Ask The Pros
Pregnancy Photos
Pregnancy Calendar
Birth Plans
Birth Stories
Bookstore
Boy or Girl
Cesareans
Chat Room
Complications
Doulas
Educators
Episiotomy
FAQs
Feeding Baby
Fertility
Finding a Class
Health
Interactive
Labor
Message Board
Monitoring
Newborns
Newsletter
Postcards
Postpartum
Pregnancy
Reviews/Awards
Search
VBAC
Week by Week
Who We Are

Weston's Birth

I became pregnant with my first and only child after 2 years of trying. I underwent numerous tests and procedures and spent hundreds of dollars. I took the fertiliy drug Clomid for about 10 months, then had to have 8 shots of the fertility drug Metrodin, followed by H.C.G. and it finally worked!!(To make a very long story short) It was truly a MIRACLE. I look at my baby and think WHAT A MIRACLE!!

When I was seven weeks pregnant, I started to bleed a little, so I went to see Doctor Smith(One of four in the practice, but I mostly saw him as he was my regular doctor) He did the first ultrasound and that was the first time I saw my baby's heart beat. It was really amazing. I was terrified throughout my entire pregnacy that something would go wrong. I wanted this baby more than anything else in life. Everything progressed well, except for the two weeks in a row that I gained 10 pounds each week. I was extremely swollen but my blood pressure was o.k., as was my urine so everyone thought I was just eating too much, as I am a rather large woman anyways.( However, I didn't gain an ounce until I was in my 6th month)

My due date was June 4th, which had to be very accurate because of the shots, and the timed intercource, etc. Around May 1st, I tripped off of the sidewalk at my husband's place of employment, and landed flat on my stomach. I cried and cried as I was so scared that I had hurt the baby. I was put on a fetal monitor for 3 hours, and then the doctor came and checked me and Thank Goodness everything was o.k.

On May 21st (Wed), the Doctor put me off work due to the fact that I was extremely swollen and some nitrates were detected in my urine. They suspected toxemia, which would explain the 20 pound weight gain in the last 2 weeks. I had to get a container from the hospital and collect urine for 24 hours. I had a blood test on the 22nd(Thurs) and turned in my urine. I was supposed to go the doctor's office on the 23rd(Fri.) at 4pm to get the results. I went in to work for 1/2 day to wrap things up and then my husband picked me up and we went home.

At about 7:30 p.m. that night Thursday the 22nd I started to have regular spasms in my back. I thought it might be labor but I didn't expect it to be in my back so I wasn't sure. By 11:30 the spasms/contractions were coming every 3 minutes and were about 1 to 2 minutes apart, and extremely painful, I thought. We called the doctor, and went to the hospital. I was 2cm dialated. I am not sure of all the technical terms etc, as I was pretty out of it. I started to shake pretty bad after a few hours of being there. I was put on a blood pressure monitor and couldn't get out of bed. This was really awful, to have to lay on my back when I was having back labor I didn't dialate past 2 cm the whole night. At about 7:00 a.m. on Friday the 23rd another Doctor came in. He was furious! My blood pressure was high. I am not really sure about the order of everything that happened next but I think I was at 4 cm and they gave me Stadol as I requested and it helped me rest for a little bit at a time. The doctor gave me Magnesium Sulfate to help lower my blood pressure, then it went too low, and I got pictocin to move the labor along and that increased my blood pressure(or it may of been the other way around, I am not sure)They couln't get my blood pressure regulated. The baby was never in any danger but I was in pretty bad shape. I could not dialate past 5 cm and my blood pressure was getting bad. At 10:00 a.m. on Friday the 23rd I finally got the Epideral I had requested at 7:00 a.m. Everyone tried to talk me out of it, but I was adamant. It was hard to be still in between contractions and the shaking, and really scary. After that took effect, I just slept a lot. (My husband on the other hand had not slept for almost 36 hours. He was really beat. I didn't have any sympathy for him though because he didn't always get to me fast enough to rub my back during contractions, because he was playing with the gameboy.)

At about 4 p.m. They decided to do a C-Section as I wouldn't dilate past 5cm and my blood pressure would not go any lower. It was fine with me, I just wanted my baby. Thank Goodness I had already had the Epideral, I could stay awake, and my husband could be there. I got sick on the stuff they give you to "settle your stomach" and after they increased the Epideral I felt as if I couldn't breath which panicked me but after a while it was o.k. When my son was"born" I saw him in a blur and heard him cry so I was happy he was o.k. I held him the the recovery room for a few minutes but shook so badly I didn't get to spend much time with him. I was in the recovery room for 26 hours where most of the time I just came in and out of conciousness and slept a lot. My husband spent all that time in my room with the baby. I was moved to my own room about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Weston never did nurse as I had planned. The nurses said he was the laziest baby they had ever seen. Whether that was from being away from me so long, who knows. I felt like a failure for a long time(because I couldn't get him to breast feed.) but got over it after a while. Now he is almost a year old and I have almost forgotten labor and everything else. I am ready to try for another one, but we don't have the money to go through all the drugs, etc. I have read stories about women who were mad because they had to have a C-Section. It was fine with me. I recovered within 3 or 4 days, and am just really happy that I have my son. I would do it all again in a minute, from trying to conceive to the entire labor.

Julie