My Birth story as a first tome mom, welcoming Jael Joy into our family
TRIGGER WARNING: PPH (POST-PARTUM HEMORRHAGE)
I had every plan of having an all natural unmedicated birth and that mostly happened but as we went in for my prenatal appointment at 40 weeks my doctor talked my husband and I into scheduling an induction at 41 weeks. We agreed because my bishop score was a 7 if it was any lower then that I would have declined.
If you're wondering a bishop score takes 5 factors into consideration to make a score of 0-13 to determine the success of an induction. This looks at the dilation, effacement, consistency, and position of your cervix as well as the position or station as some call it of your baby. 0-6 is a higher chance of failed (0 being almost inevitable failure and the end result likely being a C-section), 7 is a neutral chance where things could go either way, and 8-13 indicates likely success for an induction.
Although I was only at a 7, I felt pretty confident that things would go well, also while praying that I would go into labor naturally in the week leading up to the induction appointment.
Arriving at the Hospital:
We arrived that Wednesday February 9th, but because they were busy with other mom's then ended up not being able to attend to us, after getting us into a room, until 1 PM on Thursday. At that time, they had me set up with an IV port, which took 2 tries to get, and started me on a medication called Cervidil, this was supposed to ripen my cervix and the nurse or doctor after inserting it said they would come back around 1 AM to remove it. So, I because to just get into my zone they brought me a rocking chair, both ball, and peanut ball. At this point I was noticing some light contractions but nothing regular and mostly because I was able to pay attention to the sensations I was feeling when the monitor said I was contracting. At some point I also noticed some bruising around my IV spot, so they removed that one and put another one in my other arm. I needed the IV because I tested positive for GBS (group B strep) and would need antibiotics during my labor to protect my baby from the strep.
My Labor:
Around 10 PM I got up to use the bathroom and noticed the Cervidil had fallen, when I got back to my bed, I heard the pop of my water breaking so we called the nurse in, and she did a cervical check, and Said I was at a 2 and my water had indeed broken. I then asked if I could be off the continuous monitoring and use the tub which they said I could (in America you have the right to make these decisions regardless of what your doctor says but I think it is important to ask their option and weigh the risks and benefits of any decision you make so I didn't technically need to ask I could have simple said this is what I want to do now but I wanted to make sure they didn't think my baby or I would be as risk since we were on a medication).
At this point I became laboring in the tub with my husband running warm water down my back into a towel on my lower back. From the start I was swaying my hips through every contraction to work with my body to move my baby down and out. This is what felt most comfortable to me, it's important to listen to what your body is telling you to know what movements and positions feel best because that will be what helped your baby move the most. The rest of the labor is a blur to me because I was in and out of consciousness between contractions near the end, I would wake up breath and sway through the contraction and then go back out. This was good because my body was able to rest between contractions.
Delivery:
Around 4 AM I was staying awake consistently and suddenly felt this urge to push so I said to my husband, "I feel like I need to push." This was the same moment my doula walked in and my husband's response to me was, "there is no way you're that close," not because he didn't trust me but because I think he was shocked at how fast things progressed. My doula then asked, "well when was the last time she was checked," and since him and I had no concept of time he said about a couple hours of although it had been about 4 and a half, for dilation anyway, so my doula then suggested getting me checked. At this point I was still in the bath, so we called in the nurse and had me work my way over to the bed. When the nurse came in to check me, she was a bit surprised to discover I was dilated to a ten, to the point that she asked for another person to confirm which she did, and they then gave me the go ahead to push after they got everything the needed to set up. After just 15 minutes of pushing my daughter was born at 4 something AM on Friday February 11th. Since everything happened so fast my midwife completely missed her birth, and I only got a partial dose of the antibiotics I needed.
Postpartum:
Since everything was going well and my baby was born and I had also noticed my second IV port had blown out my vein I asked for that to be removed, which the nurse did and said we can finish your Pitocin with a shot in your thigh. We were then moved to our post-partum room and the nurse gave me the Pitocin in my leg to help my uterus continue contracting back down, seconds later I felt a sudden gush of blood come out of me. My nurse checks me and nervously but calmly said I'll be right back. Next thing my husband and I know there is a whole OB team and a sonographer in our room with OR on standby, I'm getting hooked up to 4 different IV's one being a blood transfusion the others being all the different medications that use for hemorrhaging and the midwife was manually trying to remove the massive clots. My husband was genuinely scared for the second time ever in his life and sat in the corner holding our little girl.im sure praying that I would be okay. Fortunately, I didn't end up needing surgery, but I was extra exhausted, much weaker and very out of it for the first several days after that and having all the IVs in my arms made for a very difficult time breastfeeding and left me with bruising o ln the entire of both forearms which personally felt more traumatic than the extreme blood loss I experienced. As a result of the hemorrhaging and not getting all my antibiotics in we needed to stay an extra day in the hospital so total we were at the hospital from Wednesday morning until Sunday morning making for a long 4 day stay.
As I reflect on this experience going into my next birth there are a couple things, I plan to do differently to hopefully have a better outcome:
First, I plan to avoid an induction unless it is absolutely necessary and will opt for additional monitoring instead if they push for anything. I personally believe the Cervidil contributed to my fast labor which is what my midwife believes caused the hemorrhage and from what I know of the other induction options they have higher associations to hemorrhage and/or fast labor than the Cervidil did.
Secondly, I will be requesting an experienced nurse to place my IV port this time around to hopefully reduce the changes my me having my veins blow out on all of them again. I partially want to forgo one altogether but there is still a little fear there that I may need one in an emergency like last time.
Thanks for reading my story and if you're expecting I pray your experience is smooth and safe for both you and your baby!
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