Given the week I had prior to going into labor, it should not have shocked me to have my water break spontaneously! I guess stress might have been a factor
After months of being head-down and ready-to-roll, Mr. Kieran decided to turn transverse-breech at his 37 week appt (we know he was vertex at 36 weeks, 3 days). I spent Tues, Wed, and most of Thursday crying and trying to figure out ways to get him to turn. I was heartbroken because I dreaded (and feared) a c-section. And I knew that we had other issues to deal with in regards to my blood clotting issues and me likely never being a canidate for VBAC because of them.
I hit up the chiro on Wed and had been doing TONS of the suggestions for turning a breech baby. I was finally coming to terms with possibly needing a c-section and just hoping we could figure something out for the blood clotting medication so that I would not need to be knocked out. But I was not giving up hope...I had two more chiro appts and one acupuncture one for the following week.
BUT...after getting in my PJ's and settling down to read for the evening, my water broke at 8:45pm on Thursday, September 15th. All over our nicely changed bed sheets! I had a brief premonition before getting ready for bed, but I blew it off, considering I did NOT want to be in labor and I had sorta been expecting it any day now for a week or so. I figured most of the time that if I thought I was going early, I would be late. LOL. It just so happened that DH walked into the bedroom right as it broke. It was rather gooey and yucky. We kinda spun in circles getting our stuff gathered, knowing we were going to be admitted (it was a LOT of water...not just a leak!). Mild contractions started right away.
I called the birthing center and my primary people. We (me and DH and docs) agreed to head right to the hospital so we could check the positioning of the baby and make our arrangements. The good news was that it had been 12 hours since my last dose of Lovenox and they *might* let me labor for a few hours to get me into the clear for getting a spinal.
On the way to the hospital (9:25pm)...we got stopped by a cop
To make the story even more fun...he did not even consider ticketing us, but rather gave us an escort to the hospital! I took a pic of his lights leading the way. We were not really gonna tell him it was not an emergency labor issue. Who wants a ticket on the way to the hospital? We live an hour away and I know DH was stressing because I was stressed about the baby and if he was okay. So we had our fun and the cop was great.
I got checked in the hospital (10:30pm) and they did an exam. I was 3cm and 70% effaced. Sonogram revealed the baby was HEAD-DOWN!!! He did have meconium in his fluid though, so that meant we were having a vaginal birth...with some additional monitoring for his well-being. I was so stoked he turned, I couldn't have cared less about the increase in the monitoring. Plus, my nurse was AMAZING. She had me up and moving as much as possible on the machine and was so supportive of NCB. I got really lucky.
At 3am, I was feeling some decent contractions, about one minute apart and lasting a minute. I was checked and STILL a 3
Feeling discouraged, I talked to my family, doula, and nurse and we decided to proceed with some pitocin. The hope was to set it low and get the contractions more productive and then we could turn it off. At around 4:30am, I was REALLY feeling those contractions. Having a hard time getting through them and was tightening my whole body, which was not helping. I started talking epi and the nurse suggested maybe a half-dose of Nubain to take the edge off. I was willing to try. I needed some rest between contractions because I was tiring out quickly and the doula even mentioned that she wanted me to rest before we hit transition/pushing. The Nubain made me a little fuzzy and it did allow me to rest more effectively between contractions. Although I found it did not really help the contraction sensation at all. Little did I know, I was pretty cranked on the pit, since a check right before the Nubain showed I was only at a 4 even after an hour of pitocin.
At 5:45am, I was asking for the epi. Those contractions were lasting forever and feeling like I wanted to live on the ceiling. They were sooo close together and I was not getting any rest in between. I think everyone in the room was feeling the stress of the slow labor and the fact I was feeling so much more pain than I did with my previous labor. I was humming a lot through them, which did help a little. But I was okay with just wanting to rest and take the pain away. The nurse was great, she went out to get the anesthesiologist...and I suddenly had to push...NOW. My mom went and grabbed her and said "She needs to push" and the nurse came back in.
Sure enough, she did not even need to check, babe's head was starting to come out and she got the doc immediately. I was kinda flipping out a little, given my mental state had been deteriorating and I was exhausted. The push sensation was kinda cool though, my body was absolutely taking over. I pushed for 12 minutes and my son was born onto my belly (6:10am). Perfect, whacking people with his long arms, and ready to belly-ache about the fact he had to be born.
The quickly cleared the meconium and he was an angry little soul for the first hour or so. He just whined
I had a teeny tear that got stitched up, right next to where I tore with Liam.
The best part...they did not move him from my belly for the first THREE hours after he came. We just laid skin-to-skin, talking to one another. He was looking around at me. Sorta dazed, which might have had to do with the Nubain. He did not seem to want to nurse, just be present. They did not push anything like weighing, assessment, or newborn care. I was in my own little bubble with my boy.
Around 9:30am, after my mom and doula left, the did want to weigh, measure, and assess him. He rocked the scales at 8lbs, 4oz (at 37+3) and 21.5in long. He passed his assessments with flying colors. I got him right back and he has not had to leave my side since he came. It is wonderful.
He looks like a little old man and makes similar facial expressions
He has LONG fingers and a cute pouty mouth. Liam is not sure what to make of him yet. But he seems to get "who" he is and think he is pretty fun to look at. Although when Kieran cried, Liam flipped out. So that might need some working on. All-in-all...I can't believe he is real and I could not have asked for things to go better with his birth. It might not have been the "all natural" that I was looking for...but I felt in control of the decisions and that I managed to handle it with a small adjustments in the plans seems like a pretty good success to me. Not to mention, he would be worth ANYTHING, even the knocked-out c-section.
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Kieran Patrick Enters with a BANG!
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