My birth story - Part 1

MY BIRTH STORY
PART 1

So much is the expectation before a baby is born; I believe, it does not matter if you have had a child already, it has to be a big deal every time!

For us, at least, that was the case. We were so ready to meet our kid, although at the same time, we were in no rush.

As you read before, my pregnancy was smooth, I had nothing out of the regular issues when pregnant. Also, I felt very happy the whole pregnancy, ups and downs here and there, but for me, this was the greatest time of my life.

With all this history, we were hoping that the birth itself was going to be just as good. We felt prepared, at least we had done all the preparation courses 'Geburtsvorbereitungskurs', we had chosen the hospital that we both liked. We had things settled at home; and, I was looking up for myself the, good and not so good, birth stories.  So, we felt prepared. Was I nervous or scared? Of course, scared to death! But, at the same time, I was calm, and could not wait for the day the baby decided to be born.

For the birth, I had planned what kind I wanted to have, all natural and medication free. I even told this to the anesthetist during my appointment for the explanation of the epidural.

Moving forward, I had my last appointment for the year with my regular Obgyn mid December, the only thing always with my baby was that he always measured too big, about a 4kg baby to term.

So, my doctor was always monitoring that, however, two weeks later I had another appointment at another praxis, because of the vacation period, and there my baby was measuring normal weight; and with this information we went into the New Years celebration.

The year ended and I had no signs of labor coming. My estimated delivery date was set for Jan 13th, so we still had time to enjoy and to not worry. On Jan 4th, I had my next appointment, now back to my regular doctor. She again estimated the baby already at 3.9 kgs in my 38 week; with this values she decided to send me to the hospital to be induced.

She told me to prepare all my stuff, call the hospital, let them know and go the next day. She said, sometimes with the knowing of the induction, the body somewhat just goes into labor (not my case thou).

However, after her revision, it was time for the midwife to check on the baby, she run a CTG and she was concerned with the results, so I ended up being sent that same day to the hospital.

So, we did as indicated. We went home, prepared the bags, more or less packed. My husband had something to eat, I couldn't, I was stressed after the midwife's revision. I was so used to everything going well, that now hearing something could be wrong, got to me.

We arrived at the hospital, our midwife had already called in advance, to let them know we were on our way, so they were somewhat expecting us. 

Before going to the hospital, I was asked to drink about 2L of water, so the baby's activity will be shown better during the CTG.

We were sent directly into one of the delivery rooms and they run a CTG for about an hour, then send me to walk, then another CTG, about 2 hours later. Both came back good, no issues with the baby, actually perfect. That same night, I had an ultrasound done by the Obgyn on call at the hospital, they did their own calculation of the baby's weight, and for them it was only at 3.6 kgs (of course a +|- 500grs error), so they did not want to induce the labor at that point, even with the briefing from my doctor.

They told me to wait to term, everything seemed fine with the baby and me, but in any case, they suggest I stayed over the weekend for observation and monitoring. So, I spent my weekend at the hospital, Sunday noon, I was sent home, without any signs of labor and with the recommendation of no induction from the doctors at the hospital.

We still had our doubts of whether or not go ahead with the induction. Honestly, I was scared and stressed. I had planned that my baby will come naturally whenever he was ready for it, now forcing him to come out was something difficult for me to decide, I still had my hopes on everything happening by itself.

So we went home...