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Megan's Birth

I promised myself that I would post my birth story here, so here it is! I gained so much knowledge reading the birth stories about what to expect. Sorry it's so long!

I was due on 6/17 and they induced on 6/26 Her name is Megan Rose and she was 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/4in.

We checked into the hospital at 7:00 am, with nothing to eat or drink since midnight. They put us in one of the OB triage rooms (everyone who comes in to L & D goes through there) They checked me and I was still 2 cm and 50% and at -3 station. The same as I had been for the last 3 weeks. I had tried everything from castor oil to nipple stimulation to eating Chinese and Mexican food. Nothing worked and I was 9 days overdue and the baby wasn't doing the greatest. At my non-stress test, they said that she was responding okay, but not the way they would like. That was at 41 weeks. The rest of the pregnancy was very uneventful, save a lot of swelling! The doctors were all extremely nice and explained to me step by step and they kept saying "We will put you on the pitocin for eight hours and if it doesn't take, then we send you home and try again tomorrow." Well, that was pretty encouraging! (not!) So finally, we got into a labor room and they hooked me up to my I.Vs by 8:30 am. We asked about the birthing center (referred to as 'the good room'!!) and it was full. My nurse was absoluteley WONDERFUL!!! When a room in the Birthing Center became available, I passed it up so that I could keep Mary as a nurse. Turned out better that I wasn't so far away from everything (the center is in a different wing down a few halls.) Well, I was on the pitocin for about 4 hours before I felt anything. During this time, Jeff and I were talking and laughing. They kept coming in and turning up the pitocin every 15 minutes. At one point, I thought my water had broken and I was trying to clean myself down there while waiting for the nurse. Jeff was standing there handing me tissues and a doctor walked in. We started laughing SO hard. Don't ask me why! Well, they tested it and it wasn't amniotic fluid, it was gel from the exam earlier. Or so they said. The doc said, "She sure doesn't act like she is in labor!" Not long after that, I hit the most intense warm pain in my lower back and down low like horrible cramps. This went on for about 45 minutes and I was yelling pretty loud (could ya'll hear me?). During this time, Jeff and his sisters were helping me immensely. Jeff was rubbing my back and one sister (Suzy) was fanning me with a magazine and the other sister (Roxy, they are twins) was telling him when a contraction was coming on. I was trying to breathe through them and failed miserably. They were horrible, one right on top of each other, and they hit me like a brick wall. The doc came and checked me. Still 2 and 50%. :-( So my wonderful nurse gave me Nubain. It really helped me to relax. I was out of it, but I could handle the pain a little better. I went from "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH" to "MMMMMMMMMM". After what seemed about 30 minutes, but was actually 2 hours, I started hurting again real bad and they came to check me for an epidural. During this 2 hours, Jeff's sisters had left and it was just him and the poor thing rubbed my lower back the WHOLE time. My dad and stepmom showed up about then and Jeff said, "Guess who's here? You dad and Janet." He seemed happy about it and I cried to him, "Don't let them see me like this!!!!!" They walked in, took one look at me and walked out. The nurse told them to leave and come back in 10 minutes and I would be fine. The doctor said I was finally 4 cm!! There was no turning back!! They came with the epidural, which was a breeze! I leaned against Jeff for support and everything was great after that. My dad and stepmom came back and I talked to them like I didn't have a care in the world. The doctor came back after an hour to break my water and check my cervix again.

I was at 5 cm. Here's where the problems started. :-( They said that the could not find a bag of waters. Which could be really bad since I thought that I was leaking earlier in the week (at my non-stress test, I had been having a lot of discharge and she said, "Wow, it sure looks fluidy." But it wasn't amniotic fluid when they tested it. So they attached an internal monitor and gave me antibiotics. Immediately I was feeling intense pain inside (like my cervix). This went on for about 30 minutes when I started to feel like I had to poop. (Every laboring woman's worst fear!!) I kept telling my nurse "I have to poop, help me." I told her this for a few minutes and it kept getting worse and worse. She told me "That's okay, it's just the baby moving down" Then I had to push really bad and I started yelling at her that I had to push. She told Jeff "Okay...I gave the doctor 10 minutes, that's long enough" and she went to track him down. Finally he came and checked and I was at 9+ but I couldn't push yet because there was still a lip. I had dialated from 5cm to 9+cm in about 45 minutes! Then I it a quick transistion. I kept telling Jeff, "I can't do this. Let's go home Jeff, we can't have a baby now, I just can't take care of her." And the thing is, I truly thought that I meant it, that I couldn't handle a baby. But I now know that it just wasn't true!

It was so hard not to push...the most difficult thing yet! In the mean time, the baby's heartrate was going down during contractions (which is normal) but wasn't coming back up. They literally flipped me onto my side and told me to push. Still wasn't coming back up. So the doc said, "We need to get this baby out!" I thought that meant c-section. Then he said he was going to use forceps. They wheeled me very quickly into a delivery room (past my ENTIRE family in the hall....I can't imagine what went through their mind!) On the way out I was crying and I told Roxy very disappointed that they had to use the forceps. Everyone was there, grandparents, parents, siblings. My brother's girlfriend was taping the birth.

They prepped everything and started to put in the forceps (which were about 3 feet long each with like an ice cream spade on the end, I had always thought they looked like salad tongs! Boy was I wrong!!) that they assembled inside me while I was screaming bloody murder! (And I found out later that they didn't give me a normal epidural dose..It was a lot less) He brought the baby down with the forceps and then I could feel her head in my pelvis....lots of pressure and I pushed her out in about 10 pushes. She came out blue and not moving...she had to be resucitated and we didn't hear her cry for about 2 minutes. It was horrible not knowing what was going on, helpless on the table. I had an episiotomy (2nd degree) in which the doctor turned to the nurse and says "Get me some scissors that actually cut." It was a little sore, but fine and I got a few hemorrhoids that weren't too bad, and are gone now. And the problem with Megan was that the whole cord was wrapped around her body...they cut it while she was still inside me. They took her away for a few hours (after we kissed her cheek) and everything was fine....she got some oxygen and some fluids and she was great!! We were really scared it was an infection but were relieved when it was only the cord. Her APGARs were 4 and 8. And she is great now!! I am breastfeeding, and she is a pro. Latched on the very first time and never had any problems with it. My milk came in on the second day. She really is a dream...never even cries. I really hated that there were so many medical interventions, and I had a birth plan and everything. I studied a lot on how to have a 'natural' birth, but with being induced and all the subsequent complications, a lot of it couldn't be avoided, so we'll shoot for next time, with a midwife. I am sorry that this is so long (I warned you guys though!) but even though there were problems, I would do it again in a second!! Megan is now 2 months and weighs 13lbs 5oz. and is 24 1/2 inches long. Growing like a weed!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!!
~Wendy and Megan!!
For a look at the little Megan, click here: Megan's Page