In this blog I’ll be sharing my 3rd child’s birth story. The process leading up to labor and delivery was by far the most stressful of the 3. I’ll get to more of that in a bit, but once I got to deliver it was so easy. So here we go!
At my 37 week check up I told my midwife that I felt Baby E may not be head down anymore. I went from feeling strong kicks near my ribs to feeing hard kicks in my lower abdomen and pelvis area. So, my midwife did a quick feel and said “yeah, that doesn’t feel like her head is engaged anymore “ at 36 weeks she was locked and loaded and I was progressing nicely (by locked and loaded I mean head down and engaged in the pelvis where baby’s head should be toward the end of pregnancy for delivery). After she did a quick feel on my abdomin she got an ultrasound and confirmed baby girl was flipped. She said to try going to a chiropractor, she also suggested a website called spinningbabies.com the website shows lots of stretches and positions to try to help baby flip. So I left the office and got into the chiropractor then did spinning baby moves all weekend. The midwife suggested a version which is when the doctor manipulates the abdomen trying to manually flip the baby. So, I had seen the chiropractor, done spinning babies, went back to the doctor Monday to see if she had flipped, the ultrasound showed she was not flipped. So I went to the hospital Tuesday morning for a version.
I had to be at the hospital Tuesday at 6 am. Get checked in, put in a room, get a gown on and they start an IV line. For those that don’t know, they do this procedure in a hospital to closely monitor Mom and baby’s heart rate. If either becomes dangerous signaling distress the doctor would perform a c-section. From what I understand and researched, versions have a 50% success rate. So 50/50 shot at the procedure doing what it’s supposed to do and baby flips. I heard a lot of horror stories about the version so I was pretty nervous. Thank the Lord, it wasn’t bad at all. It’s not comfortable, the doctor was pushing so hard his muscles were shaking, that would be uncomfortable whether pregnant or not, but it certainly wasn’t excruciatingly painful either. Lots of deep breaths really helped. After lots of the doctor pushing on my stomach he managed to move her head from one side of my ribs to the other then back again which is still not where it needed to be. Thankfully neither myself nor baby E showed signs of distress so the doctor told us to go home and his office would call to schedule a c-section hopefully for Friday.
I was so anxious and stressed by this point, I had 2 vaginal births so the possibility of a c-section was never on my radar. I was scared, sad, disappointed and confused why this was happening
I waited all day and never heard from his office so I called the next morning and the manager said sorry it’s been busy and still didn’t have a date for me. I was frustrated and not very nice. I told her the doctor promised I’d have an answer the previous day and I was fridge said there was nothing she could do. I hung up on her. She called 2 hours later saying Thursday the 18th was open at noon. I apologized for my attitude and agreed to be there at 8am to prep.
I get to the hospital get prepped, another IV sign the SAME papers, meet my surgical team, my nurse I am set to go! Then The midwife orders an ultrasound to check baby’s position. All day I’d been asked if I felt the baby flipped, I had not, so ultrasound was to see exactly what position baby was in. The ultrasound showed BABY FLIPPED!
Are you kidding me?! Oh my word! I was happy, relieved, sad and tired all at the same time. I started crying. I told them please don’t send me home without my baby. They agreed to start inducing since I was there and really over my pregnancy with hip, pelvic, and back pain plus terrible heartburn and an emotional basket case! They agreed to start the process toward induction
Just like with my other 2 pregnancies I had not made any progress. Meaning my cervix was still high and closed. As you get closer to delivery the cervix is supposed to thin, soften and start to open. So since I did not have any progress they started my on a medicine called cytotec to try to get my cervix where it should be. I had 2 doses before finally feeling some cramps. I walked a lot, sat on a birthing ball, bounced in the ball just tried gettingy body going. The nurses at this hospital were terrific! They didn’t have many patients so they had me come out to the nurses station and we did squats together! It was awesome. When shift change came my new nurse decided to see if I’d prgressed. I had not and I was sent home at 8 pm. I was SO bummed. Also, I’d been away from my girls all day my 6 year old was crying when we got home disappointed we didn’t have the baby yet.
I go to bed, the girls missed me so they slept with me. My husband is TGE BEST daddy he slept in our guest room so the girls could be with me. Well I didn’t sleep much I was up every 2 hours with intense cramping then so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep. The cramping was light so I just stayed home. I had a midwife appointment scheduled the following morning so I was hoping the cramps would show progression.
I get to midwife at 830, she checks me and I’m FINALLY dialated to a 3! My contractions were every 10 minutes so she suggested more walking till they were a little closer together. So my husband and I walked for about an hour before I felt to winded and exhausted. The contractions were every 7-10 minutes so we went to hospital. When we get there I’m between 4&5 cm dialated woohoo! We are having this baby finally!!
Get to a room at 11am. I get my wonderful nurse from the previous day, Krystal, she was THE BEST Nurse I’ve ever had. She was one who did squats with me!! Anyways, I’m Group B strep positve which means I carry group B strep and need antibiotics through IV before delivering. I go through the first bag quick but the 2nd bag burns and hurts my hand so they slow the drip. By now I gave contractions every 5 minutes and they are PAINFUL I decide it’s time for epidural so I can rest while finishing my antibiotics.
I’m nervous for epidural because during my 2nd Labor the doctor poked me 3 different times!! Ouchie!!! But this man, Frank, had to be at least 70 did an epidural perfectly I didn’t have any pain and only one poke! I rested and waited.
The antibiotics were finally done, I was 6cm dialated so we decide to have the midwife break my water, she did this at 5pm. I told her “don’t go far my babies come fast after this” and they always came within 2 hours of water breaking. So the midwife and my nurse get me comfortable and leave. 5 minutes later I hit the call button cause I have to push. The midwife called me a show off we all laughed I pushed 3 times and hello world! 5:15pm baby E was here 8lb 10oz head full of hair.
The staff has always asked my husband if he wants to catch the baby and cut cord he always declines. I said I wished roles were reversed as I LOVE medical things. So then midwife said I could catch and cut. WHAT?! How?! So she showed me wear to put my hands, baby E came too fast I didn’t really get to catch but I felt her arms as they quickly lifted her up and on me. Then I cut the cord. It was AMAZING
There’s my crazy birth story!!!💜💜
Proud Daddy
Proud Big Sister
Newest Big Sister, She does GREAT with her
