My Birth Story
Part 2
After we spent the weekend at the hospital, without any signs of labor from my side and also no induction suggested by the hospital, we decided to go home and give baby a couple of days more.
However, that evening I started to have some contractions, they were not strong, but I could feel them just a little more than a regular period pain. They were actually pretty regular, every 25 min, then 20 min, until 8 min apart. The pain got a little more intense as they moved closer together, but it was nothing too painful. I had them the evening and whole night; it was a pain that started in my back, hips, and will move to the front to my belly and down. I had, of course, no idea what contractions felt like, but I explained the pain to my mom and aunt, and they said, well that sounds like contractions.
It went on the whole night, I could sleep for some time, about 2 or 3 hours I would say, but I was up pretty early, around 6 in the morning, the contractions were not regular anymore, but still we decided to go to the hospital for a new check. We arrived and like magic, the contractions were gone. I had some, but very irregular, so they sent me home again. Gave me another appointment for Wednesday for a new ultrasound, which was no different than the one before, amniotic fluid ok, baby's position ok, weight ok, all looked ok. So, I was asked to return until my due date, which was the upcoming Sunday.
Finally, after all the goes and comes from the hospital, I talked to my husband and decided on the induction, I could not feel any progress with the baby and was concerned anyway with the weight, I mean my belly was huge, so even if the ultrasounds did not show concern, I still thought it was better to just go ahead with it. In any case, I should have trusted my doctor since the beginning.
So, I was finally scheduled for Monday at 8am, to be at the hospital to start the whole process. We arrived with all of our stuff and went directly to the delivery room or area. This time we were properly checked-in at the hospital and so on. I had first a CTG which show no signs of contractions or labor. (the week before I had lost part of the mucous plug, not sure if that is the name)
I was induced with pills, pitocin, first a 25mg dose in the morning, then CTG, then walk; at around noon, a 50mg dose, CTG, walk around, and at 5 or 6pm a 100mg dose, same as the 2 times before, CTG, walk around, come later. Until the evening, I would not feel any contractions, no pain, no nothing. After the third dose we just went for a longer walk, up and down the hospital stairs, then we took a small nap. My next dose was going to be at around 9pm, so before that we did another round around the hospital, mainly the stairs.
At around 8pm we went back to our [family room], I was now lying in bed when I felt like a 'pop' I got up quickly and water started to come out, so, my water broke. I waited a little until most of the liquid was out and I was no longer leaking, went to the bathroom and got ready to go to the delivery room, where the midwives were and the action was going to take place.
I arrived there, told them my water broke and we were there to continue with the process. They of course did the test and confirm it was my water. They run another CTG, contractions started to kick in, that was around 9pm, we were there for an hour or so, and then got sent back to the room, since I was only about 1-2 cms dialated. At around 11pm the contractions kicked in for real! I went from no pain to full pain. I have heard that when you are induced is more painful than when birth starts naturally, and I do not know how it is when it happens naturally, but being induced is the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, it was just constant torture.
I could not lay down, the pain would just increase, I got a ball to sit on and stretch my back, hips and try to ease the pain. I tried the breathing exercises that I had learned in the preparation course and also in my years that I had practice yoga, which I thought I was really good at; well, I WAS GOOD AT IT, but it just would not help in any way with the pain.
I had read in many articles, blogs, etc. that the pain from contractions come, last up to 1.30min and then go, but I could never tell when it started and when it ended, the pain was always there, constant at 100%. So, you can imagine what happened next? I went back to the delivery room and ask for pain medication, I wanted the epidural right away, it was midnight. I go in, they check for my dilation, nothing 2 cms, and all I could think was, 'this is just the beginning and I am already dying, there is no way I can do this!!!' I do not want to scare anyone, but as I said, I felt tortured, I felt like I was gonna die. So, what they offered was a opium based pain medication, I was in so much pain that I said yes, with it I was able to lay down for about an hour until the effect was gone, the contractions and pain were not gone in between, I could feel them still, but somewhat dose off.
Moving forward, my husband, who was there for me all the time, first getting all what I asked for and walking me back and forth from the delivery area, at around 2, 2:30am went I got one of the nurses to drive me to the delivery room, I just could not move by that time, could not think, could not do anything. I was taken in a wheelchair. By that time, I was already at 5cms dilated, they called right away the anethetist to give me the epidural. I am not sure how they saw me at that moment, because, here in Germany, for what I heard and read everywhere, they do not give it to you that easy, they kind of let you go through the birth, if possible, without it. In my case, at 4 in the morning, I was getting prepped, they sent my husband out of the room to do that, so he had a chance to finally sleep, like 30min tops, I believe, that night. He was always there, awake, just waiting for me to ask for something or just scream.
I got the epidural and finally at 5 in the morning, I stopped feeling pain and could sleep, or pass out, not sure. I would feel from time to time pain on one side of my body, but nothing compared to before.
At 6 the did another round, by then I believe I was at 8 cms already and by 8 in the morning I was complete, or that is what the midwife told me, it was time to start pushing. I tried a little, but nothing, he was not coming down. At that moment, the doctor came in and did the check, she then said, you are not fully dilated, there is a little something still there. The pushing was stopped, and they asked to increase my contractions, which I could not feel now. They will monitor me again in 30 min and then see if now everything was ok, which it was not. With all this, the CTG was running ok in parallel, they baby was still ok, all good. But, the doctor decided to do a test on him to confirm everything was good with his oxygenation, blood, etc. The test came back perfect, so they waited another half hour, increased again the contractions and monitor it.
Now, it was 10 am, again a test run on the baby and a completion check on me, baby great, me stalled. So, the doctor finally said, your dilation is not progressing, so we suggest after all the time that has passed, that we should do an emergency c-section. Your baby is doing good at the moment, you also are doing good, so it is better to go this way, now that we have the time and there is no rush.
Of course, I was disappointed with this, I had planned for an entirely birth experience, medication free, which I could not do, natural birth, which now was not gonna happen either. But, in the end, the most important thing for me, was that my baby was still doing good. The preparation for the c-section started, I had the epidural, which was perfect for the surgery and my husband could still be there with me.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier, it appears that I had some reaction to the first pain medication that they gave, because I had a fever, not high 38 C, but still, it is important information for later.
I was taken into the operation room, super cold room by the way, and they started to prepare me, I was so disconnected at this point, that I could barely understand any german, anything that they were asking me. Normally, I could have a decent conversation, at this point, I just could not think again. Anyway, I was super cold the whole time in the OR, at some point I think I had a cold shock or something, it was horrible. They gave me extra blanket and like a warm pillow or something to help, I was still shaking.
At 11:49 am my son was born, I still remember when they pull him out, I could feel how the pressure was taken out of me, to after just feel like some sort of compressions, and then I could only hear the doctor say, 'he is a huge baby!', but I could not hear him cry or make any sound. I told my husband, 'he is not crying, he does not cry!' They took the baby to the little room out of the OR to check on him and then my husband was taken as well. I do not know how long time it was, until they came back and I finally could see him. They just handed him over to me for like a second, I barely gave him a kiss, all swollen and crying now, and then they took him, my husband went with him.
I was still there, getting closed and freezing to dead. I was at some point begging for a blanket, or something to cover me, anything, it was horrible. I heard people say, yes it is cold in the OR, it is normal. I have had surgery before, never had this reaction to the cold, I guess it was just not my day.
Once they finished closing me up, I was moved to the recovery area and there they packed me with a special warm blanket. I was supposed to be there for an hour, I think it was about 2 and a half. I finally slept now, or passed out again, not sure.
Finally, I was moved to my room, I was hoping to see there my husband with the baby; I arrived, no one was there. Some minutes later my husband came in without a baby, the baby had to stay at the NICU.
Then, the news came in, my husband right away said, 'do not get scared or worried, but I need to explain to you what is going on...', then he explained to me that the baby needs to stay in the NICU, that he had to be reanimated at birth, they do not understand why, but it happened. Those compressions you felt, he said, were to reanimate him, they did right when they took him out. He is doing good right now, they are running tests, but most likely we will be transferred to another hospital, the one with the neonatology specialization.
Later that day, the pediatrician came in and explained everything again, she said she would prefer to transfer him and be on the safe side. That they were running a culture for infections and other tests; and, that in the other hospital I was going to be able to be with him. Which by the way, it was around 6pm and I had just seen my baby for like 5 seconds, and did not even had a chance to hold him...
Anyway, long story short, we were transferred (the worst ambulance ride ever, after c-section and no pain medication, very painful); and, I could finally see him at around 8 or 9pm and hold him for the first time! So much to bonding right after birth. Anyway, I was so happy and so sad at the same time, but most important, I was there with him, finally, and he (not counting the IV and cables on him) seemed perfect.
I ended up staying at the hospital for recovery until Saturday, he was born on a Tuesday; and him until the Monday after, but they had confirm to us already Thursday he was good and Saturday he had no longer the IV, so that was a relief. Still, my heart broke when I left the hospital and left him there.
We until today are not sure what happened with our baby, but his pediatrician says that he, according to his birth values, is perfect, we should not worry anymore.
Our experience was completely different to what we expected and for what we prepared ourselves, but in the end, we are just happy we have our baby with us and he is healthy. The rest is now history.
Sorry for the so long post, there was more information than I thought; and, thanks for stopping by and reading until the end!
So, I was finally scheduled for Monday at 8am, to be at the hospital to start the whole process. We arrived with all of our stuff and went directly to the delivery room or area. This time we were properly checked-in at the hospital and so on. I had first a CTG which show no signs of contractions or labor. (the week before I had lost part of the mucous plug, not sure if that is the name)
I was induced with pills, pitocin, first a 25mg dose in the morning, then CTG, then walk; at around noon, a 50mg dose, CTG, walk around, and at 5 or 6pm a 100mg dose, same as the 2 times before, CTG, walk around, come later. Until the evening, I would not feel any contractions, no pain, no nothing. After the third dose we just went for a longer walk, up and down the hospital stairs, then we took a small nap. My next dose was going to be at around 9pm, so before that we did another round around the hospital, mainly the stairs.
At around 8pm we went back to our [family room], I was now lying in bed when I felt like a 'pop' I got up quickly and water started to come out, so, my water broke. I waited a little until most of the liquid was out and I was no longer leaking, went to the bathroom and got ready to go to the delivery room, where the midwives were and the action was going to take place.
I arrived there, told them my water broke and we were there to continue with the process. They of course did the test and confirm it was my water. They run another CTG, contractions started to kick in, that was around 9pm, we were there for an hour or so, and then got sent back to the room, since I was only about 1-2 cms dialated. At around 11pm the contractions kicked in for real! I went from no pain to full pain. I have heard that when you are induced is more painful than when birth starts naturally, and I do not know how it is when it happens naturally, but being induced is the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, it was just constant torture.
I could not lay down, the pain would just increase, I got a ball to sit on and stretch my back, hips and try to ease the pain. I tried the breathing exercises that I had learned in the preparation course and also in my years that I had practice yoga, which I thought I was really good at; well, I WAS GOOD AT IT, but it just would not help in any way with the pain.
I had read in many articles, blogs, etc. that the pain from contractions come, last up to 1.30min and then go, but I could never tell when it started and when it ended, the pain was always there, constant at 100%. So, you can imagine what happened next? I went back to the delivery room and ask for pain medication, I wanted the epidural right away, it was midnight. I go in, they check for my dilation, nothing 2 cms, and all I could think was, 'this is just the beginning and I am already dying, there is no way I can do this!!!' I do not want to scare anyone, but as I said, I felt tortured, I felt like I was gonna die. So, what they offered was a opium based pain medication, I was in so much pain that I said yes, with it I was able to lay down for about an hour until the effect was gone, the contractions and pain were not gone in between, I could feel them still, but somewhat dose off.
Moving forward, my husband, who was there for me all the time, first getting all what I asked for and walking me back and forth from the delivery area, at around 2, 2:30am went I got one of the nurses to drive me to the delivery room, I just could not move by that time, could not think, could not do anything. I was taken in a wheelchair. By that time, I was already at 5cms dilated, they called right away the anethetist to give me the epidural. I am not sure how they saw me at that moment, because, here in Germany, for what I heard and read everywhere, they do not give it to you that easy, they kind of let you go through the birth, if possible, without it. In my case, at 4 in the morning, I was getting prepped, they sent my husband out of the room to do that, so he had a chance to finally sleep, like 30min tops, I believe, that night. He was always there, awake, just waiting for me to ask for something or just scream.
I got the epidural and finally at 5 in the morning, I stopped feeling pain and could sleep, or pass out, not sure. I would feel from time to time pain on one side of my body, but nothing compared to before.
At 6 the did another round, by then I believe I was at 8 cms already and by 8 in the morning I was complete, or that is what the midwife told me, it was time to start pushing. I tried a little, but nothing, he was not coming down. At that moment, the doctor came in and did the check, she then said, you are not fully dilated, there is a little something still there. The pushing was stopped, and they asked to increase my contractions, which I could not feel now. They will monitor me again in 30 min and then see if now everything was ok, which it was not. With all this, the CTG was running ok in parallel, they baby was still ok, all good. But, the doctor decided to do a test on him to confirm everything was good with his oxygenation, blood, etc. The test came back perfect, so they waited another half hour, increased again the contractions and monitor it.
Now, it was 10 am, again a test run on the baby and a completion check on me, baby great, me stalled. So, the doctor finally said, your dilation is not progressing, so we suggest after all the time that has passed, that we should do an emergency c-section. Your baby is doing good at the moment, you also are doing good, so it is better to go this way, now that we have the time and there is no rush.
Of course, I was disappointed with this, I had planned for an entirely birth experience, medication free, which I could not do, natural birth, which now was not gonna happen either. But, in the end, the most important thing for me, was that my baby was still doing good. The preparation for the c-section started, I had the epidural, which was perfect for the surgery and my husband could still be there with me.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier, it appears that I had some reaction to the first pain medication that they gave, because I had a fever, not high 38 C, but still, it is important information for later.
I was taken into the operation room, super cold room by the way, and they started to prepare me, I was so disconnected at this point, that I could barely understand any german, anything that they were asking me. Normally, I could have a decent conversation, at this point, I just could not think again. Anyway, I was super cold the whole time in the OR, at some point I think I had a cold shock or something, it was horrible. They gave me extra blanket and like a warm pillow or something to help, I was still shaking.
At 11:49 am my son was born, I still remember when they pull him out, I could feel how the pressure was taken out of me, to after just feel like some sort of compressions, and then I could only hear the doctor say, 'he is a huge baby!', but I could not hear him cry or make any sound. I told my husband, 'he is not crying, he does not cry!' They took the baby to the little room out of the OR to check on him and then my husband was taken as well. I do not know how long time it was, until they came back and I finally could see him. They just handed him over to me for like a second, I barely gave him a kiss, all swollen and crying now, and then they took him, my husband went with him.
I was still there, getting closed and freezing to dead. I was at some point begging for a blanket, or something to cover me, anything, it was horrible. I heard people say, yes it is cold in the OR, it is normal. I have had surgery before, never had this reaction to the cold, I guess it was just not my day.Once they finished closing me up, I was moved to the recovery area and there they packed me with a special warm blanket. I was supposed to be there for an hour, I think it was about 2 and a half. I finally slept now, or passed out again, not sure.
Finally, I was moved to my room, I was hoping to see there my husband with the baby; I arrived, no one was there. Some minutes later my husband came in without a baby, the baby had to stay at the NICU.
Then, the news came in, my husband right away said, 'do not get scared or worried, but I need to explain to you what is going on...', then he explained to me that the baby needs to stay in the NICU, that he had to be reanimated at birth, they do not understand why, but it happened. Those compressions you felt, he said, were to reanimate him, they did right when they took him out. He is doing good right now, they are running tests, but most likely we will be transferred to another hospital, the one with the neonatology specialization.
Later that day, the pediatrician came in and explained everything again, she said she would prefer to transfer him and be on the safe side. That they were running a culture for infections and other tests; and, that in the other hospital I was going to be able to be with him. Which by the way, it was around 6pm and I had just seen my baby for like 5 seconds, and did not even had a chance to hold him...
Anyway, long story short, we were transferred (the worst ambulance ride ever, after c-section and no pain medication, very painful); and, I could finally see him at around 8 or 9pm and hold him for the first time! So much to bonding right after birth. Anyway, I was so happy and so sad at the same time, but most important, I was there with him, finally, and he (not counting the IV and cables on him) seemed perfect.
 |
| After I was released |
We until today are not sure what happened with our baby, but his pediatrician says that he, according to his birth values, is perfect, we should not worry anymore.
Our experience was completely different to what we expected and for what we prepared ourselves, but in the end, we are just happy we have our baby with us and he is healthy. The rest is now history.
Sorry for the so long post, there was more information than I thought; and, thanks for stopping by and reading until the end!
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