Hi everyone! I haven't been on in a long time!
I know a while back I said I'd post my birth story... sorry it's taken so long.... but here it is:
It was a pretty interesting experience for me. Thursday night July 27th at 7pm, I went down to the birthing centre, and they inserted Cervidil to help me start to dialate (because at that point I wasn't even 1cm). They did their thing and I was then kept hooked up to a monitor for a couple of hours. The contractions were measuring 40/100 on the machine by the time I left but I was not feeling any pain or discomfort. The nurse said that the numbers did not mean all that much, and to go home and come back when: my water breaks, I have red bleeding, my contractions get too difficult to talk though, or they call me back in to be induced. They also said that they were really busy, and that I was induction number 6 of 7 scheduled for Friday and not to be surprised if I don't get called until Saturday. In hindsight perhaps they should have checked me for dialation before I left.
We went home, and I started having contractions... nothing serious, but definately contractions. I couldn't sleep through them very well, but I could definately talk through them. At 4:15am my water broke so we decided to head back to the hospital and get things checked out. I walked into the birthing centre at about 5am without any assistance, calmly explained what was going on (so I was still talking through the contractions, although they were now getting pretty darn painful) and I was taken to a triage room... not even a labour room. The nurse did a quick internal exam and decided that I needed to see the OB immediately. He came in and also did an internal, and then the panic began.... they realized that I had laboured at home until 8cm and was quickly headed towards 10cm and feeling the urge to push... and the weren't feeling baby's head... only bum. They had induced me breach!!!!!!!!!!!!! They got out the ultrasound machine and did the quick check that perhaps they should have done before inducing me, and sure enough... breach.
They then decided that there was no time for a spinal, and that they would have to knock me out completely, and take the baby immediately. I was wisked away down the hall in the triage bed to the c-section room, and my poor DH was left to sit on the other bed in the triage room and wait, hoping we'd both be okay. I think it was definately more traumatic for him than me.
At 5:50am, July 28th, Shannon Tennette was born in perfect health. DH got to hold her by about 6am, and was given a chair to sit on outside of one of the labour rooms so the nurses could keep an eye on him in case he needed any help. I woke up in a very busy recovery room, where the nurses were clearly run off their feet, and was given lots of pain meds... I was finally allowed to meet Shannon up on the maternity ward at 9:30am, but was very greatful that she was already bonding with Daddy.
I was kept in the hospital until Tuesday, and am now at home enjoying motherhood. I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than Shannon, but I have family vsiting so there's lots of help around... which also explains why I haven't been online much... any time not spent sleeping, feeding, or changing has been spent visiting.
I'm sure I'll be back online more by the end of the month! In the meantime, thanks to everyone for all your support!
