Birthing Story

On evening of Friday, July 7th, 2006 I was admitted to Mary Black Hospital. At about 9:30pm I was given cervedil. Cervedil is supposed to help you dilate. I was stuck at 1 cm for over a month. They can’t induce labor at 1 cm. I was able to eat dinner at 11:30 pm. Then I went to sleep for the night.

At 6:30 am on Saturday, July 6th, 2006 I was administered Pitocin. Pitocin is supposed to help bring on the labor. At 9:30 I was 2 cm dilated. The doctor decided broke my water, and Meadow’s heartbeat dropped. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid. I could tell something was wrong. The looks on the doctor and nurses really bothered me. Before I knew it a nurse handed me an oxygen mask. The doctor was really concerned, and thought if her heart didn’t stabilize we would need a c-section. She had me prepped for a c-section “just in case”. They did hook up a tube to go into my uterus to flush the meconium out of me. Meadow’s heart rate got to an acceptable rate. Every time I would have a contraction it would her heart rate would slightly dip. I would have to switch positions every few to keep it from dropping too much. The contractions were manageable but did get to a point where I asked for an epidural. Then they were about a minute and a half apart.

I was at 2 cm until they checked me at 4:30. I was at 4 cm, but my cervix was swollen. The doctor discussed with us our options at that point (getting a c-section or waiting it out). With how things were progressing, there wasn’t much chance the swelling would go down. I could feel the pressure of Meadow’s head on my cervix and even with an epidural it was very painful. There was a chance with the position of her head on my cervix and with the contractions her head would swell a bit too. For those reasons and the meconium in the amniotic fluid we opted for a c-section.

The staff was great. They were really good about keeping my mind occupied. There was radio playing classic rock and 80’s music. This was perfect, because that is my music preference.

At 5:31 pm Meadow Nicole Anna was born. She didn’t cry a whole lot, and when she did her cry was real soft. Once she was all cleaned off, they let me see her. DH took a picture of her and I on the operating table, and then the staff offered to take a picture of the three of us! When they brought her too me to see her, I just wanted to keep kissing her. I love her so much. I really wanted to hold her then, but for health and safety reasons in the operating room I couldn’t. She is so precious to me.

They stitched me up, and put me in a recovery room for about an hour. I got the shakes really bad. I was told it was normal due to the hormonal changes I just went through. I had a slight case of the shakes when we were making the decision to have a c-section too…I wonder if that was hormones too?

I got settled into my room and by 8:00 PM they brought Meadow to the room. I nursed until 8:30 PM. She was sleepy and kept falling asleep after a couple of sucks. DH and I tried to keep her stimulated enough to keep her nursing. She is a champion nurser though. We have no problems latching on. She delatches herself when she is done. Even if she is asleep. She loves to sleep on my chest. I can’t seem to kiss her enough.

My mother-in-law was able to be at the hospital for her birth. She took some pictures. I am really disappointed that we didn’t get one of DH, Meadow, and I in the hospital room.

I am really happy I went into the birthing process with an open mind. Although, nothing went as planned, I am not bothered that I had a c-section. I am just happy Meadow and I are OK. The pain I am dealing with from the c-section is totally worth it. If I could do it all over again (in the same circumstances), I would. I don’t regret our decision at all. I really wanted to delivery vaginally. I was open to getting pain relievers, but only on my demand. I didn’t want them pushing drugs to me.