Birth Days

My good friend (let's call her Mrs. S) suggested that some of us moms share our birth stories on our blogs. I thought that would be a fun thing to write about, so here it is.

My due date for Bree was March 1st, but when I was about 34 weeks pregnant I was measuring really large. So I got an ultrasound to measure the size of the baby. Well at 34 weeks she measured a little over seven pounds...with a really huge head! With 6 weeks till my due date, we all pretty much knew this baby would be really big. My doctor thought there may be a chance I would go early, and I was sure hoping I would. Well, I didn't.

My doctor was very adamant about not inducing first time moms unless they were "favorable" (meaning dilated and thinned enough). I clearly remember sitting on the exam table when I was about 1 week away from my due date and sobbing to my doctor because he wouldn't induce me. I was miserable. I was HUGE (so huge that people seriously thought I was carrying twins). I was sick and tired of being pregnant, and in my irrational and hormonal state I really thought I was going to be pregnant forever. Well, 5 days after my due date I went to the doctor with the intention of telling him i would not leave until he promised to induce me. Thankfully it didn't resort to that, because he finally said he would do it.

I got to the hospital at 7:30 am the next day and was checked into my room and hooked up to pitocin. I wasn't really feeling any pain at all for the first 3 hours. Then at around 11 am my doctor came in and broke my water to help move things along. Boy howdy...that sure worked. After that my contractions got incredibly painful. I was able to deal with it well enough, but I was planning on getting an epidural anyway, so after about an hour of hard contractions I asked for it. It worked well for a while but kept wearing off, so I had to have it upped 2 more times.

After about 12 hours I was feeling a lot of painful pressure. The doctor checked me and I was only an 8. We talked about the possibility of a c-section if I didn't progress farther (and with the size of the baby I already know it was a possibility). He checked me again 2 hours later and I was still an 8, with a lot of painful pressure. He suggested a c-section because he thought the baby was probably too big to move down the birth canal. I was fine with that.

About 20 minutes later Aubrey was born. When they took her out I can recall hearing the doctors say things like "she practically walked right out of you! She's gotta be at least 11 pounds! Holy cow that's a big one!" Well, she weighed 10 lbs 13 oz, so she was almost 11 pounds! And even though she was born via c-section she still came out with a cone-head. All that painful pressure I was feeling was her trying with all her might to get out!

It was awesome. Even though I don't think most people want to have a c-section, it was still a wonderful and beautiful birth experience. The most important thing to me was that Bree came out healthy and beautiful, and I was healthy too. I wouldn't change anything about my experience.

Next time (i can't believe that after reliving my pregnancy I can actually say "next time") I hope that my baby isn't quite so huge, and I hope I have the chance to try a V-BAC. Although if it doesn't work out that way I won't be too disappointed because I know the end result will be the most important thing.

Wow, that was long. Hope it wasn't boreing!