the halls and kept monitoring the progress. There was little to no progress even thought the contractions were steady, strong, and extremely hard. However because of the contractions and the fact that I was a VBAC he was not about to let me go home until A- my water broke or progress or B- my labor stopped. I walked the halls for about 4 hours (9am) then called DH crying and asking him to come join me because I needed his help! He found family to watch the children at home and came immediately with his mom. Just before he got there I became very Nauseated and made it back to my room from another walk around L&D shaking. I pee'd then hurridly turned and vomited in the toilet. As I was vomitting I felt lots of trickling down my legs and onto the floor. (Approx. 10:10 am) I buzzed the nurse who came and checked the fluid with the acidity paper. It immediately went Dark blue and she said " it could still be urine." I kept thinking, you are joking me right? I hopped into the bed (I was still in a triage assesment room.) DH and his mom showed up at 10:20 am We waited for the doctor to come check me again. At 11:15 am the doctor came in and checked me verifying what I already knew... that my water was indeed broken and I was at a 3 dialtion and 80% ephased. They immediately put me in my own birthing room. The doctor explained that he would like me to continue laboring without an epidural as long as I could to avoid slowing or stopping labor all together and avoid having to use pitocin. Pitocin was just an added risk to a uterine abruption. DH had to leave for a mandatory meeting in Salt Lake City (that could not be avoided) at 2pm. His mom stayed with me until he could get back. I was terrified that he would miss the baby being born but things were progressing VERY slowly and painfully. The remaining water had spilled all over the bed at noon and the nurse told me she would get to it in a while. Just before DH left I begged him to get my nurse to change the wet pad I was sitting in. She would not let me get out of bed and had not bothered to even check in on us. Nathan changed the bedding with me still there then left. While he was gone the same nurse came in and told me I was going to have a C-sec. and that my doctor had left to another hospital to deliver another baby. She did not come in to change my pad (I leaked continually until baby was born... large amounts of Amionic fluid because it kept rebuilding itself.) I finally told the other nurses that my nurse was not welcome in my room anymore and spoke to my doctor about her statement. She was just trying to scare me into a Csec so I did not have to be a burden to her any longer. 5:30 pm DH returned and I was still a 3 and 80% ephased. I asked the doctor if I was allowed to move around because the nurse had told me no and he said I could walk around in the room but stay hooked up to my monitors which were vaginal monitors on baby and my uterus. The outer monitors had a hard time picking up any contractions. My MIL went home and DH walked, rocked, held me through my many contractions. I was checked at 8pm and was now at 85% ephased. Very little progress but it was progress. I lasted a few more contractions and then begged for an epidural that I got at 9pm after 17 hours of hard laboring. They were supposed to give me the minimal amount, but apparently the anesthesiologists minimal amount was not that minimal. My arms and chest went numb too. My contractions stopped all together. I asked for him to turn it down and he cut it in half. It was still too strong and I could not feel my arms so he cut it in half again. Finally it was helping remove the edge without being too strong. However it would fade off very easilly making me feel the contractions on my right side and crotch area. He kept having to be called in to add bullises that would last for an hour more. We found out that my contractions would pick up everytime the epi wore off so I would stretch out the time of getting more meds. In those times I would start progressing. At 10 pm I was at a 5 and 95% ephased! The doctor felt now that we would probably have the baby before midnight. DH and I were not so optimistic. Sure enough midnight came and went, but the doctor did give me some pitocin... at a 1 then moved it to 2. VERY LOW dosages of the watered down Pit. I was very nauseated the moment I got the epi to the time it stopped working. I would just vomit and vomit and DH would hold the small buckets for me then wash them out and run back before it would happen again. Then he would scratch me all over sinced I itched like CRAZY due to the narcotic they used in the epi. It was aweful! At 5am Sept. 1st, 2006 my epi wore off completely. The nurse came in at 5:30am and checked me. I was 9+ with nothing but an anterior lip. I told her I felt pressure and that I felt the baby was desending and coming very soon. The room began to buzz and the doctor came in. DH woke up and started video'ing the process. Sure enough... 5 pushes and me feeling the entire thing with no epidural working at all! Samuel entered this world. I did not tear or have an episiotomy. However I sure told them all that I did not like feeling all that pain! My words were: I can feel this and it sucks! Then on to my moaning and panting. LOL They put Samuel on my belly and he was very purple so I asked them to take him. I was so worried. He had swallowed alot of the fluid and blood. They got him breathing and screaming good. I just thought of how beautiful this little boy was and even though it hurt like hell... I would do it all over again for him! I did get some relief from the epidural that I was grateful for in the 25 hours of laboring... but I truly think it did more harm than help this time around. All in all it ended up not working during the time I needed it most and I basically experienced and all natural birth. (OUCH!!!) The + side was that I did not tear... just one skidmark (paper cut) and I did find that my recovery has been so much easier this time around. I am truly amazed by it all and am more in awe of the girls that have and do go naturally by choice. I almost wish I was strong enough to say if I have another baby I would go natural, but it hurts soooooooooo much and I do like having a bit of a break from the pain. Anyway, that is my story. I will have to update with pictures later since I am not home and can't figure it out now. Thank you for reading if you made it through.
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