WingNutNole: Matty's Birth Story

Posted Thursday, April 03, 2008 10:05 AM

 "I was so relieved to see a light at the end of the tunnel, I could not even breathe. Then everything started to go so quickly..."

The Beginning

I had been diagnosed with Cholestasis of pregnancy (something to do with liver enzymes, causing constant itching), which can be fatal to the baby after 36 weeks. I had made it to 38 weeks when the doctor decided that I would be induced. On November 17th, I went in at 8:00 p.m. to get the cervadil and spend the night. It turns out I was already contracting, but I wasn't even feeling them! As soon as they gave me the cervadil I started having contractions I could feel, but not anything too painful. I responded so well to the cervadil that the nurses had to keep coming in to wake me up and take my temperature to ensure I was not stressing my uterus.

Waiting for Baby

After a sleepless night the doctor came in to check me at about 11:00 a.m. My contractions were still consistent, but not too bad. I was almost 2 c.m. dilated when they broke my water…this was when the fun began. I started really feeling the contractions now, but as the day wore on I progressed very slowly. Around 5:00 p.m., I was only 4 c.m. dilated and I decided to take the I.V. medication for pain. This helped and I was able to sleep for an hour. That was lovely, although the medication made me feel like I was in a cartoon! I don't know that it helped much with the pain, but it did relax me. I continued to dilate very slowly, and even though I thought I would be a mommy by November 18th, midnight came and went.

The Big Day!

On November 19th I had a second dose of I.V. meds, but it did not work and the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. I got comfortable on my side, but Matthew did not like it there. At 1:00 a.m. I was 10 cm dilated, but I had no desire to push. (In fact, for me the pushing hurt more than the contractions). At this point I was having 4-minute contractions and they were off the charts. I told the nurse I wanted to wait to push, and tried pushing throughout the hour without ever feeling the need. At 2:00 a.m. I started pushing for real although I still did not feel the need. I was so tired for labor and not sleeping; I started to feel hopeless.

A Minor Setback

It turns out that a scar on my cervix was in the way and although I was pushing well, it kept catching the baby.  Since it was scar tissue, it was not stretching. The nurse attempted to move it, and it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I pushed for another couple hours and although I kept moving him down, he could not get past the scar tissue. The nurse tried one last time at 4:30 a.m. to move the scar tissue, because at this point I was falling asleep between contractions.

Change of Plans

After attempting to move the scar tissue, I told her I was done and refused to push anymore. I kept saying we needed to find another way, and that I was happy to have the epidural, sleep for a couple of hours and then push him out. The doctor came in and checked me, and pretty much said I was too swollen to push him out, and that we should go for a C-section. I was so relieved to see a light at the end of the tunnel I could not even breathe. Then everything started to go so quickly -- they prepped me and got me into surgery. I almost kissed the doctor who got me the spinal block; it felt amazing!

Here at Last!

At 5:02 Matty entered the world. I was so happy to see him, I cried. For awhile I was really bothered that I got all the way to 10 c.m and couldn't push him out; I felt like a failure. But although it did not go the way I planned, looking back I realize that it went the way it was supposed to go...and that everything was worth it for my baby.

Read more about Nestie WingNutNole!

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