Sione's Birth Story

So before all the excitement wears off and i forget anything i need to get this down and i know some of you are waiting to read it so i dont wanna keep you waiting long.

Thursday evening my sister called and ask if i wanted to go to the mall with her so she could get a new outfit to wear to a birthday dinner for her boyfriend. I said sure and so we went on a 3 hour shopping spree walking around (well i waddled she walked lol).

She dropped me off at the football field where Marcus and the kids were around 5:45 and i went to sit on the benches and call my Aunt to tell her how my NST had went earlier that day. I talked to her for awhile and while i was talking i thought i felt like i was leaking fluid.

I got off the phone around 6:30 and started to walk thinking maybe if i was leaking that would give me a sign and stop it or something. Instead what i got was a semi small gush of fluid when i stood up. So i called my husband off the field and told him i was calling the midwife and we were probably going to head to the Birthing Center.

After talking to the Kim the midwife we decided to meet at the birth center around 7:15. When i got there they did a speculum exam to see if i was indeed leaking and checked me to see how far dilated i was.

The first PH test came back inconclusive but i was dialted about 4 to 5 cm so they had me go walk for about twenty minutes and then redid the test. This time they definitely saw the ferning of the amniotic fluid meaning my water was definitely leaking and i was most certainly dilated 5 cm.

At this point the gave me my first dose of antibiotics and told me to order some food or wait til my first does was over and go out to eat because at 11 they were going to break my water. So we did as told. We ordered some pizza and when i finished my first does of meds we ran to his sister's house (which was right around the cornor) to get some movies to watch.

When we got back another lady had also shown up with her water broken. So we were sharing the birthing center (which thank God has multiple birthing rooms) with a very sweet couple who i swear had every member of their immediate family there.

So at 11pm they broke my water and told me to just relax and walk when i could. I did walk for about an hour and half around the parking lot and center then came in so they could give me my second dose of antibiotics.

Around 1 am we laid down to try and get some sleep. I doesed on and off between contractions for about an hour. At 2am the contractions had picked up so i decided to go ahead and walk around while Marcus got some rest.

At 3:30 am i woke the midwives and ask if i could take a hot shower because my contractions were getting harder to breathe through and the hot water might help me relax. They told me to go ahead and got the shower ready while i let Marcus know what I was doing.

At 3:45 am i emerged from the having back to back intense contractions. All i could do was sway and moan (Marcus said i sounded kinda like a cave man lol) through them. I was only getting about a minute between then and they were intense (wish i could use another word but painful just doesnt seem right even though it did hurt).

The midwife started my last round of antibiotics at 4:15 am and checked me. I was dilated 8 almost 9 cm and it was the worst part having to lay down to be checked. It helped to bend my knees and roll side to side. I tried to get up and sway some more but from about that time on the contractions were pretty much bringing me to my knees.

At about 4:30 i began to have th eurge to push so i laid down and they checked again. I had a little lip of cervix left so they told me to roll over on my hands and knees and see it i could hold out for a few more minutes.

At 4:35 am i began to really feel the urge to push so they told me to let them check for the lip and see if i could push it out of the way. So i laid on my back grabbed my knees and pushed as she pushed the last bit of cervix out of the way.

At 4:40 am i began to push. I truly understand now why they call it the ring of fire. The midwifes just kept telling me to use the pain as power and movtivation. Marcus was holding me and stroking my hair. He kept telling me how great i was doing. We had planned to video tape it all but i am so glad he chose to stay with me instead. I could not have done it without him. After only 10 mintues and 4 pushes Sione' was born at 4:50 am.

He was laid on my tummy and he opened his eyes and looked at me. I touched him and just couldnot believe he was here. He never did really cry but he was breathing fine on his own. He imediately started rooting around while they allowed the cord to pulse until it was done.

I wish i could say the worst was over but unfortunatly i started to hemerage a bit. After they cut the cord and the placenta was being deliverd the nurse took Sione' over to weigh him and clean him up a bit while they worked to stop my bleeding.

I dont remember much from this time on. I remember hearing them say Sione' weight 7lbs 13ozs and i remember them trying to get me up to go pee (they said sometimes relieveing the bladder can help with the bleeding) and me telling them i was too tired. Then apparently i passed out. I was given several shots of something to help me clot and after about an hour they got the bleeding under control.

So i scared the crap out of everyone (especially my husband) but in the end i and Sione' are 100% healthy!

I could not be more thrilled with my birth expierence and i could not have done it without the 2 wonderful midwives Kim and Becca and the wonderful nurse Susan! They were so supportive and kept me calm and informed the whole time. They did not take any unnecessary steps and they did everything they could to give me the birth i had always wanted.

If you ask if i would do it all again (barring the fact that Sione' will be the last lol) i would say yes! I would do it a million times again if the results would be the same. I have a healthy, handsome baby boy and i am healthy and happy as well.

What more could a girl ask for!

MJ's Birth Story Pt 2

Ok where was I?

Oh yea i had just ate some fattening, grease filled Mickey D's and was headed back to the hospital.

On the way we called the plethora of people that we needed to inform of my impending pain. Including my cousin and my sister who both were to be present at the birth.

We got back to the hospital and checked in at about 2:45. I was still not having any contractions and was rather happy with how things were going thus far. Although i did not really want to be induced I felt like i didn't have much of a choice. My doctor said that is what needed to be done so that is what we did.

As soon as they got me in the room here comes the nice nurse with all the paper work to be signed. Emergency c-section paper...check! Circumcision paper...check! Release forms, acknowledgement papers, will (ok not a will but you get the point)...check!

Next came all the fun stuff. The immediately put in an IV with fluids and antibiotics. When i ask why the antibiotics were needed, I was told because i tested positive for Group B Strep with my first child (but i did not with MJ) so it was just a precaution. I was not very happy about the unneeded antibiotics but once again the doctor said so and i would do anything for my baby's health.

Then they took my blood and hooked up the pitocin. All of this was done and the pitocin drip was started on a low dose at about 4pm. I was still really comfortable and managed to take a small nap before friends and family started to show up. At around 7pm my sister and cousin both got there and hung out as most everyone else had gone home (its not fun to just hang around with a woman in labor).

I was having mild contractions but still not really feeling them. The doctor decided to check me and i was about 6 cm so they broke my water at 8pm and cranked up my pitocin. Every 15 mins after that my nurse came in and ask me if i was feeling the contractions yet.

Dumb, dumb, dumb me always replyed not really (which was not a lie but i should have just shut up) and she would crank it up again. Finally at about 9pm they had the drip set on 400+ml per hour and i was beginning to feel it bad.

By 9:20 i was screaming for an epidural. No back labor this time just too much pitocin too fast and it felt like my uterus was being ripped out of my body. She checked me and said i was still at 6.5 cm and then called the anesthesiologist. By 9:40 they had finished my epidural.

But wait what is this! I feel the sudden urge to push. My epidural hasn't even fully kicked in yet!

I tell my sweet nurse (and i am not being sarcastic she was young and very nice) that i need to push and this was her response.

"You cant be ready. Your just feeling pressure. Here have some more meds in your spine."

She reaches over me and presses the button about 5 times and my whole lower half goes warm!

I look at her and laugh. I still need to push i said in a not so polite way. So she checks me again and is floored. I mean literally her jaw dropped to the floor and bounced back up.

In the 20 mins between when she checked me and they finished my epidural i had went from 6.5 to 10 and ready to push.

We called in my cousin and sister so we could get this baby out.

Just for the sake of mentioning, this was the first live birth my sister had seen and i am pretty sure it will be her last.

At 9:50 i began to push. Since we all know i am a pro-pusher from Phabian's birth story, you can guess it didn't take long.

At 10:01 pm Marcus Eugene Jr made his way into this world.

In attendance was myself, my husband, my cousin, my sister, 4 residents, 2 nurses, and 1 doctor!

I was happy that they didn't have to cut me this time around and I managed by with just a micro tear.

They of course swept him away as soon as he was out and over to the warming table where he was not at all happy being cleaned up.

My poor sister looked like a streaky faced ghost! My husband once again was a proud Papa of a healthy 6lb 2 oz, 18 3/4 in long baby boy.

When i finally got him in my arms he took straight to the breast.

I was so overjoyed that i didn't even notice the fact that my epidural had really kicked in now and i could not feel anything from under my boobs down.

The nurse politely escorted everyone out and after MJ has nuzzled at my breast for about an hour she took him to the nursery and me to my post partum room so i could rest for a bit before his next feeding time.

MJ's birth was a lot less stressful than Phabian's mainly because i was not a new mom but a more experienced one. I knew what to expect and i was not as easily panicked. My nurse was a doll up until the end and i wasn't starving the whole time.

I had a new red haired, brown eyed, daddy-looking, baby boy. He made and still makes me smile everyday. I could not and would not give him up for anything in the whole world. He is so unique and so special.

MJ's Birth Story Pt 1

I have been putting off writing this for awhile now and not because it is a complicated story but because i just could not find a way to word it.

MJ's birth story does not have a big lead up like Phabian's did so i am instead trying to remember what we did in the days leading up to his birth.

I guess it really starts about a month before his birth...

Just as a back story so you can get a real understanding i will start when i was about 5 month pregnant.

We moved from my Dad's house where we had been living since we got married and finally got our own apartment. It was in a little town and tucked away back in the mountains about a 15 to 20 minute drive from all my friends and most of my family.

I made friends with my neighbor who had a little girl 13 months older than Phabian (which is ironic since MJ and Phabian are 13 months apart), but still i felt isolated from the world.

I was a good 1/2 mile walk to the nearest little shop and since i didn't drive that was too far for a pregnant woman of my out of shapeness. Marcus was still working security so he spent many late nights and evenings at work and i was stranded in the middle of nowhere literally!

I rarely got visits from friends since no one wanted to make the drive to see me and i just felt alone most of the time. So i told Marcus that we had to move before MJ was born. I was terrified of being stuck there in that small town dealing with Post Partum Depression as i did with Phabian.

About 1 month prior to his birth we got a call from the apartment complex we had been on a waiting list for and happily took the new place. Needless to say moving right before the birth of a brand new baby is stressful and tiring.

So here we are in this new apartment and i am trying to get things all settled in and arranged. I was having lots of little Braxton Hicks Contractions but nothing serious or major. It was just a waiting game and walking seemed to be my only cure.

I walked a lot. Up and down the stairs to the laundry room, up and down to the playground, up and down to the store. This became a daily pattern. Labor never bored its ugly head.

So imagine my surprise when i went to my 38 week appointment and the doctor announced to me and my husband that i was 5cm dilated!

5 CM DILATED???? But i have not had any real contractions! My water hasn't broke! Are you sure you are feeling correctly down there???

He informed me that it is hospital policy that i must be induced since i am so far along (dilation wise). I asked him if there was any way we could avoid it and he said no that i could go home and arrange a sitter for my other child but to return immediately and they would be ready for me.

So learning from my previous mistake with Phabian, I left and went to the nearest McDonald's and ordered a Big Mac, Biggie Fry, and Large Coke so i would not starve in the process of birth. Phabian was already with his Granny so that was taken care of. I grabbed my things and off to the hospital we went making many calls on the way there to inform everyone of the shocking news.

Part 2 tomorrow, but for now here is the last preggo pic i have of me and MJ.

Phabian's Birth Story Pt 2...

So now where was I? Oh yes we had just arrived at the hospital.

Our local hospital locks its fronts doors between the hours of 11pm and 8am so we had to ring the bell to security and tell them where we were going. At this time i was having minor cramps and my back pain from the night before had returned. So i wobbled over to admittance and filled out some papers (this is why you should always pre-register cause if I was in full blown labor i would have been so mad). They ask me if i needed a wheel chair and i am all like, " no i walked from the car i think i will be able to make it up the elevator, through the doors, and down the hall just fine thank you!".

So i did just that. All the while my cramps never got any worse but my back pain sure did. Once again i dismissed the back pain as just a side effect of being really pregnant. I, at the time, had no clue what labor felt like, and even though we took the birthing class i had never head of back labor.

When i got into my room they told my husband he had to wait outside for 30 mins while they did intake and ask all the personal questions (am i the only one who finds this dumb; as i don't hide anything from my husband). I got into a gown and peed in a cup so they could confirm i was indeed in labor and that my water had indeed broken.

The doctor came in around the same time as my husband and checked me. I was 3 cm dilated and 75 percent effaced at a +2 station (Phabian had kept his head in my pelvis from about 27 weeks on or so). I was so excited that i didn't even notice the pain in my back. The monitors the had me strapped to showed that i was only having small, mild contractions so i didn't pay any attention.

At about 9am they moved me to a labor room but i was not allowed to get out of bed because my water had broke. This is where my birth goes down hill and my plans fly out the window.

I had already informed the nurse that i had no intention of getting any pain medicine or having any unnecessary procedures done. I was going to do this all natural and i was going to enjoy it lol. She smiled and agree but had me sign the papers anyways so that if i changed my mind i wouldn't have to worry about signing anything while i was in immense pain.

They came in and hooked me up to an IV (because i had GBS [Group B Strep]) so they could administer my antibiotics and without me knowing also Pitocin. I also at this point was informed that i was not aloud to eat. So now i am mad because i have not eaten since 9pm the previous night.

By about 11am my adrenalin rush had come down and i was feeling like my back was being ripped apart. I tried to roll over to my side but every time i moved they would put me back on my back because they would lose the monitors. Needless to say when your back hurts the last thing you want to do is lay on it.

Finally at 11:30 i screamed for the nurse to get me an epidural!!! My spine felt like it was going to break in half. I was always under the impression that i had a very high pain tolerance but i guess i was wrong. Nothing in this world tests your pain tolerance like back labor and doctors who wont allow you to move around.

My sweet nurse told me that they had to check my cervix before they could administer my epidural and i was all like," Well hurry the F*CK up" because when you feel like you are being sawed in half with no anesthesia the last thing you want is some nurse sticking her hand up your crotch!

So she checked me and i was 6 cm, 85% effaced and +3 station. So she ordered my epidural which took (a life time) 30 mins to get there. All the while i was withered in pain and crying.

The Anesthesiologist came in and told me to roll to my side and hold my knees to my chest. This was the most relief i had, had in hours. I will spare you the details of the epidural itself but it was quick and effective. They had me on a very low dose so that i could still feel my contractions but not so much the pain in my back (turns out Phabian never lost the ability to be a pain the butt, um i mean back). Here i am happily on the phone after my epidural kicked in.

At around 12:30pm i fell asleep in between contractions. When i woke up at 2pm i told the nurse it felt like i had to poop! She reassured me it was just the pressure from the baby dropping. She told me i was a first time mom and that i would probably be in labor for at least another 4 or 5 hours. Yea ok!!!

So by 2:15 the sensation to poop turned into a sensation to push. At this point i looked at my nurse and told her she needed to go get my doctor "NOW". She insisted that i needed to be checked first and that i was probably only around 8 cm. Boy was she in for a surprise.

She checked me and i was 10 cm, fully effaced, and at a +4 station. She immediately left the room and called the doctor to report the news. When she came back she turned my epidural drip off so i could feel even more and push efficiently. We did about 2 practice pushes before the Doc came in at 2:30.

Now because this is a teaching hospital (and i was the only vaginal birth of the day) there were a million people in and out of my room all day. None of them being my doctor because he was not on call that day. So i ended up with a very funny (not so funny when you are in labor, but after when you think about it) and sweet resident. At 2:35 i began to push. About 5 mins in she decided that i needed an episiotomy!!! At that point i didn't even care. I just wanted this kid out of me (because thats what labor does to you).

She sliced me open (a 2nd degree cut i do believe) and then told me to push. I pushed 4 times and out popped my handsome baby boy at 2:51pm. He was sunny side up which is what i was told was the reason for the episiotomy.

They swept my boy away to the warmer and did all the weighing and stuff while i was being stitched up. The adrenaline ran so high that i didn't feel a thing. I just wanted my baby boy in my arms.

Thirty mins later (after about 3 people had already held him before me) i was ask if i wanted to breastfeed and he was handed over to me.

At the time i was so happy to have him in my arms that i didn't think about any of the things that didn't go my way. I was just overjoyed that Phabian was here and in my arms.

Nothing will ever compare to the first time i looked into those big blue eyes. I knew that day that my heart was way bigger and capable of more love than i had ever thought. I am still amazed everyday by the blessings i have been given even if it didn't happen exactly how i planned.

Tomorrow (or the next time i have time) i will starts MJ's birth Pt 1.

Phabian's Birth Story Pt 1...

So i have put a lot of thought into Hospital vs Birthing Center and Midwife vs Doctor. It is something i have thought about since i became pregnant with Phabian. Unfortunately my thoughts didn't transfer over into a plan until this 3rd pregnancy. But this post is not about plans so much as it is what made me get my butt in gear and choose the plan i have this time around.

I have wrote before about how i wanted my pregnancy and birth to go with Phabian but never really elaborated as to how it did go. I have been reading a lot of birth stories lately and thought i might share mine as well.

The story really starts on March 8th 2005. Hubby and I had just got our income taxes back and decided to go get some last minute stuff to prepare for the birth of our first child. We did not have a camera or a printer for the computer so off we went to Wally World (other wise known by people as the evil corrupt Wal-Mart). We walked gazing at all the precious baby boy outfits and gadgets, that as all first time mother's find out, are not as important as you think they are.

After an hour of browsing the clothes and toys (and picking out some cute little outfits) we made out way over to the electronics department.

Now i will add in here that my due date was not until March 30th so i had no worry of early labor. It is common knowledge that first time mom's have long labors and often go past their due date. So when i started having contractions on the way to pick out a camera i didn't think another thought about it. I just figured they were Braxton Hicks or something of that nature.

We spent another hour picking out the perfect (cheap) camera and a printer that was good enough to print out pictures of Phabian once he arrived. By the time we left i had stopped having contractions but my back was in agony. I just gave it up to standing on my feel for 2 hours and walking all over God's green earth.

You know big belly + bad posture = back pain.

By the time we got home my back was in knots. I went and took a long, hot shower just letting the steamy water beat on my back. When i got out i felt 100 times better. So i figured the first pictures taken on our new camera should be of my big, beautiful 37 week pregnant self, and boy oh boy am i glad we did.


This would be the last decent image we got of me pregnant with Phabian.

At 4am i woke up and was wet. I thought i had peed on myself (cause you all know you have had the infamous potty dreams and couple that with lack of bladder control when your pregnant...yea you get the idea) so i got up changed clothes and went to the bathroom. I crawled back in bed and fell quickly back to sleep.

I awoke again at 4:30 wet. This time it struck me as odd. So i woke myself up fully and went to the bathroom to discover light pink blood when i wiped and a lack of control over the fluid that seemed to be leaking out of me.

I flipped out and ran to the bedroom, flipped on the lights, woke up my hubby (who needless to say was not happy) and made him sniff the tp. Yes you read that right! I made my half asleep husband smell the light pink, bloody, used tp. I needed his opinion as to whether or not it smelled like pee or not. He confirmed what i already knew at the time. It indeed did not smell like pee. My water had broke!!!

The next hour seems like a blur to me. I changed clothes again, gathered my things, and called the hospital who told me to come in asap. No waiting on contractions, no laboring for awhile at home, just get in the car and come now.

And so we did. If only i knew then what i know now. We arrived at the hospital at 7:45 am and although i was having contractions i was soon to find out that back pain isnt just always regular back pain when your pregnant.

Pt 2 tomorrow!