Posted By: Heather Roc (mommy to Alex Joseph born 4/18)
Thursday, 27 April 2000, at 8:45 a.m.
Alex's birth story....(more and of course long!)
It began on Sunday the 16th at a Dodger game..
maybe it was the nachos (bad, I know!) or the bumpy car
ride there, but when we were ready to drive home I made a pitstop
and found a little brown spotting! Monday
I had an OB appt. Doc wasn't sure if baby's head was down
which really surprised the heck out of me..so
we did an u/s and yes! baby's head was down.
Later that evening I started having some sporadic BH.
Some were a lot stronger than others. I hadn't seen any
brown spots since the baseball game so I figured it was
still a ways off from happening. So I made dinner..
(now take this tip, ladies and rest during this time like the
books say! I had no business making dinner!) I also had about
three BMs within a two hour span which was
highly unusual. After dinner was made around 7 pm
I lost my appetite and began timing the contractions.
They were about 7-10 minutes apart and just felt like
really bad AF cramps. At 9 pm I told DH that this
might be the night cause the contractions were stronger!
DH helped with counterpressure on my lower back
from 10-11 pm and then I realized I may need him later and
told him to get some sleep while I battle it out.
So there I was pacing the floor, circling the coffee table.
(we are in a one bedroom apt until JUne so not
much room to walk and there was no way I was going outside at midnight!)
I sat in front of the tv with the
channel set on one that has the time constantly going. By 1:30 I was ready
to wake DH,cntx were 5-7 minutes. I called L&D first like
I was told to do at Lamaze and the nurse told me that she didn't think I
sounded like I was ready to come in and to wait until it felt like I wanted
to rip off someone's head. well, I
sorta did already, but gave it more time.
I didn't sleep at all except for the 3-5 minutes that passed between
contractions. By 5:30 I told DH that it was time to go.
He showered and we took off. I crept to the birth
center and prayed they would keep us. I checked out at 3cm!
Yay! They were very happy with me for
waiting so long and I couldn't have been more proud of myself.
It will be a night I will never forget!
When they checked me they found meconium and called my dr.at 8am.
Dr. said to start me on pitocin to
help get his head down and to speed things up because of the meconium.
I really did not want pitocin and
asked to walk instead. DH and walked the halls. I found out that
I loved doorways to press my lower back
into when the cntrxs hit hard.
after walking for 20 minutes I measured at 5 cm so I didn't have
to be hooked up to the pitocin! Thank god,
because I don't know if I could've taken the contractions to get
harder and faster at that point. The nurse
then attached a fetal monitor and proceded to do a "wash"
to help get rid of any meconium that may be
inside the uterus. It was sort of like baby's first bath.
I could not tolerate being on my back in bed AT ALL!
We made the bed prop up into a chair position
and waited for the epidural man!
I wasn't hooked up until 11 am..
between the time waiting for him I had to try and make baby shift into
face-down position be getting on all fours and rocking back and forth
...it worked!
After the epidural was in(ahh!!) I noticed the next contraction that
hit went off the graph on the monitor so it
came just in time!! I had no problem with the epi. it was wonderful.
the only weird thing was that it
constantly felt like my face itched. as if there was something on my face.
not a terrible side effect, but strange. DH was so happy with the epi too
so he could relax.
At 11:15 we started pushing. I was so embarrassed because it felt like
I was pushing out poo. The nurse
told me that was good because that is what it is supposed to feel like.
But I was actually was pushing out
poo. oh well, DH has seen just about everything now
so I had to get over the embarrassment!! (another
tip..think about an enema!) We pushed and pushed.
I had no idea how hard the pushing stage was! Dr.
came in and started getting me ready.
By then I needed oxygen and started to panic because the pushing
didn't seem to be making any progress. I pushed for an hour and
a half when finally DH said, "he's right at
the doorstep,Heather!" God, I wanted him out!
Dr. ended up making a couple episitomy cuts to help.
I must say he tried to wait as long as possible and I
was grateful, but it had to be done! And out little Alex came.
He was whisked off to be evaluated to be sure
he hadn't injested any meconium which he hadn't and then I heard his cry...
tears of joy came from both DH
and me. He was brought over to me and all I could see was eyes. He was so alert!
Alex weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. Born at 12:36 pm.
He is beautiful and has long fingers like his daddy. And long eyelashes and
the cutest little head of hair. It looks like he had a haircut!
All of our prayers have been answered and I love my new 24 hour job as mommy.
We feel truly blessed! And I feel blessed for having a
relatively easy birth and pregnancy.
Good luck to all mommys-in-waiting!
(Go out to dinner with your DH while you can!!)
(It's gonna be awhile for me since Alex is taking to b/fing
well...although it's a challenge at first! but that's another story!!)
Love,
Heather

Ok ladies, here is my birth story!
Monday, the 6th,
I had my regular weekly doctor’s appointment at 2:50pm.
I got there, and my blood pressure was through the roof!!!
170/110. My doctor didn’t like that one bit, so he told me to go home,
get dh and a bag, and meet him at the hospital as soon as possible.
So I did. I got to the hospital at 5:30 pm, and he met us there at
around 6 pm. This whole time I am thinking he is just putting me
in the hospital so I can rest and lower my b/p, and that I would
be going home a few days later. Well, he came in and said he
wanted to induce. They did some blood work on me, and I guess
my high b/p was starting to affect organs in my body, like my
kidneys and liver. He saw no reason to delay, since I was
exactly 37 weeks. He inserted the gel in the cervix
(sorry, I don’t remember all the medical terms for
the medicines I got) Anyway, he said it might
take up to two or three days for anything to really happen.
I was 2 cm dilated already, so he thought the gel would efface
my cervix, and then first thing in the morning he would try
breaking my water; if that didn’t work, he said he would
move to Pitocin. Soooo we are thinking "ok, this is going
to take a while" So I sent dh and dd home to get some rest.
At around 10:30pm my doctor came in and asked how I was feeling.
I told him I was a bit crampy and my lower back was achy, but
nothing too bad yet. He checked me, and I was still 2cm, about
50% effaced. He gave me something to help me sleep, which I was
so thankful for, and he went home. "I’ll see you in the morning"
were his last words to me. Yeah Right!!! At around 11:30pm, my
contractions got pretty bad, and they woke me up. I had been
taken off the monitors so I could sleep. I called the nurse in,
and she hooked me back up. Well, there were no contractions
registering on the monitor. I swore to her that I was having them,
and they were REALLY hurting at this point. She checked me and
said I was 2 to 3 cm, and said she would check with the doctor
about getting something for the pain. She came back a few
minutes later and gave me a shot of some narcotic
(medicine names again, sorry). Well, all that did
was make me feel extremely DRUNK in between contractions,
yet when I had a contraction I was completely aware of what
was going on. My oldest dd is two years old, and I thought
I knew pain from her labor; I was WRONG!!!! All of a sudden
my contractions went from around 5 minutes apart to one on top
of the other, and they were so intense I can’t even begin to
describe them! These were nothing like what I felt while in
labor with dd!!! The nurse kept telling me I had to stay in bed,
cuz they really wanted to monitor the baby. Have you ever tried
reasoning with someone who is really, really drunk???
Well, that’s how I felt. Not only had I taken those sleeping pills
a few hours before, that shot of whatever they gave me really did me in!!
I refused to lay in bed, my contractions hurt what seemed to be
10 times worst if I was sitting or laying down. The only thing
that helped a bit was to squat, so that’s what I was doing.
I did get in the shower at one point, but the water aggravated my mood,
so I didn’t stay there long. Throughout all this, I am trying to get
a hold of dh (remember, I had sent him home!) But the phone in our room
was not plugged in to the wall (courtesy of my oldest dd LOL) and dh
couldn’t hear the phone ringing. So I called a friend of his and he
came to the house and woke him up. Dh got to the hospital as the nurse
was checking me again. It was about 1:30 am now, so only two hours had
gone by from when I was 2 to 3. She looked at me and said "OMG, you are
5 to 6 already" Ok, time for the epidural I said. Well, they had to call
in the anesthesiologist on call (they don’t have one on staff at this
hospital). It took him 30 minutes just to get there, and another
30 minutes to get all his paperwork together. So at 2:30 am he
starts his work. He had to put the epi in TWICE (moron) and the
whole time I am sitting there with the worst pain imaginable to
human kind. This contractions were soooo intense!
My dh and the nurse were holding me down so I wouldn’t move,
and all I can remember saying is "OMG this hurts so bad, please hurry".
Well, this goof ball finally puts the epi in, and while he has me lay
down and gets ready to get the medicine flowing, the nurse checked me
again. She didn’t say anything, and ran out of the room. She came back
and said "You are 9cm, Doctor Sampath is on his way" WOW. I went from
two to nine in a matter of 3 hours. The anesthesiologist then informed
me that since I was so far into my labor, he was only putting in a tiny
amount of the epi to take the edge off the contractions, but no numbing
anything cuz I was going to have to push. I don’t remember this part,
but dh says I cursed him out when he told me that. According to dh I
said "You mean to f%$#@ tell me you stuck me TWICE and now you are
not giving it to me????" LOL, poor guy! My doctor got there a few
minutes later, it was around 3am then. He checked me, and as he did
that, I felt a lot of pressure on my bottom. I told him that, and
he said to push with the pressure, which I did. He then told me to
stop for a few seconds. He took the bottom half off of the bed, and
brought the stirups out. They elevated the bed to where the doc can
deliver standing up. I then started pushing with my contractions.
Surprisingly enough, this part didn’t hurt too bad, probably due
to the small amount of epi I did get. Three contractions into it,
Sydney came out! She was born at exactly 3:22 am, March 7th, 2000.
I came out with an intact perineum, no tears, no episiotomy.
Yeah!!! My oldest dd, Jazmynn, was in the room the whole time,
a friend kept her in the back reading books to her so she really
didn’t see anything until it was over. They brought her over to
see her sister while Sydney was still laying on my chest, and
she had these big tears down her cheeks. I asked what was wrong,
and my friend said as the baby came out I screamed (I don’t remember
that part) and I scared her!! Poor thing!
Sydney Marisa weighed 7lbs 2.2 oz, she is 17 3/4 inches long.
She is so adorable!! I am so in love with her already.
We came home today because both her and I are doing great.
My doctor said to just take it easy and go see him in four weeks.
Right now I am happy to be home, and I am feeling really good about
myself. My goal with this labor was to do better than I did with dd’s.
My only regret now is that when I gave birth to dd, the epi had me so
numb I didn’t even feel her come out. I felt Sydney come out yesterday,
and that has got to be the most amazing feeling in the world. I also
want to say that my dh was great, I am so proud of him, and that my
doctor is one of the greatest men on earth, I am convinced!!
He got to the hospital in 10 minutes, and he was at home.
I know where he lives, it’s at least a 20 minute drive if you
do the speed limit!! LOL. I am so happy to finally have my baby!!!

Posted By: LisaW & Ian Alexander (5/13/00)
Tuesday, 30 May 2000, at 12:35 p.m.
Our birth story...finally...
Well Ian Alexander is finally here.
It's taken me a while to be able to
have time to write this. Thursday
(5/11/00)having regular contractions about 15 min apart.
Contractions continued through the night and were
about 10 min apart early Friday morning. By noon,
the contractions were 2 min apart and dr wanted me to
come into the hospital. Still did not
think it was real labor because the contractions
did not seem that intense. At the hospital,
I was only 90% effaced and 1.5 dilated. Dr had
me walk around for an hour. That's
when the contractions started getting intense.
After an hour, I had dilated another centemeter so they
decided to keep me. Unfortunately, things started going downhill from
there. Baby started having problems -
heart rate was slowing down during contractions. Contractions started
coming without a break. They decided to try to stop
the contractions to give the baby a break. At this point,
I also got an epidural since they were not able to slow down
the contractions. Went to internal fetal monitor after
water broke because there was some meconium in it.
Around 1:00 am on 5/13/00, I had an
emergency c-section because the baby was in distress.
So I ended up in labor for about 36 hours before
the c-section. He was in a lot of
distress when he was born (apgar of 2).
However, he responded really well.
I ended up with an infection but
Ian was fine. He took to breast
feeding and has been steadily gaining
weight. It's funny I was adamant that I
wanted almost no intervention during this birth.
I am sooo glad that there were all those medical
interventions now!