Giving birth stories....

[Disneyland1084]

what was your experience like? Men, you can tell us the experiences you've had in the delivery rooms too!! I had a baby three and a half months ago. My whole pregnancy was great!!! I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl on April 28th. She was four days past her due date, so my doctor had to induce me. I went into labor at 8 and had her at 11:04. I did it all naturally with NO medication at all. It was tough, but I'd do it again. Although the nurses were nice, they were short on staff that day. Every time a contraction came on I was pushing uncontrollably. The nurse kept telling me not to. I was really confused and wondered WHY since the pushing helped ease my pain. Thank goodness I had my husband, mom and sister with me. My contractions kept getting closer and closer together. They waited too long to call my doctor, so they had to grab one in the hall to deliver my baby. He did a great job, but right before he came in my baby's head started to come out, but my nurse shut my legs. That pissed me off, but I didn't say anything. Overall my stay there was nice, except for the delivery part. So people, tell me your stories.

 

[JadenLayne]

Mine was horrible! I got sick after I was Pregnant 2 weeks. I stayed sick my whole pregnancy. To the point I couldn't even hold water down. I ended up with an I.V. and then all I could do was suck on lemons (horrible huh...LOL). So finally I go into labor. The Drs. think that I shouldn't be hurting as bad as I was for only being dialated 2 cen. So they decide to let me wait......so I'm screaming with pain and after 16 hours of intense pain and only being dialated 4 cen. they decide to do an x-ray. Babies head is hitting my bone. So emergency c-section, cut long ways and my baby boy is born, with a dent in his head, the cord wrapped around his neck and in a knot because of the distress he was in during labor. Thankfully, almost 15 years later and hes a normal healthy teenager.........We finally decided we wanted another baby..........we're adopting, LOL!

 

[Aidensmom]

I did not get it when they told me to stop pushing either. The child was already insisting on making me go into labor early, did they think they could stop him from wanting out?

My son was premature, with about every problem you could think of added on (upside down, backwards, cord around his neck, needed suction, and was in distress). It was actually for me a pretty scary experience, though I didn't really realize the full scariness of the situation until after he was born, as I was too busy concentrating on the labor. I did have an epidural, and don't feel one bit guilty about it. It gave me one less thing to worry about.

 

[mantysk8coach]

Well, I wish I could say my induction went as smoothly! Like you, I had a great pregnancy, felt great the whole time. I gained more weight than I should have, and am still paying for it two years later!

I was also overdue, so they decided to induce me. First try was the Tuesday after Memorial Day (this was 2004). Nothing happened all day. So I got sent home. We came back the following Friday at 6 a.m. to start Pitocin again. Nothing happened all day again. Finally at about 7 p.m. my doctor decided to break my water to see if that would help. Well, did it ever! The contractions immediately started coming on strong, and I soon dialated to about 8 cm. They gave me an epidural about 11 p.m. which helped me get some much needed sleep. Around 2 a.m. I was awakened by the nurse who was trying to find the heartbeat on the fetal monitor. The stress of labor was finally taking it's toll on the baby, so at 3 a.m. she was delivered by emergency C-Section. Everything happened so fast, it was all a blur. All I really remember is shaking sooooo bad after she was delivered. I wasn't cold...I'm not sure what caused the shaking. She was fine though, a healthy 8 lbs. 5 oz.

It turns out that I have a contracted pelvis (even though I am 5'11" and what I consider to be "big boned" ), and will most likely have to have any future children by C-section also.

I love hearing birth stories! This will be an interesting thread!

 

[Cool-Beans]

14 hours the first time, 11 hours the second time. Both times I threw up the entire time and it hurt like hell until the epidural.

The first time I was like one of those women on TV. Everyone is yelling (literally) for me to push, but I was too whipped. I couldn't even say, "No, I'm too tired." I wanted SO BADLY to do what I was supposed to and felt like a bad mom already! Think I missed two pushing opportunities. Whatever. He came out.

I will never tell anyone the evil thoughts I had about DH while I was coming off the contractions. He was extraordinarily nice after the first birth, though. For about 3 months, I could do no wrong.

 

[mommy*RN]

I LOVE being pregnant. With DS I had the easiest pg ever! I went about 1 week past my due date and my doc wanted to do a complete induction. I went in on a Monday night (July 1) to have them insert Cervidil. I had to stay overnight. Around 6am they started me on pictocin. I labored for about 27 hrs (after 15-ish I insisted on the epidural) and progressed to a 4. My doc broke my water in the early morning hours of July 3. I stayed at 4. I opted for a c-section. It went okay except I wasn't completely numb so I could feel a retractor piercing my skin in my lower left area. I started freaking out and they were very close to knocking me out...but then they delivered my 9lb 2oz DS.

My pg with DD was easy too! The only difference was I really wanted to go into labor on my own. My doc gave me until my due date or she would do another c-section. I tried EVERYTHING to go into labor and it didn't happen. So I had a planned c-section, which was sooooooo much better than the one I had with DS. My biggest complaint was I freaked out in the OR because they wouldn't allow DH in until the spinal and epidural were placed. I'm sitting on the table BAWLING saying - "He's a paramedic! He won't care if you have a 3ft needle sticking out of my back! He was at the Sheraton shooting and didn't pass out and there were dead people!" They didn't cave! My DD didn't want to come out. The minute the incision was made she shot up by my stomach. At one point I had my OB, a resident and a surgical tech laying on my chest trying to push her down. I thought I was going to vomit from the pressure! My doc did a forceps delivery and DD came out...BLUE! They had to stimulate her to breathe so she went off to the NICU for a few hours of observation. She is fine now and I am hoping to get pg with #3 in December or January (God and DH willing!)

This is a fun post! I've always loved hearing everyone's different birthing stories! Thanks OP!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well they tell me I broke the length of stay record in a labor and delivery room having my twins (7.4 and 7.10) - I actually slept there for 5 nights attempting induction and it wasn't pretty, LOL. Babies were finally taken by CSection. One of the placentas was an accreta (but they didn't know it at the time because the two placentas had fused into one huge one) and I hemorrhaged badly, losing half the blood in my body in the course of an hour or so. I thought I was a goner that day. But luckily I recovered, took my babies home after 10 nights in the hospital, blood transfusions and apparently an angel on my shoulder. I'm so glad I don't ever have to do that again!

 

[bettyann29]

Ive had 3 children..

My first was the worst Id say.. I was in labor 19 hours..

I almost didnt make it to the hospital for my second.. I didnt know I was in labor.. I hardly felt a thing.. I didnt make it to the hospital in time for any medication at all so he was completly natural childbirth.. about 10 minutes after getting to the hospital he was coming out..

My third and last was induced because the dr was afraid Id have her before I made it to the hospital since that almost happened on my second.. so no problems with her..

 

[lookingforward]

I had my first by c-section following a failed induction (1990). Then , for my second, I had a v-back in 1993. 46 hours of labor and three epidurals in a military hospital in Japan! It was a bit traumatic though when my son was born and had two apneas where he turned slightly bluish. He did not have to be revived, just stimulated. Seems he was so tired he forgot to breathe. They moved him to ICU to watch him and forced a bottle on him so he never took to breastfeeding like my other kids. Then, to make matters even more traumatic, one of my fellow officers wives told everyone that my son was deprived of oxygen because I refused a c-section and would have lifelong problems. Totally untrue but she got everyone upset with her "news". She was a hateful person. My son is an accomplished theater student, good test scores, good grades. I only wish I knew where that horrible women was these days.

Finally, another c-section after 36 hours of labor at a small community hospital in NC. Not the best experience there but another great child, my only daughter.

Great thread!

 

[chobie]

4 days inducing with the first one. Was in horrible pain but only dialated to 1 cm after 4 days! Finally on the 5th day they did a c-section and I was so happy to finally have my dd and for the ordeal to be over. I so wanted a planmed c-section for my son but my HMO insisted on a "trial of labor" even though I had a constricted pelvis. My Male doctor told me I would "feel more like a woman" if I had a v-bac. When I went overdue with the second one they finally did just do a c-section w/o labor and he weighed 10 lbs.

 

[texasthree]

I was 12 days past my due date. Most normal doctors would have induced me long before 14 days but not my lunatic. My sister had come into town and stayed for 2 weeks and had to leave before I even delivered. Then comes the fun delivery.

On day 11 my blood pressure was high so they decided to insert cervadil overnight and induce in the morning. Cervadil is suppose to produce mild contractions at best, it sent me straight into labor. They had to remove it after 3 hours. I labored during the night while my husband slept in the recliner and I didnt complain, ask for anything, just breathed. About 3am I couldnt take it anymore, I threw a tennis ball(he brought them to rub my back) at the hubby and called in the nurse. They proceeded to tell me I wasnt ready to deliver then finally checked and realized I had dialated to 6. My husband called my mother and grandmother back to the hosplital at 5am, they got ready and made it back to the hosplital in 15 minutes. They even had to go past security since I delivered on base but they werent going to miss a thing!

I actually think I had an easy labor/delivery. I gave birth at a small military hosplital so things werent exactly top notch. There was no anastesiologist(sp?) just an oncall one from another hosplital. I had an intrathecal(again sp?) its like an epidural but you still have feeling in your legs. I thought it was great and would get it again if possible.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Oh boy, what was pregnancy and delivery like for me? Lot's of fun from day one! I developed asthma during my pregnancy and was in and out of the hospital the first four months, then felt pretty well. The kid was three and a half weeks overdue and still didn't want to come. I had 24 hours of hard induced labor, then a C-section. I was given a general but woke up enough during the surgery to feel them cutting and taking the baby but not enough to tell them it HURT. I couldn't move at all and was terrified beyond words. After the surgery, for pain the nurse gave me ONE extra strength tylonol after my surgery. I wanted to kick her. I mean, c'mon! They gave me percacet after my carpal tunnel surgery and I didn't need anything for that! I couldn't breastfeed because my nipples were inverted but it took days for anybody to figure that out! Meanwhile I was paniced because my kid needed to eat! Eeek! My C-section incision came open and got infected several weeks later (what a mess). Several years later I got myself a triple incisional hernia where the scar tissue came open (another mess). Had that repaired and guess what? It opened up again and I have to get it repaired yet again! Needless to say, my daughter is an only child! I don't regret it but I sure as heck wouldn't volunteer for it again! Fortunately, I have a daughter who has been incredibly easy to raise. There's only a bit of teenage snarkiness. Other than that, she is a good, compassionate, healthy girl who gets in no trouble and makes me very proud! I have never heard a bad thing said about her. And by God, she owes that to me after what I went through to bring her precious little butt into this world!

 

[momrek06]

It was 1982...DS was due Memorial Day Weekend...with NO sign of DS, my MD orders an ultrasound...YIKES ...DS weighs 10 pounds...WTH...now I am going to be in the National Enquirer as the first woman given birth to a 10lb baby...
Finally had the little..oops..I mean TODDLER on June 14th via C-Section(close to 3 weeks overdue). DS is 24yo today!
It was 1985...DS#2 is scheduled for C-Section as well..he was due 1/6 but MD takes him early on 12/30!!! YIPPEE I get my TAX DEDUCTION! DS weighed 8lb13oz! DS is 20yo today!
That was the long and the short of it!!!

 

[jennobrn01]

I love reading birth stories! Even as an OB nurse it never get's old.

I'll share my second birth experience.

Nearly a year ago I had one of the best days of my life. Despite strong opposition from MD's I work with I attempted VBAC. I was 5cm upon arrival to the hospital. Quickly progressed to 7-8cm. Remained 7-8 cm for 12 hours. My amniotic fluid had meconium, and ds began having decels. So with tears streaming I went for a C-Section.

Yet, it was a beautiful day. Two dear co-workers stayed with me all day. Labor was hard, but we laughed our way through it. They rubbed my back with lavender oil. Emptied countless bedpans and kept me positive. It was an enpowering experience.

Months later I discovered how hard my MD fought for me to labor. All day he stood up against his fellow MD's to give me the chance to VBAC. He eternally has my respect and loyalty.

Monday we celebrate that day. A birthday for both my son and I.

 

[swea_pea1]

For DD, I went into the doctor's office for my normal weekly appointment and he said my blood pressure was too high. He told me to report to the hospital that evening for a treatment of Cervidal. I was released the next day and the day after that, went back for my second treatment. That one did the trick.

I wasn't in labor very long, maybe 7 hours or so. I did have an epidural, but the contractions were still pretty strong. The worst part though was that I had a 13 year old across the hall that was about 2 hours ahead of me labor-wise. She sounded like she was being tortured and it scared the crap out of me. When it was time for me to push I told my doctor, the nurses, and my husband that I couldn't do it. I was NOT going to go through what she had just gone through. My doctor was a life-saver. As he raised the bed, he put both hands on my cheeks and said "she was 13 and her body was not ready for a baby. You are 30 and you're going to be fine. Now listen to everything I say and in 20 minutes you're going to have a baby."

He was right. I pushed for 20 or 25 minutes and out came DD.

For DS, I had moved and therefore changed my OB/GYN. When I met him, I told him that I had two problems...the first was one that I had no family here and so nobody to watch DD when I was in the hospital. The second was that I was a real baby about the pain. He said he could solve both by scheduling an induction so that I could have family come down for the birth and also that he'd give me an epidural before he pushed the Pitocin.

We checked into the hospital at 8:00 a.m. the Monday after Thanksgiving and they got me all ready. When they went to hook me up to the Pitocin I told them to wait a minute because I hadn't had the epidural yet. The nurse had never heard of that so she went to call my doctor. He explained it to her and the next thing I knew, I was getting the epidural.

I slept most of the day while my labor was happening. I woke up at about 3:00 and vomited. That alone was enough to push the baby down and they called the doctor. He walked in, said "give me one good push" and DS was out.

I really can't complain about childbirth because I had it pretty easy.

 

[dementia412]

get a cup of coffee, you'll need it

First one... I had been to the doctor for the first half of the pregnancy, then I moved, and it took forever to get my insurance worked out. I got into one doctor only to be told that because I was preclampsic they couldn't see me, by the time I got into the only doctor who would see me (because I was "high risk") it was on my due date. Well I was preclampsic so they wanted me to have her immediatly, but she was butt backwords and they were unsure of her size, so they didn't want to induce me and have this possibly large baby trying to come out breach.... C-section, when they told me I'd feel some pressure I felt nothing, she was delivered and I still hadn't felt a thing.... except sick (very sweet nurse who taught me that the smell of alcohol eases queeziness, and held the puke bucket for me

the real fun was after her birth... staples... became infected.... hot, cold, hot, cold.. and poring blood and fluid thru the bandages. they had to remove the staples, and I went home a few days later with a big open wound stuffed with packing. I lived upstairs, but wasn't suposed to go up stairs... couldn't put the baby in her crib, so she slept in the car seat, and I had a nurse changing my bandages every day. .. oddly I had two more kids after that!

Number two, I had gestational diabetes, and was on insuline for my third trimester. Other than that I had a great preg except I hated Mayo. His due date came, and went. I went in to be induced after about a week and a half, but while the Pitt did make me contract it did nothing else. After two days I was sent home for Thanksgiving weekend. I walked lots in the vain hope I could get the ball rolling. Monday I went back to the hospital, back on the Pitt, WHAM, there came the contractions, but no dialation, next day they broke my water, that night we tried something (I still can't remember what it was exactly) to make me dialate... it was horribly painfull, and just as I was about to scream "get that thing the he11 out of me" they told me it wasn't working... I didn't get any pain meds through all of this... not until the third day after my return to the hospital when I finally broke down and told them I had to get meds... and that night I told them that I would forget the vbac so that I was guarenteed my doc (if I'd waited I might have gotten whoever happened to be on duty). Here are two pretty pictures .. one (actually I'm not sure which kid this was with) as they cut me for the section I saw a long line of blood splash up on the sheet... made me sick. The other was having the nurse take out my iv and it started pouring blood (poor woman looked like SHE was gonna pass out) I lost alot of blood with my kids!

Okay third one is much shorter... gestational diabetes (again with the no sweet and sour chicken with fried rice). We decide to do c-section because my doc is worried that with two former ones it could be dangerous for the baby. One problem .. I wanted a tubal, and I was at a Catholic hospital. They wouldn't do it unless having another kid would be dangerous for me. So I had to go to a different hospital so I could just have her and do the tubal at the same time. (I wasn't getting an extra surgery!) My daughter is born no problem, then the doc is taking care of the tubes when I hear him saying things like, "that's odd" Isn't that what you want to hear when your doctor is looking inside of you?! Later he asks me if I've ever had a tubal before, and tells me that one of my tubes was withered, and looked like someone had attempted the surgery in the past (no way, not unless it was durring the first two births). He wasn't sure, said I might have another tube, and I had to have a test (more pain) done weeks later to make sure there were no more baby making tubes hanging around.

oh, man, I wanted more kids, but don't know if I could have done that stuff ever again! I didn't even mention the way nobody seemed to be able to find my veins and hom many times they had to stab my back for the epi... bah, babies

 

[jstbcuz]

With DD numer 1, they induced me. Went in at noon, and just laid there until about 8pm with no contractions.........they kept upping the pitocin every hour and about 8:30pm I had my first contraction and she was born at 9:26pm. No epidural, no nothing to help.

With DD number 2, we lived 5 blocks from the hospital. DH asked how I felt before he went off to work and I said my back hurts........blah blah blah.......nothing different for me. (I was mad at him the night before because I couldnt sleep and he was over there snoring and didnt wake up to see why I couldnt sleep and if he could do anything......so I had went to sleep on the couch). Anyhow, he wasnt at work an hour and I called him and he came home. When I walked into the hospital at 10:00am I was dialated to a 9...........we waited for my doctor to get there (he had a 15 mile drive).........called another doctor in as we were too close and at 10:37am she was born. No time for meds with this one.

Hubby said if we had anymore kids we would have to just camp out in the parking lot of the hospital. Well 10 years later and 35 miles away from the nearest hospital and we have DS 6 months old. I was very sick with this one........not a day went by that I didnt get sick. 2 weeks before he was born, I got very sick. Coughing, ribs hurting........felt like ________! Hubby says we're going to the ER. I said No just call the nurse and see what she says............well off to the ER we go..........not telling the girls what we are doing. Just dropping them off at Grandmas. Anyway, after checking the baby, etc........they just put me in the hospital for 3 days with bronchitis. DH tried to get the DR to induce then since we were already there. DR told DH I was too sick to induce, and not strong enough. 2 weeks later, I have a appt and feel much better, and again DH urges him to induce since we are already in town, blah blah blah. He says OK, but I cant do it til after 3. He didnt want to start before that since I had a history of being so quick and he was tied up in court til then. So in we go at 3..........and the pitocin starts. Time goes by..........and DH is in and out of the room going back and forth to the waiting area, helping the girls with homework, etc. About 5:30pm, I start having contractions and I think.....Ok I can do this.......they measure me.....only a 4. Finally I opted for the epidural.........which I was terrified of even before being in that position. By the time the guy came to do the epidural.......and got it in, I was ready to push. I was told sometimes it speeds it up. I dont know about that, but I should have opted for that route a long time before I did. Well DS was born at 8:54pm. From the time I got preg with DS til the time I had him, I lost 22 lbs. Of course, now that I'm not sick all the time, I've gained most of it back.

So I really cant complain.........they were generally short compared to some of the stories I had heard about and always worried about.

 

[sassy2]

Here's my tale , I have two boys 28 and 16 yes 12 years apart. Morning sickness was my enemy for 3 months for each of them. Even if I look at food I got sick. But the strangest thing is that my water broke on Friday the 13th for the both of them and I deliver them on Saturday the 14th. The best part of my story is that my teen son was born on my late mother birthday. To today I still wonder what they were thinking about.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I had a planned C-section b/c the baby was breach. I was scheduled to go into the hospital on a Tues morning. The baby had other plans. I had been reading What To Expect When Your Expecting religiously so I knew all about my water breaking My water broke on Monday morning. It wasn't a slight trickle of water like the book said. I had Niagara Falls flowing. I remember I put a huge towel between my legs to sop up the water. When we got to the hospital, I gave it to my mom to hide. I was so embarrassed, I didn't want anyone to see that. I was completely knocked out for the c-section.

 

[Kimmielee]

Great pregnancy - sick up until the first trimester, didn't like red meat after that but only brushing my teeth made me sick from then on!

Had cervidil (sp?) applied every other day for a week prior to scheduling inducement. They thought my son was over 10 lbs! That didn't work.... so inducement was scheduled for Tuesday.

On Monday, I had my car detailed (can't bring home baby in a dirty car), had lunch with my Dad and was supposed to get my hair and nails done.

On the way to the salon, I started contracting. I thought to myself "OK, you wimp, you can handle these, you gotta look good for this baby!" So, stupidly, I continued on to the salon. Walked in, had a huge contraction and cancelled my appointment. I lived around the corner, so I called my 2 coaches and went home.

What I did next still mystifies me. I took all the bedding off of my bed so it was just the bare mattress and then I stripped down naked. I wasn't having a home birth. What was I thinking?

My first coach arrives and says "Woman, put your clothes on!". So off to the hospital in rush hour traffic (we drove some of it on the shoulder cuz the hospital was almost an hour away) and made it to the hospital by 5:30. I had the epidural at 6:15, felt nothing until the Dr. came in at 10:15 stating, you have another couple of hours to go.

He walked out of the room and literally at 10:20 I said I had to push. The nurses said, "No, Dr. said you have a couple of hours left" - to which I said... "Wanna bet?".

Dr. came back in, I pushed from 10:20 until 11:03 and out came my 8 lb. 12 ounce adorable baby boy.

I was lucky, it was perfection and I am very blessed to have such a wonderful little boy!