My Birth Story

[Csara]

It's been two weeks since my baby was born, I figured it was time I posted my birth story.

On Wednesday, August 20, I went in for my 38 week appointment and was a good 3, almost 4 centimeters dilated. Thursday night I started getting contractions. They ranged in frequency anywhere from 5-20 minutes apart, but never stayed regular. The next day, they continued all day long. My family and friends were pressuring me to go get checked out. I kept hearing stories of women getting to the hospital and being told they were 7, 8, 9 centimeters and it freaked me out. I was definitely feeling contractions, but they weren't horribly painful at all. Everyone says you should wait until they are too hard to talk through or are 5 minutes apart for an hour. This was not the case for me.

I was getting stressed that I would go into labor in the middle of the night and we would have to worry about Jax and what to do with him. I finally decided on Friday evening, August 22, that we should go to the hospital and see what was happening. It was a gut feeling. So, we collected our bags, brought Jax to my parents' house and off we went. The outpatient entrance was empty and we were sent right up to triage. I was hooked up to the monitors and given an internal exam. I was 6 centimeters!!!! Woah - did not expect that as I was still not in any pain. My contractions were so irregular and I was not making progress. I was so afraid they were going to send me home. Turns out that I WISH they would have sent me home. The night sucked!

After a biophysical ultrasound, which my son almost failed, and several hours of being monitored and probed, they decided to admit me. They wanted to see how I'd progress over night. I asked if I could walk around and try to get things going, but I was hooked up to the monitors and an IV so they didn't want me to move. At 4:30 a.m. I had finally had enough and basically demanded that they unleash me and let me WALK!!! DH and I walked around the halls. It did nothing.

At 7 a.m., I was still 6 cm and my contractions were still irregular and not painful. I was absolutely starving having not eaten since lunch the day before, I had a horrendous headache and was very very cranky. I wanted to get the show on the road already. Finally at about 7:30 a.m., they administered pitocen. Even though I was not in pain yet, I knew that the pitocen would really kick things off so I asked for an epidural.

It was really strange to not feel any pain. My legs were extremely numb and heavy from the epi and it was very uncomfortable, but I think it was better than being in pain. It takes about an hour for the pit to start working and once it did, well, things moved QUICKLY. My water broke and I went from 6-10 centimeters in about 20 minutes. At this point, I could feel my contractions on my left side. They were extremely painful, but didn't last very long so I was ok. I couldn't believe how fast everything was happening. The doctor came in and I literally pushed through 3 or 4 contractions and my precious new son, Jett Ryan, was born at 10:40 a.m on Saturday, August 23!!! He weighed 7 lb 1 oz and was 20.4 inches long.

[tommysgirl18]

wow! that was an amazing story C!

and the picture of the two of you is so precious!

congrats again

[KeelyKay]

Aww, C! I got chills reading your birth story and seeing the picture of you two. Soooo sweet! It sounds like you had a pretty amazing birth (despite the long night of starvation). I am so happy for you, C!

[jana]

Yay!

And woohoo for being at 6cm and not even knowing it! It sounds like things went really smoothly and quickly!

That picture is so adorable!

[Deana]

awesome birth story!! Thank you for sharing. And the picture is precious

[IUgrad02]

The first few paragraphs had me saying, "OMG this is exactly like my birth story!!" (the 6cm and no pain upon arrival are exact... the fear that I would progress like mad making me go in upon a "gut instinct", etc.) However, that really stinks that they hooked you up to so many things and didn't help you out that evening. I feeel your pain on being hungry, too!! That part was exactly like me as well -- no food from lunch on. I guess the only dif is that they broke my water for me, so that progressed me. I bet you were so ticked that they wouldn't let you walk around; good for you to demand what you wanted.

Despite the ups and downs, what a gorgeous son you had on August 23rd. And WOWWWWWWW, the pushing makes me jealous.... that part of our story is DEFINITELY not the same. That's AWESOME!!!!!


Good job, Mama!!

[B'sgirl]

Wow, what a story! I've heard that pit contributes to infant jaundice, and it seemed to with B. Didn't Jett have that for a little while?

I'm so glad it went quickly, once things got going. Too bad your left side wasn't totally numb as well!

[shan]

Great birth story C!! Sorry they weren't letting you walk when you wanted too. (and they didn't feed you) Love the cute picture with you two in it!!


B'sgirl~ I never heard of that, and I was on pit for over 19 hours. K never had Jaundice

[HeavenLeigh]

I'm so happy for you, Jason, and Jax!!! What a wonderful story and an absolutely gorgeous son! Congrats again girlie, I am thrilled for you!

[Margarita]

Great story, C! I’m glad that it mostly went smoothly for you. Contractions without pain all the way up to 6 cm! That’s awesome! I love the picture, too.