P birth story

 Please forgive the bad grammar and typos I wrote this 1 handed while nursing/ also due to regular me. 

At the beginning of my pregnancy the Dr. said we would be monitoring the baby’s size because of my first child's shoulder dystocia, but for some reason I thought I would most likely be late again and be induced.

At all of the ultrasounds until the 34 week ultrasound, baby was measuring average, 1 week ahead, which was the same as B on his last ultrasound. The 34 week ultrasound, the baby was measuring “huge” 92 percentile overall and 99th percentile for the abdomen which I guess is indicative of shoulder dystocia having a higher risk of occurring again. After hearing this I was like oh dang, my dr. is def going to talk to me about an evacuation plan, but again, for some reason I didn’t think this would mean a c-section. The next day, at my doctor appointment the Dr. said because of the ultrasound on the previous day she would need to schedule a c-section. In retrospect I should’ve expected this but I started crying (think bc of hormones and because of the lifelong implications this would have). The dr thought it was because of the death to the birth I had planned that I was crying, but this wasn’t the case, if this was an isolated event I probably would’ve preferred a c-section (well, maybe if I didn’t also have a toddler to carry). 

I googled stuff about previous shoulder dystocia, c-section recovery, and future pregnancy after c-section stuff. I even called this midwife group to try and switch doctors but it was too late in the pregnancy for another Dr. to accept me. One of my biggest things was feeling like what if that ultrasound was wrong and I was going to have this major life altering surgery because of it? I would feel awfullllll though if something happened to the baby and I denied my doctor’s suggestion to have a c section so I didn’t realistically think I would be able to do that. I also feel like if the Dr. is going to be delivering the baby she can call the shots on the method of delivery that she thinks is safest. 

It took me about a week to get on board with the c-section. It was scheduled for the morning of 1/17, I ordered lots of recovery supplies and even had my bell all set to ring for when I needed something from Bren or my mom.

I was so caught off guard with the c section news at that appointment that I’m not totally aware of what the options were for me not to need a c section, but I think they were me going into labor before 1/17 or the next ultrasound being a lot different which my dr. Made it seem like I shouldn’t count on based on how extreme on the large side the previous one was.

My next and final ultrasound was at 38 weeks on 1/10. The baby was measuring totally average at this one! I’d also like to add that the same ultrasound tech that did my other average ultrasounds did this one. My doctor acted very surprised as well and said there wasn’t a need for a c-section but scheduled me to be induced 1/17! My fundal height was also measuring totally average this time around. I was 3 cm dilated. I had that non stress test or whatever it's called when you sit in a comfy chair all hooked up to things to make sure the baby was all good at this appointment too, just because there was very little growth from the previous ultrasound to this one or something. 

I waited until after the birth to return all my c-section recovery stuff, just in case. 

Actual Birth

I called the hospital the morning of the 17th to see if there were any beds( I think I was scheduled to come in at 4 or 5 am) There weren’t any open and they said they would call me back when there were. Around 6 I called and they told us to come on in. At 7:15 am ish I was started on Pitocin and had a super painful cervical check that caused me to audibly swear. Cervical checks are probs the worst part of pregnancy for me tbh. For my 1st birth, there was a nurse and a training nurse or a new nurse so only having 1 nurse this time made it feel a little less legit and I was pretty skeptical because I realllllly liked the 2 nurses last time but didn't feel that way this time. Bren tried to reassure me that this nurse seemed fine. I had some cranberry juice, at 8:30 am my dr broke my water. This also hurt more than I remembered. I started really feeling contractions after that. I moved to the ball and audibly swore for painful contractions I think, a doula or coach I think would be really helpful to talk you through the pain or being in a tub would probably feel good but moving also feels like a lot of work when you are all hooked up. My only “birth plan” was wanting to def have the epidural before it was too late. I wasn’t doing a good job at offering up my suffering through the contractions and I think Bren was like these are really painful just get the epidural. I got the epidural at 10 am ish. I moved for 1 part I remember, it is pretty scary worrying you’ll get a contraction during it. After the epidural I remember saying a lot, I don’t remember it hurting this much last time. I thought it was maybe because the Pitocin contractions were just that much more than regular ones? Because last time I could feel the contractions but they weren’t painful. This time they were def still painful but not as painful as they would be with 0 medication I’m assuming. Finally, I asked the nurse are you sure nothing is wrong because I can feel a lottttt. Guess what, the epidural wasn’t hooked up or something so I only got the “test dose”! Not really sure how that happened, but then a different anesthesiologist nurse came in and probs gave me like “too much” because then I couldn’t feel anything at all, couldn’t move my legs. Sometime right before or right after realizing my epidural wasn’t working I was at 10 cm. Everything happened really quickly after that but felt super calm. My dr. was there and had a student doctor or something help. I think I reiterated the shoulder dystocia stuff, obvi my doctor knew but I told them to just lmk what I needed to do to get the baby here safely. I kept saying I can’t feel my legs at all good luck having me push but somehow the nurses/ my doctor / Bren telling me when to push was working even though I didn’t feel like I was doing anything.

Baby was born at 11:25 am, think the delivery was only 8 minutes. I didn’t need to worry about the nurse, I was like sobbing thanking everyone and was so happy and like in shock at how easy the delivery was and that the baby was safe. The golden hour stuff that everyone talks about happened, baby latched quickly. I didn’t have the golden hour last time but didn’t really know any different. I was so in love with this baby I can’t describe it in words, I’m also very sleep deprived still because of this baby. 

Baby was 8.11 oz and 21 inches long, so 1 ounce bigger than his brother. If the ultrasound showed his actual weight, I think the c section would’ve still happened.