During pregnancy, I kept having dreams that I would have my baby on April 10th, even though I wasn't due until the 26th. I even told several friends about this, who all laughed it off. Unbelievably, on April 10th my water broke at 7:30 pm at 37w5d. We had a calm drive to the hospital, checked in and were told that I was only 2 cm. The doctor said it was likely I'd have to be induced in the morning and to enjoy my last full night of sleep. They gave me stadol, which made me extremely loopy and I wanted to go to sleep. Instead, I started having heavy contractions soon after. I labored with stadol until 2 am, wondering how early labor could be so painful. At that point, I asked to be checked again since I hadn't been since I arrived at the hospital. I wanted that epi! The nurse checked me, got a strange look on her face, and then ran out to "ask a question." She came back with another nurse, who checked me again and said that I had quickly progressed to a 9.5. They teased me that I should conceive my next baby in the hospital and stay there since I progressed so quickly as an FTM! Next time around it could be a musiclover situation on our hands. The doctor encouraged me to skip the epi and start pushing, saying she'd be here at any moment. I pushed for about an hour and half, with basically no progress. I broke down and got the epi and continued pushing from 3:30 am to close 5 am. At that point, Violet was stuck and began to have heart decelerations. They rushed me in for a c-section, which was so disappointing after all that hard work! Violet Sloane was born at 5:04 am on April 11th and weighed 6 lb 6 oz. My recovery was bad - I had severe swelling and developed postpartum hypertension, even though I never had pre-eclampsia. They said the traumatic birth, epi and spinal were probably to blame for my body going a bit haywire. I also had a large numb spot on my thigh from pushing. It took about 6 weeks to feel normal again and a couple of months to regain feeling in the numb spot on my leg. I look back on my birth experience and still get freaked out by it. Next time around, I'll know what to expect and maybe try for a VBAC. Either way, 1 year later, life is good!
Baby girl, only a day old:
And yesterday, "First pump! It's my birthday!"
If you're my FB friend, you may have already seen this one:
I don't think I've ever read your birth story before - poor you! And how crazy that you knew exactly when you were going to have her. She was such a beautiful newborn. Happy birthday, little lady!
Post by thedahliharpa on Apr 11, 2013 11:44:54 GMT -5
I'm sending fist bumps right back at miss V. Happy Birthday sweet girl.
I think since you went early, progressed so quickly and were able to push for so long that you would be a great VBAC candidate. But either way I hope you have a much better recovery.