My Birth Story
I’ll start by saying that my pregnancy was horrible many times over. So sick for the first 29 weeks that I had to get IV fluids 4 times because I was so dehydrated, even on Zofran I couldn’t keep food or water down. At 30 weeks I thought we turned a corner because I could drink water and even have an English muffin in the evening with a granola bar at various points during the day without heaving so badly and so much that I lost bladder control… life was great! At 31 weeks I started peeing blood and my OB said it may be a UTI, or it could be a kidney stone. At 32 weeks my pee was Merry Christmas red and I started having a pain in my right side… by 33 weeks I was passing out and vomiting I was in so much pain. By 36 weeks I passed 11 kidney stones – the 4th was surgically removed, I had been on a morphine pump and on narcotic pain meds for 3 weeks so at 36 weeks and one day I started going through narcotic pain med withdraws and couldn’t eat or sleep… or think straight. At 37 weeks, December 13th, I was feeling a bit better and we had company, I was wishing I would have the baby and this could all be over – I drank a sip of wine… yes you read that correctly, I was pregnant and drank a sip of wine. My husband read that a glass of wine can relax you enough in late pregnancy to bring on labor… and I was willing. One sip makes me turn beat red so only a sip it would be. At 8 pm I was cutting the pie and GUSH… my water broke!! SCORE!!
I excused myself from our company explaining that the human inside my body was ready to make his exit and came back a few minutes later with a towel between my legs and served pie. The bags were packed, just a few last minute things on the checklist to toss in, we got my daughter all ready to head up to a friend’s house, we finished pie, had some laughs and said good bye to our friends. I did a load of laundry, cleaned up the house a bit, took a shower, Jason took a shower, and I called my Doula. At this point I had lost 2 towels worth of fluid, and my iPhone labor counter said my contractions were 3 minutes apart and were lasting 1 min and 5 seconds… very consistent! We got in the car and headed to the hospital a little after 10 pm. My contractions were now about 2 min and 40 seconds apart, not hurting too badly at all (but what could after all those kidney stones?!).
We got to the hospital and had to enter through the ER since it was after 10pm and they insisted I be wheeled up to L&D and I heard the Gone With the Wind line one too many times from the staff, “I don’t know nuthin’ bout birthing no babies" – it’s a freakin’ ER… you’d think that a woman with a towel between her legs concentrating on breathing wouldn’t be too abnormal.
We got up to L&D; I was the only one there so was put in a room right away. I changed into the gown and began to answer the zillion questions. (WHY if you are preregistered do you have to answer all those questions?! I kid you not – one of the questions was “what websites do you most frequent?" WHAT?!) I gave them my birth plan along with a $120 box of Godiva Truffles and the nurses were at my fingertips. :) I was at 4 cm (I had been there for 2 weeks) but was 80% effaced, he was still at -2, but my cervix was soft. I answered questions between contractions, my Doula arrived at 11:16, my awesome nurse excused herself – you see my Dr wasn’t on call and the on call Dr was not going along with ANYTHING on my birth plan. Even though my Strep B was negative he insisted I be on an IV, my Dr had agreed on a Hep Loc so I could move around easier and get in the shower if necessary. The on call Dr insisted I be monitored at all times, even tho my Dr said 10-15 min every hour and that the telemetry monitor could be used. My Dr said water was okay, this Dr said NO WAY… you get my point? So my nurse had to “do something" and I unhooked my monitors and went in the bathroom to sit on the toilet (toilet sitting is great for opening up the cervix), I sat there for about 30 minutes (on my phone on facebook!). At 11:45 pm my contractions were getting intense and I wanted to move to the bed. When I got to the bed the nurse came in and I was at 8 cm, 100% effaced, he was still at -2. She couldn’t hold off on Dr’s orders anymore since she was going to have to call him to come in soon, another nurse came in to put in the IV (having an IV put in while in the late phase of labor is not a good feeling). In the next 5 minutes I started having REALLY intense contractions right on top of each other. My husband pushed down on my shoulders while I laid my head on his shoulder, my Doula counted, and the nurse monitored, it was all very quiet. At 11:50 I felt like I had to poop… so I know it was time to push. The Dr was still at home, the nurse went to call him and when she came back I was pushing. She sat at the bottom of the bed and massaged my perineum (which was fantastic and really helped with the pain). I was starting to rethink the whole “I am against pain meds" things at 11:55. I was doing what my body was telling me to do, it was very controlled, I could feel him coming down, my husband was encouraging and physically supportive, my doula was counting and massaging, and then the nurse said I needed to change positions… WHAT?! She told me to get on my hands and knees… WHAT?! Lady – do you see how fat I am? Do you see how much pain I am in… get on my hands and knees??? I rolled to my side, my doula held my left leg up and bent and I pushed when my body told me to push… PAIN MEDS… I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND… GET ME DRUGS!! A PILL, A SHOT!! My husband said GET HER DRUGS!! My doula said, “Kim, this isn’t what you wanted – drugs were not in your plan. You will be holding your baby in under 15 minutes – you are strong, you can do this."
I pushed again and screamed… something was BURNING… I didn’t remember burning with my daughter… POP – Quinten J Stone Hoerner was born at 12:03 am, scored a 9/9 on apgar, weighed 7 lbs 7 oz, 20 ½ inches long, nurse delivered in an unpreped room. We actually had to wait on all those measurements – he was put right on my tummy to cuddle. I tried to pull him up closer but the nurse said “No – he’s still attached to you!" (That freaked me out.) We waited until the cord stopped pulsing and then Jason cut it, they moved Q up to my chest for over 60 minutes before any medical procedure was done on him… and it was awesome. The Dr walked in about 12:10 am and I found out what the burning was… I tore down – and UP. I had a 2nd degree tear down and a 1st degree clitoral tear… I had never heard of that. He gave me a shot down and up` OUCH… and stitched me up.
They started Pitocin in my IV… and that was the worst part! 7 hours longer I had contractions because of that crap! They said that the after cramping gets much worse with every child – I had none with Paige… and this was pretty intense cramping followed by gushes of blood.
Anyway – that was early Monday morning and we went home Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday I was room Mom at my daughters Christmas party at preschool… the show must go on! Quinten was in his sling next to me like he had always been and all was well!
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245894484/in/photostream/
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245897520/in/photostream/
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245134945/in/photostream/
I excused myself from our company explaining that the human inside my body was ready to make his exit and came back a few minutes later with a towel between my legs and served pie. The bags were packed, just a few last minute things on the checklist to toss in, we got my daughter all ready to head up to a friend’s house, we finished pie, had some laughs and said good bye to our friends. I did a load of laundry, cleaned up the house a bit, took a shower, Jason took a shower, and I called my Doula. At this point I had lost 2 towels worth of fluid, and my iPhone labor counter said my contractions were 3 minutes apart and were lasting 1 min and 5 seconds… very consistent! We got in the car and headed to the hospital a little after 10 pm. My contractions were now about 2 min and 40 seconds apart, not hurting too badly at all (but what could after all those kidney stones?!).
We got to the hospital and had to enter through the ER since it was after 10pm and they insisted I be wheeled up to L&D and I heard the Gone With the Wind line one too many times from the staff, “I don’t know nuthin’ bout birthing no babies" – it’s a freakin’ ER… you’d think that a woman with a towel between her legs concentrating on breathing wouldn’t be too abnormal.
We got up to L&D; I was the only one there so was put in a room right away. I changed into the gown and began to answer the zillion questions. (WHY if you are preregistered do you have to answer all those questions?! I kid you not – one of the questions was “what websites do you most frequent?" WHAT?!) I gave them my birth plan along with a $120 box of Godiva Truffles and the nurses were at my fingertips. :) I was at 4 cm (I had been there for 2 weeks) but was 80% effaced, he was still at -2, but my cervix was soft. I answered questions between contractions, my Doula arrived at 11:16, my awesome nurse excused herself – you see my Dr wasn’t on call and the on call Dr was not going along with ANYTHING on my birth plan. Even though my Strep B was negative he insisted I be on an IV, my Dr had agreed on a Hep Loc so I could move around easier and get in the shower if necessary. The on call Dr insisted I be monitored at all times, even tho my Dr said 10-15 min every hour and that the telemetry monitor could be used. My Dr said water was okay, this Dr said NO WAY… you get my point? So my nurse had to “do something" and I unhooked my monitors and went in the bathroom to sit on the toilet (toilet sitting is great for opening up the cervix), I sat there for about 30 minutes (on my phone on facebook!). At 11:45 pm my contractions were getting intense and I wanted to move to the bed. When I got to the bed the nurse came in and I was at 8 cm, 100% effaced, he was still at -2. She couldn’t hold off on Dr’s orders anymore since she was going to have to call him to come in soon, another nurse came in to put in the IV (having an IV put in while in the late phase of labor is not a good feeling). In the next 5 minutes I started having REALLY intense contractions right on top of each other. My husband pushed down on my shoulders while I laid my head on his shoulder, my Doula counted, and the nurse monitored, it was all very quiet. At 11:50 I felt like I had to poop… so I know it was time to push. The Dr was still at home, the nurse went to call him and when she came back I was pushing. She sat at the bottom of the bed and massaged my perineum (which was fantastic and really helped with the pain). I was starting to rethink the whole “I am against pain meds" things at 11:55. I was doing what my body was telling me to do, it was very controlled, I could feel him coming down, my husband was encouraging and physically supportive, my doula was counting and massaging, and then the nurse said I needed to change positions… WHAT?! She told me to get on my hands and knees… WHAT?! Lady – do you see how fat I am? Do you see how much pain I am in… get on my hands and knees??? I rolled to my side, my doula held my left leg up and bent and I pushed when my body told me to push… PAIN MEDS… I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND… GET ME DRUGS!! A PILL, A SHOT!! My husband said GET HER DRUGS!! My doula said, “Kim, this isn’t what you wanted – drugs were not in your plan. You will be holding your baby in under 15 minutes – you are strong, you can do this."
I pushed again and screamed… something was BURNING… I didn’t remember burning with my daughter… POP – Quinten J Stone Hoerner was born at 12:03 am, scored a 9/9 on apgar, weighed 7 lbs 7 oz, 20 ½ inches long, nurse delivered in an unpreped room. We actually had to wait on all those measurements – he was put right on my tummy to cuddle. I tried to pull him up closer but the nurse said “No – he’s still attached to you!" (That freaked me out.) We waited until the cord stopped pulsing and then Jason cut it, they moved Q up to my chest for over 60 minutes before any medical procedure was done on him… and it was awesome. The Dr walked in about 12:10 am and I found out what the burning was… I tore down – and UP. I had a 2nd degree tear down and a 1st degree clitoral tear… I had never heard of that. He gave me a shot down and up` OUCH… and stitched me up.
They started Pitocin in my IV… and that was the worst part! 7 hours longer I had contractions because of that crap! They said that the after cramping gets much worse with every child – I had none with Paige… and this was pretty intense cramping followed by gushes of blood.
Anyway – that was early Monday morning and we went home Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday I was room Mom at my daughters Christmas party at preschool… the show must go on! Quinten was in his sling next to me like he had always been and all was well!
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245894484/in/photostream/
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245897520/in/photostream/
www.flickr.com/photos/hoerner/4245134945/in/photostream/
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