Healthy baby boy :)
Yes, we are pleased to announce that our son has been born. He arrived Jan 23rd, a bit early at 38 weeks, so we weren’t quite prepared. But then I don’t anyone is every really prepared anyway.
Keep reading if you want to hear more about my labour and eventual C-section. I will probably stop blogging here now and just continue on my regular blog. I have enjoyed the anonimity of blogging pregnancy health stuff (since as constipation) here on this blog, but baby stuff I don’t want to be anonymous about.
My water broke on the Monday and we madly packed a few bags from the piles of stuff we had been collecting and went to the assessment room at the hospital. We wouldn’t have gone in straight away except since I was Strep-B positive I had to go on anti-biotics right away.
We got to the hospital at around noon, and they put in an IV line and started the antibiotics. The first doctor said I would be induced by 10:00pm if I had not started by then. They told us to return for 4:00pm for the next dose. We returned at 4:00pm and now my own Ob-Gyn was there and she had a different opinion and wanted me to be induced right away. We were moved from the asssessment room to the birthing suite so they could hook up all the monitors. I took a chance to walk around a bit before they hooked me up. I had wanted to do lots of walking during labour, but once on oxitocin they monitor the baby continually, so I only had a few feet of area to move around in.
The heart monitor kept moving around and they had a really hard time getting the sensor positioned to hear they baby’s heart. Probably because the placenta was at the front of my uterus.
The nurses at North York General Hospital in the Labour and Delivery were great. Very attentive and helpful, especially Pam and Natasha.
I told them I wanted to go drug-free and they were very supportive. Contractions started and at first were fairly mild. It was interesting watching the contraction on the monitor and the patterns.
The contractions got more and more difficult and to be honest the next hours were all a bit of a blur. I remember:
- my husband holding my hand and helping me do my breathing. (Huge Thanks to Marta, our pre-natal class instructor)
- my Mum for support and encouragement and for giving my husband a chance to nap
- the stupid heart monitor disconnecting all the time, especially in some positions (they eventually inserted the internal sensor into the baby’s head which was much better)
- trying to find a good position for labour. I liked kneeling on the bed with my arms on the back of the raised head. I also found a new position kneeling kinda sideways, which I can’t really describe, but was good since I could really relax between contractions.
- being told I was not yet in “Active labour” after suffering for 9+ hours
- being ready to give up and get the epidural when I was told I was only 4cm dialated, and I realized there was a long long way to go. I was told I could get the epidural at any time, but decided to try a bit longer, and managed to get past that mental give-up phase
- being told that I had fallen asleep during labour in-between contractions
- being told that I had reached 6cm dialated
Then it got to the point where contractions changed and there was a different sensation and I felt the need to push, but had to work hard not to. These were the worst contractions and even my breathing patterns did not help at first until I remembered the in-out-in-out fast breathing pattern. I was re-evaluated three hours later and was found to still be at 6cm. (average progress is one cm per hour of labour) The doctors recommended that I get an epidural since sometimes that can relax the mother enough so that dialation progresses. They let me get off the monitors for a while first and take a jakussi bath. I thought it would help, but I still couldn’t relax. So I accepted the epidural.
I have a huge fear of blood and needles, so I made the nurse, my husband and my Mom all distract me while they did the epidural. It wasn’t bad, however I felt that I had given up and gone through all that labour for nothing, but everyone said it was amazing I had gotten to 6cm and that it was good for the baby.
After a few minutes the pain killers kicked in and I was able to relax. My husband and Mom were able to nap, and I tried, but I just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. After a few more hours I still had not progressed so the doctors recommended a C-section. They said there was some unknown reason that I was not progressing such as the baby’s head being too big, or in the wrong angle. I had been expecting them to talk about a Cesarean section since I could see on the monitor that the contractions were not getting closer together. I agreed and 40 minutes later I was taken to the OR.
With my fear of blood & needles, I told them to distract me and that I didn’t want to know any details. At first they made my husband wait outside and they shaved my belly and put my arms out (like on a cross). The epidural guy pumped new drugs into me and I wasn’t able to feel much except some pushing and pulling. An oxygen mask was put on me and they hung a big sheet between my face and the rest of me. Soon they let my husband come in with me which was good since I needed someone to talk to. It all happened rather fast once they got started. Then they were telling my husband that he could watch as the baby was born. He even got a couple photos taken. They moved our baby to a nearby area to check him out. It was really hard to see him around all those people. (did I mention there were a lot of people in the room). I was eventually able to see him as they laid him on my chest, but then he was taken away again to spend some skin-to-skin time with my husband while they stitched me up. They had to roll me on either side and it felt very strange to have absolutely no feeling and to have no control over my body.
Eventually they rolled me into recovery where I could see our baby again. The nurses massaged my abdomen and did other cleanup stuff. My blood pressure was super-low and I felt strangely non-present for a while.
Then they moved us into the “Mother and Baby” unit and we were able to spend some time with our baby.
So even though my labour did not go as planned, the important thing is that our son has arrived safely and healthy.
How Birth Affects Breastfeeding
Everyone seems to be on one side or the other when it comes to epidurals. I have read stats that epidurals can cause additional complications 23% of the time. Now, these are not always major complications: they could be episiotomies, tearing or just head-aches.
Most of the mothers that I have talked to were either in the majority (77%), or they did not associate any complications they had with the fact that they had an epidural. This is not surprising, since most of us do not have anything to compare birth with, until we have had lots of children.
We learned in our pre-natal class that the worst position to give birth in is lying on your back, and yet, how often do you see a birth in movies which is anything else? Lying on your back removes the advantage of gravity, and causes more stress on the Perineal since the baby’s weight is on that area only. more info on labour positions
Every woman I have talked to who has had an epidural, has also had a difficult time breast-feeding (ok, I realize this is a really small sample of people, and most women find breast feeding difficult). Then I read an article from Today’s Parent with a section on “How Birth Affects Breastfeeding” which seems to agree.
Now, there are some cases when an epidural is recommended. So while I am going to try to avoid an epidural, I am also going to listen to the Nurses and Doctor and deal with things as they happen. While it is not ideal, an epidural is an option that I might choose.
The midwives don’t like us
So the midwife group told us they were full, but what I think they were really telling us is that we are not their preferred clients. It appears that if you want a midwife to accept you then you have to tell them that you would not want an epidural. I think they do this more to see if you have a similar philosophy. So if you are contacting a midwife group, you should have some idea of whether or not you want a natural birth.
Now to me, the term "natural birth" brings to mind hippies, and incense and giving birth at home without any medical supervision. I don't know where I got this image from, but now I hear that this term really means "drug-free" birth which is something I can relate to.
I did do some research on epidurals, but it is really difficult to research since every source has a different opinion. Many of the sites are trashing the "What to expect when you are expecting" book since it doesn't put enough stress on the risks and this is a book trusted by many. There are definatly other sections in the book that I don't agree with, such as the chapter on pre-testing and termination of babies with problems. They seemed to suggest that it was ok to consider terminating! I know there is something that not everyone is going to agree on, but they should have shown both sides more equally.
I found some medical web-sites about epidurals, but they are also very single-opinionated and some of them get into details and terminology that I am not familiar with.
So anyway, it doesn't matter right now. We didn't get accepted by the midwives and now I am going to go with either my family doctor or an ob-gyn. I think I like the idea of an ob-gyn better since they are dedicated to this type of medicine, and it means I don't need to sit in the waiting room with a lot of sick people (colds, flus) while I wait for appointments. Also, my doctor has been very rushed the past few times I have seen her and I really want more time to discuss things.
