Ok, remember how I said the 2WW wasn't too bad? Well I lied I guess, because now I am miserable!! I'm 10DPO...that supposedly puts me in testing "timezone" but I am trying with all my might to save any testing till atleast Friday. That's when mother nature's gift is supposed to be delivered. As far as the chart goes, it's still up so that's good news. Now instead of being so excited to go to bed so I can wake up and take my temperatures, I'm dreading it because I do not want to see it drop!! Anyways, on to other thoughts.
I love browsing the web and reading birth stories. I know I'm a birth geek. lol. So anyways, there are a lot of birthing situations that I've seen. I have only attended 2 births, my sons, obviously, and a friends. Those two births were completely different. My sister in law had a natural birth in a birthing center. Another friend had an emergency C-section and she has been scarred by that experience ever since. I know there's no way to plan for what it going to happen, lots of things can happen, but it has made me think about what kind of birth I want. First, I'll share my experience with you.
My son was "due" according to the doctors on Jan 8th. The date rolled around and then passed me by and before I knew it 9 days had passed. The doctors were seeing me every other day to check my progress and see why labor hadn't started yet, and they also did some stress tests on the baby to make sure he was ok. And he was. One morning, I was supposed to go into the doctors at 9am, but I got a phone call from one of the doctors there and she asked me to come in. Funny thing, a coworker at the jewelry store happened to be one of her nurses too, and she talked to this doctor about my overdue-ness, and she decided to bring me in. So I show up and she said she was worried he'd passed or would soon pass a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid and she suggested they induce. She said I could wait until Monday (3 days away) because my doctor was on call starting Monday. Or, she said she could do it today, since she was on call until midnight. I asked her who was on call after midnight, and she said the name of the doctor I refuse to be seen by. So, I chose to be induced, mainly because I didn't want to risk going into labor while he was on call. So, we headed over to the hospital and I got checked in, placed into a gown, and got into the bed, it was about 10am by the time I got situated..
They wanted to put a pill called Cytotec (I believe) via vaginal suppository to get my contractions going, but once they hooked me up to the monitor I was already having significant contractions, I just couldn't feel them. So they nixed the Cytotech and started me on a low dose of pitocen. It wasn't bad at all. They would come in an up the pit every hour or so, and I could feel the pressure intensifying, but it didn't hurt. I was kinda bored, and hungry, and just hung out waiting to progress. By 5pm I was only dialated to a 1. So the doctor came in a broke my water, only to find that it was green (He did pass a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid).
So after they broke my water, the contractions started to hurt a lot more. I just curled into a ball and breathed through them as they came. I was checked again around 7 and I was barely at a 3. It was taking forever! I kept asking for an epidural, but they said they'd give it to me once I hit a solid 3. So instead they gave me some Staydol to take the edge off the contractions. It worked a little, made me mostly sleepy, and wore off quickly. After it wore off they came in to give me the epidural (around 10:15ish). I don't remember much of that process, because i was curled up over a pillow trying to get through contraction after contraction. So, I got my epidural in around 10:30pm. It was heavenly...for about 30 minutes. I kept feeling this aching, stabbing pain in my pelvis and I said that the epidural wasn't working. They gave me a little more, but the pain wasn't going away. The nurse came in and checked me, and holy cow I was at 10!
My husband had gone down to the cafeteria after the epi was in because they told him it would be a few more hours. My mother in law went running down the halls looking for him, meanwhile they are bringing in all the tools for delivery, draping the floor with those blue clothes, preparing the infant's bed, I started to cry. They said I wouldn't deliver till tomorrow morning, I wasn't ready yet!! I remember just panicking. My husband rushed into the door and was by my side and I just looked at him freaked out.
The L&D Nurse got me situated to push and said, "Let's do a few practice pushes, and we'll see where we're at." So I beared down and pushed once, and she said "Oh crap, stop stop stop! He's right there, I'm gonna go get the doctor, whatever you do, do NOT push!" (Talk about freaking me out!!) So I just laid there trying not to push even though I felt like it. That was awkward. So the doctor came in a few minutes later, and told me that as soon as the baby was out, they were gonna take him over to his little bed thing, and suction him out b/c he had the green amniotic fluid in there. I nodded, and she told me to push. 3 pushes later, my baby was out and rushed over to be suctioned. After they suctioned him, I could hear him crying very strongly, and I was so happy. My husband went over to see the baby while I prepared to deliver the placenta, and it's all kinda a blurr after that point. I only tore in 2 small places, and as they let me sit up again, I remember saying to my mom, "That's it? That wasn't so bad, I could do that again!" My little boy was 7lbs 12 oz, 21 1/2 inches long and absolutely perfect.
Now comparing my birth experience to what I witnessed from my friend's delivery, I had a walk in the park. My epidural was absolutely amazing, I didn't feel much of anything except that knocking around on my pelvis. Hers wore off and she was in tons of pain. It makes me a little nervous for the next time around, because what if mine wears off? I don't know how I would handle the pain.
I do know, that a hospital birth is a must for me. All my experiences in the hospital were good ones, great care was taken of me and my loved ones. I felt very safe surrounded my hundreds of medical professionals, and I felt very safe knowing there was a pediatric staff and NICU right down the hall if my baby needed it. I felt safe knowing that If I needed a c-section, It would be available to me right down the hall. Some people are against medical intervention. I am not one of them. To me, the only thing that's important is that I have a healthy baby at the end. I'm not ripping on anyone who believes different, this is my blog and my opinion. lol. When my friend was in labor, I remember talking to one of the nurses and we were talking about home births. She said, "As many babies as I've had to resuscitate in my job, I would never have a home birth." All I know, is if something happened to my baby during a homebirth, and we couldn't make it to the hospital in time to save his/her life, I would never forgive myself. And I'm not saying things never happen at a hospital, they do, but I just feel safer with professionals at my side.
I've seen videos about hospital trama to the infants, and the doctors yanking on the baby and stuff...Well I plan to discuss that with my doctor when I choose her... tell her my fears and concerns and see how she handles it. I even think I'll have a mirror to watch what she is doing down there, and I will not hesitate to have my husband or myself, put the doctor in check. I think if I have a provider I trust, then it should be smooth sailing. Just my opinion. Everyone is entitled, and this is mine.
Anyways, sorry so long. But did you know I didn't think about TTC during this whole post?!? Yay me! lol
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