Length of labor (not pushing)
20 hours
Length of pushing
3-5 minutes
Who was with me
my husband, sister and mother in law
What I would do differently next time
I wouldn't really do anything differently the next time.
What I did to prepare for birth
This was my second child and I just followed the doctor's instructions.
How my birth happened
I went to my 37 weeks appointment at 10:00 a.m. and the doctor told me my stomach was measuring at 40 weeks but for me just to wait and whenever I felt contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour go to the hospital. (By this time I had only gained 15 lbs through my preganancy.) I was really hoping for an induction since they induced me at 38 weeks with my daughter and she weighed almost 8 pounds. Well I went home and around 4 p.m. I told my husband that I was feeling a lot of pressure in my pelvis area and i though maybe we should call my doctor to see what he though. we called and they decided that just because I was 37 weeks for me to go get checked at the hospital.
I left my 20 month old daughter with my sister and left to the hospital. There I met the nurse and I told her how I was feeling. She then said that most likely I was just feeling the baby's head drop but I was most likely gonna go home. I waited like an hour for a room to become available and when it became availabale they put me on a monitor and checked me. I was already 4-5 cm open 80% effaced and having contraction every 4-6 min. They didn't hurt but they decided to keep me there. By 11 p.m. my contractions had become 15 min apart but were really painful, they checked me and I was still just 5-6 cm open and 100 % effaced.
I was tired and then I fell asleep, I thought it was weird that at 7 a.m. I was having contractions every 15 min but they didn't hurt anymore.
My doctor decided to give me pitocin to get my labor started again and when he did this I started having a lot of pain. 2 hours later he came and I was only 7 cm so he broke my water when he broke my water the pain grew worse and I decided to get an epidural. I got the epidural and it was only going to have my body the other half felt the contractions so they had to call the doctor again to fix it. By the time he was done it was 1 p.m. 30 min later they checked me and I was 10 cm so they told me to push but the epidural had me completely numb and I couldn't tell if I was pushing I did the best I could and then after 3-5 min I had my son who weighed 9lbs 9oz and length was 20.5 inches at only 37 weeks old. I though I for sure ripped since I never did anything to help so I wouldn't tear but when the doctor looked he said everything was fine no tearing and I was good.
I was fine and was able to go home the next day but my son couldn't he had jaundice and had to stay and extra 5 days.
Now he is good 1 1/2 month old and weighs 13 lbs 2 oz & 24 inch long.
Lessons learned
- I learned that you just have to prepare yourself for anything and hope the best happens.
